Chapter 14
Sitting on her chair with her glasses on while she typed on her computer Lucy Heartfilia is in the zone of being a feature writer. After crossing out one task from the list of her wedding preparation, Lucy made a promise to herself that she would be starting her article to avoid rushing herself when the day comes to submitting a story.
She is in the middle of finishing her introductory when her phone suddenly glowed. Taking a glance at her mobile phone, Lucy thought for a moment if she would be checking who has messaged her. But she immediately shook her head as she returns her focus to the computer. As she continued to type in her computer, the door to her office suddenly opens and a blue-haired writer came strutting in with a paper on her hand.
"Hey, Lu-chan, are you ready to go?" Levy asks as she keeps her eyes to the paper she is holding, not realizing Lucy was not paying much attention. With the lack of response of the blonde, Levy looked up and was immediately greeted by a serious blonde, typing away on her computer.
"Lu-chan, what are you doing?" Levy questions, sounding almost like she is surprised
"I'm working," Lucy nonchalantly replies as she presses the enter button before she looks up at the friend, "You asked me if I was ready…Ready to go where? Where are we going?" Lucy finally asks as she thought about the words of the blunette moments ago
"Seriously?" Levy questions baffled, "Didn't you receive any text message?"
Lucy then quickly grabs her phone and sees one unopened message. Quickly pressing on the screen, the message opened and revealed that her mother texted her. She asked her to be ready in ten minutes for a car would be picking her and Levy up for a meeting.
"What meeting is she talking about?" Lucy worriedly asks as she looks up at her best friend
"I don't know…maybe it has something to do with the wedding," Levy replies and soon Lucy groans in exasperation. Rubbing her face down with her palms, Lucy bulges her eyes big as she eyed the blunette.
"I just finished one task and now another thing comes up?" Lucy asks annoyed before she grumbles in her seat. As Lucy did that, Levy just sighed and walked up to a cabinet where Lucy keeps her things. As she opens it and takes the shoulder bag of the blonde, she immediately handed it over as she tries to uplift the blonde.
"You know Lu, you should have been prepared for this. Of course, people will want to know about the wedding details of the only daughter of the Heartfilia and the elusive Dragneel. So, grumbling on your chair would not change the fact that people already know that you are to be wedded with Natsu in three months," Levy finishes with a small smile on her face and Lucy just eyed her in astonishment
"Wow, thanks Levy-chan for clearing everything to me," Lucy sarcastically replies before she pushes her computer chair back and turns off the monitor. As she walks away from her table, Levy walked next to her and quickly handed a different paper, the list of wedding details.
"What's this?" Lucy asks, without checking the content of the paper
"Your wedding details," Levy answers back
"I know, but why are you handing it to me?" Lucy confusingly asks again, trying to keep herself cool
"Obviously, because you are the bride-to-be and you should be holding this list and not your maid-of-honor. I'm just here to help," Levy shrugs her shoulder and soon an elevator comes up. Pressing the button to open, Levy ushered Lucy to walk in first before she continues, "You know Lu, I think I'm-"
Levy was then cut off when Lucy looked at her gravely as if she was trying to tell the blunette to keep herself quiet about the wedding.
"Levy-chan," Lucy whispers, almost sounding like a threat, "I appreciate the enthusiasm about the wedding. But please, don't get too excited because there is nothing to be excited about,"
"Lu-chan, even if this is a fake wedding, you have to look excited…" Levy reasons out but Lucy just rolled her eyes as she grumbles in her spot. Levy then holds the arm of the blonde as she tries to convince her, "That is the least you could do to make this lie believable…If you will keep on whining about this preparation, might as well tell the truth,"
"No!" Lucy quickly answers as she looks at Levy. Shaking her head, Lucy says, "I'm not gonna do that. Not now that I've made more mess,"
Hearing Lucy out, Levy couldn't help but sigh and wonder how they even got to this point of a mess. It was all just a lie, a lie Lucy didn't intend to fool people about. She wanted, to tell the truth from the start but one lie came after another with the media making the rumors even worse, Lucy had no choice but to bear with it. If she was given a chance to return to the day she told the lie, she would change it and just admit that she was a spinster.
