New project. What the rival couples would be in a New Beginning if there were any, in my opinion. Split fairly obviously into two rival events. Read and Review!
FelicityXSanjay
[The most perfect things come in the oddest forms.]
He is selfless, and she wishes to be so.
She gives her all until nothing is left; doing what she loves until she wonders how much longer she can break herself by loving it. He has been giving his all to a man who saved him, who appreciates him almost to the lengths he's worked so hard to solidify.
The people who see them holding hands, conversing brightly with love-struck faces pass them off as an odd-couple- two people who met in a restaurant and found some sort of understanding in each other's arms. The people who look know better, know that perfection comes in the oddest forms, in him teaching her about his cultural food, and her teaching him how braid a fishtail.
Yes, they are ease; frictionless to the point of a slippery slope. Somehow, they always slide into each other's arms. They are happiness, complete; but first, they have to get there.
He pretends not to notice her, even though he knows her. He catches her name on the rift of noise, through the words bustling their way to his ears- Felicity. He thinks it fits her- a bright, cheery name for a girl with bouncing blonde curls. He doesn't speak to her, besides to tell her what he and Amir would like that particular day, although she clearly is beginning to catch on- foods from the Homeland from which they both came. She is kind, brisk, and courteous, and he would wish nothing more than to sit down and have a civilized conversation with her; but she was not his first responsibility. Amir was, until… he wasn't anymore.
She sees him, but she doesn't look. He is to confusing, to much a puzzle for her to spend time working out the pieces. She thinks there is no reason to, but she listens and grabs pieces when she can. It takes a season to hear his name- Sanjay- and she like how it sounds coming off her tongue. She is hungry for more, but she wonders how long she can keep up this longing- before it runs out, or how hungry it will get?
It is winter when she first looks at him for who he is. She knows his name, as he's been around a few times, but she's never really spoken to him- he is odd, and she's not sure she completely understands him. He walks in through the door of the restaurant, snow barely visible on his white locks.
"May I have a Tom Yum Goong, please?" He asks her.
She smiles. Tom Yum Goong is one of her favorites, and she loves having Clement make it for others, if only so she can smell the aroma. "Of course. It'll be up soon."
"Thank you." He bows to her, making her blush- but why? The restaurant is empty, and he goes to take a seat and one of the freshly cleaned tables, a fruit of her laborious work.
She tells Clement about the order, and the chef goes to making it. Felicity stands by the counter, pretending to bury her nose in the newest newspaper, watching Sanjay. He must be so lonely, she thinks, sympathetic- she has friends and family back home, and a warm hearth here. Sanjay has just lost his best- his only- friend to marriage with that farmer girl, Rio. She can only image how cold that large mansion must feel when there is nobody to share it with.
"Felicity, my girl!" Clement, who she likes to think of as her father away from her father, is shaking her shoulders, jostling her out of a daze. "You make me think you need more time off! Deliver this to the costumer, won't you? Then maybe you should take a break and chat for a while."
She wants to protest that she doesn't need a break, but she catches the sparkle in Clement's good-natured eyes. Did he catch me staring? Is he taking it as…something? "I…"
He hands her the Tom Yum Goong with a smile that tells her to relax, not to protest, and turns away. Felicity, taking a deep breath, artfully places the dish in one hand and walks over to the table. Sanjay looks up at her, offering a smile. She sets down the dish, careful not to spill a drop of the delicious soup, and- all in one artful swirl- pulls out a chair and falls right into it.
"I'm Felicity," She says, placing her forearms so the lay across the table, careful not to touch her elbows to the table.
He looks amused and surprised, and she thinks she sees a look of relief in the dark depths. "I know. I'm Sanjay."
He has a nice voice, she thinks, deep and rumbly and beautiful, like fried rice- but less crisp, and more flavored; so flavored rice, perhaps, the kind with spices? She's proud when she replies, "Yeah, I know. I've seen you around before. We've never talked, and the place is empty right now, so…"
"Should I leave?" His furrowed brows confuse her, drawing themselves into a line as white as the snow banks.
Understanding piles itself on top of her after a quick moment of pondering. "Oh, no! We're open, but people usually don't come in this late, that's all."
"Oh, well, I seek your forgiveness."
No, she did not understand this young man at all. The people in this town were kind, but it was a rare treat to be implored for forgiveness so much. "No, no! I think Clement likes to have customers this late. He gets bored at this time of night. "
"Oh." He smiles, but even Felicity can tell that it is half-hearted, forced- a Neil smile. He takes a sip of his soup, almost delicately, as she studies him. He has a handsome, very particular face; high cheek bones appear under dark skin, white hair contrasts with dark eyes. His lithe frame- she can barely tell it is lithe under all the billowy clothes- speak not of hardships, but of work. Fried brown rice. A little undercooked, with somebody's special ingredient.
"You aren't very good at this, are you?"
"Good at what?" He is confused, and she's almost ashamed of herself for making him feel that way; rather, that was a thing for Michelle or Tina, but she finds that she cannot stop.
"Being you by yourself, of course!" This causes him to raise an eyebrow, but Felicity is lit up on thought and inspiration- she is lit now it the fire that lurks, just barley under her layer of skin. "I have this awesome book about it, but… it's in my room at the Inn." She sighs, so much for that one.
Sanjay lifts another spoonful of soup to his face, thoughtfully. He opens his mouth to say something at the same time Felicity does, but the girl has sense enough to clamp down her jaws and let him speak. "I'd be willing to go get it from there, if you'd like."
"Really? That would be very kind of you, but you don't have to."
