Author's Note: There is an updating change. All updates will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Thank you for the follows, by the way.

Disclaimer: Don't own Harvest Moon.

If You Set Me Free, I Will Not Run
Chapter II: A Walk During the Evening

Humming a soft and foreign tune, the raven haired girl delicately swooshed her paintbrush against the canvas. As she made gentle strokes, purple paint managed to splat on her cheeks, but she did not pay any attention to that. All her attention was focused on what she was currently doing. The girl was painting a picture for someone, someone that she considered very special to her.

It was a painting for Vaughn.

Sabrina would have continued letting her paintbrush dance across the canvas, but there was an unexpected knock on her room door. Squeaking in surprise, the girl dropped her paintbrush and it touched the carpet below her feet, staining it red. Sabrina had thought about putting plastic underneath her workspace, but decided against it, thinking that she would not spill any paint. Unfortunately, she did. Worrying about how she was going to get the paint out of the carpet, the black haired girl ventured to her room door and opened it, seeing her father standing there.

"Father!" Sabrina squawked, eyes widening. "Is there something wrong?"

Regis shook his head. "No, Sabrina. There is nothing wrong." He peered into her room with great interest, obviously trying to catch a glimpse of her latest painting. After a moment, he stopped that and brought his attention back to her. "Someone is here to see you."

"Oh." Sabrina fixed her glasses over her eyes, throwing on a soft smile. "How delightful. Who is it?" she asked, her voice soaked with curiosity.

Regis had an untellable expression dancing around his face. "It is that livestock dealer, Vaughn."

Sabrina felt her breath catch in her throat and her heart skipped a beat. She brought a fist to her chest to calm her heart and could not stop the large smile from appearing on her face. "I-It's Vaughn?" she stuttered out quietly.

"Yes. He is at the front door waiting for you," Regis responded quickly. "You should go see what he wants. I'll be in my study." Through with that, the man fled to his study.

Smoothing out her skirt, Sabrina hastily left her room and shut the door behind her. With much enthusiasm, the female hurried downstairs and stopped right in front of the door that led outside. Sabrina inhaled deeply and, while she exhaled, grasped the doorknob, twisted it, and pulled it open.

Vaughn stood there waiting for her, hands deep in his pockets. Just the sight of him made Sabrina weak in the knees. Her heart skipped a beat once more and she put on one of her biggest smiles, rapidly becoming shy all over again.

That was something that frequently happened whenever Vaughn stopped by to pay her a visit. She would become this shy little girl and get incredibly quiet. Sabrina honestly did not know how to act around Vaughn. It was like she had no control over her own feelings or her body. Whenever she wanted to talk more to him, her body would not cooperate. It was the same thing every single time and it frustrated her to no end.

Sabrina was in love with Vaughn. She was very certain of that, and she was not oblivious to Vaughn's sudden interest in her. The raven haired female was aware that Vaughn enjoyed her company. She enjoyed his company in return. Sabrina did not know what Vaughn found so interesting about her, but she was not complaining. She was eternally grateful for it and hoped that she would be able to one day tell him how she really felt about him.

"Good evening, Vaughn," Sabrina spoke, mentally cheering herself for not stuttering that time. "What are you doing here this evening? The…the um sun is almost gone."

Vaughn stared at her, emotions unrecognizable. "I came here to see if you wanted to take a walk with me," he responded in his usual cold voice. "Since I won't be back until next week."

"O-Oh!" Sabrina threw on an astonished look. "Y-You…really want to take a walk…with…" She bowed her head, face flushing. "…me?"

Vaughn cleared his throat, turning away from her. "That's what I just said," he frostily stated. "Do I have to repeat myself or what?"

"N-No…!" Sabrina yipped loudly, almost squeaking. "O-Of course not! I…I want to take a walk with you!"

"Alright." Vaughn waited for her to step out of the house. "Come on then."

Heart racing, the dark haired girl rushed out of the house and shut the door behind her, making sure to lock it. When she was done, she instantly started following Vaughn down a dirt path. Once she was comfortably walking alongside him, she clasped her hands in front of her and tried to control her heartbeat.

"S-So…how are you doing?" Sabrina wanted to know, mouth dry due to her nervousness.

"I'm fine." Vaughn removed his hands from his pockets to allow his arms to sway back and forth as he wended. "You?"

Sabrina nodded quickly. "I'm great!"

Then, there was complete silence.

Sabrina allowed a sigh lathered in mild hopelessness to trickle out of her mouth and she fiddled around with her own fingers in front of her body. It was so quiet and Vaughn did not initiate a conversation. In fact, he seemed to be pondering heavily about something. It was like he was trying to come to an important decision, but wasn't entirely sure if he should make a decision at all. Sabrina wanted him to voice his thoughts, wanted him to speak his concerns to her, but she knew that probably wasn't going to happen. Sabrina ruminated about questioning him about what was going through his brain, but thought against it. That would be an invasion of privacy, and Vaughn was a very private person. He did not like sharing his business with other people and that included her, she believed.

Deciding to contemplate about something else, Sabrina's mind ventured back to the painting that she had been creating up in her room. It was for Vaughn. Maybe she could inform him of it? How would that make him feel? She wondered if he would be elated about it; she hoped he would. That's all she wanted for Vaughn. She wanted him to be happy always and she hoped to someday see a smile on his cold face. As she toyed with the idea of telling him about the painting, they came across someone.

It was Chelsea and Mark.

