bohemian rhapsody ;

Violetta was grown up and knew better than to stick around for men who did nothing but bring others down with their abusive words. Of course he had followed her because that’s all he could do, follow her and taunt her. “How about a I could care less what you’ve been up to all these years?” She turned her head back, giving him a look that clearly stated she did not want to talk to him but that was never going to be enough so she came to a stop and turned to face him. “I don’t give two shits if you’re coming with good intentions. You’ve never had good intentions in your life. All you do is hurt people and you know that.” 

“That’s very kind of you, Violetta.” He pursed his lips carefully, signing there was some more of the taunting coming in the blonde’s way. “Listen. I became a psychologist -- helping on other people -- anyway, it sounds like you have lots of supressed anger. Here.” He handed over his business card. “Since we are acquaintances, I am willing to give you some free sessions. It could be very useful for you.” He offered generously. “Take care, I have some other places to be.” He turned around to leave in the opposite direction, showing as if he really meant no harm to her.

“Because, while this isn’t expensive, it’s not in the same league as buying a cookie or a cup of coffee,” Sofia responded. She was employed in one of the highest-paying industries in the role of a software engineer and, even then, she would not willingly spend so much on a stranger. “Others don’t think to ask all the questions to verify what agreement they’re metaphorically signing,” the brunette once again shot back, but then turned to him and placed her hands on her hips. “Okay, Casanova,” she started off, keeping the nickname that she’d given him. “You get to buy me the necklace, as long as I don’t owe you anything - money, sex, or anything else of that nature.” Although she may not be too upset about giving him a bit of her time. 

“Yeah, that might be true but as I see it, it’s much more original than buying a cookie or a cup of coffee. Creativity comes with a price sometimes and it’s not like I can’t afford it.” He mused back feeling like the other was questioning too much what started out as a simple gesture of a gentleman. “You owe me absolutely nothing of course.” He paused for a moment as if reconsidering his words, “Maybe except with your name -- and you could promise to actually wear it at least a few times instead of tossing away. Does that sound fair?”

He always knew how to taunt her and she was the idiot girl who let him. It had been more than ten years since she last spoke to him, swearing that she would never see him again in her life and with her tough luck there he was standing in front of her. Getting away with his words that all they did was hurt her. “You’re obviously delusional.” Her whole body tensed when he reached for her face, the terrible memories from her past coming back to life and she was terrified. “Don’t touch me.” Violet slapped his hand away from her face, this time not going to let him get away with anything. With that, she turned on her heel and started to walk away. 

Of course she’d run into the one person who made part of her life miserable as hell and she  let him. She blamed all of her insecurities as a teenager but he also was at fault for the crap he put her through. “You’re right, Leonard, I should’ve learned long time ago.” Her expression became sour, clearly disgusted to see him again. “Are you here to ruin everyone’s fun now?”

“Dear Violet, bittersweet, as always.” He allowed himself a tiny curve to spread along his full lips. The fact that the blonde called him Leonard suggested he was still inside her head and that was a blissful realization. “Ruin? Come on, Vi. I’m the life of the party. I cheer everybody up with my presence and good vibes -- not like certain hangry blonde. Are you sure you don’t need some more fried goods?” He commented with his smile widening, clearly enjoying this sudden reunion of theirs. “Aren’t you happy to see me? I missed you, darlin’” His arm rose and the tip of his index finger ran along her jawline like he used to always do it when they were together.

Sofia smiled when the man spoke, knowing that they both looked great. “I think I’m feeling the green one more…” she stated, before he made a proposition. His tone did not make it obvious whether he was joking or not, so Sofia had no idea how to respond. “What’s the catch, Casanova? With you buying me a necklace although you don’t even know my name,” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Was this a wealthy guy’s equivalent of buying a woman a drink? “I need to know all terms and conditions before I agree.”

“Catch? Why should be there one?” He quirked a brow accompanied by a half smirk; however there was often some kind of twisted ulterior motive with Leo but his intentions this time was just purely altruistic -- or at least he wanted to make it look like so. “I like to give back to the community and if a beautiful lady wearing a beautiful necklace pleases some eyes, then I guess I make an excellent investment.” He mused, the smirk widening on his face. “I think others would have jumped on that offer right away.”

