Chapter 12: Convenience Store Visit

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Time to cook something tasty then! I was going to make some pancake batter—Ah, I was already making it! That meant that I needed to go pick some cream and then some fruits…

I opened the freezer and saw that there were no fruits! Where were my strawberries? I bought them two days ago and they’re gone? Did I eat them without realizing?

“Elena, dear, did you eat any strawberries here?”

“Ah…”

Elena quickly became frozen in her seat.

“You did! Sigh… They were for breakfast to accompany the pancakes.” I sighed. “Now we don’t have berries…”

“You shouldn’t have put them there in the open then.” said Elena, without intending to apologize.

“Sigh… You don’t even apologize to your mother…” I sighed. “Such a spoiled little girl.”

“There’s also milk missing… And… huh? where’s the cream? Wait, did you eat all the strawberries and the cream together?” I asked Elena.

“…”

Elena averted her gaze.

“You can’t lie to mommy, you did!” I said angrily. This girl really got on my nerves now…

“Sigh, come, let’s go to the grocery store to buy new stuffWe also need milk, more bread, avocado, and other things that we both eat all the time.” I said. “And no buts.”

“Okay…”

Elena stood up and Anna decided to accompany us as well.

“I am coming too! I want to buy some snacks for later,” said Anna with a smile.

“Okay then! Maybe I should also buy a dozen eggs, they’re missing as well…” I sighed.

I quickly took the keys and with two adorable girls at my side, we walked outside of the house.

We lived in a medium-sized house with two floors that was bought by my husband, so we didn’t have to pay any rent. The entire place was ours, and will remain ours, he had made sure that even when he passed away, we would have a home to live on.

“Meow…”

Suddenly, a little black cat showed up outside.

“Oh, Blackie!”

It was Blackie, the cat that sometimes comes to ask for food. I think he was a street cat, I’ve never had a cat before… but he always came to see me and sometimes let me pet him.

“Meow…”

“Uwah, so cute! He’s completely black-colored…” said Anna.

“Blackie…” my daughter said, as she began to pet the cat.

“Ah, we are out of cat food too, so we’ll buy you some when we come back, okay? Wait for us here and don’t move.” I said and petted Blackie’s soft fur.

“Meow…!”

Blackie sat down in the entrance of the house as he saw us walk outside calmly, cats could be very intelligent sometimes, he even understood what I meant!

We walked across the streets of the neighborhood. We lived in a small town in Canada named Baie-Saint-Paul, in Quebec. It was a peaceful town surrounded by a lot of nature, although technology has slowly absorbed the town and it has become more like a medium-sized city by 2030’s… But at the very least there was still a lot of beautiful nature everywhere.

Some people walked around leisurely, today was a bit cold because it was winter, so we made sure to get some coats, although the girls were still walking with their skirts from school… they might catch a cold.

“There it is.”

We moved into the grocery store, a small store named E-Marts which had begun to spread around since 2024, I was actually working part time in here, the pay was decent, and its enough to feed us, although I also took another part time job in another store that sold cars, they say that because I was pretty the people were driven inside… or something. 

Although I was already on my way to be 40… I didn’t think my beauty would remain for that long, so I might end up getting fired eventually… Sigh, well, that was how it is for women all around the world.

We entered the grocery store and quickly began to browse through things. There were a few people inside, a man that was buying some cigarettes looked at me out of nowhere as he opened his eyes… And began eyeing my entire body.

Ah, well, I’ve gotten used to the gazes like these… I just have to not care.

“Alright dears, let’s go buy some stuff…”

I grabbed a grocery cart and began to walk around and placed all sorts of things that we needed today.

“Some cereal is already running out, so three boxes should be good… four boxes of milk… cream… strawberries… a dozen of eggs… Oh, it seems that tomatoes are at a discount? Nice! We are eating tomato salad today~” I said with a happy smile.

“I don’t like it,” said Elena.

“Tomato is very healthy for you, also you eat it with hamburgers anyways, right?” I asked. “Today we are eating your favorite croquets that grandma used to make.”

“Oh…” Elena’s eyes quickly shone brightly for a bit. She really liked those!

Anna had disappeared from our side but quickly came back while holding a dozen bags of potato chips, and other greasy products that were bad for your health.

“I’ll buy these on my own!” she said. “Elena, do you like any?”

“Yeah… I like the spicy chips,” said Elena. “And let’s buy some Dr. Pepper.”

“Of course! There is no better gaming night without some Dr. Pepper to go with it!” said Anna, running with my daughter to grab those overly sugary drinks.

“Sigh… S-Should I try to stop them? Well… Once in a month is fine, I don’t see her eating unhealthily all the time.” I sighed.

“Oh, Elayne! How are you?”

Suddenly I heard the voice of a young man in his mid-twenties, short blonde hair, emerald eyes, and a handsome and youthful face wearing the grocery store’s shirt and holding a mop.

“Ohh, Mark! How are you? I came here with the girls to buy some stuff,” I said.

