Chapter 3

After the overnight the girls had in Lucy's apartment, Layla surprisingly came to the blonde's home. The surprise visit had made Lucy confused to what was happening so the young Heartfilia starts to ask questions about the surprise visit. Layla admits that she came to Magnolia for a business meeting but more than to it, she tells her daughter that she and Jude have been watching her back from afar. With that, she discovers that her only daughter has finally announced that she was engaged despite knowing that she was not in any kind of relationship.

Stunned to all the word her mother has been saying to her, she couldn't bring herself back to reality and do a right thing. Before Mira left, she decided to tell the truth regarding the rumor to the whole media before her parents even knew about it. But to her surprise, she couldn't believe that her mother is here in Magnolia all the way from Acalypha to know if the news was true. And instead of telling her mother it was not, she started going with the flow by just answering questions that her mother asked. Layla started asking about the ring and meeting her fiancé. All of these were absent to Lucy's life, so when Layla started asking for proof about the engagement, Lucy couldn't continue lying so she just dodged every question. But of course, Layla never gives up, so she just told her daughter that she would be expecting Lucy to introduce the man to her within the week. So when the older blonde left, Lucy couldn't help herself but to drop to the floor and sulk about what to do.

Now, sitting at the foot of her door, Lucy starts to sob like a little kid. She has been whining about finding a ring and a fiancé to show her mother. "Ah! Where do I find an engagement ring?!"

"I'm not even engaged! I fucking don't even have a boyfriend!" Lucy starts to cry out loud again as she scrambles in her spot. "What am I going to do?!"

"I hate you Media! Why did you even have to believe me!" Lucy adds as she shouts to no one in particular, "Don't you even know what sarcasm is?! You are fucking stupid! AHHHH!" Getting tired of shouting, Lucy just left herself to cry in her spot. When she couldn't contain her irritation, she felt like shouting again so she cleared her throat and readied herself to rant again. But before she could do so, her phone rings out loud.

Ring Ring

"Ah! Who the fuck is this! Doesn't this person know I'm having my moment?!" Lucy shouts as she stands from the door to look for her cellphone that is blowing off. When she finds her phone placed in the dining table, she quickly snatches it and slides her phone to answer the call.

"HELLO!" Lucy shouts madly as she places the phone to her ear

"Woah, who's your enemy?!" A masculine voice shouted back in surprise with the way Lucy answered the call

"Who the hell are you?!" Lucy angrily asks who was on the other side of the call, "It's Natsu! Who do I have to beat up?! Tell me"

Once the person at the phone said his name, Lucy suddenly relaxes and breathes out exhaustedly. she clears her throat to tone down her voice and tries to speak calmly. Hearing his sentence, Lucy couldn't help but to smile to herself knowing that Natsu would indeed beat up anybody when someone hurts her.

"No one…" Lucy replies now more calm as she walks towards a chair and slumps herself to it as she felt tired. "Then why are you crying?!" Natsu continues to sound pissed as he tries to know who made his best friend cry, "Whoever made you cry will get a piece of my fist"

"Natsu," Lucy says his name in a scolding tone making the man at the other side of the line to calm down, knowing that Lucy could be scary when she gets mad. "Alright fine. Do you want me to come over?" Natsu offers, making Lucy smile once again, somehow forgetting about her problem. Hearing the background in Natsu's side, Lucy started to raise her brow as she asks, "Are you fixing your stuff?"

"No, I'm looking for my wallet and keys. I'm coming over-"

"No!" Lucy quickly cuts off the man, making the man at the other side of the call to sound confused, "Why not?"

"Because!" Lucy beginning to panic once again as she tries to think of an excuse for him not to come, "I'm just about to leave, so no need. You won't be able to see me here."

"Fine…" Natsu replies dejectedly

"Alright, um, I'm going to end the call now…" Lucy slowly pulls the phone away from her ear when suddenly shouts, "Wait!" Putting back the phone close to her ear, she asks him what the matter was so Natsu continues himself, "I called because I wanted an update"

"Update? About what?" Lucy's eyes widen again as she suspected that Natsu was talking about the news, "About the ring…"

"Ring? What ring?" Lucy is then caught off guard, expecting a different answer, "You know the ring…the one I made you keep for me yesterday?"

Bulging her eyes as she recalls about the small red velvet box, Lucy slowly smiles. In a snap, Lucy runs to her room as she scrambles her things in her makeup table. There she began to rampage her things to find the box and there she finds the precious ring Natsu has been asking, "Hey you alright there? I hear you messing some things…"

Stunned to see the small box, Lucy forgot to answer quickly when Natsu started asking if she was fine. Hearing him call her name, Lucy snaps out of her trance and answers, "…Yeah, yeah, I'm good." Slowly taking her seat, she runs her fingers to the box before she opens the box gently. "So, is the ring safe?"

