"Jill, will you marry me?"

Jill gasped, seeing that the diamond that was placed in the center of the ring was carved into the shape of a feather. Tears gathered at her eyes; here she was, standing in Lumina's mansion's hall, wearing a long black dress and a black tiara in her hair, and here was Rick kneeling before her, wearing a white tuxedo and black dress shoes, and holding out a small black ring box, a small diamond ring resting just in the center. The whole concept of the thing was just too much for her to grasp; Jill was struck speechless.

"I... I..."she stuttered, backing toward the stairs that lead to the balcony until she finally turned tail and ran.

I looked on sadly as my girlfriend ran up the stairs, bringing her further and further away from me. It was just a marriage proposal... did she really have to run like that? The whole thing made me feel as if she just wanted me to stay away from now on.

Maybe that was it. Maybe I had proposed too soon.

Maybe... Jill didn't feel the same way for me, as I did for her.

I hugged myself as I looked over the edge of the balcony, my tears slowly breaking away from the shelter of my eyelashes and flying free, the wind scattering them into millions of tiny droplets before they could reach the pond below. Did he really mean that? Did he really want to be tied to me for all eternity? Me, the farmer that regularly saw hallucinations of fairies, witches, and deities, and him, the chicken farmer who's mental health was much better than mine, from what I could tell? Together... forever?

The thought made me shiver; of course, I had thought about that for a while, and I did love him, really I did, but I was too scared to make the first move to indicate that I wanted marriage. I was scared because I wondered what the other villagers would think of Rick; if he was as equally crazy as me. I was scared that my hallucinations would have passed on to him, and he would be dragged off to the loony bin as I would have been, had I not been the economical provider for the entire valley – aside from Vesta, of course. We would have been separated from each other, never to see each other again.

I didn't want that, so I strayed away from the topic of marriage. And how ironic it was that now, just a few months after I had contemplated marriage, here I was, shivering cold and hiding away from the concept of marriage under the shelter of my own cowardice.

I wandered the hallways, searching for her. There were just too many doors here; she could have been in any of them.

I had been planning this for several months; I would drop down to one knee, preferably in formal wear of some sort, and make my proposal. Jill would tear up, and while she cried tears of happiness, she would jump into my open arms and whisper "Yes" into my ear. Then, we would live happily ever after, as they say. Unfortunately, things didn't go according to plan; she had cried, but the tears weren't of happiness... they looked like something else altogether.

"I should have seen this coming..." I sighed as I looked around, searching for a room that Jill might have been in.

A shy but loud rapping noise came from the door. I spun my head around, my tears staining my face. At first, I didn't make a sound. After a while, the person at the door spoke, but it wasn't the warm voice that belonged to Rick. Instead, it was a distinctly feminine sounding voice that spoke to me.

"Jill? Are you in here?" the person asked. I recognized the voice as Lumina, and let out a small "Lumina?" in response to the young heiress' question. Light flooded the dark room as Lumina opened the door and quietly tiptoed in.

"Jill? Are you alright? You're missing the party, you know," she asked, standing on her tip-toes to see what had been troubling me. I couldn't help but let out an inaudible snort; what did she think had happened, an eyelash fell into my eye or something?

"Yes, I'm alright..." I sighed, sitting down on a plush surface. Looking around, I finally realized my surroundings; I was sitting in one of the many guest rooms that were spread around Lumina's mansion. Of course, my eyes were clouded up, so I just ran into a random room, any room, just as long as I was able to make a life-changing decision there.

"You're crying. Why are you crying?" Lumina questioned, sitting down next to me and turning my face so I was looking at her. "You shouldn't cry! Your make-up is running!" she cried, reaching over to a dresser and snatching up a handkerchief. She dabbed at my face with it as I sighed.

"I... Lumina, I'm scared..." I whispered, stating my mind.

"Of what?" she pressed on. That's why Lumina is my best friend; when I'm sad, she doesn't stop asking questions until she's sure that whatever monster is bringing me down has been vanquished by chocolate ice cream and fluffy tidbits of advice, or whatever she has a the moment that she thinks may cheer me up.

"...I have to make a decision that will change my life," I said. The circular motions Lumina was rubbing the handkerchief in ended up slowing down a little when she heard that.

"What decision?"

"Marriage."

Later that night

I stirred in my sleep as I heard someone calling my name. After I had told Lumina what happened, she had hugged me like a mother would her child (which, now that I think about it, sounds sort of comical, considering I was and will probably always be taller than Lumina). She requested that I stayed in that room overnight and gave me one of her nightdresses; when I questioned her motives, she said that I needed a break from the real world. However, when I asked about her advice on marriage, she shrugged and told me to follow my heart.

Pebbles began tapping against the glass of the door. Irritated, I slinked out of bed and pulled on the dress I had been wearing previously that night. I padded toward the door in my bare feet, and shivered as I touched to cold handle of the door. Turning it slowly, I tried to figure out who would possibly bother someone this late at night (or perhaps, early in the morning). The door creaked slightly as I opened it, to a rush of cold night air. I hugged myself, and walked to the balcony, peering over it.

Believe it or not, there was Rick. He was still wearing the tuxedo from earlier, but it was slightly dirty.

Did he look all over the valley for me? I thought as I smirked. His eyes lit up when he saw that I was standing at the balcony.

"Jill! Jill, I'm sorry about what happened earlier... it's just that... I really love you," he said, turning his head away from me.

"No! No, it's alright! I love you too!" I shouted. Rick's head snapped back toward me.

"You do?" he asked joyfully. Beaming, I nodded.

"Yes, yes I do!" I said. He smiled and opened his arms out. Not needing a second invitation, I leapt over the railing and landed in his arms, my chin resting on his shoulder.

"Jill, please let me repeat my question... you are my life, the one most dearest to me, and my pursuit of happiness. And I only want to spend the rest of my life with you until Forget Me Not Valley descends into the sands of time. So I ask of you, here and now, Jill Roseree... will you marry me?" he asked. Smiling, I nodded and buried my face into his shoulder.

Lumina sighed as she watched the scene unfold from her bedroom window.

"Huh... I wish I could get proposed to like that..." she mumbled as she shut her window and made her way back to her bed to dream of the happy ending she would eventually have.