Blake had locked the door to his house, and we were all sat in the car with Blake driving us to this 'surprise' place. To say that I was surprised by Blake's sudden kiss would be an understatement. While Blake was in the shower, I had asked Chris why his dad was acting so weird. Unable to answer properly because of his laughing fit state, all I got was "Daddy and I made a deal, but I can't tell you because it's a boy's secret".

It all made sense with that. Blake did it for Chris. I close my eyes and mentally groan. Why do I always think and wish there might be something more. Chris is the only one between us. Without him there's nothing. Don't forget that Jackie.

When I open my eyes, I find Blake turning onto a familiar street. Auntie's house. "Lottie's coming with us?" I ask with excitement.

"Nope," Blake answers, looking back at the giggling Chris through his rear-view mirror.

"So is Lottie's place supposed to be the surprise place...?" I ask, trying to get some sort of information out of him as he pulls into her driveway.

"No again." He answers, putting the car in park with the engine running. He takes off his seatbelt and gets out of the car, going around it. I, too, take off my seatbelt and open the door to get out of the car. Blake, however, closes the door back on me.

He opens Chris's door and undoes his seatbelt buckle as he tells me "Stay put, I'll be right back" He grabs Chris and his little backpack, taking him to the front door after closing the car door.

What is happening? Was Chris not coming with us? Maybe he wanted to tell me something regarding Chris and couldn't say it in front of him. It can't be... about his parents... could it?

Unknowingly, I grab my hands and start squeezing them. I see Blake making his way towards the car, looking around on the street. My phone buzzes and I check it. A message from Lottie.

Have fun! Don't be dumb. Enjoy your time. Talk properly so you're close together every morning! ;)

I feel my cheeks heating up at the thought, but I can't help but scoff. I don't think she knows what's about to happen.

"You're so off Lottie" I murmur, turning over my phone and looking down. I squeeze my hands as if they'll help me prepare for what's to come. The constant thought of Chris leaving burning my eyes.

Blake opens the door and gets in the car, putting his seatbelt on. He puts the gear in reverse and puts his hand behind my seat head, looking behind him and reversing. He goes to change the gear once again but stops. "You ok?" He moves the curtain of my hair with his finger, trying to get a better look at my face.

I blink several times to get rid of the tears that were filling up before looking at him "hmm? Yeah. I'm fine. I'm good" I answer him, squeezing my hands tighter.

His eyes shift towards my lap and look at me with his eyebrows furrowed, examining my face. He grabs my hands, forcing me to stop squeezing my hands. He looks up at me and stares deep into my eyes and letting out a chuckle, lightening the mood in the car "Chris is fine, nothing happened to Chris. From this moment on, until we pick Chris back up, it's not about him." He lightly rubs his thumb on my hands, causing me to relax. He had a weird comforting feeling about himself.

As Blake lets go of my hand and goes back to driving again, I can't help but wonder: If it's not Chris, then what is about?

About half an hour later, Blake pulls into the parking lot of a place I've been to before. "Isn't this-?" I start to ask Blake, but he cuts me off by answering what would have been my follow-up question. "I told you we'll come here earlier one day, so you can look at all the shops."

Blake turns off the engine and gets out of the car, confirming that this is indeed the place we are getting off. I unbuckle my seatbelt, but before I can open the door, Blake opens it for me.

"Thank you..." I tell him, cautiously, still unsure of what was going through his mind.

"I was thinking we could go hiking, but I don't think those shoes are cut out for it," Blake tells me with a smile. He closes the car door behind me and locks the car. Swinging his arm around my neck and pulling me closer to him. "You look really pretty, Jackie" He looks down at me.

"Uh- thank you" I face the ground and follow his lead towards the Bazaar.

Could Lottie be right? No-no, he's doing this for Chris. Chris did say he made a deal with Blake. This was probably part of it.

Not wanting to misinterpret his and Chris's deal with something else and embarrass me, I put a little distance between Blake and me. As we roamed through the bazaar, there were various different types of mini shops. Some were selling clothes, some were selling food, some with kitchen appliances, some decorations, and others miscellaneous items.

