Hello everyone! Thanks for waiting and HOLYMOLY 101 reviews! Thank you so much! ^^ I also wanna thank the followers and those who favorited this story! I might not be able to mention you guys one by one but now that I'm very very grateful for your support ^^ This chapter is a short one, but I hope you'll still enjoy it.

Helen: Hi! Glad to see you on this story! Firstly, thanks for the compliment and I'm glad to know that you enjoyed reading it and now I'll proceed with your comment on Raelyn. You know what? I agree with you: Raelyn should have waited. In her defense, though, she didn't exactly and explicitly tell Klaus that she is in love with him. She was just saying how she realized her feelings for him was different from what she thought. Klaus was the one who pre-empted that move by cutting the discussion short. Klaus might be right in concluding that Raelyn was in love with him, but I guess he might have gone towards the overkill in that conversation. If you ask me, if I were Raelyn, I wouldn't simply tell the guy that I might have a crush on that I might have a crush on him because it sounded like a half-assed confession, but then again, I'm not Raelyn. lol. Imo, Raelyn needs to learn how to wait... she is a greenhorn in romance, after all. So, yes, I agree with you that she's unwise in revealing that bit of info, although the fault might not be entirely hers. Then again, just as you have noticed yourself, this side of her puts Klaus at his wits' end. I think at this point I can safely say that her innocence, honesty and trust in him ironically disarmed him more than he expected. All in all, I hope you'll be as excited as I am in how this will go! ^^

fantasyanimegirl283: hey there, glad to see you around again! I like Marian and he is a fun character to write about ^^

She sat on her father's shoulders, with each of her legs leaned against his broad shoulders. The spring sun was not harsh, and the gentle breeze made everything even better. She reached out to one of the falling cherry blossom petals, squealing in delight when she managed to capture one full flower.

She could hear her father chuckling. "You're just like your mom," he said.

"Daddy loves Mommy."

After a while, she could hear his reply. His voice was unbelievably soft, but there was no hesitation in it: "I do."

"How do you know that?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

Being as young as you are, it is not uncommon to mistake a simple admiration for love.

His words kept echoing in her head. They made sense; at least that's what she had been trying to make herself believe.

A simple admiration? Perhaps that's it, she told herself. That must be it.

Raelyn took a deep breath as she clenched her heart.

Why does it hurt, then?

"Raelyn!"

The pinkette looked up and found Ibuki standing near the border between their farms. "Do you want to go to the Trade Depot?"

She sighed and shook her head. "I'm good," she replied.

The blond farmer glanced at the bundles of daikons that Raelyn stacked together near the fences protecting her fields. He had seen these bundles yesterday, or perhaps even the day before yesterday. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Positive," she replied.

"Do you need me to help with shipping?"

Raelyn sighed again. "Please," she replied in a low voice. "Thanks."

She took her watering can and sickle with the intention of putting them away when she heard sounds of footsteps on the snow getting closer. It was Ibuki.

"What is it?" she asked, trying to sound even.

Suddenly, he put his hand on her forehead. "It doesn't seem that you're sick."

Raelyn pushed his hand away gently. "I'm not sick," she assured him while looking away.

"Who are you avoiding then?"

"No one," she replied.

"Oh, come on, Raelyn. You are obviously avoiding the town."

"I'm just…" She bit her lower lip. "I'm just not in the mood, okay?"

"Rae—"

"You know what? Just leave those daikons there. I'll ship them myself later."

Without giving Ibuki any more chances to answer, Raelyn left him and went into her house. After closing—and locking—the door, she leaned against it, sighing long.

She cleared her affairs in the town as quickly as she could: shipping, restocking animal treats and fertilizers, and there was a letter for her from Echo Town. Raelyn could feel her heart beating slightly faster in anticipation as Veronica handed the letter over.

Dad.

The pinkette farmer muttered a quick thanks and left. She set her sight on the path before her, ignoring the flows of strangers around her. She walked briskly towards the church, where she then headed towards Eda's grave. There was no one there, but there was a small bouquet of flowers put against the headstone.

"Hi, Granny," she greeted as she imagined that the elderly woman was standing in front of her with that warm smile of hers. "I… I asked my dad the question I asked a long time ago. I think this is his reply."

Raelyn carefully tore the envelope and unfolded the paper.

Lynn,

What happened to you? What's with that sudden question? Are you having a crush on someone over there?

In any case, (there were scribbles that made whatever he wrote beneath it illegible) if you must know, what I have for your mother was not something that happened overnight. (Another scribbling) I know I love her because I chose to love her.

Do you get it? Love, the one that lasts, is a decision that you make for yourself.

Before you ask, I'll just tell you: your mother was a horrible cook, believe it or not. She tried to make a Starry Night meal and it actually tasted like (a lot of scribbles here) hell. For one, I'm sure she used jalapeño for her shrimp chili.

Anyway, I was about to tell her how horrible it was when I noticed the bandages around her fingers. At that time, I know she was adept enough in her farming that those couldn't have been blisters.

I guess that's the start of everything. I started to love her then.

Thank Goddess her cooking got waaaaaaay better.

I'm not going to ask why you suddenly asked, but I'll tell you this:

I admired the way your mother learned how to cook, and perhaps that's how I fell for her, but beyond that, I keep deciding to love her no matter what. Every time I have choices, I simply choose to love her.

It's not always easy, but it's always worth it. That's how I know it's real.

Love,

Dad.

P.S.: don't tell your mom.

What do you think on Neil's (unexpected?) crash course on romance?

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Thanks for reading! Please rate and review ^^

P.S.: What do you think of Neil in this letter? :P