As I search my phone in my room, it hit me. I remember throwing it across the room because of an instant impulse, another thing I'd regret to remember and do, but now's not the time to hate myself.

As I see my phone, a thin line of breakage crawled on a large corner of the screen. Fortunately, it was still working. I quickly called my sister, Michelle.

"Pick up...pick up..." But there was no answer. 'The number you dialed is busy at the moment, please try your call later' said the woman on the phone repeatedly.

"Hey Lucy! Are you ready?" Natsu said, knocking on my door, due to my very intimidating alertness, I almost dropped my phone again, but caught it before it could hit the ground. Placing in on the beside table, I opened the door, seeing Natsu in such casual clothes. Plain white v-neck t-shirt and pants. Very appealing on his side I must say.

"Oh, hey not yet. Let me just get changed." I smiled.

"Okay, but be quick. I want to get there before the afternoon rush."

"Got it." And with that I closed the door and went to my closet to change into a matching casual outfit. 3/4 stripped purple shirt and above the knee pants, and of course let's not forget about the very comfortable sneakers.

As I went down, Natsu was already waiting on the door with a navy blue cap. "Finally. Let's go." He said and opened the door.

"Wait! What about Mira? Did you tell her we're going?" He chuckled in his reply, not really expecting this cheerful attitude from him.

"Mira went back to the guild. It's just you and me here now....well until tomorrow that is. So come on." He gestured for me to go outside and I followed.

Arriving at the coffee shop, I sat across Natsu, hoping that we'll just enjoy our day with a friendly light chat, but my expectations crashed as Natsu dropped something I could compare to a bomb in our conversation.

"So, you knew Sting all along?" My hands went weak and I let go of my spoon, dropping to the vanilla slice I ordered. I looked down.

"Yes, surprisingly, I didn't know you knew him too." He smiled, so did I.

"Well, we have a past together. Way back." He laughed, remembering the times of his childhood, or maybe teen hood?

"What was your relation to old grass head anyway?" I joked.

"If I tell you, will you tell me about yours?" I hesitated, Shall I tell Natsu? Should I trust him? I had to go with what was happening and just relax.

"Sure."

"He's just a friend." He told me flatly. He stared at me, waiting for my side of the story.

"He's a friend too." Natsu had a little childish look of dissatisfaction. 

"So what's all this ruckus about your arranged marriage?" He gestured two fingers on both hands to a quote-on-quote action.

"You eavesdropped?!" I exclaimed, slamming my hand on the table. There were no people aside from both of us, thank goodness for that. Going here early was such a good idea.

"You're voice was so loud, I couldn't shut my ears even if I wanted to." He seems normal, still not seeing any tension in his expression. He's very calm today. Not that it's odd for NATSU, but for a normal person, it must be.

As I think of what to say next, something felt as if it had hit me, struck me right in the target. "That's why you went away! Keep him company~ you say! I knew this 'organizing papers' were a bit off on legitimacy!"

"Please calm yourself, Ms. Heartfilia." I stopped, he referred to me by my last name, which is, again, unexpected. "Listen, the phone has been ringing non-stop early in the morning and continued after Sting left. When I answered it, a woman spoke, looking for you."

"Who was she?" I asked, finally my nerves started to calm down.

"If I can recall correctly, her name was...Michelle...now that I've mentioned it, isn't she the one you've been telling me? The one that if I acted as the role of your lover she'll stop it?" Natsu raised an eyebrow. I appreciate his effort to help, but the package of sinking back to the past isn't helping at all.

"Yes." I sighed, slumping down back to my seat and leaning on the table. "She's the one assigned to handle this marriage, my father has been forcing her to make it a success since it'll be good for the Heartfilia Conzern. I've already stated what was in mind, but they won't listen to me."

"Hmm...and why do you think acting as lovers will help?"

"Why are you so curious about this?" I stood up straight. "Mira has connections everywhere, she's good at spreading rumors and news. My first thought is that making her think that, and it will reach to anyone in the Conzern."

He sipped on his coffee and placed it gently back on the table. "And you think running away from it is a good idea? Is that why you forced Mira into pairing up with me here?"

I almost choked on my tea at his words. "H-how did you figure all of that out??"

"I'm not dense." He smiled, then paused for a while saying. "Well not anymore." And went back to his usual victorious smile. "I know you begged Mira into squeezing yourself into this mission and Mira was the perfect person to make that happen. And since when was Celestial Mage needed in selling a house anyway?"

"Oh please, you enjoyed every minute with me." With me saying the out of the blue made him choke on nothing at all. He smiled, looking at me as some sort of sport competitor with slightly flushed cheeks. Is...is this considered a victory? Because I don't feel it.

"I would be lying if I said no." My victory was snatched away, once again, as he threw out his secret weapons. "But tell me, don't you feel the same way?"

"feel what way?" I raised an eyebrow. I feel something is about to change, I'm getting such a chill in the spine. He sighed having such an expression as if to express the words 'you're just hopeless'

"Look, I can't keep bottling all of this up inside me." He looked straight at me, with eyes so focused it made me linked to it, that I couldn't look away. I started to blush, my mind started to fluster and my heart started to pound. What is it? What on earth it this??

"Lucy Heartfilia." He stated with such a firm tone and quickly placed his hand on the top of mine. "I...How do I say this right?" He looked away but quickly turned back. What does he want to say? Is...this something new? I don't even want to think of it!

"I want you to be my partner."

"........what?" I cleared my throat and sat up straight, sliding my hand away from his and calmed myself.

"You seem surprised?" He laughed. "Were you expecting to hear an 'I love you'?" He took his blue cap and placed it on me, covering my face.

"Stop blushing already." He laughed, yet, again. I pouted.

"P-Please! I wasn't expecting that, you clod."

He smiled before going back to his original, non-romantic proposal.  "So? What do you say? Want to be my partner?"

"My...I'm honored, Natsu. I'll give it some thought."

He leaned back, seemingly satisfied with my answer. "I expected you to say that. Take your time then." He smiled from ear to ear and chuckled a bit. I couldn't help doing the same. This man. What has he been psychologically doing to me...?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I have been refreshed to find the pleasures of writing again. And I'm happy to say that I'll be continuing this and pausing the others, but just until I've finished this.

So, updates will rain down on all my lovely readers. That means you. :)

Thank you for reading up until this point. It's much appreciated.