Chapter 2: To tell you the truth...
Author's Notes: Hi! I finally finished this... it took me a while cause I had other stuff to do. Now that I'm finishing my speech for English class, the 3rd chapter might take a while as well. Thanks for the wait! And please read this, I know it's long, but I hope you enjoy it! Please R&R!
This is based on the games Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (but I've never played this so please bear with me and the fact that I've only seen vids) Sunshine Islands, and MFoMT
Elliot couldn't believe it.
Everything that he heard from Pierre, it shocked him.
He just stood there startled, his eyes widely open, and his jaw dropped.
He muttered, "A-a-are you su-sure P-P-Pierre?" Pierre just nodded his head in reply.
"Is there any way to change that?" Elliot was worried.
"No" Pierre simply answered, "They won't tolerate any kinds of excuses. Once it is decided, it is decided."
Elliot said in a louder voice, "But... But what about, Natalie?"
Pierre got frustrated by Elliot's question, "I don't know! I-I-I don't know what to do. I just don't know..."
Then the door slowly creaked open and there they saw the girl with a red bandana.
"Chelsea!" Elliot and Pierre said at the same time.
Pierre quickly continued, "What you doing? Did you hear everything?"
Chelsea replied, "Well, I only heard your yells and shocks, but what's going on? Does it have anything to do with Natalie?"
Pierre admitted, "Well, you see, The Gourmet from Mineral Town told me that I was qualified for the final exam that is coming up."
Chelsea was delighted and relived, "Oh, really? That's good news! How is that bad?"
Pierre replied, "Well, actually this exam takes place in Mineral Town. It is a cooking competition where the winner will be the one worthy to get the title of Gourmet. But the day where this exam takes place is..." The pot boiled with a loud noise as Pierre told Chelsea the date of the exam.
Elliot quickly rushed and turned off the stove.
Chelsea's eyes widened and her body didn't move. She was stunned.
She protested in a loud voice, "But... but... Pierre, you can't just leave Natalie alone! Won't they reconsider and change the date?"
"They won't" Pierre repeated what he said to Elliot, "They won't tolerate any kinds of excuses. Once it is decided, it is decided."
Chelsea hoped that it was a lie, "Are you sure?"
But Pierre was telling the truth, "It is. The Gourmet Rules states that a Gourmet must attend the final exam, when he/she is already qualified to. There are no exceptions. If a qualified Gourmet doesn't attend, he/she will be removed of the Gourmet Family name and will never be a member again."
"But..." Chelsea asked, "What about those who lost? Don't they get kicked of the family as well?"
Pierre replied, "No, they still entered the competition which they can still enter the next one. But this competition only comes once every ten years."
Elliot and Chelsea were stunned and yelled together, "TEN YEARS!!!???"
Pierre was startled by their voices, and then nodded his head.
He continued, "Just please promise me, to not to mention any of this to Natalie, or anyone. I don't want her to get worried for me, we already having a child soon and I don't want her to get stressed, about this. I'll think about it and decide if I'll join or not. Don't worry as well. Everything will turn out fine." He smiled and returned to his cheery self.
"Well, I better go Natalie's going to freak on if I'm not there by breakfast." He opened the door and waved goodbye, "See ya!" and he ran back to his house.
Pierre arrived at his house and said as he opened the door, "I'm back dear! Sorry if I took so long."
Natalie started to get furious, "Why did you took so long!? I'm getting hungry here Pierre! Hurry!"
He ran to the kitchen and grabbed his utensils and asked in a gentle manner, "What do you want for breakfast Natalie?" She quickly replied, "A fruit sandwich, but this time, only put oranges in it okay?"
Pierre raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Oranges?" He grabbed his knives and grabbed a huge loaf of bread and 10 oranges. He opened the plastic package of the bread and laid it on the toaster. He grabbed the 10 oranges and threw them up in the air. He slashed it all using his knives while still in the air. Then as the oranges touched the table it separated by 10 pieces and its skin peeled off.
He grabbed the bread that was just toasted, and fixed it all with the oranges, making a sandwich. He makes another one, then another one, over and over again.
He was done.
He made a lot of orange sandwiches, he grabbed the plate full of them, and a sweat drop ran in the back of his head and wondered, on how anyone would enjoy it, let alone eat it.
Apparently his wife did...
He just sat there and watched Natalie stuff herself with those orange sandwiches.
She offered Pierre some, "Do you want some Pierre?"
Pierre's face started to turn pale but still tried to smile, "It's okay Natalie, I don't mind. I just lost my appetite..."
"Okway" Natalie said with her mouth full. She swallowed and continued, "So, what did the Gourmet from Mineral Town wanted from you?"
