The alarm in the servants room rang loudly in his ears. Pulling the cover of his head, Kanon sighed. It was just another day of work. He would rather have stayed in his bed, to continue sleeping for just a few more hours.

But he had no time to waste dreaming of such luxuries. He got up, and began getting ready for his shift.

Jessica sighed into her pillow. "It's just not fair, Shannon. It's Valentine's day tomorrow, and everyone is going to spend it with the one they love but me! Even you get to spend the day off with George!"

Shannon sat on the edge of her friends bed, smiling as the girl rolled onto her back in anguish.
"Milady, there is still time, it's possible you may also get to spend it with your special someone."

Jessica sighed and looked at the ceiling, sadness clear in her eyes.

"What is it, Milady?" Shannon asked, worried she had said something wrong.

Jessica's voice was barely above a whisper, but Shannon managed to hear it clearly. "I really don't think that's going to happen. I mean, I don't even know how he feels about me…"

Shannon looked at her friend with pity. It's true, Kanon always was never good at expressing his feelings.

But Shannon knew. She knew just how much her brother loved Jessica. No matter how stubborn he may be, Shannon could always see it. The way his eyes lingered on her for longer than a servant's eyes should. The way he always carried her extra inhaler around secretly, in case there was ever an emergency. Even on his worst days, he tried his best to always speak well in front of her.

They were small things, but they meant a lot. More than words could ever say.
But Jessica could never see these actions. Kanon made sure to be very discreet in everything he did, so as not to draw anyone's attention to himself.

But, it wasn't Shannon's place to say any of this to Jessica. The only one who could tell her about Kanon's feelings, is Kanon himself. So she tried to be comforting, while avoiding invading her brothers privacy.

"Perhaps, this Valentine's day will be different. You never know what fate has in store, Milady. Maybe this year will be the year you've been waiting for."

Jessica turned on her side to face her friend. "You really think so?"

"Of course."

Jessica smiled, feeling a small bit of hope building up in her, that Shannon knew something. Maybe Kanon was already going to ask her to be his Valentine!

"Allright! Come on Shannon, lets get you all dolled up for your date!" Jessica pumped her fist in the air, her excitement returning to her.

After finishing his shift early, Kanon headed back to the servants room for a quick break. When he entered, he found Shannon twirling infront of the mirror, holding a soft baby blue dress up to her chest, admiring how it looked on herself. When she heard the door open, she turned around swiftly, smiling brightly.

"Kanon-kun! How does this look?" she said, twirling around again.

"It looks great Nee-san" Kanon said, giving a soft smile. "But, where did you get such a dress?" He walked over to the counter and poured himself some tea.

"Jessica-sama took me out shopping today, she said I should get a new dress for my date with George-san! Isn't it just lovely?" Her face flushed a light pink, it was as if she was positively glowing with excitement. Kanon thought she might have had too much sugar on this little trip she had with Jessica. That did seem like something the two of them would do while hanging out together.

"It's very nice. What's the occasion?" Kanon said, sitting down and sipping his tea.

By the surprised and somehow sad look on his sisters face, he wondered if he had just misspoken some how. Was tomorrow an important day? What had he forgot? It wasn't her birthday, so what was it?

"Don't you know what tomorrow is, Kanon-kun?"

Truthfully, he didn't. He had been so busy as of late that he didn't even know what day of the week it was.

Shannon pouted. "Tommorrow is Valentine's day, Kanon-kun!"

"Oh" was all he was able to say. Ah… Valentine's day. That's what she's so excited about.

Kanon had never bothered to give it much thought before, he figured furniture couldn't understand a holiday about love.

Shannon brightened again. "George-san is taking me to a carnival tomorrow. I'm so excited." Her voice trailed off as she saw the blank look on her brothers face. "What about you, Kanon-kun? What are you doing tomorrow?"

Kanon sighed and sipped his tea. "I supposed I'll spend the day reading, if I have no work to do."

Shannon didn't seem to like this answer. "Kanon-kun."

Kanon gulped. He knew what was coming, it was obvious. Shannon always had a knack at making Kanon admit what he was feeling. It was bothersome, but it also showed just how well she knew her little brother.

"Don't you want to spend the day with milady?"

Kanon stayed silent. He didn't want to say anything, nor did he need to. They both already knew the answer, he knew that.

"Kanon-kun, don't you love Jessica-sama?"

"Why are you asking me this, nee-san. Haven't we had this conversation before?" He felt rather uneasy, he saw where she was heading with this. He could already feel himself losing his cool demeanor.

"Why don't you try to do something for her this Valentine's day? I'm sure that would make her happy."

Kanon put the teacup down as gently as he could, for he was rather slightly shaky. "Stop it, nee-san. You know I can't-"

"Can't what? Do you not love milady anymore?"

At this Kanon stood up on his feet. "That's not true! I love milady! She is like the sun, she is too radiant for me! But I could never be good enough! If I admitted my love to her, all that would do would hurt her! She deserves a Prince, someone who can treat her right, a human who will never betray her feelings, and that… that isn't me!"

