Chapter 2

Lyla remembered the day she officially moved to the village. Unbeknownst to the gift shop proprietor, she was able to begin her business thanks to the dedication of his destined husband, Jack, but the farmer at that time was far too shy about love to reveal his efforts and his motivation.

It seemed fated that the first person she ran into was the hesitant rancher himself. While they never really communicated much, the two of them would exchange a few words together, and, when he actually felt like it, Jamie would even help out the gift shop now and then. Even when Basil the botanist came into the picture and befriended the fair lady, this quiet relationship remained stable between the two of them, until Lyla's love life came into the picture.

The rancher's eyes narrowed. "It wasn't right to do that. Especially as a means to fufill your romantic fantasies" he growled. "In that way, you might actually be an even worse manipulator than your husband..."

For the first time in a while, Lyla's usual smile went upside down. "...I'm... I'm sorry..." she uttered with a heavy breath.

After finding herself into really good terms with Basil, the shy inventor Louis arrived.

He had short, messy black hair and had to wear glasses due to his poor eyesight. He also wore an olive green work shirt and khaki pants with a maroon tie.

He was thoroughly in awe of Lyla's beauty, and was more than welcome to contribute to the shop. Unfortunately, his introverted nature, along with Basil's generosity towards Lyla, was two major obstacles that stood in his way.

In his mind, hearty botanist more than trumped the poor inventor. Basil's healthy body gleamed in comparison to Louis' weak constitution. Also, his interest and extensive knowledge in plants seemed to fascinate Lyla way more than his "peculiar" interests in minerals and dark, narrow places.

Despite his lack of self confidence, Lyla had a talent for noticing romantic feelings, and was aware of Louis' for quite some time. However, the aspiring romantic had pictured the ideal fantasy, and hoped Louis would fulfill it for her.

For weeks, she was patient, being momentarily content with Louis' acts of kindness. All that time, she imagined the spectacled patron to gather up his courage and woo her with the most heart-warming confession she would experience.

At the same time, a frustrated Jamie secretly knew what was going on, and persistently tried to persuade Lyla from continuing her little farce.

"Please... stop this. Don't you think this little love game has gone far enough? Just say what you must to Louis and take away the tension, already!" He demeaned while inLyla'sgift shop one day.

Lyla released a wistful sigh. "You aren't mature enough to understand, Dear Jamie. This is my one chance at true love, and it must be special. In order for everything to be perfect, Louis must be able to rise above his personal obstacles in order to become my knight in shining armor. I know how shy he is, but I can feel the passion burning inside of him. I'm sure he'll find his inner strength one day. Why can't you have confidence in him?" she explained.

The rancher growled. "Quit trying to live out your little fantasies! Your little "fairy tale notions" of love are nothing but lies! Everything doesn't just conveniently fall into place to create a "happily ever after" ending! It almost NEVER works like that!"

Lyla giggled, slightly amused by her friend's answer. "It's a shame that you hold on to your pessimistic beliefs like that. Maybe on that special day, when you finally open your heart to someone, will you understand what it is I aspire to accomplish!" she smiled.

The desperate rancher lowered his head as he recalled the beautiful face of the Harvest Goddess, and how grateful he felt for being cared for by her. "No... you're wrong... I was loved by her, and I loved her, but now she's turned to stone by filthy human hearts. She left me here all alone, and now I don't even understand what to do to get her back" he thought.

He then looked at pink-haired beauty in the eyes, seeing one he viewed as the mortal incarnation of his precious Goddess being corrupted by her idealized view of romance. "Will you PLEASE get your head out of the clouds just for a moment and LISTEN to what I have to say?" he pleaded.

"I want... to feel my heart skip on the day he tells me. I want to experience the warmth of when we first embrace. I feel so close to true love, and yet, simply knowing isn't enough. Louis loves me, and I know that in return I will love him back even more with the heart he possesses" she uttered in yearning.

