“No, no and no! You’re putting it in the wrong place! The sofa is supposed to be near the fireplace!”

A living nightmare. That’s what my life has became after that fatefull day. All thanks to Oasis, of course. He had to tell my parents about the baby… and now they are just rushing things up! Mom is redecorating the house and planing the wedding and dad is… well, he is just trying to stay out of her way. Sometimes I wish I could just go back in time…

“Cerise dear, come here for a moment”

Like right now…

“Yes mom”

“We need to talk about the baby room. How do you want to decorate it?”

“Can’t you do that for me?”

“What? Uh… Of course I can dear, but are you sure that’s what you want? You know that’s a very important part of the process of becaming a mother and-”

“I’m sure you will do a wonderful job, mom. I just not in the mood for that”

“Silly girl! You are pregnant, so don’t make long faces!”

And with that she left to yell some more at the workers. I must say… I’m not really looking foward to became a mother. Actually, I’m pretty sure I’ll be a horrible mother! I don’t even like kids, they are way too noisy and they have too much energy for me to keep up. I could already imagine the screams in the middle of night and how messy my house would became. Besides, I’m so clumsy that I would pribably end up dropping the baby on the floor every time. Oh Berry…

Somehow I managed to expel my mom and the workers from my house, saying that all that noise was annoying the baby, so I was able to enjoy a nice time all by myself. Until Oasis arrived.

“So how are my favorite girls in the world?”

“Oh, cut it. Besides you don’t even know if it is a girl, so stop saying that!”

I thought that he would be mad for me yelling at him like that, but instead he just smiled.

“I know it is a girl. And I hope she looks just as beautifull as you!”

And somehow that just made me angrier. Why was I the only one who was worried about this all? I left the room with loud steps and went to my bed, then I covered my head with a pillow and tryed to sleep a bit.

***

The big day was finally coming. Actually I wanted to get married after the baby was born (or don’t marry at all, but…) but mom wouldn’t change her mind. She says I’ll be even prettier with the huge pregnant belly… Yeah, right.
We didn’t invite many people, and most of the guests were family or Oasis friends. Since the changes in the furniture and the wedding preparatives took so long, we decided it would be best to celebrate it at our own house (also just in case the baby decided to be born on that day).

I was finally having a break after spending the whole day after a wedding dress that would fit me when my fiance entered the room.

“How was your day? You look tired”

“I’m fine… just a little pain in the back”

“I’m a great massagist”

“Uh, no thanks”

Even though I was trying to look not in the mood for all that, he took a sit by my side.

“I’m sorry…”

“Excuse me?”

“I know you are mad because it all happened so suddenly, and you pretty much blame me for it… But I really love you and I’m sure that if you give us a chance to became a family, you won’t regret it. I know we are meant to be, Cerise”

I just stared at him for a moment, his orange-ish eyes piercing through mine, filled with a strange intensity. My anger dissapeared for some time and I realized how serious he was about this all.

“… I guess we can try” And as soon as I finished saying that, he jumped out of the bed

“Really? This is wonderful! I swear I won’t let you down! I’ll be the best husband ever! …Well, I think there is just one more thing we need to discuss… the name”

“Oh, yeah, that. I don’t know, I’m not really good with names. Why don’t we do it like that… since you are so sure it’s going to be a girl, you got to pick the name if it’s a she and I pick if it is a he. What do you say?”

A huge convinced smile crossed his face, showing just how sure he was about his victory.

“It’s a deal then”

Then he kissed my forehead and left while whispering some kind of lullaby. Maybe this isn’t all that bad… Oh Berry, why is that Oasis always know what to say to make me change my mind?

***

I woke up in the next day with a terrible pain in my belly, and when I realized it was not going to pass I started to scream for my mom and Oasis. It looks like the baby was in a hurry to get out, which made my mom very upset. She didn’t even helped Oasis to get me up, she went straight to the phone to rearrange the wedding party. Dad was parking the car right in front of the house when I managed to get to the livingroom. I felt another pain and I swore to myself that if this much pain is normal, I will never have another baby.
After I got in the car, I felt the pain again, stronger than the others, and then everything went black.

“Can you hear me Cerise? Are you OK?”

I managed to focus on Oasis face, looking at me with a goofy smile.

“What happened?”

“Well, the doctor said your body is a bit fragile, so your brain shut down because of the pain”

“Oh…”

I put my hands in my belly and realized something was missing. I looked around but I wasn’t able to see anything that you could put a baby on.

“Don’t worry, the babies are fine. Since they are a couple of months earlier, they put them in the nursery”

“Them? We have more than one baby?”

