Midnight Neighbor | 18+

63|| Theft of Joy

Unedited~
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It didn't take long for their new itinerary to go into full effect. Nearly half an hour later, Sophia and Elijah, joined by two of his siblings promptly left the building. This excluded Jiho who sneakily made his escape using unfinished work as his great excuse.

Sophia didn't mind and planned to enjoy herself either way. She rarely visited the huge city mall because it really was quite far from her apartment and she was always otherwise caught up with work or some date with Seong and Kayla. In simpler terms, she was too busy to go..

The mall was as amazing as she vaguely recalled and surprisingly a lot less crowded than what she expected. Still, that didn't mean the mall was empty but with the efforts of their 'escorts' (who Sophia pretended not to see), most people gave them wide berth and few stared while standing at a distance. Sophia snuck glances at Elijah and could guess exactly what he thought at current. After his proposition to reserve the mall and go another time was graciously turned down, she could tell he thought it... unfortunate.

Evangeline was having the time of her life, high on sugar from the sweet tea and small cup of icecream she had on the way here and Amelia was ever so calculating. Her eyes zeroed in on their surroundings with a very special glint, most likely searching for the best shop to drag them into.

The mall was wide, and spacious and they already took the glass elevator up to the third level where Sophia guessed more of the high end shops were situated.

Elijah looked...disinterested. Noticing this, Sophia sent an elbow 'gently' into his side, getting his attention.

"At least pretend you're having a good time," she smiled, holding her vanilla fudge out for him to take a bite. He looked at it and then at her and later Elijah did so under her gaze that seemed to hold a threat if he refused.

"I'm having a good time Sophia," He confessed with that same dead expression on his face.

"Really?"

"Yes really."

"-And you arent thinking of that laptop?" Sophia quirked a brow at him.

"Absolutely..not, in fact I haven't seen my sisters in a while, this is good."

Sophia stared at his blank expression for some seconds then dropped the subject and looked away. She then bumped into Evangeline who stopped directly infront of her.

Evangeline was staring at the pastry cafe some shops down, simply thinking with a very pensive look on her face. Amelia turned and quickly noticed her gaze, she later hissed. "Hey no! Were already going to pastry king afterwards-" she pulled her sister who's legs seemed to be firmly dug into the ground until they all passed the brightly colored cafe.

"Were here to shop, little Ava, ah- let's stop here-!"

Before Sophia could butt in, both turned into the store they were all just passing. It was a clothing store that had glass windows and mannequins displayed. Amelia excitedly dragged Evangeline and Sophia evebtually had to leave Elijah's side to catch up with them.

Elijah stared up the the huge glowing name in bold cursive, the name of the store was at the top, just a few feet above the glass doors. It must've been a very popular brand, he thought, since Amelia ignored many others and chose to stop here. He didnt step inside though, he only waited. Sure enough, only a minute later, a very bashful girl came out shortly afterwards.

Amelia after entering, immediately realized her error but the solution was in range so she quickly rushed back out without saying anything to Sophia. She didn't speak mostly because she knew she didnt have to.