"They all have such wonderful things," I tell Blake as we stop by one of the shops to see they were selling candles. I pick up a white-coloured candle with yellow specs, bringing it closer to my nose to smell it. Coconut and pineapple. My nose scrunches up in disgust as I put it back down.

"What, you don't like it?" Blake laughs, picking up the same candle, and sniffing it. "It smells nice"

"It's too fruity for me," I tell him, picking up a pink coloured candle, and smelling it.

"Then what kind do you like?" He asks, placing back the candle. I hold out the pink candle to him. "Like this one. More floral, woody scents. Oh, and those clean scents" I tell him, smiling.

"Clean scents?" He asks, giving back the pink candle. I grab it and placing it back, grabbing a plain white one, giving it a sniff.

"Like this, clean cotton"

"That is nice"

"You should get a candle," I tell him, looking through the different collections this shop had.

"I don't use candles." Blake crosses his arms, looking around, seeming like he wanted to leave.

I pick up a black candle with the label Cedar Lavender and give it a sniff. "This one. It's perfect for you. Candles are amazing for relaxing" I hold out the candle for him. He looks back at me, debating if I was being serious to himself. He chuckles to himself before bending down and smelling it. "And why's that perfect for me?" He asks.

"That clean yet woody smell. It reminds me of you." Still bent down at my eye level with his arms crossed, he stares into my eyes, searching for something. He smiles at me then nods, taking the candle from my hands. Walking over to a different section of the shop, he starts picking up multiple candles and putting them back. While Blake smelled the various candles, I look through them on my own as well, trying to find Lottie's favourite.

This one! I pick up a sea blue coloured candle, Moonlight cove, Lottie's favourite. I go to the shop owner to pay for it. As he handed me the candle in a bag, I look around the shop. Blake was nowhere to be found. I look outside, and he was standing right outside, with a bag identical to mine in his hand, as he typed away on his phone. I can't help but smile.

"You got it?" I ask him. He nods with a smile. I can't help but grin at the fact he accepted my recommendation.

"What did you get?" He asks, gesturing towards my bag.

"Moonlight cove for Lottie," I tell him, taking the candle out of the bag and letting him smell it.

"Zesty" Blake answers. I nod as-a-matter-of-factly before placing the candle back in the bag. He takes out a candle from his bag "This is for you" He holds it out to me.

I look up at him. "For me? Why?" I ask him confused.

He smirks before answering "It reminds me of you." I take the candle from his hand, curious to know what smell reminds me of him. The label said Summer Daydream. It was a warm yet sweet scent of a few different flowers, but I could definitely smell Jasmine. I let out a chuckle. "I remind you of Jasmines?" I ask curiously.

"It's actually exotic ylang-ylang, bergamot, and jasmine," He tells me as a matter of factly. I can't help but wonder how he knew the names of these different plants, let alone the smells. "It says on the label" He turns the candle in my hands and points to the label. "But yeah, definitely Jasmine, do you like it?"

"Yeah, it smells amazing, thank you" I smile at him. He takes the candle from my hand and places it back in the bag. He also grabs the bag in my hand, holding it together with the other.

"I'll hold it, it's fine," I tell him, reaching my hand out to grab the bag back.

He grabs my hand instead, holding it before gently tugging me forward as he starts walking "To the next shop we go"

We spent our time at various shops, mostly browsing. There were some amazing home decors and small witty kitchen gadgets, but we didn't buy much. So far, we had only bought the candles, and Blake had bought an action figure of a character named Shota Aizawa from some show called My Hero Academia for Caden. Apparently, he collects action figures of characters from his favourite anime shows. He didn't strike me as the type.

We had gotten some freshly squeezed juices in the middle as well. This whole day was weird. I had tried to bring up the topic of Chris hoping to find out what deal they made that resulted in Blake bringing me here, but somehow Blake would divert the conversation. I couldn't help but wonder whether he was hiding something from me or not.

