Welcome to Gaia! ::

Forever Single

Chapter 1: Vacation

Dear Jack,

It's good to hear from you every once in awhile. I'm glad to hear that your family is doing fine, but, I haven't seen you since you moved to Mineral Town. I miss you being around. I know you can't leave the farm so I'm coming to visit on fall 21st for two months. I'm so excited. I need a break from my job anyway. Don't worry about the expenses, I can handle it.

Scarlet

P.S. I'm bringing Kiyoshi a teddy bear and a music box. I hope he likes it.

Jack stood frozen after reading the letter next to the mailbox. 'Isn't that the Sheep Festival,' he thought to himself as he ran inside his house to the calendar, and sure enough Fall 21st was the Sheep Festival. He grinned as he imagined his sister walking around an empty town wondering where the heck everyone was.

“Why are you smiling?” Jack's son, Kiyoshi, asked as he tugged shyly at his pants.

Kiyoshi was very smart for a four year old. He could already read a little, tell the difference between the chickens, and instantly knew what kind of wild grass it was with just a glance, but like Mary he was a little shy.

“Well,” he grinned at Mary as she stared at him with her brown eyes while getting breakfast ready, “your Aunt Scarlet, from the city, is coming to visit.”

“What?” Turning from the cabinet with plates in her hands, Mary asked, “When is she coming?” Feeling a little embarrassed for not remembering her husband had a younger sister.

To Jack, her voice was as gentle and beautiful as ever. Even after being married to her for five and a half years, her voice still made him yearn to touch her lips, and for gasps of pleasure to escape them. Though he knew that would have to wait until later when Kiyoshi went to sleep. “Jack?” The sound of his name brought him out of his thoughts.

“Sorry, um...she's coming on the 21st for two months, but she doesn't know that it's the Sheep Festival.” Jack smiled again with the thinking of his sister wondering around again.

Mary smiled not missing the look of lust in his eyes. She shook her head and returned to putting the plates on the table.

Kiyoshi was excited yet confused over who this Aunt Scarlet was at the same time. “Who's that? What does she look like? Is she nice? Is she goin' to stay with us?”

Where is she going to stay? Jack never really thought about that, but he still had four days to get everything ready for his sister and the Sheep Festival so he decided to worry about it later. “You'll find out when she gets here, but right now daddy has to go back to work.”

Watching his son walk away frowning in disappointment, made him decide to come home a little earlier than usual, so he could play a spend more time with him. Looking at his watch he realized it was already 9:30. Rushing out the door with a “bye”, he went to the barn to tend to the animals. Luckily for him the Harvest Sprites were working on the field so he didn't have to worry about them shearing the sheep before the festival.

Kiyoshi sat at the table waiting for breakfast to be served pondering who this “Scarlet” was. His dad had never mentioned her to him before.

“You’ve never heard of Scarlet, have you Kiyoshi?” Mary asked as she set his breakfast in front of him. He shook his head, now wondering how she knew what he was thinking as he ate his pancakes quietly. “She's daddy's sister. She writes books and lives in the city. I’ve never met her nor have I read any of her books, but I can tell she's a nice person since your dad's so excited about her coming.”

“Thanks for tewn' me,” Kiyoshi smiled with his mouth full of one of his favorite foods. Mary couldn't help but laugh his puffy cheek smile.

----------------------------------------

“Two months of vacation.” Scarlet whispered to herself. “No more editor constantly reminding me when the dead line is.” The thought of visiting her brother got her really excited, but it also scared her a bit since she has never left the city so she didn't know what to expect.

“I don't see your hands moving.” Scarlet turned to find her editor, Kain, staring at her. She glared at him while frowning as she once again realized that she wasn't on vacation till tomorrow.

“Thanks for stating the obvious, but I’m trying to brain storm of what should happen next.” Frustrated over her editor, her writer's block, and her eagerness to leave, she grabbed her headphones and listened to some orchestrated music. Closing her eyes, she daydreamed of different scenarios that could happen in her story.

----------------------------------------

Jack finished his work at 3:10 and headed towards town. Instead of visiting everyone like he usually did he was only planning to visit the Blacksmith's shop today. He wanted to upgrade his Gold Rod to Mystrile with the stone he found yesterday.

On the way he greeted Gotz and Rick as he ran passed, reaching the door of the Smithery by 4:00. Standing at the door, Jack started to think of his friend, Gray, who was heading back to the inn right about now. Gray's been so depressed ever since he married Mary and since then he hasn't truly smiled, but lately he hasn't been talking to him very friendly either. Though Gray didn't need to explain why because Jack could see how jealous he was that he had married his wife. He had lost her to his best friend.

Sighing, he opened the door and walked over to the counter. Jack took out his rod and Mystrile stone set them down. “Afternoon Saibara, would you make me a Mystrile Rod, please?”

Saibara glared at him annoyed. “No, we're closed today.”

It took Jack a few seconds to process what the old geezer was saying. Then he realized that today was Thursday. Picking up his rod and stone he quickly headed for the door. “Sorry about that, I forgot it was Thursday. I'll come back another day. See you later, Saibara.”

Walking back to the house, he felt so embarrassed for not noticing what weekday it was today. He paused a sec thinking of the date. 'Let's see today is Fall 17th…that sounds familiar... wait a minute it's Doctor's birthday.'

Jack ran as fast as he could to the Supermarket. Looking at his watch as he entered the building, 4:40, he had twenty minutes to get his present before the Clinic closed. Sighing with relief he asked Jeff for a chocolate and to wrap it. “That will be 150G. Who’s the present for?”

Quickly, Jack gave Jeff the money, “Oh, it’s for the doctor. It’s his birthday today.”

