"No, I won't do it! I can't win a race Layla!"
"What do you mean you can't win a race?! Come onn, I know how fast you can run."
"Not as fast as these people! Some of them must be soldiers or hunters..or something… Either way, they are trained! Don't you understand?"
Layla click her tongue, "So? You might still win!"
"You have too much faith in me."
Layla rolls her eyes at that and then her expression changes as if she just had a genius idea .
"Well, it's my money."
"Still, no!" Hayel says, almost yelling.
"Ohhh come onn, just do it!"
'Oh god, how many times do I have to tell her no?' He rolls his eyes, starts walking away from her and shakes his head dramatically, "No way! I'm seriously not doing it!"
He actually doesn't really care about the fact that he will lose, however he doesn't want Layla to lose the money she will need to pay for him to participate. He also doesn't want to participate in something like a race since a lot of people will be watching. Just being outside gives him anxiety, he doesn't even want to think about having all those eyes looking in his direction.
Not to mention he constantly has to think about breathing like a normal human being, always reminding him of problems he might need to face in the future.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" She yells at him and grabs his sleeve to stop him.
Hayel clenches his fists and spins around, "I SAID NO!"
Shock fills Layla's face, she suddenly stops for a few seconds and her hand holding his sleeve tightens.
"WHY ARE YOU YELLING?!" She retorted.
And at the obviously perfect moment, Hayel sees someone approaching them.
He is tall, well-dressed, his brown hair neatly styled, confidence practically screaming from his being.
Layla, seemingly confused about the fact that Hayel is staring behind her, turns around to look.
As she recognizes the person, acting as if nothing happened just now, she exclaimes, "Oh, hi Max! What are you doing here?"
'Obviously he is here for the festival…' Hayel almost says that aloud but stops himself, deciding he will just watch things unfold.
"Hi Layla, I'm here for the race, so I came here to take a look. Are you here for that too?" He asked, seemingly unbothered about what he just probably saw.
Layla's smile grows faker and faker as she says,"Yes." She turns around to look at Hayel "But someone here doesn't want to participate."
Max's dark eyes linger on Hayel and then Layla as his smile grows wider, "Don't force him if he doesn't want to. Layla, why don't you run?"
'Yes! Yes! Tell her!'
"W-Well… I'm not fast enough!" She yells at Max and finally let's go of Hayel's sleeve.
Max laughs and suggests, "Well, why don't I run? And then I will give you the prize if I win."
Layla fidgets slightly, she then giggles, "Well… Then we will be cheering for you, right Hayel?"
'What is this bullshit?' However, happy that he doesn't have to run, he quickly nods his head, "Yes! We will!"
Max nods his head too and says, "Then I will go register now, you should go find a good spot."
"Okay, we are leaving then!" Layla quickly says and grabs Hayel again and pulls him towards the crowd.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Hayel, did you just hear that? He will give me the prize!" Layla whispers to him as they get further away from Max. It seems she forgot about the yelling contest they just had.
"Layla… could you please let go?" Hayel says, wincing.
"Ah, sorry!" Layla loosens her hand but doesn't fully let go because she starts dragging him through the crowd to get a better spot for the race.
After some time, and a few people cursing them out because Layla literally pushed them out of the way, they finally find a spot. It's not the best but since both of them are not short, they can still see everything clearly enough.
The place where the race will happen is on a town square that has a statue of a woman in a flowy dress, her right hand down holding a flower, her other hand positioned as if she is shielding her eyes from the sun.
At her feet lay a dozen beautiful blue flowers.
'He didn't say it, but he seemed quite confident that he will win the race. Well obviously, he is rich after all.. yes, he has probably trained something all his life.'
After thinking about it, he hesitates bit, but still decides to ask Layla, "Do you think he will win?"
"Um, well, I know he trains swordsmanship so I guess he is in a good shape." She turns towards Hayel,"Why?"
"Nothing, just asking. Also, you two seem quite familiar with each other now."
Layla laughs a bit awkwardly, "Well since you decided that being a madman was better than hanging out with me, me and Max started hanging out from time to time."
"Ah, really?" Hayel turns towards the contestants. "I guess you are happy about that, right?"
"Of course I'm happy, do you even have to ask?" Layla says with a smile.
"Just remember what I told you. Be careful, okay?" Hayel mutters without looking towards her, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"Yeah, yeah, I know already," Layla says, her voice growing distant to Hayel as he tries to calm himself down.
"Okay ladies and gentlemen! Here are the prizes!" A loud male voice yells and the crowd grows quiet.
The voice startles Hayel, enough for him to stop thinking about how many people there are around him. He looks towards the direction of the voice and sees a well dressed man, around 30 years of age turning around to grab something.
"Third place, we have a jade vase here! It's value stands at 3 gold! As for the second place, these silver earrings that stand at a price of 5 gold!"
The crowd grows louder as the phrases such as "5 gold?! If I knew this would be the prize this year, I would have trained for this!" and, "Wow, that's so much more than last year…" could be heard.
"Wow…" Layla says amazed.
"Okay, okay, calm down people! As for the first place…" The man waits for the crowd to quiet down a little,"They can either choose for the best private teacher in the city for the combat of their liking or get this gold necklace that has value of 10 gold!"
"WHAT?!"
"No fucking way! Is this for real?"
"There's no way!"
Hayel and Layla also look at each other, shocked. He is the first one to speak, "I'm not hearing things, right?"
Layla answers him slowly, "No…"
The loud man speaks once again, "Okay, settle down people! The race is about to start! Let's wish well to all the contestants! I hope everyone is at the top of their game today!"
Hayel looks towards the contestants that are about to get in their positions. He notices Max among them, chatting with someone that seems like a contestant too.
'Well, it's hard not to notice him,' Hayel thinks to himself, wishing he had as much money as him.