Many thanks to these sweet people - natnatgibbs, Mitsuki17, peaches7, averieartina, YourBuddyBJ-Z and Susie - for the wonderful reviews! :) And thanks to all for the follows, favourites! I did this chappy in a rush, so pardon any mistakes I made.

Me: Livi/Nike/others will not be having any screen time today because I've kicked them out of the room so that I can do my projects and assignments in silence and peace. They were really noisy... *Peace sign* XD

*Someone bangs on the door*

Livi&Nike&Neil&Bardouin: You should open up, Lolli~

Me: NEVER! Now shoo shoo~

They: *Continues banging and whining*

Me: *Throws my hands up in frustration* I'LL BUY YOU GUYS CREPES ONCE I'M DONE WITH MY ASSIGNMENTS, OKAY?

They: Deal! *walks away from my room*

Me: O.O That was easy...

Okay, continuing from where we left off...

WARNING: Please get ready Nike's song "Tender Rain" for later! And I do not own the song!

~ Chapter 8 The Rain and the Cosmo Flowers ~

"This place shall be our secret haven."

Her heart palpitated delightedly at his heartfelt words and her stomach did happy flips. She hasn't felt this carefree and happy for a while. In the castle, there were eyes everywhere watching every single movement she did and, she admitted, that this made her feel uncomfortable umpteen times. Walking like a real lady should, table manners, going on a diet - they were such a chore.

However, being here like this together with Livi, where she can be herself without holding back, it was such an euphoric moment. Even if this was a short time, she would be able to share this with Livi and only him. Besides, he would definitely bring her back here again in the future, Nike was sure of it.

Their foreheads were still pressing against each other and the heat from Livi's skin reminded her of their proximity. Red hues were threatening to brush her cheeks. Without thinking twice, she knocked his forehead using her forehead, but not too hard.

"Oww," he groaned exaggeratedly. He rubbed the spot on his forehead and narrowed his eyes at her. "Did you just knock my head?" he growled at her teasingly. She started to skitter away from him.

"And just when things are starting to get so sweeeeet..." he groaned.

A light, musical laughter escaped from her rosy lips as she ran even further away from him while Livi dumped the brown pack on the ground and chased after her. The couple played chase, lost in their own blissful world where there was nobody who could interrupt them.

Livi was a very fast runner even when he was in his child body, so of course, being in his adult body gave him longer legs and he sprinted even faster than before. He soon caught up with her quickly and hugged her from the back, creating an iron-like prison with his strong arms. He started to tickle her stomach, knowing that this was one of her weaknesses. This caused Nike to break out in hysterical giggles and her feet gave out, making both of them dropped down onto the ground and lay down on the bed of cosmo flowers.

"E-enuff, HAHAHA! L-Livi! Kyaa, stop!"

She cried out in between her giggles. When he stopped tickling her, she gasped loudly and tried to catch her breath. Her face was a bright shade of red from all the giggling and tickles.

"Hah... You... Are..." she panted heavily. "Evil."

Livi, who was lying beside her, laughed loudly. "And lovable," he added. "Don't forget that."

"Hmm maybe...or maybe not?" she mused. Hearing her words, Livi rolled over and gazed at her, his chin propped on one hand.

"Say it," he said. "Say that I'm lovable, otherwise..." He inched closer to her.

"W-what?" She glanced wide-eye at him. "Otherwise what?" But she knew perfectly well what he was intending to do.

"You know what I mean." His lips were approaching hers slowly and she stopped breathing. Her eyes were fixed on his lips that were getting closer and closer every second...

"W-wait! Fine! You are lovable!" she exclaimed, gripping his shoulders to hold him back. She waited for him to move away. But instead of doing that, he just raised his eyebrows while a smirk formed on his lips.

"I just recalled something," he spoke thoughtfully. "You never told me what was bothering you yesterday."

She stiffened instantly at his words. Memories of Livi and her sister flashed through her mind and she felt something weird poking her heart unpleasantly. However, with Livi's intense gaze fixed on her, she decided to tell him straight away without beating around the bush.

"Well, I saw you with Mira onee-chan yesterday..."

Oh, Nike saw us? Geez, it'll be bad if she suspect whatever that we are planning. He tried to maintain a composed look while thinking of an excuse. It wasn't hard though, knowing that she would buy it easily.

