In Thaniel's POV

Thaniel turned his head and he saw her, Violet. During the entire month, he had always seen her near him. He looked frantically around for a place to hide. None.

“Stupid place,” he hissed to himself. He sees her coming. She is wearing a brown shirt over a knee length dress. Her black hair hung down to her shoulders like rain. She was beautiful, yes, but in Thaniel’s eyes, she was nothing but a stalker.

Violet smiled and asked him, “What are you doing, Thaniel? Did you lose something?”

He looked around, thinking of some way to get away from this girl. “Um . . . yeah . . . wait, no. What are you doing here?”

Violet took his stutter as a misunderstanding and she smiled sweetly at him and answered with a lovesick tone, “I came here to get some flowers for my vase I got from my mother. Do you want some?”

Thaniel shook his head almost immediately, “No, I shouldn’t. They’re your flowers and your money, not mine.”

She pulled out a few roses and tulips and gave it to him. “Here, go on, take it, I don’t mind.” Violet kept her hand up and steady.

With the urge to get away, he said, “Sure,” and took the flowers into his hands. “I gotta go,” Thaniel walked away in the direction she wasn’t going. “I’ll see you later.”

But she turned around and ran to him. “Are you going to the festival tomorrow?” she asked.

The festival! He never thought she’d ask him that. “I’m not so sure,” he answered. “I might not. I’ll have to ask my parents.” Half of it was a lie. Of course he wasn’t sure, but if he asked his parents, they would most likely let him go.

The disappointment was visible in her eyes. “Oh. Then I’ll see you later. I hope you go. I’d really like to see you there.” Translation: I really like you and I’d like to ask you to be with me during the festival. And she left with her flowers and one hundred percent disappointment and a teeny glimpse of hope, very teeny.

Thaniel didn’t dare look back; for fear that she might follow him around again. When he thinks he’s far enough from her, Thaniel stops and looked down at the unexpected flowers he’d receive.

He moaned, “What am I going to do with these?” Of course he was planning to go to the festival tomorrow, but now his mind is undecided. He wanted to meet this girl he really liked. The first time he saw her in the fabric store his parents own, he wanted to be with her, know her. Her name was Ilexa and he kept that name close to him. She had asked his mother for a design of a dress. She had offered a lot of money, but his mother had only taken a little of the share. “Money is nothing I yearn for,” Thaniel’s mother had said to Ilexa, “Only enough to care for my

family.” Of course the money Ilexa offered was way too much for them. But determined as she might, Ilexa slyly snuck her money into their keep and left it there. Thaniel didn’t notice until it was too late. She also left a note there for them: “I can never thank you as much. Money buys nothing, only objects. But in hopes that I am sure to pay you back, I have left my mark. Please be not angry with me. If there is anything else I could do, inform me and I will do as you wish.” Her note ended with her significant signature and a smiley face.

Finally deciding to go to the shop, he walked back. He looked around for any sign of Violet. Finding none, he lessened his muscles and the urge to run whenever needed.

The fabric shop wasn’t as far as he thought it would be. He walked in through the front door with the flowers still in hand; and there, the girl, talking with his mother. And another one, walking around and admiring every silk and fabric. She was more beautiful, but nothing could keep his eyes from Ilexa. She was his heart’s only desire, only need.

“Oh, hi, son,” his mother greeted him, turning Ilexa’s attention to him. “Come speak to Ilexa while I go get her dress.” And with that, she left and went to the back of the room. Thaniel could do nothing but stand there as Ilexa scanned the room. He stole a glance at the other girl; she seemed to be smiling from the look on the side of her face. Finally he took up the nerve to walk to Ilexa.

She noticed him walking and smiled and waited for him as he came closer.

“Good evening,” she started first, “I never had the chance to know your name.”

He cleared his throat and answered, “I’m Thaniel. You mark is quite large. My mother was grateful, and she finally bought a bracelet and necklace she really wanted.”

“I’m glad. Though, you have to understand that it wasn’t a donation because I felt sympathetic. I don’t want others to get upset at me because they thought me as a mangy, wealthy person. Truth is, it was my entire allowance. My family is not at all wealthy, but it does not matter to me. I wanted to save it, but others had encouraged me to buy something nice to wear and go to the festival,” she blinked toward the girl at the other end. Thaniel immediately knew that she was one of the others.

“Have you not gone to the other festivals over the few years?” Thaniel was curious. He hasn’t seen her in the other festival’s he’s been to.

Her answer explained everything. “No. I stayed home with my family.”

Just then, his mother entered the room again with a flat box in her hands. “I’m back!” she shrieked, embarrassing him in front of Ilexa. She handed her the box but then yanked it away. “Here, let Thaniel walk you home and carry this for you. You don’t know how the streets are like these days.”

“Thank you, uh,” Ilexa muttered.

Thaniel’s mother over-joyfully shoved the box into his hands. Reacting on instincts, he quickly gave the flowers to Ilexa and held the box steady.

Ilexa glanced at the girl She nodded approval and Ilexa smiled. A friendship conversation he was not supposed to know.

His mother pushed them both forward.

“Um . . . Shall we get going?” he asked.

Ilexa bowed her head in respect and headed out first, with Thaniel very close behind her. He took note of her floral scent. Her hair was a beautiful burgundy color and her skin seemed

soft to the touch but her resisted the will to reach out and touch her. The way she walked was swift, as if carefully choreographed. She slowed so that he could catch up and he took the opportunity to do so.

“Your mother is very kind,” she noted to him.

He shrugged a little and smirked, “She has her ways. She always says that love and happiness is the one and only cure to anything unpleasant.”

A short moment of silence and Ilexa asked, “Do you believe that?”

“I’m not so sure. I guess I still have time to find out,” Thaniel answered, staring down at the box his mother handed him. She was still holding the flowers. He blinked. He finally knew what he was going to do with the flowers.

Slowly, so as to not startle him, she slowed her pace.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. At once, he thought he’d said something that had offended her. “Did I say something?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s just that my home is not far from here. And my friend, Lily is coming to meet me so I’d better go.”

“Let me walk you all the way home,” he suggested too quickly with a hint of determination.

She smiled, expecting that kind of answer from him. “Thank you,” she whispered and then said louder, “If you insist.”

Thaniel cleared his throat again and said, “Ladies first.”

Together, they both walked on the road leading to her house. They talked about home and themselves.

Though Thaniel dreaded the thought of leaving, they finally reached her home.

“Thank you so much again,” she said to him in the softest voice he’d ever heard and he blushed. She giggled. “I’d better get inside.”

She handed him the flowers but he didn’t hesitate to answer, “You keep it. It’ll be better with you. Besides, I’d like you to keep it safe for me” A bead of sweat secretly streamed down the back of his skull. He opened the box and she gently placed them on a piece of cloth. Her dress was carefully wrapped by his mother. Thaniel smiled, his mother was always a careful little mouse. When the flowers lay still, he closed the box and gave it to Ilexa. His hand lightly touched hers and nearly melted to the ground.

“I’d like to know,” he struggled for words, “if you’d like to come to the festival with me tomorrow. I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“I will go to the festival and I was planning to spend it with my family. But, I would love to go with you. Tomorrow night, meet me at the entrance. You will see me there, I promise,” she assigned.

Thaniel was so delightful, he could dance and laugh and sing to a song he hated as much as he hated the nightmares that haunted his childhood.

“And I will be there waiting,” he said. He took her hand gently and planted the sweetest kiss on the back of her hand. “Tomorrow night,” he said sweetly.

“Bye,” she said and he walked away with a final squeeze on her hand.