Chapter 21：A Refreshing Scent

In all honesty, Marcellus had no idea where Winter would take him.

But since he did not want to beat around the bush anymore, he decided to go along with it. Her boldness to go straight down to business somehow makes up for her indifference to his attempt to make his standing clearer to her by abducting her. That plan of his probably did not even do anything to her in the end.

It only got her a free vanilla frappe.

"We're here, Mr. Marcellus Lexington."

And so, he had to take a detour at the department store to find something to disguise himself with.

"You really should've informed me about where we're going. I'm not with any of my bodyguards or attendants right now, you know. And I can't afford getting recognized in such a crowded place," Marcellus complained as he searched around an aisle for a pair of shades.

"It would no longer be a surprise if I told you, though," Winter retorted from behind him, making his brow twitch a bit.

"Surprise? What's the need of that? I own this place. How can I be surprised?"

"Well, I'm not talking about the place itself."

"Right. Sure."

"Can you stop complaining already? Here, I'll just help you find something."

That's when she grabs a pair of dark-tinted sunglasses and puts it on him without his permission.

Much more than the fact that she did it on her own accord, he was taken aback to find her so close to him all of the sudden. As she reached out her hands to help him wear it, she drew near to him and left nothing but a small gap between them.

With that proximity, he gets to take a whiff of her vanilla-like, fruity scent - a refreshing fragrance that is far from those strong and mature aromas that he often smells from adult women.

"Hey," Marcellus called out, straight-faced.

"What?" Winter blurted out and tilted her head.

"You sure you didn't take me here to score a date on me?"

"You sure you've got shame?"

"This is a mall. What else would we do here?"

"Even if this is not a mall, the least I would want to do with you was go on a date."

With a small huff, she pulls away from him and puts her distance once more. She then turns around to leave, walking ahead of him while humming to herself.

"Buy that one. It looks good on you," she then said without looking at him, pertaining to the shades that she put on him.

That's when Marcellus remembered that Winter still hadn't given back the sunglasses that she stole from him back then. She never brought it up again. That gave him the impression that he probably still didn't know her enough to make her return it to him like she promised she would.

'It's true, though. I barely know a thing about her at this point.'

---

After Marcellus got to put on a disguise in the form a cap and a pair of shades, Winter proceeded to take him to their destination - which turned out to be a venue for a raffle.

It's located at the gaming-centered floor of the mall. People are gathered around this stall that sells raffle tickets from which they can win different kinds of prizes, including a luxury voyage on a cruise, a free trip on an island, a brand new car, a house with a lot, and many more.

He can't help but find the rewards too costly for this kind of raffle - it almost seems like a fraud.

"So, then... You wanna gamble?" Marcellus asked, unsure of how to react to this.

"Well, not really..." Winter trailed off before walking closer to the stall and falling in line like all the others who wanted to give it a shot.

"I took you here to show you something."