Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There is always a stage in one girl's life where she will be excited to plan for her wedding. Well, maybe not all, but some women do wish to plan their wedding.

A wedding that will make her little girl's childhood dream come true. She will be wearing a long beautiful white gown, have a veil on, be wedded in a church, and see their man stand before the altar. Waiting to be called her husband.

However, before a girl could even make that dream reality, she needs to find her man, the one. The man whom she will spend his life and build a family with her.

To have a groom at a wedding, she needs to have a boyfriend. A boyfriend who knows his woman's likes, dislikes, and everything about his partner. If you got all the essentials for a wedding—a man, a wedding proposal, wedding plans, and the guts to make it real, then you can assure yourself that you are ready.

|… … …|

"Ms. Heartfilia! Over here!"

"Lucy! Look at the camera!"

"Just one picture Ms. Lucy!"

"Look over here Lucy!"

"Lucy!"

All photographers around the block called the blonde beauty as she steps down from her vehicle and headed to her simple but expensive townhome. Holding her paper bag in front of her, she used it to cover her face and tries to escape the very persistent media. As she walks the trail available toward her house, she hears certain questions thrown at her.

"Lucy, do you have any plans to attend the famous Heartfilia anniversary in Acalypha?" one paparazzi asked as they followed her walk.

"We'll see," Lucy answered still trying to block the flashing of cameras on her face.

"What can you say about your parents' marriage?" Another reporter asked, which Lucy glanced at and smiled.

"I'm happy for them, of course! Who wouldn't be happy for them to celebrate a long-time marriage?"

"Who will you go with to the celebration?" A third interviewer asked, "You wouldn't go there alone, right?"

Lucy suddenly stiffens in her tracks as she glances at the reporter. As she halts, the paparazzi surround her, making her more susceptible to any kind of photo. As she was being crowded, she starts to feel suffocated, making her push around them to make her way out. But when the crowd wouldn't budge, she gave up and stood still while she glared at the media.

"Guys, seriously, you've got to let me pass," Lucy groans to them but with the noise of the media, her voice was barely heard.

"Ms. Heartfilia, your parents are very known to be a powerful couple in Acalypha, what are the pressures as their daughter?" A phone was then shoved close to her face making Lucy surprised and steps back a bit.

"What? nothing…Well, if you're trying to pertain about their married life, then I guess it's about finding a husband that I will spend my life with." She then rolls her eyes at her sexist comment, which the media was pleased about.

"Then it's not a rumor that you're single until now?"

After hearing the question, she looks at her interrogator with wide eyes and gives a serious look, "And what's so bad about being single? And, for Pete's sake, I'm just 28!"

"So, you are single? What do your parents think about being a spinster?"

"Excuse me?!" Lucy bellows as she begins to show her irritation. She shook her head in disappointment before she began to push them aside and try to get out of the attention.

"Wait, Ms. Lucy! So, you have no plans of getting married like your parents?" One reporter relentlessly blocks her from moving forward further, making the blonde groan in annoyance.

"Not like it's any of your business, but I have," Lucy slightly shouted as she shoves the man to the side.

"Then when? With whom?"

Having enough of the media's insistent questioning about her personal life, Lucy grumbles at them and turns to face them. Suddenly all the paparazzi swarming around her at the step of her brownstone house, she glares at them and said, "What do you want to hear from me? What do you want to insist on? That being single mean being a spinster?! That I'll be one? Fine! I'll throw something different to you guys, I'm engaged! Happy?!"

And with that, Lucy turns around and swiftly ran up the stoop of her house and quickly closes the door, leaving the paparazzi more in a frenzy.

After spending her late afternoon shopping and ending up being bombarded by the media, Lucy no longer had the energy to do anything else. She lies down on her bed, rolling over, feeling exhausted and annoyed at the same time. She recalls the intrusive questions of the paparazzi, making her grumble as she rolls over to her back and glared at the ceiling.

Her phone suddenly rings, making Lucy aimlessly search for her purse lying on her nightstand. When she grabbed it, she took her phone out and immediately answered the call without much regard.

"Hello?" the voice spoke, which Lucy recognizes immediately.

"Hey, Erza…" Lucy sighs as she sits up and crosses her legs, "What's up?"

"I'm doing good…You, okay?"

"Yeah…relatively," Lucy then chuckles softly as she shrugs her shoulders.

"Relatively? Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nah," Lucy says shaking her head then realizing that the redhead couldn't see her, "I'm just tired…"

"Oh…what about our dinner out? Remember, us girls agreed to have dinner?" Erza reminded the blonde as she sounded like a mother which made Lucy flinch in her spot and unconsciously bit her fingers,

"Well, about that…" Lucy then bites her lower lip, feeling bashful as she will ask for a favor.

"Oh, you can't say no! You have been bailing on us three times!" Erza slightly shouted at the other end of the call.

"Oh no-no-no! I'm not going to bail out… it's just that…" Lucy then trails off making the red-haired girl on the other end of the call anxious.

"It's just what?"

"Media…" Lucy then sighs as she pinches the bridge of her nose. As she remembers her encounter with the paparazzi, she could hear their distant voices, throwing questions that push her buttons, "They bombarded me this afternoon when I was returning to my house. I don't think stepping out again will help my case. So, I was thinking maybe we could have a pizza party at home, instead," Lucy asked almost like a question, "My treat!" she added before she bite her lower lip in anticipation.

"Well, all right. I understand, I'll call the girls and tell them about the change of plans. But no Natsu still!" Erza exclaims, making Lucy chuckle at her tone.

"Of course! It's a girl's night, as planned," Lucy finally smiled as she felt relief.

"Good…does he know about this?" Erza asked once more, now even more inquisitive to her friend.

"Of course, not. Why would I tell him?" Lucy then scoffs after finding Erza ridiculous with her questions.

"Well duh, he's your best friend…" Erza then rolls her eyes at the obvious reason, "He usually knows everything that you're doing."

Lucy scrunches her face in doubt but then thought twice as she realized that what Erza said was true. Unknowingly, she blushed as she tries to deny the notion, "No, he does not,"

"Oh really? The last time I remember, Natsu was the first to know that you had a date with an architect."

"To be fair, he wasn't supposed to know either! It was—a coincidence!" Lucy then sighs as she felt exasperated on explaining the incident, "He just happens to be there, which sucks…" Lucy sighs again, "Can we not talk about it anymore?"

Erza hums in agreement, "Fine…I'll call the girls instead. See you in a bit!"

"All right, bye!" and with that Lucy pulls her phone away from her ear. As she finally felt more at ease, she stood up from her bed and began to undress. Lucy felt that a warm bubbly bath would put her more at ease.

As she slowly unbuttons her blouse, she then mumbles to herself, "Can't believe Erza still feels bad about Natsu knowing that first…" Her hands then stop at a button and stared from afar, "I mean, he wasn't supposed to know either…" she then shrugged her shoulder as she continues to unbutton her blouse.

"Maybe I should suggest to the girls to have a slumber party," Lucy then chuckles as she pulls her pants down, "Slumber party? What am I a teenager?" She then laughs again as she shook her head while stepping out of her pants on the floor. She then picks it up her discarded clothes and places them in her hamper.

As she was about to enter her bathroom, she remembered that she had to order their food. She mentioned it was her treat to them after all. So, she decided to make a quick trip to her kitchen.

Being in her underwear, she began to head out to her living room unembarrassed since it was her home. There was no point in being decent, after all, no one lived with her. Her house, her rules.

"So…what should I be ordering?" Lucy said to herself as she heads to her wide kitchen and takes all the leaflets posted on her refrigerator.

"I didn't know you like walking around the house in your underwear…" A voice suddenly spoke, making Lucy shriek in her spot and turn around, grab a pan close to her, and start swinging it.

"KYAAAAA!"

POINGK

"OW!" a pink-haired man exclaimed before passing out.

After a good ten minutes, Lucy stood in front of the pink-haired man, holding on to her bathrobe closely to her body, waiting for him to wake up. When the man was not moving, Lucy suddenly felt guilty as she thought that maybe she had hit him too hard.

She was startled, it was an excuse to swing that small frying pan. He could have been a stalker…

"Natsu?" Lucy whispers gently as she kneels next to him on the floor. She then nudges his shoulder, but he wouldn't wake up. "Natsu, wake up…" She mumbles, guilt growing inside her chest, when suddenly she notices his eye movement but intentionally kept his eyes close.

Lucy then realizes that Natsu was just pretending to be asleep. So, she began to press hard on the obviously forming bruise on her friend's cheek.

"AHHH!" Natsu shouted sitting up as he felt the pain that Lucy has inflicted on him, "what was that for?!"

"That was for making me worried unnecessarily and sneaking up on me!" Lucy shouted as she stands up and walks away from the pinkette.

"I didn't mean to sneak up on ya," Natsu said as he scuffed his head in guilt, "I knocked on your door but you didn't answer. So, I thought I'd just use my key and wait for ya…then saw you…" Natsu's eyes then grew big implying what he had seen.

Lucy then blushed as she remembered that Natsu had seen her nearly naked, walking around her house. She then tightens her hold on her robe, "Pervert!"

"To be fair, it's not my fault you were walking around your house in your underwear. When I got in, you were already…in your undies in your kitchen," Natsu then chuckles at the blushing blonde, "What did you hit me with?"

Natsu then stood up as Lucy lifted the small frying pan, "With this…sorry,"

"That's one hell of a small frying pan," Natsu then winced when he brushed his hand over his cheek. Lucy then whipped around and grabbed a pack of ice. "You should give a good review to that brand, it can hurt intruders,"

Lucy chuckles as she rolls her eyes, "Well, it wouldn't have to lead to that if you just know how to greet people without startling them,"

"As I said, Luce, didn't mean to sneak up on ya," Natsu grinned as he watched the blonde walk over to him on the couch. Lucy scowls at the pinkette before she sits next to him.

"Why are you even here? Erza and the girls will be coming over," Lucy then hands the ice pack to the pinkette.

"Why? What's happening here? Can I join?' Natsu then places the ice on his cheek but miserably misses the focal point of the bruise. So, Lucy grabs it instead and does it for him.

"No, you can't," Lucy replies with a neutral face, trying her best not to look too sympathetic, otherwise the pinkette would use his annoying best friend card on her. "Unless you miraculously turned into a woman then you can join. If not, you've got to leave, after this,"

Looking at his blonde friend, Natsu crossed his arms across his chest and gave a stern gaze. Feeling uncomfortable with his stare, Lucy harshly damps the ice pack to his cheek making the man flinch in pain, "Hey! Be careful!"

"Then quit looking at me like that…" Lucy said as she retracted the ice pack but then returns it, "There is nothing I can do Natsu. You talk to Erza if you want."

"But it's your house!" Natsu whines childishly, making the blonde snort at his reaction. "Your house, your rules,"

"Buddy, this is Erza's dinner plans. It's her rules…" Lucy shrugs her shoulders in defeat, "You go ask her, not me,"

Natsu groans in annoyance as he knew that Erza wouldn't let him. That woman was a tough one to break, "Fine…" he then grumbles and childishly pouts.

Lucy couldn't help herself giggle at the grown man's childish antics, "What's with that face?"

"Well, you wouldn't let me stay." Natsu huffed and Lucy just rolls her eyes at him.

"So, why exactly are you here? Please don't tell me you came by to bombard me because you were running away from someone again," Lucy then raised a brow at the pinkette, who sheepishly grins at him.

"That was one time," Natsu chided but embarrassedly, "Mira was a scary woman that day,"

Lucy scoffed at the memory of the pinkette hiding in her house and insistently told her that if Mira was looking for him, she should tell her that she hadn't seen him all day. "Whatever, so why are you here?"

"I came here to hand this off to you," Natsu then pulls out a tiny box from his pocket and showed it to the blonde.

Lucy was sure it is a ring box, and she couldn't stop herself from ogling at the box. She then reached out to open it when Natsu suddenly retracted his hand.

"Luce," Natsu mumbles softly and tenderly, making Lucy look up and stare at her best friend with surprise in her eyes.

"Yes?" Lucy answers quietly.

"Oy, Luce, you, all right?" Natsu then tilts his head as he leaned close to the blonde to snap out of her trance.

"Huh?" Lucy finally snapped out of her sudden daydream of a wedding proposal, "What? Yeah, what? I mean, what do you—what do you want me to do with that?"

Natsu then grins as he lifts the box, "I need you to hold this for me,"

"You want me to keep it for you?" Lucy repeats as she eyes the box, "Why?"

"Well, I'm planning to give this to someone," Natsu then rubs the back of his neck as his face warms up a little. This caught Lucy's attention and was stunned a tad, not expecting the pinkette to be this sentimental.

"To someone?" Lucy inquired as she didn't recall Natsu dating anyone recently.

"Yeah, someone special," Natsu then sighs as he opens the box and gazes at the jewelry. Lucy then leans a little to take a peek but the pinkette quickly closes it and says, "Don't open it, okay?"

Lucy scrunches her face and skeptically looked at the man, "But you just opened it. Let me see,"

Natsu then pulls his hand away, "No, you can't!" Natsu then gulps as he stared at the glaring blonde, "It's sensitive…You can't expose the ring too much,"

Lucy continued to look at the man with a dubious glare before she agrees to his reason. Before Natsu could give the box to Lucy, the doorbell suddenly rang. Quickly looking at her door, she heard the doorbell ring once more.

"Lucy~…It's Erza." The visitor called.

Lucy looked at Natsu with wide eyes, who had the same expression as her. The two then began to panic when they heard Erza calling again.

"Erza!" Lucy shouts as she shoves the pinkette to stand up, "I'll be right there!" She then pushes the man again, making the pinkette stumble from a side table and screech in pain.

"Lucy? Is everything all right? I hear noises inside," Erza shouts over the other side of the front door.

"No, yeah! I'm good!" Lucy then slaps the shoulder of the pinkette to reprimand him from crying out too loud, "I'm coming!"

When the two were by the back door, Natsu opens it and then turns to look at the blonde, startling her for a second. "Go, Luce. I'll run from here," he then grabbed Lucy's hand and placed the box on her palm, "Take care of this box, all right? No peeking,"

Lucy was about to protest again when suddenly Natsu quickly ran off, leaving the blonde stunned as she watched the man's figure disappear in the corner.

That night, one by one, the girls finally arrived after Erza. Levy, Juvia, and the Strauss sisters came carrying a few other things as they planned to cook. The girls spent the night laughing, eating, and chatting about everything.

"So, Juvia, how was your date with Gray the other day?" Lisanna teased as she and Juvia pulled on some romaine lettuce. Levy and Lucy who were around, chopping cherry tomatoes, looked up and gawked at the busty blunette.

"Wait, are we talking about a date-date or a going out that can be considered as a date?" Levy inquired, making the woman blush.

"It's a date-date," Juvia then squeals along with the other girls.

"Well then that's good," Erza chimes in as she settles next to Mira, who was chopping some cucumber, "Who asked?"

"Gray-sama!" Juvia beamed, "It's a surprise for Juvia at first. Juvia didn't expect that he was serious about it," Juvia picked on a piece of lettuce and shredded it into smaller pieces as she recalled her date. "He was a true gentleman and took Juvia to a French restaurant,"

"Ohh," the girls sang before they giggled in delight, "What did you do after?"

"Went to the movies then brought Juvia home," Juvia then blushes as she looks down at her work instead. But the girls knew better.

"Did you both share a kiss after?" Mira questioned as she leaned in.

Juvia looked up at her friends before she was flushing red and nodded her head. All the girls then squealed in excitement while Lisanna embraced the blunette.

Soon enough, the girls assembled their salad and brought their food to the living room to begin their movie marathon. It has been a long time since they did this. They were no longer college students, but delving into their favorite hobby as a group was always a delight for them.

While the girls settled and chatted on the floor, Lucy suddenly comments, "It's sad that Cana can't join us,"

"Well, that woman has a crazy work schedule. There are days she's free, and some days, we barely get to talk to her," Erza then shrugs her shoulders, "I'm surprised that you have free time today,"

"I just finished one project recently and thought I deserved a short break," Lucy then smiled when Levy grinned at her.

"Good job, babe," Levy then winks at her, "You deserve the rest. And besides, your parent's anniversary party is coming up in a few months. Your mom probably needs ya,"

Lucy then gawks her eyes out before looking away from her other best friend. Lisanna quickly catches this and curiously asks, "You are going to the party, right?"

"Hmm?" Lucy innocently looks at her silver-haired friend. When Lisanna raises a brow at her, almost like she's looking at her with pure surprise, she sighs in defeat as she admits, "I don't know,"

"What do you mean you don't know?" Levy, who had been busy scanning the television for a random movie, suddenly puts the remote down as she stares at her friend. "You're not going? I'm pretty sure your parents would like to see you at the party. They probably miss you,"

"Oh, I'm sure they're too busy to notice that I wouldn't be there," Lucy then shrugs her shoulders, "Besides, that party will be just filled with corporate peeps. They're not fond of the pretentious mingling, but they need to. It's part of building a corporation,"

"Up next!" the television suddenly sounded too loud, startling the girls in surprise and snapping them out of their conversation. They then looked at the tv and listened to the entertainment news.

"With the upcoming celebration of the power-couple Heartfilia, their one and only daughter, Lucy is now getting attention. What are the updates on the awaited celebration? And what's new with their only daughter?"

The girls were suddenly hooked on the show, but with Lucy's recent encounter with the media, she wasn't thrilled to watch the segment. She rolls her eyes as the hosts of the show appear with wide grins on their faces and boisterous voices.

"Would you believe it?!" Kyoka Tartaros, the host of the show, suddenly exclaims as the focus of the camera was on her, "Jude and Layla Heartfilia will be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary in a few months! Having that long marriage is like a miracle, it's a lifetime. In this industry, you barely see famous couples sticking together,"

"That is so true!" Ikaruga Raven, the second host of the show responds, "I mean, there are a few power couples out there that stay married. But many couples, nowadays, we see get married then separate after a few years. For some, even months only,"

"Sometimes you wonder, what is the secret to a successful marriage. I wanna know that!" Kyoka then laughs, "I'm pretty sure, Lucy Heartfilia knows the secret,"

The girls then snicker as they briefly glance at the blonde, who just groans in exasperation. They then returned their attention to the two hosts.

"Oh, definitely. She's getting a lot of attention recently after being spotted with her famous parents. She is a beauty! No one knew Jude and Layla's daughter after being kept out of the public eye. She had been living privately and was discovered to be a featured writer in Fairy Tail Magazine."

"Now, everybody is curious, is the only daughter of the powerhouse couple single, in a relationship, or married?" Kyoka then grins as she wiggles a finger to the camera, "Believe it or not you guys, the Heartfilia daughter is not available in the market, as she is engaged!"

All of the girls then gawks at the announcement before they abruptly directed their surprise to the blonde. To their surprise, the blonde looked stunned as well.

"Recently, she admitted that she is engaged after being questioned if she was a spinster at the age of 28! What a way to cut the rumors out! Despite admitting to being engaged, the fiancé is still unknown. Now the question is, who is the fiancé?"

"Ohh!" Ikaruga then giggles in excitement, "That's interesting! There is so much more to reveal about who Lucy Heartfilia is and now, Fiore is curious as to who is the lucky man. Well, we'll just have to wait and see. Up next—!"

Lucy quickly turns off the television as she bafflingly stares at it. The girls slowly turned to face the frozen blonde.

"Lucy…is it true?" Erza quietly asks, still stunned at the news she heard.

Lucy slowly looked at her scarlet-haired friend and stared in a haze for a moment before looking away again. She then began to run her hands through her blonde locks and pulled them in frustration, "Oh my God! I can't believe they believed me!" She whispered to herself as she shook her head in disbelief.

"Lu-chan! How in the earthland did you get engaged without us knowing?! Did someone propose to you, and you never introduced us to the guy?!" Levy bellows with wide eyes.

Lucy suddenly stands up and began to pace back and forth making the girls curious as they looked at the confused blonde. Juvia quickly stands and hands a glass of wine and held her by her shoulder, "Lucy-san…what is happening?"

Lucy stared at the blunette before gulping down the alcohol. When she finished it in one drink, she exhaled deeply and swallows the growing lump in her throat.

"What you heard is…" Lucy then trails off as she tries to come up with the right word for her thoughts. The girls then leaned closer in anticipation as Lucy points at the television, "Full of shit,"

TO BE CONTINUED…

Chapter Text

Lucy stared at her friends with wide eyes as if she was trying to convey her message straight to their minds. But the girls just stared back at her like she had grown another head.

“Full of shit?” Lisanna breaks the silence, voicing everyone’s question, “Lucy-chan, what do you mean?”

“It is what it is,” Lucy nods her head, convinced that she had screwed up, “I’m not engaged, let alone, I don’t even have a boyfriend or a fuck buddy, or a fling, or a crush. I don’t have any!” Lucy heaves in desperation to calm down.

All of the girls tilt their heads to the side and raised a brow at the blonde, “What?”

“Oh, what do you mean ‘what’?! You guys have known—”

“No-no-no,” Levy stands and walks up to the blonde to hold her down, “What we mean is…why the hell do you have a rumor that you’re engaged? They said you admitted it!”

Lucy bashfully laughs at the question as she recalls how carelessly she blurted out a lie in front of the paparazzi. She was pissed off and barely thought straight about the words she was saying. She just wanted to get rid of the paparazzi and never thought that she’d deal with the aftermath.

Lucy chuckles again, “I did say it…”

“But?” Erza stood up as well, followed by the others as they circled the blonde.

“But…who said I was telling the truth?” Lucy then grins before she breaks into laughter.

The girls couldn’t help but groan at Lucy. Of course, the blonde had thrown words without care again. The blonde had a little history of throwing out lies to get rid of people she hated. She’d been caught in her lies once or twice before. But lying to jocks or pervert guys was easy to mend, but the media? That was something hard to cover.

“Lucy!” All of the girls bellowed, making the blonde cringe and shiver at their scolding.

“I’m sorry! I know I screwed up and lied to the worst people to lie to. I didn’t think this through when I said that I’m engaged.” Lucy sheepishly looks at her friends, “I mean, they’ve been accusing me of being a spinster for quite a time now, who would have thought that they’d believe me right away?”

“Lucy,” Mira chortles at her as she shook her head, “Feed anything to the media and they’ll feast on that,”

“Telling them exactly what they want makes your statement real,” Lisanna adds, “Well, for them.”

“Oh, okay…” Lucy then sighs as she drops her shoulders in defeat, “As I said, I didn’t think this through,”

“Yep,” Levy grimaces at the defeated look of the blonde, “Hope this just fades out,”

After the news broke out that weekend, Lucy tried her best to keep a low profile. She’d spotted two to three photographers lingering around her neighborhood. It was definitely annoying for her. But at least, nothing worse has come up since then.

At FT publication, Lucy tried to keep her head low. People couldn’t help but glance her way at times as if someone would pop up next to her to reveal to whom she was engaged. She thought maybe having a presscon would save her from this hell hole she made for herself. But that would just cause more media attention, and they would just become more insistent in following her around with a tinge of criticism for lying.

Groaning on a Wednesday afternoon, Lucy walked around the busy streets of Magnolia with her pink-haired best friend. With a cup of coffee in hand, Lucy sighs again with disdain.

“Okay, what the hell is the problem?” Natsu mutters as he throws his head back in annoyance before looking back at the woman, “You’ve been moaning and sighing since Monday,”

“No, I’m not,” Lucy grumpily replies.

“Yeah, right, says your brows that are nearly fused because you’re happy,”

Lucy quickly glares at the pinkette, “I’m not scowling!”

Natsu scoffs at the blonde. He was then about to comment when suddenly he notices someone in front of them, a few meters away, snapping a photo. He whipped his head toward that direction and gave a questioning look.

“Hey, you with the camera!” Natsu called out, stepping forward but the paparazzo jumped and dashed away into the crowd. “What the hell was that about?”

“What-what is it?” Lucy asked panicky as she looked around.

“A guy in front of us was taking photos of us,” Natsu then shook his head as he scowls, “These camera people are so weird and creepy,”

“Camera people?!” Lucy slightly shouted, “Where?!”

“Oh, he ran off,” Natsu raised a brow at the blonde, “Why are you so jumpy? What is going on?”

Lucy looked at her best friend with wonder. She knows Natsu was like a caveman when it comes to trends and news. He was like her personal benchmark for things that are hype. If Natsu has no clue about a certain trend, she wouldn’t call it popular. But if Natsu somehow gets a grasp on a particular pop culture thing, she’d consider it as something famous.

“Have you heard any news about me?” Lucy asked carefully as if asking the question itself will reveal the truth to the whole universe.

“Uhh…” Natsu thought for a second before he snaps a finger, “Yeah, I did,”

Lucy gawked her eyes, “What news?”

“That the whole Fiore knows that you’re the only daughter of the Heartfilia power couple,” Natsu then grinned and ribbed at the blonde, “Gotta be famous now, aren’t ya?”

Lucy suddenly sighs in relief as she drops her shoulders and head. For a moment, the blonde mutters a silent thankful prayer to the highest being that it hasn’t reached Natsu yet. That could only mean that things haven’t escalated yet and reached the people she doesn’t want to.

“I guess…” Lucy then walked ahead of the pinkette, while he continued to laugh at her sake.

When the two had reached the corner for the FT publication, Natsu had bid the blonde goodbye as he headed back to his own office. As Natsu drove off, Lucy just stared at the disappearing vehicle when someone suddenly bumped her hip. She looked back at the person bewildered.

“Hey, you,”

“Mira,” Lucy snaps out of surprise and hugged the silver-haired restauranteur, “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I just had a meeting with one of my friends regarding the restaurant,”

Lucy smiles proudly at her friend, “It must be nice to start up your own business huh?”