Soon the elevator dinged on the lobby and the two women quickly step out of the small contraption. As they crossed the lobby, Levy looked at Lucy with concern and said, "Lu-chan, just relax. We, your friends know about this so you can count on us. Everything will be fine," Levy then smiles genuinely at Lucy who returned the smile and quickly hugs her by the side.
As Lucy and Levy step out of the building and stands by the sidewalk of Fairy Tail publication, a black car finally stops in front of them. A chauffeur suddenly steps out of the vehicle to open the door for the two women. Soon, the two ladies go inside and the car immediately leaves and heads to a place Lucy doesn't know.
"Mr. Capricorn-san, may I ask, where exactly are we going?" Lucy questions as she leans forward to ask the man
"To the Golden Magnolia Hotel," Capricorn replies back without glancing at the blonde
"Hotel?" Lucy then looks at her blue-haired friend, who was surprised as well, "Do you have any idea what's happening, Capricorn-san?"
"If I'm not mistaken, that's where your engagement party will hold," Capricorn then looks up at the rearview mirror when he heard Lucy gasp in astonishment
"D-did I hear you right? You said my engagement party?" Lucy dubiously asks while her eyes grew bigger as seconds past
"Yes," Capricorn answers, quite confused with the expression of the blonde woman, "Didn't Sir Natsu tell you?"
Lucy then drops her back to the cushion of the car as she sighs in exasperation while Levy nods in understanding. Of course, Natsu had to forget to mention this to Lucy that their mothers were actually preparing their engagement party. It shouldn't be a big deal for Lucy if she was really getting married to Natsu but they weren't because obviously everything is just a makeup story.
Having an engagement party would mean to call many people to attend the party, who would also believe that she and Natsu would truly be married in three months. Just like she thought, one lie comes after another.
Silently whining in her seat, Lucy threw her hands up and kicked in place. But when Capricorn quickly glanced at her again, Lucy immediately sits up straight and gave an innocent smile. Soon enough, Capricorn looked away and Lucy sighed in relief.
When Lucy was somehow calm, she was able to summarize what was happening. She was having an engagement party which her mother and auntie were preparing. Natsu knew about it but didn't bother to tell her. Now, she is heading towards the hotel where her engagement party will take place.
"Capricorn-san, is my engagement party today?" Lucy inquires a little nervous to know when her party will happen
"It will be this weekend, Ms. Lucy," Capricorn then looked once again at the rearview mirror, "Didn't Sir Natsu tell you anything about this?"
"In fact no," Lucy replies back before she crosses her arms and glared at the street
As Lucy looked away, Levy couldn't help but chortle knowing that Natsu will be in great trouble once again. Natsu should have been more alert and told Lucy about the engagement party because this kind of event was a big one and many people will be invited, which makes it even more worrisome.
"Lu-chan, should I prepare Natsu?" Levy teasingly asks as she glances at the blonde. When Lucy whipped her head to look at her blue-haired friend, Lucy menacingly grins at her and says, "No, I want to take him by surprise…"
Layla and Grandine stood in the middle of the ballroom hall of the Golden Magnolia Hotel as other crew staff worked around the place. The lights were being installed and a small stage was being prepared. As the two women watched the progress of the preparation, the double doors to the ballroom hall suddenly open and Lucy and Levy came to walk in.
"Lucy! Levy!" Grandine greets immediately once she saw the two ladies come in, "What do you think of the place?"
"It's great, Auntie Grandine!" Lucy replies back as she awed at the ballroom, "This place…it's big," Lucy suddenly becomes nervous as she realized the party was going to be a literal big event
"Of course!" Grandine widely smiles at the younger blonde, "Besides from our guests, we will be having some media covering the event,"
"Oh…" Lucy then trails off before she glances at the blunette who was thinking how much of a challenge this would be
"Ms. Grandine, I don't mean to be nosy or what," Levy started as she slowly took a step closer to the mothers, "But don't you want to make the engagement more private than publicly videoed?"