“Two beautifull baby girls!”

I guess it has been almost an hour since I was froze in that same position. I was afraid that if I move, even just one inch, I wouldn’t be able to hold it anymore. Truth is that I never felt so sick before, I wish I could just get a new stomach and move on. Even though I tryed to figure out why I was like that, nothing really crossed my mind. I mean, it was probably food poisoning, but in the las month all I’ve been eating was the food Oasis was making, and I’m pretty sure he would never use anything spoiled. I stayed like that for a couple more minutes before I heard a noise caming from behind.

“Hey there” I could tell from Oasis voice that he seemed very happy. I answered with a groan and he interpreted that as a sign that I was listening. “So, are you free today?”

Another groan, so he continued.

“My cousin is staying a few days in town… She will only get here in a couple of hours but I have to work. So, can you keep her company?”

“…” I only listened to half of what he said. The moment I started paying attention to anything other than my breathing I almost threw up. I wished he could just go, because I don’t think I would be able to hold on anymore if he keep talking…

“So, can you?”

“Uh, sure…”

“Great! You’re awesome, you know? I’ll drop her by when I got to work. Love ya. Bye”

And then he left. I guess you can tell by now that thing between us where going… uh… fine? Since that day my parents came to visit he have been spending even more time here. Actually, he even sleep here a couple of times… Sometimes I think things are going a bit too fast. Ok, I already knew for some time that he loved me, but now he have to say it every time we meet. It’s not that I don’t like him, but I just don’t feel comfortable saying it out loud, especially if there are other persons around. Anyway, after some time I started to feel better, so I decided to start cleaning up the house and stuff because, you know, that’s pretty much the only thing I’m good at.

***

The door bell finally rang. Thankfully I was feeling way better by the time they arive. But I wasn’t really expecting to see what I saw when I opened the door.

“So, is that Cerise?”

A kid?? I thought he wanted to spend some time with his grown up cousin, but in fact he want me to babysit her? Oh no, I have to talk to him, I  can’t stand children…

“Yeah, she’s cute, uh? Well, I’m running late. Bye!”

“No, wait…”

But then he just left as the kid walk past me and went to the dinning room. Oh my… better go after her.

“You’re ugly”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, you heard me. I think you’re ugly and that Oasis deserves a better girl by his side. I just don’t understand what he sees in you. You’re just… so ordinary”

Wait… Was she really just a kid? How mean! I don’t know what he sees in my either, but she have no right to say it out loud!

“Alright young lady, I-“

“I have a name, and it’s Marigold. And I don’t like being calling anything else, do you understand? Now, I’m bored. Your house is boring. Take me out or else I’ll tell Oasis that you wasn’t nice to me!”

I let out a sigh. Ok Cerise… the faster we get this done, the better. Gosh, and that’s why I hate kids… I decided it was better not to argue with her, so I just take her to the park nearby.

***

“So small… Don’t you know any better places? Well, I guess I couldn’t expect more from someone like you”

“I…”

“Never mind. I’ll just play by the sandbox”

I watched as she left and I was glad that she doesn’t want me to go play with her or something. I heard a baby screaming somewhere in the park and it gave me chills… Poor parents…

“That was a cute kid! Was she yours?”

“Oh..” I didn’t even notice when this girl came up to talk to me. I started to fell a bit nervous as the butterflies started to fly in my belly. “Oh, no, I’m just… babysitting her. She’s my boyfriend’s cousin” Wait… How the berry did she find that cute?

“Of course, silly me! You two don’t really look alike… At least I can be honest, since you’re not her mother or anything… She was quite mean to you, wasn’t she? Back in my old town we had a lot of kids like that. A pain if I can say so… I’m Oracle by the way, and I just moved in the other day!”

I gave her a shy smile. That girl was surely a talker, which was good for me since I was the total oposite. “I’m Cerise. Actually, I move recently too. Just a month ago.”

“OMB, is that true? I’m so glad you were the first person I met here then! You can show me around, can’t you? I don’t really feel confortable asking someone this, but since you were in a situation similar to mine, I guess you wouldn’t mind, right? Oh, I’m telling you, this must be fate!”

I was about to answer that I wouldn’t really mind showing her the neighborhood – after all the only person I know is Oasis and I needed a girl friend – when I hear someone screaming my name.

“Ughh! Cerise!!!”

I ran till the sand box, Oracle following me, just to find a very pissed of Marigold.

“What? What happened?”

“Where were you? You’re supposed to watch over a kid when you bring her to the park! I feel, hurt my knee and almost got a sunburn! In fact I can feel my whole face burning! And I bet you didn’t even brought sun blocker, have you?”

