Hey everyone! I'm glad that we are on the same page about the 'slow romance' ^^

Thanks for all readers; those who favorite/follow this story; reviewers! Te amo! ^^

I hope you enjoy this chapter~

Today was the Fireworks Festival. As such, Raelyn decided to pay a visit to the travelling merchant earlier than she would usually do. She hauled her harvest—onions, mostly—and marched towards the Trade Depot.

"Hi, Mr. Jonas," she greeted as she walked past the middle-aged man. "Do you have any suggestions whom I should ship my summer crops to?"

"Good day, Miss Raelyn, you're hardworking as usual," the man flipped his notebook. "Hm… Silk Country would give you a higher price for summer crops, so it seems."

She bowed slightly. "Thank you."

Raelyn walked over to Asche and in a few minutes she left with lighter shoulder but substantially heavier purse. Veronica had told her about the Seed Maker and now she was saving to purchase the blueprint; it's time to improve on quality.

"Raelyn?"

Raelyn looked up and saw Iris walking towards her. "Miss Iris," she greeted with a smile.

"Just the person I want to see," Iris smiled.

"Huh? Can I help you?"

"Oh, you certainly can!" the novelist took her hand. "You see, Raelyn, today is the Fireworks Festival~"

"Uh-huh…"

"Let me dress you up, will you?"

Raelyn could feel her cheeks suddenly became much hotter. "W-What?!"

"I cannot possibly dress Mistel up," Iris explained fluently. "And wouldn't it be good to dress up once in a while? This is a festival, after all."

"W-Well, that's…"

Raelyn held her breath when she saw Iris' clear purple eyes in front of her own. "Please…?"

Raelyn stared at the dress Iris held in front of her.

"Hm… too flashy," Iris muttered to herself before putting the dress back into the wardrobe.

The latter had asked her to come early enough to take a quick shower in their house. Raelyn initially refused, but Iris had insisted and Mistel didn't seem to mind. If anything at all, he seemed to be amused at his sister's enthusiasm.

"It's been a while since she had so much fun," he remarked. "I must thank you."

"Er… no problem, I guess…" Raelyn muttered.

For a moment, Raelyn thought of Eda. The latter wouldn't be attending the festival because she didn't really feel up to it. She had reasoned that she could still see the fireworks up from the mountain, but she insisted Raelyn to take up Iris on her offer and enjoyed the festival in her stead.

"Granny, you're okay, right?" she had asked. "You're… healthy, right?"

"Of course, sweetie, ohohohoho," she laughed. "I'm fine. You just go and enjoy yourself."

"Raelyn, how about this dress?"

Raelyn snapped back to the present and saw the dress Iris had taken out. It was mint green, knee-length sleeveless dress with white flower pattern. Raelyn smiled and nodded; somehow, she liked the combination of green and white on the dress.

After Iris was finished with dressing her up, including replacing her bandana with a white ribbon and her boots with a pair of white flat shoes. Iris was obviously delighted to find out that they had the same shoe size and Raelyn could sense future dressing-up sessions with the novelist. Iris circled her arm with hers as they walked out of the house together, with Mistel walking a few steps behind them.

Coincidentally, Klaus walked out from his house at that moment, too. He stopped when he saw their party approached and he greeted the siblings before he looked at her.

"Miss Raelyn?" he called rather hesitantly.

"Hello, Mr. Klaus," she bowed politely.

To her surprise, he smiled. "For a moment I could not recognize you."

Iris let go of her arm. "What do you think, Klaus? Doesn't this dress look gorgeous on her?"

"This is a fresh change, certainly," Klaus replied with a neutral tone. "Green suits you, Miss Raelyn."

"Um… thanks," she replied, trying to suppress her blushing. Unlike her father and brothers, Klaus didn't seem to have any difficulties in complimenting her; that was, if he was complimenting her.

Goodness, this is nothing, she told herself. Get over it!

In the end, the four of them walked together to the Trade Depot, now empty to give space for fireworks watching. It was only then it occurred to her that she didn't bring any mat and she didn't want to ruin Iris' dress.

"Sit with us," Mistel said. "Our mat can fit four just fine."

"O-oh…" Raelyn glanced at the group. Iris tapped the spot behind her, next to Klaus. There was indeed enough space for her to sit down.

"Come on," she urged. "The fireworks are starting very soon."

