Chapter 12
The gentle morning sun seeps inside the room of Lucy, who was quietly waking up when the warmth of the day finally reaches her. Slowly sitting up on her bed, Lucy looked around her room then smiles to herself. As she glances around her room, she felt something she hasn't felt in days, the sense of serenity. With that building mood in her, she then stretches her arms over her head as she sighs in content, "Haaa…" she breathed out while dropping her arms back down to her lap, "I guess I woke up on the right side of the bed," she then smiles to herself once again before she joyfully pulls her blanket off her legs as she decides to stand from her bed.
Soon enough, Lucy starts her morning routine by going to the bathroom. She bathed and wrapped herself in her bathrobe after since she would be making herself a cup of coffee and a few toasts. With her feather-like steps, Lucy was undeniably in a good mood. All throughout her morning preparation, there hasn't been anything that made her irritated. And if she may think, she is loving this day for it is rare for her these days to feel great because of all the commotion she has made in her life.
Finally dressing up for work, Lucy slips onto her blue jeans while she began humming to some tune she has heard a few days ago. As she was about to wear her white sleeveless sheer top, her toaster suddenly rings, indicating that her bread was ready. So, just grabbing her top from the hanger, she left her room only wearing her jeans and black bra on.
As Lucy descends her stairs, Lucy was immediately startled when a voice suddenly spoke, "Have Gray been such an influence to you that you walk around your home half naked?"
"Kyaa!" Lucy screeches in between the question that came from a man's voice while she grabs the railings of her stairs. When she gained balance, she stood up straight and glared at the person. Seeing that it was her infamous best friend, grinning back at her, she didn't stop herself as she shouts in frustration, "How the heck did you get in here?!"
Natsu cringes at the loud voice of the blonde woman, who immediately descends the stairs after shouting at him. Stomping her feet as she walks towards him, Natsu slowly exposes his shoulder as he mentally prepared himself for the worst, especially whenever he surprises Lucy. As he waited for his shoulder to be slapped hard once she would stand before him, he was taken aback when nothing happened. So, slowly looking at the blonde next to him, Natsu curiously looked at the woman and asked, "Aren't you going to slap me or something?" he then studied the blonde-haired, annoyed woman, whose anger was directed towards him.
Natsu wanted to continuously ask his best friend why she hasn't slapped him after the unexpected visit he just did, but Lucy already sighs as she closes her eyes as if to calm herself. After the deep exhale of the woman, Natsu asked again and this time, Lucy was no longer looking annoyed.
"I don't want to ruin this day by getting mad," Lucy answers the persistent question of the pinkette. When Natsu couldn't exactly understand the meaning of Lucy's words, he began to ask again, "What's with this day, Luce?"
"Nothing much," Lucy replies, shrugging her shoulder
"Nothing? Then why are you being so nice to me?" Natsu then raises a brow at Lucy as he leans forward to the blonde, but then she steps backward as she points to herself
"Me? Not nice? Since when am I not nice to you?" Lucy confidently looks at the pinkette who just scratched his head as he thought of an instance but nothing came to his mind
"Never mind," Natsu suddenly injects as he shook his head, "I can't remember anything,"
"Ha!" Lucy excitedly points at the pinkette as she slowly chuckles in triumph. As she stands straight, she places her hands on her hips as she proudly spoke, "Told ya, I have always been nice to you," Lucy then taps the shoulder of the pinkette who slightly flinch, imagining that he would be hit by Lucy, "So, Natsu, you want some toast?"
"I took one already," Natsu replies, testing the patience of the blonde. When Lucy slowly turns to look at him, Natsu once again expected the worst, but then Lucy just smiled at him as she says, "No wonder I lost one piece of my toast," and with that Lucy turns to head inside her kitchen.
With the exit of the blonde, Natsu's eyes widen in surprise. He wasn't expecting that smile, rather he was expecting an outburst from her. So voicing out his wonder, he asked, "Luce, are you sick or something?"
"Huh? Why?" Lucy turns her head for a moment to glance at Natsu before returning her attention back to her mug, which is being filled with black coffee
"Well besides from walking around me, half naked, aren't you supposed to be pissed about me barging into your apartment?" Natsu replies as he rests his elbows on the counter and looked at the embarrassed look of the blonde.
Quickly wrapping her arms around her exposed chest, Lucy bashfully looked at Natsu. Trying to calm down her fast-beating heart, she tries to reason out, "I totally forgot I'm not wearing my blouse…" and with that, Lucy dashed to grab her white blouse placed over the counter next to Natsu, and immediately wears it. When she finished, she glared at the chuckling man before pointing a finger at him, "Don't you dare speak about this incident,"
Surrendering to her threat, Natsu raised his both hands while keeping his laughter down, "Okay, I promise…" he then slowly puts his hands down but still kept his smile on his face, "Coffee?" he offered and Lucy just rolled her eyes as she changes the topic
"So, why are you exactly at my apartment? Aren't you supposed to be on your way to work?"
"I was but then I crossed by your street and decided to change route," Natsu nonchalantly answers before he bring his mug to his lips
Turning around to face her best friend, Lucy raised her brow at him as she leans her body against the counter, "Your way to your office would not cross my street," Lucy comments and this caught Natsu red-handed
"…really?" Natsu pretentiously answers and this made Lucy chuckle. Shaking her head, Lucy just returned her attention to her meal before she tells the pinkette to get ready.
