5 Chapter 5: The Capital's Mall

Chapter 5: The Capital's Mall

I stood up and approached Runi. I massage her shoulders. “C’mon, Runi. We’ve traveled from a long way. And you know, meeting the General is a serious thing. I am stressed over it. And plus I just really want to go to the mall,” I said.

Runi turned to me and took a deep breath. “Fine, Young Lady. But just this once.”

“I just want to have all the fun before meeting my future husband,” I replied with a twinkle in my eye.

After a few minutes, Runi and I were already dressed in casual clothes. Runi was dressed in a gray cardigan over a white halter top, maong shorts, and white-flip flops while I am dressed in a red blouse and high-waist shorts. We were both wearing dolls shoes. From afar, we just like look like two Capital girls in casual clothing.

Runi and I scouted the area to see how we could evade the General’s men or Marcial. We tiptoed in getting out of the room. A soldier passed by and we immediately hid behind a statue.

When the guard completely passed by, we tiptoed hurriedly and located the wall fence at the garden. Runi climbed over first and then was helping me to get to the other side by pulling my arms.

“Almost there, Young Lady!” Runi yelled a little at the other side.

“Okay, just keep pulling me—

And then someone yanked my shirt and pulled me to his chest.

Marcial. My pupils dilated as I am staring into his eyes. In contrast to how welcoming his eyes were a while ago, his eyes were now beaming of suspicion.

“Young lady! Are you alright there? Why have you let go of my hands?”

“And where are you going, Natalia?” Marcial asked.

I pulled back from him, remembering how he merely dismissed my pleas just half an hour ago. “I wanted to go to the mall to buy something,” I lied.

“Natalia, why couldn’t you just buy it later? The General has arrived,” he said while looking intently at me.

He looked at both sides of our surroundings for any spectator. “You are the reason why he has arrived earlier here. I heard that he dismissed his meeting earlier just to meet you before sundown.”

As warm and considerate the General seems like, I am still not prepared to see him right now. “Marcial, please let me go out for a while. I promise,” I placed my right hand up in the air. “I will go home before sundown, in time to eat dinner with General.”

Marcial’s eyebrows knitted for a second while thinking. He relaxed a little as I poked his nose. “Please keep your word, Natalia. Or else my head is on the platter if you don’t return before sundown.”

I nodded.

I was back to climbing over the wall wiith Marcial assisting me this time. He says, “But I could only be re-assured if I will send two guards to follow you while you’re are the mall.”

I rolled my eyes without him seeing. “Fine.”

Runi and I were experts of evading obnoxious guards anyways.

*

It was my first time with Runi to go strolling inside a Capital’s mall. We haven’t really visited many places as we were both frequently confined at home. Since Runi was an orphan, she didn’t go home to her hometown either.

We rode a taxi in getting to a mall. We passed by large malls that almost touched the heavens. I have read in the books and browsed pictures from the internet about the Capital’s skyrocketing malls. And truly, it didn’t disappoint me.

But there was one thing I failed to research about. It didn’t occur to me that their taxi fares were too expensive and that it took us forty-five minutes just to get to the mall!

“We were lucky to have only lasted forty-five minutes this time,” the taxi driver even told us as we descended.

Back in the countryside, it only took ten to fifteen minutes to go anywhere. Back home, it’s a one-horse town where all establishments surround the town square, so you don’t need to ride another taxi just to get to another place again.

In the Capital, there were buildings everywhere but most of it were for various offices and not for hardware shops or farmer’s markets just like at home.

I could even see a lot of jeepneys here.

There were only a few jeepneys back home, and most of them were owned by merchants to transport their vegetables and fruits from one market to another.

The difference with jeepneys in the Capital is that it has a number system to get to a certain place. You could get to another location by riding the right jeepney with the right number plastered on its front. And it’s just too confusing for me.

The enormous malls have not disappointed me. The furnished spaces made up of brass and bronze were hollow when we we’ve entered.

The high ceilings were adorned with chandeliers and hanging lanterns made up of metal. All of it were emitting the brightest lights that could blind anyone if they would look straight at it.

The walls were also decorated with glass. I was captivated by the big posters revealing perfectly poised people who were holding perfumes, shampoos, and soaps.

And the people. I haven’t seen this much rushing people all around me. Some were dressed in uniforms. It’s too easy to recognize the nurses, teachers, bankers, engineers, students, and office workers. Others were also dressed casually especially the younger people. I could see that a lot of them were holding a beverage or holding tightly unto their bags.

Oh yeah. I know why most people are securely holding their bags because I’ve read about the thieves in the Capital. They usually prey on ladies’ bags, especially in crowded areas such as here.

“Young Lady,” Runi called as she grabbed my arm.

“Look!” She pointed at the center arena where a singing competition was going on.

“We should watch it!” I suggested.

We squeezed through the crowd and made it near the stage. The performer was singing a popular song that made the audience sing along while dancing in their places. I grinned widely and watched Runi’s bright face as we sang along with the crowd even if we don’t know the lyrcs.

So this is how it feels like to be in the Capital.

In the countryside, the places I could go to were the farmer’s market and the occasional dress shops with armed guards lurking behind me.

Back home, I’m proud to have a supermarket with a café inside of it, but it couldn’t compare to how grand the Capital’s malls actually are compared to our supermarket back home.

We could have continued singing when Runi noticed the guards that Marcial sent. “Young Lady, look.” She pointed at a direction.

I stopped singing and followed the direction to where Runi was pointing at.

Indeed, Marcial has sent two guards, who were even wearing their military uniform, to look after me.

I rolled my eyes. I could never escape guards. Not at my father’s house and definitely not at the General’s mansion.

“I hate having guards around,” I said. “It makes me feel like I’m a prisoner.”

“Well, we could just let them watch over us, Young Lady. It’s not like we’re doing something that might upset Lieutenant Marcial,” Runi suggested. She has always lived by following the orders of my father, and now with the rules by the General’s mansion. I’ve admired her for keeping me on check and for being the sane one between us.

But. I’m tired of being always on check my whole life. My whole life has always been filled with cotillions, using the right silverware, enduring wearing itchy laces, RSVPS, town hall meetings, and public policies.

I just want a free time of experiencing what the Capital’s malls feels like for any other girl even just for a few hours of not being the President’s daughter or the General’s future wife.

I just want to be Natalia Averona for once.

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