His Destined Luna

Chapter8

Chan’s POV...

After getting sacked in less than an hour, I was back in the marketplace. I tried thinking of something not too heavy for me to do to earn; I tried searching for hours, but unfortunately, I had no luck.

I sighed. Fiona will be so disappointed if I couldn’t bring anything to the table tonight.

It was almost evening time, and the market folks were already closing their stalls. Guess I could say I failed to find labour today, but maybe tomorrow will be better. I was about to head home when I remembered something else I had come out for asides from finding a job. It had to do with regaining my memory. I hurriedly opened my sack and brought out the clothes Fiona handed me this morning, the ones she said she found me wearing in the forest.

I had thought about it earlier, and maybe if one of these clothes’ vendors could tell me the source of the fabric, I figured perhaps it might help in trying to jog my memory a bit.

I don’t know; it was just a random thought, but well worth trying.

I headed over to one of the open stalls. The middle-aged seller was about to close for the day, packing all his unsold wares into a large sack.

“Hello, good evening,” I greeted him.

“Can you come back tomorrow, son? The market is already closing, not enough time for you to select.”

I shook my head, “I’m not here to buy clothes but rather to inquire about something.”

“What is it, then?”

“Can I know the source of these fabrics?” I asked as I handed the clothes to him.

His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets upon seeing what I had brought. He used his hands to assess the quality of the clothes.

“Well, I’ll be darned! This is luxurious velvet; imported fabric. Very great quality, and very expensive too! Its thread is made from priceless materials that are considered rare in Mastoria. Even the nobles might find it hard to acquire such a rarity. It’s the first time I’ll be seeing an Abian in the hold of this.”

His eyes then turned on me suspiciously. “Where did you steal this from, son? Those rich folk, huh?”

I shook my head, “no, I didn’t steal it. I…”

He cut me off, “well… doesn’t matter. Those rich folk deserve it anyway. Well done, pal; I’ll give you a good bargain. So, how much do you want for it?”

I was confused. “You want me to sell you these clothes?”

The vendor nodded, “of course. That’s what you came here for, ain’t it? Name your price.”

“Hmmm… how much are you willing to buy it?”

“I’ll give you ten gold pieces for that silk.”

I looked at his eyes sharply. I might be a man without his memory, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be oblivious to seeing when someone is trying to fool me.

“100 gold pieces.”

“100? You trying to kill me, son? Should’ve just asked for my soul instead!”

“I know it’s worth way more than that. You said it yourself that it’s very rare and highly priced in Mastoria, even for the rich folk.”

“s**t!” He muttered under his breath. “Okay fine, son, the truth is that I can’t afford 100 gold pieces to give you. I hardly make up to half of that amount in daily sales, but you look like you need the money, and it seems I’m the only one around here with an open stall willing to take these off your hands.”

I growled, “don’t try to blackmail me into selling these clothes to you for peanuts! It won’t work.”

He raised his hands in surrender, “okay. I apologize for that, but if you really need to sell it, I’ll give you 50 gold pieces. It’s a lot for me, but it’s a good price, I swear.”

I watched him empty out his pockets along with a small box of money, counting out all the coins until they were the exact number, fifty. He then pushed them towards me.

“That’s all I have; I swear I would have given you more if I could. Please accept the offer.”

I sighed as I looked between him, the money, and the fabric I held in my hand. I made a choice then.

***

“Where did you get all this food from, Chan?”

Fiona looked perplexed and worried as she entered the house and spotted the huge buffet of food of different assortments I had laid out on her small table; this wasn’t all. There was still some extra food in the storage. She must have thought I’d been out stealing.

“Relax yourself, dear,” I told her as she removed her jacket to sit. Her eyes were still wide as she asked herself where all these came from.

“Chan…”

“Would you like some chicken? There’s also turkey in the pot. I didn’t know your preference, so I bought as much food as I could. I also got some freshly squeezed fruit juice from the market. You’ll love it!”

Even through her surprise, she was so hungry, chugging down all the food I’d served her in haste.

“Thank you,” she murmured as she watched me clear up her plate.

“Do you want some more?” I asked.

“I’m okay. Thank you. We need to talk, Chan.”

“Okay, I’m all ears,” I said as I sat in front of her.

“How did your day go?”

“It was fine. I tried finding labour; I did get one with the fishermen, but sadly, I wasn’t fit for it. I tried looking again, but no luck.”

“So if you were unable to find labour today, how come you got all this food?”

“I sold my wealthy clothes; turns out they were rare and held great price.”

“Oh, Chan. That’s so thoughtful of you! But you didn’t have to do so much; that was the only thing you had to hold on to your lost memories.”

I shrugged, “well, they weren’t good for anything else except putting food in our mouths. Don’t worry about it, Fiona. I will get my memory restored, somehow. For now, we need to survive.”

“I don’t know how much to thank you, Chan. Here I was thinking we’d both sleep hungry tonight, whereas you’d sorted it all out. I’m really grateful to have you here.”

“I should be the one grateful to you for saving my life, and before I forget….” I rushed to bring out the sack of remaining gold pieces from my bag, handing them to Fiona. It brought another round of surprises for her.

“It’s 40 gold pieces, the remaining money from my clothes sale after the foodstuffs I bought. It should suffice for any costs of my treatment, and then our fending after all this food finishes. If there’s any change, I want you to have it for any inconvenience I might have brought you while….”

She didn’t let me finish before bringing my face closer for our mouths to meet. The kiss was sweet, her soft lips moulding mine brought back memories of the previous night. We were both panting by the time we let go of each other.

“You are not an inconvenience to me in any way, Chan. In fact, I love having you here.”

The kiss reminded me of something else. Fiona was already entering her small dressing compartment before I called her.

“Fiona?”

She turned, “yes, dear?”

“It was inappropriate of me not to mention this earlier. I’m sorry for that.”

“What?”

“About last night... I know I’m stuck here until my memories return, but I want you to know that what happened the previous night was not my intention. I’m sorry for ever taking advantage of you.”

“Oh, Chan. You don’t have to explain or apologize. I’m the one to blame for it. I never would have done it in the first place if not for my state of mind, despite you still recovering. If you are bothered about it, don’t be. It won’t happen again.”

“Thank you. Also, I would like to ask you to please respect my choice to sleep on the floor from now on.”

Fiona nodded understandingly, “no problem. I wish it wasn’t so dark, I would have gone out to get you some warm blankets to make your sleep more comfortable, but that can be done tomorrow. You’ll just have to manage for tonight.”

“No problem about that.”

As we ended our talk, a loud knock was heard on the door. We both stared at each other with questioning faces. Who could be visiting her so late?