Author's Note: I found myself really busy and didn't have time to update for over a week. Sorry! To make up for it, I'll be posting two chapters today and the next update should come Wednesday or Thursday.

Do you want to know the funny thing about that piece of advice Jackson had given me? I'd received advice like that before from two other mouths. None of that advice was exactly the same, but all of those pieces of advice were similar enough that I could apply them to the exact same situation. It seemed as if every bit of advice I'd received was telling me to come clean and confess my feelings to Akito.

You know, I truly did care for Jackson and I really had wanted to try to make things work with him. I hadn't been using him, either. I didn't give our relationship a shot to try to get over Akito. I'd tried to move forward with Jackson and to me there was a distinct difference. At the end of the day, though, I couldn't fight the fact that throughout everything that had happened with Jackson, one constant had remained whether I had acknowledged it or not: I was still in love with Akito.

Even though I'd been able to bury my feelings for Akito while I was in the city and date other guys without thinking about his topaz eyes, those feelings for him hadn't gone away. Not really. They'd still existed, even if I'd worked hard to suppress them. They'd been there all along even if I'd dug them a metaphorical grave with a metaphorical shovel and piled metaphorical dirt on top of them. Maybe I did need to tell him and get it over with. He was with Courtney, after all, and he was going to reject me for sure, but at least then maybe I'd be able to successfully move on. Maybe I'd feel as free as Jackson did. Maybe. . .

I'd always been afraid to tell him because when it came down to it, what if telling him ruined our friendship? I didn't want to ever lose my friendship with him, no matter what. I'd always assumed that if I told him then our friendship would be over the second he rejected me because things would get extremely awkward between us and I wouldn't have any idea how to deal with that. Jackson, though. . .Jackson had proved to me that this wasn't necessarily the case. Our bond was still there. Our friendship had survived and given time, we'd be right back on track. Could it be like that for Akito and me? Could I be as strong as Jackson was being? Could I?

"Violet, have you heard a single word I've said?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and focused on Marissa. It was day three of her visit and today we were visiting Konohana. We'd just left the tea house where we'd been hanging out with Willow before Zhen showed up and caught her attention. It had done me good to have something hot to drink considering how much it was costing me to walk around in the cold weather with Marissa. Maybe I really should consider hibernating until spring. "I'm sorry, Marissa. What did you say?"

She sighed and shook her head as if she didn't know what she was going to do with me since I was being so spacey. "I was talking about how you were right yet again. Konohana is such a beautiful place! It's so different from Bluebell, but it's no less picturesque."

"You should see it in spring when the cherry blossoms bloom. There's a festival to celebrate and watch them, too. It's a beautiful sight."

"Maybe I'll come back then," she mused, more to herself than to me. Now that Marissa had seen the two towns in person, I had a feeling that she would definitely be back. This made me happy.

Before we even made it into Konohana properly, I had taken Marissa over to the farm to introduce her to Cheryl, Phillip, all of their older children, and of course, baby Violet. It had been love at first sight for Marissa, of course. After we left the farm, she declared that she now had baby fever and she would have to get gym guy or somebody else to put a ring on her finger soon so she could have one of her own. I'd stumbled and almost ended up with my face in the snow.

When I stopped by the clinic to give Hiro his birthday gift, Makoto wasn't there. That was good for me because that meant I wouldn't have to introduce Marissa to him that day. I knew, for sure, that she'd have something obscene to say. That sure didn't stop her from pinching Hiro's cheeks, though, and telling him he had the sweet face of a cherub.

We had spotted Courtney briefly. As soon as she caught sight of Marissa, though, she'd turned and hurried in the opposite direction. Of course, it could have had something to do with the look that Marissa was sending her. It was a good thing Colby wasn't around to do that barking thing again because Marissa might have ended up stumbling and ending up with her face in the snow herself. I'd been working so hard to do better for Akito and be better for Akito, but that didn't apply to my female friends. All of them, even Keiko, had shown their dislike of Courtney on at least one occasion.

I appreciated that. I really did. I loved my friends dearly. It kept growing inside me, though, this feeling that ultimately I was going to end up having to fight my own battle. I'd been trying very hard not to engage Courtney because I didn't want to put Akito in an awkward position, but Courtney kept forcing my hand. That whole fish speech had very nearly been the last straw and I prayed to the Harvest Goddess for the patience to continue to deal with her.

"Oh!" Marissa exclaimed. "Oh! Violet. Violet. Violet!"

"What?" I asked, wondering why she'd thought saying my name three times had been necessary to get my attention. Then I remembered how I'd spaced out on her only a few minutes before so that answered my question for me.

"Is that who I think it is? Please tell me that's who I think it is! Come on, look! Look over there," she enthused as she pointed her bubblegum pink fingernail in the direction of the bridge. On that bridge, in the place that I had always thought of as our spot, was Akito.