"I should be going soon, are you almost done with your food?" Lucy asked as she walks to her sink to start washing her mug. Not noticing that Natsu has stood up from his seat and was already behind her, placing the mug he used in the sink, he suddenly spoke, "I'm done actually," Lucy whipped around, startled as she didn't expect him to be behind her
"Woah, since when did you get here?" Lucy chuckling to herself after hearing what she said. Laughing along with his best friend, he just shrugs as he settles next to her, "Magic?" he said, then they laughed again.
Instead of answering back, Lucy handed Natsu a sponge for dishwashing, which Natsu raised and asked, "What is this for?"
"It's for cleaning the dishes," Lucy replies as she took a towel to dry her hand
"I know but why did you give it to me?" Natsu then stood up as if he was alarmed
"Obviously, you'll wash the dishes," Lucy then grinned as she walks away from the sink and heads towards the stairs. As she was taking her steps, Natsu asks again, "Is this my punishment?"
"May~be," Lucy chimes before disappearing inside her bedroom
Within a few minutes, Lucy was all set. She had her hair done, her light makeup and her things were in her hand already. As for Natsu, he was skimming through the latest issue of Fairy Tail Magazine, which featured the hottest band for the year. And if he was to comment, they were not that hot.
"Are you all settled?" Lucy asks as she descends the stairs while looking through her bag
"Yeah, like hours ago…" Natsu said not looking up from reading the magazine
"Are you saying I'm taking so long to prepare?" Lucy then halts in front of the man with her hands on her hips. As Natsu looks up, he had a smirk on his face as he denies Lucy's accusation, "I didn't say that…"
"Whatever," Lucy then walks away from Natsu while the man stood up and followed after
As they were walking the halls towards the entrance of the apartment, Lucy looked over her shoulder as she asks the man behind her, "Are you busy today?"
"Me?" Natsu points to himself, "Well besides from a meeting that I have missed already, no I'm not,"
"Great!" Lucy claps as she turns to look at Natsu with a smile on her face then frowns suddenly, "Well, it's not really that great that you missed your meeting and stuff-"
"Luce," Natsu cuts off as he grasps the shoulders of the blonde, who was unconsciously ranting, "you're ranting…" Natsu then grins at the blonde who widens her eyes in realization, "So why is it great that I'm not busy?"
"Oh…well…I was thinking…" Lucy then trails off before she bites her lower lip and asked, "Will you come with me today?"
"Uh…may I ask first, where are we going?" Natsu furrows his brows at the woman
"To your ancestral house," Lucy then smiled sweetly at the man who just continuously found her suspicious
"Is this still part of your fake engagement?"
"What? No!" Lucy exclaims before she throws fits of laughter while holding onto him
"Then why are we going there?" Natsu asks as he looks at the laughing blonde. When Lucy slowly calms down from her laughter, she stood up straight next to Natsu and answers, "Since Auntie Grandine and Uncle Igneel would be our first feature story for the next three months, I was thinking maybe we could find some old pictures and stuff, and a few back stories there,"
"Ahh, this is for your story," Natsu then nods as he places his hand on the small back of the blonde while gently pushing her to move forward as he opens the door for the blonde, "Well then let's go,"
"Really?!" Lucy childishly smiles and jumps in excitement as she watches Natsu nod in agreement. Soon, she wraps her arms around Natsu's as she descends the stairs along with the man, "Thank you!" She exclaims, Natsu then looks at her and replies, "No problem"
Layla Heartfilia, one of the influential women when it comes to the fashion industry. She was once the famous model for different designer brands until one day she made her own clothing line. Despite the gain of age, her beauty was still the same. Layla's beauty has been called 'timeless' for her looks when she was in her younger years were still the same, making her look like she never aged. She is a timid, sophisticated, and a gentle woman. She is loved by all not just by her friends and loved ones but even ordinary people because of her kind-heartedness.
"Ms. Layla, can I have a photo with you?" a woman working from Fairy Tail magazine asks permission to the beautiful blonde while walking the lobby of the building along with her
"Of course," Layla replies, then stops her pace as she took a photo with the woman. After that picture, the bodyguard of Layla gently sets the fan aside to let the blonde beauty continue her walk, heading the elevator. Once they were waiting for the elevator to arrive, the bodyguard leans down a bit to whisper to the blonde woman.
"Ms. Layla, I suggest that you avoid taking pictures with these people for your safety," the guard then stands up straight
"That's nonsense Capricorn. These people mean no harm to me," Layla then glanced at her guard before placing her hand on his shoulder, "I know what my husband said to you. So, I'll repeat what I said to him, you shouldn't be all too stiff about these people because they are as lovely as ever,"
"And Sir Jude is right, you are too kind to be suspicious of others," Capricorn replies without looking at the blonde woman. Then soon, the elevator came and he immediately nudges the woman gently to step inside first, and without further ado, the elevator closed and headed up.
Once the elevator arrived the 15th floor, the whole group inside the small contraption steps out. Guards were all in alert as Layla gracefully walks the department floor. Soon enough, Layla was greeted by a receptionist who was holding a cup of coffee. Seeing the sudden appearance of the blonde model, Coco, the receptionist quickly squeals in excitement.