"Well, we've discussed that," Layla answers Levy as she glanced at Grandine, who also looked back at her with a smile, "The event itself wouldn't be publicly taped only the entourage of guests. After all, big people are coming for this event because this is just not about the engagement,"
"It will also be your anniversary party," Lucy said as she realized what the whole point of the big event, "But your anniversary is like in a month,"
"Yeah we know," Layla smiled at her daughter, "But your father and I decided to have it earlier so that in the next coming months we could focus on your wedding,"
"Isn't that great?!" Grandine exclaims before she side hugs her blonde friend, "After this engagement and wedding anniversary, the whole attention will be on your wedding,"
"I don't like that actually," Lucy finally expresses her dismay of having the media be involved. After all, it was the media who spread the rumor of her being engaged, without even investigating the real story
"But why?" Grandine questions
"Natsu and I are not very much of a public couple," Lucy seriously reasons out as if she was sure of it, "I don't want media. I don't want any attention from the media,"
"But-"
"Please," Lucy pleaded to the blue-haired mother
As Layla taps Grandine by the shoulder, Layla looked at her daughter and gave an assuring smile, "Alright, no media. But I can't promise that we could keep them away from interviewing you two. You and Natsu are not ordinary people,"
"It's true Lu-chan," Levy adds as she looks at her friend, "Your families are business people. Your family practically boosts the economy of Fiore," Lucy then groans at the thought. For some reason, she hates being in a family who is known to the whole country. If she could just escape from the attention for once, she'd pay anyone for it.
As Lucy turns her back from everyone, Layla and Grandine suddenly worried when they saw the disappointment in Lucy's face. They called her name and asked her where she was heading and all Lucy said was she wanted some fresh air.
Lucy was at the garden field of the hotel, sitting on a bench as she watched some butterflies fly over to different flowers and plants. She has been groaning since she got there, barely able to relax despite being in a peaceful place.
As she sat there alone to contemplate, her mobile phone suddenly rings and she saw Natsu was her caller. Sighing once more, Lucy presses the green button and puts the phone by her ear.
"What," Lucy uninterestedly answers, not bothering to greet a hello to Natsu
"Are you okay?" Natsu quickly asks, noticing the sad tone of his best friend
"I'm fine…actually no. Where are you?" Lucy asks back, now sounding annoyed
"At the lobby of Golden Magnolia Hotel…" Natsu answers back cautiously as he recognized the pissed tone of the blonde
"Go to the Garden Fields, I'm here. We need to talk," Lucy then pulls the phone away and ends the call without even saying goodbye to the man.
When Lucy dropped the call, Natsu suddenly gulped in nervousness. He knew that he would be hearing some sermon about this engagement party, which he realized he forgot to mention to the woman. As he exhales his nervousness, he runs further inside the hotel and headed out for the Garden Fields. Within a few minutes, Natsu was able to spot Lucy in the garden, grumbling on a bench while her face scrunches in annoyance.
Exhaling to calm his nervous heart, Natsu brought out his widest smile before he calls out to his best friend, "Oy, Luce!" Natsu waves as Lucy instantly glares at him. Despite wanting to retreat, Natsu still walked up to the blonde.
As he was a foot away, he was about to say something when Lucy suddenly stands and attacks him with her shoulder bag.
"How dare you!? How can you forget to tell me about this engagement party?! Don't you know how hard this will be for us?! We have to freak-ingly pretend like an engaged couple in front of many people! And these are not just damn ordinary people! They are people who are known in the country!" Lucy shouts at the pinkette as she continuously hits him in the body with her shoulder bag, while Natsu just yelped in surprise and pain.
When Lucy was done with her rant, she pants in anger while Natsu freaked out with the outburst. Taking a step back, for precaution, Natsu tried to chuckle awkwardly but Lucy threatened to hit him again. So in a swift move, he stepped further away as he brought his hands up like he was surrendering.
