Early the next morning, Claire ran out into her field and worked on all the weeds growing all around. She pulled them out of the soil and threw them on the small wooden bin she had beside her. She spent the next three hours doing just that. At some point, she heard Ciel whimper from inside the house, so, she stopped what she was doing and went inside. As fast as he could, Ciel ran to her, barked cheerfully and wagged his tail excitedly. Claire patted his head and stroked his nose. She plucked out a weed and proceeded to tickle her puppy with it. She was busy enjoying herself when Harris arrived and greeted her.

"You've a letter here for you." Harris waved the large envelope in the air. Claire let out a confused expression as she walked towards Harris. She tilted her head to the side and held out her hand to accept the mail. "I didn't think you were the mailman as well." She smiled at Harris as she said this and he let out a low laugh.

Harris handed Claire the item. "My father asked me to send it to you directly." He gave her a casual salute as he turned around and waved goodbye.

Claire gently opened the seal of the large envelope. She slightly peered inside before taking out the paper inside. She read the big letters written on its top portion. She was holding the deed to the farm. She let out a stifled scream of excitement. She carefully slid the document back into the envelope and ran to her house, calling for her puppy to follow her. She carefully hid the envelope in one of the drawers of her bookshelf. She started jumping around her room, turning in intervals. Ciel started getting excited as well, barking and jumping as she moved. She propelled Ciel to chest level and hugged him. "I officially own the land now!" She squeezed him lightly and swayed her body sidewards. Ciel licked her face and she laughed.

She let Ciel back down and rushed to grab her telephone. She quickly dialed her aunt's telephone number but stopped midway. She hadn't told her grandfather that she didn't have the title until only today and she was sure he would be furious if she told him. She put the phone back to its place and lay miserably onto her bed. She took in a deep breath and shut her eyes. She grabbed a lock of her hair and twirled it between her fingers. She rested it between her nose and mouth, playing around with the idea of having a mustache. She let out the breath she was holding and slowly opened her eyes.

She quickly stood up and walked to her door. She opened it slightly, seeing if Ciel was going to wake up from his now peaceful sleep. She gently shut the door behind her and looked back at her field. It was still so full of weeds and unnecessary garbage. She continued working on her farm until it had already turned relatively dark. She looked at the sky and tried to guess the time. From the position of the sun, she was able to deduce that it was somewhere between a quarter to six and a quarter after six. She looked at the shipping bin. She longed to finally drop something into it.

Claire walked leisurely back into her house. Ciel cheerfully greeted her.

Months quickly passed as Claire worked hard on her farm. Within a week after Rick had helped her with her chicken coop, she had bought 3 hens from him. A month after that, she had bought a rooster. After 8 months, she was proud to say that she had already over 10 chickens producing eggs for her to sell, eat, or incubate. She was very pleased with her chickens. Rick always came over to check on them, but after 3 months, he decided that she was capable enough as she was already doing a good enough job and that she could go to him only when she really no longer knew what to do.

A fortnight after purchasing her first 3 chickens, Claire bought a cow and a sheep. She decided that she wanted the two to keep each other company even though they were of different species. Feeling that the eggs, the wool, the crops and the milk she was able to get was going to sustain her living for over more than two more months, Claire decided to have her cow impregnated after milking her for slightly over 4 months. A month and a half before the calf was born, Claire had purchased another sheep from Barley.

Barely two months into the business, Barley had given Claire a gift, a colt. He was worried that he was not going to be able to take care of this horse properly so he decided to give it to her. She accepted the foal wholeheartedly and named him Langit. Within a few weeks, she got Langit to trust her completely. Although, she believed getting Ciel's trust was much easier.

During her first summer, a man around her age had knocked on her door sometime during the morning of one of the first few days of the season. When she opened the door, the first thing that caught her attention was the violet bandana he wore. It wrapped snugly around the top of his head.

"Good morning! I'm Kai." He reached for the knot of his bandana located by his nape and pulled it down. "Zack told me about you, so I decided to meet you." He looked at the expression on her face and saw the dark rings under her eyes. "I-I'm sorry if I woke you, or something." He smiled sheepishly as he apologized.

Claire shook her head and smiled back at him. "Good morning to you, too! I'm Claire." She invited him inside to have breakfast with her as she was just getting ready to eat. Kai accepted the invitation and they discussed a lot of things related to the beach and some of the townspeople.

By the time fall came, Claire was already very well acquainted with a lot of the townspeople. One could even say that she was best friends with Popuri. One day, Duke had asked her if she could help him with harvesting grapes in his vineyard with the agenda of having her taste more of his experimentations. He had also told her that she could bring someone with her as well. She quickly remembered Cliff and his dilemma and she thought that this might be the perfect opportunity for him. She wasn't wrong. After the harvest, Duke and Manna were very pleased with the help they got from both. They found out about Cliff's problem and decided to give him the job.

It was snowing hard as Claire made her way through to the beach. She leisurely entered the square and saw Cliff walking oddly on the other side. She called out to him but instead of answering her, he fell flat on his face on the ground. She quickly ran to him, attempting to help him up but his weight was a little too much for her. She half-dragged him to one of the benches and placed her jacket over his shoulders.

She ran as quickly as she could to the inn to get help. She could feel her feet sinking low on the snow beneath her feet. At last, she reached the inn. She called out to both Ann and Doug, panting as she did so. Ann rushed to her side and asked her what was wrong.

"Cliff," she gasped, trying to put more air into her lungs. "Fainted," she took in another quick breath, "in the square. Please help me—" Doug rushed out of the inn as she spoke. Ann asked her to sit down but she refused, shaking her head. Ann ran out of the inn and Claire followed, taking a slightly slower pace. When she reached the square, Ann and Doug were walking towards the path to the clinic, Cliff's arms around their necks.

Claire noticed a small, rectangular object lying on the ground by the bench. She picked it up and surveyed it. It was a photograph of a woman and a young girl beside her. She placed it in her pocket and headed for the clinic. Inside, she found Doug speaking with Elli, hearing the words 'Cliff', 'fine', and 'doctor' every few seconds. Claire walked passed the lobby and into the room where Cliff was resting. He was lying peacefully still, Ann standing beside him.

The doctor entered the room. "It seems he collapsed due to stress…" his voice trailed off as he spoke. Claire knew he was hiding something but understood that it was probably because Cliff was suffering from something only his family should know. Cliff sat up with a start, startling Ann and Claire. He grabbed at his hair and pushed his head back down to the pillow. Trent shook his head as he looked from Cliff, to Ann, to Claire and back to Cliff again. "I'm sorry, you two, but I think Cliff would need his rest now."

Ann nodded and exited the room. Claire was about to exit as well when she felt the corner of the photograph against her leg. "Oh," she pulled out the photograph and showed it to Trent. "I'll just give this back to him." Trent nodded. Claire approached Cliff and saw the latter looking at the object on her hand.

Cliff took in a deep breath and pushed his bangs back, baring his forehead. A small scar was visible just below his hairline. "That's my mom and my younger sister." He looked straight into Claire's eyes. "I always hated where we lived, so I ran away from home. After two years…" his voice trailed off and he looked at his hands. Claire saw a sudden change in his expression. "It was snowing just like this when I left." He looked back at Claire. "After two years of exploring the world, I decided to go back home. When I got there, I found out that my mother had died of some illness a few months before I returned and my sister moved away, or well, ran off with some strange man." Claire gave Cliff the picture and patted him on the shoulder. Cliff turned around and pulled the blanket over his shoulder. Claire silently left the room.

I know that it seems rushed already, but that's because I feel like I'm trailing away from the main story already.