"Kyaaaa!" Coco screeches as she fan-girl right in front of Layla. Soon enough, other employees from that floor step out of their cubicles to take a peek in the reception area. And with that, employees rushed out of their office to greet the famous entrepreneur but they didn't get past easily from the security of the blonde.
"Sorry, dear to break this moment, but may I ask for Ms. Lucy Heartfilia?" Layla softly requests the receptionist, who immediately stops in her fangirling
"Ms. Lucy?" Coco repeats
"Yes, she's my daughter…" Layla sweetly smiled and soon the receptionist squeals again in excitement
As the commotion continued, Enno, the editor-in-chief suddenly steps out of her office to see what the disturbance was all about. And the moment she was in the reception area, she sees the famous blonde.
"Oh, my goodness, Ms. Layla Heartfilia?" Enno calls as she swiftly avoided people to get in front of the blonde
"Hi, Enno-san, long time no see…" Layla greets and soon the two hugged one another. When they pulled apart, Enno began to ask, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, just visiting my daughter," Layla then smiles before her eyes roamed around the place. But no matter how much she look she couldn't find any familiar blonde girl
"Oh, Lucy? She texted me that she would be having a field work today for her story," Enno said as she assisted the blonde woman to get past the crowd. Soon, they were in the office of Enno and the editor courteously offered tea.
As she places the tea cup in front of the blonde, Enno began the conversation, "I can't believe your daughter is getting married,"
"Oh yes. We didn't even know that Lucy and Natsu were even a couple," Layla reveals before she and Enno laughs together
"Who would have thought," Enno shakes her head as she takes a seat in front of the blonde, "I've seen Natsu drop by the office many times to pick up Lucy after work. But I've never thought it was him doing that as a boyfriend because Lucy would continuously say that Natsu was just a friend,"
"I guess they have been secretly dating behind everybody's back," Layla then takes the cup to take a sip. After her drink, she sighs in relief before placing the cup back to its plate, "Now, my daughter is getting married in three months,"
"Three months? Really?" Enno expresses her disbelief, "Oh my god, then that's perfect because, during our meeting a few days ago for our three-month planning, we all agreed that Lucy and Natsu would be our June cover issue,"
"Really?" Layla smiles excitedly
"Yeah, even you and Jude would be covering the May issue," Enno adds, then sees Layla nods her head
"Yes, I've been called by Levy the other day about it,"
"Well then, I'd like to attend your interview, if you don't mind," Enno politely smiles at the blonde model who sweetly smiles back and said, "Why of course, you are always welcome,"
"Fantastic!" and the two chuckles together.
After some time of chatting, Enno and Layla bid goodbye. Despite not being able to meet her daughter, Layla was suggested to text the blonde feature writer instead if she wanted to contact her. So, soon enough Layla left the Fairy Tail building and headed to the Dragon Empire group.
Later then, Layla reached her destination and was able to meet Grandine. The two spent the morning talking together about the upcoming interview for Fairy Tail Magazine. They were expressing their excitement and curiosity about what the topic would be all about until their conversation ends with their children.
"By the way, Layla," Grandine waves her hand as if she was brushing the previous topic away, "Have you called the wedding planner?"
Layla then becomes silent before she sighs and shook her head, "No, I haven't"
"Why?" Grandine asks back in confusion, "I thought we would be helping Lucy plan the wedding?"
"Do you remember the other day when we overwhelmed her with all our 'voluntary ideas'?" Layla quotes with her fingers and Grandine nods in remembrance, "Well, I don't want to overwhelm Lucy again. I know my daughter. When she becomes uncomfortable with all the attention and the unwanted help that she gets, she could become so distant, until one day she'd just shut you out,"
"So, you mean, you're letting Natsu and Lucy plan their own wedding at their own pace?" Grandine clarifies and when Layla nodded, she gulped in nervousness and shakily takes the cup of tea in front of her to take a sip. After she did, she exhaled to calm her nerves and spoke again, "Okay, I'll trust you with this decision Layla. I just do hope that the two do get married in three months- I mean-I trust Lucy, but not my son!"
Chuckling at first at her blue-haired friend, Layla shook her head before she places her hand over Grandine's shaking hand, "Dine, relax. We got Lucy for that," and with that, the two women laughed as they finally relaxed, "You're right. Why am I worrying at the first place,"
"I guess we're just excited?" Layla guesses and Grandine chortles in confirmation
"I sure am…so, you'll be handing the wedding list preparation to Lucy?" Grandine asks
"Yep," Layla then pulls out her phone as she opens an application to open a document. When the document was set, she presses send and it was delivered straight to Lucy's email, "I just did.
"What are you looking at?" Gajeel asks as he looked at the blue-haired petite girl chuckling on her seat while they were having their lunch
"Nothing…" Levy replies back, her attention was still on her phone. Levy then chuckles again as she swipes her finger across the screen of her phone. When suddenly her mobile was forcibly taken from her hand making her yelp in surprise, "Hey! Gajeel! Give that back!" Levy bellows as she leans forward to take her phone back
"No way! What are you looking at? Is this some weird guy?" Gajeel randomly questions as he lifts his arm above his head to avoid Levy getting her phone back. When he turns to the side to look into Levy's phone, he was suddenly dumbstruck with what he saw, "What the…" he trails off, and that made Levy chuckle a bit
"You can say it's a weird guy…a pretty young weird boy," Levy then fully smiles when Gajeel turns to face her with a blush on his cheek
"Who the hell gave you these pictures?" Gajeel asks, annoyingly embarrassed after seeing his self-young pictures in Levy's phone
"Lucy…" Levy answers still with a smile on her face since she was finding this situation amusing. It was rare for Gajeel to be blushing and to be embarrassed, so Levy was thinking to prolong this moment
"How the hell did Lucy get these pictures?! These are only found in our ancestral home!"
