One

An awfully adorable mailman

I can't help thinking now would be a great time to suddenly gain the ability to turn invisible or run away at lightening speed as I wait for Rutger to process what I just told him.

"What do you mean you're moving to… to Konohana?" Rutger bellows at me.

I shrug. What can I say? I mean, certainly not the truth. I'd die if anyone knew the truth. Well, anyone except Laney, of course, who does in fact know the truth.

"Well, that'll be all then," I say quickly making my move to leave, "I'll have my stuff out and moved by tonight and Cam said he'd bring my animals out for me since I don't have the equipment to move them! Auf wierdersehen!"

"Lillian!" Rutger yells at me as I book it out of Bluebell's town hall and head for Howard's Café.

I run inside hoping Rutger didn't follow me. I give a quick 'hello!' to Howard, storm past him up the stairs, and into Laney's bedroom I go. I slam the door shut behind me with heavy breathing.

"How'd it go?" Laney asks, clearly amused.

I start to answer, then stop. Not as bad as I had planned, really. Granted I did run out of there before Rutger had the chance to lecture me on why Bluebell is superior to Konohana.

"Actually it could have gone a lot worse," I say.

Laney stands up and grabs one of my cardboard boxes off her bed. Considering I'm moving towns there really isn't that much stuff to move.

"Since you got that taken care of then shall we get started?" she asks.

"We shall!" I say grabbing the handle of my suitcase in one hand and balancing a box in the other.

"So… Dirk… What's your game plan?" Laney asks as we descend the stairs.

"Shush!" I yell almost dropping my box, "What if someone hears you? Or worse—what if Howard hears you?"

Laney rolls her eyes at my comment, but we both know who the town gossip is and if he hears you might as well have screamed your secret in the middle of Bluebell's town square.

"I'm serious though," Laney says, "Dirk is cute and whenever I go to Konohana I catch Nori gazing at him."

Ehhh? Is that true? But Nori is so tall and pretty and elegant and I'm… a farmer? I get along well with cows and chickens? But I doubt those are qualities most guys seek out in a girl… Other than maybe Ash, but he has that whole weird sister complex thing going on.

Laney grunts bringing me back to reality.

"What's with the face? If you're going to start having second thoughts now after deciding to move towns I might have to smack you with the sense you dropped when this whole crush thing started," Laney warns.

I nod. She's right. I can't give up before even trying.

When we reach the bottom of the hill both Laney and I look toward the top of it and sigh. This is going to be a long day. Why did that cart of mine have to break? It sure would have been useful right about now.

"We only need to make two trips. Shouldn't be too bad, right?" I say.

"Yeah, but now I have to go all the way to Konohana to visit you," Laney pouts.

I roll my eyes.

"Oh, please. I'll be over so often to go to the Animal Shop and to eat Howard's cooking that you won't even know the difference," I say.

Laney nods.

"That's true. Considering you live alone you're a terrible cook," she says.

"Hey!" I say defensively, "I can cook the basics and I can make a killer cup of tea, which is all I really need to survive. Plus I heard Dirk likes tea."

Laney laughs.

"Have you heard of anyone not liking tea? And who told you that anyway? Hiro, your personal spy?" she asks.

I would deny that comment if it weren't completely true. Hiro offers me information in exchange for sweets. All I have to do is bring a piece of cake from Howard's Café and he'll suddenly tell me anything I want to know no questions asked. Considering he's in the health profession he has quite the soft spot for sugar.

"Do you think I should invite him over for tea sometime? Or do you think that's too forward?" I ask.

She gives me a doubtful look.

"Have you never dated?" she asks.

I don't answer. As a matter of fact my dating history is extremely limited. It isn't that no one has ever showed interest… It's just that I was never really attracted to anyone until now. I can't help but being smitten by Dirk though. He's so cute and friendly and his smile… His smile looks… just like that guy waving at me? My eyes widen and I look at Laney for help, but she's nowhere to be found. What? Where did she go? Can she turn invisible? That would actually explain so much.