“Wow, calm down! You don’t even look hurt. Don’t start screaming with me for nothing. Besides, I-“

And then it was back. Just like that, out of the blue, my sickness began to attack me again “I’m not feeling well”

“Oh no, that’s bad… Do you live nearby? I have a car, I can drive you if you want”

“I… I can go walking, thanks…”

“Is there anyone in your house?”

“No, but…”

“Well, I’m not leaving you alone with a kid when you’re felling sick. Come on!”

***

What the hell is wrong with me? I’ve been throwing up since I got home, non stop! Ugh, and the worst part was the smell of the disinfectant I used to clean the bathroom earlier… It was killing me!

“Hey Cerise” Oracle knocked on the door “Can I come in?”

“Sure…”

“Wow, you don’t look good… How long have you been like that?”

“Since this morning. But then it went away”

“Oh.. You said you have a boyfriend, don’t you?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Well, if you were really sick I doubt you would have got better… Don’t you think you might be pregnant?”

“No way” I answered without even thinking twice. No way I was going to have a child.

“I see… So you two never did it?”

“Wh… what? Well, of course we did…”

After that she put her hand in her hip and nodded. She left without saying a word, but after some minutes she was back with a plastic bag from the pharmacy. I didn’t want to, but she pretty much forced me to do it. After some time we where waiting for the results… And when I saw the positive mark I couldn’t feel my legs.

“Cerise, this is great!!”

“This is bad!”

“Why? You think your boyfriend won’t like the idea?”

“Oh, no, I’m pretty sure he will die from happiness! And that’s the problem! He will want me to have this kid!”

“Wait, and you don’t want to? Why?”

“Because I hate kids! I don’t even know how to interact with adults, how do you expect me to handle a kid? Oh my Berry… I’m not telling him abou this!”

“You can’t hide this, you have to tell! He will find out eventually!”

“Cerise? Marigold? I’m home!”

Oh no! Not now, please! Tell me you forgot something in your work and go away, please, I can’t deal with this right this moment! As I heard Marigold telling him I was in the bathroom with a friend I began to feel even worse.

“Hey, I’m coming in, ok?” He put a huge smile in his face when he saw Oracle “Oh, hello! Is really nice to meet any of Cerise’s friends! Are you staying for dinner?”

“Actually I would love to, but first I think you and Cerise should talk. She have something amazing to tell you, don’t you? Now, if you excuse me” I gave her a deadly glare as she left. Am I an magnet to those kind of people? You know, because since I moved in all I can find are people who can’t take care of their own problems! I know she thinks she’s doing me a favor, but…

“So, what is it that you have to tell me?” He gave me a really sweet smile as he got closer, but all I could do was avoid his glare. “What, are you planning on keeping a secret?”

I grabbed some air and said it as fast as I could, imagining it would bother me less that way.

“Oasis, I’m pregnant”

But I was wrong.

“No! You can’t do this! I’m a grow up already!”

“Hey, what’s happening?” Oasis was right by my side at the door, looking at my parents rather confused.

“Oh my, Cerise, who is this boy?”

“I’m Oasis Sunglow ma’am. Is everything alright?”

“Oh, yes, everything is just fine. So, do you think you can have your things packed up until friday?”

“No! I’m not going!”

But of course my mom was not blessed with the capacity to understand the word ‘no’.

“Don’t be silly. We will came by to take you home after you’ve packed your things”

“Wait, mom…!”

But before I could say anything else, Oasis put himself in the middle.

“Please, come in. We better talk about this inside”

My parents somehow agreed. Guess they do wanted to see how my house was. Thank god I cleaned it up this morning…

“The house is looking good! I’m sure we will be able to sell it in no time”

I just can’t believe it. Oasis sat with my parents in the livingroom, but I was so pissed I couldn’t stay still. I kept moving from one side to the other, paying almost no attention to the conversation. Until…

“I’ll be honest with you two. It would be very troblesome for you to take Cerise away. How are we supposed to get married with her living in another town?”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing… I just stayed there, speechless. My father broke the silence, speaking for the first time since he arrived.

“And what do you do for living?”

“I’m a fireman, sir”

“A fireman? Oh, momma is so proud of you, Cerise! Fireman are so hot, you’re so lucky!”

I can’t even… Gosh. I don’t really want to play along with this, but there’s no way I’m going back to that house.

“Uh, yeah. Very lucky, huh?”

“But you shouldn’t have kept it as a secret! Well, we will be waiting for our invitation. Come on darling, let’s leave the love birds alone”

Dad waited for mom to turn her back to us and then whispered in my ear.

