TWENTY TWO; FORBIDDEN

PUBLISHED; JULY 19, 2018

WORD COUNT; 1930 WORDS (UNEDITED)

WENDY'S POV

The boy with dark purple hair... He's unfamiliar and his scent was different from everyone else. It's very different.

And it's making me curious.

We were eating when I first saw him. I was chuckling at Natsu-san and Sting-san when he came in the picture. It had been a long time since I've seen someone close to my age and a boy. Grandpa and literally everyone else never let me go out especially when I'm alone. Well, I can't blame them. I'm the only girl in the family—before their mates came. Maybe now I can go out alone or maybe with Lucy-san, Juvia-san or Yukino-san. Just a maybe.

Anyways, back to the mysterious new boy, the first thing I noticed about him was his hair. He has dark purple hair—similar to our chef, Macao-san. I have a great feeling he's related to him. The second and last thing I noticed to him was his scent. Like I said, his scent was unique and it's making me curious. It's like a magnet to be honest. I didn't even noticed him look up and meet eyes with me—which probably caused my cheeks to warm up and look away, embarrassed.

When dinner was done and everyone was busy, I volunteered to clean the table. I was placing the plates to the sink when I saw the boy again.

"Father said I should wash the plates, miss." he was looking down and was at least two feet away from me. What's wrong?

"No, it's fine. Let me do it." I offered him a smile, expecting him to beam in joy but then he remained on his ground.

"I'll do it, Princess. Please let me." I can hear a tinge of exasperation in his voice. He was not desperate but he I can sense that he has no choice and follow whatever he was told. All the more I wanted to decline. However, there's another way to solve this problem.

"If you insist, then let me help you then." I offered and he shook his head.

"Father said I should stay away from all of you." he said in a hushed voice. "Especially."

Stay away from us? Especially me?

"Oh..." I was surprised. I didn't know what to say. Maybe his father has a good reason to tell his son to do that? Or maybe his father hates me?

This time, I backed away and let him wash the plates. I slowly made my way towards my room, glancing at him once again, only to see him facing the sink, refusing to look my way.

What's wrong with him?

The next morning, I decided to approach him. Yep, I gathered all of my courage from sleep and since Carla suggested me to ask him once again, why not? I need answers. And the only way to attain that is to ask.

After breakfast, I volunteered to clean up the table once again—to which the others willingly gave me. And like last night, he went to the sink and waited until I was done placing the utensils, plates, mugs and glasses. Only this time, I didn't moved away.

"Hi." I smiled up at him? Stuttering slightly in awkwardness. I've never spoken to any boy before—except Happy and Lector. I waited patiently for his reply.

"Good morning, Princess Wendy." he greeted with his eyes still glued to the ground.

"Why won't you look at me?" I questioned. I was saving my first question to what his name was but I kind of blurted out what was on my mind.

I didn't expected him to look up and meet my eyes but he did. Just like yesterday, I felt my cheeks heat up. This time, I was sure it was because I didn't expected it to happen and partly because his eyes held an intensity I've never encountered before.

I heard his breath hitch before he spoke. "I'm sorry, princess. I was told not to look unless told." His voice was the same as before. Just a slight difference in the tone.

"Who told you?" I asked.

"My father." he mumbled.

"Your father is Macao-san, right?" I inquired and he nodded as a response. "Can you lead me to him?" I queried nicely. He also nodded before turning around. I followed suite, seeing that he went through the other door that leads to their rooms. Macao-san might be resting in theirs by now. We passed by a couple of rooms, that might belong to our other workers—which are not that many. We don't prefer a lot.

He then halted in front of an already-opened door. He opened the door wider for me to enter. I didn't hesitate to enter. It was a nicely-dimmed room but I can smell smoke from inside. It must be Wakaba-san, our other chef. He always hangs out with Macao-san. And he always smokes. I'm not sure if he does while cooking.

"Are you done with the dishes, Romeo?" a voice called out. So Romeo is his name. Anyways, he led me further inside, leaving the front door open. It must be because of the smoke. When we got inside, we saw Macao-san and Wakaba-san in the living room. And both of them were surprised to see me.

"Princess Wendy!" Macao-san exclaimed, both of them standing up.

"What are you doing here, Princess?" Wakaba-san inquired as he removed his cigarette, hiding it behind him.

