Beautiful music drifted across the large room, as a small orchestra played their pieces. The mess hall had been transformed to fit the occasion. The room was lit up by a large crystal chandelier and small white lights that drifted close to the tall ceiling.

The students and teachers were scattered across the room, happily chatting away at their tables. They were dressed in brightly colored attires and adorned with beautiful accessories. In one part of the room, the Celestial Twelve were gathered at their table, dressed in the trade mark colors of their continents.

"Tamara, Elfre, Genevieve, and Valeriana are late," Charles said as he fixed his glasses. He wore an aqua blue coat and trousers, with a white cravat wrapped around his neck loosely. Their eyes fell on Aneeka, who was the only female with them.

"They told me to come ahead. They were finishing up on Valeriana," she told them as she ran her hand over the white material of her gown. She tucked loose strand of hair behind her ear that escaped from her up do. Her eyes drifted across the room to where Kylon was busy trying to get Seraphina to notice him. She chuckled when he saw him succeed, but received an icy glare from the lady knight instead.

"Let's dance," Rowe asked as he held a hand out to her. The silver embroidery on his white coat shined under the light as he moved. Aneeka couldn't turn him down and allowed him to take her to the dance floor.

Not a couple minutes later though, most of them left the table to enjoy themselves. Corvan was left behind with a pokerfaced Brindon, and Keelan who seemed to only have the intentions of eating all through the duration of the ball.

"Sorry we took so long," they heard Tamara say. The three of them turned their heads towards their direction.

"Wow, you guys look beautiful," Keelan said after swallowing a mouthful of food.

"Beautiful," Brindon echoed.

Corvan didn't seem to hear them as he fixed his eyes on Valeriana. It wasn't the first time he saw her in a dress, remembering the time she was summoned by the king. Like the first time, he was speechless and just stared at her, thinking that her beauty was incomparable to any girl he had met. His heart raced, but he had not felt tired one bit.

She wore a bright red off-shouldered gown with intricate patterns of gold from the hem of the skirt to her sides. A few strands of her hair were pulled back in an intricate braid, while the rest fell softly passed her shoulders. Her make-up was natural, with a light pink blush on her cheeks. She wore fingerless gloves that covered the dark spot on her palm.

Did the others see it too? Corvan thought. But that thought fled his mind when his eyes landed on the Wylden Cosmos on her ring finger.

Coincidentally, her look tonight matched his red attire that was also embroidered with gold patterns. He took a glance at the other female members of the Circle, wondering if they had anything to do with it.

"Well, we'll see you guys later," Tamara said as she hooked her arms with Genevieve and dragged her away.

Raziel popped out of nowhere in his orange flamboyant outfit, and dragged his "little elf" towards the dance floor. Elfre wasn't thrilled about it about it one bit.

Valeriana stood there watching the sixth and seventh ranker as they tried to join in on the dance floor while they argued.

"Valeriana," she heard Corvan call. He had pulled out a seat for her to take, which was right next to him. Stopping herself from gawking at how handsome he was tonight, she made her way to sit. But once she got there, she immediately wished she had followed after Tamara and Genevieve.

"You're late," Corvan said.

"It's not my fault," she said, "The girls kept arguing about what I was supposed to wear. And they had my hair redone for five times. It was pure torture."

"You still could've protested. You're not powerless against them," he said.

If only he knew how the female rankers of the Twelve were like when it comes to fashion.

Keelan, who started to feel the tension around them made an excuse to leave. He gave the best excuse that won't raise any suspicion of leaving them.

"I'll go get some more food," he said, the glutton as he was. Brindon stood up wordlessly, as he trailed after the eleventh ranker.

"If all you're going to be doing is talk about why we were late, maybe I shouldn't have come," she said. "I'd rather be with somebody else right now."

"Well then, would you give me the honors of being that 'somebody,' milady," a voice said from behind them.

Val couldn't mistake that voice from anyone else's. It was the same voice that irritated her for the past few months almost as much as Corvan's.

"Zion," she said as she whirled her head towards him.

"Good evening Valeriana," he said, as he stood next to her seat. He took her hand and gave it a light peck. "Your beauty tonight is on par with the moon and stars."

"She is far more beautiful than the moon and stars, Brunhild. Leave us," Corvan said as he stood. He was surprised by the words that escaped from his lips, but it wasn't visible unlike Val's.

Her heart had skipped a beat when she heard that, and the color on her cheeks only deepened her blush.

"How can I leave her with you when you seem to only be reprimanding her about her punctuality?"

Corvan's eyes slowly narrowed as they continued glaring daggers at each other. He didn't know why he was acting like this. All he knew was the thought of Val being with Zion didn't sit well with him.

"Guys, not here," Val said as she stood from her seat. A couple of students were already starting to turn their attention on them.

"What do we have here?" Tamara said, with a pleasant smile on her face. But in the depths of her blue eyes, you could see the excitement in them like she was waiting for something to happen. The rest of the Twelve were also there. Few of them shared the same look Tamara's face.

Zion turned his attention to Val and offered a hand out to her.

"Shall we dance?" he asked. Valeriana stared at his hand, and gave Corvan a side glance.

Just as she was about to say yes to him, Corvan grabbed her hand.

"She stays here, with me!" he said, as he intertwined their fingers.

Before Zion could utter a word, he spoke once more.

"She's my betrothed, and surely it isn't wrong if she's with me for this event," he said. He lifted her hand and showed every pair of eyes on them the Wylden Cosmos.

Gasps filled the air, as the students nearby had wide eyes and open mouths. Zion especially, stood there staring at the ring on Val's finger. A saddened expression fell over his face, before he bowed and left without a word.