“Yeah, it is, but it's not gonna be easy for us, lots of competition here in Magnolia,” Mira says with a shrug of her shoulder as she and Lucy began to walk towards Lucy’s office building. “But Laxus believes in the business plan. He believes that we’ll pull it off well,”

Lucy grins. One thing she enjoys talking about with her friends is their existing love lives. She may not have had any romance for years, nearly since she was born, but hearing stories of her friends fawning about their special someone gives her joy. She was a sucker for romantic stories. Having none of that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like it.

“Ahh, so it was Laxus you met up today. So, is it official? the two of you?” Lucy teasingly smiles at her friend who suddenly blushes at her comment.

“Wha—?" Mira laughs it off nervously as her cheeks warmed, “No, what are we going to make official? He’s a good friend. That’s it.”

“Just a friend?” Lucy teasingly insists more until the silverette whines at her while her face burned red. Obviously, the silver-haired woman had a crush on her good friend but chooses to remain as that for whatever reason. “All right, I’ll stop…” Lucy says as she slows down from her laughter.

“I saw the news again,” Mira suddenly opened up. Lucy didn’t have to ask what news she was talking about as she just recently read a new article about her, finding her suspicious that she wasn’t wearing an engagement ring.

Lucy groans again for the nth time as she internally cursed the writer of that article. Why did the media have to make more articles about her and keep on bringing up her engagement? Couldn’t they figure out that what she said was not true? Couldn’t they decipher that she was just taunting them that one time?

“I really don’t know what to do with the media anymore,” Lucy grumbles, “If I attempt to talk to them, it will just escalate. Right now, not even talking to them escalates. I’m just grateful that it’s not spreading too fast,”

Mira suddenly snorts. The blonde quickly looked at her with disbelief.

“Why’d you laugh?”

“Oh, Lucy,” Mira wraps her arm around the blonde's arm and stops them both before the entrance of the FT publication building. “Are you using Natsu’s knowledge again as your basis for things being popular?”

Lucy guiltily hummed before she shook her head. Mira chuckles at her again, “Look, that is the least reliable basis. If you’re waiting for the news to just die down on its own, it will take a while. The media just recently found you as the only daughter of the Heartfilia power couple. Of course, media will stick their nose where they can,”

Lucy couldn’t help but agree to it, making her frown even more. The fact that her parent’s wedding anniversary party is such a big fuss in Fiore, what more of her personal life, now that she had entertained them in some way.

“So, what do I do?” Lucy then rolls her eyes as she thought about the worst things that could happen after actively dealing with the media, “Do I go to them and say outwardly that I was just joking?”

Mira sheepishly smiles at the blonde, “You can start telling them the truth. It’s the only way,”

“Right of course. I mean once I tell them the truth, they’ll stop bothering me. They’ll stop pestering me about being a spinster, an attention-seeker, and maybe now a liar.”

“Well…It’s a consequence you have to deal with,” Mira then gave a stern look at the blonde, “You know that lying always has a consequence. You just have to take responsibility for your actions,”

Lucy sighs in desperation, “Right, responsibility. Of course, I’m sorry. I’ve been whining about all these when it’s actually my fault,”

Mira suddenly felt guilty for putting all the blame on the blonde. She knew that Lucy didn’t plan to lie in front of those paparazzi. She was pushed to the edge which led her to that circumstance. If she was given more choices to make during that time, she would have done something different. But she took that road because Lucy thought it was the best way out at that time.

“Lucy, we’ll be here for you. But it’s up to you to deal with it. The more you try to avoid it, the more it can cause more lies. Rumors can spiral up and cause more chaos. You wouldn’t want to deal with that,”

“Yeah, of course,” Lucy then nods her head. Mira was right, avoiding the problem doesn’t solve anything. If anything, it causes more problems. “So, an interview huh?”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try…” Mira then smiles warmly at her friend.

Soon enough the two women bid each other goodbye, and Lucy went on her with her day. She thought hard about what Mira said and considered how to deal with the issue before everything got out of hand. And out of hand means letting her parents hear about her rumor of being engaged.

“I just got home,” Lucy utters over the phone as she swings her door open.

After having dinner with Levy after work, the blonde finally reaches her home. It’s been a long day and she had told her best friend that she’ll probably contact one of the media outlets that she trusts. Well, trust as much as possible, given that many entertainment media tend to twist some stories. But she’ll tell the truth about being misunderstood about her previous comment. She didn’t intend to say it that way and only meant to disarm them with their same delusional accusations.

“No, I did not eat hot wings…” Lucy answers after closing her door and walked up to her living room and settle down on her couch. “Levy and I had ramen…no, you and I just ate ramen last week.”

Lucy grumbles at her phone, “Uh! Natsu, will you stop annoying me about the food you haven’t eaten for the last five days? If you want to eat hot wings, do it, no one is stopping you,” she then stands up and grabs her purse and headed towards her stairs.

“What me?!” Lucy scoffs at the pinkette, “Excuse me, mister, I do not stop you from anything you want. In fact, you keep on doing things even if we tell you not to do it,” she then shook her head. Lucy’s eyes suddenly grew wide, “No, do not come here!”

Lucy suddenly stops in front of her bedroom door as she bellows over her phone, “Natsu! Seriously! It’s dead of the night and I have work tomorrow. Do not dare come to my house unannounced again. Do you remember that frying pan? I still have it with me,”

Lucy sighs in relief as turns the knob of her door open. Sitting on her bed, Lucy slowly took off her heels and walked barefoot into her room.

“You’re such a ridiculous man, Natsu…” Lucy said with a smile on her face, “Yes, I kept your keepsake somewhere safe,” She then stares at the ring box on top of her vanity table, “I did not open it, for the nth time,” Lucy then laughed at something Natsu said over the phone, “Well, I’m not interested in getting the wrath of granny Porlyusica. Thank you very much,”

Lucy then sits down by her vanity table and stares at the box closer, “All right, see you tomorrow, Natsu. Good night,” Lucy then pulls her phone away and puts it down on the table.

True to her words, Lucy hadn’t opened the ring box that Natsu had handed over to her that weekend. When Natsu came to her to give it off, Lucy embarrassingly admits that she thought Natsu was going to confess to her or something. She has this petty crush on her best friend. But of course, she’s not going to say that to him especially now that he said he had someone special. There was no reason to make things awkward. So, instead, she starts considering herself as his future best man, she’ll keep the ring safe.

But doing that task doesn’t mean she’s not curious as to what the ring looks like. She knows it was a family heirloom, a keepsake from Natsu’s grandmother, who recently entrusted it to him. Grandma Porlyusica is still healthy and strong, and passing heirlooms isn't in the plan yet. So, it only meant, Natsu asked for it.

With that thought, Lucy was curious. How could have she missed the fact that Natsu was seeing someone else? All this time, she thought, she and Natsu were the same, who did not have any romantic partners. Or even flings. But apparently, it was only her. Guess she was too wishful that she and Natsu would somehow end up together like they’d make a promise to each other that if they won’t be able to find their life partners by the age of 40, they’ll marry one another instead. Guess it was only on the tv, and not in real life.

A doorbell suddenly rang, pulling her out of her thoughts. Lucy glanced at her wall clock and sees it was a quarter away before ten in the evening. She then remembered Natsu telling her that he’ll come to her place. And even if she tells him not to do it, she knows Natsu has a tendency not to listen.

“Oh, Natsu, you are such dead meat to me,” Lucy threatens as she stood up and slipped her fluffy slippers on.

As she walks up to her front door, Lucy was ready to scold the pinkette as soon as she opens the door. But the moment she did a resounding ‘surprise!’ greeted her by a beautiful blonde woman.

“Did I surprise you, dear?” The woman asked as she stares at the gapping young blonde.

“M-mama?” Lucy stutters as she astonishedly gawked at her mother. It’s late in the evening and seeing her mother before her seems like a cruel joke. “Is this real?”

Layla Heartfilia, one of the infamous businesswomen of Fiore. She is the third generation of the Heartfilia clan, who took over the generational family business Love and Lucky Co., a clothing fashion brand.

Ever since Lucy’s grandparents died a decade ago, Layla didn’t have to be out in public all the time. She and Jude had a quiet wedding, but given who her family is, Layla and Jude could never escape the lens of the world.

Giving respect to the famous family, Jude even took Layla’s last name, even if Layla just wanted to be Layla Lamour. But now, the couple had quite adjusted to their new circumstance. Although, they weren’t fond of bringing Lucy into that world. Layla and Jude had assured Lucy that she wasn’t obligated to take over or to take part in the business if she didn’t want. Lucy had shown some interest, but for now, Lucy enjoys more in writing for magazine publications.

Seeing her mother before her, right now, meant bad news. It isn’t like, she’ll be scolded or anything, but Lucy doesn’t want to confront any of her parents when there is a rumor of her flying around, especially a rumor that she started.

“Well, aren’t you gonna let me in?” Layla beamingly smiles at her daughter, who finally snapped out of her trance. When Lucy sidesteps, Layla immediately stepped forward and embraced her.

“It’s good to see you,” Layla mutters as she pulls back. Lucy could only sheepishly smile at her mom.

“You too…” Lucy then groans silently to herself as she lets her mom walk further inside her house.

Lucy immediately plays host and takes her mother's coat to hang on the coat rack. As she follows her mother cautiously heading toward the living room, she starts to think of all the possible reasons why her mother would come to her place at an unexpected time.

“This is quite a surprise, mama,” Lucy mutters as she walks ahead of her mom and went straight to the kitchen to make some tea, “What made you come to Magnolia?”

“Well, I’m in the city for the past two days and I felt guilty that I haven’t told you anything about it,” Layla softly smiles at her daughter, who nods in understanding. “It’s just that I didn’t want to bring more attention ever since they started following you around,”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Lucy reassuringly smiles at her mother, despite her actual situation, “Media can be nosy but…I’m good,”

“Are you really?” Layla questioned and looked at her with doubt all over her face.

Lucy suddenly swallows the growing knot in her throat as her mind kept shouting that she wasn’t fine at all. But she smiled over her worry and said, “Yeah, of course, mama. Why wouldn’t I be?” she then walked up to her mother with a tray of two steaming teacups.

“Chamomile tea, your favorite,” Lucy offers as she seats next to her mom and hands over a teacup. “You don’t have to worry too much, mama. I have my friends and they know the situation. So, as much as possible they try to help me out. Especially Natsu,”

Layla smiles over her cup, “Well that’s nice. It’s good that Natsu’s around because he’s more familiar with this,”

Lucy suddenly snorts, “Right, that man. Well, he just doesn’t care about them. He ignores them and that’s what I’m doing,”

“All right…” Layla then sighs in contentment, “I’m more at ease now knowing that you have people around to protect you. Your papa and I had thought about getting you bodyguards—”

“Oh, please no. Mama,” Lucy grasps Layla’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, “I don’t want that…or any kind of protection that will make me feel like I’m some kind of fragile figurine. I’m fully aware of our family. But I just want to live a—simple and private life. I’m good, I promise.”

Layla looked at her daughter for a long moment, convincing herself to accept her daughter’s request. Of course, that’s what she wants for her as well. A simple and private life. Layla wanted that for herself too, but being part of the Heartfilia had some little compromises to make.

“All right. I’ll let you be and I’ll trust your fiancé that he’ll protect you with all of his heart,”

Lucy nods her head and smiles at her mother, feeling glad that they had an understanding. But the longer she nodded her head, the more it clicked in her mind, fiancé?

“Mama, what do you say?” Lucy hesitantly asked.

“What do you mean ‘what did I say?’ Did I say something wrong?” Layla tilts her head in confusion.

“Um…did you just say…” Lucy suddenly felt her mouth dry, “fiancé?”

“Yes,” Layla nods her head, almost furiously, “And that’s what I want to talk to you about,”

“Oh…” Lucy could feel her heart beating faster with every second pass, “You heard about that?”

“Why of course,” Layla then takes Lucy’s hand, “Your papa and I have been keeping a close look on you ever since that exposure to the public. And since you’re living alone here in Magnolia, we have to make sure that any news about you is reported to us. So, when we heard that you’re engaged…” Layla then trails off.

Lucy’s eyes grew wide and suddenly she felt like vomiting. Oh, shit…I’m fucked up…

“So, may I see your engagement ring?” Layla suddenly perks up and beamingly looked down at Lucy’s hand. But to her surprise, there was no ring, “Honey, where’s your engagement ring?”

“Huh?” Lucy hazily looks at her mother. Her mind was going blank as she didn’t know what to do knowing that her mother accepts the information that she is engaged. “What are you asking?”

“Engagement ring? Didn’t your fiancé give any to you?”

“Umm…” Lucy’s mind was racing with a lot of thoughts. My mom fucking believes I’m engaged and she’s asking me for the engagement ring. What engagement ring? Where do I find an engagement ring? Do I even have a ring? I have a ring there in my room. Will that be enough to convince her?

“It’s in my room!” Lucy suddenly blurts out as she tries to snap out of her panic, so as not to make her mom look at her suspiciously, “I-I um…washed my hands and took it off,”

“Oh, well then, after washing your hands, don’t forget to wear it back. People easily lose their engagement ring when they habitually take it off,” Layla then taps her hand motherly like she’s teaching her life lessons.

“Right, of course. I’ll keep that in mind,” Lucy hastily nods her head before she stood up and took the tray back in the kitchen. With her abrupt movement, the young blonde seemed to be shaky and rattled.

“Are you okay, dear? You seemed a little jumpy,”

“Me?” Lucy twirls around too fast, making the teacups jiggle loudly. She couldn’t help but cuss out in surprise.

“Dear, are you all right?” Layla suddenly stands up and tries to help her, but Lucy quickly stepped back.

“Yeah, I’m…perfectly fine,” Lucy then swiftly walks back to her kitchen and placed the tray next to the sink. As she kept her back to her mom, Lucy started muttering to herself, cussing out words directed to the universe for screwing her up.

“So, who’s you’re fiancé?” Layla then walks closer to the kitchen, making the young writer gawk at the question being asked. “I want to meet him,”

“What?!” Lucy rapidly turns to face her mother, who was now sitting by her kitchen island and keeping her full attention on her.

“Your papa is actually hurt that you’re engaged without letting us meet him first. Didn’t you want us to know him?” Layla pouts innocently, making Lucy feel even more guilty for something that she shouldn’t feel guilty about.

“Umm…well,” she nervously laughs at her mother, trying to come up with a reason why she could have possibly not introduced her fiancé. What the hell do I say?!, “He’s a busy man, and…he’s too spontaneous that he just popped the question,” she then laughs it off again, making the older blonde quirk a curious brow.

“He asked you spontaneously, but he was prepared with a ring?” Layla dissects the information she’s gathering, and Lucy couldn’t help but hate how her mother was giving too much attention to this.

“Um…yes? Maybe he was ready for it, and I was caught off guard. So, yeah, spontaneous…for me,” Lucy then gave a tight-lipped smile.

“Oh…okay,” Layla shrugs her shoulders as she accepts the reason, “Well then, we should all have lunch together. So, that I could get to know your fiancé,”

“Lunch?” Lucy bafflingly asks as she slowly shook her head, “No—um…I mean, he-he’s busy. No time for lunch outs,”

“Oh, come on, honey. I doubt that” Layla then gets off the chair and walks up to her daughter. She immediately cups her cheeks and softly caresses her, “If he loves you, he’ll set time for you and his future mother-in-law,”

Lucy could only laugh at the word, mother-in-law, what the hell is going on?!

“So, on Friday, I’m free from all my work meetings and engagement regarding Love and Lucky. I’ll call you up for the place. Okay?” Layla then kisses Lucy’s cheek and smiled happily at her. “Don’t forget to tell that to your fiancé,”

To be continued…

Chapter Text

"Fuck!" Lucy whispered as she closes the door to her bedroom.

Layla is still downstairs, drinking her tea while she waits for her daughter to bring down the engagement ring that Lucy supposedly took off after washing her hands.

But obviously, it's a lie that Lucy is panicking to resolve. She walks further into her room, her eyes roaming around everywhere trying to find a solution to her present problem. When suddenly, she spots the ring box on her vanity table. It's the exact box that her best friend had requested her to keep safe.

Lucy starts walking toward her table as her eyes grew wide in the realization that she has a means to her issue. Subconsciously, she grabbed her phone from her pocket and quickly dialed Natsu's number.

"Yo, what's up?" Natsu says after two rings.

Lucy snaps out of her reverence and focused on the call, "Natsu, um…about the ring,"

"Yeah? Did something happen? Did you open it?!"

"Huh?" Lucy's eyes went big again, "No! Um…no…"

"Luce?" Natsu calls suspiciously, "What's going on? Remember I told you, you can't open the ring box…baba told me…it's magical,"

"Magical?" Lucy suddenly snorts as she shook her head, "Okay, I love obaasan, but…do you believe that? I mean what's the worst thing that could happen if I…" She then reaches out to the box but then jumps when Natsu bellowed.

"Stop!"

"Natsu!" Lucy scolds back as she pulls her hand back and clutches her chest instead, "You just gave me a heart attack,"

"Well, serves you right!" Natsu huffs in pleasure, "Luce, just don't. Okay? Don't open the box. Baba said the magic of the ring is meant for someone…I'll marry someday,"

Lucy's eyebrow suddenly shoots up, "So it's an engagement ring? And you haven't told me you're planning to propose to a girlfriend that none of us know about. How is that possible?"

"Umm…technically, I don't" Natsu then sighs when Lucy grunts at his response, "No, seriously, Luce. I don't...I don't have a girlfriend. But yes, it's an engagement ring that I'll give to her when that day comes."

Lucy suddenly rolls her eyes, "Okay, let's say I believe you. So, why can't I open it?" she then swiftly grabs the box but kept it close. She looked at it as if finding any magic in it.

"Because!" Natsu retorts and grumbles when he notices the stubbornness of his best friend, "Luce, why did you call me for this? We had an agreement, you'll keep it safe and will never open it,"

"Yeah…" Lucy bites her lower lip as she tries to stop her impulse to just pop the box open, "And I'm keeping my promise. I'm just curious as to why I shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't open it,"

"I don't know, okay?" Natsu huffs in exasperation, "Fine, I'll tell you what Baba-Porlyusica said…That ring is an eternal love ring. So, when a man opens the box and gazes at it, the ring magically takes in the love and emotions of that man and sends it to the first woman that would gaze back at the ring. And then…"

"And then?" Lucy boringly listens to the pinkette, trying to stop herself from laughing.

"And then the woman feels all the love and emotions of that man and somewhat ties their destiny for eternal love,"

Lucy finally laughs out loud, making the pinkette whine at the other end of the line. When Natsu mutters to her about how she was making fun of him, Lucy shook her head as she slows down her laughter, "No, no, I'm not laughing at you. It's just—even you, you're not convinced with that story. I don't think you believe that story. Those are just fairy tales that obaasan likes to tell. I mean, look at your grandparents, they do have a mystical love story and I get it,"

"Hahaha," Natsu dully said before he clicks his tongue, "Just follow it, okay, Luce? Whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter. There's no harm in not opening a ring box."

Lucy was quiet for a moment and considered his point. When suddenly a resounding knock came, making the blonde jump in her seat.

"Lucy, is everything all right?" Layla asked at the other side of the door.

"Mama!" Lucy suddenly calls as she panics all over again, "Yeah! I'm fine, I—I'm just on the phone. I'll be right there,"

"Your mom's in Magnolia? Since when?" Natsu asked as he hears the blonde shout, but Lucy ignored his question.

"Natsu, I gotta go. Thanks, bye!"

"Wait, Luce—!"

Lucy then pulls the phone away from her ear barely hearing the pinkette remind her something again. She just shook her head as put her phone down and stood up to open the door. As she held the door knob to open it, she suddenly remembers why she went inside her room. So, Lucy abruptly turned around and grabbed the ring box.

Lucy sighs in guilt as stared at the box in her hand, "Sorry, Natsu. I just…really need some help," and with that Lucy opens the box and immediately was enthralled by the beautiful pear-shaped padparadscha sapphire that was haloed by light pink diamonds, set in a rose-gold band.

"Oh, wow…" Lucy mumbles in entrancement as she kept her gaze on the sapphire stone.

"Lucy?" Layla calls again, snapping the blonde out of her admiration and quickly grabbed the ring and slipped it on her finger.

As Lucy opens the door, her mother was about to knock once again, causing the older blonde to jump at the sudden appearance.

"Mama," Lucy beamingly looked at her mother, "Sorry to keep you waiting. I was just on the phone,"

Layla tilts her head in wonder, "With whom? Your fiancé per se?" she then grins at her daughter who just looked back at her baffled.

"Um…yeah," Lucy exhaled deeply as she lets out an explicit lie, "My fiancé,"

"Well, I'm sorry if I interrupted you both," Layla suddenly huffs in guilt before she grabbed Lucy's hand, "I'm still wrapping my mind with the fact that you have a boyfriend, a fiancé even,"

Lucy suddenly chortles at the sentiment, "Me too..." She then shook her head when she saw her mother look at her dubiously, "I mean…um, fiancé. I'm still getting used to the idea…that I have a…" Lucy then smiles awkwardly as she couldn't bring herself to say the word again.

"It's all right," Layla then squeezes her hand and suddenly felt something hard beneath her hold to Lucy. Layla then loosens her grip on her daughter and looked down at her hands. To her surprise, she sees a ring sitting on her daughter's hand.

Layla gasps, "Is this the engagement ring?" she then pulls up the hand of the younger blonde and gazed at it.

Lucy swallows hard as she observed her mother smiling in excitement.

Now that she had somehow calmed down, she realized that she had told more than one lie to her mother in a span of an hour. She should have admitted to her mother that she didn't have any fiancé or even a boyfriend. She should have said that the rumor about her being engaged was not true. She should have told her mother that there is really no engagement ring or engagement proposal because none of it exists in her life. But here she is, watching her mother gawk at an engagement ring she didn't own and secretly borrowing from her best friend, who told her not to open the box.

"Yeah, it's the engagement ring," Lucy whispered softly, almost like she was afraid that the world was going to hear her.

Layla looked up at her daughter and gave a tender smile, "Your engagement ring," she then squeezes Lucy's hand. "I'm happy for you, as long as you're happy with this milestone,"

Lucy couldn't help but give a watery smile, unsure how to respond to that.

"Anyways," Layla suddenly puts down Lucy's hand and exchanged it for cupping her cheek, "I have to go because I still have a meeting early tomorrow."

Lucy barely can make herself speak up as felt the pang in her chest for lying. Despite the nagging feeling of guilt, she couldn't bring herself to tell the truth either. So, she just nods and smiles at her mother.

"You don't have to see me out. I know my way. Sweet dreams, my dear,"

"Good night, mama,"

"Good night,"

Snapping her eyes open, Lucy quickly felt panicky at the sound of her phone ringing for the alarm. She suddenly sits upright and looked around her room, looking for something unfamiliar. To her relief, nothing was obviously different, aside from the fact that her mother had visited her last night, causing her to drop dead in bed after. Lucy sighs in exhaustion and then realizes it was just half an hour before six in the morning. She had a 7 o'clock coffee meet-up with Levy and the girls before she had to go to her field interview. Groaning in exasperation, knowing that she won't be able to sleep anymore, she pulled herself out of bed and went on with her morning routine.

Soon enough, Lucy was dressed for the day and was ready to step out of her apartment when she suddenly receives a text message from her mom. Layla had messaged her, telling her how she was looking forward to meeting up with her and her fiancé tomorrow for lunch. Layla had already made a reservation for them.

Lucy couldn't help but groan in annoyance. It wasn't toward her mother, but rather to herself for dragging this lie further. Mira was right, the more lies the more chaotic it would be, and she couldn't hate herself more than now.

Grabbing her phone, Lucy immediately texted in the girl's group chat.

Lucy: URGENT! Cristiana's Café, I have news.

She then stared and waited as she saw a bubble from Erza come up.

Erza: On my way! See you later, girls!

Lucy sighs for the nth time that morning after liking the response of the redhead. She then slips her phone inside her purse along with her apartment key and grabbed her car keys. As soon as she steps out of her apartment, she was a little stunned that the sun was up quite early than she expects. Raising her left hand to cover her eyes from the glaring sun, she looked up at the sky and sighed a little prayer on her lips.

Soon enough, the blonde was walking away from her apartment and reached her car at the corner of the street. In less than five minutes, Lucy speeds off toward her next destination.

After parking her car at the coffee shop, Lucy immediately spots her friends as she steps out of her car. Without delay, Lucy walked up to them and quickly throws them a bright smile.

"Hey, girls," Lucy beams as Lisanna, Levy, and Erza turn to look at her, "Good morning,"

"Good morning, Luce," Levy replies as she stands up and hugs the blonde, "Why do you look tired?"

Lucy grunts as she slowly closes her eyes in exhaustion, "Something came up last night,"

"Last night?" Levy repeats as she steps back and sits in her chair. Lucy immediately follows and takes an empty seat between the blunette and the redhead.

"What about last night?" Erza inquired as she stares at her friends.

"Why do you look tired? Did you even sleep, Lucy?" Lisanna suddenly asked, making the blonde chuckle in defeat.

"I did sleep," Lucy mutters as she makes herself comfortable in her chair. But before she could continue, Mira suddenly arrives at the table with a tray of coffee in hand.

"Here you go, girls," Mira then places the tray on the table and looked at the blonde to greet her. But instead, gawks at the dark circles under Lucy's eyes, "Goo—Lucy! What happened to you?"

Lucy jumps at the insinuation of the older silverette before she relaxes when Mira blushed at her sudden tone.

"Sorry, sorry," Mira sheepishly smiled at the blonde as she took her seat, "I'm just…stunned that you look overly tired like you haven't slept in days. What happened?"