"Ahh I see... So, that was what made you so troubled? Silly Nike." He poked her forehead lightly. "I'm not having an affair with her, if that's what you are worrying about. Your sister was actually sharing with me some of your embarrassing stories."

Well, that wasn't technically a lie. Mira did told him about it.

"WHAT?" Nike's face burned with mortification immediately, not just because she actually doubted him, but because her sister has told him about 'the embarrassing stories' about her. She felt as though the sky was going to drop anytime. Her embarrassing stories were really EMBARRASSING, like the time where she actually peed on her bed when the lightning struck at the tree just right outside her bedroom window. When her sisters found her, they actually laughed at her before helping her, saying that she was too old to be peeing in bed.

But she was just seven then! Which child wouldn't be frightened?

"She told you what!?" she demanded. Oh boy, somebody was going to get killed by her.

He shook his head teasingly. "She said that you actually pulled a dog's tail when you mistaken it for-"

She clamped his mouth shut with her hand and his voice was muffled. She didn't want to hear him finish his sentence, it was way too embarrassing. She knew that a day when Livi would dig out all her secrets would come, but she wasn't prepared for it. Or you could say, she never would.

Something growled loudly in between them. She looked down, realizing that it was her stomach. Of all times, it has to growl NOW? Seriously? It seemed like her stomach was mocking her and deemed on embarrassing her too.

"Dnfk yajf wjakle kewakt qpdsm." Livi's mouth moved against her palm. She glanced at him, wondering if she should remove her hand.

"Promise me you won't laugh," she warned him.

She tried to imitate her sister's glare, shooting daggers at him with her eyes. He nodded his head and agreed quickly. Thinking that it worked, she removed her hand, but Livi burst out laughing immediately.

Liar. Her eyebrows quirked in annoyance and she glared at him.

"Hahahaha! You're so funny! I ought to ask your sister for more of your embarrassing stuff the next time." With that, he broke down into laughter once again.

"No, you won't," she muttered deadly while making a mental note to confront her sister. "I'll get my hands on her first before you do."

When his laughter finally died down, he cleared his throat to speak properly. "You're hungry, right? Come on, let's get some food into that hungry stomach of yours," he announced at the same time when her stomach rumbled again. This made her cheeks even redder.

Livi stood up, clearly holding back on his laughter, and held out a hand for her. She bit the insides of her cheeks in embarrassment and accepted his help. He pulled her up and led her back to the spot where he had dumped his pack on the ground.

She eyed the brown thing, realizing that she didn't ask the contents of the bag earlier. "What's inside?"

"Oh, this?" He pulled out a white picnic mat from the pack. "Food, of course. We can't miss out on a picnic in such a beautiful place and fine weather."

At the word 'picnic', Nike couldn't help but to squeal and jump up and down happily. She rarely had picnics in the past, not when there were wet puddles and mud in her country. It certainly wasn't a nice place to have a picnic outside when the rain kept drenching people and the food.

She helped Livi set up the picnic quickly. When they were done, there was quite a spread of mouth-watering food - apple pies, chocolate souffles, little strawberry cupcakes and many more. The amount of food was just right for two person. The chef, who always snuck her food, has clearly outdone himself again. She must thanked him once again when she was back at the castle.

"Let's tuck in!"

She picked up a souffle and took a bit. "Hmmm yummy!" She closed her eyes to savour the semi-sweet chocolate in her mouth.

"Here, try this." Livi took a strawberry cupcake and offered it to her. Muttering a thank you, she bit into it. Sweetness spread in her mouth instantly and she couldn't help but beamed delightedly like a kid. It was so delicious.

"It's good, right?" He grinned and ate the rest of the cupcake. Nike's eyes grew large as she watched him chewed on the food.

Oh my gosh! she screamed inwardly. An indirect k-kiss!?

When Livi felt her staring at him, he stared back. "What?" he asked. "Did I do something?" But realization soon dawned on him when he noticed where Nike was staring at.

"Heh, you want me to feed you again?" He took a piece of lemon blueberry cake with a fork and offered it to her. "Say ahhh..." he urged.

"W-what? It's f-fine, Livi! You eat it first!" she stammered, her cheeks flushing red.

"Really? Okay then..." He ate the cake swiftly and purposely made a satisfying 'hmmm' sound to tease her. She eyed him and the rest of the lemon blueberry cake on the plate. He always loved to mock her like this.

