Stay till the end for some guuuud art <3

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     It had been a week since Edelweiss fell into Wonderland. She'd grown comfortable with her life in the house of the White Rabbit, Faraci, and the Mad Hatter, Garance.

     Humming a fun song under her breath. she calmly went through her schedule for the day that was pinned on the little bulletin board she hung in her room. She was finally going out to shop in the neutral grounds with Garance.

     She clapped her hands in excitement, picked some candy from the candy box on her table, and ate it.

     She smiled to herself in excitement but she knew her life was empty and far from normal. She wanted to go back home and write that exam she studied so hard for. She wanted to study hard and get into her dream college and get her dream job.

     Now, all that she dreamt of was far away from her. She was so close, but now, she's so far.

     The door to her room was pushed open and Garance let himself in her room.

     "Garance!" Edelweiss exclaimed, almost dropping the box of candy. "You know, you should knock on a lady's room before entering."

     "Lady? What lady?" Garance said, squinting at her. Edelweiss only sighed at his behavior. Garance, in the entire week that Edelweiss had spent with him in the same house, was insufferable. He'd always go around bothering Edelweiss 'just for fun' and 'to pass time'.

     Ignoring her previous statement, he nonchalantly walked into her room, took a handful of candy, and stuffed it into his pockets.

     "Hey," she protested. "Faraci got those for me!"

     "Uh-huh, sure," Garance said, popping some candy into his mouth. "Ya ready to go, lass?"

     Forgetting the small spat they just had, Edelweiss beamed and said, "Yes!"

     "Alright then, I'll fetch a carriage," Garance said and left the room.

     Edelweiss packed her purse with essentials, redid her hair, and corrected the clothes Faraci had borrowed for her from the neighbor's daughter before finally following Garance out of the cottage.

     On reaching where Garance was, she found that he'd already hailed a coach.

     Edelweiss got onto the carriage and sat next to Garance.

     "Ready?" Garance asked.

     "Yes, I can't wait!"

     A few minutes later, they reached the market on neutral grounds. Garance paid the fee to the coachman and helped Edelweiss get out of the carriage.

     "Thank you," Edelweiss thanked.

     "Where to?" Garance asked. Garance was going to pay for anything and everything Edelweiss wanted, for she was their guest until she went back to her own world.

     "I need to buy some clothes," Edelweiss stated. "Can you take me to a shop that has some good, affordable pieces?"

     "I'm richer than I look," the Mad Hatter said. He led the way to an expensive-looking shop. An employee of the shop opened the door and welcomed the two.

     "Yes, how can we help this lovely couple?" the employee smiled.

"Spare me, I'd never date this child." Garance scoffed.

     "And I'd never date this man-child," Edelweiss stated.

     The store clerk coughed and said, "All things aside, what exactly do you need?"

     "Some daily outfits," Edelweiss said.

     "Follow me," the man said while handing a shopping bag to Edelweiss. "This way, please."

     Edelweiss followed the clerk to a section of blouses. She picked out a few that were her size and placed them in the shopping bag the clerk gave her. She was then led to an aisle of skirts where she picked out many different styles of skirts.

     "Are there any pants here?" Edelweiss asked.

     "For your escort? That would be in the men's garments section."

     Edelweiss quickly realized that they didn't sell pants for women here.

     "Nevermind that," Edelweiss said. "I'll buy these."

     Edelweiss followed the store clerk back to the main desk where Garance was waiting for her. He sat silently on the couch, reading a book.

     "I'm done," Edelweiss said to get his attention.

     Garance shut his book, looked up at her, the shopping bag, and then back at her.

     "How poor d'ya think I am?" Garance furrowed his brow.

     "Not at all!" Edelweiss denied. "This much is more than enough for me."

     "... Fine."

     Just like that, Garance paid for the things Edelweiss bought and the two left the shop. Edelweiss carried a single shopping bag while Garance carried three since he insisted.

     "Anything else you want?" Garance asked.

     "I'm good," Edelweiss replied. She would never buy so much at once, that too with someone else's money. "Let's head back."