"Well because she is there," Levy then grins as she gently pushes her empty plate to place her crossed arms over the table, "And guess who's with her?"
"Salamander," Gajeel growls when suddenly he hears Levy laugh. So, looking back at the blunette, Gajeel's anger disperses as he continued to watch the blunette chuckle. When she calmed down, Levy finally noticed the gaze that Gajeel was giving her
"What? Is there something on my face?" Levy then places her hands on her face to feel if there was any food stuck on her. When Gajeel shook his head, he said, "No, you look pretty…"
Levy suddenly blushes at the comment of the tall guy, who also blushed at the realization of what he said. So quickly he changes what he said, "I mean you-you…you're good. You have a clean face…"
"Ah…okay…" Levy then lowers down her hands back to her lap as she tried to stop her reddening face, "Thank you…for telling me I have a clean face,"
"Yeah…you do…I mean your welcome," Gajeel replies then looks away as he mentally scolded himself. When he had enough cussing to himself, he looks back at Levy and asks before he began to eat again, "So why are Lucy and Salamander at our ancestral house?"
"Oh, Lucy said she wanted to do some research about your family tree for our April issue. And she happens to cross by your childhood pictures with Natsu and she wanted me to have a picture of you…" Levy then trails off when she thought she sounded quite infatuated with the man in front of her, "I mean, I don't have to have a picture of you…I just…she just sent it and…umm…yeah!" Levy then awkwardly laughs at herself
Seeing the way Levy was acting, Gajeel couldn't help but chuckle at what he was seeing. He knows that Levy could really be adorable but seeing her embarrassed about wanting to have an old picture of himself was way cuter than he thought.
"So you're keeping those pictures on your phone?" Gajeel then smirks when he saw Levy turn red and her eyes grew wide
"No! I mean, it's not because it's ugly or something…I'm just…if you don't want me to keep it, it's fine," Levy then kept her mouth shut when she thought she was beginning to sound ridiculous
"No, it's fine…just make sure you keep it for yourself…" Gajeel then looks down to his lap as he felt his cheeks warm up. When he knew that Levy was looking straight at him, he tried to keep his voice in a natural tone as he speaks again, "You could stare at it for all I care,"
"Oh…okay…" Levy trails off as she looks around the restaurant they were both eating at. When she thought hard about what Gajeel said, she quickly looked back at the man and said, "Just to make it clear, I'm not going to stare at it because it's cute…just gonna glance at it…"
Gajeel then looks up at Levy and furrowed his brows, "Okay…if you say so,"
"I'm serious. This," Levy then encircles her face with her point finger, "…is my serious face,"
"Okay. I believe ya," Gajeel replies as he raises his hands up
"Good," Levy then smiles at the man in front of her before she watches Gajeel raise his hand up and snap his finger. Soon, a waiter looks at their way and Gajeel makes a box with his finger.
Lucy walks the wide backyard of the Dragneel ancestral home with her eyes closed. She was feeling the warm breeze of March flowing around her as she imagined she was in paradise. The place smelled sweet because of the flowers planted in the backyard. It wasn't that hot since a huge tree was planted in the middle of the yard, serving as a big shade for anyone who would like to stay to rest.
"You know, I imagined you would actually do that once you stepped out in the backyard," Natsu says as he slowly descends the short stairs to take a seat. Hearing the voice of her best friend, Lucy immediately opens her eyes and turns around to look at Natsu
"Why'd you think that?" Lucy questions before she walks back to the porch to sit next to the pinkette
"I don't know," Natsu shrugs, "It just seems like it would be you," Natsu then looks at the blonde who was now sitting next to him
Giggling at the comment of her best friend, Lucy eyed the man next to her first before she looks back at the wide yard, "I can't believe that you grew up here…No wonder you're a hyperactive kid,"
"I'm not hyperactive," Natsu denies as he scrunched his forehead, but Lucy just snickered at him
"Yeah right. It's like your saying you don't like meat, which is so not true," Lucy then laughs as she glances at the pinkette who pouted at her comment. With Natsu looking adorable with his puckered lips, Lucy nudges the pinkette before she drapes her arm around Natsu's shoulder, "But that's what make you so fun to be with. There is no day with you that I didn't laugh," Lucy then smiles genuinely at the man, who returned the smile
"Well, I like making you laugh," Natsu replies back and somehow Lucy was awestruck with Natsu's words. Slowly, she takes her arm away and tuck it over her lap as she looks away from the pinkette
"Thanks," mutters Lucy, knowing that Natsu will still be able to hear it.
Silence then grew between them, as Lucy just kept her attention to the view in front of her while Natsu watched the clouds move. For some odd reason, they became silent but they were just thankful enough that the air between them was not too awkward.
