Chapter 7- Blissful Ignorance

It had been ages since Elesa walked so much. Patty's patisserie was a stunner with most people but damn, it was ridiculously far. Her Zebstrika was sick so she couldn't rely on her anymore, it's being sacrilege! So being a strange woman and with her bike being to conspicuous, she decided to play detective using man's natural commuter- walking. She walked off as fast as she could and then when she found the shop, started hiding behind the windows which fortunately, were tinted.

"Did you check up about the whole thing? I mean, we are getting married in 3 weeks now!" Fantina asked.

"Yeah, I did. I may not be able to buy a cake, the best one was out of stock; but I can bake pretty well, you know!" Cress boasted.

Fantina giggled. "You really do think up of everything!"

"There is more!" Cress stated. "You know, I wanted to do so much for you, Fantina! I wanted to get a whole palace booked for the wedding, so I got a beautiful place surrounded by lots of nature and a wonderfully whitewashed Greek style building! I wanted to know; how would you like it to be?"

Fantina just laughed and then cupped Cress' face in her hands. "Surprise me, boy. That's all I want from you." She stated and then pulled him in for a snog.

Elesa was flushed seeing this. "He really cares about her. I wonder how the wedding will turn out after all?" she wondered and stayed there until it was time for the two to leave. Then she hid herself real discreetly until she saw them walking outside, strangely enough not hand in hand. "Knowing how much they've been snogging each other, I really am surprised." Elesa wondered. She then followed the two love birds as discreetly as she could and overheard everything they spoke.

"Say, Cress- what would your brothers be doing? I hope they will be there, I love Cilan's cooking!" Fantina gushed. Cress smiled.

"You did tell me to surprise you, so no more details!" he joked.

"Look, mon amour; I have to get going. I'll see you a little latyer. My friends have been dying to see me and I haven;t met them since I last told them of my marriage!" Fantina informed.

"Au revoir." Cress said.

"Au revoir, mon amour." Fantina then kissed his forehead and scurried off to see the other leaders.

"For someone her age, she sure is active." Cress pondered. "Wonder how I will catch up to her." He just watched the sunset; it looked beautiful. Then, while just biting his lip in the wind, he heard a stick crack and immediately turned round in shock and there she was, his eternal best friend.

"Elesa?" he inquired. "What are you doing here?" Elesa flustered a bit. "Damn it, you recognised me?" she spouted. "Apparently, yes. You do have a taste for esoteric clothes." He observed sharply. Then he noticed her closely. "What are you doing?" he inquired. "I came over for a cup of tea!" Elesa lied hurriedly. "But you dislike tea! And you prefer cooking at home, right? Especially after feeling tipsy at Lucy Elian's pastry eating competition..." he retorted. Elesa grimaced thinking of that- it was probably the worst 3 hours of her life!

She joined an eating contest just for fun and some other leaders had secretly come over to Lucy's house; which wasn't much of a problem- she was once Marshal's girlfriend and they started it off. She was good and cooked amazingly plus there was so much to eat there- it was amazing! Sacher torte, black forest, tiramisu, truffles, pineapple pastry, cheesecake, caramel pastry and so much more! Tea was used for a mild washer instead of water. It was epic and everyone loved it, but by round 3 they all were tired of this whole thing and Elesa felt so sick, she promptly puked later on. Besides, it was a really bad idea and guess who the winner was- no surprise; it was Chilli!

"There is something fishy- you know I hate being cornered or lied to." Cress warned sternly. Finally, Elesa gave up. "Okay, look. Your brothers were concerned about you, so I offered to spy on you. Happy?" she confessed irritably. Cress was bewildered. "Spy on me? But I was just going to Patty's place!" he insisted. Elesa said nothing and then after a few seconds, beckoned. "Let's walk." She said. Cress said nothing and walked along with her on that road.

