The days passed quickly and soon the day of the festival arrived. And as the tradition demanded, a family had to give up their newborn child for the sake of the village's success.

Weirdly enough, not every family saw this as a bad thing, in fact some families were actually eager to do so. They felt it caused the wave of plenty to pass over them multiple times. The family who was chosen this time around was one of those bunch. Sparing only one day to mourn their child and then quickly jumping back into the celebrations on the next. Some might say they were true believers, but others, mostly other families who found it hard to give up their child when they were once chosen, saw them as soulless idiots.

Uninvolved with one ritual or the other that went about in other to make the festival a success, Jerome and Ravea sat under a tree deep within his father's farm. Overtime, after endless pestering and approaches, Ravea finally agreed to hang out with Jerome for the time being.

"How did you find this place?" Ravea asked. Growing up in the middle of the village, she had grown accustomed to incessant noise. It was hard to believe that there was a place that quiet and peaceful in the same village during the day.

"I ran away from home a lot. Whenever my parents started quarreling and I couldn't handle it, I just ran out from the house and kept running until I was far enough that I could no longer hear their voices." He bit into a mango that they had plucked from a nearby tree.

"But still", she looked back and squinted, trying to see his family house. But she couldn't. "This is really far."

"Yeah well, it doesn't help that I have really good hearing. Even at this distance, I could still hear them."

"Sorry", she said softly.

He shook his head, "I'm used to it now. It's alright."

Ravea bit into her mango without peeling it, even though she disliked mango. Jerome grabbed the mango from her, peeled it, then gave it back.

"Hey! The peel is edible!" She protested.

"No it's not", He replied.

"It is! Look." She picked up another mango and was about biting without peeling. Jerome slapped it out of her hand.

"It's not edible!" He said in defense of his actions.

She didn't listen, she just started hitting him.

"Okay you're right!" He held her hand. She calmed down. "Yes the peel is edible, but not this one. Only the yellow and red ones." He pointed at the mango, "See, this one is green."

She kept silent, but stopped trying to eat the peel.

"Wait, don't tell me you always eat the peel", he asked, a bit surprised.

"So what if I do?" She retorted.

"What happens after you eat it?"

She couldn't tell him that she had to frequent the latrine multiple times after eating it. That was the major reason why she disliked it. At least now she knew the reason why it was so. "Nothing much", She lied.

Meanwhile, Felici Loknot stood furiously outside Jerome's family house. She tried evening out her brows so she didn't seem too unruly. What noble visited another noble with such brutish aura? But it didn't seem to work, she was too disturbed for it to work.

"Felici Dear, what're you doing standing outside, come in", Hilma said, urging her in. Then she saw the look on her face. "Is everything alright?"

Stolen novel; please report.

"Not really ma'am", Felici replied honestly.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Hilma asked. She came down the steps in front of the house and held her hand.

Felici sighed sadly, she shook her head. "Is Jerome in?"

Hilma turned and looked inside the house, "I don't think so, he left the house a while ago. But he went through the back so he's probably somewhere deep in the farm."

"Alright ma'am, thank you." Felici said then hurried towards the back. A mild urgency in her steps.

The Dernewt family house was beautifully decorated with flowers and various ornamentals in celebration of the festival. She was too distracted to notice it at first but the wind blowing in from the fields alongside the jolly animals that flustered around the trees in the surrounding area helped to soothe her worries. She eventually managed to relax her steps.

Looking for Jerome didn't seem as stressful as she thought it'd be. There were so many things within their fields to look at. Beautifully painted bird houses that had J.D carved into them, weirdly dressed scarecrows with either a scarf, hat or gloves that had J.D imprinted on them, patches of flowers filled with species that she'd never seen before, the patches were planted in a shape that resembled J.D.

"Proud bastard", Felici snorted, then immediately swung back into her dull mood.

In the meantime, mango peels littered the foot of the tree where Jerome and Ravea sat. They'd probably licked about 20 of them, alongside bananas, oranges, apples and figs.

"Ugh I've never eaten so much fruit in my life", Ravea said then laughed. She placed her hands on her stomach then relaxed her head on Jerome's shoulders.

"I'm surprised you were even able to finish 18 mangos!" Jerome replied surprised, then laughed as well.

"Grow up the way I did and you're bound to have an iron stomach."

Jerome sighed, "If that means I'd have to eat green mangoes with the peel, then no thank you."

She punched his stomach, "I thought we were past that." Then she sat up, "I should probably be on my way, I've been gone too long, my family would probably be looking for me."

Jerome's lips instantly curled downwards. "Can't you stay a little while longer?"

She smiled, "I wish I can. But unlike you, I have a lot of responsibilities to attend to."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Just then, Felici called out, "Hey! Jerome!"

Ravea and Jerome turned immediately to see Felici running towards them. She stopped under the shade of the tree to catch her breathe. The wind blew once again, causing her thick fluffy brown hair to shake erratically, like a tree being rattled for fruits. Jerome and Ravea could relate.

She pulled out a rubber band and packed it in a big bun. "What're you doing all the way out here?" She asked as she straightened her back, then her eyes met with Ravea's.

"Good day", Ravea greeted with a courtesy. She tried breaking the gaze between them but it was almost impossible.

"Good day", Felici replied, confused and stunned.

Ravea looked at Jerome who was now standing up. "Bye", she said then hurriedly left.

Jerome didn't say anything, and neither did Felici. They just stared at each other awkwardly, both of them filled to the brim with questions.

"You go first", Jerome said. He knew she'd like to go first. Besides, her reason for coming all the way out there just to see him must've been really important.

"Thank you", She started, "Isn't she the girl that you...?" She paused. "What was she doing here?"

"I called her over, to apologize." The lie felt so easy.

"And she came? To a place this isolated?"

"What? You think I'm going to rape her again?"

"No that's not what I- hmph", she sighed "I'm sorry that's not what I meant."

"Why are you here?" He peeled open a banana and then ate half the banana while waiting for her to say something, but she didn't, she just bent her head and shut her eyes. "Are you alright", He asked.

She took a deep breathe, placed her hands at her back then looked away. "Marry me", she said.

Jerome was confused, but it didn't stop him from opening another banana once he was done with the first. "Eh?"

She looked at him, "Don't make me repeat myself, I want you to marry me."

Jerome looked even more confused.

"I need you to marry me", she said bashfully, "Please." Her eyes began to water.

Jude took the matter more seriously. He stood up, "What's the matter?" He tried thinking back for a second to the last time he felt something deep for her, although it was a long ago time ago, it was easy to remember.

4 YEARS EARLIER

It was the last day of the festival celebrations and the Jon's were throwing a big after party. Mr. Dernewt and Hilma dropped Jerome off at the Jon's family house before leaving. They had planned on staying but as usual, they started quarreling.

Jerome felt a bit relieved to be away from all his parents' drama. He'd been stuck with them all day and the chance of seeing his friends felt like bliss. But the bliss immediately dissipated once he saw the crowd in the house.

He had never been comfortable in crowded place. The sheer amount of people that casually strolled about made him dizzy. But just then, a wide eyed, fluffy haired girl walked up to him.

"I'm Felici Loknot", She introduced herself.

"Jerome Dernewt", He replied immediately, he didn't want her confidence to overshadow him. "Son of Elder Harvey Dernewt."

"I'm aware, I saw your parents drop you off", she said.

Jerome felt he seemed like an idiot to her at that point, so he tried to redeem himself, "I was told to always introduce myself alongside my father's name."

"That's alright, do you want to dance?" She moved on quickly.

He took a deep breathe, "Yes, yes I do."