This hell of a long chapter contains brotp momentum. More like townotp momentum, because holy cakes, everyone loves Anita – and I could't be happier!
Freya didn't do free days.
Freya never did free days.
But she found herself calling in sick because it had come to a point she decided to take matters into her own hands. After a quite long talk – basically excuses she spluttered to her boss, who was genuinely worried about her, not used to her absence – she hung up and marched straight to the Bazaar.
Again, she never took free days.
Moreover, Freya never lied to workmates. She felt guilty each time she tried.
But this time was completely different.
She hadn't seen Anita after Ivan's incident. Freya knew that the blonde was much probably at home moping around, maybe crawling her way to the barn and back home. Nobody knew about her these days. And while others didn't care enough to look for her or go check on her, others thought she was fine.
Freya, the girls in general – and Ivan, she knew even if he didn't say a thing about it – knew enough. The previous day, they went to pay a visit, talk and pry some information about her current situation. They didn't even get a word out of her, mainly because she didn't even answer the door.
Antoinette had wanted – and tried – to barge in like she had the right. But Sherry, knowing best, gently pushed her friend aside and knocked in. Anita wouldn't find it so hilarious to see a broken door at her doorstep. Yeah, crazy. Maybe old Anita wouldn't have minded much.
But new, emo and dark Anita wouldn't laugh at all. She could even smack Antoinette into common sense and make her fix the door.
That was the severity of the situation.
Daisy was worried sick. Even if Sherry told her not to fret and Antoinette had calmed down enough to bring some positivity to the situation, the blonde never stopped stuttering. She mentioned that she missed Anita's cherry cake and seeing her at the hotel.
Of course, she wasn't the only one who missed the farmer. Everyone did. But the only one who knew about the whole cake was Freya. With a thoughtful glance at her barn, she knocked once again. Her livestock was out, why wouldn't she open the door? Maybe she wasn't hearing them?
The redhead and her best friend the bluenette decided to go home after some tries. Daisy made her way home as well, but Freya waited for some more time. She eventually gave up too, and went for a walk.
So there she was now, expecting Anita to be at the Bazaar and pleading to some unknown deity to give her some luck. A long walk later, she was in the middle of a busy crowd.
For starters, Freya approached some stands near the entrance to take the best of her time. There were some nice meals made by Claire and interesting ingredients sold by one of Raul's brothers. After buying some curry bread at Claire's stand and getting it wrapped in yellow paper – just for a nice glittery touch – she approached her friend's stand.
Anita was talking to a kid who seemed to want one of her delicious puddings. The blonde gave it to him with a smile and the little boy flew away with some jump in his step. Freya smiled at her and the purple-eyed dirl noticed her presence.
"Good morning, Freya!" once they were facing each other, Freya noticed dark rings under Anita's eyes. Apart from that, her eyes were half-lid and she was strugging to smile. "What can I do for you?"
The girl blinked. For the first time, she glanced at her friend's items. She was selling pudding, tea, two necklaces, eggs, milk and high-quality wool in a yarn. She pointed at the yarn and purchased two balls.
She didn't know what she could do with that. It could be used for some clothing fixes.
"Thank yo~ou!" Anita yawned in mid sentence. "Do you need anything else?"
The brunette crossed her arms. How could her friend be working if she was so tired? "It'd be nice if you got some sleep." glare. "Those bags under your eyes look pretty nasty."
Sheepish, the other laughed lowly. "You could say that. It was a pretty restless night."
"Then why don't-"
Her loud yawn – which she politely covered with both hands – interrupted her.
Freya coughed. "Why don't you go home and rest a bit? You could use some months of hibernation."
The blonde didn't answer. She was leaning – more like supporting herself – on the table. Her eyes were... glazed?
What the?
"Anita?"
No answer.
The businesswoman snapped her fingers in front of her muted friend. "Anita, what's wrong?"
And then,
swoon.
The blonde sighed softly, titled and collapsed when her knees buckled under her. She landed on her side under the alarmed sight of some customers and, most importantly, Freya.