"Sorry, Luce!" Natsu exclaims in panic, "I didn't mean to forget! Mom told me about the engagement party yesterday and I totally forgot about it when we were talking about the guest list,"
"How can you forget that?! This engagement party is not some small gathering that we do," Lucy whines back as stomped one foot to the ground, "Natsu, our mothers are inviting people who are clueless about this fake wedding. This is not good,"
"I know…" Natsu then sighs before he steps closer to Lucy, "I didn't have a choice because when they told me about it I guess they were half way through with the planning,"
Lucy then exhales tiredly as she drops down to the bench and grumbles in her seat. Natsu soon walks up to the blonde and sat down next to her. Glancing at his best friend, he wraps an arm around her shoulder as he tried to console the blonde, "Don't worry Luce, everything will be fine…"
"How can you say that? Media will be covering the entourage; media people are invited inside, business people will persistently question us. How will that event be fine?" Lucy hisses in annoyance at the pinkette
"It will be because we just have to be us," Natsu then smiles at the blonde, more confident now with his words, "Remember, those people always mistaken us for being a couple even if we're just really friends?" Lucy then looks at the man, a little bashful as she remembers those instances people mistaken them as a couple.
"They will never know that we are just in a fake engagement…after all, we are really preparing for a wedding," Natsu then pulls away as he leans back to the bench, "It's just that by the month of the wedding, we have to call it off,"
"You sure we can pull this off?" Lucy questions her best friend as she hopefully looks at him. When Natsu nodded, Lucy then sighs and leans back to the bench with her head resting on the shoulder of the man. The two then stayed silent in the garden finally, they were able to exhale in peace. They were finally able to feel relaxed despite the pressure they were about to face this coming weekend.
As they watched over the butterflies fly over, Natsu suddenly remembers that he had a plan for that day and he wanted Lucy to come along. So, excitedly, he looked at Lucy and tapped her forehead, "Luce," he called, Lucy then opens her eyes in confusion to the man, "I want to show you something, let's go,"
Natsu then urged the blonde to stand up but the blonde took her time to sit up and wonder, "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere," Natsu animatedly answers with his smile so radiant, making Lucy even more confused
"But Natsu, I thought we should be here to help out…and besides, I should be getting back to work,"
"Mom and Auntie Layla can handle this. I promise this will be short only," Natsu was finally able to stand and quickly pulls Lucy up
"What about Levy?" Lucy quickly grabs her bag as she was slowly being pulled by Natsu out of the garden
"Just tell her to meet you back at the office," Natsu then sprints away tugging the blonde along as they headed out of the garden.
Soon enough, the two were driving away from the hotel and headed to a place Lucy wasn't quite sure. The roads they were driving by are familiar to Lucy but she couldn't figure out where exactly they were heading. Not until Natsu made a turn to a corner and revealed the big church, Kardia Cathedral.
"Natsu, what are we going to do in Kardia Cathedral?" Lucy asked as she eyed the church but when Natsu chuckled she looked at him and questioned his laughing face, "What's so funny?"
"We're not stopping in the Kardia Cathedral," Natsu said before he glanced at the blonde, who was obviously confused, "Though, we are really going to a church,"
"Church? What are we going to do in a church?" Lucy then shifts in her seat as she focuses on the man
"Just wait," Natsu then looks away and presses on the gas more
Soon enough, Lucy and Natsu stops by a small chapel. They stood before the doors of the chapel, which was quite deserted since the chapel was quite secluded.
"Remember this place?" Natsu smiles as he remembers the first time he and Lucy went to this chapel
It was Lucy's birthday and she had an interview with Fairy Tail publication that day. She was just a recent graduate and she was really dreaming of being part of the company even just as a junior writer. She was nervous because she didn't want to fail this opportunity. So, Natsu brought her to the Aralia chapel, a church surrounded by different evergreen trees and shrubs. It has a peaceful ambiance, made the place like a paradise especially with the very exotic flowers growing around.
"Of course," Lucy answers then looks at Natsu with a thrill in her eyes, "This is the church you brought me to when I had an interview with Fairy Tail. We both prayed here that I'd get the job," Lucy then looked back at the chapel with glee in her eyes
"And you got the job," Natsu finishes as he grins at the chapel.