Dirk jogs toward me while I'm frozen in place.

"Hey, what're you doin'?" he asks.

"Hi!" I say overly excited, "I, uh, I'm moving."

"Moving?" he asks, "Where? Konohana?"

I nod eagerly.

"Really? That's great! I'll help," he says grabbing the box I had been carrying.

"Are you sure? Don't you have to go to work?" I ask.

He shrugs.

"I'm sure the folks in Bluebell won't mind getting their mail an hour or two later than usual," he says.

I smile. Is he ditching work for me then? Or delaying it to be more precise, I suppose. Either way this is a good sign, right?

"Why did you decide to move to Konohana?" Dirk asks as we begin walking toward Konohana.

Let's see… Certainly not to get closer to you. No, that would be crazy. Absolutely insane and ridiculous. Who on Earth would move towns just to be closer to their crush? Well, in short, I would. Because he's so attractive and charming it makes my heart hurt.

But telling him that would be even crazier than the actual action itself so telling him my cover story that remains only partially true will have to suffice.

"The Konohana farm has more room for crops, which is where I make most of my profit. I love my animals dearly, but right now with the small amount of animals I have and the large demand for crops it just makes more sense," I say.

He nods. Oh thank goodness it looks like he bought it! Although I don't know why anyone except Laney would think anything of my fake reason. In my opinion it sounds like a practical enough thing for a farmer with a small amount of livestock to do.

"And how'd Rutger take that?" he asks.

Oh boy. Heaven help me next time I run into Rutger. Luckily he'd never think of walking into Konohana so I'll only have to avoid him while in Bluebell.

"I wouldn't know… I sort of ran out of there before he could say anything," I admit.

Dirk laughs.

"I can't say I blame you. I would have too. Won't you miss Bluebell though?" he asks.

Will I miss it? I'm not sure. I enjoyed having Laney and Howard nearby. Also having such a large barn was nice and there was always lots of room for my animals to graze. Other than that I think I'll enjoy Konohana.

Konohana has room for more crops and it still has a big enough barn for all my animals I just won't be able to get anymore unless I pay to have it expanded. Konohana also has Hiro and Doctor Ayame whom I get along with really well. I also adore Ying. She's absolutely adorable and so sweet! Not anything like Ash's little sister Cheryl who is a complete terror… She's always glaring at me when I talk to Ash.

"Hmm," I say still debating on an answer, "I suppose in some ways I will, but it isn't like I can't just go visit Bluebell whenever I want to."

"That's true. Plus this way you'll be closer to me," he says with a wink.

I feel my face flush.

Relax, Lillian, he's only joking.

"Well, we're here," he says.

I look around. What? When did that happen? Regardless, I open the door.

"This is it," I say walking inside, "My new home."

Dirk sets the box on my new table and looks at his watch.

"Ah, I should be going. I hope you like it here in Konohana!" he says.

"Oh okay," I say watching him go.

"See you soon," he says as he closes the door behind him.

"Bye," I say with a wave.

I stand there dazed for a moment before I realize I'd forgotten to thank him. I run toward the door.

"Dirk!" I call out. He's already halfway off my property. Is he in that much of a hurry? I hope being late won't get him into any trouble.

"Yeah?" he calls back.

"Thanks for the help!" I say.

He smiles.

"Anytime," he says.

I'm suddenly so grateful my cart broke.

Author's Note: Hello! This is the first story & chapter I've published on here so I hope you enjoyed reading this & please forgive me of any minor grammatical errors, etc. I tried to proofread the best I could, but chances are there will still be mistakes. I originally wrote this because Dirk is one of my all time favorite bachelors and he's just so cute~ I also decided to write this because I've been having a bit of a writers block lately and I'm hoping that by writing a fanfiction for the Harvest Moon series I will get over my writer's slump & improve my writing skills. I'd love to hear what you think, but since this is my first story I do ask that you go easy on me! c: