That morning I was immediately put to work by Mako after I woke up to accept a new shipment of fertilizers from the college he used to work in. Lillian offered to help us carry a few bags to Gombe and her own farm. They were being used as test subjects since they were the two biggest corp farmer in town. 'The more test subjects, the better the data,' according to my uncle. I made myself promise not to think of Cam again after what had happened but after all this talk about fertilizer, he sneaked inside my mind again.
Just like a mimosa that reopened her leaves after being shaken by a strong wind, I was in the middle of a healing process after being shaken up. I decided to accept that this new "shaken up" feeling wasn't a danger to my being. I was in pain, no doubt about it, but it was more of a mental pain than a physical pain. I was determined to not let myself be defeated by mere mental attacks. I was ready. At least I hope I was.
"Lillian, can I ask you a favor?" I explained my intention to pass a small bag of fertilizer to Cam as a friendship token. If I couldn't be the girl he desired, at least I wanted to be a friend he never knew he needed, be it plant related or love related.
"Of course! Any time you need to borrow my cart just let me know. Hop on!" She scooted over to make space for me to sit on. We stopped by at Gombe's house to drop off his share of fertilizer. Nori was there to greet us.
"Good morning you two. My, isn't this a rare sight?" Her long hair glistened under the morning sky as she went over to take the bag from us. It seemed that everything Nori did was graceful even if it was something as simple as tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
As I informed Gombe about how to use the new batch of fertilizer, Lillian was chatting cheerfully with Nori. I could hear their laughs when the farmer teased the seamstress about her relationship with Hiro. Somehow in between their dialog, Nori was stealing glances at me. Perhaps she could sense something was wrong with me. I wouldn't lie if she were to ask it then and there but we all knew it wasn't a conversation to be had in front of her grandfather.
"So let me or Mako know how well your crops grow. He will probably make house calls in the coming days to help make sure that the fertilizer is added properly." I bowed before excusing myself from the house. When I turned to Nori, I felt like I had forgotten something that involved her but my brain seemed to be blocking things that happened yesterday.
"Off to your prince charming next?" Nori teased with her genuine smile.
"!" I could feel my face heating up. Even Lillian was also grinning at Nori's comment. Those two were definitely ganging up on me. The topic was still a bit taboo to me and I kept thinking about my mimosa metaphor, but knowing that their teasing was meant to be a way of supporting me, I managed a smile back.
"Calling him a prince is a little ... much. Lillian, even you would agree he isn't much of a prince nor he is charming." I placed a hand on my hip, slightly tilting my head towards Lillian.
"True, true. Unless you find his cool non-smiling demeanor as charming." The farmer nodded in agreement.
"He must be so out of place if he hangs out with the boys from our town. I can't remember seeing Kana or Hiro ever without a smile." Nori placed her hand on her cheeks with her brows furrowed.
"That's why Reina and Cam fits so well! They're both the non smiling representative of the two towns! Haha!"
I gave Lillian a playful—but still hard—smack on her back. That only made the two girls burst out laughing. It felt right to drag Lillian away as the discussion turned weird like how they wanted to have a seasonal competition to see who'd win a smiling competition. So after a dismissive goodbye, we were off to the mountain.
Travelling with Lillian was surely a good idea. She managed to keep me occupied from thinking about Cam later on with her usual chatty self. We saw one of the triplets on his way to visit his brothers. Lillian offered him a ride but he said he wanted to walk in his own pace in hopes that he would get inspired with great money making ideas. After throwing an offering to the Harvest Goddess, we went ahead to Bluebell without seeing anyone else.
Lillian stopped her cart at the path that lead to her house. "I'll have to place the fertilizers now if I want to get the most out of the day." She explained a bit apologetically. I told her my thanks and hopped down with my small bag before heading towards Cam's booth. The town was filled with animal noises, hiding away the loud thumping of my heart. As I drew closer, I was shivering. Next thing I knew, it started to rain.
"Oh, carp!" I cursed under my breath before bolting towards the booth. The rain was quite merciless so I had to hug the bag close to make sure it didn't get wet. Cam was already under his blue umbrella when he noticed me running.
"R-reina? Why are you—" He exclaimed, obviously surprised.
"I, uh ... I have some fertilizer ... Mako got some. I wanted you to try it on your flowers." I held the fertilizer under his umbrella not caring that I was still unprotected from the rain. Too bad Cam's booth didn't have some sort of roof.
