Thank you for the encouragement! I was really motivated to keep on updating even in the midst of all my exams. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! It took longer to write as things got busy. Will probably go back to edit some technical stuff later but oh well, *takes deep breath* here it is:)

Chapter 6

Wendy felt the pounding in her heart drop to a slower pace as she inhaled deeply. No. Peter Pan is in Neverland. He promised you he would return, but he didn't.

So, to stop herself from misbehaving in front of a young man, especially when she didn't trust herself to be "proper Wendy", the flustered girl muttered an apology. "I am terribly sorry, I mistook you for someone else…"

"It's fine." He breathed out, blinking, then offered a grin. "Though you do owe those people an explanation on my behalf. The looks on their faces! I'd say fishes with their mouths agape would very well describe their expression."

Wendy couldn't help but smile. "Maybe I will, but only after telling them about what you had just said. Seems like a fair trade, no?"

The young man raised an eyebrow and smiled back, amused, which made him look even more attractive with his wavy blond hair hanging to his eyes. Wendy felt her breath involuntarily quicken, but told herself not to do anything to embarrass herself.

"You look quite familiar…Have we met before, miss…?"

"I don't believe so." She blurted abruptly. "And it's Wen–"

Wendy was cut short when the theatre door opened and Mrs. Darling came out to the hall. She immediately spotted her daughter and gave a look of relief on her face.

"I have to go, but it was very nice meeting you, mister…?"

"Palliser. And you have not told me your–"

"There you are! I was worried sick. I thought you had passed out or something, since you said you weren't feeling very well."

"Oh, mother. I'm sorry, I just…took a longer walk that's all." She told her approaching mother, but her eyes kept returning to the young man who had nodded to her and politely left to return to the theatre.

Mrs. Darling noticed this and glanced at his direction too.

"Wendy, who was that?"

"He told me his name was Palliser… I thought he was someone I knew."

"Ah, I see. He looks quite…interesting."

"Does he? Well, I suppose. I bet nobody in London would have that sort of hair."

Mrs. Darling smiled gently and led them both back towards the theatre.

"Indeed. But that aside, I think he is quite handsome, don't you think?"

"Mother, please." Wendy grimaced to hide her blush, clearly not intending to continue the conversation.

Mrs. Darling, still smiling, patted her daughter's hair and quietly opened the doors to the theatre.

The play went on for another hour that night, and as it ended, Wendy immediately scanned the room for Palliser. She then caught herself and avoided doing so.

What is wrong with me? She thought.

Just because they look similar…

A little frustrated at her own silliness, Wendy hurried into their carriage to the puzzlement of her family. She told them she was getting ill because of an imminent cold, probably spread around by her sick classmates. This managed to silence them out of their questions.

"Oh, I didn't even get to say goodbye to my acquaintances, but never mind that, let's get you in bed as soon as possible." Aunt Millicent said, a hint of disappointment in the tone of her voice.

Wendy thought about Peter Pan as she gazed at the night sky. The steady, repetitive sound of the carriage wheels oddly gave her a sense of calmness as she sorted out the old memories that had resurfaced earlier.

"What if" kept returning to her mind. The chance that her assumptions could be true made her close her eyes, breathing in deep to calm herself down. Of course, this only made it seem like she was really tired and sick in front of the other adults.

As soon as they reached their house in Kensington, Mr. and Mrs. Darling ushered her into her room and tucked her in, something they had not done for a while. After she was kissed goodnight and had her door shut, Wendy opened her eyes. She walked towards her window. It was not as wide as the one in the nursery, but could fit a grown man nonetheless.

As she sat on the windowsill, she recalled how she reacted when she thought Palliser was Peter. Wendy always imagined that she would be very angry with him and promised herself that she would give him a proper beating if he ever came back.

But when he never did, I guess my anger went away.

When she saw the captivating young man earlier, her heart had leapt in a way that it never did before. Everything about him made her quite cheery. In truth, she was exhilarated, as the sense of longing that she always had seemed to be relieved. And now she remembered what it was that she missed dearly.

A tear escaped her eye then. She wiped it off and shook her head to clear her mind of the impossible things she wished for. Growing up and marching forward into the future was what she chose, and she had no doubt that she'd made the right choice.

The sky that night was clear, and the moon shone like it did the evening she had her incredible adventure with John and Michael.

Wendy walked her weary self to bed and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

What she did not know was that the man she had met in the theatre was thinking about her in return.

He was struggling to remember where he had seen her before. When he first laid eyes on the girl, he thought he would lose the ability to speak. He hid his surprise very well though, as he was an expert at such things.

Peter Palliser was bewildered by his own rush of feelings that occurred when he conversed with the amusing brown-haired girl–he had had his fair share of flirting and shrewdly winning over the favor of other men, women, and children, but never was he as disorganized as when he was simply conversing with her.

Surely he must have seen her somewhere…

She did not look like the other girls of her age who he knew; She had an air of authenticity about her, unlike the pretentious socialites he found bothersome.

The way she talked and even the sound of her voice stirred something deep inside of him. But, he did not know what it could have been and had not stopped thinking about it ever since.

When the play was over, the first thing he did was to unconsciously search for a certain figure among the crowds. He never saw her though, as the irksome flock of babbling people who approached his family distracted him.

Alone in his stark room, Peter thought about the girl's warm smile… her familiar figure, and bright blue eyes…

She looked very lovely even in her plain dress.

He tried hard, again, to place her in his memories.

Yet, he never did recover any of his days as Pan when sleep took over.

That night, he dreamt about flying with children, as always, and found himself laughing–something that he had not done wholeheartedly in a long time.

To be continued...