Inside a tailor shop, two people were immersed in their own work. One was an older gentlewoman who was busy scribbling numbers on a book, and another was a young woman in her mid twenties, who was polishing a wooden mannequin. Just as the two falling deeper into their own task, the shop's door was opened and a woman came in.

"Welcome dear customer! How may I help you!" The visitor shouted cheerfully right before the two workers inside could great her with the phrase she had just said.

Confused and a little shocked, the two workers took few seconds before they could register what just happened, and who was the identity of their visitor who had stolen their lines.

"Lona! You doofus!" The young worker yelled happily and ran to hug the unexpected visitor.

"Hey Nila! I missed you too!" Lona said while returning the hug, embracing her ex-coworker slightly tighter.

"You got guts appearing here again after vanishing without a word for more than six months. Is the life your new husband provided was such amazing one to make you easily forget the people who made you happy long before he came?" The older worker snickered behind the counter.

"Hey Madam Sofya! It is nice to see you again too!" Lona greeted her ex-boss cheerfully, ignoring her earlier harsh word.

"Ya! What's up with that?!" Nila let go of her embrace and asked for the same explanation like Sofya demanded.

"Geez. Not ten seconds has passed, and you guys already berating me. I am sorry alright. My in-laws are demanding bunches, I got my hands full trying to connect with my husband's parents and all his siblings, even the distant ones." Lona sighed, she picked up a chair and got herself seated.

"And that took you more than six months? I don't want to imagine what hell you've been through." Nila shuddered.

"But now you are free, right? Or are they still not satisfied with you, but you already have enough, and decides to run here in as a refugee?" Sofya asked, to which made Lona flinched. "As expected, huh." She deducted.

"What?! Is that true?!" Nila exasperated.

Not able looking at her friend, Lona casted her gaze down onto the floor and took a deep breath, "I am beginning to think they wanted to make me uncomfortable, and hoped to separate me and my husband... I think they succeed."

Nila rushed to Lona and kneeled in front of her, trying to take a look at her dejected face, "Come on, Lona. You can't give them what they want. You are strong, I knew that." She comforted.

Sofya tapped one of her finger repeatedly at the counter and drowned into a thought for awhile, "What is your husband take on this? Does he know about his family's treatment on you? If yes, what did he do?"

Lona looked up and smiled at the older woman, "Delvon is a sweetheart. He knew about all of this, and he tried his best by taking my side whenever he was able. But he is a busy man, the harassment always happened when he was not at home."

"They really thought it through, huh." Nila squinted her eyes, vexed at her old friend's misfortune.

"So, what will you do? Are you gonna end it?" Sofya directed the talk back to practical approach, "As long as you still haven't carry a child your live still can be quite alri-... no way..." She said after seeing Lona lowering her head more and more as she talked.

"Lona... you are... really?" Nila's eyes widened, and Lona weakly nodded. Nila went quiet, she didn't what should she say, should she congratulate her? Pregnant with a child was a blessing after all. But on this particular case, she wasn't sure.

Few seconds of silence befell onto them, then Sofya spoke, "If you are carrying a child, then you can not give up. It is not only about you anymore. Every kid needs their parents. Emotionally, and financially. Not like I would reject you if you want to work here again. But you know what I mean."

"I understand." Lona replied, almost like whispering. "Delvon knows I am pregnant, and I went here without telling anyone... If, by sundown he haven't get here to pick me home... then I would like to re-apply, Madam Sofya." She said, locking eyes with the older woman.

"Alright, I guess that's good enough." Sofya said, and closed her book, "I'll get us some tea." She retreated to the door behind the counter and vanished.

"So, what am I missing?" Lona asked Nila, forcing a weak smile.

Catching her friend's attempt to temporally escape the gloomy talk, Nila complied, "A LOT. Do you know that Rela bought a new purse?"

"Again?" Lona asked.

"Ya! I know right! How the hell that woman can afford to buy such luxury so often?!" Nila bewildered.

"How many times does this makes again?"

"It was the seventh! She bought purses like a collector! On a tailor's salary at that!"

"Is she still so skinny though?"

"She is."

"Then it was most likely from her savings. That woman will grit her teeth through hell just so she can buy something she really want." Lona deduced.

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"Hmph! She should know better to pretty herself up through her body first before she adorned herself with expensive things."

"Yea, I hope she get to that conclusion someday. I worry she would die out of malnutrition or something if she keep this up." Lona said, "Judging from her absence, I take it she is off today?"

"Yup. Toka, Gilan, Reva and her are off today. Though I am sure they would rush here if I send words that you are visiting."

"No need. Whatever the outcome of my marriage today, I don't think this will be the last time I will go to here again." Lona

Nila could only smiled weakly at that.

"Hmmm? What about Naba?" Lona tilted her head. Catching one name was missing.

Nila was about to reply, but abruptly shut her mouth up.

"He doesn't work here anymore." Sofya emerged from the room behind the counter, and put a tray filled with three cups of tea on the wooden table.

"Oh... why?" Lona raised one brow.

Naba is a poor man, but fortunately a dedicated one. He got accepted here by a sheer, unbroken will because that man would always come and ask the Madam to hire him. He did that for nearly half a year, and successfully melt the ice wall the Madam put for outsiders. He quitted from here was quite unbelievable, especially because he was good at doing his job as the shop's handy man.

"I fired him." Madam sofya said and picked up one of the cup of tea.

