A Christmas present for you guys! This scene was actually based on my real experience except that mine was a promdate proposal for a regular school festival… Anyways, hope you enjoy this!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harvest Moon.

~CHRISTMAS PROMENADE PROPOSAL~

RIO

I sighed as I made my way to my farm. This day had been a very exhausting one with all the romantic schemes that I've participated in just to make my brother Hart ask Yuri to be his date in the Christmas Promenade. Don't get me wrong though, I feel very happy for them! Hart was my beloved brother who fell in love with my best friend, so it's only normal for me to support them all the way. And now that they were dates, I'm completely jovial.

But the only problem was that I myself do not have a date.

I sighed again; how come I'll be forever alone? It makes me quite sad in a way… But I shouldn't be upset, really! There's still a chance that I'd be asked out to the dance, even if today was two days away from the dance already… But the question is who would even ask a farmer like me out?

Last week, Neil sucked up the courage to ask Felicity out. It was quite a surprise, really. Neil was so shy that he frequently tripped on his words, but Felicity accepted his proposal with a cheeky smile.; Rod asked Tina out by giving her an ask via Tumblr, and Tina was ecstatic.; Sanjay asked Iroha out since they were getting along well these past few weeks.; For some bizarre reasons, Michelle got Amir to be her date. Nobody knows when or how it happened, it just did.; Soseki had a date named Vivi, and rumor has it that she was a witch. But I could confirm that that wasn't a rumor; it was true. We're actually quite close… I wonder how they met?

So that would leave Allen to be the only available bachelor who could ever ask me out.

Allen, huh? Sounds like a zero percent chance for me.

I shook my head in defeat and was about to open my house door when a hand suddenly grabbed my wrist; it was Michelle.

"Ah, you should probably keep out of your house, Rio!" She told me with her usual faked sweet voice.

I raised an eyebrow at her, why would I keep out of my own house: the safest haven I have in this place? "Why? It's my house."

Michelle opened her mouth to reply, but she was interrupted by Tina. "Ah, Rio! Good timing, you should probably join me in swimming!" She said happily and started pushing me away from my house.

Swimming, really? I looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Swimming? It's the middle of winter, Tina. We can't go swimming unless you want to freeze to death." I said and tried to pry her hands off of me. But boy, was she persistent.

She managed to push me all the way out of my farm and she giggled. "Then let's just go butterfly catching! That'd be cool." She said a little too fast.

Alright, I think something's off here. I don't think anyone would ask someone to accompany them to swim in the middle of winter or just go butterfly catching at random. Plus, what's up with Michelle? I looked back, trying to catch a glimpse of the pink-haired girl. But she wasn't there anymore. Maybe she just magicked herself out…

Anyway, Tina continued pushing me to wherever when Yuri suddenly walked in with a smiling face. She stopped and shifted her gaze behind me, so I bet she's looking at Tina. She frowned for a bit and then wrapped her hands around my arm, successfully yanking me away from Tina. She smiled a small one at me again and started pulling. "You should probably join… join me to Rod's stand… I heard… heard he was getting… new dog breeds…" She whispered to me and continued dragging me to the direction of Rod's stand.

Wait, what what what? Why is it that three people approached me with weird and random reasons in a short lapse of time? Seriously, this is getting suspicious. What's going on? This is not normal…

Then I remembered Tina. She'd think I'm a bad friend because I completely forgot about her because of my best friend! "But Tina—" I told Yuri and looked back, but the perky brunette just wasn't there anymore. That made it even more suspicious. Normally, Tina would get mad if she got ignored…

Yuri nudged me on the shoulder to get my attention. "Nevermind… her… Let's just go… go see the dogs…" She murmured and continued dragging me.

Just what is going on? Oh well, I guess I'll know later…

A few walking moments later, we finally got closer to the plaza where Rod and Neil sell their animals. Then, we heard voices.

"Seriously, how many times do I need to tell you to hide it properly?" A familiar bossy or cocky voice hissed.

"But how do I hide something this big?" Another voice said.

"Use your brain, Rod. Brain. Angle it!" The cocky voice irritably said, and then continued. "Everyone ready? We should probably—"

He didn't manage to complete his sentence when a series of gasps enveloped the area just as Yuri and I walked in.

The one who was barking at everyone earlier turned out to be Allen, and he looked at us in dismay. "Rio…" He mumbled with a face filled with a mix of confusion, shock, and irritation. It was kind of cute, if you ask me… Wait, I did not just say that!

I blushed and shook my head before looking at the crowd in front of me. They were all forcing a smile and had their hands behind them. What, were they doing some kind of dance or something? I squinted my eyes to examine them properly, what's going on? And then I saw it, behind Rod was something that looked like a blue paper and a flower looking thing…

And then it clicked. All these weird happenings earlier… And what's behind Rod… This definitely has something to do with me! Oh, and… OH! Don't tell me this is..!

"Sheez! I guess we don't have a choice!" Allen said with his arms crossed and went over to a box.