But he surprised her when he leaned forward suddenly and kissed her full on the mouth before she could even respond. The sourness and sweetness from the cake in his mouth spread to hers instantly. When they broke apart, her body was frozen while Livi grinned at her widely.

"Doesn't it taste great?" he asked innocently.

She covered her red face with the back of her hand. "Y-yeah, it does." Crap, why is he always the one who catches me off guard?

They continued eating on, with Livi trying to steal kisses from her a couple of times again. And he was successful each time. In revenge, she dipped a finger into the cream on the lemon blueberry cake and smeared it on his face. Livi, shocked at her move, soon has a wicked grin on his face.

"Oh no... You didn't just do that, Nike..."

She started running away, giggling, while he chased after her with the whipped cream on his fingers, trying to dirty her face too. The both of them ran and played wildly until they were out of breath and exhausted. They collapsed on the bed of flowers side by side, their dirty faces bathed in the mellow golden sunshine. They stared up at the clouds in the sky.

"Hey, what do you think Neil would say if he sees us like this?" Nike asked him curiously.

Livi let out a bark of laughter. "Hah! I bet he would be like this, 'Terrible! Oh this is terrible! I hope your people did not see you in such an ungraceful appearance, Your Majesty and Nike-sama!'" He imitated his butler's voice, causing both of them to break down into laughter again.

A few seconds of silence lapsed as they both enjoyed the beautiful sight and happiness. They didn't have to speak out loud for their minds were in sync. Neither one of them wanted this moment to end since they hardly get any privacy at their castle.

"Livi... Thanks a lot for today. It's the second best day in my life." She laced her fingers through his and smiled gratefully.

"What's the first?" he asked.

"Our wedding, of course," she replied immediately without any hesitation. She moved closer to him and lay her head on his chest, hearing his heartbeat clearly. Although she was still embarrassed about earlier, she wanted to be close to him like this now.

His arms wrapped her in a warm embrace. "Ahh... Same here too." He kissed her forehead gently. "I'll make sure to bring you out like this often, if it makes you this happy." Any smile from his wife erased off his stress and worry, leaving peace in his mind.

"Thank you."

They lay down in silence for a while before Livi spoke again.

"I've a request, Nike, before we go back home," he said. One of his hand was brushing through her silky hair.

"What is it?" she asked.

He sat up slowly, pulling her up along with him. He held her shoulders gently while his soft blue eyes locked hers in a loving gaze.

"Sing for me, will you?"

She leaned forward to peck his cheek. "Of course," she agreed. "I'll sing for you whenever you want."

Her head looked upwards slowly and she closed her eyes. Concentrating hard and taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to release her heavenly and soulful voice that would even shake mother nature.

"The sadness born today

Soars high into the sky

The sky opens its eyes and calls the wind

Making my heart tremble"

Colourful petals from the cosmo flowers swirled and danced around them magically along with the wind. Livi lifted a hand to catch a couple of them in his palm, before gazing at his rain princess again.

"I want to protect you, I want to feel our destiny

The tear you shed, the hollow in your heart

I want to fill it with happiness"

A thin layer of dark clouds covered the sky as light sparkling raindrops fell from the sky. It was so beautiful, like millions or thousands of diamonds dropping down that was filled with Nike and Livi's feelings in them.

"It's a tender rain

May this song reach your side

No matter how far we are apart

Please believe in those words I gave you

Singing in the rain

The raindrops are shinning beautifully

The moment when all the sadness is washed away

The world will come alive

Please come, the tender rain"

Her beautiful song came to an end. The clouds parted and sun rays streamed through. A rainbow was formed at the end, like a bridge to connect both of their souls together forever. The world that she gave him, was really gorgeous and irreplaceable. Livi gazed at his princess and smiled at her.

He loved her so much. And he knew that she felt the same too.

"Thank you, Nike."

~ oOo ~

The couple packed up their things and left the field. Their white horse carried both of them on its back and galloped back to the castle. Blissful and untroubled expressions on their faces, they teased each other and chattered away as they crossed the green plains and headed back to the castle.

But what they didn't notice, was a pair of hawk-like eyes that were watching them from the shadows.

Am I the only one who gets all emotional at Nike's song? :') Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to leave a review! :3