"It's nice to meet you again Echizen-san," said Sakuno, as she bowed.
"My goodness…I thought I wouldn't see you again. It's nice to see that you're safe and sound," said Nanjiro.
"Father…" said Ryoma.
"By the way, you weren't here for the engagement party and it made me worried so much. Where have you gone to?" asked Nanjiro.
"I'm sorry for not being there. I had many troubling consequences that time. Please forgive me for not being there," said Sakuno.
"No worries. We can have another engagement party some other day," said Nanjiro.
"Who do we have here?" questioned a woman.
"This is my mother, Rinko, Sakuno. Mother… this is Sakuno Ryuzaki," said Ryoma.
"It's nice to meet you Sakuno. I've heard about the false engagement with you and Ryoma. I was pretty upset to hear that," said Rinko.
"Rinko…" said Nanjiro.
"It's true. I don't like people who are like that. That's why I prefer Kurami to be the future wife for Ryoma," detested Rinko.
"Mother…" said Ryoma.
"Rinko… you've gone too far. By all means, I don't like that girl. She's a very bad influence. I don't like her parents at all. We're enemies," said Nanjiro.
"No matter what mother… I will love and I will marry Sakuno," said Ryoma, as he took Sakuno and walked away.
"Did he just took that stupid girl?" raged Kurami, as she just made it to them.
"Don't worry… I'll make sure Ryoma will marry you," said Rinko, as she was on Kurami's side.
"I will not accept. End of line!" yelled Nanjiro, as he left with his men.
"Calm down people. Let the two be," said Kintaro as he went and to get some drinks and talk to other people.
"To hell with that. Ryoma belongs with me," said Kurami glaring at Kintaro's back.
"That's right," chuckled Rinko, with a smile.
Ryoma took Sakuno outside of the house area. They both stood quietly.
"Your mother doesn't like me… but you're father does," said Sakuno sadly, looking down.
"Don't worry. I'll do my best to protect you from my mother. My mother is like what your mother was before. She seemed different from what I know. So don't stress about it too much. I'll try my best for the two of us," said Ryoma.
"*sigh* I actually accepted the challenge with Kurami. I'm such an idiot," said Sakuno.
"Don't worry. I have faith in you," said Ryoma, as he hugged Sakuno.
"Getting along now?" questioned Hisashi.
"What do you want?" asked Ryoma.
"Nothing. I just came by to see how Tsuta's daughter was doing now. It's been a while I haven't seen her. Now, look at her. A grown young lady who is beautiful," said Hisashi.
"Okay…and what's your point?" asked Ryoma.
"Just let me know when you want your engagement or marriage," said Hisashi, as he left.
"Marriage… I'm not ready for that yet," said Sakuno blushing.
"But you'll be a good house wife, right?" said Ryoma, as he was teasing Sakuno.
"Stop playing around," giggled Sakuno.
The two lovers now started their love story. However, Kurami is still up to challeng with Sakuno. No way she's going to give up Ryoma that easily. She will do whatever it takes. Same goes for Sakuno because she now loved Ryoma. After hours has gone by, the welcoming party was now over. It was late, and it got cold. Mostly everyone went home. Sakuno was getting tired also. She hugged and said good-bye to Ryoma before she left with Kintaro, Tomoka, and Horio. Ryoma now know that he wanted to be with for the rest of his life.
The sun rose up, and Tomoka tried to wake Sakuno up. She told Sakuno that her mother was waiting for her outside With widen eyes, Sakuno quickly changed and went out the door. Her mother waiting by the car.
"Mother? What brings you here?" asked Sakuno.
"I'd figure it's time to take you home," said her mother.
"Home…?" murmured Sakuno.
"What's wrong? Do you not like to go back home with me?" asked her mother.
"It's not that… it's just that I would never imagine you say that to me," cried Sakuno, as her tears started to come out.
"I would always take what's precious to me back home… and that's you Sakuno," said her mother.
So then, Sakuno went back inside and packed up her things into her suitcase. She came back out, and before Sakuno left she hugged and thanked Tomoka along with her mother. Tomoka hugged Sakuno tightly, like always because she was very close to Sakuno since their childhood. Sakuno got into the car and then her mother drover away, back towards their house. When they got there, Sakuno saw Ryoma leaning on his car. Her mother parked the car on the parking lot, and Sakuno quickly got out and hugged Ryoma.
"What are you doing here?" asked Sakuno.
"It's my day off, so I wanted to spend time with you today," said Ryoma.
"You can go Sakuno. Be sure to get home safely," said her mother, as she took Sakuno's suitcase.
"Thanks you mother. I'll be back later," said Sakuno.
Sakuno got into the car, and then Ryoma started the car and drove off. They both were silent for awhile. Both of them not knowing what to say, but then Ryoma mumbled.
"Where do you want to go?" asked Ryoma.
"Anywhere is fine with me," said Sakuno.
"How about the mall?" asked Ryoma.
"Sure…the mall sounds nice," replied Sakuno.
After a while, like 20 minutes or so, they got to the mall. Ryoma parked the car, and they both got out of the car and started walking to the entrance.
"It's been a while I haven't been here," said Sakuno.
"Well, now you are," said Ryoma, as he held onto Sakuno's hand.
They entered the mall and Sakuno notice a big change. There were new stores, and mostly everything was on sale. Christmas was around the corner.
"Let's go to the clothes stores, and then in a while we'll have lunch," said Ryoma.
"Okay," agreed Sakuno.
