Chapter 111: Hey, you’re in my way
They walked for a while and finally got out of the suspicious area and were out in the open.
The snow had stopped a while back, so the walk was had snow, but it wasn’t impossible to walk through. It wasn’t that much so they could walk over it without problems.
"What did you say you wanted to buy?" Alyssa asked.
"Journals." Michael answered. "Or a diary, whichever works."
He’d have gone for a journal for Noah since a diary did not fit his sophistication. Something like that.
"I don’t think there are any stores open." Alyssa said, looking around at the closed stores.
"What do you mean? There are a lot of people who would try to earn a few bucks even on a day like this." Michael said, glancing towards the Doctor. "It doesn’t matter what day it is. There’s always a need to earn extra."
"Hm, I guess so." Alyssa said.
"Let’s just keep walking. We might find one."
Alyssa nodded, and they continued walking, but then Michael sneezed.
As soon as he sneezed, Alyssa’s eyes grew in shock.
"Hey, don’t look at me like that. It’s just a small sneeze. Nothing’s wrong." He said but how was Alyssa supposed to believe that it was no big deal?
They had been walking around in this cold weather for far too long.
Michael knew Alyssa would start nagging him so he decided to change the topic and get her to talk about something else.
"By the way, Alyssa, what do you usually do on days like this?" Michael asked.
"You’re trying to change the topic, aren’t you?" She asked, her eyebrows knitted together and Michael darted his eyes away.
How was she sharp when it came to things like this?
"I know but I’m curious." He said. "You don’t seem like the festive type but maybe you like celebrating Christmas."
"Well, I used to." Alyssa said. "But that was in the past. It’s just like what other day to me now."
Hm, it seemed like she had a past she didn’t want to talk about. Was it a lover?
Well, he had no plans to pry. He just wanted to get her off her back concerning his sneeze.
"Then what about you, doc?" Michael asked and he sneered.
"Huh? Why should I tell you anything?" He asked and Michael laughed. Sure enough, he expected this.
"Just say it. It’s either a yes or a no." He said but Doctor Ro looked unbothered, smoking his cigarette to keep his insides warm.
"Would someone who celebrates Christmas be found in his workplace till the dead of the night?" He asked and Michael turned away.
"So, that’s a no." He said. "Well, I guess we’re all in the same boat."
"You have a thing with Christmas?" Alyssa asked and Michael simply smiled.
"Oh, I think I see a store over there. Let’s head there." He said, walking ahead but Alyssa stayed put for a while, wondering about it.
If Michael has a thing about Christmas then why were they eating cake earlier? She assumed they were celebrating.
Ah, maybe they were indeed celebrating but not Christmas.
"Hey, you’re in my way." Doctor Ro said and Alyssa snapped out of her thoughts.
Michael had gone ahead, which was dangerous so she hurried after him, leaving Ro to take his sweet time catching up.
Fortunately, it was a bookstore. Why a bookstore was opened on Christmas day, he did not know, but it was his luck. He didn’t need to keep searching now that he had gotten what he was after.
"Thank you." Michael said as he took the journals from the salesperson.
They had grey leather backs, and the pages were pretty, too. Made it enjoyable to write on.
He smiled with glee.
"You can call a ride now." He said to Alyssa, who did not waste time taking out her phone.
Since inside the store was warm, they decided to wait there.
Michael looked around the bookshelves.
Since he was jobless, he had Noah take his time, and before they knew it, the day had already gone dark. But without Noah, his days would be filled with endless boredom so he decided to pick up a hobby.
He did think of gardening, but his house wasn’t suited to raising plants. Then, he thought about pet keeping but felt he would be too lazy to get up to feed them every single meal time. Even if he bought an automatic feeder, it would still be such a hassle.
And he wasn’t exactly a pet person.
The last time he picked up a dog from the streets, he ended up seeing a man on his bed the next morning so no thanks.
He shoved the thoughts of getting a hobby aside for a while, but now that he was in a bookstore, he wondered if he could start reading books.
