Prologue     

     Her shoulders were shaking, her sobs sounded like the sound of an injured animal. This was one of the few rare times she cried. She was pretty shaken up, contrary to her usual calm and cold demeanor. 

     He did nothing to comfort her, only sighing repeatedly and leaned against one of the big, bulky trees. He had learnt it the hard way- he knew it from experience that it was better to leave her alone.

     "Hanky?" She sniffed, finally turning her tear stained face to him. "Do you have any with you?"

     He shook his head. Even if he had one, she would refuse to use it. Growing up differently, they had different definitions of a mere handkerchief as well. 

     "No dead leaves," He said, "But I can offer you tissues."

     She smiled wryly as she threw the stained tissues away. "Where did you get that from?"

     "Xiumin, all right." He replied, referring to the cleanest of s. Those whom he left behind.

     "It's just like our handkerleaves. Only whiter and less crisp."

     He sat down beside her on the grass and gazed at the smooth surface of the pond. "You'll have to start using tissues from now on, to avoid suspicion."

     Tears shot back to her violet eyes, which he had grown fond of. "She will be using the handkerleaves, just like me! She will use all the Fey stuffs and she will grow up the Fair folk way!

     "She needs us. We shouldn't have abandoned her!"

     "Yes she does." He agreed, but shook his head firmly afterwards. "But we've done the right thing."

     "We have no idea whether the diversion we created will lift the suspicion off her or not, but no chance of ever finding out now." She croaked.

     "We made it possible for her to live in safety for the rest of her life, and that's exactly what parents should do. Right?" He shook her shoulders gently with a firm, assuring look. 

     For a moment, she said nothing. She stared at the pond longingly, as if she could see the source of her sadness reflected upon it. Indistinct voices drifted over, although it was nearly dark now.

     "I know you're right. You've always been." She said at last. "It just hurts so much, knowing that we can never see her again." She carefully rubbed her red-rimmed eyes, not wanting to make it even redder.

     "At least now we have more time to spend with each other. Though sooner or later they'll track us down." He gritted his teeth, fist clenching as he remembered what drove them away. Those bossy figures, acting as if they know everything. What every one of them should do and which should not. Now they were forced to be on the run only because of a mistake, as they called it.

     She stood up and brushed the earth off her dress all of a sudden. "Come on. This silly grass is wet."

     He smiled, seeing the light of adventure coming back into her eyes. "Correction : This damn grass!" After being with him and his friends for a while, she could already drop the formal language and actually start using slangs. "And I thought you're supposed to take these kinds of things easy, Daughter of Mother Nature?"

    He let her pull him up to his feet and kissed her. "What are we going to do now?"

    "We have all the time of our lives, honey." 

    "Paris or Las Vegas first?" She laughed. "Or Hollywood?"

     He was glad she could laugh again that he kissed her once more. "I was really thinking... You know any church nearby?"

     "You want to marry me?" She let out a dramatic gasp, pretending to faint.

     With his trained quick reflexes, he caught her quite easily. "My thoughts exactly." He said with a smirk.

     She laid her head on his chest and buried her face in his coat. "I love you so much." She murmured, repeating the same sentence in her heart and wished it could be heard by the certain one she had already missed.

     "Will you be my wife?"

     "Yes," She answered immediately, without thinking. "But I thought I already am."