"Of course it's safe! I'm not like you who is messy!" Lucy then snaps at the man before returning her attention to the unseen ring, "Look who's talking! I just heard you messing your things up!"

"Shut up!" Lucy retorts back as she blushes, knowing it was true. The blonde's flushness suddenly disappears when she finally opens the box and a beautiful pink sapphire surrounded by diamonds was in view.

"The ring is really beautiful…" Lucy comments making Natsu shut up after annoying the blonde, which the blonde didn't notice. "It is beautiful. Grandma gave that to me, she wants me to give it to the girl I would be marrying."

"Marrying? Is this an…"

"Engagement ring? Yeah, it is…Why?" Natsu continues for the blonde hearing that the girl has trailed off, "Hello?" Natsu calls out after hearing no response.

"Hey, you know what! I'm keeping this ring in a really secret place. It looks too expensive to be sitting next to my jewelry box. I'm hiding this, even you, you won't be able to find it. I better go! Bye!" Lucy then ends the call without waiting for Natsu to answer back.

The reason why Lucy ended the call quickly is because she has slipped the ring to her ring finger. The moment Natsu tells her that the ring was an engagement ring, an imaginary bulb lights up next her head as she realizes she has found her first solution to one of her problems, the ring her mother was searching in her hand. Now, she'll just borrow the ring whenever her mother would ask for the engagement ring. "I'm just borrowing this Natsu...I'm keeping it safe as well…" Lucy then lifts her left-hand side to side as she admires the ring resting on her finger.

As Lucy continues to admire in awe at the ring, her phone suddenly buzzes making her snap out of her daydream. Thinking that it could be Natsu, she joyously opens the message. But then she suddenly freezes in her spot when she read the message. It was a message from her mother about how excited she was to meet her daughter's fiancé within the week. Her mother reminder that she would be waiting for the schedule of the meetup and this reminder has made Lucy's brain go haywire.

Instantly Lucy started to panic again as she stood up from her chair. Pacing in her room, she starts to mumble in worry, "Oh my goodness, what am I gonna do? Mom is freaking serious about meeting my fiancé!" Lucy then turns as she continues her mumbling, "I freaking don't have a fiancé!"

"What am I gonna do?" Lucy then stops for a moment to ponder but then she continues her pacing, "She'll be mad if she discovers that this is a lie!"

"I don't have a solution for this…Who would be the best people to seek help?" She ends her pacing with the question to herself when suddenly she sees a picture of her girl-friends in front of her. "Of course!" Lucy then runs up to her makeup table and snatches her phone. She began to type in the messaging app, pressing all caps button, COFFEE SHOP NOW! URGENT!

After sending the message to all of her girlfriends, Lucy quickly runs to her closet and took out some of her casual clothes. She pulled out her white v-neck and quickly slipping it on to her slim body. Running inside in her walk-in closet, she grabs her blue ripped jeans and wore it quickly. As she tries to button her pants, her phone buzzes, seeing that her friends affirmed that they would be heading out soon. Knowing that she'll be the last person again to arrive in the coffee shop, she quickly runs back to her shoe racks and took her white keds shoes. And without makeup, she left the apartment, slipping her phone, keys of her apartment to her brown sling bag.

Unknown to Lucy, a few paparazzi has been hiding behind some bushes waiting for the blonde to come out and have a new scope about the young Heartfilia. Being clueless to this thought, the bright light that hits Lucy's eyes, she just thought it was just some glaring sun. So Lucy protects her eyes as she occasionally sees the bright light. The moment she reaches her car, she sped off towards their meeting place.


After a 15 minute drive, Lucy steps down from her car and walks straight inside the Cristiana's Café. Looking around, Lucy quickly spots her blue, red and white haired friends. So without waiting, she walks towards them and greeted them. "Hey, guys! Thanks for coming despite the short notice" Lucy said as she cheek to cheek greets the girls.

"It's fine! You seemed tense when we left, so I guess you need an extension of girl's night!" Levy cheers as she watches the blonde take the empty chair.

All the girls started to laugh at Levy's comment. It should have been funny for everyone, but Lucy herself was not even in the slightest mood to laugh it out. So, as they slow down their laughter, Juvia clears her throat to start acting seriously. "Lucy-chan, what is this urgency meeting all about?"

Lucy suddenly exhaling deeply, the girls couldn't doubt that their blonde friend has encountered another trouble.

"Well, my mom is in town," Lucy said seriously as she eyes her friends who just gave a curious look. For the girls, it didn't sound ridiculous because, it was ordinary for their parents to visit them especially if they are working far from them. "Uh, how is that an urgency Lucy?" Erza asks as she tries to understand the real problem.

"Girls! my mom is in Magnolia! this is bad!" Lucy exclaims, still making no sense to her friends. Levy shakes her head in confusion, "Lu-chan, I know you're not quite comfortable that your parents give you a surprise visit. But it's not that bad to have them, right?"