"Mom would love to have the photo shoot here," Natsu suddenly states, still keeping his gaze on the sky
"Really? Why?" Lucy asks back as she finally looks at Natsu
"When mom first came to this house, dad immediately brought her out here because he wanted to impress mom," Natsu then looks down to Lucy with a smile on his face as he continues his tale, "Mom was like really amazed with the garden because dad filled it with small lights and jar lanterns. The moment dad saw mom standing in front of him," Natsu then chuckles making Lucy raise her brow, "He what?" Lucy curiously asks to make Natsu continue
"It's corny, never mind…" Natsu shook his head but then Lucy shakes him to make him continue, "No, tell me, I want to know,"
Natsu looks at Lucy before he sighs and continues as he looks away, "Fine…the moment dad saw mom stand in front of him, he thought, mom was the one. The woman that he would be marrying and staying with his whole life. So, he thought he should do what needs to be done to seal his destiny. He stepped close to mom and he said, I love you," Natsu said the last three words looking at Lucy, who suddenly blushed at the words of her best friend, despite knowing it was not for her but just a story being told. But still, no matter how much she tells herself to stop, she just couldn't help but feel something tingling in her heart
"…that's so sweet," Lucy finally utters after realizing she has stared at Natsu long enough after hearing the last three words, "I mean," Lucy looks away to hide somehow her flushed face, "a young Igneel seals his destiny right when he saw your mom stand in front of him,"
"Yeah…dad is a love struck for mom," Natsu then chuckles, which influenced Lucy. When they have slowed down in their laughter, Lucy asks, "Have you found someone whom you want to seal your destiny with?"
Natsu curiously looks at the blonde, who immediately turns red. So in defense, Lucy shook her hand as if to dismiss her question, "Never mind! Forget that I asked!"
Natsu then chuckles at the blonde before nudging the embarrassed lady and answers her question, "Of course I did," he then turns his gaze to the beauty who was suddenly speechless, "You know that right?"
"Wait so…you…have a girl waiting?" Lucy asks, slowly mumbling her words
"Not really waiting…but…hey, you okay?" Natsu suddenly turns to fully face the blonde who was suddenly pale-skinned
"Huh?" Lucy confusingly looked at Natsu, "Me? Y-yeah…I'm good," and with that she stood up and stepped away from Natsu, "You know what, I should start roaming around the house again…um, see ya," and with that she slips inside back to the house, leaving Natsu confused.
"Huh…" Natsu sighs, still confused to what happened, "Lucy's being weird again…" Natsu remarks as he stares at the opened slide door
Erza Scarlet is the pastry chef of a known restaurant somewhere in Magnolia. And currently, she is on the verge of exploding as she listens to the manager's complain about having a shortage of strawberry shortcakes in the restaurant.
"You've done it again!" the black-haired woman shouts with her wide eyes, "Scarlet! How many times do I have to tell you that you must make strawberry shortcakes more than you could eat in this place?!"
The manager then stabs her finger into the clipboard she is holding onto, to tell the red-head that she is in big trouble, "Do you know how much a strawberry shortcake costs in this place?! From all the slices you have eaten, you owe this restaurant more than you earn in this place!"
"Manager Kikyo, look," Erza sternly calls to the mad woman, who had her brows raise at the mention of her name, "I'm sorry for eating those leftover cakes. I only want to serve freshly baked cakes and unfortunately, your restaurant ran out of ingredients for a strawberry shortcake. Now, if you will excuse me, I'll just have to head to the market and get your ingredients for your favorite cake," and with that, Erza pulls her apron and throws it hard to her kitchen table, which startled the manager when the kitchen wares rattled.
Without hesitation, Erza steps away from the manager and takes her bag to leave the kitchen. And without further ado, she was out of the restaurant, fuming in anger.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Erza bellows loudly just outside the doors of the restaurant before throwing her arms and legs to release her anger. When suddenly a familiar voice spoke, "For some odd reason, you still look adorable acting like that,"
This made Erza stop from her berserk act and turn to look at the newly arrived person. As she turns, her cheeks suddenly turns red as she saw the man she has been in love with ever since
"Jellal," Erza sighs his name after seeing him smile back at her, "Wha-what are you doing here?"
"No reason really…" Jellal said as he walks closer to his scarlet woman, "I just miss my girlfriend," then he leans to plant a soft kiss to Erza's lips, which made her even more flushed. When the man pulled away, he shoves his hands into his pants' pocket and looked straight to Erza's eyes, "So why are you throwing fits in the air?"
"Who? Me?" Erza bashfully then points to herself, "I wasn't throwing fits…" she denies before she looks away from her boyfriend, who only snickered at her poor denial
"Alright, tell me…" Jellal then holds the shoulder of the woman who returns her gaze back at the blue-haired man. Sighing after, Erza tells the truth to Jellal who only nodded in understanding then chuckles after.
"Jellal, I'm serious, I hate manager Kikyo…" Erza then folds her arms across her chest before she turns to walk and head towards the market, "She's nosy, bossy, childish, and greedy…"
"Which could be like you at times…" Jellal comments and this made Erza whip her head to glare at the man walking next to her
"I am not," Erza denies despite her red cheeks that were giving her away after thinking that it was true. Instead of answering immediately, Jellal just chuckles and pulls the arm of the woman to entwine his hand with the scarlet-haired woman. When he knew that Erza was looking at him, he gave a sweet look to her and said, "If you say so…" then gives a soft squeeze to her hand before he asks, "So, where are we heading?"