Soon, he runs towards the chapel and walks the aisle of the church. He had a thought in mind and he was excited about the idea. Natsu then stopped right in front of the altar and turns around to glance at Lucy. Right in that instance, he was awestruck. With her white dress and golden blonde locks, Natsu suddenly imagined Lucy as a real bride. She has a radiant glow around her with her eyes closed and a beautiful smile plastered on her face. When she opened her eyes, Lucy directly looked at him and smiled sweetly.
Looking around, Lucy saw a bunch of wild flowers by the entrance of the chapel and quickly picked the flowers. Smelling the sweet scent of the flowers, Lucy looked up at Natsu once again before she started walking towards the altar. With the soft glow of the sun as her background, Lucy was like walking into one of her dreams of a wedding. This is the kind of wedding she wants in real life.
Finally standing before Natsu, Lucy quickly noticed the red tint on Natsu's cheeks. Deciding to tease the man, she hits him in the shoulder with her flowers and said, "You think I'm pretty, right?" Lucy then chuckles when Natsu's eyes grew wide
"Wha-No, of course not," Natsu replies back as he looked away from Lucy, still feeling the warmth of his cheeks. When he looked at Lucy once again, she was already pouting, but he knew Lucy didn't take him seriously. So he surprised her with his words, "You looked beautiful,"
It was Lucy's turn to blush as she eyed the man, couldn't believe that Natsu was bluntly saying does words to her. It isn't unusual for Natsu to compliment her but when he does he always has a way to make her blush.
"Thank you," Lucy said, trying to sound confident but deep down she just wanted to hide her blushing face.
As the two stared at the simple altar, they couldn't help but close their eyes and pray for a moment. When Natsu was done, and Lucy wasn't, he suddenly murmured soft words to Lucy, "I was thinking,"
Lucy slowly opens her eyes and looked at Natsu and patiently waited for him to continue, "Let's get married here,"
Natsu said those words so soft and sincere that it startled Lucy and gasped in astonishment. She eyed him and mumbles back, "What?"
When Natsu realized what he said, he quickly stuttered and tried to clear out what he wanted to say, "I-I mean, I was thinking to use this chapel as our church… f-for our wedding, fake wedding,"
Lucy then relaxes as her heart finally slowed down in a beating, "Oh…Yeah, of course. This place is great,"
"I know people would expect us to choose Kardia Cathedral but this place holds more meaning for me…and for you," Natsu then smiles when Lucy nodded her head and smiled as well
"True. If I really do get married, I want this simple chapel," Lucy then smiled at the altar as she recalled her dream wedding.
As the two best friends stared at the altar, an elderly woman suddenly appeared by the doors of the chapel and was surprised to see them. She quickly walks in and caught the attention of the two, "Oh, I'm sorry! There is no priest today! Father Michael is in the Kardia Seminary doing a Pre-marriage seminar. You can't get married now,"
"Oh, no!" Lucy shook her head and hands as she slightly blushed at the thought of a secret wedding with Natsu, "We are not getting married!"
"Not this day," Natsu suddenly adds before he glances at Lucy, who was full blown blushing, "We are to get married in three months,"
"Oh, is that so?" The elder then walks closer to them and eyed the two before she nods her head, "Well, then have you scheduled an interview?"
"Interview?" Lucy repeats before she looked at Natsu for any thoughts but the man was clueless as her, "What interview?"
"Well, before you get to have a seminar, the priest has to interview the bride and the groom then that's the only time you will be able to have a pre-marriage seminar,"
Natsu and Lucy then nod their head in understanding. As Lucy thought of dismissing the idea and just head on, she was taken aback when Natsu suddenly said, "Then schedule us for an interview,"
"When?" The elder asked
"What?!" Lucy looked at Natsu with surprise but the man didn't mind her as he answered the elder woman instead
"Wednesday of the second week of May," Natsu then grins when he watched the elder write down the schedule in a small notepad
"Alright then. I'll be putting this on schedule, just come by again here. What are your names?" The old woman looked at the two
"Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia," Natsu said before he steps down and helped the elder woman spell out their names. Lucy was just standing at the altar, not really understanding how this simple visit to the chapel turned out to be scheduling for an interview before the pre-marriage seminar.
"Okay…" The elder then thought for a second, "Wait a minute, do you happen to be children of the Heartfilia and Dragneel family, who owns big companies?"