I smiled up at them and that's when I saw Macao-san glare at Romeo. I hid Romeo behind me to cut off his father's glare.

"I hope you don't mind." I started. "I just want to ask you a question, Macao-san." I said gently.

"Romeo shouldn't communicate with any of you, my princess." Macao-san suddenly said, to my surprise. He must already know what I wanted to ask.

"Why shouldn't he?" I inquired, getting to the point. He looked like he hesitated or thought for awhile.

"Because King Makarov forbids him to." he kept a straight face and I just looked at him in surprise.

"What does grandpa want to imply with that?" I suddenly questioned without thinking.

"You should ask King Makarov that, princess." it was Wakaba-san who answered instead of Macao-san.

I bit my lower lip, contemplating. What do I do now? Grandpa's orders here in the house are always absolute.

Should I rebel like Gray-nii and Natsu-nii?

In the end, I spared one last look and smile to Romeo before saying thanks, turning back to where I was supposed to be.

And I didn't know that if I looked back, I would notice the way that Macao-san was giving Romeo another glare.

"Are you alright?" I heard a voice inquire. I turn my head and saw Erza-san standing with worry in her eyes. She must've seen how down I was. Why was I down anyway? It's not like this had happened before.

But this never happened before! That's why.

"I'm okay, Erza-san. No need to worry." I shook my hands in front of me, denying the most obvious thing. She sat next to me and I felt a cold breeze pass us.

"Do you need help on something?" she offered. The only thing that crossed my mind is to help me ask grandpa why he won't let me speak to Macao-san's son. Speaking of, I don't even know his name. However, it would be a suicide mission to ask grandpa directly. I can't let grandpa be more angry. I heard he and Jellal-nii hadn't spoken to each other yet. He only comes down to eat but he doesn't speak to anyone.

Maybe I can ask help to Erza-san about Jellal-nii instead.

"Can you speak to Jellal-nii?" I inquired, half-hesitating. I cannot go and speak to Jellal-nii because I was afraid he might shut me out. The only one who can speak to her now is Erza-san since she's his mate. Or is she really? I can't really smell Jellal-nii's scent in her. When it comes to mating, the vampire's mate always have this scent that resembles their mate. Not totally but you can smell it. I think it's a vampire's own way of somehow "owning" someone. So they can't be stolen.

Erza-san looked taken aback for awhile. She then looked down, her eyes softening. "What will I say to him? I don't even know if he's angry at me."

"Why would he be angry at you?" I inquired. I don't know a single news about them. The others chose to leave me out for some reason.

"We did something that is unforgivable and immoral." she answered, her voice tinted with guilt.

"It's not only you who committed it, then." I say. "You said both of you did it. I think it's best for the two of you to talk to each other." I smiled, reassuring her. I know Jellal-nii. He probably wanted to talk to her too but is just worrying if she's angry at him. And he also needs someone to comfort him. His close friend was actually the Alpha's mate and was given as an exchange to Juvia-san, Gray-nii's mate. I think Jellal-nii's angry at him too. I'm not very sure about that.

"But I should've stopped it from happening." Erza-san muttered, looking straight into my eyes. She looked so guilty and regret. What did they do, anyway for them to be embarrassed this much? I wanted to ask her but I need to assure her first for her and Jellal-nii to talk it out.

"It has already happened, Erza-san." I placed my hand on top of hers reassuringly. "And I'm sure it happened for a good reason. For now, you and Jellal-nii should talk first to have a solution for the thing that you've made."

She looked like she wanted something else to say but she stood up anyway. "I guess I really should." she said, giving a small smile. "Thank you, Wendy. I hope you can solve yours too." was the only thing she said before walking away.

She knew Jellal-nii wasn't the one I'm worried about?

I bit my lower lip and sighed heavily through my nose. Was I that transparent? What do I do now?

A/N: happy birthday to me! yay! heheheh i didn't purposely updated just because it's my birthday but yeah i did lol. i had spent a lot of time thinking about romeo's attitude lol. i even rewatched fairy tail and reread the manga lol. anyways it took me a LONG time to update AGAIN. and i'm so so sorry for that. i'm sorry that this chap is purely centered to wendy. y'all will know why in the next few chapters lol. as for jerza, stay tuned! wendy just played match-maker without intending to do so hahah!

-rossyla