And even more important, a horrized Ivan who had just arrived in time to see the whole scene unfold. He cursed under his breath – out of stress and fear – muted the worried gasps of the crowd and jumped the table to approach Freya, who held Anita on her lap. His temple started sweating.
"Oh my-"
Freya snapped her eyes at him and gaped. "Ivan, we need help! Anita has just-!"
"Fainted- she fainted, I know!" exclaimed Ivan, trying to calm down and not freak out. Now he did have reasons to be worried about Anita! He had bouncing around his house, trying to think positive and imagine she was fine on her own.
God, damn it. How could he be such a fool! She had been heartbroken and working her ass off, that wasn't healthy! If only he had swallowed his pride/fear/nonsense doubts, she would be wide awake and running.
He picked his love up,– who was very very light on his arms and ever so weak – carried her bridal-style through the Bazaar and ran all the way to Claire's stand. The good woman saw them coming and rushed to his side. "What happened!? She's totally out if it!"
His face was frantic, desperate and anxious. It was easy to see he didn't know what was wrong either, but needed help right now. "I don't know, but we need your help, and fast!"
Kevin's mother slammed the 'CLOSED' sign on her stand's table and gathered some of her things. It was good to see she was ready for these kinds of emergencies, given she was the best doctor in town and people could give up consciousness due to the soaring heat or simple exhaustion.
But it didn't seem like a case of heat attack or simple tiredness. It looked like something worse. And Claire knew it with a first glance at the farmer, who didn't move an inch.
"We must hurry!" yelled Claire taking Anita in her arms. It looks like she also noticed Anita's light weight, because she frowned and looked at Ivan. "Quick! Get Nellie and the Mayor and go to the farm!"
Her tone was so panicked and uneven it wasn't assuring to the poor teacher. His knowledge in human health wasn't vast – pretty much the opposite. So Ivan was quite in the dark now and terrified. "Do you know what could be wrong with her?"
Claire tightened her grip on the girl, protective and trying to catch her breath. She seemed scared, too. "I have no idea, Ivan. But, to be plain honest, this doesn't look good at all."
Well, just the fact that Anita basically collapsed was self-explainatory. Of course this wasn't good.
Freya, who had gathered her things in a bag, spoke up when she got to the pair. "We must find out. I picked her things up and closed her stand." she then glanced at Ivan. "Go get the others. We'll go to the farm and treat Anita there!"
Both nodded in understandment and both girls rushed to get Anita to the farm. He was struggling to keep his temper in check and stop for a moment to collect himself. But Anita needed help, and that was his first priority.
The caramel-haired boy ran to Nellie's stand and passed by Lloyd in his path. The blackhaired had seen the ruckus and closed his stand after seeing Anita had passed out. He ran by his friend.
"Ivan, what happened?"
Nellie saw them coming and frowned, seeing both boys with distressed expressions. "I will explain later! We need help right now!"
"This isn't good at all."
"Ivan-"
"This is not good."
"Hey, I-"
"She's unconscious..."
"Ivan, can you please-"
"... what if she doesn't-"
"IVAN!"
The teacher stopped pacing around and looked at his distressed friends. Freya spoke up again. "Will you please calm down? Your mumbling won't do anything good to the situation."
He slumped – more like threw himself – on the ground of Anita's orchard and sighed, playing with the hems of his jacket. Dirk approached him and put a hand on his shoulder, kindness radiating out of his also afraid eyes.
"She's strong– she's hella strong, Ivan." he said, trying not to only give him some positivity, but also to himself. "She'll wake up soon. I'm sure it's just an eventual break down."
"As if she hadn't had enough with me lately, life wants even more from her." Ivan thought, sullenly. "Why?"
"Yeah, Anita's been putting way too much on herself. It's only a matter of time she wakes up." tried Angelo. He was holding Daisy's hand and side-hugging Antoinette with his right arm.
The three were uncharacteristically uptight. It only unnerved Ivan even more. The only one who seemed relatively calm was Freya, who sat on some boxes near her doorstep.
