Shopping

Here is the text with meaningless numbers and the recommendation section removed, preserving all the original novel’s text:

The typical background hums and buzzes of a supermarket mixed in with the soothing soft music playing on the radio were a stark contrast to the turmoil that reigned inside of Nathalia.

While walking beside Darius and the shopping cart she looked around for the ingredients for the meals she was planning to make as he had told her before in the car his cooking skills were limited to heating up canned foods. When they turned into the next aisle they passed shelves filled with sodas so Nathalia went and grabbed some bottles of Dr. Pepper. It had always been some sort of comfort food to her, or a comfort drink in this case, since it reminded her of the summers she spent at the lake with her parents.

“You drink that shit?”

She turned to see Darius hanging over the cart with a disapproving look on his face.

“Yeah, sometimes. Why?” She was not about to let him stand in the way between her and the delicious Dr. Pepper so she neatly put the bottles in the cart.

“It’s unhealthy, there are better things to drink. Like water, which doesn’t mess up your blood pressure,” he said while pushing the cart forward again into the frozen food section.

She had already guessed he only ate healthy foods by the way his body seemed to lack any fat at all, instead he was made of hard muscle under soft skin. She wasn’t like that at all and liked comfort food too much, even though it made her hips slightly squishy. Yet she always made it a point to keep an eye on her weight, not because of women’s beauty standards but because she was simply too lazy to go out and buy new clothes if she’d reach that point where they wouldn’t fit anymore.

“I drink water too, I just like to drink soda from time to time as well. You gotta enjoy the finer things in life right?” It wasn’t a lie, she drank tons of water and soda was something she rarely bought, but when she did she enjoyed it immensely. “Besides, I’m pretty sure I’m too young to worry about my blood pressure.”

“Seems like we have different ideas about what the finer things in life are. And it’s never too soon to worry about your health, it’s better to start good habits early as opposed to late.”

Sensing an opening to finally ask him something about himself she went for it.

“So what do you consider to be the finer things in life then?” The moment she asked she immediately regretted it. His eyes darkened as he pressed his lips into a fine line.

“That’s none of your business,” he said, at last, effectively ending the conversation.

She didn’t understand how he had become so cold in just a second, with the way their conversation was going she thought they were warming up to each other. But she’d been wrong. She knew absolutely nothing about this man, not even his name as she had found out earlier.

Continuing walking around the store they reached the clothing section, the shirts were very basic and the jeans just didn’t fit right but beggars can’t be choosers and she was grateful to have at least something to change into tomorrow.

She picked out a pink pajama top with matching pink shorts and to her horror, she realized she had to pick some underwear and a bra as well. While Darius was standing right beside her. Nervously glancing out of the corner of her eye she saw that to her relief he was too busy typing on his phone.

Wait he was allowed to bring a phone and I wasn’t?

Quickly she went and picked a very basic black bra and some black undies and threw them into the cart as well, moving the other clothes on top of it. At that moment Darius looked up from his phone as if to ask her if she was done.

“I just need some toiletries and then I’m done.”

As her things were set to arrive this week she only grabbed some of the most basic stuff like toothpaste and a toothbrush, some shampoo, and a pack of razors. That would have to do for now. Since it was around dinner time now the store was mostly empty and there wasn’t a line for the register. Setting down the items she realized there was no way Darius wouldn’t see the underwear she’d picked. The thought filled her with embarrassment but there was no way to avoid it now.

Packing up as quickly as she could she waited for Darius to hand the cashier his card as the girl behind the register tried to flirtily make small talk with him.

Hah, good luck with that, girl.

As she had expected he just ignored the girl and walked off as soon as he got his card back. Picking up the hefty bags she walked towards the parking lot until Darius stopped her.

“What are you doing, give me those,” he said while grabbing the bags. She had misjudged their weight and was glad he took them from her, yet it somehow irked her he thought she wasn’t strong enough.

“I was doing fine though, I can carry them,” she said as she tried to grab one of the bags again. But Darius was taller, faster, and stronger than her and just lifted them above her head as if they didn’t contain two bottles of soda and a pack of milk in addition to some smaller items.

“I’m sure you can, noodle arms.”

Wait, is he actually teasing me?

“I know I can, give me one,” she said as she reached for a bag again, which he again held out of her reach. His teasing was getting to her and now she just wanted to prove to him she wasn’t weak.

“There’s no point we’re almost there now.”

“What? The car is all the way back there, we’re closer to the store than to the car. Just let me help you.” This time he didn’t even grace her with some kind of answer and just kept walking so she gave up for now.

During the ride home she busied herself by going through the CDs she found in the glovebox but soon realized it contained nothing noteworthy. Closing the glovebox back up she focused on the radio instead, it seemed to be broken and Darius hadn’t taken the time to try and fix it so she decided to. The black sedan that had come with the house was old and the radio was fairly simple, just a few buttons with letters that didn’t mean anything to her. She didn’t even have a driver’s license herself but if she had she probably wouldn’t be in witness protection right now.

But when they’d arrived at the house the radio hadn’t produced a single sound yet and Nathalia promised herself she’d continue the next time. Leaving the car as soon as he’d parked it she rushed to the back to retrieve the bags, eager to prove her noodle arms were just fine. This time Darius didn’t take them from her but just rolled his eyes as he went to open the front door.

Setting down the bags in the kitchen she felt a strange sense of pride because she proved him wrong, but she also knew she was a little too eager to prove something to him. A feeling somewhat unfamiliar to her.

Darius came into the kitchen to help her put away the groceries, they were almost done when the doorbell rang. Nathalia froze and stared at Darius with wide eyes. He seemed to be tense as well as he motioned for her to get down as his hand went to the back of his waistband where she knew he had hidden a gun. Slowly he went around and looked over to the window and after a second he removed his hand and called out for her to come join him in the hallway.

He opened the door just as she came around the corner and saw an elderly couple standing in front of it.

“Good evening, I hope we’re not interrupting anything but we saw your car pull up just now and thought it might be a good time to introduce ourselves. I’m Gertrude and this is my husband Hank, we live next door.” the lady explained quickly.

“Good evening, my name is Darius and this beauty is my sweet fiancée Katherine,” he said while gesturing towards Nathalia, “Would you like to come in?”

Somehow Darius had gone from cold and silent to a very polite and warm guy, like the perfect son-in-law type of guy and the old couple ate his act all up. She was actually very impressed with his acting skills and wondered briefly what it would be like if he talked warmly to her. How it would be if he spared her a smile she knew would take her breath away. What it’d be like if he didn’t avoid any and all conversation with her.

“No, no we won’t take up more of your time than necessary, we know what it’s like to be young and in love.” the old man winked at them as his wife slapped his arm lightly. “Hank, behave yourself you’re making the lovebirds uncomfortable,” she said while her husband just smirked at her. “Anyways I made you a strawberry pie, and if the two of you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.”

The thought of being with Darius romantically made her body heat up but she knew there were probably rules against those types of things.

“Thank you Gertrude that’s very kind of you, strawberry pie is our favorite, isn’t it, my love?”

It took her a second to realize he was talking to her.

“Yes, it’s our favorite. Thank you Gertrude.” she didn’t lie about the fact that strawberry pie was a favorite of hers, but she somehow doubted Darius would enjoy something as sweet and unhealthy as a strawberry pie. With his concerns about blood pressure and all.

They bid the old couple goodbye and Darius closed the door again, locking it in various places and handing her the pie as he walked past.

“Do you even eat pie at all?” she asked as she followed him back to the kitchen.

“No.” was the only answer he gave, having gone back to his jolly cold self again as he put the last of the groceries away.