Jack groaned and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Mumu. Her face looking down at him with relief. He looked around his surroundings and noticed he was in a bedroom lying on a comfortable bed. Mumu was sitting on a stool beside him. She gave him a small smile.
"How are ya' feeling?" she asked.
"I've been better." Jack said. "What happened?"
"Rokku threw something at cha' that's what." Mumu said with distaste. "I gave him a good talking to though." Jack's eyes widened slightly.
"Rokku? But why…?" he asked.
"'Cause he's a jerk, that's why. Well, I'm glad your doing bedda'." She smiled tenderly. Jack smiled back.
"Me too." He said, and placed his hand over hers. She looked down at their hands, blushing furiously, then looked at Jack. They began leaning their faces toward each other, their eyes partly closed. Their lips were about to touch…
Bam!! Went the door, and Gafan walked in with a tray of ham sandwiches. They both quickly backed away from each other, both blushing.
"Hey Mumu, thought you could use a little snack." Gafan said cheerily. He saw Jack sitting up and smiled.
"Well, hello there Jack. Glad to see your awake. You must be hungry too." He placed the tray on the bedside table. He noticed that both of them were looking down at their hands, blushing. Gafan placed two and two together, and realized what was going on.
"Well, uh, I'll just go downstairs and get you two some drinks. Is lemonade ok?" Jack and Mumu nodded. "Ok then." He walked out and shut the door gently. There was an uncomfortable silence.
"…"
"…"
"Er," Jack began. "Just where exactly am I?" Mumu coughed.
"Your at the bar, in my room. It was the closest place we could take you to get your bandaged up." Jack momentarily put a hand to his head only to feel bandages wrapped around it. Jack smiled.
"Thank you for your hospitality."
"Oh, its no trouble at all, Jack." Mumu said, waving her hand in dismissal. Jack thought for a moment.
"Hey, Mumu, I'm really sorry our date turned out to be a disaster."
"Oh, its not your fault." Mumu began.
"Yes, I know, but I still want to make it up to you." He got up from the bed and took her hands into his. "If you'll allow me, I'd like to go out with you again." Mumu nodded, completely speechless. He smiled. "Great. Well, thanks again, but I need to get back to the farm. I'm sure I've got a lot of catching up to do." He left. Mumu was silent for a while. She smiled to herself, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Jack is the greatest guy I've ever met next ta' Gafan. He's too good ta' be true, but he is true. Gafan walked in with some glasses of lemonade.
"Hey, where's Jack?" He asked
"He went home." Mumu said. Gafan shook his head in amazement.
"That boy's gonna' work himself to death one of these days, you just wait." Gafan said laughing. Mumu just smiled.
During the following weeks, Mumu and Jack developed a sort of routine with their visits. Mumu would eat her breakfast and walk over to Jacks farm, where she chatted with him as he worked. She even helped out a little, by feeding the chickens and collecting their eggs and watering plants. Jack was very grateful for her help. Then she would go back to the bar in the evenings and pull her shift. Then, during any times that Jack could pull himself from his work, they would go out on dates. Rokku had finally left Mumu alone, after feeling very guilty at what he did to Jack. Of course, he went on to pursue another girl, (cough, Nami, cough) but that's another tale.
Soon came Autumn, then Winter. Mumu had to stop her morning walks due to the heavy amount of snow that was now covering Forget-me-not village. Jack had to heard all his animals into the barn, and chop down wood for the fire. It was too late for crop growing now. Luckily, he had a decent amount of money to spend on food and feed for the animals. Today, he was running low on supplies so he prepared himself to go to the village. He wrapped himself up in several layers, put on his mittens, hat, and boots, and went into the snow. Luckily for him, it had stopped snowing last night.
The snow was half way up to his knees. It was a long walk into town. Barely anyone was out at all, some people were shoveling out snow from their front doors, others were in a hurry to get out of the cold. Jack couldn't blame them, it was very cold. He shivered for a bit and walked into the grocery store. The shopkeeper welcomed him in.
"Good morning, Jack. I didn't expect you to come, with all this snow." The shopkeeper said warmly.
"Yeah, the snows pretty deep at the farm, even the ponds frozen up." Jack said.
"So, what can I get for you?" the shopkeeper asked. Jack proceeded to tell him the items that he wanted.
"Oh, and one more thing." Jack said. "You wouldn't happen to have a…."
"…sweetheart?" Mumu asked in surprise. Sepiria nodded. "Yes, isn't Jack your sweetheart? I mean, I've seen you two together for a while now." Sepiria was chatting idly to Mumu at the bar. It was still morning, and Gafan had agreed to help Betsy shovel out snow from her front door. In return, Sepiria agreed to help with the decorating of the bar for the winter festivities. Mumu blushed.
"Well, yeah, I guess he is my sweetheart." Mumu replied. Sepiria giggled.
"That's great, in that case, I'll be sure to vote you two for king and queen at the winter festival."
"Gee, thanks Sepiria. That's nice of ya'." They both continued decorating the tables with green and red tablecloths and hanging streamers and tinsel from the top of the walls.
"Hmm…" Sepiria said after a moment. "It looks like were out of fake snow for the counter."
"Don't worry about that." Mumu said cheerily. "We still got lots in the back room. Gafan loves da' holidays." Mumu giggled. Sepiria thanked her and left to the back room. Mumu hummed Jingle bells to herself as she continued to decorate. A big gust of wind blew in as the front door opened and closed. She turned around to see who it was. It was Jack! Mumu squealed in delight and ran up to him and gave him a big hug. Jack hugged her back.
"Oh, Jack. What are ya' doing here?" She said in surprise. "It's so cold out. You should be home sitting by da' fire and drinking hot cocoa." Jack smiled.
"I had to see you. I've got something very important to ask you." Jack replied. He shrugged off his coat and rummaged through his backpack till finding what he was looking for. He kneeled in front of Mumu and gently grabbed her hand, looking at her. He then presented her with a blue feather. Mumu gasped. It was a blue feather. A type of engagement gift.
"Mumu? I love you with all my heart, and it would bring me great joy if you would marry me." Jack looked hopefully into her eyes. Mumu gently took the feather with her free hand and looked at him, completely speechless. Then she gave him a big smile. Tears of joy were now leaking from her eyes.
"Sure." She said, sniffling. "Of course I will, Jack. It's a dream come true!" Jack stood up and wrapped his arms around her. Their lips finally met. In the background, Sepiria sniffled and blew her nose into a handkerchief, grinning happily. They were married a week later. Mumu quit her job at the bar and moved into Jacks farm. She couldn't have been happier.
AN: Whew, done. This was a nice tale to tell. Hope you
enjoyed it, and look forward to playing the game.