The Bodyguard System

Scarlet was no longer in the mood of staying in this mall again. Even though she believed that an incident like the one that had happened here would not happen again as long as she did not wear a dress, she did not dare to risk it.

"I have found something that I will not like doing again." Scarlet mumbled while they were inside an elevator.

"And that is…" Jaden asked curiously.

"I will no longer do shopping like this. I better do online shopping instead. I will have my clothes delivered at home, and I can test them out without having someone looking at me like that." Scarlet responded.

"But you know, sometimes, the clothes that can be seen online are not always good after you get them…" Jaden advised.

"I don't care. In any case, if it's not good, I can always apply for a return before ordering again until the time that I will get the one that I want." Scarlet responded through gritted teeth.

Jaden did not say anything else. He remained silent until the two of them got out of the elevator, leaving behind a few people that gave them weird glances.

"So, where are we going to? Or have you changed your mind about buying a present for your mother?" Jaden asked as the two of them approached the parking area.

"We will visit a bookstore and an antique store respectively. We will find the best within each of them, and those will be the gifts for my mother." Scarlet responded.

As she said those words, she seemed to be finally getting in a good mood. So, her face was not as gloomy as it was before.

Jaden nodded. Then, the two of them went ahead and visited a bookshop first. They were currently in the city center and so, the number of bookshops that could be found here was quite high.

It was not that difficult for them to find a big one. Then, they asked one of the workers in the bookshop about the best adventure books that could be found. They wanted the ones that were trending, with positive reader feedback, instead of the ones being hyped up exaggeratedly even though they were not good.

The two were taken to the east part of the bookshop where adventure novels could be found. This was the genre that Scarlet claimed that her mother loved.

The two went through the large number of books recommended to them, trying to see if there was a novel that had a good potential just from the first few chapters.

Finally, about an hour and a half later, they found what they were looking for. It was a female lead novel about a young lady that was restricted by the family, due to the reputation that it had.

Being the sole heir of the family, she had to learn a lot of things in order to match the role that she had as a heir of the family. But this immediately put her adventurous spirit into constraints that she could not break.

Despite yearning about going around the world, to explore the things that she had only read in history books, she could not escape the responsibility that she carried on her shoulder.

But a few years later, she could not take the pressure anymore. When the time for her to take over the family businesses came, she ran away from home.

She thought that she would adventure around the world, and would come back home a few years later, after she had seen what she could. After all, she understood that by taking over the reigns as the family leader, the restraints on her would be even tighter and she would not get a chance of exploring the world anymore.

That was the point that Jaden had read to, before he stopped. He did not know about what happened next, but he was quite curious. So, he explained to Scarlet about what he had read and Scarlet immediately agreed to take the novel.

After that, the two of them left the bookshop and headed towards an antique store. This was a store that possessed many things, but of course, the price was astronomical.

When they asked for paintings, they were directed to a hall that was dedicated for paintings. Here, they could see so many beautiful paintings, with some of them coming from artists that they had heard of.

Of course, the top paintings could not be displayed here. Instead, they had another room where they were being kept, and not just anybody could access them. Only the VIPs of the store had the opportunity of going there.

Scarlet on the other hand did not have the intention of visiting the room anyway. She understood that the famous paintings were expensive, even if they were not the top works of the particular artists.

Even though it was true that she was interested in them, she did not have the financial capability of buying them with the money that she was having on her.

She had managed to take a little part of her savings, before borrowing $200,000 from Sylvia. Now, with the clothes and the book, the money that she personally brought, just a few thousand dollars, had been consumed, with the clothes taking the majority part of it.

Now, all that she was left with was the $200,000 that she had borrowed from Sylvia. Although she had borrowed, she had no intention of returning the money. To her, that was the payment for the beatings that she had received from Sylvia.

After the two of them looked around, they looked at the paintings together with the prices for each painting. And, they found that the prices of each and every painting that they looked at was worth at least $10,000, and that was the cheapest.

"So, how much are you planning to spend?" The man who was introducing the paintings to the two of them asked.

Though, he did not hold that much hopes that the two of them would be buying the paintings. After all, many people have ever come here to look at the paintings but ended up not showing any interest in buying them.

This was something that he had already gotten used to. And of course, he understood that most of the people that appreciated paintings were those old people. As for the youngsters, they were mostly unwilling to spend their money on the paintings as they would rather spend them on cars and luxury bags.

"I want a good painting whose price range is between $150,000 to $200,000." Scarlet responded without much thought.

The man was surprised. He had not expected that Scarlet was actually intending to make a purchase. Despite the surprise, he was excited. After all, his source of income was from the commission of selling the paintings.

It was difficult to find someone that was willing to buy a painting. Due to that consideration, his commission was 15%, which was high in the sales agent market.

"Perhaps any of these paintings here caught your eye?" The man excitedly pointed at the paintings within the price range stated by Scarlet. The paintings here were arranged in such a way that those with the same price range were placed together.

Scarlet looked at the paintings. She did not know how to appreciate the beauty of the paintings, but nonetheless, she could distinguish a few paintings that caught her eyes.

But it was quite difficult for her to choose one of them. After all, in her eyes, all of them were good. It was just that she could not buy all of them as other than not having enough money, it was against her intention.

She looked at Jaden for help. Jaden was already thinking about the painting that better suited the occasion. Just like Scarlet, he did not know much about art.

But, after looking at the paintings for a while, he decided on one of them. It was a watercolor painting. "This one. I think this is the one." Jaden stated as he pointed at the painting.

Both Scarlet and the man were surprised by his choice. Scarlet could not help but frown as well. After all, the painting that Jaden had chosen was not among the ones that she thought to be the best.

Still, she believed that there had to be a reason why he thought that this painting was the best of all. Or, he might just be making a blind guess.

"Why? I don't think that this is the painting that looks attractive among all, right?" Scarlet asked, curious about the reason behind his choice.

Jaden pointed at the painting. It was a painting of a young lady with her hands wide spread, in the rain, away from the city. The expression on her face showed relief and happiness.

"This is related to the novel that we bought. They talk about the same thing. From this painting, even though I can not tell much, I can at least tell that this lady here in the painting is enjoying the sense of freedom, just from her expression and the city background in the distance." Jaden explained his point of view.

"Oh." Scarlet was surprised upon hearing Jaden's explanation. She had not thought along those lines at all. But now that Jaden had put it this way, she finally understood why it was the most suitable one.

The man who was accompanying the two of them looked at the with a weird expression on his face. At the same time, he could not help but think, 'Could the two of them here be having an idea of eloping with each other? Well, love sure is a strange thing.'

Scarlet completed the purchase of the painting that cost $176,500. And the moment that she completed the payment, Jaden heard the system prompt, something that made him smile.