"What do you want?" I demanded, standing in that deserted alley, glowering at the silhouette with soft luminous eyes. My heart was digging against my sternum, and my breaths were uneven.

In response to my question, the silhouette unhurriedly but in a preying manner stalked towards me. He stopped after eating away all the significant distance between us. I could see his glowing eyes with more clarity from up this close. There was something eerily bestial about them that should make anyone run for the hills, but oddly I felt more drawn to them... to him.

"What do you want?" I reiterated when a ghostly silence plunged us two.

"Why did you run when you saw me?" Instead, he asked with an authoritativeness undertone as if I owed him an explanation.

"I didn't run when I saw you," I fibbed.

I ran because she'd have my head if Vittoria saw us together.

"Either way, you don't seem pleased to see me," He noted while he examined me ruminatively.

"Why do you think I should be pleased to see you?" I asked, crossing my arms on my chest and giving him a barbed stare. This intensified the pensiveness with which his inquisitive eyes studied me. They ephemerally scanned me from head to toe before looking me back in the eyes.

"Because I helped you twice and offered you a good employment opportunity," He pointed.

"I repaid the favour by saving your friend. Thanks for the opportunity, but I would have to decline politely," I responded, taking a step back whilst I was thinking of ways I could ditch him in the back of my head.

"The way you left wasn't precisely polite,"

"Ah, I apologise for that. I had to leave early in the morning because I had somewhere else to be. Thanks either way and goodbye," I said and turned away, hoping he would leave me alone, but he shattered my hopes by stepping beside me and, matching my steps, hinting at anything but leaving me alone.

"Where are you headed this time?" He asked, glimpsing down at my attire again, "Doesn't look like you're a healer anymore," He remarked while I felt his eyes burning at the side of my face. "Did you switch jobs again?"

"I might have," I muttered, taking a turn, and he followed me, "and seems like I'm not the only one to have switched jobs again," I pointed out. He dressed like someone from the guilds instead of a merchant this time.

He halted abruptly before looking down at his attire. He seemed to have been reminded of something suddenly, which made him snap and straighten up.

"Ah yes," His voice carried a tonality of uncertainty, but his cockiness soon masked it, "I had to switch jobs as well," He spoke as if reminding myself. I found it quite odd.

"I don't blame you. The job market is screwed these days," I played along.

"I agree," He nodded, "Somirean economy isn't doing well these days. The king is spending more on his army," He commented with this strange animosity in his tone that made me glance up at him again from the side of my eyes. His foreign traits screamed at me again.

"You seem to take too much interest in Somierea for being someone from a faraway land," I commented. I felt the air around us thicken with tension, but he quickly brushed this off, "I have someone dear in Somirea; hence I know,"

Someone dear. I wonder who it could be. Before I could ask, he asked, "What about you?"

"Ah, I work in the Royal household now," I fibbed.

"The Royal household?" He echoed. I couldn't ignore how he emphasised the word 'royal'.

"Yeah, I'm getting late. I should go now," I tried to brush it off, but he didn't seem to have any plans to leave me so quickly.

"Go where? We have been only taking lefts," He pointed. Technically, he was right. We were walking in circles in that small town. People were starting to look at us dubiously.

"Because you wouldn't leave me alone," I snapped as impatience started to creep into me. It had been a while since I was here with him. I was sure that Vittoria was looking for me in the market. She would be pissed if she failed to find me. The sudden change in my temper surprised him because he stopped and looked at me in disguised amusement.

"I wonder what you mean by that?" He mused out loud, almost as if he was mocking me. This thinned my patience further.

"You have been following me all this while, didn't you? Oh, you certainly were. Don't you pretend otherwise!" I accused, "You followed me here from the market!" I added before he could defend himself against the charges.

"I might have," He admitted with a pensive dubious look in his eyes, "I find our meetings odd,"

"I feel the same. I suggest we can make them less odd by not meeting at all," I suggested. He chuckled but shook his head. "I have to go now," I tried to walk away, but still, he followed me again.

"Are you going to leave me alone or not?" I hissed.

"Who were you calling after in the Market?" He continued to ask. I decided to start walking towards the market. There would be a crowd, and it would be easier to ditch him.

"My husband," I hissed, "He'll be furious if he doesn't find me there," I told him to get him off, but oh, this saying this was my biggest mistake.

"Wait, you're married?" He asked, dumbfounded as if I had told him that the moon was just an abyssal well of light in the night sky.

"If one has a husband, it implies that they're married. Don't you know how marriages work?" I snapped, edging the brink of toleration. We were by the market and seeing the crowd was starting to give me hope, but at the same time, it unnerved me to know that Vittoria was somewhere there, awaiting me.

"I'm surprised you're mentioning this now," He cleared, still sounding slightly taken aback. A hint of strain in his voice suggested that he didn't want to believe that I had a husband.

I must brush up on my lying skills.

"There's nothing to be surprised about a woman having a husband," I said.

"I'm surprised you have a husband," He almost sounded dejected, "Did you say he's waiting for you in the market?"

"Yes, he is. That's why I'm hurrying. Now, leave me alone," I ordered.

"It'd be disrespectful to leave you alone. I must escort you to your husband safely. I'm sure he'd be pleased to learn that I helped his beautiful wife twice," He beamed. I wanted to hit him across his face, but I resorted to glaring murderously.

"Naw, that wouldn't be needed. I've told him about you, and he says thank you. It would be best if you got going to your guild. You must have a lot of work to do there," I reminded him and proceeded to walk away. More and more people started surrounding us as we entered the market.

"Vittoria!" He called after me, and I froze. My first instinct was to look around frantically for that tyrant of a High Priestess and wonder how he knew her. But then I remembered that I had introduced myself as Vittoria to him.

"It was nice meeting you. Goodbye!" I waved as a flux of people surrounded us. Some of them were already pushing me away with them. As I was disappearing into the crowd, I saw a man approaching Nico.

"Ale—" The man froze midway as his gaze followed Nico's and froze on me. He studied me for a moment before stepping closer to Nico and saying something in his ear. Before I could read them properly, the crowd pushed me away from them. I headed towards the heart of the market. Vittoria should be waiting there, intending to murder me.

I glanced over my shoulder to ensure that Nico wasn't following me. I knew I had left him behind this time because I couldn't feel him following me. It was bizarre how I could feel his eyes on me without looking at him. I felt overwhelmingly conscious of everything in his presence.

I couldn't help but keep asking myself again and again— who was he?

It was clear that he wasn't a peasant, a merchant, or a member of a guild. This was our third meeting. My intuition told me that this wouldn't be my last meeting him. I should be more careful of him the next time.

By the time I reached the heart of the market, I was sweating and feeling anxious about meeting Vittoria. I didn't have to search for her when I got there. I found her.

She stood in a small clearing, glaring at me while people swarmed around her, avoiding her mystical, murderous glare. I stood there for a moment, contemplating if I should run away. I could always run away and live in a far off land with a new name and identity.

The idea was tempting, but the way Vittoria was glaring at me, I was certain she would come looking for me if I ran away. Our journey had just begun.

~