A/N: I haven't written any literary pieces since a few years back. Wow. What gave me the courage to write again? Even I'm amazed. So pardon my language.

Well, I've mostly been inspired by works I've read in the past few weeks. I would love to list them all out here, however, I do not remember the titles, nor do I have the time to slowly type everything down.

Another thing to note is that the Harvest Moon games I play are all the Japanese versions, so the things may be a little different. Bear with me.

Disclaimer: I love Gill. But I don't own him. Neither do I own Harvest Moon.

Chapter 1:

Since day one on Waffle Island, Akari was unable to keep a certain blond haired boy out of her mind. Sometimes, she would be watering her tomatoes when she would think of his beautiful blue eyes… Sometimes she would be feeding her chickens when her mind would wander to the formal yet totally adorable manner of speech he had. Sometimes she would be chopping wood at Praline Forest when she would be imagining how Gill would look like when he was cutting wood; beads of sweat rolling down his face which would look so cute with his always serious look… Hmmm, wonder how he would look shirtless? Probably a lot sexier than Luke is. Yum.

Eh. Oops. Off track.

Anyway, this time, Akari was walking along Cream Beach to pick up whatever she could find to sell when she thought back to the first time she met him.

*Flashback*

It was a beautiful morning. Her first day in Waffle Island. After meeting the Mayor of Waffle Town, Hamilton, Akari decided to explore around town to familiarize herself with the place. She climbed up the stairs beside the Sundae Inn and found herself at the Town Square. There were flowers blooming prettily, wonderful greenery and a large, grand looking building. But what struck Akari the most were not those, but a young, blond man standing in the midst of the scenery. Akari felt she had never seen anyone more beautiful.

Heart beating quickly, she slowly made her way to the guy in front of her.

"Hm. I've never seen you before. Who are you?" The young blond said, before he folded his arms and stared at Akari.

Akari felt faint. Was it her imagination, or was the guy sparkling? Oh, how gorgeous was he! She refocused her attention to see the guy flicking his blond locks behind his ear. Oh! How glamorous it was!

As Akari told him her name, the guy nodded his head and flicked his hair again.

"Akari, eh? Father has told me about you. I'll Gill. I am the Mayor's one and only son." Gill looked proud as he introduced himself to Akari. "Did you come here after seeing the brochure Father designed?"

Akari nodded happily.

"Yes! This place is beautiful! Nice to meet you!" Akari did a little bow and gave Gill a sunny smile.

Gill looked a little surprised, yet pleased. He raised his hand to acknowledge her greeting before shrugging his shoulders.

"Really? I never thought it would deceive anyone. This island's nothing like that phoney brochure. It's like an empty town…" Gill trailed off, before folding his arms and continuing. "But to me, the island's got potential. I'm hoping to turn it into the one seen in that brochure someday."

Akari could see the determination in Gill's eyes and with the way he spoke of the island, she knew it meant a lot to him. Somehow she felt moved by his dedication and love for the island and it made her wish she could help.

"I hope you'll help me develop this island into a place that really is that wonderful." Gill said before nodding, signifying the end of the conversation.

With those last words from Gill, Akari knew she had to do it.

*End of Flashback*

Akari was still in the midst of fantasizing of the ways Gill would thank her for making the island a better place when she suddenly knocked into something, sending them both sprawling to the ground. Akari quickly snapped out of her daydreams and immediately apologised profusely to a rather disorientated looking Elli.

Elli smiled and accepted Akari's outstretched hand. She stood up straight and brushed the dirt of her dress, while Akari fidgeted with hem of her own shirt. Elli laughed softly at the distressed looking girl.

"Akari, it's all right. I'm fine," Elli said, watching Akari as she gave a sheepish grin. "So, who's on your mind that's making you smile and sigh like a school girl?"

Akari immediately flushed scarlet and Elli knew she had hit bull's eye. In fact, she had a rough idea who the young girl was thinking of. Ah, young love!

"N..no! I wasn't thinking of Gi… I mean anyone! Elli!" Akari waved her arms about wildly to enforce her point that she was not thinking of Gill… I mean anybody.

Elli smiled thoughtfully as she observed the blushing, chocolate brown haired girl in front of her.

"So… You like Gill?"

"Huh? N-no..no no! I don't! I just admire him! What makes you think that?" Akari stuttered. Was it so obvious? All she did was just visit Gill everyday without fail with a tomato juice at hand. And maybe the only crops she grew were tomatoes... But hey, no one would think I like him, right? Akari could feel her palms getting sweaty. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest. What if Elli tells Gill? Oh, the horror! How would she face Gill?

Elli must have been psychic because she suddenly said, "It's okay, I promised I won't tell Gill."

Akari let out a sigh of relief.

"Really? Thanks Elli. It would be bad if Gill knew about it." Akari smiled. "Well, uh, time for me to go! Plants don't water themselves, you know!"

Akari gave a quick, polite bow and she turned away from Elli, missing Elli's sudden mischievous grin at the last minute.