He pulled out a brown package thingy and tossed it over to me, which I caught with ease. I looked at it and noticed that it was a bunch of Hershey's Chocolates beautifully wrapped together with a green and red ribbon. I grinned at the stuff in my hands, who told him Hershey's was my favorite?

I was about to thank him so I looked at him, but I got distracted by Felicity pulling out a colored paper from behind her back, along with a single red rose. She smiled at me and read the letters written beautifully on the paper. "Rio."

Then, Neil brought out a light-red paper and read it. "Will you," He said and then pulled out another rose.

It was Iroha's turn to do the same. She read out the words with a smile. "Be My," And then she pulled out the usual flower.

Then, it was Sanjay's turn, but he didn't read it out loud. He just showed it with the rose. "P"

Then, Michelle. "R"

Amir. "O"

Tina. "M"

Rod. "D"

Vivi. (How did they know her?!) "A"

Soseki. "T"

Hart. "E"

And of course, Yuri. She smiled warmly at me and pulled out a red rose, along with the paper that had a question mark on it.

I laughed. What's this? This is soooo cliché! But why am I giggling and blushing? Only proves that however clichéd things get, when applied to real life, it would NEVER fail to bring out the girliness out of women. And probably men. Heck, I don't even know what I'm doing right now! What I know is that I'm EXTREMELY happy and I just want to spin around and jump and, and, and… fangirl!

Then, as if things couldn't get worse, Allen smirked that extremely attractive smirk that never fail to appear in my dreams at night. Why does he have to be so darn attractive? WAIT, I DID NOT JUST SAY THAT.

He then did something unexpected. He kneeled down on one knee with all his perfectness seeping out of him and protruding into my heart (Why does he have to be so darn attractive again?) and revealed the most beautiful bouquet of roses out of nowhere. He offered it to me with a smirk.

"To the prettiest woman in Echo Village that's probably the most fitting to be this handsome human being's partner… Will you be my promenade date this Christmas?" He told me confidently, not losing his cocky smile.

I stared at him blankly. My head's a mess. It's like there's a bunch of little Rios preparing to dance, and just need a signal to start. Then, I turned around so that I won't face them, and I felt the anxious air wafting in the area. I took in a deep breath and replayed the proposal in my head, and I had to bite my lip from screaming.

But of course, since it was me, resistance was futile. And I ended up squealing my lungs off.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!" I yelled and flailed my arms around randomly, like how a usual fangirl does when she sees her favorite male character naked or something… Boy, do I look like a maniac now.

But maniac seems to be the understatement of the year.

I cupped my cheeks with my hands to calm myself down. But after looking back at Allen's confused face, the giggliness disease returned and a hundred times intensified. "OH MY GOSH!" I yelled out loud and started running around in circles. Charles—who came out of nowhere— had to hold me back so that I would stop hurting myself from all the cheek-slapping I was giving myself.

After a few minutes of fangirling though, I looked back again at an amused Allen—who was still kneeling— while biting my lip and trying my hardest not to squeal. Oh gosh, I couldn't speak. How would I tell him that I accept?

Without knowing it, I did what my body was itching to do. I hugged him. SUUUUPER tight!

Allen was shocked at first, but he dismissed the emotion and hugged me back with a laugh.

And with that, our friends who contributed in the proposal threw their roses to us with mixed noises; squeals from the girls, "Yeeeeah"s from Neil, Rod and Soseki, and polite claps from Amir and Sanjay that were drowned by the louder noise that spread through the shop plaza. Out came the non-marriageable people, squealing and clapping and overall making noises. Where did they come from, anyway? Were they spying? Oh well, who cares! I'm happy here!

After a while, Allen let go of me, and that made me sad. He smirked at me and picked up all the roses on the ground before giving them all to me. "Rio, be a good girl and count these for me." He said.

I looked up at him. Why would he want me to count them when he could do that easily? Oh well, might as well do it.

I shrugged and took the red roses from him. I observed them and just now did I notice; they lack thorns… Wait, wait, wait! Don't thorn less red roses mean true love? Oh my Goddess… This is so Drew Hayden-like! Maybe Allen watches Pokemon and decided to act all Drew and May-like? I should ask him later…

And so, I started counting the roses with a grin on my face. "One, two, three, twenty-four!" I said and then looked at him. "What's up with twenty-four?"

He smirked again (Doesn't he know how to smile properly?) and ruffled my hair. "Well, I now conclude that you have a memory almost that of a goldfish's." He said with a laugh and I pouted. He continued, "You completely forgot that today, Winter twenty-three, is your twenty-fourth birthday, babe?" He said and then bopped my head lightly.

Oh yes, it was! I had been so busy lately that I completely forgot about my own birthday… But Allen remembered it? Oh, am I touched! Really, I am, it wasn't sarcastic, so shut up.

I was about to thank him, but he interrupted me before I can even open my mouth to speak. "And aside from that, twenty-four represents the hours that you will be mine… During Christmas, that is."