Dumbfounded, Cam took the bag from my hand and a few seconds passed without any of us talking. My clothes were getting soaked by the minute but we were probably had our minds full of 'what now?' to be thinking about finding protection from the rain until ...
"OH! HONEY! You're SOAKED!"
A high-pitched voice rang from the café. Howard, whom I learned was Cam's adopted father, raised his hands in surprised before pulling me inside his house. "Cam! Shame on you for not inviting her inside!"
The florist was still a bit out of it so all he could do was mutter something incoherent. The café was, as usual, filled with a delicious scent. Laney was behind the counter holding a plate of freshly baked cake when she saw my drenching self being dragged inside.
"Oh my. I'll get you a towel." Not long after, she reappeared with a pink flowery towel for me to use. Their hospitality made me self-conscious that I was having a hard time finding my voice. Having Cam suddenly appeared from the door didn't help my muteness one bit. I busily dried my hair as an excuse to hide my face.
'It's okay. You can do this, Reina. Be strong. Flexible but strong. Like a bamboo. Dodge, attack, don't break.' I chanted the last three made-up spells to myself over and over again while the other residents chatter over me.
"My oh my, good thing I went outside to see the rain otherwise this lady—Laney, dear, can you pass her the soup? Thank you—this lady would still be standing in the rain." Howard exhaled worriedly, "Cam! I thought I taught you better than that."
"No. I mean, I just ... didn't expect to see her, that's all. I kinda ... froze."
"A gentleman must be able to handle himself and his lady in any given situation. Do well to remember that."
After sipping a bit of the soup, I found my courage back so I stood up with the towel no longer covering my face. "It really wasn't his fault. I was the one suddenly running to his booth. I should've brought an umbrella but ... I didn't know the weather forecast was going to be like this so I, uh ..."
The room was silent and Howard broke into a wide smile. It was still odd to see a giant man wearing a lipstick. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feel better seeing him smile or ... concerned. "Aren't you a sweetheart? Reina, dear, I'm glad that you decided to grace us with your visit but please take better care of yourself. Even last night, Cam told us that you ... disappeared?"
'Grace? Disappear? WHAT?!' My eyes immediately found the target of this gossip. That man avoided my eyes just as I was about to shoot daggers at him. Then again, I couldn't blame him. It did sort of happened. 'But he didn't have to tell his family, did he?'
"Now I think I have a better understanding why Cam was as shocked as he was earlier." I muttered with a hint of annoyance in my voice. "But I assure you, I didn't really ... disappear. I mean ... I am from Konohana ... so I thought ..."
"Nonesense! You're a guest. Be it Konohanian, Bluebellese. Anyone is a guest in Howards' café. Right, Laney?" The owner positioned himself next to his daughter to better hug her as he said this. Laney smiled back at her father lovingly before nodding in agreement.
"Besides, if people from Konohana doesn't come here to buy from us, we'll probably be in the red." She said in a joking way. Somehow I sensed the same vibe of Nori from her. They both had a similar taste in humor.
"Is that ... so?" I wasn't sure how to take this. Mayor Ina had been making Bluebell sound more horrible than they actually were. There was no hostility in this town at all ever since I stepped foot here. Maybe this was what Lillian saw. Maybe this was why she was brave enough to move to Bluebell.
"Um, th-thank you very much for your hospitality." I bowed to show my appreciation. That only caused Howard to 'aww' at me before he ruffled more of my hair.
"Daaad, you're ruining her hair."
The sight of Laney scolding her father was what got me. A much shorter girl with her hands on her hips was cornering the big motherly man as he tried his best to defend himself. The wall I had built against the bluebell folks was destroyed that moment and I burst out laughing. "You two are so adorable."
Seeing me laugh triggered a reaction where soon everyone started laughing. Even Cam let out one of those scoffing laughter that he often did. He excused himself to tend his shop outside while I got pampered once again by both Laney and Howard. Since my hair got loose, Laney offered to braid my hair while Howard poked and pried about any gossip I would know about Konohana folks. Chatting with Howard was just like chatting with Nori during our down time so I shared a little information about everyone I knew. I spiced things up by telling him about my uncle's secret crush on the town's doctor. He seemed to love juicy gossip like that.
"Done." Suddenly Laney announced that she was finished fixing my hair and held up a mirror for me to see the result. She had put my hair up and made the braids bigger that went around my head to make it look like I was wearing a crown. She even put a few of her flowery hair clips to give color on my otherwise plain charcoal hair. Somehow, not feeling my hair down against my shoulder made me feel a bit naked and so I blushed at the thought. Even so, it was still a beautiful result.