"Huh? Why?!" Lona was bewildered, Madam was a harsh person, but not one who would threw her employees back into the street as long as they didn't commit a crime.

"It happened after you got married and left this place, but that man slowly became unreliable one. His work's speed took a dive into the abyss, and his concentration became more and more nonexistent, he often delivered our clothes to the wrong clients, and bought wrong color of spool of thread, even though I already gave him a note." Madam Sofya explained, and then took a sip out of her tea.

"At least that's what I told him when I fired him." She added after putting her cup down.

Lona waited for more, but the Madam just kept staring at her, and finally it clicked in her head, "It's because of me, wasn't it?" She asked, to which the Madam nodded.

Lona sighed and covered her face with both of her hand. She knew Naba had a crush on her, she could vaguely felt it. But then unlike many other men, he didn't ogle at her, nor he greedily grabbed every opportunity to get alone with her. He played it cool to the point that she thought she might had been wrong about his feeling for her. He was quite professional on working hours, and he never force his way to get into her life on private hours.

But then again, she didn't love him. Should Naba have confessed to her, she would reject him. And it wasn't her fault to not answering every single love from every man for her.

Nila stood up, and put a hand on her shoulder for a brief moment, before finally reached for a chair and got herself seated, "He suddenly became a husk, like all those silliness in him was never there. Day after day he became a burden rather than a helping hand, and his gloominess polluted the air. Even our customer who knew nothing of him were troubled." She supplied Madam Sofya's reason to fire him.

"But?" Lona uncovered her face and looked up to Madam, waiting for the real reason she fired him. Madam was a harsh person, but she got a good heart. She would never fire someone just because they were unreliable. After all, she filled her first year of working here by wreaking havoc upon the store. She had broken many things and lost many important items, yet the Madam didn't fire her and kept her for four years until she finally quitted by her own choice.

"To get his mind off of failed love, I thought he needed distraction, a big one." Madam started explaining her real reasoning, "And what bigger distraction than hunger and financial trouble?" she smiled at her.

"So... you threw the ball from the top of the tower, and hoped that it would bounce back?" Lona concluded,

"Yes."

"... but did he?" She asked, not that she doubted Madam's solving problem ability, but not many people were able to rise from the depth of despair. Naba was a good coworker, and she genuinely worry for him.

At her pending question, both Madam Sofya and her ex-coworker Nila was grinning from ear-to-ear.

"He did. He rose from the bottom of the cliff and made it back to the surface." Sofya vaguely replied.

"About a month after he was fired, we heard a gossip about the rise of the new hunter." Nila elaborated. "They said a new adventurer debuted with hunting quest as his first job, and come back with his hunt on his back. They said he never take a quest other than the hunting one, he become proficient on it in such a short time, and the guild even acknowledge him as a specialist."

Lona blinked, she spent few seconds to digest the information, "I never knew Naba can fight."

"Neither do we." Nila agreed, "That man was so skinny to the point that I thought a little gust of wind could blow him away."

"I see, all's good then." Lona slowly nodded her head, glad that she didn't make another of her admirer led a miserable life.

Just as the three women were about to begin a new conversation, a bell rung and the shop's door was opened.

"Huff, huff... I am sorry for barging in, but I have to ask if a certain woman has visited here. She once worked here, and if you remember me I am her hus... LONA!!!" The visitor spoke so fast and immediately went dashing when he finally realized his wife was here.

He kneeled and hugged her, "I am so glad I finally find you. Why did you so suddenly go without telling anyone?"

"Delvon... I... I," Lona struggled to say the thing she wanted to say the most, that she couldn't have it any longer with his family, that she loved him so much but at the same time didn't want to live with him anymore.

"No, Don't say anything. I think I get it. Lona, what do you say that we rented a house in another district. We will live there, just the two of us." He proposed the idea.

"That-.."

"That is good. I think it would do for a moment. But you must not tell your family where your new house is." Madam Sofya chimed in.

Delvon turned his head to the woman, "Madam, I am glad to see you in health." He greeted her, "...and... you too," He tried to extent his greetings to another woman beside his wife, but he couldn't remember her name for the life of his.

Nila chuckled, "Yeah yeah, don't mind me, please go back to converse with your wife."

Delvon was a bit ashamed, but nodded his head nonetheless. He then looked back to Lona, "So, what do you think?"

"Yes, yes I want to live with you, just you." Lona fervently bobbed her head up and down.

"It settled then. But I am sorry. Our income will took a quite a hit, so maybe I can't give you the same leisurely life as before." Delvon lowered his gaze, troubled that he brought her another bad news.

"It's okay, Delvon. I didn't marry you so I could live like a queen. I marry you because I love you, and I want to spend my life with you, Just you." Lona said, putting strong emphasis on the 'just'.

"If you have delivered your child safely, why don't you work again in here." Madam Sofya finally proposed.

"Mmm, Why?" Delvon asked neutrally, he tried his best not to sound that he was offended. He just admitted that he would have trouble with his income, because he had to give some of it back to his parents. But hearing what basically a stranger to him suggesting an idea that would make his wife busy and possibly would reduce her available time for him didn't make him quite happy either.

"Relax, kid. It's not only about your income. It's a prevention, so that your wife will not be troubled by uninvited guest when you are not at home. Don't worry I'll give her a light work and flexible hours. You can come and relax here too, and maybe spend some more time with us so that you will remember the name of your wife's best friend." Sofya elaborated.

Delvon and Lona looked at each other, they smiled, and happily giggled. They hoped their life would take a happy turn.