"Well, I can't seem to figure out the reason for her distress." Dirk's brother glared at her, knowing her intentions. "I wonder why..."
Sherry, fully conscient of Anita's situation with Ivan and reading Freya's tone, glared at her as well with a hiss. "Freya!"
"What?" she spat back, clearly in a bad mood because of whatever that could be going on inside Anita's house. "I can't be the only one to be incredibly stiff about this!"
Silence invaded the area, only the hush of the wind accompained the muffled voices inside Anita's farmhouse.
"I have a very bad feeling about this." Lloyd said. Kevin sat down by Dirk's side, who ruffled his hair in an attempt of cheering him up. "That which is keeping Anita in such predicament isn't normal. She has never collapsed in two years of living here. Why now?"
"She's been working hard lately." muttered Cindy innocently and clearly down because of her friend's – or idol's – comatose state. "I've seen at her weakest this month."
Kevin looked up and sighed. Nobody had seen him this tired, ever. Not even close to being actually tired. "I could've helped if she had asked me. All those mushy stuff she did at midnight..." the kid glanced at Ivan.
"Yes." he babbled. "That must be a reason, too."
But he was lying to himself on that. An everyone knew.
Sherry glanced at the sky. It was getting awfully cloudy up there. And it was still early noon. It seemed like it would get pretty bad in the evening. "The weather doesn't look too happy, either."
Everyone followed her gaze.
And Antoinette chuckled. "Not a very good prediction."
"No, it doesn't seem like it." agreed Dirk, not catching her glance at him. "I heard it'd rain in the weathercast. And that it could become a fierce storm later on."
Freya sighed, eyes cast down. "Poor thing. Spending her whole afternoon alone during a thunderstorm."
"She'll most probably be K.O." said Angelo. "She won't even notice it."
"That's the thing!" exclaimed the workaholic. There was exhasperation in her eyes. "She'll be out of it for the rest of the night. What if she wakes up and finds herself alone?"
That alarmed Ivan in a minor degree, but just picturing her alone, kind of ill and scared of the noises and wind outside made his blood run cold. Not like he was the bravest one in the hood, but he had Dirk for cuddles. Who did she have?
No one would cuddle with her!
He paled lightly and stood up, wanting to pace his anxiety of once again. But Dirk tugged at his sleeve and pushed him back down.
"She wouldn't want to you to fret around like that, would she?"
Now, that was true. But he would panic anyway.
Daisy heard steps near the door and got up, expecting Claire or Nellie to pop up at any moment. A few seconds later, Kevin's mother appeared and closed the door once again behind her, preventing anyone from coming in. She looked worn out.
"Well, good afternoon." she greeted, sighing. "That sure took a lot of time."
Everybody stood up and looked at her, hopeful and worried about their dear blonde farmer.
Claire went down the sane road and spoke to them bluntly.
"She's knocked out, and will remain like that for the rest of the day. She might wake up tonight, or maybe tomorrow morning." explained the part-time doctor, part-time spot of hopes and responsability for Ivan's sanity. "We're not sure what's wrong with her. She's not showing signs of weariness or any direct damage of any sort."
"You mean," Lloyd frowned. "like, poisoning or someone snapping her neck?"
Claire looked at him, shocked due to his statements. "Yeah, something like that... I guess." she breathed out. "The thing is, we're not sure what could have cause this. In fact, we could arrive to terms of thinking it's a cancer, or thinking it's simply weak health. The problem streeches far wide, you see."
She could see that mentioning the c word to a crowd of people at the edge of a nervous breakdown wasn't the smartest idea, given them all seemed to tune out at the mention of it.
However, she wasn't feeling soft enough to even discard the possibility – she would be lying to them. "It doesn't need to be that bad, though. We'll need a few more days to look after her and follow her health status."
Dirk snapped out of his troubled daze. "Don't you know anything else?"
Claire sighed. "Well, she has a slightly high temperature, if that suits you. Nothing to be alarmed of anyway." Ivan's eyes were still covered with worry. It was even saddening her to see him so earnestly concerned.
