The day after, grandma Ariel was staring intently at the gaming equipment. She reached for it a few times before stopping herself each time. The granny scrounched up her eyebrows before looking away. “A break will do me good…”

With one energetic swing, she opened up her wardrobe “Since I’ll go out shopping, I should dress up appropriately” after some consideration, the granny picked a black top with a beige peacoat jacket. As for her initial choice of a long skirt, she swapped it for a pair of black bell-bottoms pants. She needed to prioritize quick strides over elegance.

As for jewels, a simple rose-gold necklance with a jade pendant and a pair of drop-shaped jade earrings was her pick. Lastly she wore a couple of jade bracelets. There was no need for anything too flashy.

She finished the outfit with a pair of light brown heels. It might seem like a weird chioce from an outsider’s perspective, however those were an important weapon in the battlefield that was the biggest market in the region. How else was she supposed to bring her opponents on their knees?

Granny Ariel then went on to put on her makeup. Something light to make her seem just a tad younger and that put the focus on her green eyes. Intimidation was the keyword today.

Smacking her lips satisfied, she picked up her white leather bag and put inside everything she needed, wallet and shopping bags included.

Looking at the mirror one last time, the grandma made sure that everything looked in order. With a smile, she approved her battle-ready outfit.

Grabbing the car keys, she headed towards the garage. On a good mood, she played with the keys as she was picking the right playlist for the road. Satisfied with her choice, she opened the garage door and laid her eyes upon her little baby.

Daylight trickled down the window, hitting the metallic navy blue shine of the car, the design resembling that of a sports car.

It was an old model, pretty popular when she was in her 30s, but nowadays it was pretty much out of the market. She was lucky enough to find a secondhand one at a reasonable price, even though she had to change pretty much everything to let it hit the road again.

Making sure for the fifth time that she had her purse and enough shopping bags, she took a seat inside. With just a hit of her remote controller both the garage and the main gate opened.

Ariel looked around the glove box, and with a satisfied smile she took out a pair of big old sunglasses. With the seatbelt secured, she put on the sunglasses with the other free hand. Since she had business in the city, she might as well have fun on the way.

Putting on her personal playlist of rock music, she drove out of the garage in full swing. Without even stopping at the gates, she drifted out in the direction of the city, almost knocking down the neighbor’s trash can. Not losing any momentum, she sped off down the road, leaving the cursing neighbors behind.

Glancing at the rearview mirror, she saw a woman on her 50s coming out of the house in front of hers, the one where she had almost hit the trash can. The lady ran as far as the sidewalk, raising her fist in the air. With a laugh the grandma waved her hand at the lady out of the window.

Not caring if she saw or not, she rased the volume of her phone. The best part of the song was about to start.

Leaving behind Panlei city, she drove for a scarce couple of hours to reach the outskirts of Campbell city. Taking the road towards the industrial park, she soon reached the main venue where the greatest market of the region was located, also known as the Campbell fair.

Organized once a week, the fair accomodated a great number of stalls, ranging from food to clothing. Meanwhile, jewelries and other valuable products could be found inside the buildings around the venue, where higher security was guaranteed.

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Inside the biggest building the luxurious and prestigious brands could be found coming from all over the world to showcase their products.

The Campbell fair was the best opportunity for the smaller and foreigner brands to make themselves known.

As for our grandma, today she was mostly here to buy groceries. However, she was planning to take a look at some clothes if there was enough time.

A little distance from the entrance there was a spot where people could pick up a shopping cart. Of course, the fair offered a service where they would deliver the items at your adress, but Ariel couldn’t really justify the exorbitant shipping fees. So, she just picked up one of the carts.

With a word of thanks to the muscular guard that helped her getting the stuck cart out, she headed for the food section.

It had been a while since she had come by; her lovely little grandkids had eagerly eaten most of the food she had brought two weeks earlier. It was imperative to buy more provvisions.

Once at the market, she went wild. Not one single food stall was spared from her shopping spree. Pork, mutton, chicken, milk, onions, strawberries. Wathever her eyes landed on, her hands were quick to grab them and put it all on her cart.

As she grabbed the last pack of honey flavoured biscuits, another hand landed over hers. Turning her head around, Ariel saw a middleaged lady glaring her way. The waves of acrid perfume were strong enough to make her eyes watery.

Grabbing the pack with her other hand, the lady hissed with gritted teeth “I saw it first” Ariel was quick enough to stop the lady from tugging it out of her hands. “But I got my hands on it first”

The two old ladies had a quick glare showdown, with the middleaged lady having and advantage with her horrendous perfume. Knowing that she was losing her strenght, the granny raised her leg and planted her heel straight on the other lady’s feet.

“Aaaaaah!” With a cry of pain the middleaged lady let go of the pack of biscuits and kneeled over to hold her foot.

As fast as the wind, Ariel payed the stall owner the exact amount and sped off in the distance with her cart. By the time the perfume lady recovered, she was long gone.

Checking her surroundings, the granny confirmed that the middleaged lady didn’t manage to follow after her. Exhaling a sigh of relief, she resumed her shopping.

Thanks to her quick sweep of the items on sale, she was able to scare off most of the nearby competitors. Her expression was particularly devilish when she stopped at the sauce stall. A couple of people that were nearby ran off in a panic after hearing her laugh.

She was planning a great surprise for the gathering. It was going to be to die for.

With her cart full, she headed back to her car to drop everything off. Checking on the time, she calculated one hour and half of free time, so she decided to take a look at the other stalls like she had planned for at the start.

ᴥᴥᴥ ≈ ° ≈ ᴥᴥᴥ

As the chairman of the Bluegill company, Vittorio Modigliani felt that it was his duty to attend the yearly fundarising gala. This year the organizer was the one responsable for the Campbell fair, Mr. Verducci. It was under his suggestion for the gala to be located at the central building of the fair, giving an opportunity to partecipate even to the smaller companies.

Of course, some snobby people didn’t like the idea of mixing with people of lower standing. However the Modigliani chairman didn’t mind at all, even entertaining the idea.

The gala would start at 6pm, and with 40 mins left before the opening speech, he decided to take a look at the main venue.

He examined a green sapphire necklance with a longing expression. After some contemplation he decided to buy it. The stall owner smiled at him as he was making some small chatter “Your wife is going to be happy with this piece. The gem was personally carved by the most renowed jeweler of the country”

The old chairmain smiled out of politeness. None of his ex-wives liked sapphires; this was a little thing that was going in his personal collection.

With one of his bodyguards taking the packed jewel, he headed out towards the next store. As he stepped out, his eyes caught sight of a figure in the distance. Her white hair shined like stardust under the venue’s lights.

Her jade jewels swayed gently as she headed inside a rival clothing store. For a moment he was mesmerized and his dearest memories resurfaced along with a surge of emotions. That state didn’t last long, as a few seconds later he calmed his beating heart down.

Dismissing the improbable thought, he glanced at the woman that resembled her so much. As she entered the store, she took off her sunglasses, her lime colored eyes shining with delight.

When the chairman saw the color of the old lady eyes, his whole being froze. Then, as if an electric current suddenly swept his body, his eyes went round and he found himself rushing towards the clothing store.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. With all of his heart, he hoped that it was the young girl in his memories.