Having lived for about a year now on the island nation of Castanet, Nina wasn't typically a bitter person. It was only when she was challenged by a woman to the man she was courting, as she liked to call it, that she would start muckraking. Her brother, Ren, wasn't too much different. If he was chasing a girl, she was the only one in his eyes, and he sure as hell wasn't about to let some cheeky guy step in and stop him.

Nina had dated around, just a little bit, going from Owen (stolen by Kathy) to Luke (now crushing on Selena) to even Doctor Jin, but decided to settle back and be single for a while. She was pretty happy with her friends, and wanted to focus on those relationships before moving to a serious one. It was a well-known fact that a few boys in town were crushing on her, what with her cute outfits and sassy yet shy attitude. She was known for wearing fancy Victorian dresses and beanies, and spring-like outfits with kitty or bunny ears.

Nina's closest friend was Anissa, the farmer girl over in the Fields. In secrecy they giggled about Doctor Jin and how cute his ponytail and glasses were. Truth be told, Nina only dated him to make sure he was a good boyfriend for Anissa. And she was sure he would be. Showing up at her house daily to make certain of his girl's well-being, he was crushed when she told him she didn't feel so strongly for him. Little did Nina and Anissa know, however, Jin had basically given up on love because of her. He felt as though no woman would ever love him because of his so-called ignorance. Completely ignorant of Anissa's feelings towards him, he scoffed at her attempts at romance.

So she and Nina though of a plan. They were to gather up his favorite things, and give him one each day, anonymously. Then, when he's finally all giddy from the gift-giving, Anissa will reveal herself to him and he will bask in her affection and they can get married and be all happy, right? Nothing could possibly go wrong.

Today, Nina was wearing her cowgirl uniform. She rushed down to Harmonica Town, setting a Remedy on Choral Clinic's doorstep, with the tag saying "For Jin." She started to turn around to run to Anissa's house when she bumped into her ex-boyfriend, Luke. "Whatcha doin?" he cooed, teasing her.

"I, uh…" she began, trailing off.

"Is that a love gift?" He leaned down, examining it. "Ooh! It is! It is so a love gift! For…Jin? Why him? You already dumped that nerd-o. If you want a real man…" he started, carelessly dropping the gift back on the doorstep and standing up straight, "Come back to me! I won't mind having you on the side until Selena comes around!" He laughed enthusiastically, as if Nina really wanted him back.

"For the last time, Lucas, no. And this isn't from me, but I can't tell you who it's really from." She sighed. He was so persistent.

He got all wide-eyed and gaped at her. "It's from Selena isn't it? That's why you won't tell me! I'm gonna wait here until Jin comes out and tell him straight up that Selena and Selena only is mine forever!"

So much for wanting me on the side. "No, Luke, it's not from Selena. You have to just let him find this on his own. It's, it's…" Goodness. I'm gonna have to tell him. "It's…from Anissa. She has a burning passion for Doctor Jin… but you cannot tell ANYONE. Not even Selena."

He laughed again. He has a weird way of doing that. "How cute! I won't tell anyone…As long as you help me get with Selena!" Nina nodded, helplessly turning into Miss Cupid. Without another word, Luke ran off laughing and jumping in the air like a maniac. His bandana flew off his head and landed in her arms. He didn't appear to notice… I'll just give this to Selena…As long as she doesn't hate me anymore.

Sidetracked from her original quest to hit Anissa's place before anything else, Nina was forced to go to Brass Bar. Sure, it was way before open time, but Hayden liked her, and typically let her in. She knocked three times before stepping in, calling out "It's me!" The bar was empty, like it should be, but she knew that they were in the back. Sure enough, Hayden called back "Okay, Nina! You know where everything is, darlin'!" He was such a kind man, like a father to Nina and her brother. She warily made her way to the back room, which was Kathy's, that held a ladder that went up to Selena's room. She knocked, and there was no answer for a few moments. As she waited in silence, she decided to just go on in.

She now realized why there was no answer. Kathy was asleep in Owen's arms, both presumably naked under the covers. It was a sight she surely could not un-see. Covering her eyes, she climbed up the ladder and opened the trapdoor to enter Selena's room. She was greeted with utter rudeness: "Ew, what are you doing here? You didn't even knock."

"How am I supposed to knock on a ceiling door?" She asked, trying not to sound too sarcastic. "Anyway, I have a present for you." She tossed the red-haired drama queen Luke's bandana. "Give this to your boy toy."

Selena's dark skin flushed a light pink. Her tone turned a little sweeter. "L-Luke?" She smiled, embracing the headwear to her chest and closing her eyes. Nina had never seen her act this way. Realizing that Nina was still standing in her room, she snapped back, tossing it on her bed. "W-Why would I want this? What if he has dandruff or lice or something? He is an outdoorsman."

"Look," Nina said, smirking, "Luke ran off rattling on about your beauty and this fell off his head. I figured it'd be a good conversation starter." She was trying to be as kind as she could, attempting to help Luke out so her job would be done a lot sooner than she assumed.

"He thinks I'm beautiful," she said quickly, so quietly that Nina was certain it was only meant to go to herself. "I-I mean…Of course he does. Look at how I dress." She gestured to the skimpy outfit she was wearing, tube top and short skirt.

Nina smiled warmly. "You don't have to dress that way, Selena. He likes you for you. I'm pretty sure you could wear a parka and he'd still want you."

Realizing her own blindness, Selena picked his bandana back up and held it to her chest again. "Thank you, Nina. I'm sorry that we couldn't get along before. I-I was just worried that Luke would want you again." She smirked, another idea obviously stuck in her head. "I'll be sure to invite you to the wedding."

Nina rubbed the back of her head, a sickness turning in her stomach. "Uh, so, do you think I could stay here for a few hours? Kathy is…" she trailed off, unsure how to finish that sentence.

Selena chuckled. She and Luke and their laughing thing. "Yeah. I know. I'm the one that had to listen to it all night…She's really noisy."

"…And there are some things you can't un-hear."

So Nina stayed in Selena's room for a few hours, and the two shared some laughs over Luke's bandana that they had in their possession. No, it didn't have lice or dandruff, but it smelled like strawberry shampoo.