Author Notes: This is my first fan-fiction ever, so I hope you can at least try to enjoy. Reviews of all kinds are accepted if you could spare the time, and I'd like to thank you for at least reading this, it really means a lot to me.
"Go home!"
His words continually played in my head as I trudged home, still not married, or even loved by my beloved brother, even though I loved him with all my heart and soul. Tears sprung up in my eyes. I tried to hold them back, but it was no use. I didn't want anyone to see me like this, so I ran. I ran and ran and just kept running. I didn't know where I was running, but I didn't care, so long as no one was around.
When I finally stopped, chest heaving, I let the tears flow, my sorrows flow free in sobs. "Why won't he love me? I love him so much, more than anything in the world. I cannot give any more than I am now. Why can't he see these feelings that I hold for him? I display them freely towards him, but still he does not see them." I wailed between sobs, the words used many times before which felt strange now.
I fell to my knees, now realizing my surroundings. I was in a forest, not thick, but not thin. No one could hear me here, a safe place. The tears stopped. I tried to figure out what to do next, but my brain would not process it. Rejection filled it full. Just then, I heard a twig snap behind me.
"Natalia, are you okay?" It was Toris, an enemy of mine, for he holds my brother's attention, his love. He does not return it, but that does not matter to me, I detest him. He keeps Brother from me, gets in the middle of our happiness. However, in this state, I could not face him with my tear-stained face, for showed weakness.
He walked up next to me and knelt. He put his hand on my shoulder, but I didn't shrug it off. "I-I came to see if you were okay, you seemed upset when you left Ivan's house." He held out a handful of daisies, "I brought you some flowers, to cheer you up a little." I swatted them away, and he looked away, embarrassed.
"Why? Why do you care about me?" I questioned. I turned to him, and stared into his green eyes. His face was pink, his eyes looking into mine, now confused.
"Well I-I thought that you, well, might want some comfort, as a friend," He stuttered. Does he have feelings for me? No, stop that thinking like that; he's the enemy, why should I care about his feelings? "We-well I also wanted to tell you that I have, uh, fe-feelings fo-for you too…" he mumbled, looking away awkwardly.
When he got his composure back, he looked back at me, his wide green eyes looking for my feelings, behind my shell, the shell that was cracking. I felt like smiling, but that would mean he got to me, that he won, and I can't afford to let my guard down like that.
I shrugged his arm off my shoulder. "Why do you keep trying to get me to like you? You should know that I only have feelings for one, and that is Brother," I hissed icily. I could see his face fall, but he pulled it back up almost immediately, though the pain still seeped into his mask.
"You know that's not true, Natalia. You've been hurt too many times by Ivan to forgive him," he countered. The blood rushed to my face and I looked away. "I know that you are delicate, but you hide it with your thick shell." He reached for my hand, "I plan to break though that shell." My face reddened even more than before and turned to face him, to see the determination written all over his face.
"Ivan wouldn't like this, he longs for you, so much he beats you when you try to run or if you reject him," he squirmed uncomfotably, seeing the truth in my words.
The minuets dragged along in the silence as he thought. Then he broke the silence with the strongest voice I've heard him use yet.
"Then, will you be my friend and help me though this?" he asked with longing in his eyes.
He stood up and walked to the edge of the forest before I could answer, turned towards me, then held out his hand, beconing me onwards. I looked down at the daisies scattered on the ground, and picked one up and put it in my hair before running over to Toris and taking his hand that he so eagerly held out for me when no one else would.