"I love it. You really have a good hand at making things pretty." I glanced at the cakes that Laney put on the table for me to have.
Before Laney could reply, Howard was the one who beamed and answered with pride. "Right?! Right?! Laney is my pride and joy. She takes after her mother. They're both really creative with their hands. I imagined that her salon is doing well in the city but—"
"Dad, stop it!" Laney stopped her father rather harshly. "Reina probably wanted to have some more tea instead of talking about that."
"?! I ... do ... " The tone of my answer wobbled from a question to a statement. Howard, who heard me answer as a plain 'I do', went ahead to refill my tea from behind the counter. After he left, I could hear Laney clearing her throat uncomfortably. There was a hint of tension that was threatening to appear if I didn't do something about it. It felt safer to ignore that topic.
"Have you ever baked a cake for a Konohana resident before?" I asked, genuinely interested.
"Huh?" She seemed surprised at first but managed to regain herself. "Not unless you consider Lillian from Konohana. Why do you ask?"
"It's just that, the cakes we have in Konohana is never ... in blocks. We usually have rice cakes or dumplings. They're more ball-like than triangles. So I was wondering if my friend would like it if I were to buy her one."
"Why don't you bring your friend here?" Laney's face lit up at the potential prospect of a customer. "Cakes are better with tea so I can definitely brew one that fits to the cake."
"I know what you mean. Me and Nori always eat our rice cakes with hot ocha. It's the best feeling."
"Oh, is Nori the name of your friend?"
"Yeah. She's the only girlfriend I hang out with before Lillian came."
"That makes me your fourth girlfriend."
The idea of someone admitting to be my friend only after a few meeting was enough to make me blush one more time. I really was never one to make friends that easily. Even with Nori, it was more like I had no choice but to be friends with her at first. With Lillian, I also felt like I had to like her due to her persistent appearance in my house. Now with Laney, however, I interacted with her on my own volition.
"Um ... y-yeah. I guess so." I buried myself in another mouthful of cake to avoid having to stare at her. Geez Cam was so lucky to be cared for by a beautiful girl like her I was surprised he wasn't going out with her already. The two would make a good couple.
'But for some miracle Cam is still single and he's interested in someone who likes someone else so you have a better chance at getting his heart.' A little voice in my head suddenly popped out. 'No! What are you talking about? Remember how that plan worked out last time? It hadn't been 24 hours and you're already thinking of brewing another plan?'
'Oh please, I'm you and I know you still want him to see you as a girl. Your heart still beats for him!'
'Okay, first of all. Ew, that was cheesy, and two ... okay, I may have lingering feelings but I'm definitely not going to prick myself with the same thorn. And can you please stop having conversation with myself?'
"Reina?"
"I'm not!"
"What?"
"Huh?"
Great. I managed to embarrass myself in front of my first Bluebell girlfriend by spacing out in the middle of a conversation. Laney was staring at me with concern written all over her face. "Nothing. I was just remembering that ... I met Georgia briefly before I met you so ... unfortunately you're my number 5 girl."
"Oh my, I'm hurt. I didn't know you're such a player, Reina!"
"What can I say? I'm pretty mysterious. Girls like that sort of thing." I shrugged my shoulder nonchalantly, sort of giving her the cold shoulder before I stopped when I heard a familiar voice.
"She's mysterious, alright. I'll vouch for that."
I turned to see a drenched Cam with the fertilizer around his arm. "C-C... You ... why?"
"Cam? You're turning in early." Laney was the one who managed that question. It really wasn't time to close shop yet but there he was making his way to one of the rooms at the back of the house. He shouted his reply from inside the room.
"Rain's not helping and Lillian isn't coming today. Plus," he came back out with an empty pot and a small shovel, "I wanted to work on the fertilizer. Can you help?"
It was clear that he was aiming the question at me but before I could answer, Howard was the one that smacked the boy on his head. "NOT while you're drenched like that. BATH TIME. You. Now." He said with his loving way as he replaced the things Cam was holding with a towel. "Then dinner, then plants. Priorities, my dear. Make sure they're in the correct order. Now shoo."
Cam had probably learned not to say no to Howard and so it didn't take him long before he disappeared to wherever the bathroom was. With the florist gone, Howard was on his way to the table with a new set of tea.
"Royal milk tea. Fitting for your crown." He gestured at my new hairstyle as he poured a cup for me. His treatment really made me feel like a princess.
