Chapter 8:

"So, where to?" Cale asked as he turned to me for our next destination.

"The first task is to get some clothes for you find the nearest town on the map, Ray;" I said;

"Give me a sec. I found it! Loir City is about 10 kilometres north-east from where we are right now." Ray said this as he showed us the map and pointed to our next destination.

"Now, you know where to go, right?" I asked;

"Leave it to me," Cale said as he accelerated the car toward our next destination.

After three and a half hours, we arrived in Loir City; the sun had fallen and the beautiful white full moon had risen in the starry night sky.

Ray was in good spirits, while Cale and I were constantly reminded of this by the curious stares  that we were getting from the people of this city.  We parked our car on the side of the road, outskirts of the city.

I partially knew the reason, adorned in tattered clothes, Cale's his upper half of shirt was almost gone while his lower half was in bad shape, and stains of blood and dirt were easily seen;

Scars and bruises cover his body, depicting him as a beggar.

After searching for a few minutes, we found ourselves standing in front of a clothing store, but none of us had the courage to enter.

“Guys,  just asking, but how much dough do we currently have with us?” Ray asked, as we kept staring at the billboard of that store with our head held  up high.

"None," Cale replied.

"3 grand..." I said;

"Well…" Ray paused as the three of us marvelled at the store's architecture and design.

"Doesn't this look… a bit too expansive!?" I asked, and as a reply, both nodded simultaneously.

"I think standing here will do us no good," Cale remarked;

"Yeah, let's enter; we don't have that much time on our hands anyway." I said;

Three of us stood infront of the glass door and it automatically open, we stepped inside, were instantly greeted by a young, beautiful lady in her twenties.

"Welcome! How can we service to you, gentlemens?" the attendee asked in a cheerful manner with a pleasant smile on her face.

"Can you...refer us to some outfits for our friend here?" I asked;

"Sure, please come this way," She directed us to the men's section; The interior of this store is just amazing. We looked around and found many people browsing through many outfits that were hung in multiple sections of the store;

"These collections are quite popular these days; they're one of our best-selling products; why don't you give them a try?" said Attendee;

I was shocked, no, all three of us were shocked, just by looking at the prices on the outfits she showed us.

"With the amount of money, I currently have, I don't even deserve to enter this store."

"Nine thousand!! Is this cloth made of gold or what?" Ray cried, as his eyes were as wide as they could be.

"Pss… Don't you think it's a bit too expansive?" Cale remarked to us in a low voice as he signalled to us;

"BIT! Brother, with this much money, I could buy us a week's worth of delicious food for us," Ray commented in a hearable voice, making other customers giggle.

"..." I remained silent, ‘Good lord!! Its quite embarrassing’ I thought to myself as I see these two react;

"Can you show us something… less expansive?" I politely asked the attendee:

"As you wish, sir, come with me." She said as she made us follow her while she guided us into the corner part of the store:

"These are the cheapest collections of our store," she said.

"Cheapest... a single pair of outfits from this collection worth $3,000 in total,"

"Please pack a pair for us." I said;

"Sure, sir, but please tell us the size you'd like to have." She asked Cale.

"Waist: 36, shirt size double XL." While Ray and I looked around, Cale measured his body.

"I feel poor." Ray said;

"It's because we are; that's why I said we need money, and a lot of it." I said;

"You're right." He remarked;

After a few minutes, Cale came out adorned in his new clothes; he looked quite beautiful, with his model-like figure and his white neck-length hair, which caused many women that were present in the store to glance in his direction;

many of them bumped into the wall and fell to the ground as they kept walking while looking in his direction.

All the men present in the store looked in his direction with eyes of envy, including me.

"What!" Cale asked.

"Nothing. You done!?"

"Yep." He answered;

After paying for everything, I asked the attendee if they had three caps that we could buy.

"Yes, we do have those."

"How much!?" I asked;

"200 each," she said, as she placed a variety of caps in front of us.

"Give me three;" I said and paid with all the money I had; this shopping of ours had made me penniless.

"Take these;" I handed both their caps to them, and then all three of us exited the store.

"Where to!?" Cale asked, as we bustled towards our car.

"Madras."

"Why there!?" Ray inquired, perplexed;

"There we meet with our underground dealer i told you about, he, who can provide us with our fake IDs."  This time I sat at the front while Ray sat in the driver's seat and Cale in the back.

"You know how to drive!?" I asked;

"Nope, but I want to try driving."

"!! Don't be an idiot, Cale, you drive." I asked Cale, as he stepped out of the back seat:

"Tch!"

"Don't tch me; you see, I love my life.” I said, Ray stepped out and sat in the back.

And with that, we drove too Madras.

To be continued…

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