Updated: May 29, 2023

Author's Note:

Hi guys, so as you've noticed, I've uploaded revised chapters. I was planning to just improve each chapter but as I was writing this one, I ended up changing a lot of details that affects the whole written chapters. And it led me to the realization that I might have to delete the rest of the chapters.

But right now, I'll keep the remaining chapters. But maybe after the revised third chapter, which is for sure going to have a lot of details removed and changed, I will delete the remaining chapters. It will probably be messy if I kept it around.

Anyways, hope you enjoy reading this revised chapter.

Love,

MonsterinaCup

Chapter 2

Lucy stared at her friends with wide eyes as if she was trying to convey her message straight to their minds. But the girls just stared back at her like she had grown another head.

"Full of shit?" Lisanna breaks the silence, voicing everyone's question, "Lucy-chan, what do you mean?"

"It is what it is," Lucy nods her head, convinced that she had screwed up, "I'm not engaged, let alone, I don't even have a boyfriend or a fuck buddy, or a fling, or a crush. I don't have any!" Lucy heaves in desperation to calm down.

All of the girls tilt their heads to the side and raised a brow at the blonde, "What?"

"Oh, what do you mean 'what'?! You guys have known—"

"No-no-no," Levy stands and walks up to the blonde to hold her down, "What we mean is…why the hell do you have a rumor that you're engaged? They said you admitted it!"

Lucy bashfully laughs at the question as she recalls how carelessly she blurted out a lie in front of the paparazzi. She was pissed off and barely thought straight about the words she was saying. She just wanted to get rid of the paparazzi and never thought that she'd deal with the aftermath.

Lucy chuckles again, "I did say it…"

"But?" Erza stood up as well, followed by the others as they circled the blonde.

"But…who said I was telling the truth?" Lucy then grins before she breaks into laughter.

The girls couldn't help but groan at Lucy. Of course, the blonde had thrown words without care again. The blonde had a little history of throwing out lies to get rid of people she hated. She'd been caught in her lies once or twice before. But lying to jocks or pervert guys was easy to mend, but the media? That was something hard to cover.

"Lucy!" All of the girls bellowed, making the blonde cringe and shiver at their scolding.

"I'm sorry! I know I screwed up and lied to the worst people to lie to. I didn't think this through when I said that I'm engaged." Lucy sheepishly looks at her friends, "I mean, they've been accusing me of being a spinster for quite a time now, who would have thought that they'd believe me right away?"

"Lucy," Mira chortles at her as she shook her head, "Feed anything to the media and they'll feast on that,"

"Telling them exactly what they want makes your statement real," Lisanna adds, "Well, for them."

"Oh, okay…" Lucy then sighs as she drops her shoulders in defeat, "As I said, I didn't think this through,"

"Yep," Levy grimaces at the defeated look of the blonde, "Hope this just fades out,"

After the news broke out that weekend, Lucy tried her best to keep a low profile. She'd spotted two to three photographers lingering around her neighborhood. It was definitely annoying for her. But at least, nothing worse has come up since then.

At FT publication, Lucy tried to keep her head low. People couldn't help but glance her way at times as if someone would pop up next to her to reveal to whom she was engaged. She thought maybe having a presscon would save her from this hell hole she made for herself. But that would just cause more media attention, and they would just become more insistent in following her around with a tinge of criticism for lying.

Groaning on a Wednesday afternoon, Lucy walked around the busy streets of Magnolia with her pink-haired best friend. With a cup of coffee in hand, Lucy sighs again with disdain.

"Okay, what the hell is the problem?" Natsu mutters as he throws his head back in annoyance before looking back at the woman, "You've been moaning and sighing since Monday,"

"No, I'm not," Lucy grumpily replies.

"Yeah, right, says your brows that are nearly fused because you're happy,"

Lucy quickly glares at the pinkette, "I'm not scowling!"

Natsu scoffs at the blonde. He was then about to comment when suddenly he notices someone in front of them, a few meters away, snapping a photo. He whipped his head toward that direction and gave a questioning look.

"Hey, you with the camera!" Natsu called out, stepping forward but the paparazzo jumped and dashed away into the crowd. "What the hell was that about?"

"What-what is it?" Lucy asked panicky as she looked around.

"A guy in front of us was taking photos of us," Natsu then shook his head as he scowls, "These camera people are so weird and creepy,"

"Camera people?!" Lucy slightly shouted, "Where?!"

