Neil

~…X…~

Misaki's eyes snaps wide open upon hearing the sound of an animal outside her house. Her eyes twitched at the sound of a cow's mooing getting closer and closer. She grunts and slowly threw her blanket to the side. She was not happy to wake up early in the morning.

Misaki was hoping to sleep a few more hours. She worked hard yesterday, foraging items in the river, forest, and mountains, and even picking up weeds to clean the areas. She wanted a little break for once and she wanted that break today.

She rubs her eyes as she stands up, making her way to the door to see what the noise is all about. She didn't bother to change, thinking that she'll go back to bed soon again.

She tiredly open the door and groan when the light of the sun hits her face.

Moo!

Startled by the sound of a cow, Misaki looks at her left side and her eyes grew wide open, waking her up from her tiredness. She rubs her eyes again.

There's a cow in walking towards her, all alone.

"Whoa." Misaki blinks and slowly walks towards the adorable cow. "What's a cow doing in my farm?"

As if it understand her, the cow mooed, nodding its head.

"Aha." Misaki smiles and gently but cautiously touches the cow's head. She didn't want to be too friendly to the cow, knowing that it may attack her. But seeing as the cow just stood in front of her and it seems to be enjoying the stroke, Misaki grins and pats the cow. "You're a nice girl."

"Hey you!"

A male voice shouted, and it sounded cold and distance.

Misaki removes her hand from the cow's head and looks behind the animal. Her eyes slightly grew but soon returns to normal. There, walking up towards her was a young man, probably a few age older than her. His blonde hair was a bit messy but it looks cool, his red jacket and military pants with his black leather boots gave him the bad boy type.

But what interested Misaki the most was the young man's pair of piercing red eyes, staring at her directly. Adding his frown, it sends a shiver down Misaki's spine. There's something about this man that says to be very careful when you are around him, but Misaki thinks that it adds up to his charm.

"Why aren't you in your working clothes yet?" The young man ask, and Misaki could clearly see the faint red brushed across his cheeks. She chooses to ignore it.

"Um…I'm sorry, I just woke up." Misaki answers back, unable to take her eyes off of his. His eyes are really attractive.

"It's past six. You call yourself a farmer?" He took a step forward.

"I'm sorry!" Misaki shouts and immediately covers her face, thinking that he was going to hit her.

After a few seconds of nothing, she slowly opens her eyes to see the young man looking at her and his frown deepened. "What are you doing?" He ask.

"I…I thought you were going to hit me."

The young man sighs loudly. "Look, I'm not the type of person you think I am. I'm only here to deliver this cow. Old man Dunhill bought the cow as a present for you, so you better take care of her." His eyes narrows, clearly showing that he doesn't mess around when it comes to taking care of animals.

"O-Okay." Misaki nods her head. I think he hates me.

"Name the cow."

"Huh?" Misaki blinks and looks up at the young man. "Name…?" She had to name a cow? It's a just a cow.

"You're supposed to name your animals." The young man said in an irritated tone. Is this girl really a farmer? He thought, looking at the brown haired woman in front of him. She wasn't even ready for the day and does she not even think about what she looks like? She's showing her skin in front of him for god sake even if it's not intentionally.

"Oh! Okay, okay." Misaki smiles a little. "Um…let's see…" She looks back at the cow standing next to her.

"…." The young man stares at Misaki for a few seconds before sighing. "Just name the cow!"

"I got it!" Misaki grins. "I got the perfect name! I'll name her Oreo!"

"Why the hell would you name her Oreo?" He gave her the 'what the fuck' look.

Misaki hums and pats the cow's head. "Well, she's black and white and the only thing that came to me is the name Oreo. And I like Oreos, but chocolate chip cookies are my favorite."

"Alright fine!" The young man shouted, having enough of Misaki's weirdness.

"By the way, I never got your name. I'm Misaki." Misaki reaches her hand out for a handshake.

"Neil." The young man answer, not even taking Misaki's hand for a handshake which made it awkward for her.

"Oh." Misaki laughs, more like she forces herself to laugh as to not make the atmosphere more awkward. She quickly puts her hand down. "It's nice to meet you, Neil."

Neil sigh once again, and even though Misaki ignore his nonstop sighing since he got here, it still bothers her. So she asked him, "Why do you keep sighing? If it's something I did, then please tell me."

"No, it's not you." Neil answers. Well, half of it is her, but he wouldn't tell her. He can already see the bit of sadness in her eyes. He never meant to make her feel like that, but his lack of social ability makes it hard for him to be nice to others.

The other reason is this early morning, Dunhill came to his house, asking him for a little favor once he gets to Misaki's farm. He was asked to help her out and give her advice in taking care of animals in case she doesn't know how to.