     Garance watched her silently for a while and said, "No, you're not."

     He strode to a jewelry store, Edelweiss hurrying behind him with a string of complaints.

     Garance bought all different kinds of jewelry for Edelweiss ranging from earrings to rings to necklaces. Edelweiss didn't like it. She felt indebted to Garance.

     "Don't say a word," Garance said. "I want to do this."

     "Fine..."

     Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a beautiful navy blue bow tie brooch with a large turquoise gem at its center. Garance noticed the longing look on her face and bought that too.

     "Let me help ya put it on," he said. "No lass standing next to this guy wears no jewelry, especially ye."

     Edelweiss hesitated but gave in in the end. She stood in front of a mirror with Garance's tall figure behind her. Garance carefully placed the brooch around Edelweiss. The turquoise gem shone in the light as Edelweiss moved.

     She turned to look up at Garance and said, "Thank you, I don't know how to repay you-"

     "Repay me by not repaying me."

     It was already late noon, almost evening when Garance was finally satisfied with the amount of money he'd spent. The sky was painted pink and the clouds were a soft orange color.

     "The sky is beautiful," Edelweiss said in awe.

     "Yeah, it is," Garance said. "Let's head back?"

     "Yes, thank you for today." Edelweiss bowed.

     "No need to be so formal with me," Garance said. "Treat me like you would a brother."

     Edelweiss smiled at that. "Okay!"

     "Stay here while I hail a coach," Garance said. He looked behind Edelweiss and spotted a bakery. "On second thought, ya like sweets, right?"

     "Yes, I do."

     "Let's go there." Garance pulled Edelweiss towards the bakery despite protests from Edelweiss. He kept saying things like 'a brother is just treating his little sister to sweets.'

     Edelweiss went along with it. She wanted to try the sweets in Wonderland anyway.

     Garance opened the door for Edelweiss. When she entered, the scent of sweets filled her nostrils. She beamed and looked at the sweets kept on display.

     Her gaze landed on a cute lemon ricotta cake topped with cream and berries.

     Garance noticed that and immediately ordered it along with chrysanthemum tea. Edelweiss followed Garance to a table for two outside the bakery.

     Their order arrived a few minutes later. Edelweiss smiled brightly and dug in. Garance only sipped on tea and watched Edelweiss devour the cake as the sunset slowly.

     Once Edelweiss was done with her slice of cake, another slice was presented in front of her.

     "Garance?" Edelweiss asked. "I wanted one slice."

     "I enjoyed watching you eat and I also want to finish this pot of tea."

     Edelweiss blushed in embarrassment. 'Who the heck likes watching people eat?' She thought.

     She ate the second piece anyway.

     When she was done, Garance stood up to go and pay.

     "Wait here," he said. "I'm going to pay."

     Edelweiss nodded and looked up at the sky that darkened after every minute. While looking up at the sky and the slowly forming stars, her eyes met with bright hazel eyes that almost looked golden.

     She was confused for a second at how tall a person could be but then she realized the man was sitting on a black steed. He was still looking at her, deep into her bright blue eyes.

     Moments later, Edelweiss was snatched off her chair. The man had picked her up without a word. He began cantering away with her on his side like a handbag.

     "Garance!" Edelweiss screamed. "Help me!"

     Edelweiss saw Garance running out of the store and running behind the horse. He stretched his arm forward and Edelweiss reached out to him.

     "Edelweiss!" Garance called.

     Her abductor noticed this and pushed his horse's gait to a gallop, making everything around Edelweiss disappear as it appeared.

     Edelweiss continued punching, kicking, and screaming at her abductor until he said, "Stop or I'll drop you off the horse."

     Edelweiss started crying silently while being carried like a shopping bag. Her tears dried up as soon as they formed because of the speed of the horse.

     Edelweiss realized that she was so very wrong when she thought she could handle herself.

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Hello Lovely Readers!

I apologize for disappearing on you for so long!

And now, for those of you who were patient enough-

Bye for now <3