"Oh, he ran off," Natsu raised a brow at the blonde, "Why are you so jumpy? What is going on?"

Lucy looked at her best friend with wonder. She knows Natsu was like a caveman when it comes to trends and news. He was like her personal benchmark for things that are hype. If Natsu has no clue about a certain trend, she wouldn't call it popular. But if Natsu somehow gets a grasp on a particular pop culture thing, she'd consider it as something famous.

"Have you heard any news about me?" Lucy asked carefully as if asking the question itself will reveal the truth to the whole universe.

"Uhh…" Natsu thought for a second before he snaps a finger, "Yeah, I did,"

Lucy gawked her eyes, "What news?"

"That the whole Fiore knows that you're the only daughter of the Heartfilia power couple," Natsu then grinned and ribbed at the blonde, "Gotta be famous now, aren't ya?"

Lucy suddenly sighs in relief as she drops her shoulders and head. For a moment, the blonde mutters a silent thankful prayer to the highest being that it hasn't reached Natsu yet. That could only mean that things haven't escalated yet and reached the people she doesn't want to.

"I guess…" Lucy then walked ahead of the pinkette, while he continued to laugh at her sake.

When the two had reached the corner for the FT publication, Natsu had bid the blonde goodbye as he headed back to his own office. As Natsu drove off, Lucy just stared at the disappearing vehicle when someone suddenly bumped her hip. She looked back at the person bewildered.

"Hey, you,"

"Mira," Lucy snaps out of surprise and hugged the silver-haired restauranteur, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just had a meeting with one of my friends regarding the restaurant,"

Lucy smiles proudly at her friend, "It must be nice to start up your own business huh?"

"Yeah, it is, but it's not gonna be easy for us, lots of competition here in Magnolia," Mira says with a shrug of her shoulder as she and Lucy began to walk towards Lucy's office building. "But Laxus believes in the business plan. He believes that we'll pull it off well,"

Lucy grins. One thing she enjoys talking about with her friends is their existing love lives. She may not have had any romance for years, nearly since she was born, but hearing stories of her friends fawning about their special someone gives her joy. She was a sucker for romantic stories. Having none of that doesn't mean she doesn't like it.

"Ahh, so it was Laxus you met up today. So, is it official? the two of you?" Lucy teasingly smiles at her friend who suddenly blushes at her comment.

"Wha—?" Mira laughs it off nervously as her cheeks warmed, "No, what are we going to make official? He's a good friend. That's it."

"Just a friend?" Lucy teasingly insists more until the silverette whines at her while her face burned red. Obviously, the silver-haired woman had a crush on her good friend but chooses to remain as that for whatever reason. "All right, I'll stop…" Lucy says as she slows down from her laughter.

"I saw the news again," Mira suddenly opened up. Lucy didn't have to ask what news she was talking about as she just recently read a new article about her, finding her suspicious that she wasn't wearing an engagement ring.

Lucy groans again for the nth time as she internally cursed the writer of that article. Why did the media have to make more articles about her and keep on bringing up her engagement? Couldn't they figure out that what she said was not true? Couldn't they decipher that she was just taunting them that one time?

"I really don't know what to do with the media anymore," Lucy grumbles, "If I attempt to talk to them, it will just escalate. Right now, not even talking to them escalates. I'm just grateful that it's not spreading too fast,"

Mira suddenly snorts. The blonde quickly looked at her with disbelief.

"Why'd you laugh?"

"Oh, Lucy," Mira wraps an arm around the blonde's arm and stops them both before the entrance of the FT publication building. "Are you using Natsu's knowledge again as your basis for things being popular?"

Lucy guiltily hummed before she shook her head. Mira chuckles at her again, "Look, that is the least reliable basis. If you're waiting for the news to just die down on its own, it will take a while. The media just recently found you as the only daughter of the Heartfilia power couple. Of course, media will stick their nose where they can,"

Lucy couldn't help but agree to it, making her frown even more. The fact that her parent's wedding anniversary party is such a big fuss in Fiore, what more of her personal life, now that she had entertained them in some way.

"So, what do I do?" Lucy then rolls her eyes as she thought about the worst things that could happen after actively dealing with the media, "Do I go to them and say outwardly that I was just joking?"

Mira sheepishly smiles at the blonde, "You can start telling them the truth. It's the only way,"

"Right of course. I mean once I tell them the truth, they'll stop bothering me. They'll stop pestering me about being a spinster, an attention-seeker, and maybe now a liar."

