As Zacharias continued his training of Constantine – this time with trust, as Karena had said – the two of them had become just as close as Zacharias was to Karena. Although with each moment that he spent with her he only fell deeper in love with her.
Love.
That's what it was that he felt for her from the very beginning.
Love at first sight was he felt, but did she feel the same? He wouldn't know unless he expressed the way he felt towards her.
But in what way would he attempt to do so? And if he did, what would he do if she accepted him? What would he do if she rejected him, even? Would the two of them go on as friends if she did?
One thing was for sure; he would definitely have to think it out and weigh his options for a while. And he did so, before choosing to write her a letter which would express all of the feelings he had developed for her.
From then on, all of his free time spent at home was used to write his heartfelt letter to Karena. Quite a lot of stationary sheets were filled with the wrong words and thrown away before the letter was finished and ready to deliver. At first Zacharias thought he might hand-deliver it to her, but it would probably end up being an awkward exchange between the two of them, so he turned to the next best thing instead…
'There's Lady Karena, Master! Let's go say hi to her!' Constantine barked happily before attempting to run over to her.
"Whoa now. Hold up little guy." Zacharias said as he stopped his companion from going any further. "I need to give you the letter first."
He then pulled out the envelope and proceeded to give it to the pup, but Constantine only backed up, growling and whimpering.
'Shouldn't you be giving that to her yourself Master?' he barked with concern.
"I would deliver it myself, but I…I cannot." His owner replied as red tinged his cheeks. He then thought of something and continued by saying, "I shall give you a treat if you do so."
As soon as Constantine heard the word "treat", his eyes widened and his mouth began to water. 'I'll do it Master! I'll do anything for a treat!' he barked happily.
"Good boy Constantine!" Zacharias announced. "Now take this letter, and go deliver it to Karena." He then held out the envelope, and the pup took it gladly before scampering over to Karena.
"Oh, hello Constantine!" she greeted as he approached. "But why are you here without Zachary?"
'Actually, Master is over…' the pup started, gazing over to where Zacharias was, but stopped when he saw his master signaling him not to give his position away just yet. 'He'll be coming along soon.' Constantine finished. 'But he wanted you to have this.'
The pup then dropped the envelope at her feet and took a couple steps back. Karena gazed at the letter quizzically as she bent down and picked it up. She was about to open it, when her attention was called to the produce stall.
Once her business there was done, Karena turned back to the pup and said, "I have to leave now Constantine. Say hello to Zachary for me okay?" She then walked away with her horse and cart in tow.
'Wait Lady Karena. You're supposed to stay here and read the letter!' Constantine whimpered and howled to her as she only got further and further away. 'LADY KARENA!'
The last howl of his caught everyone's attention in the area, and Zacharias quickly made his was to his companion.
'I'm sorry Master!' Constantine barked as an apology as he hung his head in defeat. 'I couldn't do anything to make her stay…'
"It will be okay Constantine." Zacharias said in response. "I shall make it right and catch up to Karena soon. But first a reward is in order." – he then pulled out a couple of dog treats and placed them in front of his companion – "You have earned them buddy."
The pup hesitated for a moment, feeling that he didn't deserve the treats. But his owner had given them to him, so he ate them up graciously.
A little while later, Karena had arrived at the bakery, leaving her letter on the counter as she and Espella took care of the fruit she had brought. She then began to help Espella around the place a little, and that's when her friend discovered the curious envelope.
"Is this letter yours Karena?" Espella asked as she picked it up, looking at it.
"Oh yes." Her friend answered while walking up next to her and stopping there. "Constantine delivered it to me earlier. I have not yet read it though."
"Constantine delivered it?" She gazed at Karena, who nodded in reply. "Maybe it was important then. You should probably read it now."
Karena looked a little puzzled at first, but accepted it from her friend, took the letter out of the envelope, and read it. By doing so, she found out that it was written by Zacharias, and that the contents of the letter were rather…very heartfelt and passionate. His true feelings in word form made Karena's heart sputter as she read them, and her cheeks became a deep red in response to them.
"Oh dear…" she uttered after finishing. "I need to sit down for a minute…"
Once she had done so, Espella asked, "Are you okay Karena?"
"Y-Yes. I just got a little light headed, that's all."
"What was written in the letter to make this happen?"
"Zachary…" As she uttered his name her face seemed to become redder. "In the letter, he wrote…that he l-loves me!"
"Karena how wonderful!" Espella was happy for her friend, but quickly became concerned when she saw the tears in her friend's eyes. "Why are you crying though?"
"What is so wonderful, dears?" Patty asked as she entered the bakery.
"Inquisitor Barnham has fallen in love with Karena, and told her so in his letter to her!" Espella answered with slight bitter sweetness, still concerned for her friend's tears.
"I hope those are happy tears then."
"That is what I was just asking…" Espella then turned to her friend with an expectant look on her face, and asked the question once more.
Karena hesitated at first, the tears threatening to pour down her face at any moment. "I am…grateful that he has come to feel this way for me." She finally said. "But my feelings for him are still so conflicted. So I cannot give him an answer and return his affections!"
"Calm down now dear. It'll be okay." Patty answered her gently. "I am sure he will understand and wait until the day when you do."
"But what if I don't fall in love with him?" Karena questioned further.
"Don't worry your little head about that dear. Just take one day at a time. You'll know how you feel about him soon."
Karena nodded and wiped her tears away, just as Zacharias walked in through the door.
"Oh dear! Espella would you mind coming with me to the back to check our stocks?" Patty asked the blond haired girl out of the blue.
"But Aunt Patty, we just checked them the o-." Espella stated in response with confusion, but stopped mid-sentence when she realized what the woman was up to. "Oh yes. Let's go check in the back now."
The two then disappeared to the back, leaving Karena with Zacharias to converse alone.
"Hello." Zacharias greeted with a small smile.
"Hi…" Karena replied softly, a light tinge of pink appearing on her cheeks.
A long silence followed, as the two of them stood across from each other, trying not to make eye contact. Finally they both looked at each other blushing and said, "So listen I…" at the same time.
They both became surprised at this, and blushed even more as they stuttered their words.
"I think I heard you first Zachary, so say what you were going to say." Karena suggested, rushing her words a little.
"No you go first, I insist." Zacharias retorted.
Karena was taken aback at his reply. "Are you sure?"
"Yes…"
"So I…read your letter Zachary." The both of them blushed heavily at the mention of it. "And I am afraid…that I cannot return you affections at this time…" – she trailed off and noticed that he seemed to be getting a little downhearted – "Ah, but! But I am not opposed to spending some…romantic time with you to find out how I truly feel about you!"
Zacharias' expression quickly changed from depressed to highly confused as the uttered a "Huh…?"
"You know…like a romantic dinner, or an evening stroll together…Little things like that." Karena explained hesitantly, but did so as if she had been dreaming of doing those things with her significant other.
"Oh…right." Zacharias uttered, dumbfounded. "So...what would you like to do first?"
"Oh, anything is fine with me. But we could start with a simple dinner possibly..." Karena replied.
"Great then I shall plan for one. Although it might be at least a week before I have another free night, is that okay with you?"
"Yes. I am not opposed to it."
And so the two of them made plans to have dinner together, although they did not foresee the weather threaten to turn for the worst...
So at around this time it has been a year since they first met, and about nine months of getting to know each other, just to clarify for you guys.
Also, a final reminder…I'll be starting work again next week, so I'll have less time to write and stuff. I will still try to submit new chapters every week, if not as soon as I finish the chapter. Just giving you guys a heads up so you're not like, "Where's the new chapter?!" Anyway, have a good one everyone!