Clentine:
"Ian, what are you doing?" I laughed when he held my hand and dragged all the way to the mystic corners.
However, we did not enter. He began to lead down the road and then pointed toward an antique shop.
"You see that?" he asked.
I gave him a confused look.
"This is the antique shop of the North. I’ve heard so many things about it," he told as we stopped in front of it. "They had jewelry, beautiful things, but now there’s no owner, and I can pick anything I want."
"You’re such a thief," I remarked, and he gave a cheeky grin.
"Let’s wait here, okay?" he said.
I frowned in confusion, not understanding what he was trying to do. Why did I have to wait outside?
Still, I obeyed. I wandered along the road while he went inside. Before entering, I noticed him take a deep breath.
A few minutes later, he rushed out, gasping for air. He dropped to the ground, one knee touching the surface, the other leg bent, his hands braced against the hard stone.
I looked up and saw the fog monsters reaching for the door before retreating as it slamd shut.
"Ian, this place is filled with those fog monsters," I said, confused and almost angry, ready to scold him for going inside when he knew they were there.
"The Fades," he replied as he stood up, brushing dirt from his knee. "They’re called the Fades," he added, as if that was what I wanted to know.
"They occupy the antique shop too?" I asked.
He nodded, his hair bouncing slightly. "You are just—can you please lower yourself?"
Very shyly and dramatically, I placed my hands behind my back, lifted one leg, bent my knee, and asked him to lower himself, speaking like a shy princess would.
He smirked, linked his hands behind his neck, and crouched down. The mont he did, my smile faded, and I slapped the back of his head.
"Ow!" he complained, straightening as he realized I had tricked him.
"Don’t ever put yourself in danger like that," I warned him.
I rembered how the Fades had knocked out and how I would have died if he had not arrived in ti. I knew how dangerous they were.
"Fine, but here, see what I got you," he said, pulling his hand from his pocket and revealing a beautiful ring.
It was tal jewelry, but the diamond on top held streaks of pattern.
"The antique shop has diamonds?" I asked, and he chuckled, ready to correct in his usual way.
"The North is different. This isn’t just a diamond. It’s an antique one," he explained, stepping closer. "See the pattern?"
He pointed at the stone, about the size of my nail. It was large, yet light when I held it.
Pink lines stretched through the diamond toward its edges.
"Yeah, look. These are unique," he whispered.
Then he suddenly leaned in and pressed his lips against mine before pulling back, laughing when he saw my reaction.
"You got it for ?" I asked him, and he stopped smiling.
"No, for the hollow man," he replied, rolling his eyes.
Then he slid his hands into his pockets and stood in the middle of the road, tilting his head as he stared at .
"What?" I asked nervously. The way his eyes scanned always gave goosebumps.
"I want to marry you," he mumbled, making snap my head up. "And I want to marry you tonight."
My heart started beating louder.
"Here?" I asked, glancing around.
"Why not?" he answered, then pointed down the road. "There’s a venue. A very famous one. Back when the North was normal, alphas from all over the world, South, East, West, used to request this place for their weddings."
He turned and began to stroll down the road he had pointed to, and I followed beside him.
"They had to wait months before their nas ca up on the list," he added.
I noticed him shrug off his jacket. Without making a big deal out of it, he wrapped it around , and I smiled at how attentive he was.
The air had started to bother . I slipped into his jacket and hugged it close. It slled like him, the scent I always wanted to carry with .
"Why in the North?" I asked him.
He turned and smiled at . His smirk was confident, and he knew it. Even his eyes seed to carry it.
"We’re going to wipe this place," he said. "mories will be lost. Souls will be gone. But before that, I want this place to hold one good mory. And what better way to do that than blessing it with a princess’s wedding?"
He reached for my hand, and I shyly but happily placed mine in his.
"But if you want to have a wedding in the mainland, you can let know," he added.
He pulled close, then spun around. I followed his movent and turned with a laugh, still holding onto his jacket with one hand even though I could have zipped it up.
"I don’t have any family left there," I said as I stopped and looked at him.
He stepped closer, cupped my face, and bent down to press his lips gently to my forehead.
"Then we’ll have a perfect wedding here," he whispered.
My smile slowly faded when I realized it would not be that simple. Behind him, I could see a monster moving through the clouds, heading toward us.
"What are we going to do about the monsters?" I asked him. "There have to be so at the wedding venue."
He shook his finger at .
"They’re not monsters. You’ll see," he replied.
As soon as he said that, I wondered what he knew that made him so comfortable with having a wedding in a place where creatures like that existed.
He suddenly stopped and looked at , and I noticed a hint of agitation on his face.
"What?" I asked him.
His expression tightened into a scowl.
"Clentine, run," he told .
That was all he said before he grabbed my hand and pulled along. My head snapped back, and I saw the hollow man appear from behind one of the tallest buildings.
I did not know why, but we had been so caught up with ourselves that we had not noticed it.
When it erged from the other side of the road, it took us completely by surprise.
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