"Well…It's a consequence you have to deal with," Mira then gave a stern look at the blonde, "You know that lying always has a consequence. You just have to take responsibility for your actions,"

Lucy sighs in desperation, "Right, responsibility. Of course, I'm sorry. I've been whining about all these when it's actually my fault,"

Mira suddenly felt guilty for putting all the blame on the blonde. She knew that Lucy didn't plan to lie in front of those paparazzi. She was pushed to the edge which led her to that circumstance. If she was given more choices to make during that time, she would have done something different. But she took that road because Lucy thought it was the best way out at that time.

"Lucy, we'll be here for you. But it's up to you to deal with it. The more you try to avoid it, the more it can cause more lies. Rumors can spiral up and cause more chaos. You wouldn't want to deal with that,"

"Yeah, of course," Lucy then nods her head. Mira was right, avoiding the problem doesn't solve anything. If anything, it causes more problems. "So, an interview huh?"

"It wouldn't hurt to try…" Mira then smiles warmly at her friend.

Soon enough the two women bid each other goodbye, and Lucy went on her with her day. She thought hard about what Mira said and considered how to deal with the issue before everything got out of hand. And out of hand means letting her parents hear about her rumor of being engaged.

"I just got home," Lucy utters over the phone as she swings her door open.

After having dinner with Levy after work, the blonde finally reaches her home. It's been a long day and she had told her best friend that she'll probably contact one of the media outlets that she trusts. Well, trust as much as possible, given that many entertainment media tend to twist some stories. But she'll tell the truth about being misunderstood about her previous comment. She didn't intend to say it that way and only meant to disarm them with their same delusional accusations.

"No, I did not eat hot wings…" Lucy answers after closing her door and walked up to her living room and settle down on her couch. "Levy and I had ramen…no, you and I just ate ramen last week."

Lucy grumbles at her phone, "Uh! Natsu, will you stop annoying me about the food you haven't eaten for the last five days? If you want to eat hot wings, do it, no one is stopping you," she then stands up and grabs her purse and headed towards her stairs.

"What me?!" Lucy scoffs at the pinkette, "Excuse me, mister, I do not stop you from anything you want. In fact, you keep on doing things even if we tell you not to do it," she then shook her head. Lucy's eyes suddenly grew wide, "No, do not come here!"

Lucy suddenly stops in front of her bedroom door as she bellows over her phone, "Natsu! Seriously! It's dead of the night and I have work tomorrow. Do not dare come to my house unannounced again. Do you remember that frying pan? I still have it with me,"

Lucy sighs in relief as turns the knob of her door open. Sitting on her bed, Lucy slowly took off her heels and walked barefoot into her room.

"You're such a ridiculous man, Natsu…" Lucy said with a smile on her face, "Yes, I kept your keepsake somewhere safe," She then stares at the ring box on top of her vanity table, "I did not open it, for the nth time," Lucy then laughed at something Natsu said over the phone, "Well, I'm not interested in getting the wrath of granny Porlyusica. Thank you very much,"

Lucy then sits down by her vanity table and stares at the box closer, "All right, see you tomorrow, Natsu. Good night," Lucy then pulls her phone away and puts it down on the table.

True to her words, Lucy hadn't opened the ring box that Natsu had handed over to her that weekend. When Natsu came to her to give it off, Lucy embarrassingly admits that she thought Natsu was going to confess to her or something. She has this petty crush on her best friend. But of course, she's not going to say that to him especially now that he said he had someone special. There was no reason to make things awkward. So, instead, she starts considering herself as his future best man, she'll keep the ring safe.

But doing that task doesn't mean she's not curious as to what the ring looks like. She knows it was a family heirloom, a keepsake from Natsu's grandmother, who recently entrusted it to him. Grandma Porlyusica is still healthy and strong, and passing heirlooms isn't in the plan yet. So, it only meant, Natsu asked for it.

With that thought, Lucy was curious. How could have she missed the fact that Natsu was seeing someone else? All this time, she thought, she and Natsu were the same, who did not have any romantic partners. Or even flings. But apparently, it was only her. Guess she was too wishful that she and Natsu would somehow end up together like they'd make a promise to each other that if they won't be able to find their life partners by the age of 40, they'll marry one another instead. Guess it was only on the tv, and not in real life.