Not believing Neil, Misaki opens her mouth to ask again, "Then why do you keep sigh-"

"I'm just tired." Neil quickly says. "Look, I don't have all day to stay here. Go back inside your little house and change to your working clothes. I'll put Oreo in the barn. Once you finish getting ready, go to the barn."

"Okay." Misaki nods her head and turns around. Yeah, he hates me. Thinking of this her shoulders slumps down as she made her way back into her house.

Once Misaki got into her house, Neil turns his attention to Oreo. "Come on, Oreo. Let's get you to the barn." He walks and Oreo follows behind.

Knowing that Neil already doesn't like her, Misaki hurriedly change into her working clothes. She didn't want to add his dislike for her because she couldn't change fast enough. She didn't even bother to have her breakfast as she runs to the barn.

"I'm here!" She shouted, slamming the door.

"Hurry up and come here." Neil orders as he watches Oreo.

Misaki walks towards Neil and stands beside him.

"Alright." Neil turns his body to Misaki who gaps. "What?"

"Nothing." Misaki shook her head. He's actually pretty tall. I only reach up to his nose.

"Okay, you know how to take care of a cow, right?" Neil ask. "You do know what to do, right?" He steps closer to her. She better know how to take care of a cow, or else he'll strangle her.

Not really.

"You're intimidating me." Misaki said weakly, taking a step back. "And yes, I-I know how to take care of a cow." She adverts her eyes from him.

"I'm always like this." There was a faint smile on Neil's face. "Then good. Those tools are for you to use." He steps away from Misaki and points his fingers towards the tool lying next to Oreo. "Use them, especially the brush and the milker."

"Oh, thank you." Misaki smiles and walks up to Oreo and grabs the tools on the ground.

"You can milk Oreo." Neil said and crossed his arms.

"Okay." Misaki nods and turns to Oreo. "I'll be really gentle."

Neil watches Misaki attach the milker on Oreo's udder. "Wow. It's warm." She starts poking them. "Hehe." She giggles happily. "Okay, let's do this."

An empty bottle magical appears out of nowhere and Misaki places the bottle right down on the milker. As she squeezes the udder, she couldn't help but feel excited and happy as milk starts to come out of Oreo.

It's been a while since she milked a cow. She was too engrossed in the milking that she didn't notice Neil slowly walking up behind her and reaching out his hands to her.

"And here I thought you knew how to milk a cow." Neil said right next to her ear.

"!" Misaki flinch and freezes when she felt Neil's body against her back. "W-what are you-" Her face was flush red that she let go of the bottle and milker, lucky that Neil was already holding both of them.

"This is how you milk a cow. Now hold the udder. Hurry up."

"O-Okay." Misaki quickly turns her head forward. Oh my god!

"…" Neil moves his eyes to the side and see Misaki's ears turning red. Slowly, his lips curls up forming a tiny smile.

Neil guided Misaki through the milking process till the end. He held her hand and never let go. As for Misaki her mind was running like crazy. She didn't even think about the milking and how it is done. All she could think were Neil's voice, his body heat, his hot breath hitting the back of her neck, and his intoxicating scent. He smells wonderful.

"That's how you milk a cow. Remember it." Neil whispers to her ear before letting go of her hands and pulling away from her.

"Huh…?" Misaki blinks. What just happened? "Uh, yes." She turns her head back and looks up at Neil. "T-thank you."

"I run an animal shop. My shop is at Monday through Thursday, it opens at ten and ends at six. You're gonna need treats and fodder for your animal. And since you haven't grown any grass for your animal to eat, it's best that you buy a few in my shop until you get some seeds in Hana's shop. Bye." With one last look of Misaki's flush face, Neil walks out of the barn, leaving Misaki.

"…Oreo…what just happened?" Misaki ask and all she got was a Moo~ from Oreo. "Yeah, I don't know either. But my heart was beating like crazy."

Outside the barn Neil was there, he haven't left the farm yet. He heard Misaki speaking to Oreo and her heart beating like crazy.

"…what an idiot." He mumbles quietly to himself and walks away. I thought she would remember when I did that. But I guess not.

When Dunhill told Neil that Misaki was going to run the farm of her grandparents, he was delighted. Happy to see the little girl he met in the past again. But when he saw her and when she didn't react to seeing him, he figured out that she didn't remember him so he acted cold towards her just to keep up with his image.

He didn't really think of why he acted like that in the barn. He didn't know what got into him when he walked up behind her. He wanted to hug her, but instead he hid his intention by guiding her on how to milk a cow. Well at least he got to touch her.

She was still the same little girl he knew back then, but he couldn't call her a little girl anymore.

No. One thing did change.

Misaki isn't a little girl anymore. She is a woman, a beautiful woman that got Neil's heart beating more than hers.

~…X…~