Mark was one of my coworkers, he often worked the weekend as well, so when I come to buy stuff, I always end up meeting him. Although he always overreacted and seemed cheerful every time, he seemed to see me even though we see each other through most of the week…

“I’m doing good. You’re looking radiant today as well,” He said gently.

“Oh my, you always say those things to this old woman…” I giggled. “How are you? You’re going to work today as well? Have you thought about taking a break?”

“I… Well I don’t really have anything else to do, I just want to work to earn money… the more I work, the more money I can save to retire earlier,” He said. “And it's not that hard to work here, I already got used to it after five years.”

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“Yeah, I guess… Maybe you could come to my house later to have lunch with my daughter and her friend?” I asked. “Are you free?”

“E-EH?! R-Really?” he asked.

“Yeah! Why not? You've been my friend for five years so I don’t think it is bad…” I said. “If it wasn’t for your help, I wouldn’t have been able to adapt well to this job, so you’re my best friend.”

“E-Elayne… S-Sure!” he said, as he suddenly grew very red and began to stutter a lot. He was such a nice and young man that I couldn’t really not invite him. I always saw him stressed and alone so I wanted to bring him some food to lighten his mood.

“Nice! Do you know where I live?” I asked.

“I-I don’t…” he said.

“Well… I will come pick you up later then,” I said.

“I-Is that so? S-Sure,” he said. “You don’t have to go to such lengths…”

“Ah, don’t worry! It’s fine, it’s fine! I just want to see you a bit more cheered up, some nice homemade food always lightens the heart! Right?”

“R-Right… Thanks…”

“Then can you help check me for this stuff?”

“Sure!”

Mark helped me check out the stuff, and he suddenly added some discounts out of nowhere.

“Huh? W-Why are you discounting me…?” I asked.

“Ssssh, just let it be,” He said while winking back at me. “Just some preferences for a hard worker lady.”

“Hahah… Well, thank you,” I said.

My daughter looked at Mark with an expressionless face. It was as if she was killing him with her gaze.

“Ugh… So she’s your daughter… S-She’s cute,” he said.

“Isn’t she? She’s my precious princess!” I said, hugging and kissing my Elena as she tried to move me away, I was a bit clingy sometimes.

“So you’re the Mark,” said Elena.

“Y-You know me?” asked Mark.

“Mother speaks about you sometimes. SoI want you to know that… I am watching,” She said, as she pointed her fingers to her eyes and then back to his eyes.

“A-Ah… Okay,” he said nervously.

What did she mean by this?

“Hey! You’re pretty handsome. Do you have a girlfriend?” asked Anna. “Are you interested in a high school girl gamer?”

“Eh?! N-No… I am not into little girls, that’s illegal…” said Mark.

“Hahaha! I was joking, but if you said yes it would have been pretty weird!” laughed Anna.

“Anna, stop messing around and let’s go,” said my daughter.

“Okay, okay! See ya!” said Anna.

“Then I will come pick you up in a few hours, wait for me here,” I said.

“Sure thing…” said Mark with a nervous smile, as I walked away.

I wonder if Mark was okay with eating croquets? I should have asked him beforehand…

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Mark looked at Elayne, the beautiful mother that worked with him in the grocery store, slowly walked away from the store and headed back home.

His heart was beating fast, and his breathing barely held back his excitement.

He had been working with her for over five years now, and since he met her,  he found her beautiful, and through the years, he got to know her better.

Mark could be said to be completely charmed by her at this point, from her beauty to her personality.  She was really an excellent woman, gentle, motherly, nice, and a hard worker…

“Hahh…”

Mark sighed happily as he could barely contain his heart from giving him a stroke by how fast it was beating.

“She really invited you to have lunch? Holy shit.”

A girl in her 18’s walked into the front of the grocery store. She was a new worker that started just a year ago, and mostly did work in the storage area administrating and resupplying items.

She had long black hair and glasses, and seemed to have just come out of high school and was now taking a break while waiting to go to college all while making up some side money in this job.

“Ah! Oh, it’s you, Jenny…” sighed Mark, he was still too agitated, as he sat down on his chair.

“Yeah, it’s me…” said Jenny. “After so long, she ended up being the one inviting you to a date, and probably she did it without even thinking about it… You’ve been waiting five years Mark, five years and you’ve not invited her to a date yet. You’re lucky she’s too nice. There are no women like her nowadays.”

“Hahh… I can’t believe it either,” said Mark. “Crap! I have to get some better clothes than this… And take a bath! And get some better perfume… Jenny…”

“Sure, go, but you’re paying me extra though,” said Jenny.

“O-Okay, sure, thank you!” said Mark, as he ran off to his house, which was actually quite close to the grocery store as well.

Jenny sighed as she waved her head.

“This guy is really a dork… But I can see why Elayne finds him cute,” said Jenny, as she took out a soda and sipped from it. “Heh, working in a grocery store is the best, I can take anything I want…”

However, Mark suddenly came back to grab his car’s keys which he forgot, and found Jenny drinking soda…

“I am deducting that from your pay.” He said. He  was the manager after all.

“Shit…”

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