My Fiancée Hates Me

The annual festival was a three day event. My mother and father would be attending on the first day. During the time, it would stretch over the weekend and over a holiday at the beginning of next week. I asked to meet Garett in the morning with a bit of time before they would let in tourists. For one hour, the stalls were specifically for the students.

"Did you wait long?" I asked Garett who was standing at our meeting spot twenty minutes before our supposed meeting time. "I tried to get here earlier, but curling my hair took longer than usual." Charlotte and Grace helped curl my hair slightly and added a large red bow on the back of my head.

"It was a good thing that I arrived earlier," Garett said as he brushed his fingers through the ends of my hair. My heart began beating very fast. "The men around here would have swarmed around you if I were not here."

"D-Does this style look good on me?" I asked as I looked up at him expectingly.

He avoided my gaze for some reason.

"...Exceedingly well," he mumbled.

I am so glad that I changed my hair for today.

"Thank you..."

We soon began walking side by side around the stalls. Garett was a bit silent for the most part, but I find his silence a bit charming in its own way. If I had anything I wanted to complain about, I wanted to hold his hand the whole time.

It is not like I never held a hand before. The act of asking to hold his hand was a bit embarrassing to the me even though I was once married before.

Being a teenager again is a rather strange feeling. I feel like I could almost be overwhelmed by my feelings alone. The number of things that I want only continue increasing.

I know that I am being cherished, but I want more...

Before I knew it, I was reaching my hand out towards Garett's hand.

"Lady Arielle!" a female called out to me.

"Yes?" I answered as I quickly snapped my hand back behind my head.

Was I in trouble with the disciplinary committee for wanting to hold Garett's hand?

A group of female underclassmen quickly surrounded me.

"Lady Arielle, is this man bothering you?" one of them whispered.

Bothering?

"What makes you say that?" I asked them.

"We saw you walking beside him in silence with a distressed look on your face for some time," another one said.

I cannot exactly say that I was perplexed about how to go about holding Garett's hand...I would die from the embarrassment. "H-He is my significant other," I said in a soft voice.

Garett seemed pretty happy from my proclamation seeing as though he had covered up his mouth to hide his smile. "No way!" the underclassmen said in unison.

"His glasses are thick and plain!" an underclassman said.

"His hair is black and lacks style!" another underclassman complained.

Garett had the same face as Prince Erik, but the difference in treatment from our peers were like night and day.

I could say that his face was refined and the bridge of his nose was straight, or his eyelashes were long and full, or his skin was white and beautiful like porcelain. For some reason, I did not want these girls knowing Garett's good points so easily.

"...He is the most handsome person to me," I said to much of my own embarrassment. "It is not often that we get to walk around together at a festival, so can we have a bit of time alone?"

"We are very sorry to disturb you two," they said as they went away as if they understood the underlying messages.

"...Should I change my glasses?" Garett asked as he was about to take his lenses off.

"No!" I quickly said as I pushed his glasses back on.

"Alright..."

Compared to his extravagant appearance, only his glasses were thick and outdated. They were useful in deterring women.

This restless feeling in my heart...I do not want anyone eyeing him.

"...If only you were uglier," I mumbled to myself.

"Did you want to date someone uglier?" Garett asked.

"That is not what I meant," I said as I waved my hands in the air.

Garett latched onto one of my hands and laced his fingers with mine.

Ah, his hand...

"Too bad that you are mine," he said as he pulled me along with me trailing behind him.

It is better if less people know about his good points...then I could have him all to myself.

Garett and I went to the front entrance to meet up with my parents.

"...It is a bit sudden, but I would like permission to continue to see your daughter," Garett asked as he lowered his head. "My!" my mother said excitedly.

My mother seems fine with our relationship...Well, she always had a soft spot for Garett.

"Amalie, should we get the wedding invitations ready?" Father asked as he grabbed my mother's shoulders.

"I have had them ready for three years already, Darling," Mother replied.

"The wedding hall I booked for two years in advance will not go to waste," Father said.

"...I am very sorry for my parents," I whispered to Garett.

"...Somehow, I expected this much," Garett said.

My parents had gone back into their honeymoon phase and were now a couple that were overbearingly in love with one another despite their not very expressive faces. "Arielle...Amalie, I have to go away on business," Father said.

"So soon?" I asked.

"It is imperative that I leave now," Father said as he pecked my forehead. He went over to my mother and caressed her cheeks.

I grabbed Garett's arm and turned him towards the cotton candy stall as my parents shared their intimate alone time together.

"Take care of my wife and daughter," Father said as he tapped Garett's shoulder.

My father quickly made his exit with a crowd of servants.

"Is there any place that you would like to go to?" I asked my mother.

"I want some waffle cones with pistachio ice cream," Mother said.

We got my mother some ice cream. Her cold expression quickly melted after eating one bite of ice cream. She looked as if she aged backwards from how happy she was from eating. Garett laughed a little from the side.

"You are the spitting image of your mother," Garett said softly.

"Are you making fun of me?" I asked him.

"No, you two make the same cute expressions when eating sweets," Garett said sweetly.

He called me cute...

That word could make any woman way past the age of being cute fall to her knees. I never thought that I could be called that word ever again.

After going around the stalls and hitting up all of the sweets departments, my mother insisted on a tour around the school and then around town again. The townspeople still remembered my mother quite clearly and told her that she had not aged since the day she left the island.

Garett seemed rather tired from being dragged around by my mother, so I had the both of them rest on a bench while I got them some lemonade from a cart.

My father went to pick my mother up soon afterwards. My mother wanted to talk to me one last time alone before she would leave with him.

Does she disapprove of my relationship with Garett?

"Arielle...Garett is a nice boy," Mother said.

"Yes, I agree!"

I gave a sigh of relief.

"I can tell that he really cares about you and wants what is best for you. That is all I could ever ask for as a mother. However, that boy is deeply connected to the Royal Family. Anyone that gets involved with that family will always end up hurt..."

"Why do you say that, Mother?"

My mother gave a pained smile.

In that moment, I learned everything I needed to without needing her to say anything.

People that know about pain the most are the ones that first experience it themselves...

"Are you alright, Arielle?" Garett asked me.

I silently went to his side and lightly pulled on Garett's sleeve.

"...Can you hold me?" I asked.

"Of course."

I was brought to his strong and sturdy embrace. I wrapped my arms around his body. Garett never asked me about anything. He held me for as long as I wanted to despite the number of people that passed us by.00