"It's very probably caused by the temperature of the bazaar and the fact that she was wearing warm clothes today. Wearing a turtle neck jersey isn't a good idea during summer!"
Freya had actually noticed the jersey, but it didn't cause such a big impression on her. Tat was because, for starters, she was worrying about other things right then. Apart from that, Anita was wearing her other normal clothes – the pink jacket, her trademark hat and her worn out leggings – so it didn't really stand out that much.
"How weird of her!" spoke Cindy, who had hurried to Claire's side the moment she came out. "She's pretty sensitive to heat, why would she?"
It also stung Ivan a little bit, suspicious and kind of weirded out. His head was just too heavy in thoughts to keep in its place for much longer – it was stating to make him cringe to think about her.
"Is there anything we can do?" asked, or pleaded he.
Claire shook her head in response. Ah, teenagers in love. "I'm afraid not, Ivan. All we can do is sit and wait patiently." everyone's shoulders fell a little. "As soon as Nellie finished a few last tests, we'll go home. We can't do more for the moment."
Everyone nodded, understanding the situation. But Ivan and Dirk weren't having none of that.
So, as soon as the sun had set and rain had started pouring down the sky in a promise of a stormm, they made their way to Anita's house with great hurry. As soon as they got there, they went inside and hung their jackets.
Dirk had gone with his brother to check on Anita, and would go home before the storm started. His brother, on the other hand, had other plans.
The youngest one in the house put his hat to rest. He looked through the window. "Woah, man. It's tempesting out there!"
But Ivan didn't answer. He had pulled a stool from Anita's table and took a seat by her, distraught in her quiet and still body. His face held the same expression as back in their parents' funeral. And Dirk realized that with a quick glance in his direction.
Wet, fat trails of tears cascaded down his cheeks. But Ivan wasn't sobbing or trembling. It was more like a quiet fall in order not to worry his brother. He knew he had noticed, though.
"Look at her, Dirk." the waiter obliged and grimaced at her. She was way too calm and frail to his liking.
That was when he wondered: if it was being hard for him to see his friend in such critical conditions, what kind of hell was it being for Ivan, who was seeing the love of his life probably – he hoped not – dying in front of him?
Dirk could only pat his brother's back. "I told you. She's strong and will get through this, Ivan."
"But... what if she..."
Thunder.
"What if... what if she doesn't?".
The brunette put his goosebumps to rest. They had fell down his spine at Ivan's dead tone. "Ivan..."
That was when a soft shake made tears fall faster and bigger. But he concealed them, for Dirk didn't have to see those and should never see them falling down his up-to-look figure.
"I think I should go home. You need some time with her alone, and I'm no one to interrupt that." his useless attendance was eased by Ivan's thankful eyes, even if Dirk could see those were shaking weak.
"Yes, you should. This-" he wiped a tear away with a sad smile. "The storm is only going to get worse. And I don't want you to catch a nasty cold, either."
Either.
As if Anita was only going through a simple fever. Lies, lies, lies.
"Yeah, I'll go home now." he put his hat on and approached Anita to caress her forehead. Then he gulped, seeing the storm before him. "See you soon, brother. Sleep well."
Ivan nodded and watched his dear sibbling leave his side into the storm.
The teacher decided that if he was going to watch over her, he should as well have dinner. He got up and removed his tie and vest, left them hung by his jacket and marched into her kitchen. It was a very small stance with some charm to it.
And also a very nice pan and a cute pot! He would sure cook something delicious with that! Ivan went into the storage room and brought some herb oil, herb butter and flour. He would make something up with those treats she had in there.
It turns out she had a very thick book full of homemade recipes and very nice notes, such as, literal extracts:
"This is Joan's favourite. Please don't make unless you're feeling confident enough. She'll sure roast you and cook it better than you if you try!"
"omg I'm sure Freya would love this" arrow to spinach "and this!" arrow to eggs and other stuff.
There was a very quick recipe for herb spaguetti down the page for main dishes. Some were marked with stars and hearts, others with crosses and noes all over them.