A doorbell suddenly rang, pulling her out of her thoughts. Lucy glanced at her wall clock and sees it was a quarter away before ten in the evening. She then remembered Natsu telling her that he'll come to her place. And even if she tells him not to do it, she knows Natsu has a tendency not to listen.

"Oh, Natsu, you are such dead meat to me," Lucy threatens as she stood up and slipped her fluffy slippers on.

As she walks up to her front door, Lucy was ready to scold the pinkette as soon as she opens the door. But the moment she did a resounding 'surprise!' greeted her by a beautiful blonde woman.

"Did I surprise you, dear?" The woman asked as she stares at the gapping young blonde.

"M-mama?" Lucy stutters as she astonishedly gawked at her mother. It's late in the evening and seeing her mother before her seems like a cruel joke. "Is this real?"

Layla Heartfilia, one of the infamous businesswomen of Fiore. She is the third generation of the Heartfilia clan, who took over the generational family business Love and Lucky Co., a clothing fashion brand.

Ever since Lucy's grandparents died a decade ago, Layla didn't have to be out in public all the time. She and Jude had a quiet wedding, but given who her family is, Layla and Jude could never escape the lens of the world.

Giving respect to the famous family, Jude even took Layla's last name, even if Layla just wanted to be Layla Lamour. But now, the couple had quite adjusted to their new circumstance. Although, they weren't fond of bringing Lucy into that world. Layla and Jude had assured Lucy that she wasn't obligated to take over or to take part in the business if she didn't want. Lucy had shown some interest, but for now, Lucy enjoys more in writing for magazine publications.

Seeing her mother before her, right now, meant bad news. It isn't like, she'll be scolded or anything, but Lucy doesn't want to confront any of her parents when there is a rumor of her flying around, especially a rumor that she started.

"Well, aren't you gonna let me in?" Layla beamingly smiles at her daughter, who finally snapped out of her trance. When Lucy sidesteps, Layla immediately stepped forward and embraced her.

"It's good to see you," Layla mutters as she pulls back. Lucy could only sheepishly smile at her mom.

"You too…" Lucy then groans silently to herself as she lets her mom walk further inside her house.

Lucy immediately plays host and takes her mother's coat to hang on the coat rack. As she follows her mother cautiously heading toward the living room, she starts to think of all the possible reasons why her mother would come to her place at an unexpected time.

"This is quite a surprise, mama," Lucy mutters as she walks ahead of her mom and went straight to the kitchen to make some tea, "What made you come to Magnolia?"

"Well, I'm in the city for the past two days and I felt guilty that I haven't told you anything about it," Layla softly smiles at her daughter, who nods in understanding. "It's just that I didn't want to bring more attention ever since they started following you around,"

"Oh, I'm fine," Lucy reassuringly smiles at her mother, despite her actual situation, "Media can be nosy but…I'm good,"

"Are you really?" Layla questioned and looked at her with doubt all over her face.

Lucy suddenly swallows the growing knot in her throat as her mind kept shouting that she wasn't fine at all. But she smiled over her worry and said, "Yeah, of course, mama. Why wouldn't I be?" she then walked up to her mother with a tray of two steaming teacups.

"Chamomile tea, your favorite," Lucy offers as she seats next to her mom and hands over a teacup. "You don't have to worry too much, mama. I have my friends and they know the situation. So, as much as possible they try to help me out. Especially Natsu,"

Layla smiles over her cup, "Well that's nice. It's good that Natsu's around because he's more familiar with this,"

Lucy suddenly snorts, "Right, that man. Well, he just doesn't care about them. He ignores them and that's what I'm doing,"

"All right…" Layla then sighs in contentment, "I'm more at ease now knowing that you have people around to protect you. Your papa and I had thought about getting you bodyguards—"

"Oh, please no. Mama," Lucy grasps Layla's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, "I don't want that…or any kind of protection that will make me feel like I'm some kind of fragile figurine. I'm fully aware of our family. But I just want to live a—simple and private life. I'm good, I promise."

Layla looked at her daughter for a long moment, convincing herself to accept her daughter's request. Of course, that's what she wants for her as well. A simple and private life. Layla wanted that for herself too, but being part of the Heartfilia had some little compromises to make.

"All right. I'll let you be, and I'll trust your fiancé that he'll protect you with all of his heart,"

Lucy nods her head and smiles at her mother, feeling glad that they had an understanding. But the longer she nodded her head, the more it clicked in her mind, fiancé?

