Chapter 5

A/N: Comments are at the end of the chapter.

'I should have just kept my mouth shut!' Elli thought angrily as she tied her apron around her waist. She glared at her reflection. 'How can I face him after what I said last night…? I'm such an idiot!' She sighed in frustration.

As she opened her bedroom door, she was shocked to find herself face-to-face with Trent, who had happened to be walking past her room. "D-D-Doctor…!"

His eyes widened in surprise for a second. Then his expression was replaced with an apologetic look. "Good morning, Elli," he greeted quietly. He cleared his throat and continued, "I have to apologize for my behavior last night. I really have no idea why I was acting so juvenile." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he cast his gaze downwards.

'Oh, Doctor…' Elli couldn't help smiling. "Please don't let it get you down," she told him. "I was being silly myself…"

"I guess it was just a bad day," he sighed. Then he smiled. "Hey, Elli?"

Her heart started beating a little faster as she answered, "Y-yes?"

"Do you think…" He blushed. "Do you think…Claire will come by today?"

Elli's eye twitched slightly at the sound of Claire's name. 'Of course he's asking about her again.' She forced a smile as she answered, "I'm sure she will, Doctor." He smiled hopefully at her, making Elli felt somewhat better.

As if on cue, someone knocked loudly at the front door downstairs, making both of them jump. They looked at each other and rushed down the stairs. As Trent opened the door, Claire's fist hit him hard on the chest.

"Oof!" he grunted, staggering backwards.

"Doctor!" Elli cried, rushing to his side worriedly.

"Ah, Trent!" Claire exclaimed, rushing to him as well. "I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"I-I think so," he murmured, rubbing where she hit him. He looked at her and smiled. "You seem to have gotten stronger, Claire."

She scratched the back of her head. "Heh heh…I guess…"

Their eyes met and they quickly looked away, embarrassed. Elli laughed nervously from the palpable awkwardness that was suddenly apparent.

"I brought a gift for both of you," Claire suddenly said. The two watched as she pulled out two bottles of wine and grape juice from her rucksack and held them over her head. "They're from the Wine Harvest!" she explained cheerfully. "Manna gave these for me on my way here."

Elli smiled delightedly, but Trent's expression suddenly fell as he remembered what he saw the other day. 'She…made that with that Cliff guy…' he thought. His stomach made a knot as he accepted the wine reluctantly.

"What's wrong, Trent?" she asked.

"Claire…why were you with Cliff at the Wine Harvest?"

There was a pause as she stared at him in disbelief. Then she exclaimed, "Are you serious?!"

Elli looked at them nervously. "Um, I-I'm going to put this in my room," she said, taking the juice. Claire nodded slightly in acknowledgement without taking her glaring eyes off of Trent, who looked confused. "Well, uh…I'll just go now…" Elli quickly climbed up the stairs.

"I can't believe you just asked me that!" Claire shouted at Trent.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. He was trying to keep his voice calm, but he found it difficult as he felt his irritation growing.

"I-told-you," she answered, poking him with each word, "about the Wine Harvest two days ago! I even asked you to come with me!" She clenched her teeth. "But you…you…" Her voice gave away as tears began to form in her eyes.

Trent felt his stomach knot again. "Two days ago?" he repeated. "That was when I filling out the medicine orders…" He bit his lip. 'I…I must have ignored you…'

Claire rubbed her eyes. "F-forget it…" She shouldered her rucksack and turned towards the door. "I gotta go back to the farm…" She stopped as Trent grabbed her hand from behind. "Trent…!"

His eyes pleaded for her to stay. "Claire, I'm so sorry…for everything."

She hated how she could feel her face warming up under his cool fingers. She had to focus all her attention on keeping her knees from buckling. "Let go," she said, pulling her hand away.

"I'm not a good person," he said. "In fact, I'm the worst kind of person there is. Claire, I hurt you so many times before. But you always came back to forgive me." He hung his head and dropped his hands to his sides. "And now I've hurt you again without even realizing it…I don't deserve your forgiveness. I don't deserve you at a"

"Don't say that!" she suddenly shouted.

He flinched and stepped back. "But it's true. Why would you deny it?"

"Because I like you!" she blurted, immediately regretting the words as soon as they slipped out of her lips.

Trent jerked back, surprised. "W…what?

"I-I like you," she repeated, turning to face him. Her expression was determined despite the tears that lingered in the corner of her eyes. "Isn't that a good enough reason?"

'She likes…me?' he thought, his face suddenly getting hot. "Wait," he said, "I thought you liked Cliff!"

"Wh-what?" She gave him a confused look. 'Where did that come from?!'

"I-I saw you with Cliff yesterday!"

"So you were spying on me?!"

"No! I-I was passing by, and…" Trent suddenly felt silly. 'Why am I bringing this up?'

She put her hands on her hips. "Cliff needed a job," she explained, "or else he would have to leave town." She gasped in sudden realization. "Hey, everything kind of worked out after all!" she laughed.

"So that's it?" he asked. "That's the only reason you brought him?"

"Well, yeah," she answered. "He's my friend too, so I don't want him to go away…"

He sighed. 'What a relief…' Then he noticed that Claire was smirking at him. "Wh-what?"

"You were jealous!"

"N-no…" He blushed as he turned away. "Maybe…A little. Stop laughing!" She continued to giggle, and he couldn't help but smile.

"So if you're jealous," she suddenly said, "does that mean you like me too?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling awkward. "Yes."

"What? Really?" She was surprised, but he could see that she was pleased as well.

"I couldn't stand seeing you with Cliff," he told her, blushing slightly. "I've never felt like I did that day before…because I've never felt this way about anyone until I met you." He closed the distance between them and put his hands on her shoulders. "Everything about you energizes me," he said as he looked into her eyes. "You make me determined to keep trying to be a better person." He moved his hands from her shoulders and wrapped them around her waist. "Claire, I never want to hurt you again."

She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. Then she smiled. "Silly," she said, "you're a doctor, remember? It's your job to make me feel better." She pressed closer against him. "And I know that you take your job seriously."

-The End-

A/N: Thank you all so much for your encouragement throughout the story! Your beautiful words kept me sane. As you can see, this is the last chapter of the story, and I've tried to tie as many of the ends as I could, so sorry if there's stuff that doesn't seem right. I'm putting most of my focus on the doujinshi anyways, which has cut out a few parts of the story. Look forward to it, and thanks once again for all the love!