’I think I’ll sleep off before I finish the first Chapter.’ He thought to himself.
He remembered how he picked up a novel during his school days but slept off after the first page.
It wasn’t that the book was boring but he somehow slept off. His environment might’ve had a hand in his dozing off, but since then, he hadn’t tried to pick up a novel to read.
"Are you interested in books, mister?" Alyssa asked.
"Hm, somewhat." Michael answered as he took a look at the cover of the book he drew out.
"Then, that means you’re a beginner. Want me to recommend a few books?" She asked as she got up from where she was sitting.
"You’re a reader?"
"I take my time." She said and started looking through the shelves. "Since you’re a beginner, I’ll find something that spikes interest from the first Chapter."
While they were doing this, Doctor Ro watched.
He was frustrated. He couldn’t even smoke his cigarette because they were in a book store.
He watched them. They looked pathetic, trying to pick out a book and let their guard down next to someone who could potentially put a knife in their neck simply because he gave them his word and they held his thing of interest.
’Seriously, what am I doing?’ he wondered.
He would rather be caught dead drinking booze than be an escort for a werewolf warrior who seemed like a kid out in the fields for the first time and then the female of an Alpha.
If he wanted to be an escort then he would’ve just worked as a rogue mercenary all this while. The cash was easy but the jobs might be too much for him since he didn’t exactly like a lot of noise.
"Oh, I think this is nice." He heard Alyssa’s voice and sighed.
In any case, he was still a doctor. A gynecologist, and knowing that an expecting mother was looking for a book to while away time gave him an idea.
He got up and walked towards the other shelves, looked through their titles, and then found the one he was after.
"Are you sure this is alright?" Michael asked Alyssa, flipping the pages and she nodded.
"Yeah, trust me. It’s really good. You’re into romance, right?" She asked and Michael nodded.
It would be nice if she got tips on how to tackle his current situation with the words he found in books. After all, it seemed like his life was a written novel, haha.
But then a book appeared before him and he turned to find Doctor Ro. He placed the book right in front of his face and then said,
"That’ll be an extra 100." He said. "My advice doesn’t come free."
"Hey, no one asked you to..." Alyssa was going to flare at his obnoxious charges but then paused. Ah, she was getting worked up again.
Michael told her to ignore him if she couldn’t reason his actions in a different light than she was already doing.
Then, she looked at the book.
Why would he charge money for handing a book to him? She was sure he just picked out any book that looked nice and...
She silently gasped as she saw the title of the book.
"A guidebook for expecting mothers." Michael muttered. "Jeez, just what I needed, I guess."
He had a little smile played on his lips. Seeing this right now reminded him once again that he wasn’t a normal human being and he had a baby growing in his belly.
He... He needed this because he would definitely panic when things that he didn’t understand started happening.
And worse of all when he wouldn’t have Noah next to him during those times.
"Where did you get this from?" Michael asked.
"If you pay me an extra fifty, I’ll point you in the direction." Doctor Ro said adj Alyssa clicked her tongue, going off to the section.
"It’s right here, mister." She said and Michael nodded.
He was looking for a particular book.
Since these books for were pregnant women, he felt he would find the one he was looking for.
His eyes glanced through the books and then Alyssa’s phone beeped.
"Oh, our ride is here." She said as she saw the notification.
At that point, Michael found what he was looking for and smiled, taking it out as he made his way to the salesperson to pay for them.
"Thank you." Once again, he thanked them and then turned to Alyssa. "Then, shall we get going?" He asked.
Alyssa was stunned.
The book he had picked, why did he pick it?
’How to cope with a pregnancy as a single mother?’
Alyssa was yet to know the circumstances of Michael and Noah’s relationship and how they would have to be separated for a long time, so Michael was simply getting prepared.
The words from a book wouldn’t be enough, obviously, but he felt that if he had at least known a thing or two, it wouldn’t be too hard on him.