Shannon's smile faded, and was replaced with a stern, worrying look. "You're wrong, Kanon-kun. Jessica-sama will never find a man who will never hurt her feelings. No such man exists. In a relationship, it's impossible to not hurt each other, even by accident. What matters, is if both sides try their best to not hurt each other, and fix it when they do."

Kanon continued to stare at her with a dejected and confused look.

"Say Kanon-kun, what would you do if milady did move on?"

"I would… I…" Kanon wanted to say he would be happy for her, but he knew he couldn't, he could never be happy knowing someone else was at her side, where he longed to be.

"And, say, this boy betrays her feelings, hurts her constantly, what would you feel?"

"Anger, intense anger! Nobody should ever treat her like that! I'd… I'd-!"

"But there would be nothing you could do would there? While he betrays her, and she's left broken, Kanon-kun wouldn't be able to do anything but watch, isn't that right?"

Kanon looked down at the floor, angered just by the thought.

"There is no way you can insure that another man will not hurt Jessica-sama. You would have no control over it, Kanon-kun."

Kanon sank to his knees. "So what are you saying, Nee-san? That Milady will never have a happy ending?"

"No, Kanon-kun. If you want to make sure that she has someone who will always stay by her side, someone who will always honestly try to do what's best for her, there's only one way. Do you know what that is?"

Kanon looked up at his sister slowly, pain clearly showing in his eyes. "I don't understand"

"The only way you can make sure the one by her side doesn't hurt her, is if it's you, Kanon-kun. You can't do anything about other people's actions, but you can do something about yours. If you want milady so have someone who will treat her right, why not make sure of that? Be that someone."

Kanon stared at her in stunned silence.

A soft smile crept onto her face once more. "We both have the right to love you know. We aren't furniture anymore."

Kanon paced back and forth in the empty parlor. He had come here to find peace and quiet to think about what Shannon had told him. Being nervous like this was so strange, he never in his life felt his heart beat so fast, so loudly, that it rang in his ears.

Thoughts were rushing through his mind so fast he couldn't possibly keep track of them all. Even if he followed Shannon's advice, what would he do? He had no experience in love before, he had never been taught how romance works!

And even worse, doubt clouded his mind.

'What if Milady has already moved on? What if she already has a Valentine? I mean, it didn't seem impossible, shes so beautiful and kind and loving and it wouldn't be a surprise if she had a bunch of guys lining up for a chance with her, right? What if she no longer loves me? What if she says no?'

"Kanon-san?"

Kanon froze, startled that he had been caught. He had been so caught up in his own mind that he didn't even hear the door open.

Turning around, he was relieved to see it was just Kumasawa.

"Ohoho, is something troubling you?"

"No, forgive me, I was lost in thought." Kanon replied vaguely. However, she didn't seem to believe this answer.

"Well, I'm sure whatever it is, Kanon-san will figure out the solution." She said giving an encouraging motherly smile.

"Yes, thank you" Kanon gave a slight bow and left the room. He had an idea, it wasn't the best, but it was all he could come up with.

His morning shift didn't start for another hour, but Kanon was already up and moving. He had only a few hours to come up with the rest of his plan.

Moving quietly so as not to wake anyone up, he slipped out the front door and into the rose garden.

He scanned around for the most beautiful rose he could find, and when he found it, he carefully clipped the stem and picked it.

It was, of course, full of thorns. He had expected this, he tended to the garden every day, and had many cuts from doing so in the past. He carefully held the rose in his hands, not realizing that a thorn had pricked one of his fingers. With rose clippers still in his other hand, he began to clip each thorn off. After he was satisfied, he placed it gently on the fence. He had gotten this far, but he still had no idea what he was going to say.

"Kanon-kun?"

He instantly recognized the voice. He spun around, hiding the rose behind his back.

"Milady!" he clearly sounded shocked, so he quickly added "good morning" and bowed. "Is it already time for you to attend school?"

"Good morning! Ah, no, I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a walk" Clearly she noticed Kanon's behavior was odd, and she just stood there for a moment awkwardly. Then she gasped quietly. "Kanon-kun, you're bleeding!"

"Huh?" Kanon looked down at his hand, and sure enough, blood dripped down his index finger.

Jessica took a ribbon out of her hair and motioned for him to come closer. Not sure what he should do, he complied.
She held his hand gently in hers, and wrapped the cut in a beautiful silk ribbon, stopping the blood from dripping any further.

"A-ah Milady! you shouldn't do that with your ribbon, you shouldn't ruin it-"

"It's all right. I have plenty of ribbons" she smiled, finishing it off with a small knot to keep it on.

"…Thank you"

Jessica blushed a light pink. "I-its nothing! Ahaha… ah, I should um, leave you to your work, you must be really busy and-"

"Milady?"
"Huh?"

He hadn't had time to prepare what he was going to say, he hadn't thought it out at all. But for some reason he felt this was the best chance he would get for this.

Without taking his eyes off her, he reached behind him and grabbed the rose, and humbly held it out before her.

Her face turned a deep scarlet at the sight of it. "K-kanon-kun…"

"Jessica…" he saw her eyes widen when she heard him use her name. "It would be an honor, if you would have me as your valentine."