Chapter 3

"Fuck!" Lucy whispered as she closes the door to her bedroom.

Layla is still downstairs, drinking her tea while she waits for her daughter to bring down the engagement ring that Lucy supposedly took off after washing her hands.

But obviously, it's a lie that Lucy is panicking to resolve. She walks further into her room, her eyes roaming around everywhere trying to find a solution to her present problem. When suddenly, she spots the ring box on her vanity table. It's the exact box that her best friend had requested her to keep safe.

Lucy starts walking toward her table as her eyes grew wide in the realization that she has a means to her issue. Subconsciously, she grabbed her phone from her pocket and quickly dialed Natsu's number.

"Yo, what's up?" Natsu says after two rings.

Lucy snaps out of her reverence and focused on the call, "Natsu, um…about the ring,"

"Yeah? Did something happen? Did you open it?!"

"Huh?" Lucy's eyes went big again, "No! Um…no…"

"Luce?" Natsu calls suspiciously, "What's going on? Remember I told you, you can't open the ring box…baba told me…it's magical,"

"Magical?" Lucy suddenly snorts as she shook her head, "Okay, I love obaasan, but…do you believe that? I mean what's the worst thing that could happen if I…" She then reaches out to the box but then jumps when Natsu bellowed.

"Stop!"

"Natsu!" Lucy scolds back as she pulls her hand back and clutches her chest instead, "You just gave me a heart attack,"

"Well, serves you right!" Natsu huffs in pleasure, "Luce, just don't. Okay? Don't open the box. Baba said the magic of the ring is meant for someone…I'll marry someday,"

Lucy's eyebrow suddenly shoots up, "So it's an engagement ring? And you haven't told me you're planning to propose to a girlfriend that none of us know about. How is that possible?"

"Umm…technically, I don't" Natsu then sighs when Lucy grunts at his response, "No, seriously, Luce. I don't...I don't have a girlfriend. But yes, it's an engagement ring that I'll give to her when that day comes."

Lucy suddenly rolls her eyes, "Okay, let's say I believe you. So, why can't I open it?" she then swiftly grabs the box but kept it close. She looked at it as if finding any magic in it.

"Because!" Natsu retorts and grumbles when he notices the stubbornness of his best friend, "Luce, why did you call me for this? We had an agreement, you'll keep it safe and will never open it,"

"Yeah…" Lucy bites her lower lip as she tries to stop her impulse to just pop the box open, "And I'm keeping my promise. I'm just curious as to why I shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't open it,"

"I don't know, okay?" Natsu huffs in exasperation, "Fine, I'll tell you what Baba-Porlyusica said…That ring is an eternal love ring. So, when a man opens the box and gazes at it, the ring magically takes in the love and emotions of that man and sends it to the first woman that would gaze back at the ring. And then…"

"And then?" Lucy boringly listens to the pinkette, trying to stop herself from laughing.

"And then the woman feels all the love and emotions of that man and somewhat ties their destiny for eternal love,"

Lucy finally laughs out loud, making the pinkette whine at the other end of the line. When Natsu mutters to her about how she was making fun of him, Lucy shook her head as she slows down her laughter, "No, no, I'm not laughing at you. It's just—even you, you're not convinced with that story. I don't think you believe that story. Those are just fairy tales that obaasan likes to tell. I mean, look at your grandparents, they do have a mystical love story and I get it,"

"Hahaha," Natsu dully said before he clicks his tongue, "Just follow it, okay, Luce? Whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter. There's no harm in not opening a ring box."

Lucy was quiet for a moment and considered his point. When suddenly a resounding knock came, making the blonde jump in her seat.

"Lucy, is everything all right?" Layla asked at the other side of the door.

"Mama!" Lucy suddenly calls as she panics all over again, "Yeah! I'm fine, I—I'm just on the phone. I'll be right there,"

"Your mom's in Magnolia? Since when?" Natsu asked as he hears the blonde shout, but Lucy ignored his question.

"Natsu, I gotta go. Thanks, bye!"

"Wait, Luce—!"

Lucy then pulls the phone away from her ear barely hearing the pinkette remind her something again. She just shook her head as put her phone down and stood up to open the door. As she held the door knob to open it, she suddenly remembers why she went inside her room. So, Lucy abruptly turned around and grabbed the ring box.

