STILL, LOVING YOU

It’s still early in the morning, but the townsfolk were already filled with energy. The chatter sounds filled the entire roads. There’s a group of ladies who looked so excited and whispered close to each other.

“Do you hear about that?” Said an old lady with a red face like a streamed fish, probably because she didn’t have the chance to catch her breath…

“What? Tell us fast!” This group of six people kept flattering her and moved closer so that they could also get this fresh ‘information’ fast and then spread it to their own neighbours.

“Oh gosh! So, lot of you actually don’t know?!” Thus, they whispered to each other and kept making various expressions, some of them were astonished, and the others were dumbfounded. The ladies were gossiping and not even realizing that the source of their spicy gossips that morning walked leisurely passed through them.

This source of gossip was a young boy. His body was considered small for his age, but still, he gave a healthy young boy aura. He walked confidently and wear a slight smile on his face. On his back, he brought a rattan bag that was filled with meats. He kept walking forward to his destination. The market was not filled with people at dawn, so the only persons he could see right now were the merchants. As soon as he arrived, a lot of people started to avoid his gaze.

Really, what’s wrong with me? Uncles and Aunts, I’m not scary, you know, he thought sadly (Ｔ▽Ｔ)

So, he gathered his courage and walked to the nearest butcher shop.

“Good morning, uncle… I just skinned a big boar and do you want to-“

“No. Get lost!” That uncle already answered firmly even when he’s still talking. A big, tall man, holding a butcher knife, and glaring him to get lost. OF COURSE, HE WOULD GET LOST, SIR!!

Okay, first attempt – failed! This young boy only sighed slowly and moved to another store.

“Aunt! I got these herbs yesterday at the forest. Please, take a look at this! Only for you, I will sell it cheap!” When he went inside another store, he talked really fast because he didn’t want his words got cut in the middle like before, but unfortunately, it made him looked like he lacked of manners. So, in the end he could only blamed his incomprehensible way of talking because the aunt there also drove him away.

In reality, it’s nothing new… All the merchants here hated him for some unknown reasons, but when they needed him to do something at the forests, they suddenly changed and treated him really nice. Well, although the nice treatments were only temporary, he still appreciated their kindness… In the end, he could just exhale his breath and moved on to the next store. After some time, the morning light started to get through and there’s really no one who’s willing to buy his meats nor herbs.

The smile on his face when he left his home was finally gone and replaced by a gloomy face. He decided to eat these meats alone for days until he’s sick of it and then went for another hunt, while at the same time suddenly there’s a roar calling his name, “GRAY!!”

The one who called for his name was Uncle Ten. A robust man with fiery expressions. Since it’s already pretty late, a lot of townsfolk finally went to the market, thus many people saw this occurrence. Gray couldn’t help, but become a bit embarrassed. Uncle Ten was the owner of the only inn in this village. It’s known to the people that he’s a great cook, even the people from other towns would go to his inn regularly to eat his foods.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” Said Uncle Ten with his menacing looks.

“Uncle, I’m--- I’m selling my hunts,” Gray answered with a little voice and he lowered his head.

“Get the hell out from here!! You’re only bringing bad lucks to us in the morning!!” He said while roaring and grabbing his collar to drag him out of the market. He couldn’t do anything when Uncle Ten picked him by his collar, so now it’s his turned to avoid people’s gazes. The body sizes between the two people were like a bear and a cat, so Gray had no choice but to be swayed throughout the way.

When Uncle Ten found a small alley, he put Gray down and smack his head, “You rascal!! What did I always say to you?!”

“Ouch!! It’s hurts, uncle!! Um, I know you told me to always bring my goods to your inn, but-“ Gray tried to talk really soft because he’s afraid he would offend Uncle Ten, but of course, a man like him would never take ‘but’ or ‘no’ as an answer. Just like that, Uncle Ten added another smack to Gray’s poor head, “Place it at usual place, you stupid kid! All of them!!” Then, he nonchalantly gave Gray a gold coin. It was too much, his meats probably around 5 kg, but Uncle Ten just paid him for 10 kg of meats!!

Obviously, Gray tried to reason with Uncle Ten, therefore with much efforts, Uncle Ten paid him 7 silver coins. It was still a little bit too much, but if Gray still stubbornly refused other’s kindness, he would feel that he was an ungracious kid by offending an elderly. This kind of transactions were nothing new, since the beginning Uncle Ten was his most loyal customers. The people used to buy his hunts too, but after some time, for unknown reasons, the merchants started to chase him away by saying that his meats’ qualities were really low and no one would buy it. At first, Uncle Ten didn’t care about the gossips about his meats because he knew all of it was a lie, so he still openly bought all of it.

Unfortunately, words were like poisons. There’re words spreading around the town, that his inn was selling low quality meats. Uncle Ten tried not to think about it too much, but then, people were truly avoiding his place. His wife was afraid that soon the words spread to the other towns and their inn would go bankrupt. Therefore, his wife forced him not to buy anything from Gray anymore. It was really a big fight. The neighbour could hear their screaming that night just because of an insignificant meats’ supplier. In the end, Uncle Ten gave up the fight and told his wife that he would never do business with Gray anymore. Then he started to act like he didn’t like Gray at all in order to coax his wife and made the rumours disappeared. 

Indeed, the rumours did disappear… And so Gray’s number one customer. For months, he only survived by the foods he hunted by himself and sometimes his best friend would give him a small bag full of rice. One night, Uncle Ten broke into his house and grumbled about how the other hunters would bring him only small and ugly meats, not suitable for his cooks at all!! In Gray’s house, they’re finally made a plan to do ‘secret’ transactions so that no one in the town would know that Uncle Ten still bought his meats. Gray was truly happy that he got his number one customer back, but at the same time, he didn’t dare to think what if one day, the people would finally find this out.

Looked like Uncle Ten could read his expressions and by a small slap on his shoulder, he said while assuring Gray, “A little kid shouldn’t worry too much. You might probably don’t know, but this uncle had some great connections that could save my ass, including yours. Be careful when you’re out of town, alright?”

“Alright, thank you so much, Uncle Ten!” Gray answered and smiled widely.

“YOU LITTLE RASCAL!! HOW COME YOU’RE STILL SHOWING YOUR FACE IN FRONT OF ME!!!”

Gray was truly shocked by these sudden transitions and couldn’t help but flinch. Uncle Ten deserved to be an actor! With so much efforts, he also raised his voice to match Uncle Ten’s and spoke while running from the alley, “I’m sorry, Uncle!! This little rascal will get lost!! Don’t hit me again, AHHHH-”