I blushed and looked down at the ground to hide it. I, a shabby rancher who knows close to nothing about beautifying myself, would belong to a man that's handsome enough to make angels weep? Oh Goddess…

"Screw twenty-four hours! I'd be with you for the rest of my life!" I said out loud, and I gasped. I DID NOT just say that aloud, did I?

I looked at Allen's eyes that grew wide from astonishment. Oh great, he must've thought that I'm a creeper and feeler or something…

And then he laughed. (Now he thinks I'm joking?) But instead of saying that it was a good joke or something like that, he neared his face to mine and made sure that I could feel his hot breath. I gulped. Despite the cold temperature, I'm starting to feel hot…

He brought his hand to my face and cupped my left cheek. He then moved his thumb so that it would trace my lips while looking at them. Shit, I could feel my face overheating at both his actions and my… inappropriate thoughts… What, you thought I was better than that? S-shut up! A twenty-four year-old single woman like me could want and dream!

Then, he blew on my eyes, which brought me back to reality. He didn't stop stroking my lips and spoke. "Is that an invitation for me to confess my undying love for you?" He asked with a low tone which I found incredibly smexy.

"Umm… M-Maybe..?" I choked out.

Undying love?! Wait, h-he loves me? B-but that couldn't be! Well sure, we hang out frequently, he would style my hair for free, I would catch him stealing glances at me, he would feed me his lunch occasionally, he would try and offer a hand on the farm which I would politely refuse, he would hug me from behind, and he would always give me gifts during special occasions but that doesn't mean he's into me! Well, the girls would always tell me that he's totally nuts for me but I wouldn't believe it! I mean, he never told me he liked me…

And just then, he chuckled at me and kissed my nose. I stared at him. He just kissed my nose… He just kissed my… HE JUST KISSED ME.

Before I could fangirl again though, he took my left hand and forced a cold thing through my ring finger. I looked at the thing that was crusted with white diamonds and a pink diamond strategically placed in the middle so that it would look extremely pretty. Wait, was that—

"Well then… Will you be my girl, princess? But of course, if you would be my girl, you can't have eyes for other men other than me. But don't worry, you won't regret it. In fact, you should feel honored. I chose you over the hundreds of other girls swooning over me." He said with his usual cocky smirk. But is it just me, or does it look like that smirk's breaking into a grin?

But I didn't contemplate on it any longer for I was so happy I glomped him down to the ground. "Oh Goddess! I would never even think of liking another guy other than you, of course I would marry you!" I said in a high-pitched voice.

He placed a hand on my back and, even if I can't see it, raised an eyebrow. "Marry? But I just asked… Oh well." He breathed out and peeled me away from him. He cupped both my cheeks once again and touched my forehead with his. "We've known each other for six years already, and I was actually planning on giving you a commitment ring countless of times," he sighed with a smile, "but I always get interrupted by you running away because you were late for something or our pesky friends meddling with our business." He turned to glare at our friends, who in turn gave him sorry faces.

He returned his attention to me. "And I might get interrupted again so…" He let go of me, backed three steps away from me, and kneeled on one knee again.

Oh my… Is this it? Is this… I couldn't believe it, I mean… I never thought this day would…

He got a slim blue feather from his pocket and flashed it in front of me. He smiled a very genuine one, which seemed to be so unfamiliar yet so beautiful. "My beloved princess, will you stop being my girlfriend, who you had only been for five minutes, and be my wife instead?" He said with his beautiful smile grazing his lips.

I just stared at him, speechless. And it seems like the audience is, too. Isn't it the time to be cheering and fangirling and all that? Then why am I… Why am I…

Then I felt my cheeks getting wet. Wait, why am… crying? This is not normal for me… But I'm not sad, I'm actually extremely happy. Then why am I crying?

I tried to blink back my tears, but it just wouldn't work. Then, I brought my hand to my face and frantically wiped away all the tears. But Allen's hand grabbed my wrist gently.

"Don't wipe it. I think it's very beautiful, you're beautiful. You should know that. They're happy tears, so they're okay to display." He said softly and raised my chin up with a finger. "So, will you be my goddess or not?"

I bit my lip and giggled. Was there a need to question me? Of course the answer was obvious. "Of course I would, I would love to. It would be an honor to! Of course I'd be willing to spend the rest of my days with you! Didn't I tell you that earlier?" I told him with a giggle.

He raised an eyebrow at me and then chuckled along. "Yes, yes you did. Shouldn't have asked that, huh?" He said and then pressed his lips against mine as the crowd cheered along.

And that my dear readers, is how I, a lowly peasant, got proposed to by a magnificent prince three times in a row.

OKAY, I think that sucked… Oh well. xD Thanks for reading, anyway! Please drop in a review, I love your comments on my story~ If I did get inspired by your reviews, I might post FROZEN ROSES earlier! I know you want it~ ;)

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/Happy School Break/Cheers,

MysticForest44