“I’m so sorry dear. Your mom is getting crazier every day. Please don’t get upset. I’m very happy for you two, and don’t forget to give us some grandsons” He winked and then left right after mom. I give them a smile as they got in the car and then I closed the door…

“Are you out of your mind? Why? Tell me, why did you do that? I’m pretty sure there was others way to keep me here. You didn’t need to tell them such a lie! You… you…!”

“Calm down Cerise. The important thing is that you’ll be able to stay here now, right? Besides, I didn’t lie to your parents”

“Oh, no? Then please enlight me. Because that was a big lie you told th…”

“I never said we were engaged. They assumed that. But of course I would be lying if I say I didn’t mean that”

“What?”

“Well, I do want to get married to you”

“… Are you freaking insane? We’ve only know each other for a couple of weeks. My parents won’t leave me alone until we get married! Arg, I’m done! Just get out. Get out, I don’t wanna talk to you!”

And I soon as that words left my mouth, I regret it. He gave me such a sad look it was like I was ripping his heart apart. And it just hurt me really badly to see him like that.

“Fine. If you want me to leave, I will. But if I walk out through that door I’ll never come back again. You are such a stubborn, why can’t you realize you love me too? Am I the only one who feel like there’s butterflies in my stomach whenever I’m around you? You’re are saying you never felt the same way?”

He became to get closer, trapping me against the wall. I tried to push him aside as I felt my cheeks blushing, but I somehow didn’t have the strenght to.

“I…”

“Do you really want me to walk out of your life?”

“…No…”

“Then make me stay”

“So, you like to watch the stars?”

“Yeah, it’s my hobby”

“It doesn’t look much fun… But this telescope must be magic or something because that’s the first thing I saw you putting your hands on that didn’t broke”

“Haha very funny. You should try, you might like it. The stars are really beautiful”

“I have a better idea”

He pulled me away from the telescope and made me sit next to him on the floor. Just as he said, Oasis would came to see me every day. Sometimes he would show up at night too, just like today. He says I am a danger to myself so I better not be left alone for a long time. But I’m getting better, you know? I’ve only broke two things this week…

“Don’t you think it’s better this way? I can’t get closer to you when you are using that thing. The other time you gave me a nudge! You can’t stand still with this.”

“Well, that’s kinda why I like it so much…”

“Are you sure you’re using that telescope right? Knowing you, that’s possible”

And then, out of nowhere, he put him hand on mine! What am I suposed to do? He was holding my hand in a way I just couldn’t pull it off in a smooth way, you know, without making it too obvious that I didn’t want his hand there. I sighed. He really pissed me off, but at the same time he was so nice and sweet to me. I gave him a look that somehow made him think that I wanted him closer, so he put his arms behind my body. Oh boy.

“Hey, your-“

“What is the name of that star?”

“Huh? Wich? That one?”

“…Umm…Yeah”

“Sorry, I have no idea. I’m not good with names, I just like to look at them”

“That’s alright. So, I don’t have to work tomorrow, so I was thinking that maybe we could go out?”

“Tomorrow? Well, you see… I… Uh…”

“I was thinking of cooking something for us to eat for lunch and then go to the park or something”

One thing that I have learned about Oasis is that he is a great cook. No, he was better than just great. His food was magnificent. There’s no way I would pass this opportunity. Besides, why should I bother? He would come even if I tell him not to. So I just nodded and we spend the rest of the night watching the stars.

****

The day was going just as planned. Oasis was busy cooking and I was reading a book while waiting. But then the door bell ring, wich made me feel pretty nervous. The only person I know in this town is here with me, so who could be at the door?

“Hello honey! Did you missed us?”

“Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?”

“Well, you see, your dad and I are very worried about you. We discussed about you living here all by yourself one of this days, but then you called us about a fire on your kitchen and we made our decision. Cerise, darling, we are taking you back home.”

Every. Single. Day. Every stupid single day he would show up at my door. My head was starting to hust every time I hear the door bell. Why can’t he just leave me alone? Now I have to keep my windows closed during the morning! Thankfully he would always show up at the same time every day.

He came today too, but he leave eventually. It was just a matter of time for him to give up on this. I put some waffles in the oven since I was too busy closing all the windows to prepare the breakfast, even though it was already 11.

A few seconds later my cellphone started to ring. It has been a while since my parrents have called me, so I was really happy so hear their voices. Of couse I didn’t tell the about that guy, dad would ask me to move away from this town. It took me a while to reallize a strange smell in the air… Almost as if something was… burning. OMB.