"To the market," Erza gleefully replies as she wraps her arms around Jellal's
Soon the lovers were at the market and strolled inside to buy the necessary ingredients for the cake that Erza needs to bake immediately once she gets back to the restaurant. As they walked the aisle for the sweeteners, Erza suddenly realized that her boyfriend might need to get back to work, after all, he is a prosecutor of Magnolia.
"Am I taking so much of your time?" Erza suddenly asks as she turns her head to look at her boyfriend. Surprisingly for her, she saw Jellal's face was calm, which is usual whenever they were together but still, she knew that he should be in serious mode because he was just at work a few minutes ago
"No, I enjoy doing this with you," Jellal replies to Erza, who only raised her brow in confusion
"Is there are a problem?" Erza then stops from her pace to take a step closer to her man and make him confess anything he should be confessing
"No. Why'd you think that?" Jellal calmly asks back as he tucks a stray hair behind Erza's ear to keep it away from her face
"Because you're here with me right now when you should be at your office, getting mad about a case...or something like that," Erza then shrugs as she watches the man chuckle
"Let's just say I don't feel like dwelling with cases right now. Instead, I want to spend my time with you," Jellal then wraps an arm around Erza's shoulder, making her turn to face the direction they were heading moments ago. As Jellal guides them to walk again, Erza couldn't help but raise a brow at the man next to her, "I promise to tell you anything that is troubling me, remember?"
"Yes...so is there anything troubling you?" Erza persistently asks
Sighing in defeat, Jellal closes his eyes for a moment before he opens them again and smile at his girlfriend, "Yes there is,"
Erza then stops from her track and faced her boyfriend, "What?" she eagerly questions, which only made the blue-haired man chortle
"I'm having trouble with making time for my girlfriend..." He said with a sweet smile on his face. Once Erza hears the problem of the man, she couldn't help but blush but it didn't end so fast, as Jellal adds, "She may not say it but I know deep down, she wants to spend a day just the two of us. So, what can I do to make it up to her?"
Without hesitation, Erza then tiptoes to kiss the man in front of her. It was just a peck on the lips, but still, it made Erza blush.
"There is nothing to make up for me. The fact that it has been troubling you and you showing me the effort of trying to spend more time with me is enough for me," Erza says after she has pulled away. As they smile at one another, soon they were leaning towards each other again.
Erza wraps her arms around Jellal's neck to pull him closer as they lean and kiss. Compared to the flimsy kiss they had moments ago, Erza decides to have this intimate gesture be on the next level. So, the second their lips grazed one another, Erza quickly crashes her lips fervently to Jellal's. At first, it took him by surprise knowing that Erza was not the PDA type woman. But since it was her initiation, he gladly took the chance.
So the next thing happened was Jellal wrapping his arms around Erza's waist and pull her closer to his chest. Hearing the scarlet woman sighing in content once she was pressed against him, Jellal couldn't help but feel something ignite inside his body. Acting upon his instincts, he ran his tongue over the lower lips of Erza, internally asking her to open her lips. Feeling the velvety muscle tease her lips, Erza moans again in pleasure. So, she willingly opens her mouth to let Jellal have a battle of the tongue with her. When suddenly, her phone rang.
Despite the ringing of her phone, Erza chose to ignore it and just continue her make out with her boyfriend. They were getting hot with one another, especially when they would occasionally moan in satisfaction. It's a sweet sound for them, mainly for Jellal. But no matter how sweet it was, it was continuously being interrupted by the sound of Erza's ringing phone, and Jellal couldn't take it anymore.
So, slowly pulling away, the lovers became breathless. They had their eyes closed as their smiles were evidently stuck on their faces. When Erza began to lean in again, Jellal quickly pulls back as he cups Erza's cheeks, "I think you should answer that," he said, pertaining to the resounding sound of Erza's phone. Erza didn't stop herself from pouting as she felt slightly disappointed that her man stopped kissing her just because of her phone
"But-" Erza starts to reason out but was quickly stopped when she was pecked with a feathery kiss on her lips by Jellal
"Come on. It might be important," he said before he smiles at the whining woman
Pulling her phone out, Erza threatens while keeping her gaze at her smiling boyfriend, "Whoever this person calling me must have a good reason to call or else…" She then swipes her finger across the screen of her phone
"Hello," She sternly greets, still keeping her glare steady to Jellal
"Finally! I thought you'd never answer Erza!" a familiar female voice enthusiastically exclaims once she hears Erza speak
"Who's this? Lucy?" Erza questioningly replies
"Yes. Erza I have a problem," Lucy quickly answers but later on regrets her choice of words as she sounded defeated, making the scarlet-haired woman raise her brow
"What happened?" Erza firmly asks as she stood up straight and somehow it alarmed the blue-haired man in front of her
"Well…it's not really about me…it's Natsu," Lucy suddenly mumbles softly
With the mention of the pinkette's name and with the idea of him being a problem, Erza couldn't help but scowl as she replies, "What did he do this time?"
Lucy audibly swallows on nervousness as she hears the threatening voice of her friend, "I-it's not what he did…it's more of what he has now…"
"I don't get it, Lucy, did he steal something from you?" Erza confusingly asks back as she watches Jellal tilt his head in wonder
"No but…" Lucy then trails off as she groans in desperation, "Did you know that Natsu has a girlfriend?"
Erza then choked on her own spit as her eyes widen, "What?!" She shouts, making the man startled with the sudden outburst. Curious to what is happening, Jellal quietly asks the scarlet, "What's happening?"
