"Well then, see you around" said Romano as he was trying to hide his blushing face.

"Thanks again Romano" she said as she waved her hand goodbye.

As Maria entered the classroom she was cornered into a corner by the female Asian nations.

"Tell us what happened with you and Romano" said Mei who was wearing a creepy smile.

"Yeah, and don't leave any juices behind" said Singapore as the others nodded in excitement.

"What are you all talking about" Maria said with a confusing look on her face.

"About you and Romano" the Malay twins said in unison.

"Wait! What! Romano is my fratello, why would you think something happened? and plus he just escorted me back here to the classroom"

"All right, break it up all of you, the teacher is coming" as Vietnam told the girls to get back to their seats. "Maria, I apologize for Alfred's behaviour".

"It's perfectly alright- wait why are you apologizing?" Maria said as to why Viet was the one apologizing for Alfred's behaviour.

"Oh, I'm his girlfriend" she said quite frankly.

"Whaat?" Maria said surprisingly. Maria knew that America helped her in the Vietnam War, but she didn't know that they were a couple. She was indeed in shock after learning this. The teacher came and both of them took their seats. When classes were finished and the teacher left the room. Maria noticed that Alfred was waiting outside of the room. Vietnam greeted her so called boyfriend while other nations went straight back to their dormitories.

"Yo, Maria" the American said as he approached her. "I'm really sorry about what happened earlier" he apologized sincerely.

"It's okay, Alfred. I'm more surprised as to how you and Vietnam are a couple"

"That's because I'm the hero, and the hero always gets the girl" he said as he pulled Vietnam into a hug. "I hope Romano isn't still mad at me"

"Do I detect a hint of fear? perhaps" Maria asked ever so slyly.

"Of course not, the hero isn't afraid of anything"

"Well, if you say so. I'll leave you two alone" she said as she noticed that the atmosphere was getting cheesy as Vietnam and America were starting to smooch. The two waved goodbye at her and Maria headed towards the library. When Arthur toured her around the school grounds, the library was the one which really grabbed Maria's attention. It was grand it had a classic touch to it but it was also made of marble from the floor to the stairs, and there were murals on the ceiling, it felt like she was in a cathedral or something. Maria was always fond of reading, especially fictions and went to the fiction section. Near the shelves was a painting of Sunflowers hanged in the wall, and a tall man with beige hair and was wearing a scarf. The man looked at her and gave her a smile whilst she smiled back as she continued to look for her favourite book, Romeo and Juliet, yeah Maria was a sucker for romance novels. She found the book but it was too high and she couldn't find any stool to support her. Having a petite stature has its disadvantages. Fortunately, the man noticed this and helped reached the book effortlessly, he hands her the book, and he noticed that there was a warm aura surrounding Maria. "Uhm, thank you. Mister?"

"Oh, I am Russia but you could call me Ivan. Do you want to become with me, da?" he said as shivers travelled through Maria's spine. She could feel his dark aura emitting from his body.

"Uhm, I'll think about it" she said quickly. I mean, I couldn't say no, or else I don't even know what the slightest idea of what he could do to me. Oh crap he has a faucet pipe and is that vodka? I thought alcohol was forbidden in this school.

"Alright then, I will be waiting for your reply" he said in a calm tone. "By the way, you're the new student, am I right?"

"Yyeah?" Maria said while her whole body trembles with fear as Russia gave her another smile. Then again, he looks kind of cute. She was then snapped back to reality. "How rude of me, I'm Philippines but you can call me Maria" as she extends one hand and Russia shook it. She felt that his hand was as cold as ice while Ivan felt the opposite of Maria's hand.

"Philippines, you're from Asia? Right?"

"Yes"

"Do you have sunflowers there?"

"Yup, they bloom in November, since our country only has tropical seasons" she said. This made Ivan want to come to her country. "I always wanted to go to a country where it snows" she added.

"Really?" he asked. "Then you should visit me sometimes in my country"

"Can I?" Maria's fear of Ivan suddenly disappeared. While she wanted to go to his country, Ivan wanted to be in her country, where the suns warm rays touches his skin.

"Of Course" he said as he patted Maria's head, making her blush.

"Again, thank you for the book, Ivan" she said and went off to one of the tables so she could start reading. The book she picked was Romeo and Juliet, it was one of her favourites, even though the two star crossed lovers didn't have a happy ending. As she was too busy staring at the cover of the book, she hasn't noticed that she already bumped into someone and fell on her ass.

"Oh good lord, I'm sorry-, My, my Maria, haven't we learned our little lesson about watching where were going?" a familiar student held out his hand to help Maria get up.

"Oh, it's just you Arthur" as Maria took his hand and got up. Arthur just rolled his eyes and picked up the book.