Lucy exhaled deeply as she figures it was now time to tell the story, "My mom happened,"

And with that, Lucy told the story from the top of how her mother had unexpectedly dropped by her apartment after being in Magnolia for the past two days. She mentioned how her parents were looking after her, trying to keep themselves updated about her and her work. Along with that, she tells them how her parents were worried that she was alone while having this ruckus media around her after being figured out that she was the only daughter of her parents.

"And then she said that she was going let me be with my choice of no bodyguards and that she'll trust my fiancé to protect me," Lucy then paused and looked at her friends, waiting if they'll catch the word.

Levy was the first to speak up, "Okay, so…your mom is here in Magnolia for business and apparently catches the rumor?"

"Yep,"

"And now…"

Lisanna suddenly gasps as she realizes it, "Fiancé!" she mutters, making the others wheeze in surprise, "Your mom believes the rumor and confronted you about your fiancé,"

Lucy snaps her fingers and points at the younger silverette, "Bingo! Yes, my mom asked about my fiancé and engagement ring, and now wants to meet up tomorrow for lunch,"

All of the girls were stupefied as they watch the blonde shrug her shoulders as if she was tired of this old news and wasn't surprised with life anymore.

"What did you do?" Mira asks as she snaps out of her surprise.

"Obviously," Lucy grins, "I fucking lied again,"

"Oh no…" the girls whimpered in chorus as they felt the defeat that Lucy was feeling. Now it made sense to them why Lucy looked the way she did.

"I know and I hate myself for doing that," Lucy suddenly shook as she closed her eyes. She felt her eyes sting and without knowing her tears dropped, making the girls scoot closer to her to give her comfort. "I lied to my mother that I'm engaged and couldn't even stop myself from doing that. I knew I had to tell her the truth but…she was just so happy and-and looked pleased that I had someone. I couldn't bring myself to disappoint her and say that I was just lying, trying to get out of a mess with another mess. I just couldn't disappoint her that I'm bringing too much attention to our family by acting stupid and stubborn,"

"Lucy," Erza softly calls as she rubs the back of the crying blonde.

Erza knows Lucy is a tough girl—always wants to show her smiles even in times of pain. She knew that Lucy had those irrational fear of disappointing her parents or their clan for being more impulsive and reckless than her family wants her to be. The fact that she didn't immediately take an interest in their family business, relatives immediately raised a brow at her and questioned her parents on how she was brought up. Lucy hated that her parents were being scrutinized for the things that made her happy. Layla and Jude had always been supportive of her, and she's grateful for it. But sometimes, she felt burdened that in exchange for that support was the fact that her parents were questioned all the time.

"You know your mom will not take offense if you tell her the truth,"

Lucy sobs as she slowly opens her eyes and looks back at her friends. They were all smiling at her comfortingly, giving her the courage to face her reality.

"Thank you, girls, for being here with me," Lucy whispers with a shaky voice, making them all stand up and embrace the blonde.

Other patrons of the coffee shop suddenly look at them, raising a brow at the sudden emotional gathering, but quickly ignores them after some time. As the girls pulled away from the blonde, each one of them returned to their seats but kept a hand on Lucy's arm.

"So, how do you want to do this? Do you want us to join you tomorrow for lunch?" Mira inquired as handed Lucy's coffee.

"I don't know…" Lucy thought considerably at her options. She knew she wanted some support from her friends, but knowing that this might turn out emotional, she thought that maybe it must be done between her and her mom only. "I'll probably call you girls when it's done. I guess I just have to do this on my own,"

"All right," Erza then drapes an arm over Lucy's shoulders, "I can offer you a strawberry shortcake after that talk with your mom. I heard it's a good dessert for distraction,"

Lucy suddenly laughs, knowing that the cake being offered was Erza's favorite cake. It was an honor to be given a free cake from the redhead, especially if it was her favorite cake.

"Thank you and I will mostly likely take that offer,"

"Good!" Erza beamed before she chortles along with the blonde.

As Lucy and Levy separates from the others to head for FT publication, the duo walked toward their building without a rush. It was just 8:20 in the morning and there are tons of time left before the two had to time in for work.

"So, what did you tell your mom when she asked about who's your fiancé?" Levy questioned curiously, knowing that the blonde wasn't going to break down anymore from her dilemma.

"Surprisingly, she didn't ask who. She was more interested in the engagement ring," Lucy then chuckles at the thought.

"Really? And what did you do? You showed her a ring?" Levy looked back at the blonde with amusement in her eyes.

"I said that I took it off to wash my hands, then she starts telling me that I should always wear it because it's easier for people to lose it when they do that," Lucy replies with a shrug of her shoulder.

"Hm, she's got a point," Levy answers, "I remember Enno telling a story about how she lost her wedding ring because she always took it off when she types in her computer. You know Enno, when she gets distracted with work, she easily forgets where she put things,"

Lucy and Levy then laugh as they remember the ending of that story.

"I remember how she ends up proposing to her husband again as a means to apologize for losing the ring,"

"Right! But to be honest, it's kind of sweet,"

"The gesture was sweet but the reason behind it isn't," Lucy and Levy then cringe as they recall those times as well when Enno had cried in the office.

"So, where will you go for the interview?" Levy asked, changing the topic, as she pulled out her phone when she heard it ring.

"Oh, I'll be going to Hargeon today. We will be having an interview on her ship! Can you believe—" Lucy then stops when Levy suddenly stops in her tracks and gawks at her phone. "What's wrong Levy-chan?"

"Lu-chan," Levy calls without looking at the blonde. Her eyes were trained on her phone, reading an article that Cana had sent to her. "Can I see your hands?"

"What?" Lucy was surprised at the request.

When Levy looked at her dead serious, Lucy showed her hands immediately and watched her best friend observe her hand. At that instant, she saw something unfamiliar.

"Lu-chan? Why do you have an engagement ring?" Levy slowly looks up at the blonde and immediately sees her stunned look. She then slowly brought her phone up to Lucy and adds, "Lu-chan—"

Lucy finally looks up at her best friend with another round of panic in her eyes.

"You're wearing an engagement ring," Levy shockingly states as she points at her phone, to which Lucy looks and realizes that she was taken a photo today, wearing Natsu's engagement ring, just when she steps out of her apartment.

"I'm wearing an engagement ring," Lucy mumbles in defeat.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

With all the blunders Lucy was in, she finds herself still doing her job. After all, her job as a feature writer has nothing to do with her personal life and must continue regardless. So now, she sees herself sitting in the café on the ferry ship, trying to calm herself and enjoy the breeze. This should have been a momentous occasion for her, after all, she was meeting the first female captain of the Harbor Ship which was the famous first voyage ship of Fiore. But that thought had sailed away the moment she discovered that the media had caught her carelessly walking out of her apartment wearing Natsu's engagement ring.

"That is definitely not a photoshop, it's a real ring" Erza comments as she leans close to her screen and stares at the glistening ring on Lucy's finger. Lucy grunts as she hears more comments about the ring.

"And I say, not just any engagement ring!" Mira gawks, "Just look at it, it's a padparadscha sapphire and then surrounded by…is that white diamonds?"

"Light pink…" Lucy corrects grumbling in reply as she scrunches her face with her palms.

"Oh, see, it's not just typical diamonds—"

"Mira," Lucy cuts off as she sits up and stares at her white-haired friend with dead eyes, "That doesn't matter,"

"Sorry, Lucy, it's just stunning. It's a beautiful ring, it makes Juvia almost jealous. Where did you get that? Did you buy it for yourself?" Juvia suddenly asks, taking over the screen of the blonde.

Lucy stared at the anticipating blunette. Right now, she feels grateful enough that she couldn't see everyone's eyes on her all at the same time. She knows that all of her friends are waiting patiently for her response but being on a Zoom call with her friends using her phone, she only had Juvia in front of her.

"To be honest, I don't know where to begin," Lucy sighs as she shakes her head. "I don't know what came to me to make me wear this ring and not take it off,"

"Okay, first things first, who owns that?" Levy questioned.

Lucy pursed her lips, "Natsu's," she whispered almost too soft to be heard but given the unison reaction of her friends, she bet they heard it loud and clear.

"Since when did Natsu propose to you!?" Levy bellowed, revealing her face on Lucy's screen, "How the hell did that happen?!"

"How come we didn't know that Natsu asked you?!" Lisanna exclaims next.

"Are you guys secretly dating?!" Cana laughs.

"Why are we finding it out just now?!" Mira shouted.

"Lucy, what is going on?" Erza calmly questioned.

"Girls, can you let me speak?" Lucy irately remarks as she patiently waits for them to slow down. "Long story short, Natsu did not propose to me, okay? And why would he ever propose to me? It's not like—" She stopped and shook her head sighing as she tried to refocus her thoughts, "Anyways, he asked me to safe keep it…I just so happen to use it as a prop,"

"A prop for your mom last night?" Juvia inquires and Lucy nods her head.

"Mom was pestering me about the engagement ring last night. She wanted me to show it to her and so, I used it. I just couldn't use any of my rings because none of them looked like engagement ring material. So, when Natsu told me it was his engagement ring for his future fiancée, I thought I could use it for a while…and then I forgot that I had it. So now, here I am, looking like I am really engaged."

All the girls hummed in understanding. They all fell silent, trying to figure out what to do next. As the wind brushes Lucy, reminding her of her location, she helplessly sighs in defeat.

"Girls, I don't know what to do anymore…" Lucy looked down at her left hand, where the engagement ring sat beautifully on her ring finger. She could feel the tingling feeling in her stomach but brushed it off, thinking it was her sign of stress. "I was planning to tell my mom the truth, about the misunderstanding and all. But now that I caused this problem to myself again, I don't think telling my mom the truth would be enough to stop the rumors. I mean, everyone now knows that I'm wearing a ring and people are going to start pestering me even if I say I don't have a fiancé."

"You can still try," Lisanna comments, popping in front of Lucy's screen, "Come clean, talk about how the media misinterpreted what you said, and let the rumor die on its own,"

"She can do that, but I doubt it would benefit her," Cana reacts, "She's a Heartfilia, no offense. But being the only daughter of a power couple, you pretty much have big shoes to fill. Your parent's reputation is going to be tarnished by it,"

"Tarnished?" Mira hollers in surprise, "That's quite an exaggeration,"

"Well, believe me, media entertainment loves bringing out dirt from people that are too good to be true. That's basically our show," Cana grins sarcastically, having a little distaste for her current show segment.

"Then, what do you think I should do?" Lucy suddenly raised her left hand, "Because this goddamn ring won't come off,"

"Put soap in it," Erza suggests, making Lucy widen her eyes.

"That would probably work but I do not want to use chemicals on this, especially since I just stole it from someone," Lucy groans as she tries to pull the ring off again under the table.

"You can just tell Natsu about it. For sure, he wouldn't mind," Levy shares but then Lucy snorts at her comment, "What?"

"Sure, Natsu wouldn't mind, but not his grandmother," Lucy said sardonically more to herself than to her friends.

"Wait, you mean, that's a family heirloom?" Mira gawked and the blonde hummed in agreement, "Oh, god, now that's more inexpensive,"

"Exactly." Lucy sighs in defeat as she stops pulling the ring out of her finger. Her finger was getting more swollen and redder as she forced the ring, "I was strictly instructed by Natsu not to open the ring box. Yet here I am, wearing the damn ring and following no one's instructions,"

"So, just to summarize things up, Lucy got into this mess because she's wearing an engagement ring that heightened her rumor that she's engaged, thanks to her sarcastic remarks and the media's lack of discernment of sarcasm."

"Gee, thanks," Lucy grumbles crossing her arms, feeling goosebumps with the sea breeze blowing.

"You're welcome," Cana grinned, "Now, Lucy here wants to tell the truth to everybody to stop the rumors and all, given that her mother had paid attention to this hearsay. She's got one option, telling the truth which can affect her parent's image and business. She'd have to deal with it for a long time but will be able to manage."

"Except," Levy continues, "She won't be able to do that unless the ring gets off. It would be stupid to say that the rumor isn't true if she's wearing an obvious engagement ring. And if it so happens that the media grasps that this is an heirloom from the Dragneel family, then…"

"It's another round of shit," Erza concludes.

Lucy heaves defeatedly, wanting to smack her head. Why did she have to be impulsive with so many things? Has Natsu rubbed off his impulsiveness on her?

"Unless…" Juvia starts slowly, capturing everybody's attention, "Lucy-san finds a fiancé for the time being?"

Lucy furrows her brows, "Excuse, what?"

"Ah!" Cana claps in excitement, "I think I'm getting your point, Juvs! Okay, go on,"

"Oh…uh, well, Juvia thinks Lucy-san can make some story first. To make the rumor less damaging to anybody's reputation, until we can come up with a permanent solution to squash the rumor,"

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Juvs?" Cana smirks, making Lucy queasy with her look.

"Juvia is not sure," the blunette sheepishly smiles at the brunette.

"Lucy! You tell Natsu to act as your fiancé!" Cana bellowed in excitement, and soon enough the others started to understand what the brunette was getting excited about.

"Right! Lu-chan, ask for Natsu's help and make him pretend to be your fiancé until you get that ring out and reveal to the media that there is no engagement, that there is no wedding going to happen," Levy giddily suggests on the other side of the line.

"Are you seriously hearing yourselves?!" Lucy exclaimed, leaning close to her phone. Suddenly she hears someone clear their throat. Looking up, Lucy suddenly saw some crew around the leisure deck, making her smile awkwardly. "Sorry, bad reception," she then ducks her head low.

"You ladies are insane!" Lucy continues, whispering angrily, "I will never ask Natsu to act as my fiancé! In fact, I will not do whatever you're planning! That is ridiculous!"

"Okay, then, give us an alternative," Levy raised a brow as she questioned the blonde. When Lucy babbled and uttered nothing sensible, the blunette shrugged her shoulder in reply, "See, you've got none. This is just a temporary solution,"

"Oh-oh! If you don't want to ask Natsu, we can hold off an audition!" Cana grinned widely, "I know lots of newbie actors,"

"Ohhh, that's interesting! I'm in!" Mira cheers, making Lucy roll her eyes.

"Girls!" Lucy calls, "This is not a solution. This is a call for more disaster!"

"Like you aren't in one already?" Levy teased.

"Exactly!" Lucy throws her hands up, "That's why it's idiotic to do this—fiancé thing!"

Erza's picture suddenly shows up, "Lucy, if you got some other solution for your dilemma tomorrow, why not? But since you've got no time until tomorrow lunch, I don't think you have any other option,"

Lucy bites her lower lip as she is reminded that she is expected to meet her mother tomorrow for lunch with her supposed fiancé. She could just drop by that lunch meeting and tell her mother the truth, but with the ring on her finger, she doubts her mother would take that seriously. She'd only think that she's keeping things from them, making them even more keen on snooping around her business.

"Fine, we'll look for someone to play as my fiancé. But just for a day!" Lucy sighs in defeat, "Preferably, someone I know,"

"You know?" Lisanna sniggers, "That would be Natsu,"

"Not him!" Lucy retorts back.

"And why not?" Mira teased.

"…Just not him," without waiting for anybody's response, Lucy quickly leaves the Zoom and turns her phone off.

Standing from her seat, she looked around and finally spotted her interviewee. Sighing for the nth time, Lucy shook her head she mumbled, "Find a fiancé…shitty, but I can do this. Just not Natsu," and then she walks off and calls for her the captain.

That afternoon, Mira and Cana decided to hold an audition. The brunette was more than ecstatic to do this. After being cooped up in doing showbiz gossip, Cana wants to do something more related to making stories. She can manage this little mini-series about Lucy. It would be phenomenal.

"I came up with a plot summary and it would be fantastic," Cana excitedly uttered as she and Mira walked up the stairs towards a studio.

"Cana, you heard Lucy. It's just for a day. Why do you have a plot summary?" Mira laughingly asks.

"Mira! You know, Lucy. She can be a walking disaster at times. It's better to be prepared than be sorry," Cana then pulls out a bundle of papers, "Here, read it,"

"Oh-wow," Mira chuckles as she holds the papers, "This is like five pages. Are you sure this isn't your first chapter to a novel story,"

"Meh, it's more like the first three scenes of a mini-series," Cana then pushes the glass door open, "Laxus! We're here!"

A blonde-haired man suddenly shows up on the other side of a door frame, "Yo, what's up," he greets as he watches the brunette walk around his studio like she owned it, "So, what's exactly happening today?"

"We're going to be recruiting a handsome man for our dear, Lucy," Cana smirked before she walked past the blonde and started pulling a chair to the other side of the room.

"For Lucy? I thought she's engaged," Laxus questioned before disappearing behind the dark room, "I saw articles that she said she was engaged and now shows off a ring,"

"Well…" Mira suddenly leaned on the doorframe and watched the blonde work on his films, "It's only a rumor,"

Laxus snorted, "Right, that's why she's got a ring and various names are being linked to her,"

"Various names?" Mira inquired, before looking at Cana. But she shrugged her shoulder, not familiar with the updates, "Who's being linked to Lucy?"

"Businessmen," Laxus tilts his head back to stare at the silver-haired woman, "Like rich men who are way old for her but assumed being arranged marriage."

"Seriously?" Mira uttered in shock, "Well, that's…not cool,"

Laxus snorts again, "Tell me about it. Gramps saw the article in his feeds and started shouting about how dirty old men are such douche bag,"

"Well, you can assure Gramps that Lucy ain't getting married to anyone," Mira then walks further inside the dark room and settles next to the blonde.

Laxus raised a brow, "Then why are you looking for a guy for Lucy? I thought you'd be trying to convince her to get out of that marriage or something,"

Mira chortles, "No, silly. We're looking for a guy who can be her fiancé,"

"Fiancé? What?"

"Big guy, it's simple," Cana suddenly butts in, making the two jump on their seats, "Everything you've heard and read about her getting engaged is fake,"

"Then what's all the fuss about?" Laxus confusingly stared at the two ladies.

"Rumors, big guy, rumors. It got out of hand and now Mrs. Heartfilia is questioning Lucy about her fiancé. Since she's wearing a stolen engagement ring that won't come off, she has to make a little story,"

"I still don't get it," Laxus shook his head then looked at Mira when Cana grumbled in annoyance and shouted about how he was such a caveman. "So, lots of guys going to hang around?"

"Most likely," Mira sniggers as they both hear Cana continue to grumble at the other side of the room, "We have to look for a man who is convincing enough to be Lucy's type and fiancé material,"

"Hmm…" Laxus returns to his previous task, "So, this is just a one-day thing?"

"That's what Lucy said, but Cana, here," Mira tilts her head in gesture, "have a different idea. She made a plot," She then hands it to the blonde, "It's like we're going to film a TV series,"

Laxus laughs as he leafs through the pages, "This is pretty elaborate for a makeup story,"

"She's a TV producer, what do you expect? She's got tons of ideas and scriptwriters to pull this stunt for her," Mira chuckles along with the blonde photographer. "Anyways, do you have some booking today? Maybe you can join us?"

"Me?" Laxus bafflingly looked at the silverette, "Why would I want to recruit a guy? I've got Freed and Ever to do that for me,"

Mira shrugs her shoulders, leaning back on her chair, "Well, I just thought we could do this thing together,"

Laxus looked at the silverette with a dash of pink on his cheeks, "Oh…well, I can't, I'm heading to Bassia later. I got a photoshoot session early tomorrow for a magazine,"

"Right," Mira purses her lips, "Supermodels?"

Laxus kept his tight lips, considering what to tell, "…yes?"

Mira nods her head robotically, looking away, "Of course…"

"Mira—"

"Hello!" Erza suddenly peeps inside the room, snapping the two out of their conversation, "Can I join the audition?"

Mira smiles widely as she stands up, "Of course! The more, the merrier," She then walks up to the door. When Erza turns to walk further in the studio, Mira turns to look back at Laxus. For a second, she had sad eyes but she quickly smiled at him softly and said, "Thanks for lending your studio, Laxus. You're a great friend," then she left the room.

"I can't believe looking for a fake fiancé would be so hard…" Levy then slumps half of her body over the table.

"Cana are you sure that this plan would work?" Lisanna inquired as she leaned forward to glance at the brunette. To her surprise, the brunette TV producer was rigid and fuming in annoyance.

"Next!" Cana bellows, trying to ignore the questions of her friends.

Before anyone could even see someone walk in, a whiff of strong cologne suddenly filled the studio. All the girls suddenly wrinkle their noses at the strong scent.

"Hello, ladies," a deep husky voice suddenly spoke, making the girls sit in attention and glance up. To their surprise, their eyes all grew wide.

Wearing a pristine white suit with a beautiful blue rose on his lapel, a small man stood in front of them. Somehow his cologne gets even stronger as he whips his hair up and does a ridiculous pose.

"I am Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki, but you can call me, Ichiya," he then strikes another pose as he softly whispers the word men. "I believe you are looking for a dashing—" he then whips his hair again, "—elegant, and mysterious man,"

All the girls were left speechless as they stared at him. For some reason, they were lost as to how this felt like it was getting out of hand.

"W-we are…" Erza swallows hard before she nods her head as she runs out of words.

"Excellent! I believe I am your man," Ichiya then winks directly at Erza, "Just so you know, I'm really attracted to redhead beauties, and I just might fall—"

"STOP!" Erza quickly cuts off as she stands up stiff, feeling goosebumps all over her body.

All of them were stunned and slowly watched the redhead walk robotically out of the main area of the studio and walk inside a room, closing the door gently.

Slowly looking back at the stout man, Mira gives a sheepish smile to him. "Thank you for your interest, but we're done with our auditions," Mira then stands up and bows politely, "Have a great day,"

"Oh…" Ichiya scratches his head in confusion, "Right, well, thank you for your time," He then strikes a confident pose and smiles, "Good night, ladies," and soon he leaves the studio.

As soon as they hear the door close, Cana abruptly stands and throws her hands up, "That's it! I give up!" She then walks out of the main area and hides in a different room.

All the girls left sighed altogether and slumped back to their chairs. Soon enough, a chortle was heard at the back of the room. Turning around, Levy glances at their friend.

"Don't say a word," Levy muttered.

"I didn't say anything," Lucy teased as settled comfortably by the windowsill, "But seriously, ladies, you gotta admit, this plan is ridiculous," the blonde then smirks when Levy, Lisanna, and Mira groan in defeat.

"Okay!" Cana suddenly exclaims as she opens the door to the room she hid in, "I have called reinforcements and soon they will arrive,"

"Reinforcements?" Levy repeats and Cana nods her head in confidence.

Erza suddenly peeks her head out of the room, "What do you mean reinforcements?"

"I called people that are possibly our only hope in finding Lucy a fiancé for tomorrow," Cana replies nodding her head with conviction.

Lucy rolls her eyes as she crosses her arms over her chest, "I doubt that" she mumbles, earning a glare from the blunette.

"Instead of rejecting our ideas, why don't you help us out," Levy snaps.

"I am not convinced with this plan. I shall condemn myself to shame and hide from the world in the next decade," Lucy sarcastically replies before someone suddenly clears their throat.

"Good evening, ladies,"

All the girls looked up and they immediately grinned when they saw the orange-haired man, except for Lucy.

"I believe I have been summoned by a certain TV producer," Loke smiled handsomely before he pushed his eyeglasses up.

"Loke De Leon, everyone! Alright, let's get started! Why don't you try to convince us that you should be Lucy's fiancé?" Cana smirks back as she sits comfortably in her chair.

Loke grinned for a moment before it slowly disappeared. "I'm sorry, what?"

"The role is to be Lucy's fiancé," Levy clarifies as she settles on her chair, "Just to be clear, it's just a role play. So, it's fake, nothing to worry about. So, if you were to be Lucy's fiancé, how would you introduce yourself?"

Loke astonishedly looked at the women before him before he scratched his head and looked directly at Lucy, "Hey, Lucy, are you aware of this?"

"What do you think?" Lucy sarcastically replies, lifting a brow.

"Right…" Loke looks away from the blonde and sheepishly chuckles, "Well, I would love for an acting gig at least once in my life, but I can't see Lucy as my fiancée," he said, punctuating by gesturing to the blonde at the back.

"But why?" Cana questions, almost like whining.

"Because—"

"He's dating my mom's secretary, Aries," Lucy then glares at the orange-haired lad, "And I'd kill him if he makes her cry. Remember?" She emphasizes her threat with a deep voice.

"I do," Loke slowly smiles at the blonde while trying to keep himself from trembling, "That is why, I can never see myself being Lucy's fiancé,"

"NEXT!" Lucy bellows for the girls then raises a questioning brow at the man before shooing him away.

Left with no choice, all the girls began to call all their male friends, who were most likely might have a shot. Soon enough, a few friends came by and introduced themselves.

Max Alors, Reedus Jonah, Droy, Warren, and even Nab Lasaro, who was lazy enough to find a job suddenly had an inclining to do a side acting gig showed up. But just like every guy they have interviewed, they were declined.

At that point, all of the girls had given up. Lucy wanted to laugh at their faces, but she knew it would be too mean of her. After all, they were doing this for her. So, she decided to call it a night.

"Alright, ladies, that's enough. Give up on your idea that you will find a fake fiancé for me to save my sorry butt. As I said, I'll just condemn myself to shame and eternal embarrassment from my parents, the media, and the public," Lucy then stood in front of the five ladies and smiled at them, "I appreciate the effort, but you guys don't have to do this anymore."

"I mean we did tell you to tell the truth, and that's what you're planning to do," Levy then sighed as she stared at her wrinkled paper, full of doddle, "It's just that, maybe there is some way it could be less damaging, on your part, to your parents,"

"Why are you so hard to match up?" Erza suddenly questioned, as if it was an existential crisis.