He takes another quick taste of soup before taking his hand and putting it over hers. "I want to."
She finds herself blushing, no matter how chaste the contact was. Felicity thinks, perhaps, there is red under Sanjay's dark skin, a blossoming spaghetti sauce the same flavor as hers. If she looks hard enough, she there might be. You never really know, after all. She wants to study their hands, the brown interchanged with the white- if not to relate it with rice, but to see if they would fit- but he removes his hand.
She smiles, flashing white teeth as a girl who totally hadn't been thinking the thoughts she had been. "You're gentlemen. We'll go whenever you're done."
"I'm not hungry anymore," he says, pushing away the soup. "Let's go now."
Part of Felicity was sad to see it go- her favorite soup, just pushed aside for a girl-, but the other part had never been happier.
He leads her through the path that Tina had spent all day clearing- the hyper brunette could not stand to make her routes through the snow- as snowflakes spin around them, illuminated by a half-moon in the sky above. She finds herself having an ache to twirl around and to shiver constantly at the same time.
"Are you cold?" He is apologetic; and she wonders if you could be so much a gentlemen to the point of flaw.
"I… I'll be okay."
He looks as though he doesn't believe her- even though there wasn't really all that much to believe- and shrugs off his long vest and hands it to her.
He says, "Take it," with such a gentle command, she finds her hand reaching out to gather the fabric around her. It smells like spices; the gentle, nose-prickling kind.
"Thank you." She says, as if she's never been surer of something in her life.
There's silence in the air, and it is not something Felicity is used to; another thing she isn't sure she likes, but she wishes to. The young woman- perhaps she isn't a girl, anymore, with a career and curves- looks up to the sky like a child, a snowflake landing on her nose, and another in the locks of her hair, and another across Sanjay's vest. She is aware of every muscle in his body, ever move he makes, from the corner of her heart; but she laughs anyway.
"It's so beautiful out here. It makes me want to spin around, dance like a kid again."
He studies her, taking his rough hand and placing it into her porcelain one. She looks over at him, and she can see his smile illuminated by the moonlight. Her heart feels like it is about to erupt, beating far out of her chest- she's surprised he can't see it. His moves lack sense; but she's already decided they don't need any. "What's stopping you?"
With those words, anything she was worried about- being seen, being laughed at- feels like over-cooked food, something just to throw away as soon as you have it. She doesn't know, anymore. So she takes his other hand. "Nothing, not anymore."
She takes his other hand, and she finds that they are spinning; not dancing romantically across the snow banks, but spinning and frolicking like a child on the first snow of the year. She forgets about the book; and he, the world. For a precious few hours, the world is theirs; a world that does not need business or words or even music- a world of snow and two different people, and that is all.
They said they weren't dating, but no one in the town is that dumb. Felicity claimed she was too busy for a relationship; and Sanjay never came here for love, anyway. Those claims lasted for a few weeks, until Tina claimed she saw them down by the river holding hands, and that was the end of that. The town was fascinated by them; it had been two seasons since Amir and Rio had wed, and Hanna and Emma needed someone else to 'Aw' over. After a Season, they made it official. They were sparsely seen together- relationships don't change busybodies-, but if you were really interested, you could ease Tina into giving out some information without much trouble. Sanjay didn't mind the friendly gossip, as long as Felicity was okay with it- and Felicity didn't mind, as long as Sanjay was okay with it. Allen related them to a broken clock, "They are consistent in their inconsistency, and you can always expect a surprise- I think how they function like that is the real surprise of the relationship. Now, you came here for a haircut, didn't you?"
"Your fried brown rice." Felicity handed her boyfriend a plate, settling on the doorstep beside him, right in front of the Exotic Manor.
He laughs- it is a reward to her ears, a deep sounds, better than even his smile. It is a bit of a joke of theirs- she has long sense told him of her analogy, and he has long sense appreciated it. He sticks his fork into it, taking a bite. After he has swallowed, he pursues honesty, "You are getting better."
She beams even with the knowledge that she was rather terrible to begin with. "Thank you."
It is fall now, and the leaves twirl around them like colorful snowflakes, caught in the gentle wind. There is a chill in the air, carrying the promise of winter to their frigid, intertwined hands. They don't say anything, and no longer does Felicity feel the need to; Sanjay has taught her the art of silence, and the art of listening. Rather, it is he who breaks the silence.
"What would you say if I asked you to marry me?"
She figures it is just another hypothetical question- the ones Sanjay liked to ask, trying to get to know her, a sort of game with function and intelligence- but she blushes anyway. "I love you; the answer would be yes."
He looks at her, his dark eyes taking in all the fairness about her, and she all the darkness of him; he said one day they looked like Yin and Yang, but she didn't agree- his hair was white, after all, and their personalities fit together like an easy puzzle. She wonders now if he was right, when he throws back his head and laughs. "It wasn't hypothetical." He pulls out a blue feather and turns to her, his knee falling to the ground and her hand to her mouth. "I am asking you to marry me, Felicity."
Her breath is stalled, but only for a moment, a moment of shock; the answer, like their love, comes easy after a while. "The answer is still yes."
He scoops her into her arms like she isn't the same size as him, and she buries her head into his neck, smelling like spices that are his scent.
He says, "I love you," like he's never meant anything, not even pledging his loyalty to Amir, more than that.
"I love you too," she says, meaning every word just as much as he does, just as much- no more!- than she loves food.
To them, love is taste and work and faith; it is a sweet priceless they've both worked for without knowing it- although, you could probably buy the Special Edition of it off Tina for 9 g's or so.