Jamie shook his head in disgust, but part of him understood what it was she hoped for. Still, he could not approve of her methods. "You're using your close friendship with Basil to make him jealous! You're just sitting back and waiting for him to make the first move! All you're doing is toying with his emotions with some crazed belief that he'll make your dreams come true! Do really comprehend what's going on? You're too cought up in your romance with Louis that you don't even realize--"

The rancher stopped himself before revealing something of greater significance. He remembered the sudden change of habits his rival Jack made. Ever since Lyla moved in, Jack was hoarding blueberries throughout the village, with little intention of selling them. At first, Jamie believed they were a gift for the sickly maiden Dia, as heard that the two of them have been getting along really well recently, until he heard from Lyla about his ample generosity involving those same blueberries. In any case he couldn't find that treasured fruit, the friendly farmer would share a jar of Blueberry Jam with her. Overall, he noted Jack's increasingly frequent travels to Hearty Lyla, and realized his rival farmer was really interested in her friend.

Still, he was not about to help his hated rival in pursuing his love life. At this time, he would rather die in a putrid wasteland than aid him in anything.

"I don't realize what?" Lyla asked curiously.

Jamie shook his head. "Never mind that, it's nothing" he answered.

But the gift shop owner wasn't convinced. "No, really, I'd like to hear what you have to say" she insisted.

Again, the icy-eyed cowboy shook his head. "Honestly, it's not important" he assured her.

"Are you jealous?" Lyla abruptly asked.

Jamie froze up, his body swelling with a rage beyond anything his rival could ever provoke.

"That's the last straw," he thought to himself furiously.

In the midst of the complicated love story unfolding in Flower Bud Village, Jamie wanted nothing to do it. His heart had been betrayed by humans far too long in his life time, and the only one he had ever truly loved had turned herself to stone. With the dire situation before him, the diligent rancher wanted nothing more than to save him. At this point in time, pursuing love with a human was frivolous. If anything, such a thing was little more than a joke to him.

"If I stay involved in this, I'll only serve to further complicate her romantic fantasies. There's no way am I going to be dragged into this drama" he thought in frustration.

Jamie then made his way towards the door. "Lyla, I don't know how long you'll be attached to your foolish romance, but I don't want any part of it, understand?" he shouted.

The disgruntled rancher then marched out of Hearty Lyla, effectively abandoning a friendship in the process.

For a long time, the startled young lady gazed upon the slammed door. It was until later that Jamie's words started sinking in..

A few days after the incident with Jamie, a nervous Louis came to fix up a new invention for the gift shop. Again, he was disheartened and jealous of how happy Basil seemed to make Lyla. Only this time, he finally learned of his other potential Rival, Jack, as he happened to visit while at work.

As the two rivals were left alone in the gift shop, for the first time in his whole life, the spectacled inventor snapped and attacked the hapless farmer, ruining some of the shop's inventory in the process. Somehow, as both men were forced out of the shop in their confrontation, a clueless Lyla confused Louis' act of violence as an act of bravery, believing that he saved the farmer from falling Jam jars. Weary from his outburst, the fatigued inventor had to return to the Work Shop.

This left Lyla with a greater sense of ambiance for Louis, and Jack with a sense of rejection. Still, the two were together to clean up the store, but a dejected Jack felt it was necessary to help out Lyla in starting a relationship with Louis.

After that day, Lyla expressed even more gratitude for his personal project, and became increasingly affectionate towards Louis, which coaxed a confession from him the following week. The happy couple enjoyed their relationship for a couple of weeks until Jack's sudden absence in her life began haunting her.

"Do really comprehend what's going on? You're too caught up in your romance..."

"Everything doesn't just conveniently fall into place to create a "happily ever after" ending!"

Jamie's words echoed fiercely in her mind as well. And for the first time in her life, Lyla realized just how much love can hurt someone.

As time moved on, her guilt and concern for Jack gradually grew. Her time with Louis became less enjoyable, and the young inventor started to notice how "distracted" Lyla became. The couple felt their relationship couldn't go on this way, and eventually parted ways.

Crushed by his former love's newfound emotions, the troubled Louis went to his best friend Ann for emotional support, while Lyla confronted Jack with her own feelings.

Although she found a true soul mate in the new farmer, she was still troubled over toying with Louis' feelings and having to break up with him. Jack felt nearly as guilty as his sacrifice ended up doing more harm than good to the poor inventor.

To this day, even after their happy marriage, the loving couple is still concerned about Louis' well being.

Author's Note: Okay, maybe this angsty reflection on the past wasn't as grand as I thought it could be. I got a little writer's block into trying to make this specific part good, which is why I ended up changing this from a one-shot to a few short Chapters. Still, I have a bad feeling I'll be confusing/disappointing people with this Chapter... er... sorry!