"What would be your perfect date?" He turns to me, asking out of the blue. Confusion struck me as I wondered where this was coming from.

"My perfect date...?"

"Yeah, What would you describe as your perfect date?" Being with you. I could feel my cheeks heat up at the thought. You really need to get over this, Jackie. I mentally groan.

"I don't know... But I think a little paint picnic at a park is kind of cute." I bit on my lip, embarrassed by what I said. Blake was definitely going to laugh.

He smiles at me "So, you grab your favourite snacks and drinks and just paint together at a park?" He looked at me intently.

"Yeah" Just like I thought, he laughed. But it wasn't a laugh that made me feel bad. Instead, it brought butterflies to my stomach. It was a sweet laugh, almost appreciative.

"What about you?" I reluctantly ask him.

He once again laughed "Why? Do you plan on asking me out on a date?"

"What- no! I was just asking" My head lowered to the ground, out of embarrassment. I saw his shoes step closer to me.

"Being with the girl I like" He says, forcing me to look up. "That's my perfect date, doesn't matter what we do. I just want to be with her" his smile caught me off guard, my breath was stuck in my throat.

The girl he liked. I wonder who had the pleasure. Alexa? Either way, she was one lucky girl.

It was almost evening and we were on our way to a food stall when a shop catches my eyes. "Blake, wait," I tell him, stopping in front of the shop. Blake walks towards me as I glance at their collection. They had various cute pieces of jewelry; rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, anklets, you name it. They also had different keychains.

"Hello there!" The shop owner greeted us. We both smile back at him, greeting him back. "How can I help you kids today?"

"We're just looking around," Blake tells him politely.

"Well, I know you guys are just looking, but I think this would be just perfect for you two," He tells us, looking around and picking up a heart split in the middle. "Two halves of one heart". I couldn't help but cringe. His intention was nice, but the whole two halves of one heart idea were tacky.

"Oh, no but thank you" I smile at him.

"Then how about this?" He places the heart back down and picks up a ying-yang necklace. "Black for the female, white for the male. Perfect for the perfect couple" He gestures towards us. Couple?! How did I not catch that with the heart? I mentally facepalm.

I glance at Blake quickly before turning to the owner "Oh, no sir, we're not together." The owner glances at Blake before placing the necklace down and chuckling to himself "You'll understand one day sweetheart" He smiles at me.

Unsure of what he meant and feeling a little uncomfortable, I change the topic "Do you have anything for friends? Maybe in like fours?" I ask him.

"Fours?" Blake asks me.

"Yeah, me, you, Lottie, and Caden," I tell him, to which Blake scrunches his face in disgust.

"No way! We're definitely not doing that! Thank you for your time, sir" Blake gives the owner a nod before grabbing my hand, getting ready to lead me away from the store.

"Wait, no, why? It'll be cute!" I try to reason, grabbing his hand, to let go of mine.

"I'm not going to share something like that with Caden, that's just weird!" He, once again, scrunches his nose in disgust. I can't help but laugh at his discomfort and accept his reasoning.

I turn back to the owner "Well, do you have anything in a pair of three?" I ask him.

"Three? You're really going to leave Caden out of this?" Blake questions.

"No, not Caden. You" Childishly, I stick my tongue out at him. "I know Caden will appreciate my gesture."

"You're lying!" he steps in front of me, looking at me, trying to see if I was being serious. I couldn't help but giggle, knowing he didn't want to be left out.

"It's for me, you, and Chris," I tell him, to which his face softens and gives me a smile. Blake once again stands beside me, waiting for the owner to show us something.

"Oh? Who's Chris?" the shop owner asks, as he tries to find something in a pair of three.

"He's...." I was about to say our kid but decide against it given the situation and the lack of time "a very special kid to us. I love him with all my heart" I tell the owner.

"Yeah," Blake agrees before adding "he's been very lucky for me" He tries to joke with the owner, glancing at me.

The owner thinks for a moment. "I have just the thing for you, but it is in fours." He tells us, taking out a box and opening it to show us. "A four-leaf clover. It represents luck," he looks at Blake as he had said Chris was lucky for him "Love," he looks at me "Hope," he looks between the two of us, "and Faith" He fixes the leaves, so they were lying straighter.