"Yes, Levy-chan it's fine for me to have them here. But right now, no!" Lucy slumps back to her seat as she crosses her arms under her busty chest.

"What is wrong with now?" Lissana asks as she leans to the table to catch the attention of the blonde, which she successfully did.

"Did you forget that there is a rumor running around about me being engaged?" Lucy states as she lets some annoyance slip her tongue. "Right, what about it Lucy?" Erza this time asks

"Well, mom is here because of that because she heard the news!" Lucy then hides in her palms as she squealed in annoyance because she didn't know what to do.

"What?!" All the girls bulge their eyes in astonishment. Now the girls were getting the point of the urgent meeting. Each one of them looks at Lucy who was silently ranting in frustration.

"my oh my..." Mira says to herself as she crosses her arms feeling bad for her friend. "How did this happen? I left you house late..."

Lucy then looks up at her friend before she leans forward to get close to Mira. "Yeah you did...but after 10 minutes, someone rang my doorbell. I even thought it was you but when I opened my door, it was Mom. She said she had a business meeting in Magnolia. She voluntarily took the job because she saw in the TV about the news about me stating I am engaged."

"I thought they're busy?" Juvia asks as she leans to the table as well

"I thought too...but surprisingly, my parents are paying more attention to me than I thought."

"So that means, Auntie Layla is here in Magnolia because she believes that there would be a wedding to be planned?" Levy asks as she tries to clarify all the facts they have heard. Lucy then nods in response as all the girls exhaled tiredly.

"So what did you do when she said that?" Levy continues to question. The blonde then leans back to her chair as she began to play with the loose strands of her pants.

"I wasn't thinking straight, I just kept on avoiding her questions..." Lucy continues fiddled with he pants before giving a quick glance at her friends. "She asked me about who was my fiance, where was my engagement ring, when will she meet him..."

"And the reason for you to avoid is because you have no answers to give at all..." Levy finally getting the issue. "Then why didn't you just tell the truth?" Lissana asks making the blonde look up.

"I have thought of that, but I just don't know why I didn't do it. I had a lot of chances to, but I just went with the flow."

Seeing how Lucy is scraping her palms in guilt, Erza suddenly grasps the hands of Lucy. It surprised her because she never thought that her friends would understand her. Lucy knows to herself that what she did was wrong. One by one, the girls presses their hand on top of the others before giving it a little squeeze.

As Mira catches the attention of the teary-eyed friend, she smiled genuinely."Well, it's not too late for you to tell the truth. It's better now than never..."

"But I'm scared. What if mom gets mad, what if she'll be disappointed?"

"Well, expect the worst and do the right thing..."

Lucy knows that the right thing to do is tell her mom the truth. She didn't want to fool her mom anymore with the lies that have been running around. She may be scared to tell her the truth because of the disappointment she'll cause her mom, but she knows she deserves it.

Glancing at her friends, Lucy pulls off a determined look and nods to her friends. "Alright, I'll do it. I'll tell her the truth before the lie gets worst."

Everyone was happy to hear Lucy determined to be honest to her parents. It may be hard for the blonde, but they know that they will always be there for their friend.

As they finish their drinks and continue to talk to one another, Lissana suddenly receives a notification. It was a message from her dear friend Cana, who was currently in a different country.

As Lissana opens the message, she was stunned to see a picture attached to the message.

"Girls..." Lissana calls as she keeps on scrolling in her Ipad, "you've got to see this..." Lissana then lifts her gadget and made it face them. Each one of them squinted as they try to see the photo enlarged.

"Lucy-chan, isn't that you?" Juvia finally notices something odd, "coming out of your house?"

Lucy then grabs the gadget as she zooms out and realizes it was indeed her, wearing the same clothes she was wearing now. "Yeah, it's me...today..."

"Read the caption," Lissana said as she leans up and scrolls the screen for her friends. As it reaches the top, she read it aloud, "Lucy Heartfilia flaunting her engagement ring"

"Engagement ring?!" All the girls exclaimed before Levy zooms in the photo once more, "Where is the ring?"

As soon as Levy pinches in the photo, Erza quickly points at the ring sitting in the blonde's left ring finger. "There!"

"Oh my, it's gorgeous..." Mira comments aloud as they all gazed at the photo of the ring. Snapping out of the daze, Erza quickly looks at the frozen blonde. "Lucy, how did you get a ring like that? or is that photoshopped?"

"Oh my goodness..." Lucy said as she slowly backs away from her huddled friends

"Lucy, may we see your hand..." Mira asked, but the blonde was too flummoxed to do so. Juvia, sitting on the left side of Lucy, was the one instead to lift the left hand of Lucy and placed it on top of the table. And there, they all gazed at the stunning engagement ring, sitting in the ring finger of the blonde.

As they all gazed in awe, Erza was finally able to answer her own question, "It's not photoshopped..."

To be continued...