The day of the festival finally arrived, and in Mario's house he was the first one to wake up. He quickly entered his bedroom's bathroom and gave himself a good shower, still thinking about how he would behave during the festival. Should he maintain a calm mood? Or would it be ok if he started flirting with Rosalina? After all, it was the love festival, and she would be fascinated if she got kissed under the star shower that night … right? And that would be her first kiss … and that thought send shivers through Mario's back. Rosalina hadn't kiss anyone on her life, moreover, she never had a date before. How would she react if he suddenly got close to her with the intention to kiss her? Would she get scared? All those ideas were constantly coming in and out of Mario's mind while he was taking a shower, and even when he was getting dressed.

He went out of his room with his towel over his shoulder, wearing blue jeans and a red shirt and started walking through the hallway, still thinking about the festival. Once he was close to Rosalina's room door, it suddenly opened and the master luma went out of it, who hugged Mario after noticing he was there, taking him out of his thoughts. "Hi Mario!" The little one greeted him, and Mario playfully hugged him back, kindly answering. "Hi luma, I see you woke up feeling enthusiastic." The luma lifted his body a bit, looking directly at Mario's face with his little eyes, and answered. "I'm like this for the festival! I've never been to one before, and mom says it'll be fun …" Rosalina leaned out the door, wearing a blue blouse and white jeans, and was about to say hi to Mario when the luma finished his sentence. "… specially if you go with her." The luma's words surprised Mario, and Rosalina floated back into her room with her face red out of shame for what the luma revealed. Mario, on the other side, softly laughed to hide the shock that those words caused to him. "Well, that probably is because your mother and I are good friends, and we always have a lot of fun together."

"I know, you don't have to explain it to me."

Mario looked directly at the luma, feeling a little bit dumb for trying to convince the luma of something he was already thinking. 'He is a child Mario, of course he didn't think that Rosy said that because she has romantic intentions with you … moron.' He thought, releasing the luma. "So, tell me; did your mother wake up already?"

"Yeah, in fact, I thought she was right behind me … I'm sure she went to the bathroom."

"In that case lets go to the kitchen and start cooking, that way we'll surprise her with breakfast once she arrives."

"Sure!" The luma answered.

They went to the kitchen, and once Rosalina heard them going downstairs, she started slowly coming out of her bedroom, covering her body with the entrance while she nervously looked at the hallway. 'I must be careful with what I say in front of my son, he tells Mario everything he hears me say about him.' She thought, after what she completely came out of her bedroom, softly closing the door behind her. She then started at the hallway, directly into the stairs, and she stayed floating still, meditating about the festival. She thought it was a good idea at first, but after meditating it for a longer time it started terrifying her and she wasn't sure if she wanted to go with Mario. 'It's a love festival, and there surely be couple activities and we aren't a couple; what if things get awkward? Or if I do something ridiculous, embarrassing Mario in front of everyone else?' While she was thinking she started to agitatedly breath due to how tense and nervous she was getting. 'Why did I act so impulsively and say yes to him, or when thinking that asking him out was a good idea? … … … well, at least the luma will be with us.' She sighed felling more calmed. 'Maybe this festival is what I need to put this in the past, to … forget what I feel for Mario before it hurts me more. I think it'll be the best.' Once she was totally calmed, she went downstairs and found Mario and the luma at the kitchen.

"Good morning, Rosy." Mario greeted her with a smile, and the luma floated towards his mother and hugged her. "I'm glad you came down mama, we are making breakfast."

Rosalina let out a soft giggle and caressed the little luma. "Well, you aren't the only one hungry."

The luma separated from his mom and floated towards Mario, who Rosalina greeted from a distance. "Good morning … Mario." She went out to hang her towel, after what she came back in and started helping with breakfast.

Curiously, Mario and Rosalina didn't talk to each other again during the entire breakfast, since both had nailed on their minds the festival that would start in a few hours. You could feel the tension between them, being that none of them dared to talk about said festival, and that was everything they could think about. No matter how much they strived to pretend that it wasn't anything important, just remembering that the topic was love (specially couple love) made them feel uncomfortable, since even though they were aware of what they felt for each other, none of them was betting on a functional relationship between them, each one for their own motives. Their feelings got maximized for spending so much time together and reached a peak once they conceived the idea of going together to the festival. That night would be the fire test, on which they could keep going normally and sooner or later forget what they feel now, or where everything would explode, leaving them on an awkward situation without an opportunity to go back, putting their friendship on danger. If the latter happens, it was uncertain if they would give the next step, or if they would spent Mario's entire life avoiding each other.

Meanwhile the luma was too busy eating to notice the tense situation in which Mario and Rosalina were. After breakfast, Rosalina quickly commented that she would go to the observatory to see her children and take a look at how the reparations were going. This surprised the luma, who was hopping to spend more time with Mario. "But mama, I was my brother yesterday, today I want to stay here and play with Mario."