Instead of answering the man, Erza just raised her hand as a gesture to wait as she answers Lucy again, "Wait, who told you he has a girlfriend? And since when?"
"He just told me now…" Lucy said with desperation in her voice
"Really? As in like, he said that he has a girlfriend?" Erza then looks at Jellal as she mouthed out that Natsu has a girlfriend that they never knew. Shocked at the news, Jellal widens his eyes too as he spoke his mind, "Since when did Natsu have a girlfriend? He never mentioned anything about it,"
"I don't know," Erza replies to her boyfriend
"What?" Lucy suddenly asks, making Erza snap out and realized that Lucy heard her speak
"Sorry, it's Jellal. He's also surprised about Natsu having a girlfriend," Erza then rolls her eyes as she leans to one leg and placed a hand on her hip
"You're with him now? Did I disturb you two?" Lucy suddenly shy about the idea that she interrupted their time
"Yeah…pretty much…but it's fine, we were just making out-" Erza bluntly says making Lucy screech in surprise
"Oh goodness! Erza, I didn't need to know that," Lucy replies hysterically
"What, I was just telling you," Erza defends, making Jellal shake his head in disbelief
"You know what, I'm sorry for disturbing you two. I should go, I'll…I'll find a way to solve this…" Lucy then became silent, making Erza somehow guilty, "No, it's fine, really…what can I do to help?"
"No, I'm good…I guess, I just have to talk to Natsu again…just have to clear things up with him," Lucy then sighs, "Well, I should go now. Thanks for hearing me out, bye!" and with that the call ends.
As Erza pulls the phone away from her ear, she looks up at the man in front of her then shrugs as she says, "Who would have thought Natsu has a girlfriend…"
"Are you sure about that? Maybe Lucy misheard him…" Jellal then turns to continue walking, along with Erza who was now silent after hearing the news
"I don't know…maybe…I hope…" Erza then looks at Jellal, who was smiling sweetly at her, "I just do hope that Natsu has no girlfriend or else this fake engagement will be jeopardized,"
"Oh, I thought you'd say, you hope that Natsu has no girlfriend so that he and Lucy could end up together for real," Jellal then chuckles before he looks at the woman next to him who only rolled her eyes in response.
The sun was setting down when Natsu and Lucy were on their way home after spending most of their day at the ancestral house of the Dragneel family. After the talk that Lucy and Natsu had in the backyard, the two became silent all throughout the day.
Lucy has been dying to ask Natsu who was he in a relationship with because she really didn't have a clue. At some point, she was also feeling sad to realize that she didn't know anything about it, after all, they were best friends. She didn't understand why Natsu had to keep it from her and why to discover only now when they were actually in a fake engagement.
Taking a short glance at the pink-haired driver, Natsu was silently concentrating on driving. He looked like he was in deep thoughts and Lucy couldn't help but question why he was thinking deep.
"What are you thinking?" Lucy asks as she turns in her seat and faces him. As Natsu turns his head to look at Lucy before looking back at the road, he answered, "Oh uh…nothing,"
"Psh," Lucy then chuckles before she gently punches the shoulder of the man, "yeah right…really what were you thinking so hard about?"
"…well, I was thinking if I said something wrong to you…" Natsu then gave a short glance before he looks away and continued, "It's just that, all of a sudden you started avoiding at the house. Did I say something bad?" Natsu then steps on the break as he slows down for the stoplight, then he looked at Lucy who was tight-lipped
"Luce, be honest," Natsu pleads as he kept his attention to the blonde
"…no…" Lucy finally spoke before she turned in her seat to face the road
"Then why were you avoiding at the house?" Natsu asks again
"…I wasn't," Lucy then looked at Natsu. But Natsu was not convinced at all, and so, Lucy sighs as she looks away and answered once more, "Okay maybe a little…but it wasn't because you said something bad…it's just that, I never knew you have a girlfriend and now-"
"Wait-girlfriend?" Natsu interrupts but Lucy seemed not to hear him for she just went on and on about him being in a relationship, "Luce, wait!" Natsu exclaimed louder, snapping Lucy out of her rant
Before Natsu could question, Lucy saw the green-light and quickly taps the man on the shoulder as she said, "its greenlight," sighing in frustration Natsu looked back at the road and began driving again.
They were close by the apartment of the blonde when they had that conversation and Natsu has been feeling restless since then because he had something to say to Lucy, but he would always be interrupted.
So, the moment they arrived at the driveway of Lucy, he knew that he would probably be interrupted again by Lucy. And as expected, Lucy did by immediately bidding goodbye to him as she opens her door.
"Wait, Luce," Natsu says as he quickly grabs the wrist of the blonde who looked back at him after being halted
"Yeah?" Lucy replies, trying to keep herself calm
"Can I come in for a moment?" Natsu requests and Lucy had to think long before she spoke again
"…okay," she replies, then Natsu sets free her wrist as he opens his own door to step out as well
When they were finally inside, Lucy didn't stop at her living room and instead headed up to her room immediately, while Natsu stayed by the living room and waited for his blonde friend. Natsu was determined to speak his mind and clear anything that was misunderstood. There was something Lucy said that was not right and he needed to fix it. But the moment Lucy came down from her room, she already had furrowed brows and an annoyed look.
