𝐒𝐨 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮

Chapter 9

     Maria's POV: 

      I woke up, ate a few cookies, and drank milk. I had a feeling that today was going to be awesome. I grabbed my robe, tied it around me, and headed out onto my balcony. The sun had just started to rise. I watched the orange rays of the sun illuminate Silverydew, the forest, and then the manor. I love watching the sunrise. I looked over to the side of the forest, which is forbidden to go in. It looked darker on that side. Is that smoke? No one is allowed to be over there. Something's going on, but what?

     A figure coming out of the forest caught my eye. Was that Robin? It is. What is he doing here at this time? After a few moments, Robin yelled from below the balcony and said, "Get ready and meet me at the edge of the forest." I gave him a thumbs-up and hurried to get ready.

     Today, Loveday laid out the Moon Princess dress. There were a few red roses on top. I put the roses with the other flowers. I stared at the dress. I haven't worn it since I broke the curse. Why would Loveday want me to wear it today? I went over to my calendar. Today's my birthday. I told them I didn't want to celebrate, and I mean, no one has said anything about it, so it's probably just a coincidence.

     I hurried and got ready. I decided I'm not going to wear my hair in a braid today. Instead, I'm just going to have it down.

     I hurried down the stairs when Mrs. Heliotrope asked, "Maria, dear, where are you going in such a rush?"

     "I'm going to meet Robin at the edge of the forest," I said.

     "Oh, yes. Umm, alright. Have fun, my dear." I nodded and headed out. Mrs. Heliotrope seemed nervous and fidgety. What if she knows something about the forest? It's Mrs. Heliotrope for crying out loud! What am I thinking? I put thoughts about the smoke in the forest in the back of my mind and went towards the forest.

     "Robin, where are you?" I called out, looking around trying to find where he went. I felt someone put their hands on my shoulder making me yelp and jump up. I quickly turned around to be faced with Robin. He looked very amused, which made me very annoyed.

     "Sorry, Princess, did I scare you?" He asked, looking down at me with fake sympathy.

     I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Scared? No. Startled? Just a bit," He smirked as soon as I said that. "Anyways, what is it?" His smirk was replaced with a genuine smile.

     "Come on, I want to show you something." He quickly grabbed my hand and started running.

     "Robin, slow down! Where are we going?" I sputtered as I tried to keep up with him, but Robin just smiled mischievously and led me on through the forest.

     "You'll see, princess. It's a surprise!" Robin said as we weaved through the tall trees, the sounds of our footsteps crunching leaves and twigs echoing in the air. I was grateful that he was still holding my hand otherwise the amount of times I would trip and fall face-first would be endless.

     After what felt like hours of running, which was probably only a few minutes, Robin finally came to a stop. He started rummaging through a bag that I never even noticed he had. He pulled out a cloth and said, "This is the part that you'll love," He laughed as he spoke. I'm so confused, "I'm going to have to blindfold you." Oh, heck no! I'm not doing this! He must have seen the look on my face because he asked, "What? You don't trust me?" He had a smirk on his face.

      "It's just- I just- I- Well- Ughh. Fine. Just hurry up, and don't let me walk into a tree." I watched as his eyes filled with a mischievous look, and his smirk grew. That didn't help my nerves.

     Why am I nervous? I'm not quite sure. I do trust Robin, with all my heart, but to let him lead me blindfolded in the middle of the thick forest... A part of me thinks that he is going to lead me even deeper into the thicket of endless trees and leave me to find my way back, calling it survival training. He has threatened multiple times to do that to me before. But, of course, he was always joking.

     "On my honor, I promise I won't, princess." He spoke with an unusual softness in his voice. Like he truly means it. He put the blindfold on me and grabbed my hand.

     "I wonder how much that means coming from a bandit and ruffian." I joked.

     Robin stopped walking for a moment and I almost ran into him. He said, "While we might not care so much about properness or class or what society thinks, we take honor very seriously." Robin's tone sounded serious, but I could hear the playfulness in his tone.

Robin's POV:

     We continued walking. I led us out of the forest and headed to Primrose Hollow. I made sure that I had a good grip on her hand as I directed us around a fallen tree. I love how her petite hand fits perfectly in mine. Now that she couldn't see me, I took the time to look at her. We were close to Primrose Hollow all we had to do was continue walking straight for a couple of minutes.

     I started taking in everything I could see. All her freckles, the way her eyebrows are slightly scrunched together as if she is thinking or focusing on something, how her hair bounces as she moves, and the way she is moving stiffly around making sure to not fall. She is beautiful. What! I almost stopped. Why am I thinking about how she looks? What am I doing? I looked away from her and picked up my pace trying to get there. Or maybe trying to leave those thoughts behind.

     Once we were close enough I said, "I'm going to let go of your hand and check on something. Don't take off your blindfold just yet. Stay here I'll be right back." Maria nodded and I let go of her hand and walked into the clearing. I looked around and saw the picnic basket on the ground and Wiggins sleeping right where I left him.

      Right before coming to get Maria, I brought Wiggins and the basket here. I got a rope and tied it around his collar and a tree. I put the basket far away to make sure he wouldn't mess with anything.

     I opened the basket and started setting everything up. I grabbed a blanket from the basket and set it down, then I grabbed the food and placed it on top of the blanket hoping that she'd like it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sorry it's been so long since I've updated and for the short chapter. I've been really busy but I'm trying to find the time to write. I'll try to start updating more often. Thank you to those who continue to read, vote, and comment.