"Thanks again ... the two of you." I almost forgot about my hair until he mentioned it again. My fingers traced the braids around my head. It felt so neat and beautiful I didn't want to take it off forever. "I'm sorry for intruding."
"You should stop saying that. I thought I'm your friend number 5." Laney threw a fake disapproving look at me that made me smile. "Feel free to come here to have tea. We're closed on Thrusday though, that's when I hang out with Georgia outside. Come anyway."
"Alright." I thought of bringing Nori the next time I visit the café. I had a feeling that the two of them would really hit it off. Just as we were talking about meeting up during the next cooking competition, Cam trudged back out with the same pot and shovel he had earlier. Only this time, his hair was a bit damp from the shower. He wasn't wearing his usual purple newsboy hat. He looked ... different.
"Now may I borrow her for a while?" The boy looked at Howard for permission instead of asking me himself. He acted like a little boy when he was in front of Howard and I had the front seat to see all of these. I giggled after seeing his happy expression when Howard gave him the okay before following him to his workshop.
The room was smaller than my uncle's research room but it was still a pretty decent workshop. There were pots of flowers, bags of seed and bags of soil along with the tools you'd need to tend them. Cam set the empty pot on top of his workbench and set a few other things he needed beside it. "So what's the fertilizer?"
My work mode was on which was why I didn't feel nervous as I explained about the right combination of soil and fertilizer to the interested Cam. "My uncle said that this fertilizer is an incomplete one. His findings proved that the soil in Konohana is rich with potassium and a little hints of phosphorus so he ordered this specific fertilizer. It doesn't contain potassium anymore and instead is highly concentrated in its nitrogen percentage. I assume that the soil content of Bluebell is the same so a good mix of 2:3 is a good rule of thumb. Have you ever checked the components available on your soil?"
Our discussion regarding the fertilizer continued on and Cam decided to try with 3 roses for a bouquet while studying the quality it produced. He also set aside a bag of soil for me to bring to Mako. There was a chance that the soil was different from Konohana since Bluebell's soil fit better for a ranch than a crop farm. We took a break when Howard called us for dinner. I used that chance to pay for whatever I owed them. It took me a few insistences before they let me pay for the soup, cake and tea since they were saying it was on the house. By the time we finished planting the roses, it was already pretty late that even Howard and Laney had retired to their rooms.
"Wow, we lost track of time." Cam commented as he looked at the dark sky outside of the café.
"Figures. This happens when I'm at home too. Mako's worse though. He'd forget to eat if I didn't cook him any." I squeezed past him through the door.
"Um ..." Cam started. "Why don't you stay here?"
The question caught me off guard that I let out a nervous laugh instead. Cam must've caught my confusion and quickly fixed his sentence. "At the town hall. They usually have a room open and you should be able to sign in any time."
The idea of staying over a place that wasn't my house was ... for some reason ... nerve wrecking and exciting. 'What'll Mako say if he finds out I didn't come home?'
"The mountain isn't that dangerous. Plus, I might not have enough money." Thinking back, it did cost a lot to pay for my meal. Mako didn't really give me a lot of "assistant researcher fee" in the first place. Maybe I should ask for a raise.
"Don't worry. I'll cover it for you."
Without waiting for my confirmation, he went ahead towards the town hall. It was really close by that he didn't really needed to take me there. Besides, I had already been there when Cam delivered the bouquet to Rutger. Speaking of bouquet ...
"By the way, I didn't get to buy the bouquet I ordered yesterday."
"Oh you mean after you disappeared on me?" he joked.
"I didn't disappear! I was ... I mean ..." I tried to find an excuse but no matter how anybody saw it, I did want to disappear at that point. "... ugh, okay. I was just ... surprised. It was awkward. I've never ... seen ..." The conversation suddenly turned to be embarrassing. This was definitely not how I wanted to end the night.
"... and now this is awkward. Can we not?"
"Agreed."
We reached the town hall and Cam showed me how to sign my name on the registration form. Rutger was nowhere in sight so I had no choice but to let myself in the room.
"Well, good night, mysterious disappearing girl." he said with a small salute and a crooked smile.
"And good night to you mister sneaky." I gave a snarky reply to which he could not protest.
As I turned towards my room for the night, Cam called out to me just to tell me that my new hair looked nice on me. Unfortunately I couldn't see what he looked like since he was standing by the door and the light outside casted shadows on his face. What I did know was that that night I had a wonderful dream.