It took him a full hour to figure out the right proportions and pull up something good enough that, at least, didn't stink or emit smoke. It was a delicious dinner in the end, and couldn't be more thankful for Anita's master book. She could have a run of money for that.
As he digested the food, cheek on hand and eyes far off into the distance of the wall, he turned to look at his sleeping beauty. Ivan sighed and went to her once again. But he remembered the dish on the table and took it to the sink so he could clean it.
He heard a noise that didn't belong to the rain. He deemed it to be from the animals at the barn, but then, a cough.
And, after that, another one.
He rushed to her side and found her in a fit of coughs, cheeks all rosy but her temperature lower than usual. She saw him by her and smiled. Anita's eyes were kind of glazed.
"O-Oh..." her voice was weak and almost inaudible. "Hey there... Ivan? How... how nice..."
He thanked the deities in the storm for bringing her back to him. He couldn't be more relieved to see her back with him. At least, body-wise. Her mind was looking pretty hazed at the moment.
He sat on the bed and craddled her like a baby, trying to transfer some of his body heat. She was starting to get cold and he didn't like that.
She buried her face on his shirt. That made him smile. "It's good to see you again."
Her voice, even if raspy and low, sounded like bells after so long. "I-I... am glad to see" cough, "to see you happy..."
Ivan lay his head on hers and sighed contently. He should be hurrying to fetch Claire and bring ol' healthy Anita back. However, he would take his time – if he ever got away from her again, that is – and take the best out of what could be a short time together.
"You had me worried." he confessed bitterly. "I'm glad to see you awake, but please don't press yourself so hard. I'd like to keep on being sane, you know."
She giggled. "I... I am sorry but... I am not even working that much..."
God, she must be swimming in medicine and drugs if she could speak to him so calmly – and so in-character – after that big deal they were supposedly going through.
Once again, he would take his sweet time to land in earth again. This was a rare ocassion these days.
"Yes, sure, I'll believe you." he wouldn't, of course he wouldn't. "I missed you."
She snuggled even deeper. How much he wished she wasn't dazed so it was a real situation with real feelings coming from her. "I did... too!" even though her voice was very rough, it still held sweetness in it.
"I wish we were talking under different situations, though." he sighed, but still held her like there was no tomorrow.
"Yeah..."
"I'm sorry I never visited." I wasn't really apologizing for that. It was a global apology for breaking her heart without knowing, thinking that giving her space would be good for both, for not catching her feelings...
Goodness gracious, was he really doing everything wrong? Or even worse, had he even done anything correctly!?
"I'm not a jerk." he muttered remembering Freya's lecture a few days ago and her sour way of blaming him of her situation – which was very likely unintentional, seeing how shaken up everyone was and how anything said there could have been said out of distress. "But I deserve all of this."
Yeah, her in drugs, all over him in a sweet mess was enough punishment.
"You... you did make, make me cry?" she said, as if taking back each word she said on the run. It had just fallen out of her mouth. It made him cringe. Even in her dizzy state she was pure venom. This time, sweet venom. "But... I forgive you..."
She was so tired and medicated – with needles, he supposed – it was hard for him not to break down. He had caused all of this. She had suffered because of him. And it made Ivan wonder if he was enough for such a great girl like him. Maybe... maybe she didn't love him, opposite to what he had thought a few days ago? It seemed more like a theory or inspiration rather than a statement.
Her next words corrected him.
"Because I... 'cause I love you..."
It didn't come as much of a surprise seeing how things had turned out. He, selfishly, wouldn't have had it any other way. He hated himself for that.
"You really should not love someone like me."
"And I'll always... always forgive you." she murmured, in a very heartfelt way that made his heart break and melt at the same time.
He deserved that, too.
"You should not forgive me so easily."
She blinked at him. Anita gaped, disbelievingly. "But... if I can't love you, if you don't love me..."
Ivan wanted her to take that back. He wanted her to know he loved her – so, so much – but, on the other hand, didn't deserve her. Yet, he doubted she's ever understand given her drowsy condition.
