“Okay fine,” Hawk settled, a bit shocked by her revelation. She wants to become a ballerina so she can end up being a dance teacher in a remote small village? That probably was not the most impractical answer one could ever give but it was sensible and humble that Hawk respected it. He didn’t argue anymore because he didn’t want to offend her. Besides her dream wasn’t his, so he basically can neither dictate nor convince her of the things that she wanted to achieve in the future.

There was a moment of silence at their table after that. Hawk felt a bit awkward with the lack of conversation but then seeing how the two other people at the table were occupied and overjoyed with their own bowl of soup, he too dug in on his. He already had a taste earlier but didn’t give it much thought as he was too conscious to even raise his spoon for the second time. However, seeing the girl and his father eating freely without care of the world, he decided he’ll just follow their example. He gave his soup some attention like the other too was doing and at first taste, he could already tell it was beyond ordinary. It was also addicting that in just a span of minutes, Hawk already finished his.

​​

“This is so good–burp!” Hawk didn’t mean to make such an impolite sound at the table and immediately he blushed out of embarrassment. “I’m…I’m sorry..”

Just then the girl let go of a loud guffaw. She had seen how Hawk’s face went crimson and because he had a pale complexion, the blush ran obvious in his face, “Your nose is burning red like rudolph the rednosed reindeer! Ha ha ha!”

“My little girl, stop teasing your friend!” His father chided her but she continued laughing. Shaking his head he turned to Hawk, tapped his head and assured him, “It’s okay lad.The food was really so good. It can’t be helped,”

“Thank you for the meal. It’s really delicious and the meat is awesome, I wonder what kind of meat they used for this,” Hawk gratefully complimented, not anymore bothered by the girl’s laugh. He had never tasted such kind of meat before even though their mansion’s cook always made sure they had the best food. So he wondered by then how rare could that meat be that their family cannot afford it.

The girl and his father looked at each other in amusement with Hawk’s words. The girl, still laughing called off his attention and said, “It’s not meat lad,”

“Not meat? So what are they? Some kind of vegetables? Wow, such an interesting menu!” He replied innocently that the girl almost had another round of hard laugh at it. “Tell me what it is, I want to know!”

“It’s the cow’s balls and intestines,” She revealed, giving the boy a wink as if it was nothing. She then fixed her gaze to him, awaiting his reaction.

Hawk’s stomach immediately felt some fluttery as soon as he heard it and he was just so thankful he didn’t vomit in an instant. He looked down at his clean bowl and regretted he finished it.

“Well, it wasn’t as bad as I thought,” He lied, shutting off the girl’s attempt to tease him further. His tone was neutral then, hiding every inch of disgust with the food he recently took. Good thing his mouth remembered how delicious it was so his insides wanted to give it a pass.

“Well looks like it’s officially your favorite too,” The girl tried one last tease “Next time, I’ll make sure to order two bowls,”

Her threat made Hawk’s beamed with some sweats and she grinned at the expression that etched his face.

***

After the meal, the trio explored the festival and Hawk already forgot about his upset stomach. They went from stall to stall, looking into the goods that were sold off and some entertainment. When they were done window shopping, they watched the local musicians play some music and danced together with the villagers who were there. They were also lucky enough to have watched a puppet show for free and tried some free games the festival offers. It was such a happy day and many fun things kept them occupied until the sun had finally worn its end.

Soon, Hawk and the girl were already on the back of a horse as the girl’s father guided it through the path home. They were happily singing on the rocky street until it was time for them to part ways.

“We’re heading this way lad,” The girl’s father pointed to the left while Hawk’s home was on the right. “Little girl, say goodbye to your friend,”

Hawk mounted down the horse carefully and waved the girl goodbye. “Tomorrow again,”

“See yah,” She replied, also waving. The girl’s father then charged the horse to the path they were heading. They were riding at a slow pace as if taking all their time on the road and Hawk watched them as they went along.

Some kind of curiosity rushed within him as he wondered where and what kind of home the two lived in. For a moment, he thought it was a bad idea to follow them specially that darkness was already looming in and his butler might have been worried about him by now.

However, the curiosity within him cannot be tamed anymore and he just found himself following the two as they head home. They passed by many streets and houses and Hawk could only guess which one was theirs however, surprisingly, the two went through all the village residences and headed for a big clearing.

Hawk’s brow raised at it.

“Their house is somewhere in the open?” He thought and when he looked further, his jaw dropped. There at the end of the greenery stood a house, not a house but a mansion in full white and it stood in such grandiose that Hawk felt so little at it.

“They live there?” he asked himself, the end of his eyebrows met. “There’s that kind of mansion in this village? Whoah!”

Hawk attempted to walk in the clearing to follow them further but before he could, someone grabbed him and he shrieked.

“Hey! Let go of me!” Hawk protested.