Every love has a story. How you first met. Who said the first word.
Even mine does.
Seven o'clock is not the time anyone will think of falling in love. But as our worlds collided, we did just that. In a moment...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER 16
I pushed the cart, carefully going across the aisles. I was usually the one keeping tabs on what we needed at home. In our family, grocery shopping only happened once in a while. It was so random that I had to make sure that we wouldn't forget anything important while we were here.
"Kath, you already have two chocolate bars," I reminded her.
Kath slowly turned to me, lifting her head. She was still wearing her light pink skirt and white tights that she had used for her ballet lessons earlier this afternoon, only placing a lightweight jacket over it. With a small, mischievous smile, she put the chocolate-coated marshmallows inside the cart.
"Katharine," I heard my mom say from behind me. Even with Mom scolding her, Kath didn't readily give in. Her lips turned into a firm line, some form of determination. Mom continued, "Look, honey, we have an agreement that you can only take one chocolate bar or snack, but just one. Leave the rest."
My little sister frowned a bit, getting the ones she didn't like and placing them back on the shelf. I could almost never say no to what Katharine wanted, but Mom had always been good at disciplining her. The chocolate-coated marshmallows and milk chocolate bar didn't make it to the counter. Instead, she got her favorite snack that got biscuits on one side and a chocolate dip in a small compartment inside.
"What else do we need, Ela?" Mom asked me.
I checked the list again, trying to decipher my penmanship. This supermarket trip was so unplanned that I had to make the list while we were on our way here. After a while, I finally figured out what I'd written on the intermediate paper. "We still need to get some fabric conditioner, orange juice, and ketchup."
"Let's go. Patrick's on his way here," she informed us.
Tonight, we were going to have dinner with Patrick and Laurine. It was not something I could easily back out of, since there was a reservation at a fine dining restaurant. Laurine would also come. It was some kind of compromise between her and Patrick, so that she would be free to do whatever she wanted before school would start next month.
For the past week since she'd moved here, Laurine mostly spent her free time with Athan, helping him out with his part-time jobs and just spending time together. I would sometimes hear about it when she visited her father's clinic, because she would always end up going to my desk and endlessly talking about random things.
"Kath," I suddenly called my sister's attention. When she turned her head back, I pointed to the purse that she had dropped on the floor. It was in the shape of ballet flats, which was also her favorite thing lately. She picked it up, dusting it carefully.
Kath had been attending ballet classes since the start of the summer, after she saw it on her favorite TV show. When she gave us a flyer from a nearby dance studio, it completely surprised us. It was an unusual request from Katharine, because, for the last four years, she seldom wanted to go out and meet other people.