Pierre was surprised, that topic unexpectedly appeared, without warning. He tried to hide the secret, "Umm... He just called that the final exam is coming up, and... uh... that I... was qualified to be in it."
Natalie became excited, "Really?! That's great, dear! When is it?"
Pierre didn't want to hear those words so he tried to make up a lie, "Well, you see... umm... actually... Uhh... It's on the..." He stopped for a few seconds to try to think of a date. He finally thought of one, and said, "It's on... Winter 23rd. That's right Winter 23rd."
Natalie was surprised as she continued to eat the sandwiches; Pierre was worried that he thinks that Natalie knew he was lying to her. She swallowed and continued, "Oh, really? The day before the Starry Night Festival?"
Pierre let out a sigh of relief knowing that Natalie didn't find out, he replied, "Yeah, so is it okay, if we went to Mineral town in the beginning of Winter?"
Natalie quickly stood up from her chair delighted, "Really? That would be great!" She chomped on her last orange sandwich, "I'm going to pack up now!"
She stood up and quickly grabbed her travelling bag went to her closet and as she opened it, Pierre stopped her.
"You know we could just do that later." Pierre said as he got worried about her, "You need some time to sit down or take a walk. I'm sure it will be good for the baby."
Natalie saw the worried look on Pierre's face and replied, "Uh... Okay... If you say so..." She closed her closet and started to walk to the door, "Then, I'm going to take a walk then. I'll be visiting Chelsea's Ranch. Be back soon. Bye!" She kissed Pierre and waved goodbye.
Pierre was startled by the kiss, as soon as Natalie left for a walk, his expression changed into frustration. He clenched his fists tightly as he still doesn't know what to do.
At Chelsea's Ranch, Chelsea was doing her usual farm duties, with Elliot's help. The couple lifted up the crops, and animal products that were made and sent it to the shipping bin.
Elliot started to count the products and placed them in crates, so that it will be ready to be shipped, when the boat comes in to take it.
He continued to count the shipments for the day and looked at his wife asking, "Chelsea! Are those yams ready for tomorrow?"
Chelsea took a closer look on their prized yams. She and Elliot had taken care of these yams since the beginning of fall. She had loved those yams. It was her favourite vegetable.
"Yeah, these are ready for tomorrow's Fall Crop Festival!" Chelsea said as she stood up.
She approached her husband and gave him a hug saying, "It's all because of your hard work dear!"
Elliot blushed and humbled, "B-b-but, yo-you're th-the farmer. You just told me what to do. You still deserve the praise..."
Chelsea blushed as well; she smiled and gave her loving husband a kiss. Elliot kissed back; as the couple enjoyed their making out for a few seconds, and then broke apart.
"For that..." Chelsea said while still hugging her husband, "Dinner for tonight is your favourite, Stir Fried Veggies."
Elliot couldn't help but to smile on Chelsea's plan. Though the only 2 dishes that Chelsea can cook really well is Baked Yams, and Stir Fried Veggies. She can cook, but there are more people better than her in cooking.
"It seems like the two of you are having some fun there." A voice said. It made the couple to realize whose voice it belonged to. They turned and saw Natalie chuckling at them. Elliot's face turned red out of embarrassment.
"Well anyways, Hi bro! Hi sis!" Natalie waved at them. The couple broke apart in their hug then approached her.
She gave Chelsea a big hug and said, "Nice to see you guys happy and well. Actually I wanted to talk to you about something." Chelsea smiled and replied, "Sure, come to the coop with me, I'm going to pick all of the eggs up, while you tell me" Natalie nodded in agreement. They went to the Chicken coop while Elliot was left to tend to the crops.
In the coop, Chelsea started to tend to her chickens, picking them up and putting them back down. Natalie started to speak, "Well you see Chelsea... It's about Pierre..." Chelsea started to lean down and pick up the eggs and putting them in her rucksack. She wondered, "What about him?"
"I think he's..." Natalie started, "keeping something from me..."
Crack...! Goes the egg that Chelsea was holding. She kneeled down trying to pick up an egg and it slipped from her hands as she heard Natalie's words. She muttered, "W-w-wh-why w-w-would y-y-you t-t-th-think th-that?" She slowly tilted her head to try to face Natalie.
"I don't know..." Natalie answered, "It just seems like he acting strange today... Don't you agree?"
Chelsea wanted to speak up but she can't.
Natalie continued, "I mean you and I both know who Pierre is right? And... It just a while ago it seems like he's acting differently than before, like he's trying to convince me that nothing's wrong with this exam of his"
'Oh no!' Chelsea thought
"Do you think Chelsea... that Pierre is...?" Natalie paused for a bit as Chelsea gulped down, fearing that she had found it out.
She continued, "Wants to invite you guys with us..."