Staying over at the town hall allowed me to have a morning chat with Bluebell's mayor. I'd heard a lot of horrible things about Mayor Rutger from Mayor Ina but apparently he was very welcoming towards me. At first I thought he was treating me that way because I was a guest but I soon concluded that he was probably only snide towards Mayor Ina. Then again, knowing how much pride both the mayors had regarding their town, it wasn't surprising that they'd defend their "child" as hard as they could. He gave me a free night's stay because I saw the beauty of Bluebell, the mayor's own private reason as to why I stayed over in the first place.
I was in no position to correct him nor was I completely against his theory. Bluebell had its own perks that I liked. When I thought of the things I liked about Bluebell, lo and behold, Cam's face appeared. However, this time, Laney and Howard's face also appeared. I decided to visit Lillian before heading back home and I found her busy tending to her animals.
"Morning Lillian." I called out to her from the other side of the fence. One thing I know about animals was that not all of them liked seeing new faces so I took my distance just to be safe. The bright-eyed farmer was milking her cows when she saw me.
"Wow! You're so early!" she said, accidentally spraying milk all over herself. I retrieved a towel from her house as I explained that I stayed overnight in the Town Hall.
"Ooooh... late night rendezvous I see." She grinned knowingly at me when I also mentioned the reason why I had to stay over.
"Nothing like that. It was work."
"Suuuuuree ... woooork ... like how you'd ask me to catch you fishes so you can practice touching them because you know Cam likes cats and you wanted to be able to give him fishes."
"Hey! Those are two unrelated things!"
"All I see is that they both had Cam in it."
The grinning farmer was not listening to any rebuttal that I was giving, something that Nori tend to do back when I was still in denial with my feelings towards Cam. Having fun like this with Lillian, made the idea of Cam liking her far less painful. It was nice to know that Cam wouldn't mind going out with a girl who would get her face stained with dirt and the likes. It simply proved that he wasn't into girls that were pretty all the time. If he was, I would throw all hope I had on him.
"Look, instead of occupying yourself with teasing me, why don't you use your mouth to instruct me on how to brush your sheep. That one's very dirty." I said as I picked up the brush near Lillian.
The two of us ended up caring the animal together. They didn't seem to mind that I was the one that was brushing them. I felt like I saw hearts appearing on their head after I brushed each one of them. It was probably my imagination but it was nice to know that they liked it. What shocked me more was how Lillian's cat was able to fetch her chicken and carried them outside.
"Having animals around is actually pretty cool." I commented with a glass of milk on my hand after both our work was done. Lillian had been kind enough to offer me her fresh milk we got from her cow named Milky. Yeah, she wasn't very original with her names. I pity her chicken that had one letter difference to their name. At least her horse was named Sylphid after a horse in a story that she read in a library once before.
Lillian offered me a ride home but knowing that she still had a lot to do, I declined her offer. I ended up hitching a ride along with two other men: Diego and Enrique. The two of them were really similar to their counterpart in Konohana. They were talking about different schemes to make money and Enrique expressed his dislike towards animals except the weasel.
When I arrived at my house, Mako did not realize that I was missing the night before. He did notice my hairstyle though, or at least, the lack thereof. After receiving the beautiful braiding from Laney, I didn't feel like doing anything to my hair. Our discussion about hair didn't last long after I gave him the soil from Bluebell. We went right ahead to research after research after research. On other days, I would follow Mako to meet up with Gombe to receive feedback. Apparently it produced a great quality product that his crop won the Konohana crop festival. It shouldn't be a surprise since Gombe almost always win the competition.
As Fall was about the end, Mako went to another town to submit his research paper and to order a new set of fertilizer and seeds. During this period of time, I would sort out all of his research and rewrote data that he recorded on different papers into one collated paper. It was a moment of peace for me where I could engross myself to research and plants' livelihood so I did not expect to hear a knock on the door. Those who knew me (like Lillian and Nori) would simply enter the house if they wanted to see me.
"Who is it?" I walked out of my uncle's room with a shawl around me since the temperature was already low.
"It's me." Answered the person at the door.
"Cam?!" I couldn't hide my excitement when I heard Cam's voice. I rushed to the door and opened it to see the florist holding a bouquet of white roses on his hand. He was wearing a purple checkered sweater on top of his usual purple vest; his yellow tie poked past the bottom of his sweater.
"Are you busy?" he asked politely, slightly nodding his head in greeting.