"Yep," Natsu simply answered as he grinned at the old lady
"Ohh," The woman awed before she leans forward and whispered to Natsu, "Then you should choose the Kardia Cathedral,"
"No. My fiancée likes this chapel. Right, Luce?" Natsu then looked at Lucy but he was quite stunned to see Lucy was staring off, so confused, "I-I think she's being overwhelmed…" Natsu states before he looks back at the elderly woman
the old woman then chuckles as she nods her head and turns away from them, "Oh young love…"
"When's the wedding?" The old lady asks without glancing at the two and just kept on walking towards the back door of the chapel
"June 30!" Natsu exclaimed, finally snapping Lucy out of her daze, and the older woman has affirmed the words of the pinkette and disappears behind the door of the church.
"Wait, June 30?" Lucy finally asks as she steps down and stood next to Natsu, "Why that date?"
"Nothing in particular," Natsu replies back as he shrugs his shoulder, "It's just that, the next day should be your birthday,"
Lucy then stayed silent for a moment as she thought about that logic, "Then I'll have the saddest birthday…"
"Why?" Natsu asked
"Well…by that time I should have a canceled wedding and I couldn't celebrate because I should be crying my eyes out," Lucy then looked up at Natsu and saw that he understood her point
"Oh…I never thought that" Natsu then looked down to his hands before he glances at Lucy again, "Sorry,"
"It's fine…after all, it would just be an act," Lucy then smiled at Natsu before she wraps her arms around his and urged him to go on, "Come on, it's time to go…" and with that, the two walked away from the chapel and headed back to the city.
Parking the car to the side, Lucy immediately steps down from the car and closed the door. When Natsu stepped down as well but stayed by the driver's side, he then said to Lucy, "I'll wait up for you here,"
"You'll wait?" Lucy asks confused before she looks down to her wrist watch and saw there is still an hour before her official time off, "But I still have an hour before I'm allowed to leave,"
"Yeah, I know. But I'll still wait up for you here," Natsu then grins at the blonde. He was about to tell her to get in when Lucy suddenly said, "You know what, come on," Lucy then walked up to him and tugged him along inside the building.
"Wait, Luce, I can just wait in the car," Natsu reasons out but the blonde shook her head as she continued to head towards the elevator
"No, just stay by my office…I'm sure they wouldn't mind," Lucy said as she presses the up button of the elevator
"But then we have to act like a couple," Natsu argues again. Lucy then looks at him and silently thought. As she looks away, Lucy shrugged her shoulder and said, "People here always thought we dated,"
Ding!
"Come on," and with that, Lucy tugged Natsu inside the elevator.
When they have reached the 15th floor, Lucy and Natsu was quickly greeted by the new receptionists of the department. As they stepped out, the two girls in the front desk suddenly perked up and greeted Natsu flirtatiously, "Good afternoon, sir," the two ladies greeted with a very teasing smile
Unconsciously, Lucy wraps her arm around Natsu's as she greeted the two ladies instead, "Good afternoon, ladies,"
"G-good afternoon, Ms. Lucy," The receptionists then bows their head before they sat down back to their chairs and mumbled about how embarrassing they were
Chuckling a little with how the two girls became bashful, Natsu couldn't help but notice the happy expression of the blonde. Natsu then comments about it, "You seem so happy now,"
"Am I?" Lucy asks back as she smiles at her best friend. Before Natsu could reply to Lucy a door suddenly opens and Enno comes out of the room.
"Oh, Lucy, Natsu" Enno then closes her door and stares at the couple, "Where did you two go? I thought you and Levy went out to have a meeting with Ms. Grandine?"
"We did," Lucy answers as she pulls her arms away from Natsu, "Um, she was in the middle of preparing for an event. So, Levy stayed behind and Natsu and I-"
"We went church searching," Natsu suddenly interrupts the blonde, who looked at him with wide eyes but Natsu just shrugged and continued, "And we found the church we want. We were even able to schedule an interview,"
"Oh, right the interview with the priest," Enno nods her head as she was now more interested in the progress of the wedding preparation, "You need that so that you could have a pre-marriage seminar. So when will it be?"