Lucy sighs in guilt as stared at the box in her hand, "Sorry, Natsu. I just…really need some help," and with that Lucy opens the box and immediately was enthralled by the beautiful pear-shaped padparadscha sapphire that was haloed by light pink diamonds, set in a rose-gold band.

"Oh, wow…" Lucy mumbles in entrancement as she kept her gaze on the sapphire stone.

"Lucy?" Layla calls again, snapping the blonde out of her admiration and quickly grabbed the ring and slipped it on her finger.

As Lucy opens the door, her mother was about to knock once again, causing the older blonde to jump at the sudden appearance.

"Mama," Lucy beamingly looked at her mother, "Sorry to keep you waiting. I was just on the phone,"

Layla tilts her head in wonder, "With whom? Your fiancé per se?" she then grins at her daughter who just looked back at her baffled.

"Um…yeah," Lucy exhaled deeply as she lets out an explicit lie, "My fiancé,"

"Well, I'm sorry if I interrupted you both," Layla suddenly huffs in guilt before she grabbed Lucy's hand, "I'm still wrapping my mind with the fact that you have a boyfriend, a fiancé even,"

Lucy suddenly chortles at the sentiment, "Me too..." She then shook her head when she saw her mother look at her dubiously, "I mean…um, fiancé. I'm still getting used to the idea…that I have a…" Lucy then smiles awkwardly as she couldn't bring herself to say the word again.

"It's all right," Layla then squeezes her hand and suddenly felt something hard beneath her hold to Lucy. Layla then loosens her grip on her daughter and looked down at her hands. To her surprise, she sees a ring sitting on her daughter's hand.

Layla gasps, "Is this the engagement ring?" she then pulls up the hand of the younger blonde and gazed at it.

Lucy swallows hard as she observed her mother smiling in excitement.

Now that she had somehow calmed down, she realized that she had told more than one lie to her mother in a span of an hour. She should have admitted to her mother that she didn't have any fiancé or even a boyfriend. She should have said that the rumor about her being engaged was not true. She should have told her mother that there is really no engagement ring or engagement proposal because none of it exists in her life. But here she is, watching her mother gawk at an engagement ring she didn't own and secretly borrowing from her best friend, who told her not to open the box.

"Yeah, it's the engagement ring," Lucy whispered softly, almost like she was afraid that the world was going to hear her.

Layla looked up at her daughter and gave a tender smile, "Your engagement ring," she then squeezes Lucy's hand. "I'm happy for you, as long as you're happy with this milestone,"

Lucy couldn't help but give a watery smile, unsure how to respond to that.

"Anyways," Layla suddenly puts down Lucy's hand and exchanged it for cupping her cheek, "I have to go because I still have a meeting early tomorrow."

Lucy barely can make herself speak up as felt the pang in her chest for lying. Despite the nagging feeling of guilt, she couldn't bring herself to tell the truth either. So, she just nods and smiles at her mother.

"You don't have to see me out. I know my way. Sweet dreams, my dear,"

"Good night, mama,"

"Good night,"

Snapping her eyes open, Lucy quickly felt panicky at the sound of her phone ringing for the alarm. She suddenly sits upright and looked around her room, looking for something unfamiliar. To her relief, nothing was obviously different, aside from the fact that her mother had visited her last night, causing her to drop dead in bed after. Lucy sighs in exhaustion and then realizes it was just half an hour before six in the morning. She had a 7 o'clock coffee meet-up with Levy and the girls before she had to go to her field interview. Groaning in exasperation, knowing that she won't be able to sleep anymore, she pulled herself out of bed and went on with her morning routine.

Soon enough, Lucy was dressed for the day and was ready to step out of her apartment when she suddenly receives a text message from her mom. Layla had messaged her, telling her how she was looking forward to meeting up with her and her fiancé tomorrow for lunch. Layla had already made a reservation for them.

Lucy couldn't help but groan in annoyance. It wasn't toward her mother, but rather to herself for dragging this lie further. Mira was right, the more lies the more chaotic it would be, and she couldn't hate herself more than now.

Grabbing her phone, Lucy immediately texted in the girl's group chat.