Chelsea fell on the floor, it hurt her, but she was relived. 'Good grief' she thought, 'I thought she found out. Thank Goddess!' She replied to Natalie's words, "No... I think not. But you shouldn't worry about it sis, Pierre can manage it. If you're still not sure, you can just ask him"
"Yeah, you're probably right..." Natalie sighed, "Thanks sis!" She gave her a big hug and said, "I'm really happy that' you're my sister. Well I have to go, see ya" She waved at her and the chickens and left the coop.
Chelsea tried her best to smile, but the worried expression just became imprinted in her face. She let out a big sigh and said to herself, "Oh, no! Natalie's going to find out about it... But she can't know... What's going to happen now?" She looked down and saw a cracked egg on the floor, "AAAHHH!!! That was an S-Rank egg!!!"
Elliot finished his watering and went to see how Chelsea was doing with the chickens. He saw his wife bringing them all out and asked on what happened with Natalie, "Hey Chelsea. What happened?" Instead he just saw his wife crying over the cracked egg on the floor. "Elliot..." Chelsea sniffled, "I dropped and S-Rank egg..."
Natalie came back to their house and said while opening the door, "Pierre! I'm home!"
There was no answer.
"Must be still looking for ingredients..." Natalie concluded, "Oh well I better try to clean up a bit before he comes back."
She went to the big Kitchen and stacked up the condiments properly, placed back all the utensils in the right order in the right location, wiped up the mess in the counters, swept the floor, arranged the ingredients, and sorted his cook books.
While sorting the rest of the books he saw a purple coloured book that read "Rules" she thought to herself, 'Rules? What kind of a weird book is that?' She grabbed the book and started to read it.
She opened the book somewhere in the middle and the read the words that caught her eye, "A Gourmet must attend the final exam, when he/she is already qualified to. There are no exceptions. If a qualified Gourmet doesn't attend, he/she will be removed of the Gourmet Family name and will never be a member again. " That surprised her, "Whoa! What a rule! And strict too... So this Final Exam must be really important to Pierre." She looked on the rule again, reading the last sentence, "'If a qualified Gourmet doesn't attend, he/she will be removed of the Gourmet Family name and will never be a member again.' Is this what Pierre is hiding from me? No... He won't but then, it must be something that's related to this rule." She tried to remember what Pierre had told her about the exam.
'"Well, you see... umm... actually... Uhh... It's on the... It's on... Winter 23rd. That's right Winter 23rd."
"That's it! So the exam isn't in 23rd but it's in another date... But... Why would Pierre lie to me about the date? I mean there's nothing wrong with any da..." She stopped. Her face was drawn with shock as she realizes the other possible date.
"No... " Natalie tried to smile, "I-i-i-it couldn't be. I mean, there are lots of other days in winter. It couldn't be Winter..." Suddenly Pierre opens the door and says, "I'm Hoooommmmeeee!!!"
Natalie was surprised so she quickly tried to find a way to hide the book, she held them at her back, not showing Pierre that she had taken the book, and was intrigued by the rule that she saw, "Welcome back Pierre. How was the ingredient hunt?" She wanted to lure Pierre out to prevent him from finding out that the rule book wasn't there.
Pierre placed his basket full of wild fruits, veggies, and mushrooms that he had found in the counter and said, "It was good. Found a lot of good ingredients. Lunch and Dinner is going to be delicious." He smiled.
Natalie noticed Pierre's smiling face, she realizes on how important cooking is to Pierre, so she held the book infront of her and began to speak, "Pierre..." Pierre turned and saw Natalie holding the rule book, she continued, "You were lying, right? The Final Exam isn't at Winter 23rd, right?"
Pierre was shocked, "Uhh... Wh-wh-what d-d-do you m-mean?"
Natalie continued, "Well, no one would actually schedule an exam like that on the day where cooking is also an important part of the Starry Night Festival." She looked down on the book, "And, I read this rule about the exam. It was really strict and it seemed that the exam is a big importance to you Gourmets; giving me a thought that you were hiding something from me. Am I right, Pierre?"
Pierre felt he was cornered, he couldn't escape. He saw Natalie grasping the book with her hands, and a face that wants to know the truth.
He can't hide it anymore, no matter how he tried, there was no escape.
He answered, "You're right Natalie. I did lie to you, and I'm sorry." Natalie wanted to speak but Pierre quickly interrupted, "Since I'm trapped, I might as well tell you the truth."
Natalie gulped as she holds the book tightly, was anxious to hear about it, but was worried at the same time.
Pierre continued, "The real date of the Final Exam is..."
Natalie became excited.
"Winter 10th."
When she heard this, she was shocked and stunned.
Author's Notes: That's it so far. If you have any questions please ask me! :D Please R&R!