Boom-clap.

"U-Uh, yeah. That's definitely him. Now that you've seen him in person, we can. . ."

"No, Violet, we cannot go. Not now. I haven't even had the chance to be properly introduced! Oh, see there? He's looking at us. It would be rude to just leave now anyway. Come on, we should go say hi!"

I groaned on the inside because Marissa meeting Jackson had been bad enough. I could only imagine what she was going to pull once she was within five feet of Akito. The funny thing was. . .as eager as Marissa had been to get over there and meet Akito, she trailed behind me kind of slowly and then sort of hung back at first.

"Fancy meeting you here, Vi," Akito said so warmly that I could barely feel the winter breeze.

"Oh, well you know. I was in the neighborhood, Ki. I tend to end up in the neighborhood from time to time and this was just one of those times."

He chuckled and I basked in the sound of it. I adored that sound and I loved being the reason for it. Akito suddenly got serious, though, as he stepped forward and put his hands on my shoulders. "How are you?"

I knew exactly what he was referring to. We hadn't seen each other since before my breakup with Jackson. And while I was sure nobody within my inner circle had blabbed to him about my massive food-fest and whatnot, Akito knew me well enough to know that I'd been put through the ringer.

"I'm fine, Ki." When he shot me a dubious look, I said "No, really, I am. Jack and I had a really good talk and I think it's all gonna be okay."

Akito pulled the new scarf I'd received from Nori earlier more snugly around me to better protect me from the cold. "Yeah, that's what he told me when I talked to him yesterday. I guess I just needed to hear it from you, too."

There was the distinct clearing of a throat from behind me and I suddenly remembered I had Marissa with me. "Oh, M, I'm so sorry! Hey, Ki, this is Marissa. She's the best friend I had in the city and she came all this way to visit me. Marissa, this is Akito."

"The Akito," she said as she stepped forward. "It is so wonderful to finally get to meet you!"

Akito, ever the gentleman, took Marissa's hand and placed a kiss on it. She swooned. Like. . .she literally swooned. "Likewise, Marissa. I've actually heard a lot about you from Violet. They were all good things, by the way."

Marissa beamed. "Believe me when I say I've heard a lot about you, too. A lot." That prompted me to elbow Marissa in the ribs because Akito did not need to know that. It did nothing to deter her. "I must say, all those pictures Violet has of you up on her bulletin board did not do you justice! You're even more handsome in person. Ruggedly handsome."

I could have sworn I saw the slightest hint of red on his cheeks before he looked over at me while he spoke to her. "She still has those pictures up there? I haven't been in her room to see those in a long time."

'Yeah, because back in the day my dad banned him from my room not long after he banned Jackson and any other guy who didn't have the last name of Drayton.'

Marissa ignored the warning look I shot her as she said "Well then, perhaps you should do something about that."

"Marissa," I hissed under my breath.

She didn't give Akito the chance to respond to that because she continued on. "I love that picture of you and Violet with your little goddaughter. That picture is precious!"

Akito's eyes lit up at her words. "I do, too. It's definitely my new favorite picture. I think I'll have my copy of it framed." His amber gaze swept over to me and we shared a proud godparent smile. "Baby Violet is something special."

"So is not-baby-Violet," Marissa said, indicating me.

"Okay, I think it's time for us to go now," I cut in then.

She had been kind of subdued by her standards when she'd met Jackson. I mean, she'd touched his dimple, but that was rather tame for Marissa. That was probably because she'd realized how serious it had been for us to see each other for the first time since our breakup. Therefore, she had reigned in her shenanigans. Marissa meeting Akito, however, was mortifying considering she was in top form at the moment. I tugged my hood down in the hopes of obscuring my face because I was sure it was red.

"Oh, before I forget, I had the pleasure of meeting Courtney when I first arrived in town."

Oh no. Oh. . .Oh no.

Akito's face looked a little pinched, a look that I'd seen on him quite often since some time in summer, but then he smiled. It looked forced to me and I had to fight the urge to frown.

"Did you? She didn't mention to me that she met you."

'I'm not surprised.'

"I encountered her having the strangest conversation with Violet. They were talking about. . ."

I leveled a look at Marissa from under my hood and once I had her attention, I looked meaningfully down at her shoes. Apparently she got the message, which was that I was going to stomp the dirty bottom of my boots all over the top of those expensive shoes if she didn't shut up, because she did shut up.

"Girl stuff. It's nothing you need to worry about," I told him as I tried not to cringe at that lie. I wasn't just omitting this time. "Anyway, I think it's time for Marissa and me to go."