The duo had been chatting with each other, but then stopped abruptly when they spotted her and Vaughn. Some kind of look passed across Chelsea's face that Sabrina disliked. She was not sure what it was since it disappeared quickly, but she knew it was not a pleasant one. It was covered up with a jolly grin and Mark was busy waving at them brightly.

Sabrina thought that Mark was a very sweet guy. He was always nice to her and Sabrina appreciated that. Chelsea was nice too and they were friends, but they weren't very close.

"Hey, Sabrina, Vaughn!" Mark chattered merrily, dropping his gloved hand back to his side. He tilted his head to the side like a curious cat, wonderment swimming in his emerald green eyes. "Didn't I just see you at the diner, Vaughn?"

Vaughn gave Mark a single nod. "Yeah."

"And now here you are." Mark observed, a crooked grin on his lips. "Walking with Sabrina."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vaughn eyed Mark closely with suspicion.

"How're you doing, Sabrina?" Chelsea hastily jumped in, interrupting their chat. "I haven't seen you in a few days. I hope you're doing good and everything."

Sabrina placed her attention on the dark brown haired female. "Oh, I am well." She offered a soft smile. "How are you, Chelsea?"

"I'm fine." Chelsea shrugged, putting her hands in her pockets and avoiding looking directly at Sabrina. It was like she was purposely avoiding Vaughn too.

"Anyway," yawped Mark, grabbing a hold of Chelsea's hand and tugging on it. "We were just on our way home. Right, Chelsea?"

Chelsea solemnly nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

"Good seeing you, Vaughn, Sabrina!" Then, like the wind, Mark pulled Chelsea along as they left.

Sabrina blinked several times, discombobulated. The way they made their departure seemed like they were fleeing from unseen assailants. The glasses wearing girl ran a hand through her dark locks and continued to watch them go. The encounter was odd, she noted. Mark appeared eager to get away from them and Chelsea looked like she wanted to run faraway. Sabrina did not understand it and she wasn't sure if she would ever understand it.

"Strange," murmured Vaughn, frown creasing his forehead.

"H-Huh?" Sabrina turned to him.

Vaughn closed his eyes and started trekking again. "What just happened was strange."

"Oh! Yes, um, it was…" Sabrina caught up with him until she was walking alongside of him again. "Their behavior was…very odd."

"Yep."

Sabrina closed her mouth and continued walking with the male in silence. It was like that for a little while until Vaughn decided to stop at the beach. As one, they watched the cool waves of the ocean caress the sandy shore. There was a calming breeze and Sabrina thought it was lovely. Spending time with Vaughn was lovely as well, she thought.

"Sabrina…"

Stiffening up, the bookkeeper moved so that she was facing her male companion. It was so very rare whenever Vaughn said her name and it made her heart do a frantic dance within her chest. Butterflies assaulted her belly relentlessly and she swallowed hard, eyes enlarging due to her uncontrollable emotions.

"Y-Yes? Wh-What is it…?" she managed to say through her heavy emotions.

Without any more words dancing from Vaughn's mouth, he reached over with his left hand and cupped Sabrina's right cheek. As soon as she felt the man's hand on her cheek, Sabrina's body became a stiff board. Her muscles locked up and her mind went haywire with her erratic emotions. Sabrina had no clue what he was doing, but she could feel her heart fluttering in her chest like crazy and she thought she was going to faint at any moment. Soon, she could feel Vaughn's thumb running across the skin on her cheek softly, his gaze directly on her face.

Sabrina knew that her face was as red as tomato by how hot it was. As the guy continued to stroke his thumb along her cheek, she unmindfully leaned into his touch, trying to keep her eyes open. Just when she was becoming comfortable with Vaughn's touch, he withdrew his hand.

"You have paint on your cheek…"

Overwhelming embarrassment slammed into Sabrina's being like a violent wave of the ocean. It was not unlike a physical blow, causing the dark haired girl to stumble back a little. Tears appeared in the corner of her eyes and she lowered her head, face on fire for a different reason.

Vaughn must have thought that she was silly now. The only reason he touched her was to get a better look at the paint on her cheek! Why did she have to be so foolish? She had been walking with him for almost an hour with paint on her face?! How stupid is that?

"I-I'm s-so…" Sabrina could not finish her sentence.

"What?" Vaughn was flabbergasted by her behavior and a tad bit concerned with the tears filling the corner of her eyes. Had he done something wrong? "It's…fine. It's just paint. It's no big deal."

Sabrina did not listen and the tears finally began to slide down her cheeks. She turned her hands into fists at her sides and she kept her head down, too embarrassed to gaze at the one she loved.

"So stop crying," Vaughn chattered uncomfortably, awkwardly placing his hands atop her shoulders. "It's just paint, alright? I…was only pointing that out to you."

"I'm so silly for not noticing it!" Sabrina blubbered, feeling pathetic.

Vaughn shook his head. "It's fine. Really."

Sabrina lifted her head a little to peer at him. "…R-Really?"

Vaughn nodded, exasperated. "Really."

"Okay…" whispered the female, wiping away her tears. "I-I'm sorry."

Vaughn slowly removed his hands from her slender shoulders and placed them back at his sides. "Do you want me to walk you home now?"

"S-Sure…" mumbled Sabrina, disappointed.

Vaughn took notice of the disappointment coating her tone and he silently reached over and grasped her small hand in his own, walking at a leisure pace. "We can…we can take a walk again when I come back next week…if you want." The guy wasn't looking at her and he was pulling the brim of his hat down to cover most of his face. Sabrina thought she could see the color red painting his cheeks.

"I'd love to…" Sabrina uttered quietly, feeling like her heart was going to melt.

Vaughn said nothing more.