"What's wrong?" Natsu questions as he stood up from the couch and waited for Lucy to settle down next to him
"Mama texted me and said she sent something in my email," Lucy answers, keeping her gaze on her phone as she kept on rereading the message
"Oh…then why are you scowling?" Natsu asks again as he finally took a seat with Lucy on the couch
"She said it was urgent," Lucy replies when suddenly her phone rang and her mother's name was on her screen. Despite the hesitation to answer, she still did.
"Hello?"
"Hi dear," Layla greets back with her usual sweet voice, "Did you receive my message?"
"Uh, yeah…" Lucy answers before looking at Natsu who was curiously looking back at her, "Hey, mama, what is this email about?"
"Oh, it's about the wedding," Layla nonchalantly replies, making Lucy widen her eyes in alarm at the word 'wedding'
"Wedding?!" Lucy suddenly exclaims too loud, startling the pinkette, "What's going on?" Natsu mouthed at the blonde but Lucy just shook her head as she concentrated with her conversation with her mother, "What about the wedding?" She continues to ask
"Ah, Grandine and I agreed to let you and Natsu plan your own wedding instead of pressuring you to answer all our questions about the wedding," Layla then chuckles at the other side of the call before she continues, "The last time we asked you about the progress of the planning, you were so shocked that you couldn't answer us,"
Lucy then remembers that day when her mother and soon mother-in-law came to office and began asking her about the theme, the date and all other details about the wedding.
"Oh…right…" Lucy then trails off. When she looked at Natsu who was already pouting after being continuously ignored, Lucy finally gave Natsu a hint and mouth out about her mom asking about the wedding, and all Natsu could reply was a big 'oh'
"Lucy?" Layla suddenly calls, making the blonde snap her attention back to her mother
"Yes, mama?" Lucy sweetly replies
"Can I just ask you one thing?" Layla questions with shyness in her voice
"Yeah, sure…" Lucy then raised her brow as she waited for Layla to ask
"Are you sure you can do the wedding in three months?"
"Yeah…why?"
"Are you rushing this wedding because you're pregnant?"
"What?!" Lucy loudly bellows, even louder than her scream moments ago, "What did she say?" Natsu quietly asks the blonde but Natsu was immediately shoved in the face to keep him shut
"Mama! Of course not!" Lucy denies as she turns away from Natsu to hide her burning cheeks, "I-I'm…not pregnant," Lucy mumbles quietly to avoid Natsu hearing it, but still, the pinkette heard it
"Oh good…well, it's not that I don't like grandchildren because I actually like one already-"
"Mama!"
"But if you're rushing this wedding just to hide your baby bump, we can always postpone it and wait for the baby to come out first then get your wedding done, what do you think?" Layla finally finished with her gleeful voice.
With her furious blush, Lucy couldn't believe her mother was thinking way too much of this fake engagement. But who was she to blame, after all, the fake wedding just suddenly came out of nowhere,
"Mama trust me…I'm not," Lucy then held her breath for a moment as she waited for her mother to reply. When Layla agrees to her words, Lucy finally sighs before she began to bid her mother goodbye.
When Lucy has finally settled her phone down to the coffee table, she sighs in defeat and slumps back to the couch as she stares at the ceiling. Still baffled with what she heard, Lucy couldn't bring to tell Natsu how the conversation went.
"I heard the word pregnant…" Natsu suddenly states making Lucy sit up straight and gaze at the pinkette, "Who's pregnant?"
"No one!" Lucy quickly answers as she waves her hand to dismiss the thought, "Forget what you heard! Okay?"
"…Okay…" Natsu then leans back as he watches the blonde sigh again in frustration, "So…about the email?"
"Right!" Lucy then stood up and took her laptop from her working table and quickly returns to the couch, "Mama told me that she sent an email regarding the wedding plan…or something like that," Lucy then began to fumble with her computer and soon an email was opened.
It took Lucy by surprise to see a legit document about all the wedding preparations needed to be done. She swallowed hard as she stares at a long list of what needs to be accomplished.
"Oh god…" Lucy expresses her frustration as she stares at the open file
"What is it?" Natsu leans close and checks out the screen, only to see a long list of words he didn't care about, "What is a guest list for?"
Lucy then turns her head to face her best friend, "It's the list whom we will be inviting…"
"Ahhh…Wedding theme? Oh! We can use the stone age theme! Do you remember our costume last Halloween party?" Natsu giddily exclaims, making Lucy slap her palm against her forehead
"And here I thought it will be easier if we did the planning…" Lucy mumbles to herself before she drops her back to the couch. When she did, she had her eyes close, trying to calm her raging nerves.
Watching Lucy furrow her brows, Natsu suddenly felt guilty because he couldn't make Lucy less stressed. And so, he resorts to the personal touch.
Natsu leaning back to the couch and gently pulls the head of the blonde to make it rest on his shoulder. Lucy was surprised at first but then she let it be as she found more comfort in Natsu's shoulder. As she sighs in content, Natsu began to speak, "You shouldn't carry all the load of this lie…"
"But I should…I started this lie…" Lucy counters, sounding like she is about to cry
"And I agreed to help out…" Natsu then looks down, only to see teary brown eyes staring back at him, "From now on, we work as a pair…like the usual. If you have to plan this wedding in full details…then count me in," Natsu then cups the cheek of the blonde as he gives a light kiss to her forehead
"Thank you, Natsu…" Lucy whispers as she kept her eyes close
"Always…"
To be continued…