"Wednesday of the second week of May," Natsu answers and he was quickly pinched in the side by Lucy, who threatened him to shut up but the man just shook his head and grin
"Ahh, when will the wedding happen?"
"June 30!" Lucy quickly answers as she began to push Natsu forward and say, "Um, sorry, Enno-sama but could we go ahead first? I remembered Natsu and I have to talk about something- about the interview of Mr. and Mrs. Dragneel!"
"Oh," Enno expressed as she watches the two walked ahead and soon goes inside the office of the blonde, "Okay…" she then shrugged her shoulders and went on her way
As Lucy and Natsu were inside the office, Natsu quickly took his seat on the couch as Lucy sits on her computer chair. Sighing, she leans on her table with her arms over the desk and cups her cheeks with an open palm.
"Well, I didn't expect to see Enno-sama…" Lucy mutters as she and Natsu looked at one another
"What's wrong if she knows a few things about the wedding?" Natsu asks as he rests his back to the couch
"She's friends with your mom and my mom. Probably, she'll be sharing what she heard, just like how your mom and my mom knew Levy is my maid-of-honor," Lucy then stood up and walked to her couch. Sitting next to Natsu, she rested her head against his shoulder and sigh, "But I guess it's inevitable…people just keeps on knowing what is happening to our wedding,"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Natsu then rests his head on her head and closed his eyes. And there, the two enjoyed the peaceful silence they have in the office.
Standing by the ceiling to floor window, a brown-haired man stood before it with his hands shoved inside his slacks pants as he gazed at the setting sun over Crocus. He is just wearing his dress shirt with its sleeves rolled until his elbows since his suit jacket was hanged by his computer chair. He silently listened to the buzzes of cars as people went on their way home or someplace else.
The door to the man's office suddenly opens and a middle-aged woman suddenly peeps in to check on the man. As the middle-aged woman saw the man just standing by the window, she softly went and closed the door.
"Mr. Aikawa," the woman softly calls and the man slowly turns to look at her. When the man looked at her with regard, he quickly smiled and walked back to his chair and took his seat
"Yes, architect Byora," the man answers as the architect quickly walked up to him and handed a slip of paper
"Jukito Matsumuri called five minutes ago and he told me that he will be free by June," Mrs. Byora then smiled genuinely at the man, who perked up with the news
"That's great! Where can I meet him so that I could finalize the plan?" the man began to search a file over his stack of folders
"He'll be in Magnolia. Mr. Matsumuri said that he'll be visiting his friend and that he'll be vacationing there as well. So you don't have to worry about trying to catch an early flight, Raito," the woman then chuckles as the man suddenly grinned at her
"Sorry boss, just making sure…" the man name Raito said before he stops fumbling with his file and just grinned at the senior architect, "I just want to finish the blueprint so that we could start the construction of the building,"
"You know, Raito, you are a young architect who has more adventures to look forward to. Take your time and relax a bit. You know what I'll book you a flight to Magnolia on the third week of May," Mrs. Byora then smiles excitedly for the architect
"But Mr. Matsumuri will be there by June," Raito then tilts his head in confusion
"I know, but I want you to go there in Magnolia and take a break before you start any official meeting with Jukito," the senior architect then taps the slip of paper she handed as she leans close to the brown-haired man, "Finish your latest project and make sure by May you're ready to go to Magnolia. Okay?"
"Yes ma'am," Raito answers with a gentle bow of his head and looks up at his boss
"Good. I'll leave you now," and with that, the woman turned away and headed for the door. But as soon as she opens the door, she mumbled an, "Oh," before she looked at Raito once again and said, "Don't stay too late. Why not go out and socialize?"
"I will," Raito then chuckles when the woman looked at him with a mocking smile before she turns away and closes the glass door.
As he was alone, he twirled his chair to gaze at the tall buildings before him. Raito began to think about the place Magnolia. That was a memorable city for him because that was where he really fell in love for the first time and if he may say the last time as well.
"I hope I can see you around," Raito then pauses as he stares at the soft glow of the setting sun, "Lucy,"
To be continued…
