Winter Maria 8

"Thank you for your purchase, Juvia-chan." An old woman spoke, bowing her head as she gave her respects on her regular customer.

"Hai~ hai~ Thank you too Hana-san!"

"Oi."

"Oh, it's you Gajeel-kun! I told you to wait for me back at my apartment!"

Gajeel shrugged his broad shoulders, his hands pocketed securely on his coat.

"Juvia... " he glowered, narrowing his eyes. "It's too damn cold here. The minute I took a nap, you're already out." He said as he rubbed his hands on each side of his arms.

The girl smiled bashfully, looking down on her bag of breads. She picked one and thrusted it to Gajeel's face. Without any words, Gajeel bit the offered bread and Juvia pulled her hand back.

"Oww, that's close, Gajeel-kun!" She scolded him as she threw her pointed eyes on him. "We'll be going now, Hana-san..." she bowed again at the store owner before she and Gajeel exited the small store.

"Did you buy me some coffee?"

"Un! Black coffee!"

He smirked at Juvia as the said girl skipped on her steps.

"Oi, be careful you might-"

Thud.

"-fall."

Juvia sat on the ground, her eyes watering. "I...I..."

"Tch." And Gajeel jogged his way towards her. "You're one stubborn woman, sometimes I regret finding a solution to your blindness!"

Juvia pouted her pink lips. It's not new for her to hear Gajeel speaking harsh words towards her former condition, she doesn't take it seriously and knew that he's only scolding her for being excited all the time.

They walked back on her apartment and Juvia quietly sat on her mattress. "I didn't know that there's a sleet."

Gajeel only raised his brow while hanging his coat behind the door.

"Besides, Juvia knows what she's doing." She pouted again as she proceeded placing the breads on their proper basket. "Do you want me to make your coffee already?" She asked Gajeel, her voice held a sad tone.

He groaned, accepting her offer as he lied down on the corner.

"I heard that he's returning."

His sudden change of topic made Juvia stop her movements. The spoon on her hand slipped and was dropped on the floor.

She gulped nervously, she's been trying her best to avoid that topic. She doesn't want to hear anything about that. About him.

Her composure returned, straightening her back as she continued her task. "What are you talking about, Gajeel-kun?" she better pretend to be oblivious about the matter.

"Im talking about Gray." He said flat out forwardly, he heard the cup she's been holding clatter on the small table.

He's pretty amused by her sudden reactions and he wanted to turn around just to see what kind of face his best friend was wearing now.

"W-what about him?"

"What are you now, a deaf?" He snarled. "I said he's returning!"

"Oh." Her hands moved once again, she picked up the kettle and was about to pour the hot water on the cup when Gajeel spoke again.

"Aren't you excited?" His voice seemed to be amused and Juvia blinked her eyes, the hot water spilling over the cup.

"Hey! It's spilling!" Gajeel sat up, pointing at the small table.

Distractedly, the girl looked down and saw the water flooding half of her table, running also through her direction and was ready to splatter down on her lap. She jolted quickly and without thinking, she pressed her palms down on the table, her skin made contact with the hot water.

Gajeel worriedly removed her hands. "What the hell! Focus you blind woman!"

Blinking, Juvia averted her gaze down on her small, red palms. She felt a stinging pain from it but she can't bring to open her mouth to say something.

"Are you alright?" Her best friend asked her seriously, he took her hands on one of his gloved ones first before his other hand rummaged the nearest drawer he found. Fortunately, he caught a yellow handerkerchief and quickly amended her hands.

He dried her hands gently, watching her face for any reactions but Gajeel was only thrown back to those days were she only wears the same expression.

"Im not okay."

A week passed after the incident and Juvia's palm already healed and returned back to normal. Dropping by on her favorite bakery shop, she handed Hana-san the strawberry jam she's asking Juvia for.

They bid their goodbyes and Juvia proceeded her way on her part time job. She's working at a small cafe restaurant just a few blocks away from her apartment.

Her small hands went on her black scarf, tightening it even more so she would be shielded with the cold gust of morning breeze. She then checked if her coat was buttoned perfectly, she glanced down and patted the invisible dust clinging on it.

Without looking on her way, she suddenly bumped into something hard. She gasped and her scarf was removed from it's place, exposing her pale neck.

She waited for the cold ground to greet her back, but to her utter amazement, she didn't collide with it. Instead, she felt long, thick arms covered in black, cotton sleeves around her waist.

Her bonnet flew and exposed her previously covered blue mane. The wind blew and her hair flew in every direction.

She looked up and noticed that her arms were also wounded around a body, specifically around a broad shoulder. She heaved a deep breath before closing her blue eyes once again, she felt so warm at that moment despite the winter season.

"Oh my," she whispered and her hands clutched tightly around the other person's shoulders, squeezing it with force as she thanked Kami for saving her this time from the slippery ground.

She gulped the lump on her throat and decided to let her hands release the shoulders she's been holding on. She inhaled and she smelled a familiar waft of fragrance.

"No. Dont let go." A low, rough voice told her, her eyes went wide before she glanced at the corner of it, it sounded so awfully familiar but she couldn't point out what is the familiarity about the voice. The side of her face was firmly pressed on a thick mass of muscle on his neck, it moved when she heard the owner of the voice speak once again.

"We might both fall together."

"...hmm," she hummed and the arms around her waist squeezed her. "O-okay."

The blue-haired woman felt the air tightened inside her lungs, her cheeks blossoming in pink.

A few moments later, she felt the arms loosen and she quickly skipped back. She patted her skirt down on its place as she glanced around for her scarf and bonnet. "Im really sorry Sir, Im not looking." She said politely, quickly thinking of rewarding herself later for not talking in third person.

She saw her fallen items and picked it up immediately, without looking at the face of the man she bumped into, she bowed her head another time and apologized before she took small hurried steps and walked passed him

.An: I know that all of you are waiting for this story to be updated and I apologize for being super duper late! Don't even think that Im going to abandon Winter Maria nor my other gruvia fics, so Im really sorry about the late update :( pls. Forgive me guys, I love you all :) and this will be the last chapter of Winter Maria, ohhh, this is my first ever finished gruvia fic and Im all overwhelmed by a lot of emotions. I dont if I should be happy or not, eh? Ha ha! Winter Maria will have a sequel and I think that all of you will love the new installment! Im working on it right now so pls be patient and stick with my crappy stories! Ha ha :) thank you to my lovely readers and reviewers! Sorry again if you encounter some mistakes and errors!

Btw, Juvia's operation is all success! I LOVE that she finally regained hef