An Affair in the Big Top

A Day to Never Forget

The smell of popcorn rose through the area as the sounds of children could be heard for miles and a tall blonde man stook with a red suit jackets, shouting with a large megaphone in his hands; "Come one! Come all to the show that will blow your mind and your future kids minds away! Come see the best of the best in this show you don't want to miss!" He bellowed to the incoming audience members, one being a small Japanese woman with long thick black hair and clear blue ocean eyes as she wore a navy blue dress that showed a bit of skin in between her breasts but nothing too revealing and under the cut off was a black belt with a gold buckle. Her hair slightly pulled back with a violet flower hair clip to reveal small diamond earrings. Her name was Lily and she was known to be a beautiful teenage girl who was obedient to her parents and her boyfriend, Maxwell. The two had come from very wealthy families due to their times in the 1940's and their father's being a boss of large factories, their relationship being the reason to their companies merge.

Lily was excited to see the actors while Maxwell stood next to her and held her hand to make sure she wouldn't go anywhere without him by her side, his eyes glaring at the men that would look at his girlfriend for even a split second. She smiled at him very brightly and looked at him.

"Thank god you won those tickets for this. I heard that they sold out months before they could even come here." Lily said to him and squeezed his hand slightly due to the excitement lingering in the air, causing Maxwell to smile and chuckle slightly.

"Anything for you my love." He responded and found their seats that were well reserved. He knew the truth that this was not a coincidence that he had won those tickets for he had bribed the man that held the contest for him to win the two tickets for a night the two could never forget. "Come. Sit down and I will be back ok? I just need to take care of one thing. Don't leave this place." Maxwell ordered to her, only getting a nod and a smile. He smiled. "Good. Now can I get a kiss?" He asked her and she got up and kissed his cheek before sitting back down as he smiled and walked away. The girl sighed and her once bright smile was replaced with a small frown and slumped over slightly. Lily did not truly love Maxwell like how it was before. The sparks were long gone for her and the marks that would remain in her skin from months ago still stung even after they marks have left her skin and was replaced with her light skin. Soon the lights began to dim in the big top and she looked around for Maxwell before the man outside got up on the platform and smiled, the audience already clapping for him.

"Welcome! Welcome!" The man bellowed to the audience with a plastered smile like the ones on billboards. He looked around at the groups of men, women and small children and noticed the small Asian sitting by herself. He looked at her and smiled gently before turning back to the audience. "Now. There are two types of people in the world. The ones that entertain and the ones that observe. I'm the type that has to put on a show. So. Why don't we have this show get started?" He asked and called out for his clowns, many varying in heights, the shortest being a man with sad clown makeup and kept on being bombarded with pie bombs from a female that was a few inches taller than him and the tallest clown being a man with a very large nose that kept being around a small petite woman with short hair. Others again varying in height and gender but it was all over as soon as one of the clowns bit his tongue and fell to the ground and played dead. The ringleader once again stood up on his stage and smiled. "Now. I want to call out our flying stars!" The ringleader announces and motioned the audience to two people. A woman and a man on a pair of trapezes and swung with one of them letting their lower body fly through and letting go of their trapeze and getting caught by the other and the two held on tightly to each other. They would continue to switch between the trapeze on each side until they both got to one side and the men placed the woman on his shoulder and placed a kiss on her hand, making the woman smile. The leader then motioned his hand slightly lower to reveal a small man beginning to use the tightrope with a nice outfit and a matching umbrella. Eventually he got to the other side and the audience roared at him and gave him a standing ovation. "Now for the final act! Eren the lion tamer!" He announced and moved as a cage was lowered and revealed a man, pulling a lion onto the stand and into the cage, the man walking and locking the cage behind him. The act began and soon Lily was pulled in. She was not only impressed by how well the man was doing but something else. Eventually before she knew it, his act was over and many were applauding at his talent. Lily got up and gave him a standing ovation with a huge smile on her face and looked over, only to see that the spot still remained empty; causing Lily's huge smile to replace and change to a soft frown and sat down. After a while of waiting as many people were leaving she saw the lion tamer. She looked around quickly and got up from her seat and made her way to the ground floor and walked up to him.