"If I can't love you..." she actually sniffled. "Then... who should I love, Ivan...?"
Anita broke Ivan with that. He was left speechless. Deep down in his selfish feelings, he never thought about her leaving her until these days. Still, he thought about it very lightly, like a problem that stood too far away for him to understand. But having it so near it could kill you tasted different– felt different.
It felt horribly sour.
Because he actually took her for granted all this time.
And it was so, so selfish for him to do that. He always thought she'd be there no matter what he dragged her through – or more like he never thought about her being hurt by him, never ever considered that idea. It couldn't be true, could it?
Did that mean... did that mean he didn't care enough about her? Or did he care enough about her for him to allow himself to love her?
He had been hurting her all this time. He might have even done it before and never noticed. His breath got stuck in this throat: could it be she had been through this, alone, because of him? Did he really deserve her love?
Did he even deserve to be human?
He felt horrible. No. He felt sick.
He was sick and also very, very selfish. As much as he hated to admit it sometimes, he needed her. Ivan wouldn't be Ivan without some Anita by his side. She was just too important, but the fact that she was important didn't automatically mean he cared enough.
With that, it got even worse.
He tightened his grasp around her frail frame, musing about her presence and trying to actually drown in her scent, now feeling like she would fly away at any moment. His heart hadn't been so afraid before. He himself was shaking, breaking at the thought of her being gone.
Ivan was almost choking her, but he was too upset and she was too tired to care.
"No." he deadpanned. "You shouldn't love anybody else than me."
"Does that mean... I can... lo-ve you, then...?"
He hugged her even tighter, if that was possible. "Yes." he replied, unmistakengly hard, sincere and serious. "And I will always..."
No, it wasn't the right way to say it. If he was confessing, he'd do it appropriately. It wasn't the time for that. "...Hm...?"
Oh no, he was losing her. Her voice was a mere whispee by now and was lifting her touch on him. He grasped her hand hurriedly.
Her head stopped cuddling,
"Ani-"
...breath in, breath out. She was sound sleep now. He trailed off and observed her serene, sleeping expression. The way her nose perked, or how her chest rose with each breath and her lips separated, or maybe the sound of some sounds she made-
He quickly tucked her in before his mind was allowed to wade into disturbing stuff. Watching ladies sleep wasn't normal at all. As he was standing up, a shaky hand sat him again.
His goal had been to reach for the rug and try to cuddle with the wooden floor. Ivan would have time then to think about their relationship – or whatever stage they were on – and calculate his next move. Sleeping on the ground would have been much better.
Instead, she came in with trembling voice.
"Don't... don't leave..." she mumbled. He figured it was much probably an unconscious move, but considered it to be done with her being fully-aware. "don't... please?"
He was a sucker wrapped around her finger. So he complied and lay by her, both comfortably covered by the thick, thick – god those were truly big how could she feel cold? – blankets on their hugging forms.
She listened to his beating heart and Ivan played with her loose strands of golden hair. Like that, they fell asleep in the arms of the other.
TA-DA, amigos! This is what I call emotion depth, *viking screetch* YAAAS!
Mama was sick, but mama makes up for it and writes a long chapter with a surprising new title! Playing with Ivan's feelings towards Anita is quite fun, more pleasing than fun, really. We'll see how this turns out!
I've noticed how much off-track this is going from the story – like, Grand Bazaar's actual plot and heart events. Well, I'm afraid I won't stick much to the plot, since that would be pretty much plot-telling. Instead, I'll be doing some plot-twisting! It's way more pleasing for me, since, contrary to Tale of Two Towns, it lacks emotions between characters.
So, if the game doesn't have feelings for characters, mama will give them feelings! This ain't canon ville, so I'll be trying this toying for a while. I'll try to patch things with the actual game at some points, though, just so it remains a little bit loyal to the plot at some standards.
By the way, to tempest should definitely be a proper word in the dictionary. It totally exists now because I invented it, ITS CANON HERE.
Any general mistake will be corrected later. See you soon!
