Chapter 9

Gretel woke up. She felt very good and happy. That day would be amazing she managed to tell herself. She wanted to do some cleaning in the house, which was what she did for the first hours, and soon, when she had finished, she took a shower.

After waiting a bit, she heard a knock on the door. She raced down, hoping it would be the one she was thinking of. She combed her hair with her hands, and smiled as much as she could. Then she opened the door.

In front of her was standing Ivan. He was blushing, but he managed to hug her and kiss her cheek. Gretel blushed as well.

"Ivan! I was cleaning the house. Come in!" Gretel said.

Ivan cleaned his shoes in the entrance and went into her house, as he would usually do. Some months had passed since they would be together, after that incident with the stone of happiness. They were very happy together, and they were in love just as if it was the first day.

"Ivan, today I want you to help me." Gretel said.

"In what? I'm glad to help, Gretel, you know that." Ivan responded.

"I want to help Sherry out!" Gretel explained.

"In what?" Ivan asked again.

"I want her and Lloyd to be together and happy, just like we are. I know they like each other. But they only need a bit of help." Gretel said, with an impish smile on her face.

"Gretel! You know your ideas always end up messing everything up! But well…I'll try to help." Ivan said.

"Yay! I knew you would help! Let's see how you can be useful." Gretel said.

"Hey! I'm always useful!" Ivan snapped back, laughing.

"Come on! Let's go. We'll simply improvise." Gretel said, holding Ivan's hand and taking him out of the house.

They ran to Lloyd's house. There, they hided behind a tree.

"Gretel, you know they'll find us here." Ivan complained.

"No. Well yes. We're two. So we have to divide. I'm going to tell you what you have to do and then I'm going. Understood?" Gretel asked.

"Yes, Chief!" Ivan said, laughing and joking.

"Well, my minion. You have to wait here until the enemy arrives. Or leaves, either way is okay. Then, you'll have to act very quickly. You'll run to him and tell him you have one problem. The best is you tell him you lost something, or that you heard that Sherry is in problem. Then you'll force him to help you. Then you'll go the windmill in front of our special spot, and we'll meet there. The four of us! I'll think something to say to Sherry on my way there." Gretel said, in a jokingly tone. "Stay safe! And always be aware of the dangers around you. Welcome to the battlefield."

Ivan tried to hold a laugh. He loved Gretel so much. She was too funny, so petite, with her blonde hair, and purple eyes. She watched her as she ran away. Then he stood alert, in case Lloyd showed up.

Gretel looked for Sherry. She had to tell her something. Maybe if she said something like, Lloyd wants to meet you, everything would work out. But she didn't know.

She saw that her friend wasn't in her house, but at the plaza instead. That was a disadvantage for Gretel, since she couldn't think too much, but she had to live with that.

"Sherry!" She said.

Sherry ran to her friend.

"Gretel! How are you doing?" She asked, very happy to see her friend.

"I'm fine. Sherry! You have to come with me." Gretel just said. She thought that it was the best if she didn't make something up, since she didn't know what Ivan was going to tell Lloyd.

"Oh well. I have plenty of time, so yeah. I'll go with you!" Sherry said, walking besides her friend.

Gretel tried to walk as fast as possible. Sherry had to almost run to keep with Gretel's tempo. But it didn't last for long. Soon they had sight of the windmill.

It was very big. Gretel would usually use it for getting objects done. She told Sherry to sit at the shadow of the "big giant"(*).

They waited and soon they saw two boys coming to that place as well. When Sherry recognized them, she almost squealed. She couldn't believe who it was.

"Gr-Gretel! Look who's coming!" She whispered into Gretel's ear.

Gretel nodded and winked an eye to her. Sherry blushed, since the boys were coming nearer.

Lloyd and Ivan sat down, with the other two girls. They started talking about very general and boring topics, such as the weather.

"Gretel, can you please come over for a moment?" Ivan asked, standing up.
Gretel nodded.

"Don't worry, we won't be gone for much time." Ivan promised; and then left with Gretel.

They went to the other side of the windmill. He explained everything very quietly.

"Sorry chief, but I didn't know what to say to Lloyd, and you know that I can't lie, so I told him the problem we had. I told him about Sherry, and he confirmed me that he liked her as well. Now, we only have to leave them alone. He'll do his job." Ivan explained.

"I see. Good job anyway, minion! You will be rewarded. Now let's see what we can do." Gretel said.

"I wouldn't suggest eavesdropping. It's not nice. It's their privacy. I suggest that we go away for some time and then return when we see they've stopped talking. Don't you think so, chief? And also, I want a good reward!" Ivan said.

