I Married the Runaway Bride | NaLu Fanfiction

Chapter 26: Choice

Thundering music filled the air, bouncing over the pool of people not only gathered in dance floor, but also scattered in every corner of the place. As we pushed our way through the crowd, greetings from aquaintances were coming to my way that was only replied by a smile and nod, and my eyes were back focused on my target spot.

"Hey, Lucy," Brandish grabbed my arm from behind, making me look at her over my shoulder as I pressed my lips together.

A tall man was just behind her, his arm was wrapped around her waist. When I met with Brandish's eyes, ah... I could clearly see its devilish glint despite the darkness around us.

"Just wanna take care of my own business," she smirked, raising an eyebrow at my blank stare. "But I'll still keep an eye on you. We arrived here together, we'll go home together."

"Yeah, yeah. Have fun," I rolled my eyes when she winked at me, though a giggle still escaped my lips. My god. She already found a victim in a matter of ten minutes.

"Don't drink too much, Heartfilia!"

"I won't!" When they vanished into the crowd, I continued walking towards my usual spot on the bar counter. A woman in her usual uniform was already waving her hand at me.

"Good evening, Lucy! It's been a long time!" Cana Alberona greeted, the daughter of the club's owner. She's the one managing this place since her father took a vacation. Not only that, she's also doing bartending.

It's been almost a year since I discovered Haven, and Cana already became my closed friend. After long years of isolating myself, I've finally opened up to someone again. Well, one of the reasons is because she was so persistent back then that she couldn't leave me alone and had just ignored all my glares.

And maybe because she had this aura of demanding for people's attention. Not in a bad way, though. She had just approached me and suddenly told me a lot of stories, even if we didn't know each other personally, getting my interest.

I've asked her a lot of times why she's doing it, and she's always giving me the same answer.

"Because you seem so lonely."

Did I really look like that?

I had thought it's just out of pity, but she threw me words that I'd never expected.

"I want to give you the support I've never had when I was in your shoe."

That's when I found out that she's a fellow Fiorian, who was forced to live here with her dad as well. And to think that Cana had just met him for the first time in her mother's funeral...

People have different problems, different level of pain they've been going through. We may have gone in similar situations, but it's always with different reasons, timing, and resolve. It all varies. Sure, we feel sympathy, but we'll never understand each other's pain. No one can understand you. Only yourself.

So I think it's better to love and trust ourselves more than anyone else because it's our own feet that will stand our grounds, it's our own eyes to lead us to a brighter path, and it's our own mind to make decisions that will heal our broken hearts after everything around us crumbled apart. It's us who can help ourselves the most.

That's what I've learned for the past years.

All the people around us can give is support. And that's what I'm grateful for... Having Cana and Brandish beside me. Selene, too...

"So, how have you been?" My eyes blinked repeatedly as I tried to pull myself back to reality after hearing Cana's loud voice, battling against the volume of the music.