Memories and Shadows [Rune Factory 4]

Innocence

I longed to spend days in the warm sun with him—just the two of us, laughing and playing and picking flowers and all the other sappy but wonderful things that couples in love do together. Every sunny day when I was lonely and missing him, I'd look outside and imagine packing a picnic lunch for us, with sandwiches and boiled eggs and fruit from his own trees and juice and a big, gooey chocolate cake. Then we'd take the airship to some distant, quiet spot—maybe Sercerezo Lake—and sit on the soft green grass and eat together in the warm spring sun, with the petals of the cerezo trees falling all around us like pale pink snow. Then he'd look at me and laugh and gently brush off a petal that had landed on my nose, and then he'd lean over and give me a kiss.

It was a lovely daydream.

**************

"Piers, you're funny!" I giggled. "But I love you, too! I love you, and Ellie, and everybody!"

He gave me a puzzled look. "I... I see. But that's not quite what I mean. In that sense, I love everybody, too."

I beamed at him—he was such a dear man, so warm and loving, and it made me so happy whenever he came to see me. Though I couldn't understand why it was that it always felt like there were suddenly butterflies fluttering in my tummy when I saw him.

He cleared his throat, looked at me, then smiled—just like sunshine, I thought happily. "What I mean," he went on, "is that I, as a man, love you, Amber, as a woman."

I smiled at him again. Then it suddenly hit me—he didn't mean that he loved me as in he was fond of me in the way that he was fond of everyone. He... I realized he meant something different... something special. That I was someone special to him.

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. The butterflies were going crazy in my tummy, and their wings blew away all my words.

"You don't have to answer right away," he quickly added, seeing my confusion. "Let's meet up tomorrow. That will give you some time to think. Meet me at the castle tomorrow, okay? Let's say mid-morning, around 10:00."

I nodded mutely, and stared after him as he turned and left the flower shop, the bell jingling merrily as always as the door opened and closed again. I don't know how long I stood like that, staring blankly, but that was how Ellie found me when she came in just before closing time to see how sales had been that day. When she asked me what was wrong, I just couldn't tell her—I couldn't say the words. But my face felt hot, and it must have been very red, because she smiled and got a wise look in her eyes, and patted me on the shoulder.

"I see, I see. So that's how it is, is it, Amber?"

"H-huh?" I managed to squeak.

"No need to say another word, my dear little Watson! The Great Detective knows all! Piers has poured out his heart to you, and you—you're overwhelmed by your feelings for him!"

I tried to speak, to tell her that wasn't quite it, not exactly, but she was already lost in her own fantasy. Luckily, she shooed me away, saying we'd close up shop early today so that I could have some time to myself. Then she winked at me and ran out the door.

I went up to my room after she left, to think. And I spent all night thinking, and thinking, and thinking. Thinking isn't really something I've ever been very good at, but I really tried hard to think about what he said, and what it all meant.

I knew he already had girlfriends. Four, to be honest. And they were all such nice girls and my dearest, bestest friends. But I didn't really understand... what was love, anyway? What was the difference between loving someone and being 'in love' with them? I had no idea.