Lucy chuckles at the question, "It just doesn't work like that. Maybe I just don't have a pleasing personality that makes it easy for me to connect and match with someone. No one would easily believe that I would date someone, let alone, get married to them,"

"Well, Juvia begs to differ," a voice suddenly spoke, snapping the group out of their conversation. All of the ladies then looked at their side and saw Juvia and Gray inside the studio.

"Oh, hey, Juvs," Cana tiredly smiles at her friend, "What's up, Gray?"

"Hello," Gray waves to everyone, before looking back at the blonde, "I heard you held an audition for your fiancé?"

Lucy chortles, shaking her head, "They did, not me. We found no one. So, whatever you think about me, Juvia, I think you're exceptional to them and believe that I am pleasing,"

"Juvia thinks there is still a chance," Juvia then glances at Gray, and all the girls follow and stare at the raven-haired man.

"What?" Gray mutters in confusion. When he saw Erza, Mira, and Cana look back at him with gleaming eyes, it suddenly clicked to him, "Oh, hell no,"

"Why the hell not?!" Cana explodes as she stands up in frustration.

Juvia tilts her head in question at first, then realizes why Cana shouted. Suddenly, she screeches and wraps an arm around Gray's arm, "Juvia votes no! You can't make Gray-sama Lucy-san's fiancé! No offense," she softly muttered to the blonde, earning a shrug from her.

"Oh, come on Juvs! Just for one night! Right, Lucy?" Cana pleads, running up to the blonde and hooking her arms to hers, "You just need one night to present a fiancé,"

Lucy rolled her eyes to look at the brunette, "I'm not doing it,"

"Gah!" Cana drops her hold on the blonde and crosses her arms instead, "You guys are impossible,"

The girls slowly chuckle and shake their heads, "Alright, guess it's time to drop the idea and just hope that Lucy doesn't have to hide under a rock in the next two decades," Erza then stands up and encourages the ladies to follow through, "Let's have dinner, I'm starving…"

"Okay! At Amici!" Mira beams as she stands up and quickly grabs her things.

Soon enough all of the girls did the same and they left the studio. As they walked their way to Mira's upcoming restaurant, they all engaged in peaceful chatter. The girls were talking among themselves, while Juvia and Gray were in their small bubble again. Seeing her friends, Lucy sighs as she feels grateful to be with them, especially in times of her impulsiveness and stupidity.

Grabbing her phone, Lucy suddenly thought about calling her best friend. Funny enough, most of her friends knew about her predicament already, except for Natsu. He was really living under a rock, barely having any idea what was happening with pop culture or trends. And that includes her stupid rumor.

As she opened her contact list, a name suddenly caught her attention.

Aikawa, Raito
080-5442-3127

Raito was a great guy she met a year ago. He was an architect who worked in Magnolia for a time and happened to have a project along with the Love & Lucky Co. She met him during one of the meetings in the company and she wasn't really supposed to be there. But somehow, fate had brought them together and made them get to know each other well.

However, that moment of somewhat courtship, as Lucy didn't really know what she and Raito had at that time, was suddenly cut short when Natsu found out about him, and the idiot had somehow scared off the man. At that point, it was a blur. Natsu fussed over it and made it such a big deal, to the point that her friends even questioned what was happening between her and Natsu.

But it all stopped when Raito left a message to her telling her that it was the best months of his life, getting to know her, but it wasn't the best timing. From then on, Lucy never had the guts to talk to him again. She knew Raito stepped back for a reason, and Lucy secretly blames Natsu for it.

"Hey, Lu-chan," Levy calls, snapping the blonde out of her thoughts. "Why are you all the way there?" the petite blunette suddenly runs back to her and wraps her arms to hers, "Who are you going to call?"

"Huh?" Lucy bafflingly looked at her best friend. Following the gaze of the blunette, she stared down at her phone. It was still showing Raito's number.

"Uh…no," Lucy looked back at Levy and gave a small smile, "I forgot Natsu had a family thing tonight,"

"Oh, yeah, Gajeel told me about it," Levy sniggers as she thought of the man, "He was asking me to rescue him from his family ritual of questioning their life choices,"

"I thought that was more common to women?" Lucy chuckles.

"Oh, trust me, Granny Porlyusica prefers to question their life choices than the women in the family," Levy and Lucy then laugh as they recall their memory of Gajeel and Natsu whining.

"I wouldn't wonder,"

Everyone was engaged in their late-night dinner chatters. More of their friends dropped by more specifically significant others of Erza and Cana.

As Jellal Fernandez and Bacchus Groh were kept up to date on Lucy's predicament, which was more of an embarrassment on Lucy's part, the group went back to a more casual conversation.

"But seriously, Lucy, if you find yourself in need of filing a lawsuit against people for cyber libel, you can approach me. I can recommend people to you," Jellal offered nicely to the blonde which the writer appreciated.

"Thanks, Jellal. I appreciate it, but I think, if there is anyone, I should be filing a lawsuit against, it would be myself. I should sue myself for slander or something," Lucy huffs and shakes her head before smiling back at the blue-haired man.

"Well, lucky for you, you don't have to. You can just subject yourself to a long-term penance or something," Jellal subtly joked, and Lucy just chortles in return.

When everyone got busy talking among themselves, Lucy grabbed her phone and checked the time. It was past 9 PM already and she thought she probably should head home soon. Looking up, she saw everyone was still having a friendly banter and she was glad to be distracted by it. After all, tomorrow would be the beginning of a doomed life for her. And this is something she can never escape. It's a conscious choice since she was the one who made the mess at the beginning.

Looking down at her left hand, she sees the ring sparkle again. And just like the other times, she feels those butterflies flutter in her stomach. With that fluttering feeling, Lucy had the nick to pull the ring off, as if taking it off would make that fluttering disappear. So, she pulls the ring again, but to no avail, it sticks to her finger.

"As we said, put some soap or even oil. That will pull off the ring from your finger," Lisanna suddenly said as she watched the blonde struggle in her seat.

Glancing up, Lucy stared at the younger silverette before huffing in annoyance and stopping from pulling the ring. "And like I said, I don't even want to try putting any other things around this ring, since this is an engagement ring of Natsu's. The fact that it's an heirloom makes it more invaluable, and here I am tarnishing it by exposing it in the air,"

"Exposing it in the air?" Levy chuckles next to her, "What do you mean? And how the heck did you get a hold of that ring in the first place?"

Lucy slumped back to her cushioned chair and saw everyone was looking at her, waiting for the story. Sighing, she then starts, "Well, obviously, Natsu dropped it on me like a bomb." They all snickered, knowing what she meant, "He came to the apartment without warning and just handed off a ring box. He asked me to keep it safe for him, knowing he was a klutzy person with things. He told me not to open the box as it had magical reasons not to. I think this has something to do more with environmental concerns rather than magic," she then lifts her left hand and stares at the ring openly.

"Magic?" Levy questioned with an amused tone, "What kind of magic are we talking about? Is that like an enchantment ring, making you fall in love with the first person you see?" she then sniggers, ribbing the blonde with a teasing look.

Lucy gave a furrowed look to the blunette, "No, Levy-chan. If that was the case, I should have been in love with my own mother," she then shook her head, "Natsu said, the ring was an enteral love ring, meant for someone he wishes to spend the rest of their life with. The ring would uphold the owner's love and emotion and whoever receives the ring will emotionally feel those emotions upon seeing it. Then, somehow ties their fate together for an eternal love,"

Lucy looked up at her friends, who were all looking at her with soft eyes. She knew her friends were romantic dorks, but seeing it from their eyes, which was directed at her, didn't make it comfortable for her.

"Are you seriously believing my story?" Lucy questioned, astonished.

Bacchus suddenly laughs out loud, making Lucy sigh in relief but with a tinge of annoyance as well, "I don't believe in enchantment rings, but I do believe in magic,"

Cana shook her head in confusion, "What the hell are you talking about? That's basically the same thing,"

"Well, not really," Bacchus grinned at Cana, "I don't believe in witchcraft, but I do believe in the magic of love," he then smirked freshly at the brunette, who rolled her eyes in response.

"Wow, hearing Bacchus say he's into magic of love, makes me want to think that maybe that ring does have magic," Gray commented before he chortles along with the others.

"Will Gray-sama give Juvia an eternal love ring too?" Juvia beams, leaning on the raven-haired man.

Gray just furrows his brow, "I don't have those kinds of rings," Juvia then pouts in her seat.

"I don't care. I don't think that's real. What I believe is that I screwed up. Natsu's going to bust in flames if he sees that I took the ring even if he told me not to. I mean, he'll probably be set on fire by baba-Porlyusica and then he'd drag me along," Lucy huffed in defeat.

"Probably true," Levy muttered softly, earning a nod from the blonde, "But, why does Natsu have an engagement ring at this point? Is he secretly dating someone?" she then leaned closer, "If it ain't you,"

Lucy raised a mocking brow at her, "He's not dating anyone," Mira and Erza suddenly chuckled, making the blonde writer blush a bit, "Seriously, I'm not trying to be bitter or anything," she then whipped her head to look at the chortling blunette, "But, really, Natsu isn't dating anyone as he said. He was just handed the ring and was told to keep it safe,"

"To which he asks you to keep it safe for him," Jellal suddenly adds, nodding his head in understanding.

"When it comes from you Jellal, it sounds like you're mocking me," Lucy banters as she crosses her arms.

Jellal shrugged as the others laughed, "Maybe I'm sort of teasing," everyone then fell to laughter as Lucy shook her head in annoyance.

Suddenly, Lucy's attention went to her phone as she saw it lit up. Natsu was spamming her with questions that she was barely able to understand with the number of messages coming in. Before she could even click the message notifications, her phone suddenly rang.

Swiping her screen with no hesitation, Lucy then stood up and walked away from the table, "Hey, what's going on?"

Staring at the retreating figure of the blonde, Mira suddenly cocks her head to the side and asked, "Well, who was that?"

Levy looked at the white-haired restaurateur, "Who else? It's Natsu,"

"Sometimes, Juvia wonders why the two never got together," Juvia suddenly mumbles as she stares at the blonde as well.

"Because the two are idiots," Gray replies, earning a punch on his bicep from the woman, "What? It's true. The two had been bantering with each other for years. They care for each other so much and yet fight like old married couples,"

"At this point, I would have somehow expected Lucy and Natsu would get together," Erza sighs in dejection, "But they just keep on saying they are just friends,"

"Natsu would have been the perfect fiancé for Lucy," Lisanna suddenly adds and then realizes something, "Wait a minute, is Natsu aware of any of this debacle?"

Each one of them looked at each other as if waiting for one of them to say yes. But when everyone looked clueless, Lisanna's grin suddenly grew wide.

"I think we have another great idea,"

"Which is?" Cana leans forward as if ready to listen to exclusive gossip.

"We make Natsu the fiancé," Lisanna smirks then raises a hand when Levy is about to retort, "With Lucy's help,"

"If you haven't noticed, Lucy isn't cooperating with our plans," Cana counters.

"I know. But, when left to her own devices, she'll follow through. We just need to hand the materials to her," Lisanna then encouraged the others to lean in and began to whisper.

Minutes went by and Lucy abruptly turned around and ended the call.

"You guys—"

"Perfect!" everyone at the table shouts in excitement, startling the blonde.

Clutching her chest, Lucy stared wide-eyed at her friends, "What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing!" Levy beams as she looks at her best friend, "What's going on with Natsu?"

Lucy shockingly stares at the blunette before shaking her head to focus, "He's being a pain in the ass again. Anyways, I gotta go, I have to get home before Natsu gets arrested for climbing my apartment window like some theft,"

"Climbing your window?!" Levy and Lisanna repeat as the others chuckle at the thought.

"Yes, a habit of his that makes me want to kill him," Lucy sarcastically smiled before she started to bid everybody goodbye.

As Lucy finds herself at work on a Friday morning, the feature writer busies herself with finishing her article about Capt. Nikia Mizuki. Her article wasn't due until next Friday, but given what day it was, Lucy had made sure to keep herself busy to give the excuse that she couldn't meet her mother. Hopefully, that would give her the time to figure out how to fix her predicament.

As her afternoon went on, Layla sent her a message asking if they could push the lunch date into a dinner date instead. Lucy was about to agree, somehow thinking that the universe was being less unkind to her as she decided to come clean. But when her mother added that her father was tagging along with the dinner, it was made clear to Lucy that this wasn't the day.

"Mama, I really can't tonight," Lucy reasons out as she paces her office, anxious with her lies.

"But, dear, we had an agreement. Your father is coming to Magnolia tonight, hoping to see you at least. But really, he wishes to see that fiancé of yours,"

"Mama, I really can't…not even…him," Lucy softly whispered, unsure how to keep up with the lies.

"You say him like your fiancé doesn't even have a name," Layla accuses, making Lucy bite her lip in nervousness, "Now, I just realized I don't recall you telling his name,"

Lucy's eyes grew wide before a clever thought came to her. She suddenly gasps, "Mama, I told you his name. How could you forget?"

"You did? Huh…"

"Now, that's just hurtful," Lucy smirked to herself for a second, before she realized what she had done. She then mentally curses herself, "I mean…my fiancé would just be…really sad knowing that you wouldn't recall his name. How about this? We set up a dinner next time on a weekend, maybe at Acalypha, when he's not in a rush for things, I'm not in a hectic schedule, and Papa is less cynical about my future husband,"

Layla suddenly chortles, knowing there is truth to her daughter's words about Jude being suspicious about Lucy's fiancé. Sighing in surrender, she agrees, "Alright, fine. I'll tell your father to stay put and we'll have dinner at our home back at Acalypha. But," Layla pauses, making Lucy nervous for a second and swallows hard, "By the time you come over for the weekend, you will bring your fiancé and his family over. It's a must to meet his family,"

Lucy's eyes grew big as she felt like she was sinking into the ground, "Right…meeting the family…great,"

"Yes! Fantastic that you think so. I cannot wait to meet your future husband and get to know your in-laws,"

Lucy sheepishly laughs, "Yeah…me too…"

Wallowing on her couch, Lucy made sure that her phone was out of sight and sound. She hates herself. She's probably a pathological liar at this point in her life. It should have been her opening to come clean. But then when her mother opens up about her father keeping tabs on her fiancé, she loses it and goes spiraling down the lies again.

So, here she was at her apartment, hoping her couch would eat her up as she scares herself with horror films. She couldn't stand watching those films alone, much more in the dark. The apartment was stark black, no lights were lit except the glow of her television. She continuously jumps in her spot, feeling her heart beat out of her chest. But she thought she deserved this.

"AHHH, shit!" Lucy ducks herself down the couch as she tries to suppress the terrifying shout of the character on screen, "I hate this, I hate this, but I deserve this, I deserve this…" Lucy cries and whimpers as she gets startled at the sound effects.

When suddenly she hears a loud crashing sound upstairs. This made Lucy sit up and look on the second floor. She couldn't see anything as it was dark. She then curses herself for leaving the lights off everywhere.

"Shit, what was that?" Lucy mumbled to herself as she felt her pulse race, then started again when she heard a groaning sound. She looked at the television, but then there was no male character on screen. Suddenly, she grabbed the remote and put the TV on mute. She then tries to listen again, hoping it is just her imagination.

"He-hello…" Lucy stutters, staring still at the second floor, "I-is anybody in there?" Lucy trembles as she slowly stands up. Curse her, right when she kept her phone away is the time, she actually needs it as a flashlight. Grabbing any hard material on her coffee table, Lucy slowly walks up to the second floor.

After tripping a few times going up, Lucy finally reaches her bedroom when suddenly she hears another crashing sound inside. Her eyes grew wide and she slowly, nervously turns the knob.

"Gaah!" Lucy screeches as she lifts the heavy paperweight and attempts to smack whatever might be in front of her.

"Wah! LUCE!"

Lucy quickly opens her eyes and is blinded by the light inside her bedroom for a second before she stares at her pink-haired best friend.

"NATSU?!"

"LUCE?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Natsu gawks as he shockingly stares at the threatening blonde. Before he knows it, Lucy drops her weapon and tackles the pinkette. Huffing at the tackle, Natsu took a few seconds to grasp what was happening. But quickly wraps his arms around the blonde.

"What the hell is going on?" Natsu softly whispers in her ears as he feels the blonde shake in his arms, "Why is the whole apartment dark?" he then looks down and sees the metal paperweight on the floor, "Is that an iron crab?"

Lucy whimpers and nods her head against his chest. When her breath had slowed down, Lucy slowly pulled away from him with streaks of tears on her cheeks. Seeing the blonde, Natsu couldn't help but sigh and wipe her tears away.

"Were you trying to watch horror films again on your own?" Natsu gradually smirks at the sobbing blonde.

Lucy hiccups for a second before looking up at the pinkette, when suddenly she slaps him on the chest, "Are you crazy?!"

Natsu gawks at the sudden attack, "Wah? Am I crazy?! You're the one who's suddenly attacking me!"

"I wouldn't be attacking you if you didn't enter my apartment like some idiot climbing over my window again!" Lucy then points at her open window.

Natsu half turns to look over where Lucy is pointing and then sheepishly looks back at her. "Sorry, keep forgetting to use the door,"

"Natsu!"

"I'm sorry! I just needed to get inside the apartment without you pushing me away! You wouldn't reply to my texts, you wouldn't pick up my calls, so I thought I should just barge in. And then, here you are, crying your eyes out for watching a horror film all alone in a dark apartment," Natsu raised a brow as if to challenge the blonde to contradict him.

But surrendering to her defeat, Lucy just drops herself to Natsu's chest and buries her face in it. Like it's his instinct, Natsu holds the blonde close to his chest and rubs her back to calm her down.

"Is the film done?" Natsu asks as he tilts his head to the side, trying to get a glimpse of her face.

Lucy slowly turns her head to the side and stares at Natsu's concerned eyes. Having no strength to speak, she just shook her head.

Natsu chuckles for a moment, "Do you want to finish it?"

"No!" Lucy then pulls away as if scared to step out of her well-lighted room, "I can't do it anymore,"

Natsu laughs as he tries to reach out for the blonde and quickly pulls her back to his chest, "Alright, alright. I'll turn your light on and then we'll change the movie instead. Is that okay with you?"

Lucy shyly nods her head against his chest.

Soon enough, Natsu pulled away and quickly grabbed her hand. As they navigated around the apartment with only the bedroom's light to illuminate the whole floor, Natsu ran his hands against the wall until he could find the switch.

Later on, the apartment was well lit and Lucy had finally calmed down. Sitting together on the couch, Lucy tucked herself to Natsu's side as the pinkette boredly stared at the television. As he felt Lucy tuck herself further to his side, Natsu glanced at the blonde with a bored expression, "Do you want to be part of my limbs or something?"

Lucy quickly pulls back, "No, why would I want that?"

"I don't know, it's either you wish you were part of a couch or you want to be an extra rib of my body," Natsu then moved back a little to face the blonde, "What's going on? You usually torment yourself to watch a horror film alone in the dark when you've done something stupid,"

"Hey!" Lucy whines.

Natsu shrugs his shoulders, "Well, from all the facts handed to me today, I'm pretty sure you've done something idiotic even for me,"

Lucy then realizes that Natsu was probably talking about her rumor. She couldn't bring herself to tell him what happened, as she knew Natsu wouldn't even do such a stupid action as she did. Biting her lower lip, she looked away and sighed.

"I saw the articles. Lisanna and Levy started sending me links to articles about you saying you're engaged." Natsu then ducks his head, trying to catch the eyes of the blonde.

Lucy was red, embarrassed for her actions, "I was mad and sarcastic. I didn't mean for the media to take me seriously,"

Natsu sighs, "I know and that's stupid of them. They couldn't even differentiate sarcasm from truth,"

"Exactly!" Lucy's eyes widen to reiterate her previous point. She then points at the pinkette to expound her reasoning, "I mean seriously, couldn't they hear the sarcasm of my voice? I was practically shouting at them, telling them to back off. But then being gullible or simpleton, they choose to stick to my words regardless of what I was trying to tell them really,"

Lucy suddenly noticed Natsu's eyes weren't on her, listening. She then followed his gaze and realized her left hand was on display. The engagement ring was still sitting nicely on her finger.

"Lucy," Natsu begins as he stares hard at the shimmering ring, "Why are you wearing the engagement ring?"

Lucy quickly tucks her hand to her chest and tilts her head, acting innocently confused, "What do you mean the engagement ring? It's just a ring…a…a fashion ring,"

Natsu slowly looks back at her eyes, "Lucy Heartfilia, that is not some ordinary ring…I know that ring,"

Lucy gawks at her best friend, "Psh! What do you know about rings?" she then laughs, trying to cover up her nerves. But then Natsu pulls her left hand and stares at the ring on her finger again.

"LUCY! Why are you wearing the engagement ring?!" Natsu bellows as his eyes grow wide in surprise, "I told you not to open the box!"

"I know!" Lucy then stands up and gives space between them, clutching the blanket around her, "But I had to use it!"

"What for? Why do you need an engagement ring? Are you really engaged without me knowing?! Who? When? How—?!"

"Natsu," Lucy suddenly steps up to him and grasps his face when Natsu starts to get riled up, "Calm down,"

Natsu's eyes were big, almost like he was glaring. But with Lucy's soft and warm hands on his cheeks, he forces himself to breathe out.

"Luce, what's going on? Why are they saying you're engaged? Why are you wearing my engagement ring?"

Lucy slowly retracted her hands but kept their distance close, "Because I'm an idiot," Natsu just kept his eyes on her, waiting for her to continue. "I got myself in a web of lies. It started with that media fiasco and then my mom heard about it. Instead of telling her the truth, I made it worse by saying I was really engaged with someone and then showed her your ring," She then lifts her left hand and they both stare at it, seemingly lost at its beauty.

"She wanted to have a lunch meeting with me and my supposed fiancé, but it didn't push through. I should have told her again the truth, but I was a coward. So, now, I'm stuck with the expectation to bring my fiancé to Acalypha along with my future in-laws,"

Natsu was silent, but he listened, and he didn't know what to think or feel. Obviously, it was really unwise of Lucy to get involved with these lies. But what's done is done and they just had to figure something out.

"What do you plan to do?" Natsu softly inquires, taking Lucy's hand and gently running his finger over the ring, admiring it on her.

"I don't know, tell the truth?" Lucy shrugs her shoulders, "But I've got to get this ring out of my finger,"

Natsu looks up, "What do you mean?"

"It's stuck," Lucy then pushes her hand to him as if challenging him to try and pull it. So, Natsu gently held the ring and her palm and pulled it in opposite directions.

"Why would it be stuck? It's not small on your finger, it's a perfect fit. See?" Natsu then turns the ring around on Lucy's finger, showing how well-fitted it is that it is still moveable. But then when he started pulling, it wouldn't budge.

"What the—" Natsu was dumbfounded at the logic, "How is this possible?" he then pulled a little hard, making Lucy tumble at the gesture.

"Woah! Slow down—Ow!" Lucy then slaps the pinkette, "Natsu!"

"I'm trying to pull it out! See! It's moving—"

"Ow!" Lucy then grabbed a handful of Natsu's hair and pulled it, "Baka! Stop!"

"Luce! Let go!" Natsu whined as he still pulled on the ring, to the point he locked Lucy's arm with his armpit and pulled.

"Natsu, stop!" Lucy then shakes her hold to the pinkette's head, "Ah—!"

"Oh, goodness!"

Natsu and Lucy suddenly froze at the sudden new voice. Slowly turning around, the duo was dumbstruck as they saw Layla standing by the end of the living room, gasping in surprise.

"Mama?" Lucy whispered.

"Hey, Auntie Layla…" Natsu awkwardly waves at the older blonde, before being ribbed by the younger one.

"Oh my," Layla mumbles softly as she slowly walks up to them.

Soon enough, Layla gathered them both and wrapped them in her arms, "I knew it! You're the fiancé!"

"Uh, what?" Natsu bafflingly states as Lucy's eyes went big.

Layla excitedly pulls back and quickly cups each cheek of Lucy and Natsu. She beamed at them and said, "My daughter and future son-in-law,"

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Sitting by the dining table, Lucy fidgets in her seat as she watches her mother move around her kitchen. In her nervous antics, she couldn’t help but keep turning the ring on her finger, hoping that it would loosen and miraculously slip out. In that way, she can come clean and say that this was all a farce.

Lucy sneaks a glance at the pinkette, sitting next to her. He was overtly quiet and still as if he had turned into a stone.

Right after Layla caught them in an ill-fated position, cuddling according to Layla’s perception, the pinkette had turned mute. It wasn’t helping that Layla had started calling Natsu ‘son-in-law’, making the pinkette even more awkward with the situation.

Nudging the pinkette with her elbow, Lucy kept her eyes on her mother as she whispered and asked, “Natsu, are you okay?”

Natsu slowly turned his head to look at the blonde, as if he was some mechanical doll with rusty screws. He had a blank face and monotonously replied, “Do I look okay?”

Lucy guiltily frowns at him as he says that. When the pinkette turned away from her again, she kept her attention to her humming mother. This was getting out of hand, she thought as she realized that her mother was pleased with what she had seen.

“Mama,” Lucy suddenly calls, making the older blonde turn to look at her. Lucy then slowly stands up, to which she notices Natsu watching her. “We need to talk,”

Layla beams in happiness as she nods her head. Soon enough, she joins the duo at the dining table as she sets up the dinner that she has brought.

“I know we had planned to have dinner with your father in Acalypha along with your fiancé’s family,” Layla then looked at Natsu with a knowing smile.

Seeing the bright face of the woman made Natsu unsure of how to react. Thankfully, the older blonde turns her attention to her daughter again.

“But this night seems to have taken us all by surprise, which I’m going to say is such a lovely turn of events. I am very excited for the two of you.”

