The King's Mandate: Anomalous System

"Where is it? Your so-called favorite stall?" Das asked.

"We are almost there," Elena replied as she pulled Das with her.

"You have been saying this since forever now."

"It's really close now."

"That means you were lying earlier--"

Das bumped into someone.

Elena didn't notice and kept pulling Das.

"Hey, wait--!" Das tried to stop Elena, but due to the crown noise, she couldn't hear.

After some seconds, she stopped at a stall and said, "Here we are"

"Yeah, we are"

"What's wrong?" Elena asked.

"Nothing. Order something fast."

"Oh~ What am I seeing? Elena is with some boy," said the stall owner.

The stall owner looked in his late sixties, and he was wearing a business suit.

He had a white beard, white hair, and light blue eyes.

"..." Das.

"Yes. It's his birthday today."

"Oho? So Elena finally got a boy--"

"Friend. He is just a friend."

The stall owner then looked closely at Das and said, "I see."

"..."

'What's with this old man? Why is he talking so casually with Elena? And why the hell is he wearing a business suit?'

"Alright," the owner took out a new plate and spoons with forks from the package and said, "It's on the house."

~~~~~~

Meanwhile,

The couple Das bumped into were walking to their car.

They both had black hair and brown eyes.

The man was wearing a black suit with a black tie and black glasses.

While the girl was wearing a black dress with black heels and black glasses.

The man was holding a bag, and the girl was holding plates and spoons.

They both walked to the black car parked around the street and sat in it.

"HIghschoolers nowadays," said the man.

"Come on. It was so crowded. It normal for people to bump into each other"

"I know."

"Then why are you angry?"

"That boy didn't even turn around and looked at me, nor he apologized. He just kept walking"

"What's the problem with that?"

The man looked at the girl and said, "Are you seriously asking that?"

"I mean, no one would know who they bumped with, in this much crowd, right?"

The man stared at the girl and said, "I have no idea what I might have become if you weren't with me."

"Then you should be grateful that I am your wife."

"Yeah. Only if you can do something about that barbaric side of yours."

The girl passed the plate to the boy and said, "I will pretend I didn't hear that."

"Oh?" The man took out the packed food from the bag, saying, "Is that a threat or a favor?"

The girl pulled the man close and kissed him, saying, "That's just my love."

The man stared at the girl in wonder and said, "Don't kiss me when I am about to eat."

The girl moved her hand to the man's face and pulled his cheek.

"You have changed so much ever since we got married."

"We married 3 years ago. Are you saying I changed three years ago?"

"Yeah," The girl took the plate from the man's hand and said, "You don't show me affection like you did before."

"We barely talked before we got married. What affection are you talking about?"

"You were so rude and arrogant. And you were also a delinquent who beat everyone."

"Stop with the old times, and I never beat anyone."

"You did."

"That was you beating everyone. You were the one who was delinquent."

"But we are one now, right?"

"..."

The girl kissed the man again and said, "Right?"

"I really miss the old you too."

"Aww," The girl handed the plate to the man and opened the package, saying, "You liked the old me better?"

"That's not what I am talking about. The old you was… scary. Like really scary."

"And that's why you ignored me."

"I didn't ignore you; I was just avoiding you."

"That's the same thing."

"You know the reason why  I was avoiding you."

"Because I wanted to kill you?"

"What else?"

They started eating the food. It was chicken wrapped with the bread.

"But I didn't kill you, right?" the girl said as she took a bite.

"I really appreciate that"

As they were eating, the spoon fell down from the man's lap.

They both looked at the spoons and then looked at each other.

"I don't know why they even gave us the spoons when there is no need for them?" said the man.

"Say Riku," the girl called out.

"What?"

"We are married for three years now."

"And?"

"Don't you want kids?"

Riku choked on his bite.

The girl rubbed Riku's back and asked, "Are you okay?"

Riku nodded and said, "Yeah."

After a minute of silence, the girl asked again, "You don't?"

Riku grabbed the girl's hand and said, "Rita, we already talked about this, didn't we?"

"But I want kids!"

Riku sighed and said, "We are still twenty-one years old."

"So what? Who says I can't have kids when I am twenty-one years old?"

"And we are still in university."

"I will drop out when I get pregnant. It's not like we need any degree anyway."

Riku sighed again and said, "Listen, I have no problem with having kids, and you know it"

"Then--"

"But you know what's going on around this city, this state… this country."

"..."

"Rita, we live alone. And don't forget that we are mafia. We can't have a peaceful life."

"But isn't that why we sighed the pact with the government?"

"Yeah, but you know it better than me; that they won't come to save us if we are in danger."

"Then what was the point… we just made more money because of that, you know?"

"We certainly did. But I was thinking of the future. Even if something happened to me, you would be safe."

"Don't raise flags."

"I am not trying to raise flags here. I am just telling you one of the possibilities. So, if we have kids, we will have to be extra cautious for them too."

"I know," said Rita.

"But we don't have enough time for that. Let's graduate from university first, and then we will think about it, okay?"

Rita nodded and said, "Okay."

Riku kissed Rita on the cheek and said, "Cheer up now."