"Sometimes I wish I were a horse," Akari said softly as she brushed Scarlett's brown, glistening coat. The mare huffed in annoyance as the comb scraped against her raw skin. Akari had brushed the horse over one hundred times as she sat on the grass in a depressed stupor, and the poor animal had to suffer through her master's strange way of venting. Akari had spent the entire afternoon cutting weeds, watering and fertilizing plants and fishing at the pond near her house even though she had taken care of her chores earlier that morning. But she refused to sit inside her shabby home and sulk. It was a beautiful day, after all.

The outside was refreshing and keeping busy was therapeutic. The rain clouds had dissipated and in its place was a cloudless sky with the sun illuminating the farm in a gold coating of light. The cicadas sung as the evening began to approach. The wind brought a sweet chill and carried a distinct smell of the ocean as it blew from the east. Akari decided it was time to return the animals to the barn. Just as she was rounding the animals together, she heard footsteps approaching on the dirt road. She froze. She hoped that it wasn't him. She hoped that he wasn't there to apologize, because she knew that she would fall right back into his arms. And she hated that about herself.

But instead she was amazed to see an employee from the Brass Bar walking toward her. His peach colored hair seemed to glow gold just like her surroundings. And the sun highlighted his purple eyes and fair skin. The guy was attractive but his personality was not. Still, she found Chase's aloofness to be enticing. She wanted to befriend him, but he never made it easy. He wore this very bored, very contempt expression most of the time, like the world around him and everyone in it was so uninteresting. So she was beyond surprised to see him visiting her farm at this time of the evening. She blushed as she brought a hand to her frazzled hair that had curled up due to the rain. She wished she had time to look somewhat presentable. At least she had the sense to cover her bruise with makeup.

"Hey," Chase greeted, pushing her bangs from her face. "Are you Akari? I can't tell beneath that jungle on your head."

Akari scowled and pushed his hand away. Stupid, sarcastic bastard, she thought to herself, wondering why she ever wanted to be friends with someone like him anyway. She turned her back on him and gave her cow a firm nudge on the butt. The cow, Bella, responded with an angry snort.

"Need any help?" Chase offered with that cocky smirk that made Akari's skin crawl.

"I have two perfectly good hands," she snapped

Chase ignored her and, with gentle care, lifted a yellow duckling from the ground and began to carry it to the coop. Akari's gaze burned a hole through him as he disappeared inside the grungy structure. She decided not to argue with him, figuring that an act of silence would drive him away eventually. She watched Scarlett and Bella trudge into the dimly lit barn. When Akari turned around, she saw Chase leaning against one of her many cherry trees, fiddling with a stem on a fallen cherry and popping the fruit into his mouth. His face scrunched up. Why was he there? What did he want? The many questions that surfaced to the farmer's mind forced her to break her vow of silence.

"What do you want?" She demanded.

Chase feigned a look of hurt. "Why do I have to want something?" He replied.

"Why else would you be here?"

He shrugged. "I don't know to what you are implying."

Akari glared at him, her bubbling anger barely contained.

"Apparently neither do you."

The farmer clenched her fists at her sides. She wished she had the nerve to swing them in order to ruin that pretty face of his. "Look, Chase," she seethed. "I'm having a really bad day, and I'd appreciate it if you were to stop being so rude."

His eyes lit up. "Bad day, huh? What happened?"

She crossed her arms in defiance. "Like you care."

He shrugged. "Try me." She met his gaze and saw that his flippant expression had been erased and in its place were eyes intensely violet and sincere, wordlessly requesting her to confide in him.

She sighed, gesturing toward the door. "Do you want to come in?"

He glanced at Akari's none too appealing home and winced. "Are you sure the roof won't collapse on me? Because if it does, I'm going to sue you."

"…Ha," the farmer deadpanned, leading the way to the door. She had been meaning to upgrade the house for months, but making money was hard. Plus, she was way too lazy to scavenge lumber and stone from Fugue Forest. She thought that her friendship with Luke would open her to a discount or two, but Dale would never allow it. Besides, she kind of enjoyed the coziness of her little home. The rickety wooden structure held its own during its first hurricane some months ago, although she could do without the constant roof leaks.

"You can sit down if you want," Akari offered. They moved into the living room and sat down on the sofa. The inside of her home was no better than the outside. She had taken an extreme minimalist approach, but her furniture had not been arranged very well. She had the kitchen, which was really just a row of counters and a refrigerator, lined up on one wall. One long sofa, a bookshelf and a cheap TV sat in the middle of the room. And finally, her bed was tucked away in the far corner near the bathroom, the only room separated by a wall.

Meanwhile the silence swallowed them whole. She curled her frizzy hair with one finger and crossed and uncrossed her legs. She could see Chase watching her from the corner of her eye, an amused smirk tugging at his lips. Why did he have to be such a jerk?

"Hm, so. Am I going to hear it now or what?" He asked.

The farmer shrugged. It couldn't hurt. He didn't really care about her problems, so it would be like talking to wall really. "I feel like I'm trapped. I'm in a place I don't want to be. But every time things start to look up, it goes downhill again. It's a cycle. I guess should know better. I just don't know what to do to get out of this. I'm not happy with this anymore. Things aren't going to change, no matter how much I want it to."

Another awkward silence filled the air. She could understand it. He didn't know her well enough to figure out what she was saying. She wasn't sure if she wanted him to. Her eyes softened and started to water, but she refused to cry in front of the chef. It would probably give him the willies if he had to console her. He already looked extremely uncomfortable.

"If things aren't going to change," Chase started quietly. "Then why do you waste your time trying to change what's beyond your control?"

Blunt. Wise. And a really good question. A question she didn't have an answer for.