The both of them went into the clothing store that sold beautiful dresses of every sort. Sakuno was having so much fun while changing into different dresses and modeling in front of Ryoma. Ryoma was enjoying the modeling show, and he laughed and smiled with so much joy. Then Sakuno tried on a one strap red dress with a white bow that was tied in the front. Ryoma told Sakuno that his family was doing a Christmas feast at his house, so he offered to buy it for her. It also matched Sakuno well.
"It's ok. You don't have to buy it for me," said Sakuno.
"It's okay. If it's for you," said Ryoma.
Ryoma called over the assistant, and they told him that they had a few in stock. So then, he told the assistant that he was going to take it. Sakuno was going to tell Ryoma to not buy it, but then she saw that the assistant had already scanned the price of the dress. So then, Sakuno went back into the changing room to change back into her normal clothes. When she came back out, she saw that Ryoma had already paid the cashier. It was $199.00 plus tax. She didn't know how to thank Ryoma. So then they both left the store.
"Here you go. It's for you," said Ryoma, as he handed the bag to Sakuno.
"Masaru…I don't know how to thank you…" said Sakuno.
"You don't need to thank me. As long as I have you," said Ryoma, as he took Sakuno's hand and gave it to her.
"Thank you…I really mean I." Sakuno sighed then continued, "No one has ever bought me such a thing."
"Don't worry about it. Shall we go have lunch?" asked Ryoma.
Sakuno nodded her head. So then, they both walked towards the food restaurant that was nearby them. They ordered two cheeseburgers, along with a soda to share. While they were waiting for their order, Kurami and a guy came right next to them. Kurami turned her head and saw that it was Ryoma.
"Kyaa! It's my Ryoma," said Kurami, as she started clinging onto Ryoma's arm.
"Get off of me!" yelled Ryoma, as he shoved Kurami away.
"What are you doing here you little brat?" yelled Kurami, as she referred to Sakuno.
"You know these people?" asked the guy next to Kurami.
"Ryoma is my boyfriend," said Kurami, as she pointed out Masaru.
"I see…" said the guy.
"Are you Kurami's boyfriend?" asked Ryoma.
"Just a close friend of course," replied the guy.
"We'll be leaving," said Ryoma, as he got their meal and left with Sakuno.
"I'm still not going to lose to you little girl!" yelled Kurami.
"She's cute…," said the guy.
"You like her? If you do, I have something I want you to do for me," chuckled Kurami.
"I like her…" said the guy, with a smile.
Sakuno and Ryoma was walking and eating their meal. They also shared their drink, like how couples would always do. The people around them were always staring at them because they knew very well who Ryoma was. A rich boy with a high standard background.
"I kind of feel uncomfortable. People are always staring," said Sakuno.
"Don't worry. You'll get use to it," said Ryoma.
"Sakuno-chan!" yelled Tomoka, as she was running towards them, along with Horio.
"Tomoka…what brings you here?" asked Kazue."And what's with the chan?"
"Horio was going to go shopping here and he feels lonely so he invited me," replied Tomoka. "And I feel like calling you chan."
"I see…" said Sakuno.
"Shopping here…" murmured Ryoma.
"Well…your family is going to have the Christmas party, aren't they? So I need a new outfit," said Tomoka.
"So then… Horio-kun is your date?" asked Sakuno.
"No way!" yelled Horio and Tomoka.
"You both would make a cute couple," said Ryoma.
"How rude?" raged Tomoka.
"So… you like someone else?" asked Sakuno.
"My prince remember?" replied Tomoka.
"Prince?" questioned Ryoma and Horio.
"Tomoka used to have this huge crush on this guy and mmmghhh—" muttered Sakuno, as she was being blocked by Tomoka.
"My prince has nothing to do with you guys. So don't worry," said Tomoka, as she let go of Sakuno.
"Prince…," muttered Horio.
"Hopefully you'll get to meet him," said Ryoma.
"Yeah…" said Tomoka.
"How's An and Momoko doing now? I haven't been able to get in touch with them lately," said Sakuno.
"They're both doing great. They told me to keep your relationship up and to not lose to Kurami." Tomoka replied.
"We're going to get going," said Horio, as he interrupted them and left.
"I'll see you another time Sakuno so bye," said Tomoka, as she left to go after Horio.
Sakuno and Ryoma waved at then until they both , Horio and Tomoka were also window shopping. Then Horio stopped and sat at the bench. Tomoka followed and sat.
"Do you mind if I ask who your prince was?" asked Horio.
Tomoka was shock to hear that coming from Horio. However, she knew that Horio was interested into her prince that she's been carrying in her heart the whole time.
"My prince…he's the same grade as Sakuno and I at our school two years ago. He was very popular among the guys. Girls adore him so much that they would even write love letter and stick it into his locker. He was very handsome from the way I would describe. Until he moved, I didn't have the courage to ask him for his name. And now, I still think of him no matter what," explained Tomoka.
"That's very interesting…" said Horio, as he started to scoot closer to Tomoka.
"I had always wish that I was his girlfriend… but then even other prettier girls asked him out… he would only reject every single one of them. For someone as ugly as me, he wouldn't be interested in me," continued Tomoka, as she started to cry.
"So… where is he now?" asked Horio.
"I heard that he moved to Paris… but I'm pretty sure he's still over there with prettier girls." Tomoka replied.
"Was your prince known as the Smart Prince?" asked Horio.
"How…did you know that?" questioned Tomoka.
"Because… I am your Smart Prince," said Horio, as he grabbed Tomoka and kissed her.
To be continue…