Blake and I, both stare at the four leaves. Each leaf was separated from the other but came together as one. The leaves were pendants, dangling on their own silver chains. Each leaf was silver with a faint green lining, and a small gem attached near the endpoint. Each of the four gems a different colour; pink, white, blue and yellow. The rough edges gave it the perfect touch of a unisex piece.

"Do you know what the colours represent?" The owner asks us. I shake my head no, before looking at Blake to see him doing the same. The owner then starts explaining, pointing to each colour that he describes "White is the colour for purity and innocence. For peace and simplicity. Pink symbolizes love and romance. Pink is the colour of someone who's caring and tender. Blue, blue means loyalty and trust, peace, and security. And yellow. Yellow signifies joy, happiness, hope, idealism, and imagination. Anything is possible with yellow"

There was something about the necklace that I couldn't look away. The more I looked at the necklace, the more I thought of Chris. It made me feel whole.

"If you guys don't like it, I'll show you something else. But I don't know how much of the threes I have left in stock." The owner goes to close the box before Blake butts in "No, we'll take it"

After much arguing and much to Blake's dismay, we split the bill in half. The owner puts it in a bag before handing it to me and turning towards Blake "Hope it brings you luck, son". Blake laughs at his comment before shaking his hand and saying "thanks, I'll need it"

Unaware of the inside joke that seemed to be happening, I smile at the owner "Enjoy the rest of your day" I walk out of the store, Blake following me. He, once again, grabs the bag from my hand as we make our way to the food stalls.

We were sitting on a bench, the stuff we bought in between us. The hot dogs we bought were well in our stomachs, and we sat there sipping on our drinks. "Mm, I almost forgot. Hold this" Blake sits up, placing his drink in my free hand. He takes out a box from one of the bags, opening it. He puts a finger on his chin as if he was thinking deeply, looking back and forth between me and the four necklaces. "Ok, turn around" He spins his finger.

I do so, asking "Shouldn't Chris get first to pick?"

"Nope, I do," He says. I feel my hair sliding and gathering on my right shoulder. Blake's hands come into view as he holds the chain and places it around my neck, fastening the necklace clasp. I look down, curious to see which colour he put on. Pink, of course. I quietly snort.

"Ok, pick one for me," Blake says eagerly as I turn back around. I pretend as if I'm in deep thought. However, the blue kept reminding me of Blake. "Blue," I tell him. He smiles at me, grabbing the necklace and throwing it over his head.

"I could've done that too," I tell him, flatly. He smiles at my comment, shifting his attention to moving one of the pendants onto the other chain. With one chain now holding two pendants and one empty chain, Blake closes the box and puts it back in the bag.

"So, you think I'm loyal and trustworthy and peaceful, and secure, huh?" He asks with a smirk, taking his drink back and taking a sip.

"No, the colour just suited you," I tell him, him almost spitting out his drink at my comment.

"Seriously, Jackie? I thought you were giving it proper thought to see which suited me" He sulks jokingly.

"So, are you saying that you think I'm caring and tender?" I ask, almost in disgust. Out of all the things, there were, I didn't want to be seen as just caring and tender... that sounds so... soft

"And other things" Blake glances at me through the corner of his eyes, slightly facing me. He takes a deep breath before speaking again "I wanted to talk to you today. Just you and me. There are a few things I need to tell you."

My stomach turned as he turned towards me, gazing at me. "Sure, what's up?" Here comes the moment I was dreading. There was something definitely up with Chris. He avoided his topic the whole day.

As Blake started speaking again, my phone rang, I looked down at my phone to check the caller ID. "I-"

"It's Officer Clay" I cut Blake off. A cloud of annoyance yet concern washes over his face as I pick up the call and mouth a 'sorry' to him.

"Jackie, I've been trying to reach Blake, but it keeps going to voicemail. Anyways, I'm going to need you to bring Chris down to the police station. It's his parents."