Lucy could only nervously smile as she waited for her mother to finish her small speech.

“Who would have thought that your high school best friend would be the love of your life? But then again, the two of you have always been inseparable. I had always thought that the two of you harbored feelings for one another and just never admitted it. And yet, here you are, both keeping it a secret from all of us that you both were a couple, and now…” Layla sighs in content, “You’re getting married.”

Natsu suddenly chokes on his water, making the older blonde jump at the sudden coughing. Lucy immediately strokes Natsu’s back before she starts smacking it as he continues to spurt coughing.

When Natsu glared at the blonde at the heavy hand she gave, Lucy could only give a tight smile to the pinkette as she pulled her hand away. She then looked back at her mother, “Mama, I need to tell you something.”

“Alright,” Layla nods her head in anticipation. “What is it?”

Lucy swallows down the growing knot in her throat before she exhales deeply as she straightens her back, “I am not engaged…at all,”

The trio was then quiet, as if afraid to make any noise as this might cause anyone to burst into flames. When Layla blinked at her daughter for a few more seconds, she slowly started to shake and laugh hard.

“Oh, dear…” Layla huffs as she tries to slow down from her laughter, “That was a good one. You were both serious and almost looked like you were on the edge of your death,”

Lucy awkwardly laughs as she indeed felt like dying at that moment. She then could feel the scrutinizing gaze of her best friend, who still kept mum about what was happening.

“Mama, I’m serious,” Lucy says, trying to keep her nervous smile on her face, “I’m not engaged,” she repeats as she shakes her head and her left-hand clutches to her chest.

Layla just smirks back at her before pointing at the younger blonde, “If you were going to lie Lucy Heartfilia, make sure that you are believable. You are practically prancing your engagement ring. In fact, now that I know it’s Natsu who is your fiancé, I recall seeing that ring back then,”

Lucy then looks down at her hand with the glistening ring before looking back at Natsu and then at her mother.

“That is Auntie Porlyusica’s engagement ring from your grandfather,” Layla then refers to the pinkette, who was gawking at the knowledge that Layla was familiar with the heirloom. “I believe it has a magical backstory,”

“You know about it?” Natsu confusingly asks, speaking for the first time.

“Why would you know that mom?” Lucy bafflingly adds.

Layla chuckles at the surprised look of the couple, “Of course I know it. Grandine wore it as well, until recently I noticed that she didn’t have it anymore.” She then turns her attention to the blonde, “Only to realize that my daughter is wearing the heirloom, which solidifies everything.”

“No, it does not,” Lucy muttered, chuckling as she silently tried to pull the ring again, “It’s impossible. As I said, I’m not engaged, Mom. I’m not,” she then groaned as she tried harder to pull off the ring.

“What’s wrong dear? You seemed to be struggling,” Layla then tried to check what Lucy was doing. When she realized that Lucy was trying to pull off the engagement ring, she just laughed and shook her head.

“See, even the ring is telling you that you cannot lie to me that you both are not engaged now,” Layla grins at the two, smartly, “The ring is magical, and it says it all.”

When Layla had finally left the apartment, Natsu and Lucy were left staring blankly in the living room. It was such a disastrous night. Lucy did what she should have done weeks ago, confess. She told everything to her mother and yet, for some odd reason, a magical engagement ring was more plausible than the fact that Lucy wasn’t really engaged to Natsu. It was more possible that the ring dictated her and Natsu’s eternal love for one another rather than the fact that she and Natsu had never been involved with each other in that aspect, ever.

So, when Layla left the apartment with the belief that Natsu was indeed, realistically, absolutely the fiancé of Lucy, the two best friends were left defeated and confused as to what happened.

“What the hell just happened, Luce?” Natsu mumbles as he stares at the abyss.

“I’d like to explain but unfortunately, I don’t understand it either,” Lucy sighs before she slips down on the couch to rest her head behind it, “I tried, and yet…nothing worked,”

“Luce, your web of lies just keeps on getting bigger,” Natsu crosses his arms over his chest as he slumps back to the couch.

“Don’t you think I know that?” Lucy retorts, opening her eyes to glare at the pinkette, “As you can see, I already told the truth to my mother. Yet, still, she won’t believe me until this ring—" she then pulls out her left hand to glare at the jewelry but somehow ends up dote on it. She knows Natsu was looking at the ring as well, quietly admiring the gem on her finger.

“Until that ring still sits there on your finger, it will look like we are engaged,” Natsu mumbles tired, keeping his eyes on the ring.

“Exactly,” Lucy heaved as she dropped her hand. “What is wrong with this ring? It won’t come off,”

“It’s magical—”

Lucy quickly ribbed the pinkette with her sharp elbow, making the pinkette grunt in pain. When she glances at her best friend, she gives him a raised brow.

“Don’t tell me it’s magical because I don’t believe in that stuff. And please, for goodness’ sake, tell me you don’t believe in that eternal love backstory.”

Natsu chuckles at the frowning face of the blonde, “You know if Baba heard you say that, she’d give you a lecture about the history of that ring,” Natsu chortles as Lucy rolls her eyes.

“I just…” Lucy exhaled tiredly as she kept her gaze at the high ceiling, “Eternal love ring? Seriously, who still believes in those things?”

“Your parents,” Natsu answers, with his eyes trained on the blonde. He then nudges her on the shoulder, “Shouldn’t you be inspired by their love story or something?”

Lucy turned her head, making her and Natsu look each other directly in the eyes, “So you’re telling me, you love me?” she then smirked when Natsu scrunched his face almost in disgust but then he relaxed his face as if he remembered his facial expression.

“Yeah,” He replies, “I mean, I do love you as…as a friend,” Natsu then swallows hard as Lucy never breaks her gaze.

“That’s different from romantic love,” She then turns her head away and stares at the ceiling instead, “But who said eternal love is meant for romantic affections only? It could also mean, eternal love for a friend. It just so happens, that people assumed eternal love as romance, hence, used the ring as an engagement ring,”

Natsu stared long at the blonde before copying her and turned his attention to the ceiling too, “Right…”

“Give me days and I’ll fix this,” Lucy utters and Natsu nods his head. When Lucy sat up straight and turned to look at him, Natsu then shifted his head to return the attention.

“I’ll talk to Mama and explain everything, starting from the beginning.” Lucy then placed her hand on his arm, “I’m sorry I brought you into this,”

Natsu slowly sat up and gave a soft smile at her, “Hey, it’s better that you ended up getting engaged to me rather than some other douchebag out there,”

Lucy chuckles at that, remembering what they had planned the other day, “It’s a good thing that I wasn’t matchable to any guy,”

Natsu’s eyes grew wide, “Wait, what do you mean? You said yesterday you joined Cana for a casting session for her new show?”

Lucy laughed, “Yeah…the new show was about me, finding a fake fiancé,”

“What?!”

As the Saturday morning came, Lucy woke up with a full rigor of purpose in her blood. She quickly did her morning routine and then called up her mother. Fortunately, Layla was staying in their residential house near the outskirts of Magnolia. Relatively far from the city and away from the media radar.

As Lucy strides inside the house, with full conviction of telling the whole truth, she only had one objective for the day, convince her mother that this was all a sham. All the news article that came out about her being engaged was nothing but a complete misunderstanding from the perspective of the media. She was ready to expose the truth. Until she sees the fierce pink-haired elderly, the third-generation owner of the ring.

“Baba-Porlyusica?” Lucy whispered as she froze in her spot, right at the entrance of the dining room.

“Oh, hello there Lucy,” Porlyusica grins knowingly before looking down a little and spotting the infamous engagement ring, “I see that you have something that belonged to me once,”

Lucy couldn’t breathe but she tried her best to give a smile, even if it looked sloppy.

POP! POP!

Natsu startles in his bed as he hears a loud popping sound near his ear. As soon as his eyes open, he sees confetti fall from above. He bafflingly looked around his room and to his surprise, he saw Gajeel hunched over him, grinning from ear to ear.

“What the hell is your problem?!” Natsu bellows as he sits up and nearly tackles the raven-haired man. But Gajeel stepped back as he laughed at Natsu’s displeasure.

“You’ve got to see your face!” Gajeel laughed, holding his guts trying to help himself breathe as well.

“Shut the fuck up!” Natsu then throws his pillow at the man, but the pierced guy doesn’t care as he is hit in the head. He just continued to laugh as he struggled trying to stand up straight. “Why the fuck are you here, barging in my room?”

Gajeel finally slows down from his laughter and then stands up straight, showing their height difference. He then crosses his arms over his chest as he gives a mischievous grin.

“If you do not start talking, I will punch your stupid face,” Natsu grunts as he grabs his pillow on the floor and tosses it on his bed. He then faces him again, crossing his arms as well. “Well?”

“Congratulations, idiot,” Gajeel states, his smirk still there, irking the pinkette even more.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Natsu quickly turns away as he searches for a shirt around the room. As he finds one, he quickly wears it and leaves the room. He knows Gajeel was behind him, trailing. “Did I get promoted or something? What’re the congratulations for?”

“You really don’t know?” Gajeel asked with a teasing voice, making Natsu roll his eyes.

“Would I be asking if I knew, iron face?” Natsu then peeks over his shoulders before shaking his head, “Quit being a riddler and just answer my question,”

Gajeel huffs in exasperation, “You are impossible. I wonder how that bunny girl keeps up with you,”

“Excuse me?” Natsu abruptly turns around and glares at the man, “Don’t call Lucy that—”

Gajeel smirked, knowing that it would get him a reaction from the pinkette, “Sorry,” he raised his hands in surrender, “I shouldn’t be calling your fiancée like that, should I?”

Natsu was stunned for a second as he tried to take in the man’s words. “Hold up, what did you say?”

“I said, I should probably not call Lucy bunny girl anymore,” Gajeel was playing with the pinkette, earning him a more intense glare from him, “After all, she is your fiancée.”

Natsu’s eyes grow wide at the term, “Fiancée?”

“Yeah, idiot. The whole clan knows it now,” Gajeel’s smile slowly got bigger as Natsu’s surprise expanded as well.

“FUCKING WHAT?!”

“I’m really glad that you could join us today, Auntie Porlyusica,” Layla says as she settles down on her chair and encourages everyone at the table to begin eating.

The pink-haired elderly gladly nods her head as she takes a piece of scone, “Well when certain news such as this comes, it requires a personal inquisition,” she then ends her gaze at the younger blonde, who stiffens at the sudden attention. “Right, Lucy?”

Lucy swiftly hums and nods her head. She then looked away and pretended to be preoccupied with her breakfast.

“It is quite surprising to hear that my grandson is all of a sudden engaged,” Porlyusica looks back at Layla, who was nodding her head in agreement, “Have you ever guessed this is the situation?”

“No,” Layla answers definitively, “In fact, I didn’t know Lucy had a boyfriend, which made me wonder if I knew my daughter at all,”

Lucy then glances at her mother, guiltily. All of a sudden, she had that urge to clear things up. But being around Porlyusica made the situation a little difficult. She was afraid that a sudden revelation of truth might cause the elderly to burst into anger and then bring a medical condition to her. She would hate herself even more.

“Well…” Lucy tries to begin, then bites her lips in hesitation, “Um…”

“What is it dear?” Layla curiously asks, reaching out to her daughter’s hand to give assurance, “Is everything alright?”

Lucy had this nagging conscience that she’d say no immediately. But just one look at the pink-haired elderly in front of her made her less impulsive.

“The truth is…” Lucy begins again. Her hands were trembling as she tried to slow down her erratic heartbeat.

“Oh, please, don’t tell me that this is just an impulsive engagement?” Porlyusica suddenly says, making the young blonde still in her seat. The elderly woman had her brows raised, ready to reprimand her. “When Natsu asked for that heirloom, I knew that there was some ridiculous thing going on. Did he ask you randomly that you were left baffled to say yes?”

Lucy was indeed baffled. Natsu asked for the heirloom? I thought he said he didn’t have a girlfriend. So why would he ask for the engagement ring?

“Lucy?” Layla calls, startling the young woman and snapping her out of her thoughts, “Auntie Porlyusica is asking you. Were you left too surprised that made you say yes?”

“Huh? No,” Lucy then shakes her head.

Suddenly, Lucy had this growing curiosity and annoyance for the pinkette. All this time, was Natsu just lying to me? Did he really want me to keep this engagement ring because he was going to propose to someone soon? Did he just keep a secret girlfriend from all of us? Even from me?

Lucy’s fist suddenly tightened as she felt annoyance and a tinge of betrayal for lying. There was no reason for him to lie to her, even if they tend to always make comments about each other’s love life. She would have wanted to meet the girl even if she would have to step back from being his best friend.

“Lucy,” Porlyusica calls this time, effectively shattering her out of her thoughts, “Why do you look angry? Is there something wrong?”

Hearing the woman’s comment, Lucy forced herself to breathe out and calm her raging heart. She then flexes her hand and puts on her sweet smile, “Sorry, I just remembered something that Natsu told me. But that doesn’t matter. The truth is, Natsu did propose to me spontaneously at the Magnolia Carnival when we were riding the Ferris wheel. Obviously, being on the air made him ask randomly and I, said yes. It was sweet and random,” she then shrugged her shoulders, “well, before he became sick due to his motion sickness,”

Layla suddenly chuckles, while Porlyusica just raises a brow in doubt. But then she sighed in defeat when the blonde didn’t flinch at all. The story did sound like Natsu. The only thing that Porlyusica wasn’t certain about was the beginning of Natsu and Lucy’s relationship. Either way, it did look to her that the two were engaged.

Lounging on her balcony, Levy hums in satisfaction as she lets the sun warm her up. It has been a nice start to her weekend. No loud noises from her neighbors and no loud boisterous shouting from her somewhat like boyfriend but not really, Gajeel. After everything they had been talking about for the week, it was a nice change of pace to have this slice of serenity.

Pulling out her book, Levy quickly falls into a trance with the story she was reading. It had been hours when suddenly her phone rang. At this sudden sound, the petite blunette jumps in her seat as she snaps out of her reverence.

Looking at the phone and seeing her blonde best friend’s name, Levy could only guess that another trouble had come upon her. So, sighing as she puts her bookmark within the book, Levy lazily takes her phone and answers the call.

“Hello,” Levy greets cheerfully yet sounding tired as well.

“Natsu lied,” Lucy immediately says without even caring for pleasantries. At her words, Levy then raises a brow at the odd comment.

“Uh, he lied?” Levy repeats, trying to figure out what the topic is really about, “About what?”

“He said he didn’t have any girlfriend and that the ring was just handed to him. But apparently, baba-Porlyusica said that Natsu asked for it,”

Levy’s eyes then grew wide as it finally clicked in her head.

When Lucy said to them that she had obtained the ring through Natsu, requesting to keep it safe, it was weird for her that Natsu would have such an heirloom out of random. She wasn’t a traditional person, but she had an idea that family heirlooms weren’t given away unless that family member was dead. But having Porlyusica alive and well, it was odd that Natsu would be given such treasure. Unless, it was asked, and given a blessing from the family.

“Holy shit,” Levy mumbles, astounded, “So he has a secret girlfriend?”

“Apparently,” Lucy then sighs in defeat, “Why would he lie to me? I mean…”

“Come on, Lu-chan. You know why Natsu wouldn’t tell you,” Levy purses her lips as she felt bad for the blonde, “He would hate that you’d step away and be less of his best friend,”

“Levy-chan, which girl would want to hang around their boyfriend’s girl best friend? No one. It goes the same way for us. No guy would be comfortable hanging around their girlfriend’s boy best friend,”

Levy then gave a dubious look, despite not being seen by the blonde. She knew that Lucy had an idea of how she looked, “Is that what you’ve been telling yourself after Raito left?”

Lucy was silent, taken aback that the blunette had brought up the man. When the blonde sighed in defeat, Levy could only sympathize with her best friend, “Look, we don’t know what really happened back then, but Natsu had no intention of ruining things between the two of you. Raito left because he chose to leave.”

“Levy-chan, let’s not talk about this,” Lucy sternly says and Levy suddenly feels embarrassed for bringing it up.

“Sorry,” Levy then fumbles with the corner of her book as she patiently waits for the blonde to speak up. But when Lucy just sighed, she decided to go back to the topic, “So, about Natsu? Why are you talking with Porlyusica anyway?”

“Believe it or not, Levy-chan, the lie has gotten worse.” Lucy heaved, “My mother dropped by the apartment last night and saw Natsu and I in a conspicuous romantic position—”

“What—?!"

“He was just helping me with the ring,” Lucy counters, knowing that the blunette could overthink, “But given that, we were looking like cuddling for my mother. And now, she assumed that Natsu is my fiancé.”

“Woah, wait…” Levy tries to grasp the whole story as if falls into place, “So, Auntie Layla thinks that Natsu is your fiancé? And now baba-Porlyusica is aware of it?”

Lucy hums in agreement, “Which only means, that Natsu’s family knows about it too,”

“Oh, bollocks!” Levy expressed.

“Even worse,” Lucy says with a tinge of sarcastic amusement, “I told the truth to my mother that I wasn’t really engaged, and yet does not believe an ounce of what I said,”

Levy’s mouth was agape as to how everything transpired without her realizing it. “Oh, well…that is real shit, Lucy-chan.”

“Tell me about it,” Lucy grunts over the phone, “I don’t know what to do anymore Levy-chan. I tried my best. I came clean to my mother, but it didn’t work. And now, baba-Porlyusica thinks I am engaged to her grandson,”

“What did Natsu say? Will he help out?” Levy questions.

Lucy moans again in displeasure, “Obviously, Natsu was surprised and now I had dragged him to this mess. I promised him that I’d fix it. But I think I just made it worse and now his family knows…” Lucy suddenly trails off, to which Levy knew she had a burst of epiphany. “Oh, my goodness, Levy-chan. He’d be mad because his real girlfriend would find out. I can’t let this news reach the media!”

“Okay, hold on,” Levy quickly says as she senses the panic in the blonde’s voice, “One thing at a time. Um, talk to Natsu immediately before he starts babbling to his family. You both need to agree on what you’ll both do,”

“Right, right…” Lucy sounded out of breath, “Which is, to tell the truth,”

Levy hums in agreement, “Which is to tell the whole truth,” she corrects.

“Yes…right. But one problem,” Lucy pauses for a second before she continues, “I have told a false proposal story to my mother and baba-Porlyusica,”

“Lucy!” Levy bellows in frustration.

As Natsu paced in his room, the pinkette couldn’t help but grumble as he tried to think of a way to explain what was happening.

They think I’m engaged to Lucy?!

Natsu groans in frustration as he walks back and forth. He glances at his phone on his bed, contemplating whether to contact Lucy or not.

A loud laughter was then heard outside his room. Natsu lets out another frustrated moan as he recalls what Gajeel had told him early that morning. His family somehow heard the rumor that he was engaged to Lucy out of the blue. He knew that Layla had something to do with this. After all, the older Heartfilia had innocently assumed that he and her daughter were a couple.

What he didn’t expect was that his family would hear about it as soon as the sun was up. He’d expect that Layla would keep the information to herself or at least to their family still. However, he was mistaken. His parents and sister were obviously at his apartment, waiting for him to come out and celebrate the news.

Knock! Knock!

“Natsu, dear, aren’t you ready yet? The food is getting cold,” Grandine asks behind the door.

Natsu shuts his eyes in vehemence of annoyance. He then tries to slow down his breathing before he talks. “I’ll be out there in a minute, Mom,” he said.

“Alright, don’t take too long. I’m excited to know the story!” Grandine then giggles in excitement before she walks away from the door.

When he was sure that his mother was out of earshot, he groaned again before grabbing his phone and dialing Lucy’s number.

After a few rings, Lucy finally picked up. Natsu didn’t mind for sweet greetings, “Luce, what the hell is going on?”

Lucy gasps at the harsh introduction, “Okay, I know you are angry,”

“Yeah, well, who wouldn’t be?” Natsu retorts back and then hears Lucy whimper in guilt. At that, Natsu suddenly felt mortified by the tone he was using, “Sorry, Luce. I just…I’m completely lost with what is happening and I don’t understand how this happened,”

“I know, I’m sorry…” Lucy then pauses. He could only imagine Lucy biting her lower lip, guilt-ridden, “I don’t know how it happened too, but I’m assuming it’s my mother’s doing. I came to our house to talk to her, but surprisingly, baba-Porlyusica is here too,”

“What?!” Natsu bellowed with his eyes wide, “What is she doing there?!”

Lucy grunts, “We had breakfast and started asking questions…”

Natsu was stunned. Everything was getting out of hand, and it seemed hard to control the damage that was happening. It seemed like the dam had been broken and they couldn’t contain the rumors from spilling over. All because they were seen together, like the usual. Except that there was a missing picture in Lucy’s rumor, and he was the fallen victim to fill in the gap.

“Luce, please tell me that you have clarified it to my grandmother,” Natsu mumbles and waits for the blonde to agree. But then Lucy only whimpered and never said yes. At that instance, Natsu’s eyes grew even wider in bafflement, “Lucy Heartfilia, what did you do?”

“I…I got so lost in my thoughts that I ended up making a proposal story,”

“Luce!” Natsu exclaimed, “What proposal story are you talking about?!”

“The one you've always told me!” Lucy counters.

“What?! The Ferris-wheel joke? Proposing to you on air, leaving you with no choice but to answer yes before I think I would puke?!”

Lucy huffs a laugh before shaking her head to focus, “Yes…weirdly enough that’s what I probably told them,”

“Oh, come on Luce…” Natsu places his left hand on his hips, “That was a ridiculous proposal story joke,”

“I know, but obviously, baba-Porlyusica bought it because it sounded certain like you would do,”

Natsu then paused and thought about it. It was true. He’d probably do that if he were going to randomly propose to his girl. But still, this was not supposed to happen. Before Natsu could react, Lucy then said something.

“Baba-Porlyusica said something to me,”

Natsu raised a brow, “What?”

“She said you asked for the ring,” Lucy then paused as she checked if Natsu was going to rebut. But when he didn’t, Lucy continued, “Are you lying to me?”

“Lying to you about what?” Natsu annoyingly retorts.

“Seriously, Natsu. You’ve been caught red-handed already and you're still keeping up this farce?” Lucy questioned with doubt in her voice.

“What farce? I’m not lying to you about anything,” Natsu counters, sounding so defensive that Lucy couldn’t help but snort in annoyance.

“Right, so, you asking for your family’s long-generation engagement ring has nothing to do with you, actually proposing to a girl that none of your friends know about?”

Natsu was silent as he internally groaned. He then questions why his grandmother would tell her that in the first place. Now, things were getting more complicated.

“Wait, so, you told that lie and prolonged this weird engagement story because you’re angry that I might be lying to you?” Natsu questioned as he finally realized that Lucy was getting back to him for some personal reason.

Lucy didn’t respond immediately, “…Well, are you lying?”

“No,” Natsu firmly answers, “Never in my life would I lie to you,”

“Even about a girl you like?” Lucy rebuts.

Now this made Natsu pause for a second before he caught up and replied, “Yes…I would tell you about her…if she ever existed,”

Lucy grunts and drops the issue for now. She then sighs, “Well, I’m sorry that I am dragging you into this. You can tell whatever you want.”

And with that, Lucy drops the call, leaving the pinkette baffled and conflicted.

Sitting quietly in the restaurant with her parents, Lucy kept her eyes down. She wasn’t ready to spill her guts out again and then be snubbed. It would be a little tougher, as she didn’t know what to do.

Natsu had called her, and he seemed ready to turn her out to his family. If he did that, then it was only right to come clean. Whatever criticism or judgment she’d get, especially from her dad.

Jude Heartfilia was a kind man, but he was stern as well, especially in protecting their family’s image and legacy. No one knew that, except them. In front of the public, he is this sweet and endearing husband and father. But behind closed doors, Jude was strict and very conscious of ensuring a good image for the name Heartfilia. The only thing Lucy wouldn’t criticize about her father is his genuine love for her mother. Despite all that serious and unyielding attitude, Jude Heartfilia was irrevocably in love with Layla Heartfilia.

Right in time, Jude suddenly clears his throat, snapping the young Heartfilia out of her thoughts. Glancing up, she could see the stoic look of the older man. But she knew better as she figured that Jude wasn’t thrilled with the news of her being engaged.

Lucy lets out her breath before she speaks, “Papa, I’m happy that you came down here in Magnolia, to be with us,”

Jude finally focuses on his daughter, with a questioning expression, “Well, this wasn’t the plan. But after hearing from your mother that you are engaged, I think it calls for a family meeting.”

“Jude,” Layla calls lovingly and places her hand on his forearm, “You don’t have to feel bad about not knowing immediately about Lucy’s engagement,”

“Whoever that guy is never asked for our permission,” Jude retorts, firmly, before looking back at his daughter, making her still in her seat, “You didn’t even tell us that you were dating someone,”

Lucy gaped as she tried to think of an excuse. But then she ended up with none, as Layla eyed her and waited for her explanation. After all, she had never explained how it all started.

“…about that,” Lucy bites her lower lip in nervousness. She thought this was it. It was a do-or-die situation. She could only hope that her father would be a little more tolerant of her antics. “Umm—”

“Oh, finally!” Layla suddenly exclaims, cutting off her daughter. She then stood up as she gleefully greeted her guests.

Lucy then turns her head and to her surprise, she sees the familiar faces of the Dragneel family as her mother’s guest. She quickly locks her gaze with the pinkette and raises a brow.

“Hi, Layla!” Grandine calls back, stepping ahead of the group, “I am so thrilled we’re all gathered here tonight together,”

Lucy suddenly stands from her seat and stands behind her mother. When Grandine pulled away from Layla, her attention quickly dropped on Lucy. “Oh, my goodness. I couldn’t believe that I would be calling you my daughter-in-law,” she then cups Lucy’s face, making the young blonde shriek softly.