Lucy: URGENT! Cristiana's Café, I have news.

She then stared and waited as she saw a bubble from Erza come up.

Erza: On my way! See you later, girls!

Lucy sighs for the nth time that morning after liking the response of the redhead. She then slips her phone inside her purse along with her apartment key and grabbed her car keys. As soon as she steps out of her apartment, she was a little stunned that the sun was up quite early than she expects. Raising her left hand to cover her eyes from the glaring sun, she looked up at the sky and sighed a little prayer on her lips.

Soon enough, the blonde was walking away from her apartment and reached her car at the corner of the street. In less than five minutes, Lucy speeds off toward her next destination.

After parking her car at the coffee shop, Lucy immediately spots her friends as she steps out of her car. Without delay, Lucy walked up to them and quickly throws them a bright smile.

"Hey, girls," Lucy beams as Lisanna, Levy, and Erza turn to look at her, "Good morning,"

"Good morning, Luce," Levy replies as she stands up and hugs the blonde, "Why do you look tired?"

Lucy grunts as she slowly closes her eyes in exhaustion, "Something came up last night,"

"Last night?" Levy repeats as she steps back and sits in her chair. Lucy immediately follows and takes an empty seat in between the blunette and the redhead.

"What about last night?" Erza inquired as she stares at her friends.

"Why do you look tired? Did you even sleep, Lucy?" Lisanna suddenly asked, making the blonde chuckle in defeat.

"I did sleep," Lucy mutters as she makes herself comfortable in her chair. But before she could continue, Mira suddenly arrives at the table with a tray of coffee in hand.

"Here you go, girls," Mira then places the tray on the table and looked at the blonde to greet her. But instead, gawks at the dark circles under Lucy's eyes, "Goo—Lucy! What happened to you?"

Lucy jumps at the insinuation of the older silverette before she relaxes when Mira blushed at her sudden tone.

"Sorry, sorry," Mira sheepishly smiled at the blonde as she took her seat, "I'm just…stunned that you look overly tired like you haven't slept in days. What happened?"

Lucy exhaled deeply as she figures it was now time to tell the story, "My mom happened,"

And with that, Lucy told the story from the top of how her mother had unexpectedly dropped by her apartment after being in Magnolia for the past two days. She mentioned how her parents were looking after her, trying to keep themselves updated about her and her work. Along with that, she tells them how her parents were worried that she was alone while having this ruckus media around her after being figured out that she was the only daughter of her parents.

"And then she said that she was going let me be with my choice of no bodyguards and that she'll trust my fiancé to protect me," Lucy then paused and looked at her friends, waiting if they'll catch the word.

Levy was the first to speak up, "Okay, so…your mom is here in Magnolia for business and apparently catches the rumor?"

"Yep,"

"And now…"

Lisanna suddenly gasps as she realizes it, "Fiancé!" she mutters, making the others wheeze in surprise, "Your mom believes the rumor and confronted you about your fiancé,"

Lucy snaps her fingers and points at the younger silverette, "Bingo! Yes, my mom asked about my fiancé and engagement ring, and now wants to meet up tomorrow for lunch,"

All of the girls were stupefied as they watch the blonde shrug her shoulders as if she was tired of this old news and wasn't surprised with life anymore.

"What did you do?" Mira asks as she snaps out of her surprise.

"Obviously," Lucy grins, "I fucking lied again,"

"Oh no…" the girls whimpered in chorus as they felt the defeat that Lucy was feeling. Now it made sense to them why Lucy looked the way she did.

"I know and I hate myself for doing that," Lucy suddenly shook as she closed her eyes. She felt her eyes sting and without knowing her tears dropped, making the girls scoot closer to her to give her comfort. "I lied to my mother that I'm engaged and couldn't even stop myself from doing that. I knew I had to tell her the truth but…she was just so happy and-and looked pleased that I had someone. I couldn't bring myself to disappoint her and say that I was just lying, trying to get out of a mess with another mess. I just couldn't disappoint her that I'm bringing too much attention to our family by acting stupid and stubborn,"

"Lucy," Erza softly calls as she rubs the back of the crying blonde.