Rosalina looked directly at the little one, noticing on his gaze that he wanted to stay. Mario didn't know what to say, so to avoid choosing one option he simply stayed silent. "Besides, why do you want to go? Yesterday you returned here because you wanted to spend more time with Mario and …"

"I need time to think!" Rosalina quickly commented, looking down to avoid looking at Mario or the luma's eyes.

"Th~that's a go~good idea. The luma can stay with me in the meantime." Mario rapidly answered, willing to end with that awkward moment.

"Yes, I agree!" Rosalina looked up, to her son's eyes. "Behave yourself with Mario … I'll be ba~back for the festival. Bye!" Rosalina stood up and went to the house's entrance without saying anything else, disappearing from the place.

Mario let out a heavy sigh and relaxed his body, letting his weigh to carry him to the edge of his seat. The luma, on the other hand, looked at him, confused. "Is something wrong with mom?" Mario gazed at the luma's eyes, innocently smiling at him. "You shouldn't worry about everything. Just human things."

"Ok." The luma answered, slightly nodding. He knew that if something bad was happening to his mother Mario would've been the first one to go behind her; so, he could be sure that everything would be back to normal soon. "So, what do you want to do now?" The luma asked, curious about it.

"Being honest, I don't know." Mario put one of his hands under his chin and closed his eyes, thinking. "I know!" He shouted, snapping his fingers. "We can go to the city and look up some stores, I'm certain we'll find something that'll catch your attention." The luma made some treble sounds in approbation and excitement for the idea, so they went out of Mario's house towards the city.

In the meantime, Rosalina appeared on her home, and she simply passed from talking to her lumas and went directly to her room, locking herself inside it, sitting against her bed's side, lying her back on it. Her bedroom was one of the first places that got repaired, but she didn't want to go back yet, or at least that's how she felt before her feelings exploded, confusing her. She put her legs close to her body and held them with her arms, burying her face between them, laying his head on her knees. She was scared and confused, and a small tear came from her visible eye and started trailing down her cheek. 'Why is this happening to me? I'm not like this … and I … I didn't expect that something that I've desired to experience for so long, such as falling in love with someone else, to be so problematic and … annoying. I just … want it to be over.'

Suddenly, Polari softly pushed the door, talking from outside of the room. "Can I come inside?" He calmly and comprehensively asked since he noticed Rosalina's attitude and wanted to help her.

The lumas' mother looked at the door and stayed silent, thinking about Polari's proposition for a few seconds. He couldn't help her much on the topic of feelings, but he was the only one she could talk at all about what was bothering her, since he won't talk about it with any of her friends and Polari was a mature enough luma to understand the topic. "S~sure, come in Polari. I didn't expect to be seen by anyone."

The oldest luma entered the room, closed the door and slowly floated towards her, sitting on the edge of the bed to talk to her on a comfortable position. "I noticed that you've been more distracted, and a bit altered as of lately. You haven't been the same since this whole thing started, so I've been watching you closely." He calmly commented.

Rosalina melancholically sighed and lifted her face a bit, wiping her frustration tear. However, she didn't look at Polari, speaking while she directly looked at the wall. "You are right, I've been feeling different lately, and … I believe that I need to talk with someone about this, if you don't mind it."

"Not at all, you know you can count on me for whatever you need." The old luma answered.

Rosalina felt relieved that Polari had so many years, because that way she had someone adult to talk with. Before meeting Mario and the others, Polari was the one she could talk without taking care about the topics she touched, because since the lumas were like children she didn't want to confuse or overwhelm them with serious or adult topics. So, she relaxed and turned around to see Polari in the eyes, getting on that environment of confidence with him. "Well, I'm sure you are already aware of my friendship with Mario; right?"

"Yes, you two are very close friends. In fact, I believe he is the one you get along with the best from all your friends. I remember that when he was around here you two used to talk for long periods of time."

"You are right, he is a very close friend, but … I believe that in my heart … he is more than that."

Polari let out a small sigh. "I was afraid that this day would come, sooner or later."

"Excuse me?" A confused Rosalina asked.

"I know you don't have a stone heart, Rosalina, so I always knew that sooner or later you'd end up falling in love. I was hopping to be wrong though, since I knew that due to all the time you spent alone with us, which caused a shy and reserved attitude on you, those strong feelings would make you more bad than good."

Rosalina slightly smiled. "You are wise, there's no doubt about it."

"Well, I haven't lived that many years just because; besides, you aren't the only one that reads at the library." Polari made a small pause, after what he got closer to Rosalina and put his little arm on her shoulder. "So, tell me. Are these feelings new?"