Tessa raised her brows slightly at the other’s comment. “ You’re not sure – wow. ” The blonde leaned back slightly, as if she was taking in the comment completely. She pressed her lips together and shifted her glance from the other back to her pie. “ Well, I guess there’s no need for you to taste it then, huh? ” Tessa shrugged as she picked up her fork to get herself another bite. “ Guess that’s more of the best apple pie in the world for me. ” 

Leo could tell the other was shocked by his reluctance to try the world best pie -- or what she called that but with the lack of any certificate, she could be also screwing him over. “I mean, I would have got a taste, but I don’t like apple pie. Or apples for that matter.” He shrugged in a matter-of-factly manner.

If there was anything Sofia adored, it was handmade jewelry. She pushed her hair behind her shoulders as she admired both a rose quartz gold-plated necklace and a silver one with amazonite against her neck in the stall’s mirror. She tended to be indecisive when it came to choosing between two items of clothing or jewelry, so she turned to the person passing by. “Hey, quick question. Which of these looks better?” she asked. “While you’re at it, maybe check out the jewelry, the maker is extremely talented if this is anything to go by.”

Carefully observing both necklaces comparing to her features, he hummed quietly. “I think you should get both to be honest, I can’t really pick.”  He concluded carefully, having the feeling that he couldn’t give the right answer for her anyway. “Pick one, and I will get you the other. How about that?”

No Rose Festival was complete without the pie stand she’d been introduced to by her parents years ago. It was her favourite thing to visit by far, so it was no miracle that Tessa decided to go there as soon as she’d lost her friends in the crowd. The old woman who’d baked all the pies knew her all too well and immediately served her one of her favourite pies. Tessa made her way to one of the picnic tables near the stand and settled with her pie. After her first bite, she closed her eyes and smiled. This was definitely the best pie she’d ever had. “ My goodness have you tried this? I promise you it’s the best. ” Tessa noted in between bites.

Taking a glance at the plate of deliciousness, Leo slightly tilted his head as if he was trying to remember when was the last time he broke his strict diet. It took discipline to rock the abs he so proudly owned. “I don’t know... It looks good but I’m not sure if it’s worth to have a cheat meal for. -- What kind of pie is that?”

 Everyone seemed to be enjoying the fair, heck, the children had even managed to sell some more lemonade once they decided to add some more sugar to it. That was when Isaac suddenly heard screams and a big spectacle seemed to be going on by the Ferris wheel. He looked at the others and asked them to stay behind with the children while he ran over. Some of the kids had decided to go on the ride, and he would never forgive himself with his college and their children had been hurt. “Does anyone need help? Has anyone seen a group of children? Please..” He pushed a few people away, all who seemed to be running in the opposite direction. “Annie? Garret? Maddison? Somebody.. please..” Some more people ran into him on their way from the danger, he was trying to stay calm but the crowd wasn’t helping. “Please, it would be a lot easier to find and help people if we all just stopped freaking out.

Honestly, Leo was not really having any of the festive mood but seeing the ferris wheel coming alive, quite literally was already worth coming out to the event. This was one of those cases that you wouldn’t believe it happened unless you saw it with your own eyes and experienced it. He noticed how the panic spread extremely fast and in the very moment he made that conclusion in himself, he was fazed by a strange shoulder bumping into him. “Kids? Are they your children or what?” He questioned but his eyes were already looking for little humans. “Come on, dude I’ll help you find them - but I doubt they would run into the direction of that.” He put extra emphasis on his last word as his finger pointed at the moving wheel.

“Have you tried these?” They had been giving out free samples of something deep fried and with all the commotion happening around, Violet hadn’t heard what it was but she willing to give it a try. “They were handing them out by the entrance, they have some kind of fried chicken taste.”

He overheard the words that came from a familiar source and as soon as he turned his head, Leo recognized why he had thought he had heard that voice before. “You still haven’t learned not to put everything in your mouth? All you know, those could be fried grasshoppers. You can’t trust anything that’s handed out free.” He shook his head in disbelief.