"Ahah! So you DO like Gill!"

Akari froze in mid step. Uh oh. Akari felt like slapping herself up down, right left and centre. DOH! How could she have been such an idiot? Elli could be so sneaky when she wanted to. Akari took a mental note never to underestimate Elli ever again.

Akari swiftly turned to Elli and made her biggest, saddest but cutest puppy dog eyes she could muster.

"Yes, I do like Gill. But you promised you won't tell, right?" Akari stared at Ellie with large, watery eyes that threatened to spill tears if Elli didn't comply with her promise.

Elli couldn't help but to sigh at the adorable brunette in front of her. She nodded. Hey, Elli might be a busybody at times, but she wasn't one to cross the line. She knew when to stop. Besides, if anyone tells Gill about Akari's feelings, it has to be Akari herself. If not, where's the fun? If only Akari had the chance to interact more with Gill…

Hmmm.

Inspiration struck Elli like a lightning! Silly her, why didn't she think of it earlier? Time for her to play matchmaker!! Akari sure look like she needed help, and Gill… Well, he just needs some good, old loving. He can be so caught up in work at times. Forget what she said about stopping. This one was an exception.

"Akari… Why don't you come over to the Town Hall tomorrow? We could use an extra pair of hands!"

Akari pondered for a moment. She knew Elli might be planning something, especially since Elli started to smile in that less-than-innocent looking way, but Elli did promise not to say anything about this to Gill, after all. And Akari would be able to work closely with Gill. It was high time she took action, instead of just daydreaming around.

With those thoughts in her mind, all doubts vanished. Akari knew what her answer had to be.

"... Sure!"

Tomorrow would surely be a happy day.

***

What a waste.

It was almost closing time at the Town Hall and Akari couldn't help but to feel a little disappointed that she didn't get much opportunity to talk to Gill. He was either too busy or at a different room from her. She gave a deep, loud sigh.

Akari's disappointed looks did not go unnoticed by Elli. Elli felt a little bad for the girl, and as matchmaker, she felt she hadn't done good enough of a job. Darn that Gill was just too hardworking for his own good! He could have taken a break, but no! Now he's working his butt off on work that was for two weeks later. Seriously, that boy was in dire need of a life outside work.

But Elli knew that chance would arrive soon. Gill always came down stairs at 4.45pm to get his daily dose of tomato juice. Elli looked back at the clock behind her. 4.33pm. Just twelve more minutes. Elli wanted to just shout for Gill to come down at this instant, but she knew that patience was a virtue and that good things came to those who wait…

4.45pm, right on cue, Gill came trotting down the stairs with some documents in his hands. Elli waved Gill over.

"Hello Gill, how's work so far?" Gill grabbed a cup of tomato juice and walked over to where Elli and Akari was seated and sat on a nearby chair.

"It's like the usual. Why do you ask?" Gill was wondering why Elli was acting weird. Why is she smiling like she was hatching some evil scheme? She's giving off some sort of nasty vibes. Like that time when she tricked Gill into drinking spicy pepper juice instead of tomato juice just because he was too absorbed in work and refused to try the milk tea she made the day before. Just to be safe, Gill sniffed at the cup in his hands before taking a sip. Okay. It's tomato.

"Oh nothing," Elli said, before she sneaked a peak at Akari, who had perked up considerably as soon as she saw Gill. "Akari has something she wants to say, right Akari?"

Akari looked a little stunned for a moment. EH? What? Isn't this too sudden? Yes, she wanted to talk to Gill, but what would she say? She knew Gill loved tomatoes. But how much could she talk about them? Oh yes, hahaha, it's red and juicy! And it's red. Did I mention it's juicy? Akari mentally shook her head. Or, should she talk about how fine the weather was? But that would be stupid, especially since it was raining cats and dogs outside. I mean the expression. Not literally. Anyway, she couldn't talk to Gill so easily just like Elli!

Gill placed his documents on the table, took a sip of his tomato juice and turned to look at Akari.

"Go ahead. But make it brief. I've still got work to do."

Akari thought she was going to melt into a puddle when Gill gazed straight into her eyes. She finally had the fullest attention of the guy she was besotted with. He was waiting for her to speak. She shouldn't wreck her chance now. She couldn't. Her mind was swirling with so much she wanted to say; so much she wanted to talk to him about with. More and more thoughts filled her mind and she felt like her brain was going to explode from all the different things zooming through her mind. Akari didn't want to make Gill wait, so she forcefully tried to organise her thoughts on the spot. She had to say something, anything. Make it brief, make it brief… Got it.

In her state of confusion, she blurted out the first thing that came to her clearly.

"I… I LIKE YOU!!"

The air in the Town Hall suddenly became oh-so-still.

"……"

Awkward.

Silence.

A/N: Phew. Done with Chapter 1. Yay. I doubt the next few chapters would be as long as this. Still, it means something to know there're people who would read this. Thank you very much.