“No, no, no! Please fire, stop!”

It was all too quick. After some time there was a firetruck in front of my house and a man was trying to extinguish the fire. I only realized who the man was when he came to confort me.

“Are you alright? Did you get burned?”

“No, I’m fine”

“You seen to get in danger situations a lot, huh? Must be a blast to live with you.”

“…Oasis?”

“Yeah?”

“I think we need to talk”

***

We walked to the park and I headed straight to the swings. This whole situation made me feel nervous, so I better stay sit while talking. I tryed to speak, but I just couldn’t find the words… What am I supposed to say?

“I like you”

“What?”

“I like you, and that’s why I kissed you the other day. You’re really cute, you know?”

“No, nobody ever told me I was cute befo… No, wait, that’s not it. You can’t go and kiss someone you barely know!”

“You didn’t like my kiss?”

“That’s not…! Please don’t change the subject”

“Well, then lets go out! You can get to know me better that way, and I’ll be able to keep an eye on you and prevent you from killing yourself. And even if you say no I will keep coming to your house untill you agree to see me.”

*sigh* I guess there’s no other way…

I woke up with someone at the door. I wasn’t expecting anyone to come, and besides I didn’t know anyone from this town, wich made me pretty nervous. When I opened the door I saw that same guy from the lake.

“Hey! Good to see you’re alright. You left so suddenly yesterday that I kept wondering if you were alright, so I decided to make you a visit.”

“…”

“My name is Oasis. What’s yours?”

“Ce… Cerise”

“Haha that’s a nice name. Good to know you can speak, Cerise.”

“Wait, what are you… I mean, how did you…”

“It was really easy to find your house, it has been years since the town got a new habitant. I’m assuming you don’t know the town yet? Are you busy today at five?”

“No, but I-“

“Great! See you then.”

What the hell just happened? I just watched as he left, speechless. Hopefully he was just messing around with me. Yeah, that’s it.

***

The day passed and when the sun was about to set I heard the door bell ringing. I looked at the clock, it was five. No way! Is he really here? Ok Cerise, calm down, calm down.

The door bell ring again, and I decided it would be the best to just ignore it. He would think I was no home and would go away. That’s right, all I have to doo is to stay here in my room.

“Heeey! Cerise! What are you doing here? Didn’t you heard me ringing the door bell?”

“Stupid window….”

***

Let me just say that he talked a lot. He didn’t shut up for even one minute after we left. Not that this was a bad thing. I would rater be like that then spending the whole time in silence. It was kind of nice actually.

He took me to the beach where we watched the stars. I’ve never saw such a starry night in my whole life!

In the end we have dinner. It was good to have a calm day after the one I went through yesterday. Good thing that I managed not to broke anything after that…

***

“I had a really great day. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did”

“Yeah, it was nice. Thank you for showing me around”

He came closer to give me a goodbye kiss, but in the end it turned out that he was aiming for my lips and not for my cheeks. I froze.

“See ya”

How…?? What??

I’m so happy! I’m finally moving out of my parents house. It was really difficult to convice them, but now here I am. They were even kind enough to buy me a new home! Momma said I would last a week all by myself. She says I’m too clumsy to manage a house all alone. But I bet she’s wrong.

I took a deep breath before entering in the house.

I’ve only saw the living room and I was already astonished. I loved the colors. My parents are the best! I feel to full of energy. I’m sure today is going to be one of the best days in my life!

Well, ok. Maybe I’m just not that lucky… I called the repair technician, and when he arrived he told me I would take him 5 hours to fix all the damages. That was way too much time. Since I was afraid I might broke the TV if I stayed there any longer, I took my car and drove to a lake I saw when I was moving. The place was desert, thankfully. I’m too shy, I wouldn’t feel confortable with a bunch of people looking at me.

When I finally got there, I headed to a small cliff. Yeah, that was the perfect spot!

After a couple minutes a fish finally bite my bait.

But he was stronger than me, somehow. I felt myself falling and started to scream.

The last thing I remembered was the sound of my body hitting the lake’s water.

“Hey, Miss, are you ok? Miss? Please, wake up.”

My head hurt. My ears are buzzing. But I managed to stood up and was suddenly face to face with a strange man.

“Thank good you’re awake. Say, are you hurt somewhere?”

I must have given him a horrified look, because his expression changed from worried to confused.

I didn’t think twice. I turned around and started to run back home. Yeah, I even forgot my car there. I hear him calling me but I didn’t look back. When I arrived home I finally got the time to think. Gosh, what kind of people would have acted like that?