Marissa didn't look apologetic in the least, but she did look like she was going to cooperate. "You're right. We have some things we need to do back in Bluebell. It really was good to meet you, though, Akito."

Akito, looking like he was having trouble making heads or tails of the entire conversation that just occurred, took Marissa's hand again and gave it another kiss. She swooned some more. "It was nice meeting you, too, Marissa."

"Time to go now. Come on, Marissa," I insisted as I gently prodded her in the other direction. "Bye, Ki."

"See you, Vi."

I didn't dare look back at him. I didn't dare.

"Are you insane?!" I tried not to yell at Marissa when we were far enough away that Akito couldn't hear us.

"What?" she asked. "I was just being friendly. Meeting Akito. Having a little chit-chat."

"Marissa."

"Does he wear plaid a lot? I bet he does. He looks like he'd be the type to wear plaid a lot. Does he ever chop wood? He looks like the rugged lumberjack type. If he doesn't ever chop wood then he definitely should."

"Marissa."

"Has he ever considered letting his facial hair grow? I mean, I bet that man would look fantastic with a beard while he's wearing plaid and chopping wood."

"No. Facial hair is not Akito's thing!" I said insistently, remembering when Courtney had convinced him to start growing a beard. I hadn't liked it. More importantly, Akito hadn't liked it. And now, thankfully, it was gone.

"Hmm. I see that you feel very strongly on that subject. Oh! One more thing, Vi. He smells divine! It's like he's a genie and instead of living in a lamp he lives in a bottle of laundry detergent."

I stopped talking to her then. I was done with the conversation and saw no point in talking because anything I said, and I do mean anything, would just encourage her more. Eventually she fell silent, but when we were in the tunnel she opened up her mouth again. "You guys have a connection."

I had to grab onto the wall to stop myself from hitting the ground since her comment tripped me up. "W-What?" I looked around and made sure I didn't see anybody nearby to hear her current line of craziness.

"You guys have a connection! Oh, Violet, it's totally there. I thought so when I saw the way he looked at you in all those pictures on your board, but I definitely know it exists now!"

"Marissa," I commented with a certain level of exasperation that I was trying not to have. "We've known each other our entire lives. Of course we have a connection."

Marissa stomped behind me with the steps of a war general. I expected for her to make some other inane comment but instead all she said was "Mmm-hmmmm."

And she dragged it out like there was something she knew that I didn't and I knew she was expecting me to take some kind of bait. When I didn't rise to the occasion she sighed kind of dramatically, but kept silent otherwise. I wasn't obtuse. I knew exactly what she was trying to imply, but unlike her I knew better. The only thing between me and Akito was our life-long friendship and the unrequited love I'd been hiding for over a decade.

Later on, when Marissa had finally calmed her little self down after the excitement of meeting Akito, she sat in front of my dresser and played with her hair. She decided to use the pair of chopsticks she'd brought from the tea house to pile her hair into some kind of cool little up-do. It reminded me of how Keiko had used chopsticks for her hairdo at her birthday party. When I stared at the chopsticks with a quirked eyebrow she told me "What? You guys don't have snow globes so I had to get some kind of keepsake from Konohana. Ying told me I could have them for free."

"Well, what about Bluebell? Are you getting a keepsake from here as well?"

At that moment, my father opened the door and poked his head in. "It's time to eat," he told us simply.

"Hey, Mr. Drayton," Marissa said with a voice as smooth as silk. "Will you please wait a moment?"

I tried not to groan. I failed.

Dad liked Marissa, sure. He just wasn't particularly comfortable around Marissa due to her crush, and it showed. Mom thought it was hilarious. He stood there quietly with one hand in his pocket and the other rubbing the back of his head. "Did you need something?"

There were all sorts of things I just knew Marissa was thinking about saying in her head. Most of those things, I knew, would make both dad and I absolutely beside ourselves. Instead, she said "I know you make perfume at your shop. If I stop by will you make a bottle for me?"

My father blinked. I blinked. Both of us let out a little sigh of relief. He started to feel more comfortable and put both of his hands in his pockets before giving us a brief smile. "Sure. Come by and I'll come up with something."

Marissa turned and looked at me. "Violet, you have, like. . .the cutest dad ever! I'm serious, look at that smile. Aaah, look at it!" she told me while she pointed at him. "And he's wearing those reading glasses again. It's too much. I just can't." She dramatically turned her head away as if he was so radiant that she couldn't look upon him even one more moment.

Dad stood there opening and closing his mouth a few times with no idea what to say. Ultimately, he opened up the door and made a swift exit. I had the distinct feeling that dinner was going to be an awkward affair tonight.

"Marissa!" I exclaimed as I threw one of my pillows at her. It hit her shoulder and bounced off before landing on the floor. "I can't believe you."