"I never knew you were interested in film noir! Cress expressed. "How else was I supposed to hide from you and not be mobbed as if I was the 6th Beatle? Elesa spouted angrily. Cress sighed. "Look, Elesa; I know that I may be the first one getting married, but that is no excuse to invade on my privacy. Besides, you and I never had chemistry- I realised that too late." They walked on silently for five minutes until Elesa piped up "So, what are you going to do for the wedding now?" Cress lightened. "Oh, that? I was thinking of asking Fantina about her previous wedding, but I thought- meh, that's being plain insensitive." He answered. Elesa's eyes widened. "She was married before?" she exclaimed. "You know so little about someone you claim to be your friend. I mean, she did divorce her former husband Juan because of adultery on his side." He stated tiredly. "Cite the reasons." Elesa ordered. "He did look like a womanizer from the very start, for Arceus' sake- I swore I saw him ogling at you during our match!" Cress answered.

Seemingly satisfied, the two walked for a while longer and discussed marriage ideas and plans. "What else is left for you now?" Elesa inquired. "I formalised the cake, the place and even our clothes. So that means, I need- gourmet chefs, decorators and a vicar. Plus I need musicians, but I doubt we have that much of money." He replied wistfully. "But what theme of wedding do you have? I mean you did what to surprise her!" Elesa asked. "I have no idea. Seriously, this whole thing is based on what I see in weddings!" he replied. Then his eyes lit up. "I remember Fantina telling me she wanted to see some of our pokemon. Say, how about we do this? I could get Pokémon to celebrate in our wedding! Not only will it be authentic, but it'll be cute and cost effective as well!" he gushed. Then super pleased with this idea, he hugged Elesa.

She just smiled and they discussed for a while about which Pokémon to bring in the wedding. "I think that Lilligant is a great deal, but Serperior? You may have to be careful with that one!" Elesa chuckled. "How about a few water types?" Cress asked hopefully. "It's your wedding- do it with discretion!" Elesa replied and then they continued talking until Cress said "You know, Elesa; I really am going to miss my brothers. I mean, they've been such amazing support, it'll be really sad to just leave without saying a decent goodbye!" Elesa's eyes widened.

"What did you say?" she asked shocked.

"Cilan is going to hate the fact that he is the oldest brother and yet I got married first." He chuckled. "I mean, seriously; he is mature enough, but if only he was more open about his love! Seriously, look at Fantina and me. We are so romantic close to all the time!" Elesa was still a little fazed by his previous statement. "Cress, don't digress. Tell me the truth, what's going on?"

"Talking of my wedding, that's what." Cress said stupidly.

Elesa then slapped him hard which made him flinch. "Elesa... why?" was all he could stutter. "Cress, you inconsiderate idiot- it's you family I'm talking about! Cilan and Chilli are furious that you got married without their consent! Hell, not only did you not tell them about your wish, you actually proposed to her and then told them! How could you, Cress? It's totally out of character! Only three weeks ahead and you'll be a married man; how do you expect your brothers to digest that?!" she yelled.

Cress seemed contrite, but then said nothing. "Come on Cress! They aren't disappointed with Fantina, she's a lovely woman! But then honestly- not telling your family of their wedding plans? Are they lying about their opinions on the union or are you? Come on, tell me! I'll not tell a soul!" Elesa pleaded.

Then Cress spoke. You know, Ella ; a few months ago, when I was planning a lot; I was thinking- I am old enough to be married so I wanted a life separate from my brothers. I know they are horrified, but if I told them of what I really wanted to do, they'd be mortified. This is why I wanted to propose secretly; so that they have a certain grudge for me and distance themselves from me. That way, I disappoint neither party- brothers are satisfied and have their normal lives and Fantina and I start anew. It's as easy as that."

"You did want to move out, right? What's so bad in that?" Elesa inquired interested.

"It will be if you are planning to, rather decided leave the country forever." Cress answered.

He swore right after that, he heard something fall to ther\ground with a thump...