Isabelle x Mayor | My Greatest Mistake

Entry 17 ~ ♡Away From You♡

❀ Isabelle's POV ❀

The previous dread I felt when Tortimer used to work here is slowly returning to me. I'd wait outside the Town Hall's door, unwilling to open it. Upon walking to work, I wished the building had simply vanished overnight, but here it remains. My whole world is so unbelievably grey, and the worst part is that I have the ability to change this; but I won't allow myself to.

"Today's the Harvest Festival. Why not take a break and have fun, mayor?" He stared at me with pained look in his eyes. Please don't look at me like that, (Y/n).
"Belle..." He stopped himself. "Never mind, I think I'll just keep working." His face curled into a small smile, almost barely visible. I hated to see him like this, I'm certain is my fault too.
Can't I do anything right?
"Okay, I have to finish setting it up anyways. Take a break soon though, alright?" With that, I hurried out, not wanting to talk to him too long.
     I couldn't manage to find any happiness at all. Well, (Y/n) was my source but... I shook away the thought, forcing myself to focus on the task at hand. During the Harvest Festival, the whole village stays cooped up in their houses to pretend they're gourmet chefs. Apparently nobody ever has enough ingredients, and they expect somebody else to go scavenge for them.
In the Plaza, Franklin was waiting for me. He's always visiting different towns to celebrate this festival. However when I approached him, he seemed very shaky.
     "Hello Franklin! Welcome to (T/n)!" I greeted cheerfully, though I didn't feel a single ounce of glee. He looked me in the eye, exhaling. "Oh.. It's just you, Isabelle."
     "Were you expecting someone else?" I glanced to the side, begging internally for things to go smoothly so I don't have to ask (Y/n) for assistance.
     "No no no! I was just worried that.. uh.. never mind. Say, is M-Mr. Tortimer h-here?" My eyes widened on their own.
     "He retired, we have mayor (Y/n) now." I found myself pleased to show off our new mayor who's far better than that lazy, old geezer.
     "Thank goodness..." Franklin sighed inaudibly.
     Thinking about what (Y/n) has done for us makes me very passionate. There's no describing how grateful I am to him. But, thinking about (Y/n) at all leaves me in a state of total confusion and sadness. It starts off great! I ponder about how lovely (Y/n) is as a mayor. He's far more attracti— responsible than the old mayor. Yet, he's also very childish and airy, maybe even a bit naïve. To top it all off, my feelings for him became far stronger than just a mayor-secretary relationship. But because of our positions, we would never work out. He already has no use for me, and we have a job to do. Digby said it would be a little distracting to have your lover so close to you, yet unable to express simple acts of intimacy.
     Eventually, I grow angry. What's wrong with a secretary and her mayor being together? Just because it seems weird to you doesn't mean it's wrong! In the end, I never know what to do.
"Isabelle? Aren't you going to help me with the festival?" Franklin said, waving a wing in front of my face. Distracting me from my overflowing thoughts.
"Huh? Oh right right... the festival." I rubbed my head, attempting to scrub the buzzing feelings away. "Okay! Tell me what you need help with." He nodded and glanced at few boxes to the right of us. I'm surprised I never saw those before.
"I need help setting up my desk, then I need help making the food. Lastly, when everything's done, I need the whole village out here." I'm no chef, so I can't possibly help with the cooking part... but (Y/n) could.
"Okay, let's set up your desk, and I'll find.. someone else to help with the food." Franklin smiled and agreed, thanking me in the process.
This whole thing is a mess. And I'm not talking about what's possibly inside of Franklin's boxes, I'm talking about me. I can't get him out of my head, and after I promised myself to be diligent like a normal secretary. I needed my brain to stop. Images of him just kept popping up. I miss that smile, and the sound of his laughter. Though I saw and spoke to him this morning, I never saw his true side. The side that's bubbling with ambition and joy. The side that always looks on the bright side, no matter how hushed out the light may be.
Am I making the wrong decision? I chose to avoid him because I knew if I just pretended I only wanted to be friends, I'd suffer even more. But being without him entirely feels far worse than I would've foresaw.

After helping Franklin, I walked off, knowing what I had to do. What if he questions me? I suddenly started behaving differently and didn't even say why; now I'm acting like everything's alright when we both know it's not.
Standing before the Town Hall once more, I'd never felt more reluctant, but I opened the door anyways.
"M-mayor..?" I idiotically whispered. He looked up at me with those chocolatey eyes and smiled. Small amounts of color started seeping into the room.
"What do you need?" He said, displaying a different attitude than this morning. I know I'd hurt him, yet he seems to have taken my route and hidden his actual feelings. I know that shouldn't upset me, but it does.
"Franklin is going to need some more experienced help before we can start the festival, so I was wondering if you could..." He'd already stood up and began walking towards me. Before exiting, he stopped and said: "I'll let you know when we're finished." There was no contentment in his voice, no eagerness to take on something new, and no attempt to ask me to join him.
    The day isn't even over and I already feel so weak. The gap I'm creating has already grown wider in such a small period of time. As it continues to grow, I'll be stuck standing on the edge, trying not to fall in.

♡ Authors Note ♡
Quick apology before the rant. Sorry for the delay and if there were any spelling errors! I try my best to check.

¡IMPORTANT!
Yeah so... this update took forever.. BUT! Ima tell you why it did, and how you guys can help me update faster.

This story isn't as fun to write as it used to be, and I'm not going to force myself to update this when I don't want to. This isn't my job, it's a hobby.

I absolutely hate it when you guys are pushy. Because of that, I took longer to update. I didn't want to feel obligated to update because you guys are nagging me to. I'm not going to update as fast as you want, get over it. You'll live, it's not the end of the world.
I don't want to seem rude, I just have to get out how I feel. So just know that bothering me to update only makes things worse.

To make things simpler:
STOP COMMENTING ANNOYING CRAP AS A WAY TO GET ME TO UPDATE.
I'm sick of seeing those comments. Every time I see one, I ignore this story and wait longer. This chapter has been finished for a while now, but it pissed me off to see those comments so I didn't post it.

If you want to ask me to update, make it short and sweet:
"Plz update soon, I love this story!"
Instead of:
"It's been a month I'm DYING! You have to update NOW or I'll actually DIE!"

⬆️ CUZ THAT'S ANNOYING AF ⬆️

A N Y W A Y S
I love you all, thank you for your support! Byeeee~!