"What?" she asked with that doe-eyed Bambi look. She was feigning innocence.

There truly was never a dull moment when it came to Marissa. She stayed with us for a total of six days before it was finally time for her to go back to the city. Even if at least half of the things that came out of Marissa's mouth ran my blood pressure up and made me want to do a facepalm, I loved that about her. I was going to miss her.

"Right," Marissa said as she took Willow's hands in hers and gave her a bolstering look. "Girl, you know what you want. I say that you put the pressure on him. Oh! Better yet, give him an ultimatum. You tell him that either he mans up and gets with the program, or you're going to leave him high and dry. If he's got it as bad for you as you think he does, then he won't be able to live without you and he will be eating out the palm of your hand."

"You make it sound so simple," Willow said thoughtfully.

"Oh, believe me, it is."

It was funny how when Courtney came to town, Willow had been worried that she would turn Zhen's head, yet somebody as dynamic as Marissa hadn't even made her feel threatened. On the contrary, she'd taken Marissa to meet Zhen herself. That was truly a testament to how quickly and easily Marissa had slipped right on in and integrated into the group and earned everybody's trust. It warmed my heart. Once again, squad goals.

Marissa then turned to Keiko and gave her a hug. "I'm positive you're going to be a beautiful bride," she enthused.

"Remember that you are more than welcome if you have the opportunity to make it back for the wedding," Keiko reminded her as they both smiled.

I doubted that Marissa would be able to make it back at all later on in the season. We'd be seeing her again for sure, though, and probably sooner rather than later.

Colby gave Marissa a hug, and for some reason I was pleased to see that Colby didn't hug her as tightly as she tended to hug me. I guess at the end of the day, I really was selfish enough to not want Colby to like any friend as much as she liked me. I was also pretty sure she would have broken poor Marissa if she'd squeezed her that tightly, anyway.

"You be sure to keep an eye on that Courtney for the both of us, alright?" Marissa told Colby.

"Don't you worry about that," Colby assured her with a firm nod. "I've got that situation covered."

Marissa had already said her goodbyes to my family. On top of embarrassing my father and amusing my mother greatly, she'd also went about teasing Oliver and his face ended up about as red as a tomato. I was pretty sure any teasing Oliver did still get here and there from me was going to be tame in comparison. Like. . .he'd be thanking his lucky stars I'm the one picking at him from now on.

The girls left and Marissa and I climbed up onto the wagon. Well, Marissa needed a little help getting up there, but she ultimately got up there. Her bag was in the back and I was driving her to the mountain road that led back to the city. Apparently she had made arrangements with a taxi service to meet her at a particular spot on that particular day at a particular time.

When we got there, I found it kind of funny as I grabbed her bag and hauled it toward the open trunk of the taxi. I even started laughing.

Marissa put her hands on her hips and asked "What has you so amused?"

I motioned between her, the bag, and the taxi. The driver took the bag and put it inside as I took a step back. It didn't escape my notice that the driver had a harder time picking up the bag than I had. "You know, this. The whole bag and taxi and leaving thing. Last time it was you helping me leave the city. This time it's me helping you go back to the city. It's like deja vu, only not."

"We have to be leaving soon, ma'am," the driver told Marissa as he tapped his watch.

"Okay," she told him before she turned to me. "Get over here, you."

I went over to her and got in one last hug. She smelled like the perfume she'd had my dad make her. She smelled like Bluebell now, in a way. It seemed she was taking a sliver of my hometown back with her to the city.

"I'm going to miss you, M. Be sure to come back, you hear?" I told her as we both took a step back.

Marissa arched one impeccably groomed eyebrow at that. "Oh, I'll be back, Violet. You can count on that. After all, your father. . ." She got that dreamy look on her face again, but quickly laughed before I could say anything. "Alright, alright. Sorry. Anyway, you know I'll be back. I mean, I don't think you're crazy for coming back here anymore. I understand now. I guess I just needed to see all of this for myself to finally really know what you were talking about. Really, though, I get it now."

With a sigh, I said "I really am bummed that you won't be able to attend the Snow Festival, though. The festivals around these parts really are great."

"Don't worry. I'm sure I'll be around for a festival eventually. As for the Snow Festival, try not to freeze your little cold weather-hating self half to death, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed.

"One more time before I hit the road?" she threw out there as she opened up her arms.

"Oh, why not?" I said as I went in for another hug. After a minute I said "Now get outta here before I change my mind and drag you back to the farm."

No more words were spoken between us. Marissa climbed into the taxi. The driver tipped his hat at me. Marissa pressed her face to the glass, then remembered the taxi germs and made an icky little face. Then she waved at me enthusiastically as the taxi started pulling away. I waved back and I stood there until they disappeared from sight, completely disregarding the cold snow that started to fall around me.