Chapter 3

Gray was stunned with her words. Did he hear it wrong? But watching her biting her lower lip and her face turned to bright red in mortification, he knew he didn't hear it wrong.

Somehow this little girl reminded him of Juvia. She also had that same look the first time she asked him out. Juvia bit her lower lips with her eyes fixed on his and her face was all red. "Gray-sama, can Juvia meet you later after your basketball match?"

Gray hesitated, uncertain how to answer her because it was not only her eyes on him. Everyone else in his classroom stopped moving with Juvia openly asked him out. Their eyes were also on him; as if they waited for his answer too. Gray felt like he was being cornered. If he rejected her like he used to, Erza would kill him for being rude. If she asked him privately, it would be an easy no. But since everyone in his class knew it, he reluctantly nodded, "Ok."

His answer made Juvia squealed in delight, "Gray-sama, do you want Juvia to bring you water or maybe energy drink or should Juvia also bring you some bentos?"

Gray's face turned all red now as everyone else cheered on them, "Gray, you finally get a date."

Gray immediately cut them off before Juvia got the wrong idea. "No, it's not a date!"

Juvia giggled and Gray had never heard her giggle before. Surprisingly he found his giggle was cute. Came to think of it, he was grateful that Juvia asked him out openly because if he kept rejecting her, he wouldn't know how much he had missed in his life.

What's the harm of going out with this little girl anyway?

Gray answered her, "No, I will pick you up after school hour. How does that sound?"

Catherine was surprised that he agreed to meet her. It was totally unexpected; she thought she would get a flat no.

"Actually today I only have an entrance exam for Fairy Tail University and my exam lasts until two in the after—"

"Alright then, I'll pick you up at the gate of Fairy Tail University at two pm," he said firmly.

His tone, however, was firm and not seductive at all, but it just sounded so sexy to Catherine's ears. It must be accent. Either that or she was just crazy about him.

"I'll be waiting then. Hmm, my name is Kate. What's yours?"

A sexy grin stretched across his face as he answered her, "Gray."

###

Catherine took a quick glance at her watch. It was 1:50 pm. In ten minutes she will be seeing him again. She was so nervous, but excited at the same time for it was the first time she went out with a guy.

She immediately ran towards the gate and she saw Gray was standing there.

Just the sight of him made her heart race like crazy, her cheeks heat, and the butterflies in her stomach went crazy. Then she heard him saying, "There you are."

She smiled warmly at him. "I've just finished the exam. Where are we going?"

Gray delicately shrugged off, "You must be starving. Let's just go for lunch."

###

Catherine could tell from his manner and tone that he was not romantically interested in her; he might just need a company for lunch. But she was determined to change his mind.

"You have an accent. You're not from here, are you?"

Gray shrugged, "Yeah, I'm from Crocus."

Her eyes widened with his answer. That's how he got the same accent as her mother. "My mom is also from Crocus."

Gray watched her, contemplating what he wanted to say. He didn't want to ask further. Asking further meant getting invested and that was the last thing he wanted, but he was the one who agreed to go out with her. "So what brought her here?" His silky voice glided over her like a warm, comforting blanket.

"My dad," she said after a pause. "My dad is from Magnolia. My mom was only fifteen when she was pregnant with me. I bet she freaked out because dad lived here so she decided to move here."

Gray nodded. His eyes were calm and focused on her face. His lips were together, but relaxed. She nearly stopped breathing when their eyes locked. There was calm and collected spirit about him. He was completely different from her father. He was in complete control and never showed any deep ingrained emotions.

"You have siblings?"

Catherine shook her head. "Nope, my dad really wanted to have another one. Everything in my mom's life slowed down when she was pregnant with me. She dropped out of school then raised me with dad. When she thought I could take care of myself, she went back to school, finishing college, and starting career so she kept delaying pregnancy. But now she has established her career so she wants to get pregnant soon. Oh gosh, I hope that will never happen."

Gray chuckled. Juvia was also from Crocus and she was fifteen when she dropped out of school. Huh, what a crazy coincidence.

"What's wrong with having another sibling?"

"Eh no, thank you. I don't want to have a baby brother or sister when I am seventeen. That's totally embarrassing! Oh, mind telling me your age?"

"Thirty-four."

She gaped and her eyes stretching wide at his answer. "You are only one year younger than my dad! I thought you were like twenty-eight!"

Gray sipped his drink. His tone was gentle and, at the same time, firm. "So am I disappointing you because I'm as old as your dad?"

Catherine quickly panicked. "No, that's not what I mean—"

Gray chuckled, "Don't worry about it. I'm just joking."

She laughed, partially laughed at herself for taking everything he said seriously and partially in relief, because she didn't want to upset him.

She had this quirky laugh that sounded similar to Juvia. Almost everything she did reminded him about her. He knew it was a terrible idea to hang out with Catherine. Meeting her again would just make it much harder for him to move on. However, he surprised himself by asking her out again and again. He knew how pathetic he must have looked, but no matter how much he tried not let himself think about Juvia, he still missed her terribly.

###

"Lyon-sama, Juvia thinks Kate is hiding something from us," Juvia said as she removed her shirt and put her night gown on.

"Babe, Kate is a teenager and that's what teens do. They keep secret from us," Lyon replied.

"Kate giggled so much over reading text messages and when Juvia asked whom she was texting to, she immediately hide the phone as if Juvia was going to snatch her phone and lately she started to dress up and put on make-up. Juvia was just worried with her."

"I guess our little princess has found her prince."

"But this is not the right time to fall in love. She will be graduating from high school in few months and Juvia is scared if this secret boyfriend will mess up with her study. Please Lyon-sama, talk to Kate. She won't listen to Juvia!"

Lyon sighed just because he hated to be the bad guy for Kate. But he knew that Juvia was right, and if she did have a boyfriend, he had to know who that guy was.

"Fine, I'll talk to her tomorrow morning—"

His words were stopped as Juvia jumped into him. "Thank you Lyon-sama, Juvia knew she could rely on you!" She said excitedly.

He cupped her soft cheeks, "hey, anything for my wife."

Juvia giggled and Lyon kissed her softly on the lips. "Anyway babe, did you do a pregnancy test today?"

She startled at his question. "N-not yet. Juvia forgets, but she promises that she will do it tomorrow."

"Oh, that's fine," said Lyon before he gently kissed her forehead. She smiled at Lyon, then nodded, but inside she was worried. They had been trying to get pregnant for a year, yet she never got pregnant. Juvia just couldn't stand disappointing him like this. Lyon was a very good husband and father to Kate, even though Kate was not his biological child to begin with. Her first pregnancy was a mistake that should have never happened, but now when she was eager to have a baby, she could not get pregnant. Juvia glanced over the window and couldn't help herself but whispering, "God, why are you so cruel to Juvia?"

A/N: Since summer school is going to start soon, you might expect irregular updates for this story. Well, most probably I won't be updating this till September, but let's see how manageable this semester will be. Thank you for reading, following, and posting reviews. You guys amazing!