"No, not at all," I lied. "Come on in." I led him to our dining table that we had changed into a kotatsu for the coming winter. I immediately prepared some hot water to make hot ocha for him when he asked about Mako.
"He went to the city to submit his report. It seems to be a success here. How was the fertilizer for you?" I asked over my shoulder.
"It's great. That's why I'm here actually. I brought this bouquet for you. It's the result of using your fertilizer."
I thanked the Harvest Goddess that I had my back facing him otherwise Cam would've seen the color on my face. 'Please. He didn't bring the flowers for you, you cod. It's a work-related thank you gesture. Wipe that grin off your face right now.'
"R-really? I'm sorry I couldn't tell." I said as I brought the kettle to the table. "I don't really have any data to compare off your flowers."
"It's fine. The difference is a bit subtle for other people but it's there." Cam said as he stared at the way I prepared my tea. I took out the whisk and mixed the green tea powder that I put in the bowl with the hot water. It was definitely different from the way Howard prepared his tea. Once I added more hot water on the bowl, I offered it to him.
"Th-thanks." He said, carefully steering the bowl to his mouth. The tea was probably too hot to be drunk right away so Cam put it back to the table after trying to sip it. "That's hot," he muttered.
"Anyway, I thought you should know it first hand." Cam readjusted his seating, making me feel like he was about to say something important towards me. My heart was pounding. Even though my brain was telling my heart that it was probably nothing, I had to press my hand on my heart to keep it from jumping out of my chest.
"I wanted to leave the town," he announced. My heart suddenly stopped. Did I hear it right? Cam wanted to leave town?
"W-wait, "wanted"? So you're no longer leaving?" I cleared my throat nervously.
"No. I did plan on it but after you gave me the fertilizer I realized that I could do it here. Y'see, I was always dissatisfied with my flowers. Don't get me wrong, they're all beautiful but I always have this nagging feeling that I could make it better," Cam took a sip from the tea and grimaced at its bitterness before continuing. "On one of my trips to a different town, I met this man who made perfumes using flowers. He was doing what I was doing ... sort of. He was only focusing on the perfume though. I was intrigued so I took a look at his workshop."
"His flowers were of a different quality. The color was more vibrant, the scent was stronger, and even the variety was more diverse. He wasn't selling it since he said he was more of a researcher than a perfume maker. Kind of like you. You both research flowers. When I met him, it made me want to do researches as well but with my schedule, I can't really do it. I'm either busy restocking flowers or selling them. Even during my day off, I'm always looking for any flowers around the mountain that I may have missed."
"I was so ready to leave. I sort of asked Howard about it and of course he refused at first but he did leave the choice to me. That's why I wanted to confess to Lillian. I figured I wanted to tell her how I feel before I left. Maybe it was good that you were there that time. If you hadn't stopped me, I probably had left."
The sudden flashback of the incident still left a pang in my heart but it wasn't as painful as before. I was a bamboo now: flexible and strong. Dodge the attack and go straight back up. Plus, knowing that my action prevented him from leaving, helped. "So what changed your mind?" Although what I really wanted to ask was: 'Why didn't you tell Lillian your feelings? Did you not like her as much as you thought?'
"You did. And your fertilizer. If it was all up to me, I wouldn't have been able to figure out that mix of fertilizer but you were there. You were the one that did the research and I took advantage of that. So, thank you," he sincerely said as he offered the bouquet to me. There was no way I could keep myself from blushing. All of these little things he was doing did not help my heart calm down at all. 'How should I react to this?'
Before my head could wrap around the situation, I was already breaking into a smile. My emotion took over my body and I was grinning from ear to ear. 'Too late to do anything now.'
"I'm happy to hear that. It'd be a real shame if you were to leave town. I would have one less person to talk plants to."
"Y-yeah." Cam seemed to be taken aback from my reaction. Was I not supposed to be happy about this? But how could I not?! He didn't leave town, obviously I was happy.
"My uncle was also happy when I brought him the soil. I think he'd really appreciate the result as well. So I'll pass on your thanks to him. He's the one that did the research, I was more of the errand girl." I still wasn't able to hide my smile no matter how much I tried.
"R-right. Your uncle did. B-but you're the one who gave them to me. So, thanks for that."
'Carp. I hope he doesn't think that bringing the fertilizer was also a motive for me to see him.' I silently prayed to the Harvest Goddess. "That's what friends are for." I giggled nervously.