"I loved your show." She said to him, catching his attention. He turned around and the first thing she noticed was his eyes. As green as a emerald green gem on a necklace. He gave her a soft smile and his teeth were pure white and shined perfectly. It was like god created him by hand.

"Oh thank you!" He responded with a smile, his canine teeth revealing and shined like the others. The lion in the cage walked over and was purring lightly. "Easy buddy." Eren said and noticed the girl still there with her hands behind her back. "Do you want to touch her?" He asked the girl lightly. Lily felt a small but quite gasp from her mouth leave.

"Will I be ok?" She asked her with slight fear that one, Maxwell will comeback. Two, the lion will snap at her and give her a scar. Three, Maxwell will cause the second thing to happen and he will not be happy. Eren though snapped her away from the negative thought and nodded.

"I won't let you get hurt ok?" He said and offered his hand to her. She took it and he led her hand to the nose of the lion, letting her stroke it gently, the lion letting it happen and purring, moving their hands together and letting them look at each other. Lily could not take her eyes off his and vice versa until they heard her name.

"Lily!" Maxwell called out from the seating and went down to the two."I told you to wait love." He said with a soft smile.

"I'm sorry. I waited for you and I wanted to talk to him-" Lily tried to say but was cut off by Maxwell.

"Come now. We should take you home." He said and pulled Lily away from Eren and motioned her to the exit. "What makes you think it's alright to do that to me? I was worried that someone took you away from me." He said before he left the tent with her, the flaps closing behind the two and into his car.

"Maxwell. I just wa-" slap. Maxwell cut her off with a hard slap against her pale left cheek.

"I said. Don't. Leave." He growled to her. "You need to listen to me dammit." He told her and started the car. "Am I clear?" He said to her.

"But-" She said and saw him raise his hand again, placing her arms up in the only defense. "Yes. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I promise." She said and looked down. Maxwell nodded and made his way out of the lot and back to her house.

The car ride was silent, like how Maxwell wanted it. There was no hand holding or anything. Just silence. Once the couple had reached, they wakes to the doorstep and stood there. Maxwell took her hands and held them.

"I'm sorry love. I shouldn't have left you but I had my folks grab me something." He said ask he knocked on her door.

"What did you need?" She asked, worried that if she didn't she would get hit. Her parents opened the door, still wearing their usual outfits of a suit gently pressed and a dress for a stay at home wife with an apron tied around her waist that was surrounded with lace on the edge. Maxwell took her head gently away from her folks and went down on one knee.

"This." He simply answered and pulled out a small case that contained a diamond ring in a square cut and a very beautiful design under the three diamonds but mainly the largest one in the middle. "Lily Akiyama. Ever since I met you I have had the urge to tell you every single day that I want to be with you and today I want ya to be together forever. Will you do the honors with your parents blessings, marry me and become Mrs. Lily Akiyama Highland?" He asked the stunned girl. Lily just looked like a deer right in front of headlights and looked at her folks. Her dad just motioned to answer.

"I...I.... I do." She said and placed on a fake smile and tears in her eyes. "Maxwell. You don't understand how long I wanted to be Mrs. Maxwell Highland." Lily said and hugged him tightly. Maxwell just smiled and hugged her back gently before pulling her off and muttering in her ear as she placed her new ring in her left right on finger.

"That means you belong to me and only me." He whispered and gripped her hand tightly, shooting pain in her hand before letting go and pulling her up and kissing her lips gently. "You don't understand how happy that makes me." He said out loud and smiled before waving goodbye at her parents and getting into his car and driving off. Lily smiled and waved at him as he left and she frowned the moment he was out of eyeshot and walked inside. Saying yes to him brought down so much weight now... the idea of never seeing another man hurt her now after seeing the man from the circus who lingered in her mind for the rest of the night.