“Hi, Auntie Grandine,” Lucy shyly mumbles.

“Oh, please, I’m now like your second mother. You should call me mom,” Grandine then grins widely before she chuckles at the reddened face of the woman.

Soon enough, Grandine and Igneel return their attention to Layla and Jude and begin their casual catch-up. As the parents got busy talking, Lucy quickly stepped up to Natsu.

“What is your family doing here?” Lucy questioned, almost sounding accusingly.

“Your mom called,” Natsu simply replies, before glancing at his sister, who was eyeing them together. Natsu throws a grin at Wendy as he slowly encircles his arms on Lucy’s waist. He then tugs the blonde closer to his chest, making her stumble and place her hands on his shoulders.

Lucy gawks at the pinkette, “What are you doing?” She whispered as she noticed how close they were. She then tries to step back, but Natsu’s hand on her lower back prevents her.

“Stay put, Luce. Wendy is watching,” Natsu says as he watches his sister, before looking back at the blonde.

As he gazes at her brown eyes, his wide pretentious grin slowly melts and turns into an amused smile, as if sees her eyes for the first time. He was quickly absorbed into her eyes when he realized he felt Lucy’s chest heaved against his. Only then did he notice their faces were extremely close, making him loosen his hold on her.

The two were silent for a second before Lucy cleared her throat and averted her gaze to pinkette instead, “So, what if Wendy is watching? Haven’t you told your family yet how this is just a lie?”

“I couldn’t do it,” he replies. Unbeknownst to himself, Natsu was gently caressing Lucy’s back as if reassuring her. Lucy could feel it, but she didn’t know what to say about it. But of course, her body knew more what to do, which was to blush gradually.

“Why?” She asks, looking back at him while trying to ignore the growing warmth in her chest as she continues to feel Natsu’s gentle strokes.

“Because I didn’t want to betray you,” Natsu then dropped his hold on her and kissed her cheek instead. Without waiting for the blond’s reaction, he stepped back and greeted the Heartfilia couple next.

Lucy abruptly turns to catch Natsu’s attention again. But the pinkette was already cordially greeting her parents and exchanged pleasantries. Sighing in defeat, as Lucy figured that the fiasco was still on, she took her seat again and waited for everybody to settle back.

Natsu was seated on the right side of Lucy, as Jude settled in the middle of the table with Layla on his left side. Igneel, on the other hand, sat opposite the blonde-haired man, while Grandine sat on his right side, and Wendy sat on his left. Everyone was now settled and grinning, and Lucy could feel the impending explosion of secrets.

“So,” Grandine begins, “This is the first Dragneel-Heartfilia family dinner,”

Layla and Grandine giggled enthusiastically, while Jude and Igneel preferred to smile at the notion. Lucy and Natsu just cautiously watched everyone around the table.

“Since this dinner is about your engagement,” Layla then referred to the two young duo, “How about you tell us your story?”

To be continued…

Chapter Text

“Since this dinner is about your engagement,” Layla grinned as she referred to the two young duo, “How about you tell us your story?”

Natsu and Lucy were mum for quite a time before the red-haired man bellowed in laughter.

“Are you kids alright? You look like you’re going to cry or something,” Igneel teased looking at the two.

Natsu quickly shook his head as he tried to snap out of his surprise, “Yeah, of course…it’s just…” he then glanced at Lucy, who he nudged subtly with his elbow.

Lucy jerked in surprise, snapping out of her own overwhelm, and glanced at her best friend. When Natsu tilted his head towards the group, Lucy curiously stared at the pinkette until Grandine spoke up and asked this time.

“So, about that story? Can you tell us how it all started?” Grandine teasingly looked at the young couple, before looking at Layla and Jude, “Did you have any guess that these two were dating?”

“No,” Jude sternly answers, before softening his expression and chuckling, “All this time I thought they were just best friends, being overly affectionate to one another,”

Lucy’s eyes grew wide in astonishment, “Papa…” she mumbled before she realized that she was about to stop him, “Um, I didn’t realize that was what you felt between us,” she gestured to herself and Natsu.

“Well,” Jude seriously looked at Natsu, “I had always thought Natsu was a decent man and that if he ever thought of asking you out, I wouldn’t mind it. But perhaps, being kept in the dark is not what we also expected from the two of you,”

Grandine and Igneel nod in agreement, “I get what Jude is saying,” Igneel added, “Why on earth would you keep something like this from us?”

Natsu quickly nudged Lucy’s feet under the table. The blonde quickly gave an annoyed look at the pinkette, before noticing the raised brow from the youngest Dragneel. Lucy quickly shifted her expression and chuckled.

“Well, about that…” Lucy fumbles with her fingers as she tries to come up with an excuse, “We…we thought that maybe keeping our relationship secret was the best option for us,”

“Because?” Wendy asked, completely intrigued by the two.

“Because…” Lucy repeats, widening her eyes to Wendy as if that would tell her the answer. But the young blunette just tilted her head in question, “Because of you guys,” she opened her arms to everyone on the table.

Everyone at the table looked baffled at them, “Excuse me? But why us?” Grandine curiously questioned.

“Because you guys are famous,” Lucy retorts to them but pleasingly taps her shoulder inside her head, “You, the Dragneels are well-known for your big motor corporation in Fiore, while the Heartfilias are a namesake in the fashion clothing industry. Society knows you and yet kept us, your children, out of the limelight. If we went out in public, it would be a media circus. And I don’t want that, we don’t want that,” Lucy then looked at Natsu and gave him a serious look.

Natsu knew that stern look, and internally groaned as he wondered why he agreed to this show, “Exactly,” he simply added. But when Lucy kicked him on the shin, making him jerk in his seat, the pinkette groaned quietly before he continued, “We get enough pressure from our friends who comment about our friendship already, which seems like they have guessed right.” He mumbled.

Lucy quickly picked up his point, “The point is, our friends didn’t know, you guys didn’t know, because it meant the world didn’t have to know about us,”

Layla, Jude, Igneel, Grandine, and Wendy just stared puzzled at the duo. For some reason, it made sense to them. But at the same time, it was odd, as if they really wanted no one to know about them, and yet decided to get married.

“Well,” Layla started before looking at her companions, “I guess, you have a right to make these decisions about your relationship. It’s just a surprising news that you guys are getting married,”

“Which makes me think, if the media didn’t corner you, would you have told any of us, that you both were getting married?” Grandine then looked at her husband, a little alarmed and anticipating a painful answer.

“Probably not,” Lucy and Natsu harmoniously answered and then shrugged their shoulders.

As they left the restaurant, the two families casually bid each other goodbye. Lucy and Natsu stayed at the back and stared at them. The blonde couldn’t help but sigh at the image in front of her.

“Do you think they bought it?” Natsu asked as he crossed his arms and tilted his head.

“We didn’t answer their questions properly, so, I don’t know,” Lucy replies, shrugging her shoulders.

“Mhm, you got a point,” Natsu sighed too, “Wendy could be onto us,”

“Obviously,” Lucy muttered before she smiled when Grandine looked their way and beamed at them, “I think, out of them all, Wendy got this sense that something is fishy,”

“Would it be so bad if she knew the truth?” Natsu asked before smiling too at his parents, who seemed to be talking about them.

“Well, if you trust her that she wouldn’t rat us out then, sure, let’s tell her,” Lucy then glanced at Natsu, whose face suddenly scrunched in thought, “What?”

“She’s Baba’s protégé,” Natsu then shook his head, “She’d tell her instantly,”

Lucy’s eyes grew wide, “Okay, then we don’t,” she said in alarm.

“But then again—”

“No,” Lucy then gripped the pinkette’s arm, “She’d murder us,”

Natsu raised a dubious brow at his best friend, “Oh, come on, baba wouldn’t kill us. I bet if we tell her the truth, this whole shitshow would be over,”

Lucy thought about it for a second. It’s true. The moment they tell the truth to Porlyusica, this pretension will be over. They wouldn’t have to lie to their families, and she’d just have to deal with the media. But then again, something is telling her not to do it, as if this might just cause more trouble.

“…yeah, okay. I get that and I believe you…” Lucy then gulped down the growing knot in her throat, “But what if this causes her to get a heart attack or—or better yet, curse us for eternal life?”

“I thought you didn’t believe in magical stuff?” Natsu smirked, teasing the blonde.

“Maybe not in eternal love, but an eternal curse, I do,” Lucy shook her head “I’m scared, and I can’t do it. You tell her—”

“What?!” Natsu exclaimed a little loud, making the other family members glance at them.

“You both, okay?” Igneel questioned the two, making them nod their head immediately. “Come on, lover boy, time to go home. You’ll have years to spend with your soon-to-be wife,”

Everyone sniggered as they watched the couple turn red. Natsu then turned to Lucy and leaned down close to her cheek. He then whispered, “Let’s talk tomorrow,”

“Okay,” Lucy replies softly, nodding her head. Natsu then pulled back and immediately, Igneel remarked how it was still surprising to see Natsu and Lucy being a lovey-dovey couple.

“You’re weird, Dad,” Natsu bellowed, shaking his head. He then looked at Lucy for the last time before he waved goodbye to her.

The sun was up and Natsu was wide awake, staring at his ceiling. He didn’t know if he was able to catch some sleep. But he sure knows that he had been thinking, nonstop about something. He was lost for words at the three facts he needed to accept.

My family thinks I’m engaged.

I’m engaged to Lucy.

Lucy is wearing his engagement ring…

As soon as his alarm clock blares off, Natsu stands up from his bed and does his short routine. He took a bath, changed clothes, and then headed out.

My family thinks I’m engaged.

I’m engaged to Lucy.

Lucy is wearing his engagement ring…

Natsu’s phone rang as he drove on the busy road of Magnolia. Seeing the caller ID, the pinkette couldn’t help but grumble. Yet, he tapped the answer button.

“What?” Natsu quickly uttered, face scowling as he knew where the discussion would lead to.

“Iron-butt told me something about you,” Gray replies over the line.

“Whatever you heard, it’s not true,” Natsu grunts, shaking his head in annoyance at his cousin’s blabbering.

Gray chuckled over the line, “So, it’s not true that you and Lucy are pretending to be husband and wife soon?”

“Shut up!” Natsu bellowed, “It’s the other way around—”

“Well, you’re the one who said to not believe metal-face,” Gray snickered, making Natsu roll his eyes.

“You know what I mean,” Natsu then groans, “What do you want?”

“Just wanted to torment you, early morning,” Gray chuckles again, “So, what’s the plan?”

“I have no idea. This is all Lucy’s doing,” Natsu grumbles, wriggling the steering wheel, “You ask her,”

“So, you are doing it,” Gray questioned.

Natsu stared at his phone for a second before he sighed, “I’m just helping her out with the shitshow. That doesn’t mean she’d actually plan to get married,”

“So, there is no wedding?” Gray clarified and patiently waited for the pinkette to answer.

“There is no wedding,” Natsu sternly replies before he defeatedly sighs, “You know that for a fact. She just needs an out from that web of lies without causing any family humiliation and societal scrutiny,”

“Right…” Gray sighs as well, “I guess, you just have to work this out,”

“Obviously,” Natsu retorts before shaking his head, “I gotta go, ice-brain. I have to see Lucy,”

Gray chortles over the line, “Sure, meet up with your fiancée,”

“Shut up,” Natsu counters before an amused smile appears on his lips, “Gotta go, bye,” then presses the end button.

On their typical Sunday routine, Natsu and Lucy go to the closest chapel near her place. Magnolia was known for their famous Kardia Cathedral, but they’d prefer to go to the town chapel. It was small, with some of the town’s people attending mass. The beauty of that small church is that it was secluded, giving them that feeling of being private like any citizen of Magnolia. Ever since the debacle that Lucy caused to herself, she was relieved to have this quiet Sunday mass as a respite.

After that Sunday mass, the duo indulged themselves in a morning stroll around the chapel’s open garden. Mass-goers loitered around, enjoying a brief chat after the mass. As Natsu and Lucy settle on a bench, the two finally acknowledge the growing awkward silence between them.

Lucy looked down at her fumbling hands, “I should probably thank you,” she whispered.

Natsu looked at the blonde and watched her do her nervous antics, “Yeah, you probably should,” he said, teasingly, but the blonde didn’t catch that, making her look at him with surprise.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered.

Natsu huffed a laugh before looking away from his best friend, “Did you really think that I wouldn’t help you out?”

“Well,” Lucy then looked away too, and paid half attention to the crowd before them, “You were not thrilled yesterday when it all happened,”

“I think my reaction was pretty normal for a guy who suddenly got engaged without being in a relationship,” Natsu scrunches his nose, before looking back at the blonde.

Lucy bit her quivering lip as she kept her eyes on the crowd. Her eyes were watering, but she refused to let it drop. Seeing her like this made the pinkette feel sorry. But at the same time, he was still astounded by everything that happened.

Natsu was the kind of guy who didn’t like getting into a relationship for the sake of being with someone. Ever since they were young, Natsu had always given less attention and priority to girls. He knew that girls paid him attention and even asked him out on a date, but he’d always refuse. Not that he isn’t interested in girls, because he does find girls attractive, it’s just that he doesn’t easily get interested in them by their looks. It’s always been about the connection he feels with the person. And Lucy has always been that kind of person to him. She is one of the prettiest women he knows, but it’s their connection as friends that makes him choose her over other girls.

However, regardless of their tight connection as friends, it was still overwhelming to see your family celebrate and be excited that you were engaged to be married, even if he knew it was only a lie. The only thing tolerable about the lie was that at least he was thought to be married to his best friend.

“Luce, look, I’m sorry if I got mad at you—”

“No, I get it!” Lucy abruptly turns to look at the pinkette. She then grabbed his hand to squeeze it, “Levy and the girls had been scolding me about my lies. I—I know I should have come clean at the beginning, but I just kept on messing things up. And I understand that anybody put in that position wouldn’t like that. But—but I am grateful that you’re here to help me out,”

Sighing, Natsu suddenly pats Lucy’s head, “I’m not angry, I’m just baffled, okay? But I’ll get over it,”

Lucy timidly smiles at her best friend.

“So, what happens next?” Natsu asked as he tapped the nose of the teary-eyed blonde.

Lucy sniffs hard, trying to refocus herself as she stares back at Natsu’s onyx eyes, “Well, I don’t have a plan—yet! But given that you will be helping me out, I guess, you can help me get out of the media’s microscopic lens whether I’m really engaged or not. But I’ll try my best not to get your name out in public so that they won’t follow us around.”

“All right, sure we can do that.” Natsu nods his head, “But until when are we going to do this?”

“Just until I can get this ring out of my finger,” Lucy said before she flaunted the ring to him. “Once it’s out, we’ll say, we broke up and canceled the engagement. Simple as that,”

Natsu slowly reached out and gently rubbed the stone on Lucy’s finger. His lips slowly turned upward, but quickly shook his head when a thought passed by his mind. He then retracts his hand.

“Okay, so, I guess we need to get our story straight,” Natsu then raised a brow, “What’s our story?”

“What story?” Lucy questioned, furrowing her brows too.

“What’s our couple story? How did I ask you out? How did I propose to you? How long have we been together? What was our first kiss like?” Natsu asked while he stared at her directly in the eyes.

Hearing these questions somehow made the blonde red. These were necessary questions if they wanted to make their family and the media believe their pretentious relationship was real. But still, this made Lucy shy and turn beet red.

“Um…let’s stick to our real friendship,” Lucy subtly shook her head, trying to get her thoughts straight, “We are best of friends ever, who—who fell in love with one another. Suddenly, a year ago, we decided to become a couple. Now, you spontaneously asked me to marry you while we were riding a Ferris wheel, with the threat of puking on me right after I said yes.”

Natsu suddenly chuckles as he remembers that proposal joke that he told her if he hypothetically asked her for marriage.

“Why? Out of all the proposal ideas you told me before, why did you have to use that one?” Natsu shook his head, laughing, “I sound so unromantic,”

Lucy chuckles, “I panicked, okay? Baba-Porlyusica asked me how’d you do it. And besides, I don’t know if you are romantic, so, I’m sorry if I made you so unromantic,” she said, rolling her eyes as she teased him.

“Okay, so that’s our story. Now, what’s our plan to get that ring out?” Natsu glimpses at the ring again as he swears to notice it shine brighter as if it wanted to be noticed.

“Since I don’t believe in that eternal love backstory, I was thinking about a more realistic approach of getting this ring out of my finger, like going to a jewelry store.” Lucy then gave a knowing smile at the pinkette, when the man perked up at the suggestion.

“You’re right! Baba-Porlyusica has this trusted jewelry shop where she gets her rings shined and maintained. We should probably start there,”

Lucy’s spirit went up at the thought of resolving this issue, “I say, let’s get this started!” She then stood up and offered her hand, “Ready to get over with this, fiancé?”

Natsu chortles at her new pet name for him, “Sure, why not…” he then grabbed her hand as he stood up. Standing a foot taller than her, he looked at Lucy’s brown eyes and softly whispered, “Fiancée.” He then entwined their hands as they headed out of the chapel garden.

“Welcome to Bijoux! How may I help you?” a man in an ironed black suit greets as soon as Natsu and Lucy enter the famous luxury jewelry brand store.

Natsu and Lucy kept their hands entwined as they slowly approached the man. The pinkette quickly smiled at him and said, “Hi, um, I was told by my…” Natsu paused as he contemplated whether to bring up his grandmother or not. He then decided to play safe, “My family friend that this store has services for maintaining and resizing rings,”

“Oh, yes, we do. May I see the ring?” the man then opens his palm, waiting for the blonde to offer her hand.

Natsu then pulled up their entwined hands and showed the ring to the jeweler. “Oh…” the man then trails off as he studies the ring properly.

“Well, if you plan to resize it, we’d have to cut in the middle,” the man then grabs Lucy’s hand. But then the blonde quickly pulls it back.

“Not an option!” she exclaimed, clutching her hand to her chest.

Natsu quickly agrees, nodding his head, “Definitely not an option. We just want the ring to get out of her finger,”

The man furrows his brow, “Uh…I think you can do that without our help. You just pull it off,”

Lucy stared confused at the man, as if questioning why’d he ever thought that they hadn’t tried that before. Only then did she realize that the man had no idea of the ring’s weird ability not being able to be pulled out of one’s finger.

“Well, you see,” Lucy then leaned close to the jeweler, “This ring is quite special—”

“Well, aren’t all engagement rings?” the man interrupts, making Lucy look back at him stoically while Natsu stifles his laughter.

“Yeah, I know,” Lucy muttered, “But that’s not the point. My point is that this ring appears to be loose enough to allow me to move it around my finger but when it’s being pulled off, it barely budges,”

The man kept his furrowed brows as he slowly took Lucy’s hand and inspected it. Soon enough, he started tugging the ring off, but then, just like before, it didn’t move an inch.

“Okay, that is odd,” the man bafflingly said, staring at the ring, “It can be moved around but not pulled off. How on earth is that possible?”

Lucy suddenly gave a sarcastic smile, “See, I told you, it’s a special ring,”

The man gave a deadpan look at the blonde before smirking, “Madam, don’t underestimate our brand,” he then turned around and headed inside their rooms. Natsu and Lucy looked at each other confused before returning their attention to the man, coming out with a kit in hand.

“Let me see that ring again,” the man instructed and quickly grabbed Lucy’s hand, inspecting every angle. He even pushed the ring upward and saw a gap, “Ha!” he then grabbed something from his tool kit.

Lucy watched the man grab a swab and dipped it to a certain type of gel. Trusting the jeweler, Lucy held her breath as she watched the man work. He started rubbing the swab around Lucy’s ring finger and slowly turned the ring around, to get slippery. When the ring was coated enough with gel, the jeweler then began to pull the ring down. As Lucy hoped that it would work, she suddenly gasped when the man suddenly tumbled backward when he pulled hard. Falling on his bottom, the jeweler quickly groaned, making Natsu alarmed, and leaned over to check on him.

“Are you okay?” Natsu questioned, trying to keep his laughter from coming.

The man quickly glared at the pinkette, “Do I look okay?” he then grumbled as he tried to stand up. When he was fully up, the jeweler couldn’t help but glare at Lucy, “What the hell did you do to your ring?”

Lucy’s eyes grew big with the man’s outburst, “Um…nothing, except wear it when I shouldn’t have,”

The jeweler grunts before he grabs Lucy’s hand again, “Let me try again. My hand just probably slipped.” After that, the man did the same again and this time he made sure to wear gloves so as not to slip from the gel or oil. But just like before he stumbles backwards as his hands slips once more.

“I give up!” the jeweler bellowed, “Let’s cut it off!”

“No!” Natsu and Lucy shouted at the same time. The two then stepped back, away from the jeweler. The blonde even clutched her hand close to her chest and hid the ring with her other hand.

“Is there another way without having it cut?” Lucy whines as she pleads to the jeweler.

“Our shop is good at resizing rings, I assure you. You wouldn’t notice it,” The man then opens his palm again.

But Lucy quickly shook her head, “I can’t let it be cut. It’s a family heirloom and it’s too precious to be mended,”

“It’s normal for shops like ours to resize rings, even if they are antiques or heirlooms. Trust me, madam, it’s your only option,” The man raises a brow but opens his palm once again, waiting for the blonde to offer her hand.

Lucy stared at his hand before she shook her head. She then quickly looked at Natsu and looked guilty at him. “Sorry, Natsu. I can’t let anyone cut the ring. It’s too precious and sentimental for it to be mended for my sake.”

Natsu kept his eyes on the blonde and somehow, he was thankful for Lucy’s consideration. Having that ring removed would make their predicament easier to resolve. But he couldn’t also tolerate the idea of destroying their long-time family jewelry just because Lucy thought it was fine to use it as a prop for her lies.

Sighing in defeat, Natsu nods his head and takes Lucy’s hand. Without hesitation, he entwined their hands and looked back at the jeweler, “Sorry, cutting the ring is not an option. Thank you for helping though,” he then began to pull his wallet when the man shook his head.

“No need sir,” the man shook his head, “But I do hope you do find a way to get that ridiculous ring out of your fiancé’s finger,”

Natsu scoffs and nods his head, “We hope so too.”

Left defeated, the duo finds themselves sulking in a café close to Natsu’s neighborhood. It was more secluded and less popular to the media. Despite being a Dragneel, Natsu was able to keep his apartment away from the media’s radar. He chose wisely; buying a small house that didn’t look fancy at all and had neighbors who didn’t know him as someone who came from a business tycoon family.

“Maybe we should try another jewelry shop,” Lucy muttered, trying to grasp some hope despite the unsuccessful attempt.

“Luce, I don’t think a different person putting on a gel or oil on the ring would make a difference. Unless we allow them to cut the ring—”

“Which I know is not an option at all,” Lucy then heaved in frustration, “I know that. But what should we do?”

“I don’t know,” Natsu replies sharply before grabbing his coffee and sipping it for a long time.

Lucy studied the pinkette, who was obviously trying his best to keep himself calm despite the growing rage inside of him. “Natsu, if this ring won’t come off, we will have to pretend and I know that it’s not an ideal strategy,”

Natsu scrunches his face in annoyance, “Right, yeah…” he then tries to hold back his rant, but it slips out of it as soon as he groans, “Luce, what’s even the guarantee that if we pretended to be engaged and then end up canceling it, would make the ring come off?”

“I don’t know!” Lucy shrieks in annoyance, “Maybe the ring will suddenly grasp the idea that we are not each other’s eternal love!”

“I think the ring should figure that out now,” Natsu harshly replies before shaking his head in frustration and looking away from the blonde.

“Deep inside, Natsu, I know you are blaming me for this—” Lucy was then cut off when Natsu snorted in sarcasm. This irked the blonde, “I get it, I messed up. I’m just trying to find a way to get us out of this shitshow,”

“You do realize that the longer you wear that ring and I stick close to you, people will think that I am really engaged to you,” Natsu sternly muttered, raising a brow at the blonde.

“Will it be so bad if people thought that we are engaged?” Lucy questioned. Her voice quivered in disappointment, “Is this you, telling me that there is someone out there who will get hurt if they found out that you are engaged to me?”

“What?” Natsu irately questioned, “Why are you assuming again that I’m in a relationship? I already told you, I don’t have a girlfriend,”

“Right, that’s why you asked your grandmother for your family’s engagement ring heirloom because you got bored. Natsu your excuse is so petty that no one would ever believe that.” Lucy grumbles as she slumps back into her chair and glares away from the pinkette. “I don’t get it why’d you have to keep that secret from me, your friends,”

Natsu rolls his eyes, “What secret am I hiding from you guys? And besides, don’t lecture me about not telling each other about our relationships, because if I recall correctly, you were the one who kept a boyfriend away from us,”

Lucy slowly glares at the pinkette as she recalls that actual incident. The blonde slowly turns red in anger, “I kept him away from you because of how much you told me that you didn’t like him. You know what, the funny thing is, I never told you about him anyways, and yet you still found a way to ruin my relationship,”

“Excuse me?” Natsu bafflingly gasps at the blonde, “I didn’t do anything,”

Lucy scoffed in annoyance, “Yeah, right. You were the last person he talked to before he left Magnolia, breaking up with me,”

“And that was a wise decision!” Natsu bellowed.

“No!” Lucy exclaimed, making some patrons in the café glance at them, “If you didn’t ruin my relationship with him, you wouldn’t have to pretend to be my fiancé. I wouldn’t have had to make up those lies.”

The pinkette was suddenly given a dose of reality as he listened to the blonde grit her teeth while she reprimanded him. He then grasps what she had, tugging his chest with an unpleasant feeling.

“What do you mean?”