"Mama, what do you say?" Lucy hesitantly asked.

"What do you mean 'what did I say?' Did I say something wrong?" Layla tilts her head in confusion.

"Um…did you just say…" Lucy suddenly felt her mouth dry, "fiancé?"

"Yes," Layla nods her head, almost furiously, "And that's what I want to talk to you about,"

"Oh…" Lucy could feel her heart beating faster with every second pass, "You heard about that?"

"Why of course," Layla then takes Lucy's hand, "Your papa and I have been keeping a close look on you ever since that exposure to the public. And since you're living alone here in Magnolia, we have to make sure that any news about you is reported to us. So, when we heard that you're engaged…" Layla then trails off.

Lucy's eyes grew wide and suddenly she felt like vomiting. Oh, shit…I'm fucked up…

"So, may I see your engagement ring?" Layla suddenly perks up and beamingly looked down at Lucy's hand. But to her surprise, there was no ring, "Honey, where's your engagement ring?"

"Huh?" Lucy hazily looks at her mother. Her mind was going blank as she didn't know what to do knowing that her mother accepts the information that she is engaged. "What are you asking?"

"Engagement ring? Didn't your fiancé give any to you?"

"Umm…" Lucy's mind was racing with a lot of thoughts. My mom fucking believes I'm engaged and she's asking me for the engagement ring. What engagement ring? Where do I find an engagement ring? Do I even have a ring? I have a ring there in my room. Will that be enough to convince her?

"It's in my room!" Lucy suddenly blurts out as she tries to snap out of her panic, so as not to make her mom look at her suspiciously, "I-I um…washed my hands and took it off,"

"Oh, well then, after washing your hands, don't forget to wear it back. People easily lose their engagement ring when they habitually take it off," Layla then taps her hand motherly like she's teaching her life lessons.

"Right, of course. I'll keep that in mind," Lucy hastily nods her head before she stood up and took the tray back in the kitchen. With her abrupt movement, the young blonde seemed to be shaky and rattled.

"Are you okay, dear? You seemed a little jumpy,"

"Me?" Lucy twirls around too fast, making the teacups jiggle loudly. She couldn't help but cuss out in surprise.

"Dear, are you all right?" Layla suddenly stands up and tries to help her, but Lucy quickly stepped back.

"Yeah, I'm…perfectly fine," Lucy then swiftly walks back to her kitchen and placed the tray next to the sink. As she kept her back to her mom, Lucy started muttering to herself, cussing out words directed to the universe for screwing her up.

"So, who's you're fiancé?" Layla then walks closer to the kitchen, making the young writer gawk at the question being asked. "I want to meet him,"

"What?!" Lucy rapidly turns to face her mother, who was now sitting by her kitchen island and keeping her full attention to her.

"Your papa is actually hurt that you're engaged without letting us meet him first. Didn't you want us to know him?" Layla pouts innocently, making Lucy feel even more guilty for something that she shouldn't feel guilty about.

"Umm…well," she nervously laughs at her mother, trying to come up with a reason why she could have possibly not introduced her fiancé. What the hell do I say?!, "He's a busy man and…he's too spontaneous that he just popped the question," she then laughs it off again, making the older blonde quirk a curious brow.

"He asked you spontaneously, but he was prepared with a ring?" Layla dissects the information she's gathering, and Lucy couldn't help but hate how her mother was giving too much attention to this.

"Um…yes? Maybe he was ready for it, and I was caught off guard. So, yeah, spontaneous…for me," Lucy then gave a tight-lipped smile.

"Oh…okay," Layla shrugs her shoulders as she accepts the reason, "Well then, we should all have lunch together. So, that I could get to know your fiancé,"

"Lunch?" Lucy bafflingly asks as she slowly shook her head, "No—um…I mean, he-he's busy. No time for lunch outs,"

"Oh, come on, honey. I doubt that" Layla then gets off the chair and walks up to her daughter. She immediately cups her cheeks and softly caresses her, "If he loves you, he'll set time for you and his future mother-in-law,"

Lucy could only laugh at the word, mother-in-law, what the hell is going on?!

"So, on Friday, I'm free from all my work meetings and engagement regarding Love and Lucky. I'll call you up for the place. Okay?" Layla then kisses Lucy's cheek and smiled happily at her. "Don't forget to tell that to your fiancé,"

To be continued…