The smile on Rosalina's lips disappeared, transforming into a worried expression. "I believe that no, it's just that I never realized what I feel for Mario until … until we spent so much time together and alone. And I should feel great about falling in love with someone so close to me, but … I'm still scared, nonetheless. What if he doesn't feel the same way? I don't want to ruin our friendship; I don't want to lose him." While Rosalina was talking her voice started getting higher until it cracked during the last sentence. "But every time I see him I think about every time I've been close to him and I just … I just want to hug him with love and … and feel how he also hugs me and says nice things to me and … how he shares my pastimes with passion, I want to snuggle with him and hear his heartbeats, I want to hold his hand, I want … I want to kiss him and spend all the time of the world together." Rosalina's eyes got tearful. "But I'm afraid he doesn't want the same, and that hurts me."

Once Rosalina finished talking, Polari floated towards her head and started softly caressing her, like if he were lulling her. "Change is scary, I know that. When our mother mysteriously disappeared, I knew that everything would be different, that we would have to wander in loneliness for the rest of time. And when I saw you with the rest, who were already calling you mom, I must say that I felt uncomfortable. I could've shielded myself behind my feelings, but instead I decided to give you an opportunity, and all this time later I can say thar having you here is the best thing that could've happened."

Rosalina looked at Polari, who kept talking. "Maybe I don't know much about feelings, but I can tell that Mario loves you, and a proof of that is that he let you stay at his house without putting many objections. I know that the uncertain can be scary, but tell me; what would you do if one day Mario gets a couple? Because when that happens, it'll be too late for you. These feelings won't disappear easily, and I'm sure Mario won't abandon you because of your feelings towards him." Polari started wiping Rosalina's tears, and she put her hands over her eyes, softly scrubbing them. "For you it's easy to say that."

"The only thing I can do is advise you, and I must say that another pair of hands helping you up here would benefit you a lot, and the lumas like Mario a lot." Polari caressed Rosalina's head one last time, and then started going away from her. "No matter what you end up doing, don't go away from Mario with the hope that those feelings will disappear. Get closer to him instead and enjoy his company as much as you can. It isn't necessary for you to do extremely romantic stuff; just be yourself, and I'm sure that he would also love to be with you. Don't doubt that you are a great person Rosalina, and I know that Mario would never hurt you, and I believe you know it too. Just don't lock yourself here, you've been too much time alone, and I believe that you should give you the chance to have a couple."

"Being … myself?"

"Yes, with your seriousness and your shyness, your innocence and affection."

Polari turned around and went out of Rosalina's bedroom, who stayed there thinking about what she heard. She remembered everything he lived with Mario and how he never pushed her to the side, and instead he always wanted to be with her. 'He was as nervous as I am for tonight. At first I thought that it was because he wasn't sure about going to the festival with me, but … if it is because he is as confused as I am?' She thought, looking at the roof. 'The love festival, under a star shower.' She smiled, slightly blushing. 'I don't lose anything by trying, specially because we'll have a luma with us. Although, now that I'm a bit more optimistic … I'd like to have a bit of romance as well.'

And while Rosalina was meditating what she would do, Mario and the luma were exploring the city, and the little luma moved quickly from window to window, carefully looking at everything the stores had to offer. From sport gear to electronics, everything caught the curious luma's attention, and Mario was just walking behind him, smiling. They suddenly stopped in front of a chocolate store, with Mario standing besides the luma. "I hope there would be lots of candies at the festival … although mom won't let me eat many of them there." The luma commented, sounding a bit disappointed at the end.

"Oh, yes … the festival." Mario answered, a bit uncomfortable.

"What's going on?" The luma asked.

Mario looked at him, thinking of a way to explain him the motive behind his attitude. "Well, you'll see, I haven't had good experiences with romance before, and since the festival is about love, I don't know how I would feel when seeing all those happy couples around me."

"But you have my mama." The luma answered. "She is going to be with you the whooooole festival, and if you want, I can ask her to hold your hand if it helps you to feel more comfortable."

Mario let out a nervous chuckle, smiling at the luma. "This is more complex than you believe, but I appreciate the effort to make me feel better."

"Wow, this is truly complex. I've seen that you like to be together a lot, and when you are together mom is usually happier and more cheerful. But you know about that stuff more than me." He looks at the window. "I only know that I want to see you happy, because I love both of you. And we are going to have a lot of fun tonight!"

Mario looked at the luma, and after a few seconds he looked at the store's windows, looking at the chocolates on the other side. 'Whether she feels the same way or not, I think the luma is right. I'll be with her the whole festival, and couple or not, I adore her company.' Mario softly sighed. 'I just need to calm down and go at her rhythm, without rushing it. After all, tonight will be for everyone to enjoy … I just hope for my brain to always go before my feelings when taking decisions.' Feeling more relaxed, Mario stayed with the luma the rest of the afternoon, and Rosalina returned just in time for lunch. They greeted each other as usual, with the tension of the morning gone, but still nervous about the night, which arrived quicker than they expected.