Cam was definitely feeling awkward and so out of words that all he could say were 'thank you's before shutting himself up with the tea. I was still grinning when I sipped my tea. That was when silence crept back into our conversation. I didn't mind the silence. In my head it wasn't quiet. It was loud with 'hoorays' and 'whoop's. Heck, there was a party in my head. My guest, on the other hand, wasn't as comfortable.
"S-so ... you didn't braid your hair up today." He stated rather than asked.
"Huh? Oh, that's because I didn't know how to do it. Laney was the one who did it for me which reminds me," I stood up and ran upstairs to retrieve the hairclips that Laney let me wore the other day. "This is hers. Can you bring this back to her?"
Somehow Cam's face looked ... disappointed? I wasn't sure but it was definitely ... not as bright.
"You're not going to give it herself?"
Hearing him say that, made me look away. It sounded like he wanted me to come by his place but of course he didn't mean it that way. There was just no way! "Well, I ... I mean, there was just ... I got busy helping Mako and I thought that Laney might be waiting for it. I didn't want her to think that I'm keeping it." I gathered my courage to lift my head back and meet his eyes.
"B-but if you want me to go to your place then, I'll go there next time I'm free." Thankfully, I managed to hold my gaze. This time it was Cam who looked away.
"Yeah, s-sure. I'm sure she'll be glad. She enjoyed your company." He answered before adding in a small voice, "we all did."
Now I was the one who suddenly felt uncomfortable with the silence so I distracted Cam by offering him more tea.
"No, I'm fine. I ... probably should head back. Send my regards to your uncle when he's back." He was already getting up to leave when he stopped to turn to me. "So it's really just you alone in the house? No one to accompany you?"
"Huh? Well, we're a crop village. End of the season is our busiest day because that's when everything is being harvested before the season changed. Nori's busy helping her grandfather. I'll be harvesting the orchard outside too." I counted in my head all the tasks I needed to do before Winter sets in.
" ... do you need help with the orchard?" Cam still wasn't budging from his spot. He looked concerned. I couldn't help but feel touched by that.
"Don't worry about it. I do it all the time whenever Mako's away. You forgot that I'm a researcher. We tend to be left alone to our data so I'm pretty used to it." I shrugged it off. There really was nothing new about this routine. Whenever Mako left for a couple days, I'd have to take over the orchard and tend the house by myself. It was the same even if Mako was here engrossed in his research. I'd tend the house and orchard on my own.
" ... Then you probably don't mind if I take a look at your orchard? I want to see how the professionals harvest their fruit."
"Professionals? Oh please, you think too highly of me," I laughed. Still, I led him towards the orchards and placed a ladder against the tree. "It's just like any other harvester, really. I'd pick a fruit and place it on the basket. If I can't reach it, I'd use a ladder or climb. Mako's much taller than me so he doesn't need to climb up."
I started to pick fruits and placed it in the basket. Cam offered to help take the fruits to the basket so I didn't have to go back and forth. Just as I was getting to the higher fruit, I began to climb up the ladder.
"Here, let me help." Cam positioned himself closer to get ready to climb up the ladder. That position made him a bit too close for comfort. He was looking up at me and I was looking down. Suddenly I felt self conscious about myself.
'I don't look weird from below, do I? I'm happy that he's here but ... gah! This is too much for my heart!'
"It's okay." I managed to say, "I'm almost done. Just three more. Stay further a bit, you might get hurt."
"But you can't reach those three. You'll need to climb it." He pointed at the fruits at the top. It was true that it was too far for me but how was I supposed to go down if he was blocking the path down. Having him in my personal space was too much let alone having to climb closer towards him.
"I'm fine. I do this all the time." To ignore him, I focused myself on climbing the tree and pulled. What I forgot to take into account was the fact that my grip was much weaker now that I was nervous. Aside from my weak grip, I was also conscious about my feet that might kick Cam's face so when I lost my grip, I didn't move my feet to prevent my fall.
"Ack!"
The next thing I knew, I lost to the force of gravity and I was falling down. I closed my eyes and braced for the impact but instead, I felt hands catching me. Okay, maybe catching was too kind to describe the feeling of being grabbed from behind by someone. Since I had my back towards Cam, he didn't have much choice but to pull me into a hug to keep me from hitting my face on the ladder. Thanks to his quick thinking, I managed to escape hitting my body against the tree and instead, the momentum caused two of us to fall backwards.
The impact was softened due to Cam's body that was underneath mine. When I opened my eyes, I saw the sky and I could hear him moaning in pain. He really fell without any way to soften his fall; the solid ground might have knocked his head straight on. Worried, I tried to roll over to see how he was and that was when I realized where his hands were holding me. While the other one was wrapping itself around my waist, the other was way above my waist, way past the line between lover and friends.