Valeriana had her eyes wide at the thing she had hope to the gods that would never happen. Anger rose in her, and before she could stop herself, she tugged on Corvan's hand and dragged him out of the vast room.

As they walked through the dim hallways, the voices of the people in the ballroom faded. She didn't know why but tears started forming in the edges of her eyes. At last, she saw a small garden not too far away from them and headed there.

"What the hell is your problem?" she yelled at him once they were there. "Now everybody knows that 'charade' we are playing in front of your family!"

"Quiet down! Somebody might hear you!" Corvan said as he suppressed his yells. "You should even be proud it of it."

At the last statement, Val's thread finally snapped.

"How can I be proud of something that isn't even real?" she yelled at him. A sob escaped her lips her tears finally fell from her eyes.

Like all those times, he saw a girl crying, Corvan was clueless as to what to do. He took a step forward with a hand reaching out towards her.

But, she was quick to duck away from his touch.

"Let's just stop Corvan," she said. "Tell your family the truth. I don't want to go through with this anymore."

As she said this, she took the Wylden Cosmos off her finger, and took a step towards him. She took his hand and placed the ring on his palm.

Corvan grabbed her arm before she could move away.

"Don't," he said, "Please."

She was surprised to hear him say that word, so she just had to look up at him. She was even more stunned to see that his emerald eyes looked at her pleadingly.

"Valery, I won't be able to find somebody else," he said.

"There are many more girls out there that are willing to be in my position. I'm sure you'll find somebody else," she said as she jerked her arm away from his hold.

She turned around, but before she could get five steps away, she froze in her spot.

"There's nobody else out there like you," he said. "You're special."

"If you want to end this thing you call a 'charade...." he paused, "Then, let's make it real."

She turned around, only to find him a mere foot away from her. She moved back but he had no plans of letting her get away.

"I just want you to let me off of this. I don't want you to force yourself to―" she was cut off.

"I'm not forcing myself. I'm serious, Val. Let's make this relationship real," he said. Her heart started beating rapidly, as she turned her gaze away from him. "If you don't really want this, give me a reason to let you go."

"I don't want this anymore because it's wrong. It's all a lie. We're deceiving your parents. I'm afraid of hurting other people because of this," she said, as she started to cry.

"I'm afraid of embarrassing you in front of others when I'm with you as your pretend fiancée. I'm afraid of the possible problems that will come if we go through with this.

"I like you Corvan!" she said.

The young lord's eyes grew big at her confession, and he was speechless once more as he stared at her.

"And I'm afraid that that 'like' will turn to something else!" she said. Before she could fully cry out, she gathered up her the front of her gown, and prepared to leave once more.

But before that could happen, large hands seized her waist and she was pulled close towards Corvan. As she looked up in surprise, he dipped his head and their lips met in a gentle kiss.

But not a few seconds later, he pulled away with a small smile on his face. He reached out a tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"You never listen to me," he said. "I told you to give me a reason to let you go, but you gave me a reason not to instead."

He pulled away slightly, and took her hand. Gently, he slid the ring back into her finger.

"This ring is for you. And only you," he said.

"I also feel the same for you Val. But unlike you, I'm not afraid if that 'like' will turn to something even deeper."

"I want to make us official. If that's not much of a problem for you," he finished.

Valeriana snapped out of her daze, and relaxed herself in his hold. Her face started turning a deep shade of red after realizing that what happened just happened.

"You didn't even court me," she mumbled. If possible her face turned redder.

Corvan let out a low chuckled and pulled her closer for an embrace, burying his face in her hair.

"There's no rule saying that a man can't court his woman even after their engaged," he said.

"FINALLY!" a girlish shriek rang out in the air. The both of them were so surprised they jerked away from each other.

They turned their attention to the right to find their fellow rankers watching them with smiles on their faces.

Genevieve was the one who yelled and she was shrieking into the air as she hopped, while Zevlin jumped around her yelling "Corval." Then the both of them turned to Elfre and stuck their tongues at her childishly. The seventh ranker wasn't able to do anything but glare at them, while Raziel had amusement shinning through his eyes.

"Finally indeed," Tamara said as she let out a loud laugh.

Rowe and Charles were shaking their heads at their behavior. Rowe was suppressing a laugh, while Charles looked on with disagreement at how they were all acting.

"Congratulations you two!" Keelan said before ripping a shred of meat from his chicken.

"Congratulations," Brindon echoed. Unlike the rest of the times, he had a small, barely visible smile on his face.

"At last, the drama ended. I couldn't take it," Aneeka said as she fanned her face.

Then and only then, did Corvan and Valeriana realize that they had seen everything from the beginning. But instead of getting angry, they laughed.

They locked gazes, laughed, and engulfed each other in an embrace.

#####

So yeah, that's it. Sorry it took so long. I was really busy, and I got stuck on the part when Zion left. I feel bad for doing that to him...huhuhuhuh...and now I don't XD!

And this is the last fanfiction I'm going to make...for now...hehehehe. Here in the Philippines, summer is over and school is just a week away so I'm going to be really busy. (Sometimes I wish I was one of the regular students)

I really want to focus on my studies, finish Firmament, and start another project. So yeah, like I said...last fanfiction until a couple weeks or months.

See you guys again soon. Thank you all for reading my fanfictions.

And oh yeah...I have an announcement to the Filipinos reading my fanfics. I hope you don't mind if I take some of your time.

Our club FWFC (Filipino Writers in Fantasy Category) is holding a Flash Fiction contest. I'll post the link below if you're interested in joining.

---Nen---