Gretel stood up, so did Ivan, and they went away, to the entrance of the Bazaar, where some banks where displayed. There was also a fountain. It was a lovely place, surrounded by green.

Gretel kissed Ivan. He didn't expect it, so he blushed a lot.

"Is that a good reward?" She asked.

"More than enough, chief." He whispered, looking away.

"I so hope that they end up together. Don't you think that as well?" Gretel asked.

"Well, I don't think anything, but it's always nice when people that like each other end up together. Now you only have to wait." Ivan explained.

Some time passed. Both sat on the bank talking about boring things, while observing the nature around them. Since it was still summer, everything was green and there where a lot of insects around. Soon, they heard the voices of Lloyd and Sherry, both laughing. Ivan and Gretel stood up and ran towards them. Sherry squealed and hugged Gretel.

"Gretel! You won't believe what just happened. I'm so happy. Lloyd and I…" She said, blushing.

"I know, I know." Gretel said, hugging her tightly. She also hugged Lloyd.

"You're the best, Lloydie! Thanks for making my friend happy!" She said, teasing him.

"Don't call me that name, Gretel, please!" He objected. "But thanks…"

"Lloydie! I like that name." Sherry joked. Then both of them blushed.

"Not you too, Sherry!" He said.

The four went to the bridge laughing.

"Well, now it's time to say it to Felix!" Sherry said, taking Lloyd's hand.

"And it's our time to go away, Gretel. I want to show you something." Ivan said, leading Gretel.

He took Gretel to the Bazaar area where two people were waiting. They seemed young, but they weren't almost recognized them when she saw them. They were Ivan's students. They hugged him and told him something.

"Good morning, Miss Gretel!" They both said, and then they proceeded to push Ivan, so he would be close enough to Gretel.

She could hear his breathing. She also could feel his heartbeat, his heart pounding very fast. Then, he kneed down. Gretel didn't know what he was going to do until he took a box of his pocket.

"T-That? Is…Ivan? Ivan… is…that…?" She said. She couldn't speak clearly, because she knew what it was. Or so she thought.

Ivan opened the box. There was a beautiful golden ring, with a small turnip drawn into it.
"Yes Gretel. I'm telling you again. You fond the stone by my side. You are my happiness. You are my life, my everything! I love you more than anything in this world. And this love is always bigger every day that passes. I know that this too cliché, but would you make me happy and marry me, Gretel?" He asked, blushing.

"I…Ivan!" She said, hugging him. "What weird question is this? I…Of course!"

He kissed her and put the ring in her finger.

"Well done, teacher!" The boys said.

Ivan hugged Gretel, held her tightly and spun with her. She laughed. He laughed as well, and so did the students

"Miss, you promised us you would come back again to school! Now you'll come more often, right?" The boys asked. "We all want to see you again."

Gretel nodded and hugged them, although she still didn't know what they where doing there. Maybe it was for backing Ivan up. But she didn't care. She was too happy. Ivan leaded her to her house, and the first thing she did there was talking to Sherry and tell her the news.

"Wow! Gretel! I'm so happy for you! It's amazing! I'm coming over, we have to discuss many things, just like for example, who'll be the best man and such. And we have to design a wedding dress for you. I want to help you organize everything." Sherry started to talk. "Let's meet tomorrow!"

Gretel agreed, and hung up. She threw herself to her bed, happy. She couldn't think she would love her job in that town so much. She couldn't understand her worries at the beginning. She was unbelievable happy. She closed her eyes, and smiled.

(Author's notes)

(*)The big giant is meaning the windmill. From my native literature, the Spanish one, there's a very famous book, which I could say represents our Spanish literature, which is Don Quixot. (Don Quijote de La Mancha). It tells the adventures of a man who becomes crazy from reading too much knight-books. In one of his adventures, he thinks the windmills are big bad giants and he attacks them. That's why I used that metaphor.

Hehe! I can't believe it! Already 20 Reviews! I'm like…so happy! It's so nice! :3 Thank you all the reviewers, and thank you all, readers.

Anime-aholic: I'm glad you liked Ivan's change (for better ^^) The stone Idea came to my mind, like, really fast. I thought, why not? And of course! Dirk's the best out there!

DragonFire Princess- Glad that you love the story! ^^

Nocturnal-Panda- Yaaay! Yep, they're together! You might see. They aren't um like…kind of bad problems, like you'll have probably seen in this chapter, but well! You'll see! Thanks!

Skitsophraniac- ^^ Thanks for your review! I am happy that you say think that way! :3

Ohei-Thanks for your advice! I'm trying to describe more things. ^^ I hope it'll be okay now!

Soooo, see you soon! I'll update as soon as I don't get exams and such! :3