"C ... Cam ..." I tried to say something but he was still recovering from his fall. His grip on me was quite ... tight.
"C ... Cam ... your ... " I tried again. This time, my voice was wobblier than the first. "Your hand ... please."
"What?" It took Cam another 3 agonizing seconds before he realized the soft sensation on his hand. "OH MY GODDESS!"
As fast as the fall that had happened, he threw his hands open releasing me from his grip. I took this chance to get off of him and sat a bit further away from him; my hands were pulled close to my chest. I could hear Cam pushed himself up; neither of us knew what to say, neither of us dared to look at each other.
"So ... there's still two—THREE!—three fruits left up there. I, uh," he cleared his throat, "I'll get it for you."
Cam distracted himself by climbing up the tree with ease. I regained the feeling of my feet and managed to stand back up. I still couldn't look at him when he got back down with the fruits in his arms.
"Done. I gotta give it to you, they're pretty big." I knew Cam was talking about the fruit but I couldn't help but blush when I heard that. Cam seemed to notice it too since he quickly corrected himself.
"THE FRUITS! The fruits are big. Not yours—I mean, they're big too but. I didn't mean to say that! It's decent size. It's ... do you prefer it big? I—shut up Cam." The flustered boy was definitely digging a bigger grave as he talked. My face was getting hotter and hotter. I couldn't pretend that it didn't happen. I really wasn't prepared for this.
All I could think of was to run away from there. So I did.
"Sorry, I have to go!" I said a little too loudly before darting back into the house.
"Wait, the fruits!"
"Take it! It's yours for helping out."
SLAM.
The door was shut and placed my back against it as if it would prevent it to open up even further. I slumped down to the floor and placed my face on my palm. It felt hot. I must've looked so red.
'I am so not gonna see Cam anytime soon. WHY is that when he's involved, I always end up doing something embarrassing?!' I grumbled and muttered to myself for who knew how long. I sat there since there were still noises outside until there were none. There was no way Cam would still be outside, right? I dragged myself up and opened the door ever ... so ... slowly.
To my surprise, there were four basketfuls of fruits at the front of the door. Cam had probably harvested all the trees. Seeing this tickled my funny bone. It started with a snort then a chuckle then a full out laughter. Oh that boy really knew how to make me laugh despite everything. Love and hate was a really thin line. I probably should hate him for the accident but the way he made up for it was enough to make me fall in love with him all over again.
Still,
...
"Cam, you cod!"
AN:
I'm back with a new chapter! This time I let myself write a longer chapter. I did want to divide this into two but I figured, nah.. I quite enjoy writing longer chapter. I just hope it doesn't feel like I'm dragging the conversations since I love writing the interaction between Reina and the others.
Just in case anyone is wondering, the bamboo reference is actually taken from this manga I read called Tekken Chinmi (or in my country it's called Kung Fu Boy). There was a scene where he was learning how to fight with a rod and he used a bamboo as an example of dodging before launching into an attack. Also from a story book I read, where the bamboo who was blown by the wind was able to withstand the storm compared to the bigger oak tree that was trying to stand strong. Yeah... just in case anyone is confused, hahah.
Another manga reference is in this too! A book about Sylphid the horse actually exist. I used to have the whole series but I think my sister sold it. Bummer.
I'm by no means a fertilizer expert but I did read about it before writing that whole paragraph of potassium and whatnot. Sorry if it's wrong but that just means I fail at my research, hahah.
Also, since Story of Season is out (yay!) I decided to incorporate a little bit of the Cam in that game into this story. The guy Cam met was Klaus who (based on what I read) makes perfumes. The only difference is that, Cam didn't end up moving away... so did Reina.
I'm so tempted to write a Cam's POV because of what happened at the end of the chapter. I think Cam's starting to get a change of heart... I don't know. I'll have to check with him. He is still a bit of naive with love. He probably mistakes admiration for love a lot, oh that shy boy.
Since Reina had just established a new friendship with Laney, I want to go there a bit on the next chapter. Also, the thing about Laney not liking to talk about her mom is kind of in line with my other story/short chapter challenge: The Scent of Coffee. *spoiler alert?* There I wrote that Laney's mother left the two of them which is why she resents her.
So that's it for me. Thank you so much for patiently waiting for my long chapter updates :) I hope you like this chapter!