engulfed him as he stepped in. The second table to the right sat displays of candy. Chocolate lined the refrigerated display cases, alongside cakes and other sweets too.
Oh! A choose your own chocolates deal. He tugged off his gloves and withdrew his wallet from his schoolbag.
"Mr. Fujiyama!" He smiled at an older man behind the counter.
"Oh, Dante! It's great to see you. Who's the special someone you're buying for this time, huh? Or are you here alone? Ahahahaha!" Fujiyama chortled.
"For my parents," Dante replied, lightheartedly rolling his eyes at the comment. "The bundle chocolate deal, please."
"Oh, oh, of course! I'll give you a couple lollipops for your father so you better tell him I said hi."
"He'd love that a lot, thank you," the teenage boy said, "I'd like to start with some of those milk choc-"
"Dante?"
On hearing his name, he stopped his sentence and turned to look. He recognized that particular brown hair. It was his neighbor. She was pretty close friends with his mom. She was out of breath and her clothes seemed haphazardly pulled on. She looked like she woke up on the wrong side of bed.
"Mrs. Leroux?"
"Dante… Dante, your father- your mother--"
"Hey, hey, take a moment to breathe. What's wrong?" He could hear the distress in her voice.
"I… Your mom told me to come find you as you weren't at school. I…" She held her breath for a second. "Can we go outside?"
"Uh, yeah, sure.." he hesitated. He glanced at Mr. Fujiyama who nodded at him to go. The boy helped the disheveled lady outside.
"They just called your mom- the Vatican… About your f-father. Your father..."
"Is he getting called up for another job?" he tried to nicely complete her sentence.
She shook her head. "There was an a-accident. He's… not coming home, Dante."
11_9 Figure Study Final Project (Nov 30, 2020 at 7_10 AM)