"Hmm, Romeo and Juliet, Quite a romantic aren't you Maria?" Arthur gave a smirk.

"Shut up" she said as her cheeks turned red.

"You do know that Shakespeare wrote this story to make the Queen laugh"

"And why is that"

"Well first of all, the two protagonist, how would you say this, well they are stupid. Juliet could have stopped Romeo from drinking the poison because she was already awake but just stared at her lover, basically its utter stupidity, if you ask me" he lectured all the way.

"Thanks for ruining my favourite novel, Arthur" she said as she was checking out the book

"You are most certainly welcome" as he gave a smirk. They exited the library and walked in the hallway. "Hmm, have you eaten dinner yet?"

"Nope, I'll just buy some noodles in the convenience store"

"No wonder you're thin" he said as he inspected Maria from head to toe, Although she was blessed by God, having all the right curves in the right places and most of all she inherited Spain's wonderful ass.

"Hey, now that wasn't very nice"

"Good heavens child, you should eat a nutritious meal, join me for dinner, I'll be dining in a nearby restaurant"

"As much as I would like to take you on that offer, unlike you and other countries, I have no money, it would be a waste of money if I would just spend it in a full course meal if I could get a full stomach on just noodles" Yep, Maria isn't broke, her economy is just not doing well, plus she what you call a "progressing nation", she can't indulge on something her heart desires, even food, you could say that she is practical in a way.

"Easy Lass, I'm just asking you to accompany me to dinner, plus you haven't let me finish, It would be my treat"

"Really?, but I have to decline your offer, it's your money" What Maria said is the opposite of what her mind was thinking. Come on now, go with Arthur, it's a free meal, you'll save money. "Plus, I have homeworks that I should start doing"

"Too bad, well then I am used to being alone all the time, so see you around" as he waved bid farewell and headed out of the school.

Hmm, poor guy, I heard from Hong that he was a very lonely man. Maybe I should accompany him, no, that would mean treating me to dinner, even though I do like that. Wait I have an idea. "Hey Arthur, wait up"

"Yes? What is it?" as Arthur stopped his tracks.

"Do you want to eat noodles with me? I mean, I know you're a fancy man and always wants his tea, I mean, you don't have to come if you didn't really want to eat noodles" she was fidgeting, she realized that she was kind of asking him out on a date but in a convenience store, and this made Arthur laughed.

"You are such a fascinating being, Maria, sure I would like to eat noodles with you"

"Shut up, you know what I changed my mind, I'll go alone" she said in an irritated way and walked briskly down the street

"Spunky, aren't we? Hey, wait up" Arthur said as he was catching up to her.

Both of them reached the convenience store, bought two cups of noodles and went to the table near the window. Maria started eating while Arthur separated his chopsticks.

"I didn't know you knew how to use a chopstick"

"Hong Kong taught me when he was staying with me"

"Oh yeah, I forgot all about that"

"How have you been Maria, I haven't seen you since you were this tall" he said as he gestured his hand. "As far as I can recall, you were a bit of a tomboy as well, I mean, when I met you, I thought you were a boy, speaking and acting like one, but now, it's quite marvellous that you have turned out into a fine lady"

"I will take that as a compliment, Kaichou" as she giggled. It was cute and very child like. "Well, Papa did mistake me for a boy when he met me, giving me the name Philip and didn't realize it when he bathed me and Romano" Now, Maria had the face of someone reminiscing something, calm and happy in a graceful way. "After you left, I started to rebel against Papa, I wanted independence, I wanted to be like you, free to go wherever you want. It's not that I want to hurt Papa, he is a really good father, it's because of his government, and we all know we can't defy our government, right?"

"Right, as nations, we represent our people, but we do not represent the decisions of our government, we have no choice but to obey them, It must be really hard for you to separate from Antonio"

"Not really, I mean he was very overprotective, he was really angry at Alfred when he replaced him on claim over me, plus he was trying to make me wear tight dresses that he brought from Europe, god those corsets are going to kill me, I couldn't even breathe wearing those things and he also tried to make me learn how to dance when I turned into a teenager. But when I was turning into a young woman, I now know why my Papa wanted me to learn those things, especially around Alfred, I realized that we can't have two troublesome teenagers and someone has to take charge and be mature, fortunately that was me"

"Now that would be a sight to see, you in a corset and dancing." Both imagined those two things and just laughed it off. "I think we should be heading back to the dormitories, it's getting pretty late" he said as he noticed the sky through the glass window.

"Alright, let's head back"

"Thank you for accompanying me, Maria"

"My pleasure, Arthur" Both of them said goodnight to each other and went back to their own dormitories.

Author's Notes:

I forgot in the first chapter. Romano referred to Maria as an "egg sucking bitch", the term most likely refers to Balut, one of our country's specialities, aka Duck Eggs.