Lucy scoffs in exasperation, crossing her arms over her chest, “If it weren’t for you, I would have probably been engaged to Raito now.” Lucy then smiled sarcastically at the pinkette, making the lad even more guilty, “But thanks to your meddling, I don’t have a real fiancé, and I’ve got only a fake fiancé who pretends to want to help me,”

Lucy then stood up, grabbed her purse, and turned away from their table. At that instant, Natsu stood up and tried to catch the blonde.

“Where are you going?” Natsu worriedly asks as he watches the blonde slowly turn her head to regard him briefly.

“Away from here. I don’t want to ruin your image by getting you caught in my lies,” and with that Lucy walks away from him, leaving him astounded and guilty.

As the day went on, Natsu found himself wandering around Magnolia while he tried calling Lucy on the phone. But the blonde refused to pick up the call and ignored him. The longer it went, the more he got frustrated about the situation.

Soon enough, he arrived at Amici Resto Bar where a lot of workers were still finishing up some structures inside the establishment. Mira and Erza were manning the place, shouting out orders and comments as they watched them finish their task according to their taste as the owner.

Lisanna, who was lazily stacking up table napkins at a tissue dispenser suddenly spots the pinkette and quickly calls on him. Natsu made a beeline towards the youngest Strauss siblings and joined her in doing the task.

“Isn’t this a surprise?” Lisanna comments as she smiles at her friend, “Why aren’t you with your usual buddy?”

“She walked out on me,” Natsu replies, keeping his eyes on the task as he attempts to avoid the scrunched look of the silverette.

“Natsu, you not looking at me won’t make me ignore that. Why would Lucy walk out on you?” Lisanna then puts down the dispenser she grabs to hold Natsu’s hand.

The pinkette slowly looked up and then sighed in defeat, “We had an unpleasant topic to talk about,”

Lisanna raised a brow, “Wait, Gajeel just told us in the group chat that you and Lucy were engaged. Was that it?”

Natsu looked up with a raised brow, “Hold on, iron-ass told everybody that Lucy and I got engaged?”

Lisanna’s eyes grew big, “Yeah? Whoops?”

Natsu then bolted up to leave but Lisanna was quick to pull him down, “Will you calm down, Natsu?! You are such a hotheaded man—“

“Well, who wouldn’t?!” Natsu bellowed before he lets the silverette pull him down to sit again, “That metal face is such a sissy for blabbering,”

“You do know that we, your friends, know about that engagement ring that Lucy is wearing. We all know that you two aren’t really engaged…unless?”

“Unless what?” Natsu retorts harshly, but Lisanna just laughs it off.

“Unless you have something to tell us?” Lisanna then smirked when Natsu rolled his eyes, “Oh, come on. We all know that you and Lucy have a certain kind of friendship that none of us have with you two. I mean, we are all close, but…not as close as the two of you,”

Natsu heaved impatiently, “Lucy and I have known each other since we were in high school. We just have a shared family background, and our families are close too. So, we bond over things that are similar to us,”

“Yeah, but Gray is your high school buddy too. Gajeel is your cousin, and yet you're not as close to them as with Lucy.” Lisanna grinned as she pointed out a fact.

“But Lucy is a girl,” Natsu counters.

“But Gray and Gajeel are boys, which is more common for boys to befriend better,”

“No,” Natsu shook his head, chuckling, “trust me girls are way better friends. They are sassy but frank as hell. Just look at you, Mira, and Erza. You girls are going to eat us alive if we are shitty people,”

Lisanna chuckles, “Well, you do have a point there. But still, we are not as close to you as you are with Lucy. That tells something,”

“What do you want to hear exactly, Lis? That I have feelings for Lucy?” Natsu stared for a moment at the stunned silverette, “Lucy is my best friend, of course, I’ll always have a certain type of feelings for her. But that doesn’t mean me and Lucy pretending to be engaged would make us real or something,”

Sighing in defeat, Lisanna slumped back to her seat and stared at the pinkette, “Fine, I won’t insist. But why did Lucy walk out on you?”

Natsu then began to look away again and fumbled his hands with the tissue bundles, “I brought up the topic of Raito,”

“What?” Lisanna suddenly sat up straight and then leaned over the table, “What did you say to her?”

“I um…” Natsu tilts his head as he closes his eyes in guilt and mortification, “I told her that she was the first one who kept a secret from her friends that she had a boyfriend,”

“No, you did not,” Lisanna uttered resignedly.

“I only said that because she accused me of keeping a secret girlfriend from her,” Natsu defensively muttered, looking back at the silverette, “She insists that I got that engagement ring from Baba because I had a girlfriend that none of you guys knew,”

“Well, then why did you get the heirloom from Baba-Porlyusica if you didn’t have a girlfriend?” Lisanna quickly questions, taking Lucy’s side as she remembers their conversation.

Natsu was mum at that. He, later on, sighed in defeat as he continued to fumble with the tissues, “I was just…preparing for the future,”

“Preparing for what?” Lisanna inquired curiously.

“For the girl I like,” Natsu then looked up and stared at the shocked expression of his friend, “Believe it or not, I actually have feelings too. I just haven’t dared to tell her…but I guess it’s too late now,”

“What? Why?”

“I’m engaged,” Natsu muttered, shrugging his shoulders.

Monday morning comes and Natsu quickly wakes up at the sound of his alarm. Just like what he does every day, he planned to do his basic short routine—take a bath, change clothes, and then head out. But given that he and Lucy hadn’t talked in the last 16 hours, 23 minutes, and 15 seconds, Natsu couldn’t sit still as he constantly checked his phone.

Based on what he had gathered, Lucy had no problem chatting and texting with their friends. But when he calls her, his call always ends up that she isn’t available. Grunting at the deliberate avoidance she was making to him, Natsu couldn’t help but stag her out a little to their friends, about how she blamed him for causing her and Raito to break up. In the end, his friends would confirm that he did cause the breakup, which he disagrees with, but it was a breakup that was inevitable.

Natsu munched on his sandwich as he stared hard at his sleeping phone. Mentally, Natsu was manifesting that it would light up with Lucy’s name surfacing, calling him. But even after eating breakfast, which he didn’t usually do at home, he had no choice but to clean up and leave his phone for a moment. Washing his plate and mug, Natsu muttered his annoyance about how Lucy was taking it too far when suddenly his phone rang.

At that sound, Natsu jumped in surprise and quickly turned off the faucet and ditched his dirty dishes to grab his phone. Slipping towards his kitchen island, the pinkette swiftly grabs his phone and checks the caller ID. To his delight it was Lucy.

“Hi, Luce!” Natsu exclaimed as soon as he swiped the green button. His smile was so big that it nearly split his face.

“Get here in my apartment, ASAP!” she whispered, annoyedly.

“What? Why? What’s going on—?”

“I’ll explain later, just get here, quick,” Lucy cuts off, hurriedly.

“Okay-okay,” Natsu panicking looked around for his stuff and dashed to grab his wallet, car keys, and satchel bag, “I’m on my way—what’s happening?”

“Baba-Porlyusica is here, right now—”

“Shit, I’m coming!” Natsu cussed out loud as he slammed his apartment door shut and sprinted to Lucy’s apartment, completely forgetting he had a car.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

October x794
5 months ago…

Sipping her cup of tea, Porlyusica’s moment of silence that morning was quickly disturbed by the sound of her ringing cell phone. She was at a certain point in her life that she hated when people called her early Saturday morning. But if she was frank, she didn’t have to be at the age of 83 to start hating talking to people. Rather, back in the day, when she was a young adult, she already had a distaste for humans.

Groaning at the intruding sound of her mobile phone, she defeatedly sighed before she put down her teacup and answered the call.

Giving a quick glance at the caller, Porlyusica then taps on the green button, “What?”

There was a pregnant silence before someone chuckled, “Did I bother you, baba?”

Porlyusica rolled her eyes but wasn’t entirely annoyed at her grandson, “Not more than usual. What do you need?”

Natsu exaggeratedly gasped, “Oh, come on, baba. Why would you think I need something? Can’t your favorite grandson just randomly call you?”

She sniggered sarcastically, “Favorite grandson, huh? Who said that?”

“I did, of course!” Natsu laughed, earning an unimpressed groan from her, “But seriously, I think you’ll be proud of me when I get there,”

“You’re coming over?” Porlyusica questioned, barely holding back her grunts, “Why’d you have to come? Can’t you just tell me through this call since you have disrupted my morning tea hour,”

Natsu sheepishly chuckles, “So I did bother you—”

“Get on with it, already!”

“Alright! Alright…” Natsu sighed before gathering up his courage, “So, um…well…okay…uh…”

Porlyusica instantly groans in annoyance, completely stopping the young man from talking. Sighing in defeat, “Just get over here. You’re hopeless,”

“Great! I’ll be there in 5 minutes!” and with that, Natsu hangs up, making the oldest living Marvell grumble as she pulls her phone away.

True to his words, within 5 minutes, Natsu arrives at his grandmother’s house. It was a cozy, mid-size, three-floored house. It has been their familial home since she and his grandpa married 60 years ago. Even if his grandpa had died nearly 10 years ago, his grandma chose to stay there even though their home was almost an hour away from the city.

Walking through the door, Natsu knew his way around the house to look for his grandma. The house was relatively small compared to the houses they had in Magnolia, but regardless, it was a place that had many memories for each member of the Marvell clan. If there is one thing that ancestral home had the best feature compared to their industrial homes, it was the large backyard their grandparents had, in which he knew his grandma liked staying, tending to the flowers his grandpa planted for her.

“Hi, obaasan,” Natsu cooed gently as soon as he saw his grandmother squatted by her flower pots, “Tadaima,”

“Oh, you got here on time,” Porlyusica greeted back without looking and continued to dig through her pots, “Have you eaten?”

“Hai,” Natsu grinned before he skipped towards his grandmother and squatted down with her.

The two remained silent as Porlyusica carried on with her gardening while Natsu watched and helped out whenever he saw his grandmother struggling with pulling the plants. They went on with this for an hour until Porlyusica declared that she was finished.

When she pulled her gardening gloves, Porlyusica wiped the sweat out of her forehead as she squinted at her grandson. “So, what will you tell me that you think I will be proud of you?”

“Oh, about that…” Natsu scratched his head as he bathed under the scorching midday sun.

“Are you planning to go to med school?” Porlyusica teased.

“What? No,” Natsu scrunches his face, shaking his head. He then stood up and dusted off the dirt on his pants, “But, still, I think you’ll be proud of me…in some sort of sense,”

Porlyusica just furrowed her brows before she shook her head and walked past him, “Come on, I think a cold iced tea will clear your head,”

Natsu shrugs as he follows his grandma. When they got to the kitchen, his baba immediately took care of him. She started pulling out light snacks and a cold drink, placing them on the kitchen island where her children usually sit to have snacks.

Being familiar with the routine, Natsu eased on the high stool and watched his grandmother do her thing. Once done, Natsu gave thanks for the food and started munching on the rice cakes, sushi, and cheesecakes.

“How’s your mom?” Porlyusica asked as she sat beside her mago, “I heard she had a difficult case a few days ago at the hospital.”

“Oh, yeah,” Natsu nods as he shoves a maki in his mouth, “I think she did a 53-hour shift before she got home. But she’s good. Wendy said everything was handled well, and mom’s having her adjusted leave,”

“Well, that’s good to hear. I probably should drop by your parents and see how everybody is,” Porlyusica then pours a glass of iced tea for Natsu and hands it to him. The pinkette bowed his head in gratitude before he chugged it down.

When done, Natsu satingly sighed and then grinned at his grandma, “Thanks, baba! These were delicious,”

Porlyusica teasingly rolls her eyes before she nods her head, “Alright, now get on with your purpose for today. What do you need?”

Natsu deeply inhaled and exhaled as if he was conjuring his courage before he turned to look at his grandmother. With his gesture, the older Marvell couldn’t help but be curious and raised a brow.

“Grandma, I’d like to get your blessing for the family’s engagement ring heirloom,” said Natsu, sternly looking at her. When his grandmother’s eyes grew big at the sudden request, Natsu suddenly swallowed the knot in his throat.

Having to request such a thing was indeed a surprise, and he wouldn’t blame his grandmother if she suddenly shouted and hit him on the head. He was being ridiculous, and he knows it. After all, he had not been in any serious relationship for the past few years. He’d gone out with a few ladies but never to the point that they went exclusive. He didn’t date for the sake of dating. He wanted a relationship that was meant for marriage. But it isn’t easy, especially if he only feels intimacy when there is that deep emotional connection between them. Hence, he had never introduced any woman to the family.

Now, hearing him requesting if he could have the family heirloom was mind-boggling because he didn’t have a girlfriend. It wouldn’t have been surprising if Gajeel asked it, but the man knew better than to do that. But here he is, asking for something the clan would probably disagree with giving him.

“Hold on,” Porlyusica mumbled after a long pause, raising a finger to hinder the pinkette from rambling, “You’re planning to purpose soon?”

Despite knowing the immediate answer, Natsu thought about what he would say, “Um, not so soon? But, yeah, I plan to get married,”

Porlyusica narrows her gaze at the young man. She tilts her head in confusion as she tries to figure out the man’s behavioral-tells, “You plan? So, not yet?”

Natsu nods.

“So, why are you asking for the engagement ring?”

“Because I’m planning—”

“No, no,” Porlyusica interrupts, shaking her head, “Let me change my question. Do you even have a girlfriend to propose to and plan to get married with?”

Natsu slowly puffed his chest before he heaved, “No, I don’t,”

Porlyusica scrunches her face in displeasure, “Then, let me ask you again,” she took a deep breath before she added, “Why are you asking for the engagement ring?”

Natsu sighed, sagging his shoulders in defeat, “Okay, I don’t have a girlfriend. But there is this girl that I really like and…”

Porlyusica tilts her head as she waits for the pinkette to resume. It is obvious the young man is nervous for some reason as if this is the first time he will say it out loud.

“…We’re not dating or anything. But there is no other girl that I’d like to spend the rest of my life with. The only problem I have is that I haven’t confessed to her because I’m afraid I’ll ruin everything between us. I’m scared that she’ll tell me that she doesn’t feel the same or that she doesn’t want to ruin our friendship and that she’d rather be friends than lose each other if the relationship didn’t work.”

They were then silent. Natsu fidgets with his fingers and keeps his eyes away from his grandmother. His grandmother was not always the apparent affectionate person, but she could easily read people and figure out the things troubling them.

Porlyusica slowly pours another glass of juice and slides it close to her grandson. When Natsu noticed the drink offered, he slowly grabbed it and sipped it.

“So, you think Lucy will reject you if you confess to her?”

Natsu alarmingly looked up at his grandmother, “I didn’t say it was Lucy,”

“I know,” Porlyusica nods her head before she turns away and grabs a drink for herself. She sipped gently and muttered into the glass, “But are you going to deny it?” she peered above it.

Natsu just shook his head before looking down at his lap.

“Let me give you some obvious advice, as your grandmother,” Porlyusica then waited for the pinkette to look up before she continued, “You might want to ask her first to be your girlfriend before you barge the question to her of getting married. I’m pretty sure all girls wouldn’t want to be spontaneously asked to get married to someone they are not in a relationship with, even if they are best of friends,”

“I’m not planning to ask her to get married soon. It’s more of a gesture,” Natsu then huffed, “I want to give the engagement ring to her for the idea that I see myself giving that precious heirloom to her. I entrust my life to her because she knows me better than anyone. I’m not going to tell her about it directly, but that’s the gesture. When I slowly build my case and confess to her how I really feel, then I’ll tell her about the meaning of entrusting the family heirloom to her,”

Porlyusica sighed in defeat. Sometimes, she wonders where the family gets their overly romantic gesture. Their romantic senses were either too much or too little. There is no in-between, making it challenging to communicate their intentions to other people.

“Fine, maybe I’ll consider your reason. But,” she raised a finger again, “you do know that the engagement ring has a magical background to it. Giving that ring is no simple gesture, as it was forged from our ancestor’s deep love,”

Natsu suddenly chortles, making his grandmother scowl at him. He was immediately slapped in the head, making him wince.

“Laugh all you want. But this family has taken that story seriously,”

Natsu guiltily looked at his baba, “Alright, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh at the idea. It just seems surreal that the ring is an eternal love ring and that my ancestor’s love forged it. I mean, is that even possible?”

“Well, because you, young people, have slowly forgotten what true love means,” Porlyusica sighs as she slowly remembers her husband. She then shook her head, “Love is more than just giving gifts, showing affection through kisses, and having that intense lust for one another. Love is both joy and pain. Nowadays, couples seem to find it easier to let go when things become difficult. Rather than work things out, couples find ways to get out immediately and find someone else. With that mindset, love almost becomes cheap as if it’s something easy to replace when it’s not.”

Natsu took in her words and ruminated on them, realizing that her words were probably rooted in her own experience.

His grandmother’s parents did not always favor his grandpa, as he was poor, and blamed him for hindering his grandmother from achieving her goals. Grandma always aspired to become a doctor, but when she got pregnant at the age of 23, she had to stop her studies and get married instead. But his grandfather did everything he could to uplift their living situation and enable his grandmother to study medicine again. Their life probably had a lot of difficulties and regrets thrown at each other, but they remained in love until his grandfather’s death.

“So, if I were to give you the blessing of having the engagement ring, I want you to be mindful of what the ring signifies in this family. Magic may not sound real, but this ring holds more mystical powers than we’ll ever comprehend. It may be just a fairy tale for us, but it shows its power when it’s needed,”

Natsu nods his head in understanding, “Alright, I understand. I guess I’ll try my best to tell her about those repercussions,”

“Make sure that you don’t put that ring on her unless you’re both prepared,”

Present day

Lucy stiffly smiles at Obaasan-Porlyusica as she hands over her cup of tea. This was not how she planned to start her week. How is it possible that obaasan always catches her off-guard? She always seems to know more about something happening between her and Natsu than she’ll ever know.

“This is a pleasant surprise, obaasan,” Lucy stated as she sat in front of the elder.

“You don’t have to be so kind with your words. I know I caught you by surprise by dropping by unannounced.” Porlyusica then shrugs, “If I were in your place, I would have been more unpleasant,”

Lucy awkwardly laughs, “No matter what, I don’t think I can treat you that way, obaasan,”

“I heard you calling Natsu,” Porlyusica takes a sip of her tea, “That says something,”

Lucy’s eyes widen in alarm, “Oh! Well, I wasn’t sure what this visit was about, so I thought of calling Natsu as he might be needed,”

“Well, he doesn’t necessarily need to be here. But since he’s on his way, I guess I’ll make use of his assistance to MDFU,”

“Oh, you’re going to the university?”

Porlyusica nods her head, “I have a board meeting with the graduate school there,”

“Ah, I see…” Lucy then exhaled in relief, “So, you’re just dropping by on the way—”

“Not really,” Porlyusica then gave a stern look at the blonde, “I’m here to talk to you,”

Lucy could feel her heart pound against her chest and her hand sweat. Just as she had thought again, this is not how I plan to start my week.

“Talk to me about what?” Lucy tried to smile innocently at the elder, but she knew her smile was just as crookedly uncertain as she felt.

“About the ring,” Porlyusica frankly answered before she looked down at Lucy’s hand. The blonde immediately pulled her hand back, fidgeting under the table.

“About the ring?” Lucy repeats nervously as she twists and turns the ring around her finger, “What about the ring?”

“Well, I’m curious how much you know about its history,” Porlyusica then tilts her head as she indicates the hidden ring, “Did Natsu tell you that it has a mystical background?”

“Oh…” Lucy internally sighs. Suddenly, she felt relieved, knowing that this was more of a fictional concern than something she was worried about, the truth. “Well, he mentioned that it was an eternal love ring and that it had some magical way of finding its eternal love or something like that,”

Porlyusica whined, obviously displeased that Natsu didn’t completely tell the story about the ring to Lucy. She vividly remembers warning that boy about the implications of giving that ring and that it shouldn’t be shown unless they were ready. But it seemed that the two weren’t.

“Do you mind me telling you the full story?” Porlyusica squints her eyes at the blonde, waiting for her to show disinterest and find an excuse not to go with it.

“Not all,” Lucy eagerly pulls her chair closer. If knowing the whole story was a way to figure out how to get the ring off, she’d need the complete details, “I’d love to know everything,”

Porlyusica suddenly hummed in interest at her response. She then clears her throat, pulling her chair closer as well.

“Well, it was a long, long time ago…”

Year x364

People said that the world was filled with magic back in the day when dragons still existed. Mages and witches lived among ordinary humans, and they lived harmoniously. Wars erupted occasionally, and mages, witches, and dragons worked together to protect people from evil elements. However, when a high clan of witches suddenly turned their backs on dragons and put an extinction curse on them, the mages waged a war against these witches. From then on, mages and witches had been in a constant feud, causing chaos and destruction whenever they made encounters.

The earthland was in constant battle. Groups of witches amplified their curse on the dragons. They made the existence of the dragons nearly forgotten by ordinary humans, making it impossible for the mages to keep the dragons' magic in the earthland. Years passed, and the witches succeeded as they finally made the dragons disappear from Earth, and every human being had forgotten their actual existence. People had merely considered them folklore creatures to entertain children as they put them to sleep.

Years passed; witches and mages remained indifferent and silently fought each other. The new generation of witches and mages were taught in their clans that they were each other’s enemies and that they should never mingle and be friends.

But in every mysterious way of the earthland, a young, clever man named Eriah and a powerful woman, Dahlia, suddenly encounter each other and fall in love without realizing who they are in their actual forms. As their love blossomed deeper, the mage and the witch pursued their relationship, dreamt about their future together, and decided to get married.

It was tradition to meet the woman’s family before asking for their hand in marriage. Eriah and his family approached Dahlia’s family to ask her parents’ permission to marry her formally. Only then did they realize their families were not meant to be as one. Eriah’s parents realized that Dahlia’s family was a clan of witches. At that revelation, the two were forbidden to see each other again and were forced to end their relationship.

Eriah and Dahlia were heartbroken by this, as a long history of dispute among their clans has hindered them from loving one another. But the two did not let that history destroy their relationship, and instead, loved one another secretly behind their families.

Years passed, and after the couple had secretly met each other, they were suddenly facing a new challenge. Dahlia was being forced to get married by her parents, and she didn’t know what to do to prevent it from happening. A few days before her wedding, Dahlia broke things off with Eriah, telling him to love someone else as she knew that there was no other choice for her but to concede to her parent’s order. Despite ending their love, Eriah gave Dahlia one last gift to symbolize his never-ending love.

It was a rose gold engagement ring adorned with light pink diamonds surrounding the padparadscha sapphire that was forged using a dragon’s fire breath. Eriah told her that the ring was embedded with magic, holding all of the love he had, disabling him from loving anyone else but her. Hearing his confession, Dahlia couldn’t help but plead with him to undo the magic, as she couldn’t allow him to suffer like that. But Eriah insisted that it was the only way for him to live and continue seeing her without dying inside, knowing she was someone else’s wife.

On the day of her wedding, Dahlia kept the ring close to her chest as she was dressed to get married. Without knowing to herself, she had started an enchantment and put a spell on the ring as she rubbed it.

“I will find my way back to my true love. He will always feel my love until we find each other again. And when we do, this ring will never come off until we pass this to our children and our children’s children…”

That day, Dahlia married a man she didn’t love. Years went by, and she tried her best to be kind and loving to her husband until one day, a deadly plague took her husband’s life, leaving her a widow.

As a widow, Dahlia lived her life independently and refused to be forced to get married again for the sake of her children. From that point on, she wore Eriah’s ring on her finger, hoping that her first love would protect her and help her raise her children with love.

When her children had grown up, they feared that their mother would live alone with no one to love beside her. Until one fateful day, Dahlia and Eriah met again, and all the love they had for one another quickly ran through their bodies, allowing them to remember what it felt like to be with someone they truly belonged to. Despite their old age, Dahlia and Eriah got married and loved one another until death tore them apart.

Lucy’s eyes suddenly sting, and a tear quickly rolls down her cheek. Porlyusica hands her a handkerchief, which surprised the young lady. At her offer, Lucy curiously accepted it while she wiped her cheek and was stunned that her face was wet with tears.

“Dahlia and Eriah’s love is both tragic and romantic all at the same time,” Lucy bafflingly comments, wiping her tears. She then looks down at the engagement ring sitting on her left ring finger, “Looking at this engagement ring makes me wonder if that story is ever true. The ring doesn’t look old or used by many generations as the diamonds and sapphire shine like it’s new,”

“It shines like that because it was said to be forged by a fire dragon king’s flame,” Porlyusica glances at the ring, and a soft smile appears on her lips, “Its color remains the same as the flames that had formed that sapphire keeps it bright and protected,”

Lucy looks up at the elder. She didn’t know if she had the heart to fully embrace the story of mages, witches, and dragons. But the story of Dahlia and Eriah seemed to be accurate enough that if she had been in their place and magic had existed, she might have done the same thing.

“I don’t blame you if it’s hard to believe that mages, witches, and dragons existed. After all, that was the curse of the witches. No one was meant to remember that they existed, and people were taught to believe they were just fictional creatures. Only a few, most likely descendants of mages, believe in such legends as a way to bring back the magic of dragons. But if that story is hard to take in, it’s likely hard to accept the idea of enchanting a ring that leads you to your eternal love either.”

Lucy was quiet as Porlyusica understood precisely what was running in her mind. She wanted to embrace the story as something real, but a part of her found the story too unrealistic and superficial.

Finding your eternal love seemed impossible and unreal in this time and age. People nowadays would say they had seen the love of their life, only to find them a year after filing for a divorce. It seems unreal for a ring to hold such power, to hold one’s emotions of love for someone and keep it safe until they meet each other again. It was just too superficial to be authentic in reality.