Left with no other choice, Raelyn walked over and sat there. Just like Iris said, the first batch of fireworks was shot up a few moments after she sat down. Raelyn held her breath; she had seen fireworks in the city, sure, but the sky background was much, much clearer in this town that she could still she the stars sparkling amidst the firework blasts.

"So beautiful…" she murmured in awe.

"Isn't that so?" a voice replied.

Raelyn looked to the side—oh, right, he's here, she thought. He looked at her and smiled kindly. "You used to live in the city, didn't you? Don't you think the fireworks here, despite being more modest, are more beautiful?"

There they were, his golden eyes. She couldn't tear away from them; it was as if there was a spell that bound her to those eyes. Even with the fireworks display of the summer sparkling stars, his eyes still glued her when they met, especially the way it seemed to just… glow.

"Miss Raelyn…?"

"Oh!" she snapped in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry, I'm just…"

"The next batch is starting," he told her. She knew he was being kind; there was no way of him not realizing that she was staring at him.

He was simply being kind.

The festival ended just before midnight. Raelyn greeted the other townspeople—those she didn't have the chance to speak to before the festival—before making her way back to her farm.

"Miss Raelyn," Klaus called just as she was about to leave the Trade Depot.

Raelyn turned and found that Klaus was making his way through the crowd. "I didn't see Madam Eda. Whom are you going back with?"

"She's not here," Raelyn affirmed. "I'm going back alone."

"That won't do," Klaus said. "Let me escort you back."

She knew, from last time, that Klaus wouldn't take no as an answer—safety reasons, he'd say—so she simply nodded and let him walked her back.

They walked past Piedmont to the grain and paddy field area and then to the mountain area. Raelyn played her skirt between her fingers, trying not to appear to be too nervous.

Whywhywhywhy, she thought wildly. He's just being kind, no big deal!

"Miss Raelyn,"

She jerked up at the call of her name. "Yes?"

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes," she replied without batting an eyelid. "Two elder brothers. Rex is working in the Capital while Nate is working on my family's farm… how about you, Mr. Klaus?"

There was a brief moment of silence; Raelyn thought perhaps she shouldn't ask… but he did—wasn't it natural to ask the same question back?

"I'm an only child," he finally broke the silence. "I've never had a younger sibling… but I guess, if I do, I'd like a sister like you."

She held her breath. "…why?"

Raelyn glanced aside and found Klaus was smiling. "I couldn't really explain myself in this case… apologies."

As they made their way up, she noticed that there was a group of fireflies floating around. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, Raelyn tugged lightly on his sleeve. "Mr. Klaus, look!" she pointed at the fireflies.

Not waiting for his response, Raelyn carefully made her way towards the fireflies. She remembered that she was supposed to keep her voice low so that she wouldn't scare the fireflies away. The pinkette carefully reached out to one of the fireflies and giggled when she felt its body brushed against her finger.

Raelyn turned around and found that Klaus was still standing there, watching her. She was too far to see that he was actually smiling, nevertheless, she smiled at him. "Aren't they beautiful, Mr. Klaus?"

"Yes," he agreed.

Raelyn, feeling bad if she kept him waiting like that, slowly made her way back to him and they continued walking. "Sorry to make you wait."

"No problem," he replied. "So long as you're not alone. It'd be very dangerous otherwise."

Raelyn nodded absent-mindedly and before long, they had reached her doorstep. "Thank you," she said, bowing slightly.

"You're welcome," Klaus replied. "Good night, Miss Raelyn."

He didn't immediately move and their eyes stayed where they were—looking into each other—longer than they had expected. Raelyn weighed her options… should she push it?

"Mr. Klaus?"

"Yes?"

She took a deep breath. "If you say… you want a little sister like me," it became harder to keep eye contact, but somehow she managed. "Why don't you call me 'Raelyn'?"

He didn't immediately answer. She didn't mean anything more than what she had explicitly stated; she thought it was a simple question. A lot of thoughts went through Raelyn's mind: Was I being impolite? Is it too much?

She could barely suppress her relief when Klaus broke the silence with a smile. "Raelyn, then," he said. "I'll see you around."

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Thanks for reading, please drop your review! ^^

A/N: just to make things clear, Raelyn came from the city, yes, but it is not the Capital where her brother lives. This is for those who thinks I'm contradicting myself because I stated in a few chapters ago that Raelyn was alone in the city after she moved out; she was, as a matter of fact. Hope this clears things up ^^