Erza knows Lucy is a tough girl—always wants to show her smiles even in times of pain. She knew that Lucy had those irrational fear of disappointing her parents or their clan for being more impulsive and reckless than her family wants her to be. The fact that she didn't immediately take an interest in their family business, relatives immediately raised a brow at her and questioned her parents on how she was brought up. Lucy hated that her parents were being scrutinized for the things that made her happy. Layla and Jude had always been supportive of her, and she's grateful for it. But sometimes, she felt burdened that in exchange for that support was the fact that her parents were questioned all the time.

"You know your mom will not take offense if you tell her the truth,"

Lucy sobs as she slowly opens her eyes and looks back at her friends. They were all smiling at her comfortingly, giving her the courage to face her reality.

"Thank you, girls, for being here with me," Lucy whispers with a shaky voice, making them all stand up and embrace the blonde.

Other patrons of the coffee shop suddenly look at them, raising a brow at the sudden emotional gathering, but quickly ignores them after some time. As the girls pulled away from the blonde, each one of them returned to their seats but kept a hand on Lucy's arm.

"So, how do you want to do this? Do you want us to join you tomorrow for lunch?" Mira inquired as handed Lucy's coffee.

"I don't know…" Lucy thought considerably at her options. She knew she wanted some support from her friends, but knowing that this might turn out emotional, she thought that maybe it must be done between her and her mom only. "I'll probably call you girls when it's done. I guess I just have to do this on my own,"

"All right," Erza then drapes an arm over Lucy's shoulders, "I can offer you a strawberry shortcake after that talk with your mom. I heard it's a good dessert for distraction,"

Lucy suddenly laughs, knowing that the cake being offered was Erza's favorite cake. It was an honor to be given a free cake from the redhead, especially if it was her favorite cake.

"Thank you and I will mostly likely take that offer,"

"Good!" Erza beamed before she chortles along with the blonde.

As Lucy and Levy separates from the others to head for FT publication, the duo walked toward their building without a rush. It was just 8:20 in the morning and there are tons of time left before the two had to time in for work.

"So, what did you tell your mom when she asked about who's your fiancé?" Levy questioned curiously, knowing that the blonde wasn't going to break down anymore from her dilemma.

"Surprisingly, she didn't ask who. She was more interested in the engagement ring," Lucy then chuckles at the thought.

"Really? And what did you do? You showed her a ring?" Levy looked back at the blonde with amusement in her eyes.

"I said that I took it off to wash my hands, then she starts telling me that I should always wear it because it's easier for people to lose it when they do that," Lucy replies with a shrug of her shoulder.

"Hm, she's got a point," Levy answers, "I remember Enno telling a story about how she lost her wedding ring because she always took it off when she types in her computer. You know Enno, when she gets distracted with work, she easily forgets where she put things,"

Lucy and Levy then laugh as they remember the ending of that story.

"I remember how she ends up proposing to her husband again as a means to apologize for losing the ring,"

"Right! But to be honest, it's kind of sweet,"

"The gesture was sweet but the reason behind it isn't," Lucy and Levy then cringe as they recall those times as well when Enno had cried in the office.

"So, where will you go for the interview?" Levy asked, changing the topic, as she pulled out her phone when she heard it ring.

"Oh, I'll be going to Hargeon today. We will be having an interview on her ship! Can you believe—" Lucy then stops when Levy suddenly stops in her tracks and gawks at her phone. "What's wrong Levy-chan?"

"Lu-chan," Levy calls without looking at the blonde. Her eyes were trained on her phone, reading an article that Cana had sent to her. "Can I see your hands?"

"What?" Lucy was surprised at the request.

When Levy looked at her dead serious, Lucy showed her hands immediately and watched her best friend observe her hand. At that instant, she saw something unfamiliar.

"Lu-chan? Why do you have an engagement ring?" Levy slowly looks up at the blonde and immediately sees her stunned look. She then slowly brought her phone up to Lucy and adds, "Lu-chan—"

Lucy finally looks up at her best friend with another round of panic in her eyes.

"You're wearing an engagement ring," Levy shockingly states as she points at her phone, to which Lucy looks and realizes that she was taken a photo today, wearing Natsu's engagement ring, just when she steps out of her apartment.

"I'm wearing an engagement ring," Lucy mumbles in defeat.

To be continued…