“I don’t mean to be rude, obaasan. I’ll be honest. Hearing about magic, witches, and dragons as if they were real seems like a joke.” Porlyusica raised a brow at the blonde, but she continued, “But the kind of love that Dahlia and Eriah had is real to me. Their love for each other and the pain of letting go of their love, only to be destined together by the end of their lifetime, is something I can believe in. So, maybe I believe in the power of loving someone. But not on the ring,”

Porlyusica sighs, nodding her head as she accepts the blonde’s thoughts. “Well, that is more important rather than believing about the ring itself. Sometimes, it’s those stories that give inanimate objects hold magic. As long as you believe in that kind of love, then maybe it will reveal itself to you in its unique way,”

The two then fell into a comfortable silence. Porlyusica watched the young lady admire the ring as if contemplating the meaning of having the ring on her finger. The elder asks her, “Do you find yourself having that kind of love?”

Lucy astonishingly glances at the older pinkette as if she was caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to do. But the woman just gazed at her expectantly but didn’t want to force her either.

“I um…I don’t know…” Lucy softly mutters, returning her attention to the engagement ring, “Sometimes I feel like I’m in love with him whenever we’re together. But at the same time…” She shook her head as she tried to gather her thoughts, “he makes me wonder if he ever feels the same, or it’s just me,”

Lucy then realizes the words she was rambling about and abruptly looks up at the elder for fear that she understood more than she should. But Porlyusica remained still and held no expression, which made it hard for her to figure out what was running inside her head.

“Obaasan—”

“Don’t worry. Your words are safe with me,” suddenly, surprising the blonde, Porlyusica grabbed her hand and gave a gentle but assuring squeeze, “One day, everything will clear out for you, and you’ll look back at this moment realizing it was the start of something unreal,”

Before Lucy could respond, a loud knocking on the front door startled the blonde. She glances over her shoulder at the general direction of her front door. When the knocking repeated and Natsu suddenly called out her name, Lucy knew it was time to end the storytelling.

“It’s Natsu. I should probably let him in,” Lucy said as she softly smiled at the elder before heading towards the front door.

Walking down the hall of the Hippocrates Building in Magnolia De Fiore University, Porlyusica held to her grandson’s forearm at his insistence. The elder hasn’t said anything to the young man ever since arriving at Lucy’s place.

Natsu frantically arrived at Lucy’s place, heaving after running from his house. He quickly questioned Lucy about what had happened, but the blonde only said that obaasan had told her a story. He couldn’t help but raise a brow at his best friend, but the woman just shrugged it off and said there was no need to panic after all.

When Porlyusica instructed Natsu to accompany her to the university, the pinkette immediately agreed as he thought that he needed to figure out what kind of story his grandmother had to tell Lucy. He was nervous that his grandmother might have told Lucy the truth or even mentioned anything about him asking for the ring. He wasn’t prepared yet to handle that confrontation because he feared what disaster could happen next.

But despite his frustration, Porlyusica didn’t give her grandson the satisfaction of getting answers. Natsu relentlessly asked her about what story was told or if she said anything about the reason why he got the engagement ring in the first place. Porlyusica just glared and rolled her eyes at her grandson until he understood it as a sign to shut up.

When they arrived at the university, Natsu relatively gave up on getting answers from his grandmother. His grandmother was way more stubborn than he was. No matter how much he pleaded, he could never get his grandmother to talk.

“I didn’t tell her,” Porlyusica finally uttered, getting the lad's attention. When he looked at her, stunned, she continued, “But she needed to hear the story to figure out this whole thing happening between the two of you,”

“There’s nothing between me and Lucy,” Natsu defensively replies, earning a glare from the elder, “I mean, there is nothing yet. I haven’t even started any of my plans,”

Porlyusica suddenly hits the pinkette in the head, making him recoil and wince.

“Baba!” Natsu bellowed, stepping away from his grandmother, “That really hurts,”

“Well, it should!” Porlyusica then points at him, “You should have known better than to give the ring to her immediately! I told you not to give it to her unless you’re both ready—"

“Technically!” Natsu then shut his mouth, pursing his lips as he realized that he was about to slip about Lucy’s lie. No one in his family knew about it. And even if his grandmother knew that he was planning to give the ring to Lucy, she knew nothing about the whole fake engagement.

“Technically, what?”

“Um…technically…” Natsu swallows down the growing knot in his throat, “I thought I was ready?”

Porlyusica grunts before walking away. She quickened her steps and grumbled all the way. Natsu rushed to her side and tried to redeem himself.

“Okay, I’m sorry that I didn’t follow your advice. I know I shouldn’t have given her that ring yet. But, I thought it was the perfect timing,”

“Timing?” Porlyusica nearly shouted, “You proposed to her on a Ferris wheel and nearly puked on her just to get her to say yes. Are you even thinking in the first place?”

Natsu was baffled, staring at his grandmother in confusion. He then remembered that was the story Lucy told her about the proposal, “Right…Ferris wheel…yep, it was…” Natsu shook his head repeatedly as he scolded himself internally, “the perfect timing,”

“Natsu Dragion Marvell Dragneel, you listen to me,” Porlyusica points her finger at the pinkette again, “Get your shit together if you want your engagement to work. Don’t make Lucy doubt about her feelings just because you couldn’t man up to handle what true love is,”

Natsu was left wide-eyed as his grandmother walked away and entered a room. He was left baffled and uncertain of what to do with his grandmother’s advice.

Don’t make Lucy doubt her feelings? What does that even mean?

Standing by the entryway to the pool, Lucy squinted her eyes as she stared at where their actress was posing for their magazine cover. Her gaze was directed at that point, but her thoughts were definitely elsewhere.

As Levy walks up and stands next to her, the blunette quickly notices her best friend’s far-away gaze. She looked in the same direction and saw the green-haired actress bending her back over a lounge chair, accentuating her designer clothes.

Levy raised a brow at the unbelievable and uncomfortable position of the actress, “Mystique is greatly flexible, but I’m pretty sure it’s not about her bending that is making you scrunch your face,” she then glanced at the blonde.

Lucy startles out of her thoughts and fixes her attention to the blunette, “I’m sorry, I’m just…a little distracted,”

“About what?”

“Nothing important,” Lucy jolts her shoulders, trying to be nonchalant, but the stiffness of her shoulders tells something else.

“Hmm,” Levy moans in doubt, “I don’t believe you. Your face,” she gestures the shape of her face with her finger, “tells me that you have some troubling thoughts, and you want to talk about it, but you’re unsure of how to say it,”

Lucy’s eyes grew wide. She then exaggeratedly covers her mouth with her hand before moving it down to her chest, “Since when were you a mind-reader, Levy-chan?”

The blunette couldn’t help but roll her eyes, “Really?” she said stolidly before sighing, “But seriously, Lu-chan, what’s on your mind?”

Dropping her act, she sighed and looked away. She thought about it again, and her mind wandered to the story Porlyusica had told her. She had that plaguing feeling about the story, how authentic it was in every aspect, but her mind was too rational to believe in the idea that dragons and magic existed. There was just no proof of existence to make the story sound sane.

“Do you believe in magic, Levy-chan?” Lucy finally spoke, turning back to her friend. She had a confused expression and obviously wasn’t expecting her question.

Levy opened her mouth to respond but then closed it as she doubted, getting caught off guard by the topic. “Well, I find magic as an entertaining talent in shows…” She said, sounding unsure on how to tackle the question, “But believing it as real, maybe not. It’s more of an illusion trick,”

Lucy shook her head, “No, not that kind of magic. I mean, the idea that people had actual magic abilities, like summoning fire, or manipulating metals, controlling elements, like wind or snow—”

“Like X-Men kind of thing?” Levy questioned, more bewildered by the topic they were on, “Like Wanda Maximoff kind? Or Magneto?”

Lucy deadpanned on her, “No, not that kind…well, sort of,” she then shook her head. Even herself, she didn’t know what she was talking about, “Forget it,” she said, sighing in defeat.

Levy rattled a little at the blonde’s dismissive response, “No-no-no, okay, sorry. I’m just a little confused about what it has to do with what’s bothering you. I mean, are you seriously thinking about people having the ability to wield magic? Because that idea sounds completely fictional to me.” Levy shrugs her shoulders, “It would be cool or something, but I don’t think it’s possible…I mean, biologically speaking, I don’t think people have that kind of DNA,”

Lucy took in her friend’s words. She had the same sentiment. It was so impossible for people to have magic, especially to be born with it. It was also ludicrous that people had just forgotten that magic could exist within a person and made it into a childhood fairytale story. Although, she wouldn’t say the same for witchcraft. There are a lot of rural stories about women practicing that, which served as a warning for city people to be polite and friendly to them when visiting their town.

But why was she so keen to believe Porlyusica’s story? Why does it feel like it was necessary to accept and embrace that story? It was too unreal.

“I guess you’re right…” Lucy muttered, looking down at her polished toenails, “Magic is not true,”

Levy hesitantly touched her arm as an assurance, “I think what is more believable is that feeling of joy when something happens to us, like a sense of miracle or that moment we consider magical. I think that is real,”

She nodded her head, but she was still bothered about the story. She had no strength to dismiss the idea, but her mind just couldn’t wrap around the concept.

“So,” Lucy tentatively glances at the blunette, “If some old lady hands you an eternal love ring and says that ring will guide you in finding your true love, would you believe it?”

“I probably won’t,” said Levy, quickly shaking her head in disagreement, “I mean, finding our true love takes much effort and dating, and not some ring will do that for you,”

Lucy pursed her lips, “Right, of course…” She then looked away and watched the actress do a bridge, this time by the edge of the pool.

Why is it hard not to believe that story?

Sitting next to Levy on the couch, they began their interview with Mystique. She was an upcoming new star, being featured in films and showing her range of acting skills. She is a beautiful woman who has distinct green hair. Her slender body and womanly features make her stand out, but it’s her acting prowess that makes people talk about her.

Lucy and Levy then focused their interview on her experience of coming to the film industry after working in a corporate field. They had at least spent two hours talking and conversing about it and other goals and aspirations she had as an upcoming actress, as well as what else she still wanted to do.

By the time it was half an hour past 5 in the afternoon, they had wrapped up their interview and invited the whole team for an early dinner. They were chattering in the restaurant when Lucy suddenly received a call. In excusing herself to the group, she stepped out of the restaurant and answered it.

“Hello,”

“Hi, Luce,”

They were then silent. They really hadn’t talked yet after having that argument over the weekend.

“What do you need, Natsu?” she asked coldly, though she immediately regretted it for being a little bit harsher than she intended, “I’m a little occupied right now. I’m having dinner with Mystique for the post-interview session,”

“Oh…” Natsu then trails off, unsure how to proceed, “Well, I uh…just wanted to check up on you,”

“Whatever for?” Lucy curiously questioned, raising a brow.

“Well, uh…we just haven’t been able to talk after our argument. I mean, we saw each other this morning, but…we haven’t just—”

“Natsu—”

“Yeah?”

Lucy was then stunned at his abrupt response. He knew he was rambling, and he welcomed her interruption gladly. But quickly shutting up left her unsure of what she wanted to say to him.

“Um…” Lucy gulps down the lump in her throat, “Maybe we can talk some other time. I’ll let you know when I’m available,”

“Right, yeah, sure…” Natsu paused for a moment, and Lucy quickly knew that he wanted to press on but knew better than to be pushy about it, “Take care, Luce. I’ll wait for your call,”

“Thanks, bye, Natsu,”

Lucy waited for a second and just listened to his breathing when suddenly he quietly mumbled, “Bye, Luce,” and then the call ended.

Striding early to work, Lucy came in, preoccupied with all the tasks she needed to do. She was mentally enlisting the things she needed to complete before midday arrived. So, when she reached their floor level, she nearly jumped when Coco called on her.

“Ah, Lucy-sama, look!”

Lucy clutched onto her folders as she tumbled to a stop. She bewilderedly stared at the receptionist and tried to slow down her pounding heart.

“Wah…” She trails off before she exhales out loud, letting her nervousness get out of her system. “Good morning to you too, Coco,” Lucy subtly reminded the receptionist of the proper way of greeting, earning a sheepish look from the young woman.

“Sorry, Lucy-sama. Good morning to you, too. I’m just really excited because something arrived for you,” the receptionist giddily crunched down to pick up something. When she stood up, she carried a large set of sunflowers arranged on a beautiful vase. “This came in just a few minutes ago,”

“For me?” Lucy bafflingly gazed at the beautiful arrangement, “Did it say who gave it?”

Coco looked around the vase for a minute and spotted a small envelope stuck on the side, “The courier didn’t say who gave it, but there is an envelope here,”

Lucy walked up to the receptionist and warily admired the flowers. When Coco handed the envelope, she slowly pulled out the card. It had a generic message of ‘Have a beautiful day!’ in a usual script font. When she turned the card around, a sudden feeling of surprise and then admiration filled her chest.

“I hope this could brighten your day, Luce.
Shine like the sun that you are.
-Natsu”

“I guess someone special gave it to you,” Coco suddenly commented as she noticed the widening smile on Lucy’s face.

The blonde looked at her abruptly and timidly tried to conceal her smile behind the flowers, but then the reddening of her cheeks gave her away.

“I’m assuming it’s your fiancé?” Coco then wiggled her eyebrows before she briefly glanced at Lucy’s sparkling ring.

Lucy follows her gaze and then notices the sudden spark of her ring. Before she could comment on it, Coco suddenly giggles, stealing her attention.

“I know you haven’t announced to everybody your new status, but I’ve read a ton of articles, and this is the first time I’ve seen real-time about your love life,”

Lucy gawked at their receptionist again as it suddenly dawned on her that her workplace was obviously going to get the gossip about her engagement.

“Right, yeah…” Lucy awkwardly laughed, “I do have a fiancé…”

Coco giddily squealed before she clasped a hand over her lips, trying to muffle her excitement, “This is so sweet. I envy you,”

Lucy couldn’t help but sarcastically chuckle before she picked up the vase. She then muttered to their receptionist, “I don’t think you should,” and then she left, heading for her office.

“Good morning, Lu!” Levy greets as she swings the door open to Lucy’s office. As soon as she stepped in, a large bouquet of sunflowers caught her eye, which made her gasp in amazement. “Who gave you this?”

Lucy hummed in thought, looking up at her best friend. When she saw her amusingly staring at the flowers, she gave a glance at the flowers before she sighed in defeat.

“It’s just Natsu,” She casually replies, returning her attention to her write-up.

“Natsu?” Levy inquiringly repeats, furrowing a brow, “He’s taking his role seriously, huh?”

“Role?” Lucy curiously questioned before she realized what the blunette was talking about, “Oh, no. He’s just apologizing for last weekend,”

“So, I guess you two haven’t made up yet,” Levy shrugs her shoulders before she walks away to take her seat on the couch, “Any luck of reconciling? I heard from Gajeel that you and your family met with the Dragneels, having dinner, somewhat breaking the news,”

Lucy couldn’t help but heaved depressively before hitting her head against her desk. She then muttered, “Please don’t remind me. I’m more stuck now in this sham I’ve made. Pulling my best friend into this and asking him to lie to his family just to save my family from disgrace,” she then sat up straight, squeaking her chair at the sudden movement, “And to make it worse, my fake fiancé and I have a tiff because of a past issue that he can’t overlook,”

Levy purses her lips, making Lucy look at her with disdain, “What?”

“Nothing,” Levy shrugged and shook her head, but then the blonde gave her a pointed look. Groaning in defeat, she concedes, “I’m just thinking that maybe you both are still holding a grudge about the past and that you are just sweeping it under the rug all the time instead of talking it out,”

Lucy gawps at her best friend, “I am not brushing it off. It’s Natsu who has been holding it against me like it’s wrong for me to like a guy without his permission,”

“But you also blame him for being the reason why you and Raito broke up,” Levy points out, too, making the blonde roll her eyes and mutter to herself. “Just because Natsu was the last person he talked to doesn’t mean he convinced him to break you both up. Did you even ask Natsu what they talked about?”

“I don’t have to know,” Lucy mumbled irately without looking at her best friend. She was getting pissed about the whole ordeal, but she didn’t know who to direct her anger to. “I’ll be just hurt all over again,”

“And maybe that is why you both still have that past issue around you guys,” Levy slowly stood up and approached her to wrap an arm around her shoulder, “How about giving it a chance to talk about it? So that you both can close that chapter?”

“It’s too painful, Levy-chan,” Lucy whispered as she sniffed up her sobs, “I don’t think I can talk about that yet,”

Levy could only sigh in defeat, “Well, if you did have a real relationship with Natsu, I think this would be one of your reasons to break up,”

Lucy looked up at her best friend alarmingly and was about to retort. But then she immediately reminded herself that there was no point in worrying about a breakup because she and Natsu were nothing close to being lovers.

“Right, yeah…” Lucy then looks away and stares at the flowers, “I guess we’re lucky we’re not for real,”

Levy quietly groans and rolls her eyes but squeezes Lucy’s shoulder in assurance.

As Enno leads the meeting in the conference room, Lucy and Levy’s team were there to discuss their updates about the upcoming April issue. They were still having a debate about who their main cover would be, between Mystique and Sherry Blendy.

When the door to the conference room opened, a few of the members looked in the door’s direction and saw Chico enter with two large bags of egg drop sandwiches while Coco carried two hand-carry coffee cups.

“Coffee and sandwiches, everyone,” Coco chimed, delightfully stealing everyone’s attention by bringing in some food. Everyone in the conference cooed in amusement as they were handed each a sandwich and coffee.

“Enno-sama, I didn’t know we’d have such snacks every meeting,” Laki happily comments as she grabs her Iced Americano and sips gladly, “I think I’d always want to have a meeting if we’d have free food like this all the time,”

Everyone laughed, but Enno raised a brow after. “I didn’t order this up. I didn’t have the time to request a food budget for this meeting,” the chief editor then glanced at the two staff assistants, “Where did the food come from?”

“Oh, it was delivered here by the café across,” Coco blushed as she realized that she hadn’t inquired too much about who gave the food.

Lucy and Levy looked at each other curiously before looking back at the assistants.

“Did they say who ordered it?” Lucy questioned before looking back at the snacks before her. She then realized her drink was different from the others. It’s an iced Earl Gray tea latte, and there is only one person who orders it for her.

“From what I heard from the delivery guy, it was from Summer,” Chico shrugs her shoulders, “I don’t know anybody with the name Summer,”

Lucy suddenly chortles before she can control herself. When everyone glanced at her, she bashfully stared back before she waved her hand in dismiss.

“Sorry, sorry, nothing’s funny,” She then gulps down the laughter that’s about to come up, “I know someone with the name Summer,”

Levy curiously stared at the blonde and subtly nudged her with her elbow, “Who?” she whispered.

When everyone’s attention was back to the meeting, Lucy glanced at Levy and answered, “He has pink hair—oh wait, no, salmon pink hair,” she then grinned, looking away as she felt glee bubble up her chest.

When the meeting had ended, half an hour before her time out, Lucy grabbed the opportunity to call someone. At the first ring, she hears his voice.

“Hey, Luce, what’s up?”

Lucy softy smiles at his voice, “Thanks for the free food, Natsu,”

“Oh! Great, was it good?”

Lucy hummed in agreement and then started pacing in the garden, “How’d you know we would be in a meeting?”

“Actually, I didn’t know. I just assumed you were with your team today,” Natsu said, and some rattling of papers was heard on his side.

“You know you didn’t have to do that, right? Sending me flowers is a clear apology request from you…” Lucy then bites her lower lip as she hears Natsu stop from moving around, “And I accept your apology,”

“Oh, thank God,” Natsu uttered in exhalation, making the blonde chuckle at his exaggeration.

“Why do you sound like I won’t forgive you or something?”

“I hate it when we’re in a silent war. I get agitated when I don’t hear your voice,” Natsu admits wholeheartedly as he sounded pacing as well, “It feels weird not to talk to you, and I don’t like the fact that you’re annoyed with me.”

Lucy stopped pacing as soon as Natsu admitted that. She was frozen on her spot as she felt her heart pounding. She hated when Natsu told her things like this. Her heart always betrays her to feel tingly every time he says something as sweet as that.

“I, uh… I guess we should have a one-on-one talk, Natsu—”

“Definitely! How about tonight? Let’s go to our spot and have dinner under the stars,” Natsu says with a grin on his lips, “What time should I pick you up?”

Lucy quickly snaps out of her thoughts, “You don’t have to pick me up. I can meet you up there,”

“I’ll get the food and pick you up,”

“No, don’t,” Lucy quickly replies, panicking a little.

“Uh, why not?”

“Because!” Lucy incoherently reasons out, earning a groan from the pinkette.

“That’s not an excuse, Luce. I’m picking you up,”

“Natsu, no. People might start assuming you are my fiancé. The office knows about the news, but they have no idea who, so don’t,”

“But I am you’re fiancé,”

Lucy rolls her eyes as she grumbles at his words, “Natsu, just don’t. For your sake,”

Natsu whined in disagreement, “Ehh, we’ll see.”

“Natsu—!” The call then ended, startling the blonde as she had no assurance that the pinkette was not coming over. As she stared, gapping at her phone, she could only think about how doomed she would be.

As her colleagues, one by one, bid goodbye, Lucy happily waved at them and watched them head home. Her call with Natsu had left her fretting and made her organize her desk. She didn’t know whether to anticipate him or go with the plan to head to the park on her own. Left being indecisive, she opted to clean up and wait a little.

As the clock strikes 5:00, half an hour beyond her official time, Lucy decides to leave and meet up with Natsu as planned. When she leaves her office, she sees a few of her colleagues standing by the receptionist area, smiling and giggling as someone obviously led a funny conversation.

Furrowing her brows, Lucy cautiously walked up to the group when suddenly she heard a familiar loud and boisterous laughter. The group suddenly splits up, revealing a pink-haired man laughing his heart out while her colleagues laugh with him.

“Natsu?”

“Oh! Lucy!” Natsu cheerily stood up and beamed at her sight, “Are you ready?”

People around them started cooing to tease the two. Lucy instantly blushed at their teasing and bewilderedly glared at the pinkette.

“Lucy-san, are you going on a date with Natsu-san?” Coco asked before she gasped out loud, “Wait a minute!”

Lucy eyed the young assistant and astonishingly stared at her. She held her breath as she hoped that the receptionist wouldn’t connect Natsu’s presence to the flowers and coffee.

“Doesn’t Natsu mean—"

“Ah! Natsu, we better go!” Lucy cuts off frantically and grabs the pinkette’s sleeves, “They said there’s heavy traffic today in Magnolia!”

“Huh? Really?” Natsu confusingly muttered before he yelped as Lucy dragged him to the elevator. As they slipped inside, the girls were chuckling at their abrupt departure and waved them off.

As soon as the elevator closed, Lucy punched Natsu’s arm, causing him to yelp in surprise.

“What was that for?!”

“For picking me up,” Lucy grumbles, slumping back to the elevator.

Natsu chuckled at the blushing blonde, “You are really weird. I think you’re the only engaged woman who greets her fiancé with a punch,”

Lucy threw a glare at the man, “I can punch you again,”

“Ohh, you make me fall in love with you more, Luce,” Natsu teased, smirking at the fuming blonde when she suddenly pulled a punch, “Ow…”

“As promised, triple cheese, bacon, and beef burger for you,” Natsu announced as he pulled the meal out of the paper bag, “And a large cup of mango milkshake,”

Lucy beamed as she took the meal from the man, “Thank you,” she chimed happily and quickly unwrapped the burger, “Where’s my fries?”

“Fries?” Natsu questioned before he pulled out another paper bag, “Or Nacho fries?”

“Ah! I love you!” Lucy snatches the food and quickly picks up a cheesy dressed fry. She moaned in delight as she took that bite.

Natsu couldn’t help but smile at the blonde and amusingly watch her eat. As Lucy continued to munch on her food with great enthusiasm, Natsu shook his head in amused disbelief and started pulling out food for himself.

“If anyone hears you eat like that, they’d think you’re being indecent in the park,” Natsu joked, earning a scoff from the blonde.

“Well, excuse me if I am having a moment with my burger,”

They both chuckled before they fell silent and contently ate their food. When they were satisfied with their eagerness to eat, they finally broke into conversation.

“So, just to make sure, we’re good, right?” Natsu paused his eating and watched the blonde, “Like there is no bad blood between us anymore?”

Lucy bounces her shoulders in uncertainty, “I wouldn’t say we’re all good because obviously there are some issues we haven’t resolved,”

“Then—"

“But I’m not ready to have that discussion yet. For now, I’d prefer to make a truce with you and pin on that issue for a later time.” Lucy then offers her hand, “Friends?”

Natsu stares at her hand, “Just friends?” He innocently asks as he slips his hand into hers and gently squeezes it.

Lucy knew what he meant, but that didn’t stop her from being stunned. Just friends?

“Why? Is there anything more between us?” Lucy asked back, trying to sound teasing, but with Natsu’s serious expression, she couldn’t help but gulp down the nervousness she felt.

“Well, you’re still wearing my engagement ring, and your family still knows that I’m your fiancé. So maybe?”

Lucy and Natsu stared at each other for a long time until a cold wind breezed through them, making the blonde shiver. This breaks their trance, and Natsu suddenly chuckles.

“I’m just teasing, Luce. There is no need to plan on how to punch me again,” he then pulled off his scaly scarf and wrapped it around Lucy’s neck.

Throughout the gesture, Lucy felt her cheeks warm up. She hoped he’d think it was because of the cold wind rather than his way of taking care of her.

 When Natsu finished tucking her in his warm scarf, he gave her his signature grin and said, “Perfect, now you won’t get cold.”

To be continued…