“I have to go see Doctor this Sunday…Do you think it’s weird that we called the doctor, Doctor? Why doesn’t he just tell everyone his name”? Jeff stated as his hand stroked his chin as he tried to find an explanation for the doctor’s decision.

Everyone in town calls the doctor, Doctor, but Jack found out, after becoming good friends with him, that his real name was Tim so whenever no one is around he just calls him by his real name. He never really has figured out why Tim told him what his name was either.

“Yeah it’s kinda weird but I’m sure he has a reason for it. Sorry I can’t stay to talk longer, but I got to get this to the clinic before it closes. I’ll see you tomorrow Jeff.” Then Jack ran out the door to the clinic.

When he walked in he didn’t see Elli behind the counter like usual so went straight to the examining room. Tim was inside reading another patients chart when Jack walked in. He put Tim’s present on the desk, and waited for his friend to notice the present.

Tim looked up from the chart and thanked him for giving him the present. “Your welcome. I wish I could’ve stayed longer but I got to get home early today. Happy Birthday, by the way.” Jack smiled to him before turning around and rushing out of the door. The doctor stared at the door, thinking of how weird Jack was acting before turning his attention back to the chart.

Jack thought about Gray and his sister's letter once again, 'I guess I'll go tell Gray about Scarlet coming to visit on my way home.' The inn was only down the street so it only didn't take long for Jack to reach his destination. As he walked up the stairs he heard mumbling coming from Gray's room. He went to the door and knocked on it, instantly the mumbling stopped.

Gray opened the door glad to see his friend yet at the same time angry, but he didn't want to let Jack know how he felt about him. “Hey Jack, shouldn't you be at home?” The question sounded rude, but Jack chose to ignore it.

“I’m going home after I talk to you for a little bit.” Jack stated, grinning as at the thought of his sister's visit once more. He walked over and sat in a chair by the table. Gray followed behind wondering what he was so dang happy about.

“Did I ever tell you I had a younger sister?” Jack asked not being able to hide the excitement in his voice.

“No.” Gray was surprised that Jack even had a sibling.

“Anyway, she's coming to visit on the 21st!” Jack announced laughing quietly thinking of the day she chose.

“Ah, isn't that the Sheep Festival?” Gray asked while lifting his brows.

“Yep.” Jack proudly stated no longer able to hold back his laugher. “I got to go. I'll see you later.” Getting up slowly he walked out of the room, still laughing.

Gray rolled his eyes as his friend left the room. When he heard the door close he frowned. 'I can see why she chose him…'

Jack was in a fairly good mood as he walked home. It wasn't often that he would be so happy after talking with Gray. Most of the time he'd feel a little guilty for marrying Mary, but if he had to make the decision of marrying her again he would. If she would have chosen Gray; however, he knew for sure they wouldn't still be such good friends.

By 5:50, Jack had reached his house. As he opened the door, Kiyoshi ran up to him. “Welcome home, Dad!” He smiled and grabbed his dad's large hands pulling him to the table.

“What is it, Kiyoshi?” Jack questioned as his son pulled him, wondering what he was so excited about.

Mary sat down on one of the chairs at the table staring at a piece of paper with a pencil in her hand as she stated, “He's been waiting for you to get home all day.” She looked up briefly to smile at him, then return to her paper.

“Lookie Daddy!” He proudly held up a piece of paper with big, crooked, written words. “I wrote auntie a story!”

Smiling at his son he took the paper and read:

For Antie,

dogs run every were when cats are near. i like dogs! kitties run.

Kiyoshi

Jack laughed handing the paper back to Kiyoshi. “It's good. I'm sure she'll love it.” Jack couldn't help to think, 'Wait till you see what she brings for you.'

Grinning, he picked his son up. “Let's play with Koro!”

“Yay!” Kiyoshi cheered grabbing a ball as they went outside to find their dog.

----------------------------------------

Later that evening after Kiyoshi was asleep, Mary sat on Jack's lap on the bed. The question about what they were going to do about Scarlet's visit finally came up in their conversation. “Where is she going to stay? We don't have any room at our house, and my room was converted into a storage room at my parents' house.” She sighed burrowing her face into his chest. She loved it when she was this close to him since she could hear his heart beat speed up as it was now, but for Jack she was making it difficult to think straight.

“Um…Why doesn't she just stay at the inn. They have a free room, and we can pay for her stay there?” Jack looked into his wife's eyes as she looked up at him.

Jack almost couldn't take it anymore. He wanted her so badly right now. If she said one more word, “Ok, I don't know why we didn't thin-” Her sentence was interrupted by Jack's lips. At first, she was surprised but as his arms went around her waste, pulling her closer to him, and their kiss became more passionate the only think she could think was, 'I'm so glad I chose you,' Her mind became clouded as she let her instincts take control.

----------------------------------------

Scarlet laid on her fluffy pink bed unable to sleep in all her excitement. “Tomorrow I'll be on a boat!” There was no way she be able to sleep so she just got out of bed and decided to sleep on the boat since it was already 3:40 in the morning.

Changing into her baggy cream pants, pink tank top, and her tight brown low cut shirt that went over her tank top she picked out earlier, she went into the living room and sat down on the couch flipping through the channels.

After ten minutes, she shut off the TV and turned the lights on. Grabbing her pile of papers from her smallest suitcase, she began to write. Writing always seemed to make time go faster when she was alone so she continued where she left off in her story. Her writing had been better since she planned this vacation, but there were some spots where she couldn't come up with anything that made her satisfied with what she wrote. She hopped that this vacation would give her more ideas.

While Scarlet was lost in thought her watch and bedroom alarms started to go off. It was finally time to go, she jumped out of her seat and started to rush around putting her story back in the suitcase. Quickly, she gathered the rest of her bags. It took less than five minutes for her to be in her car ready to go. Turning on the radio so she could try to drown out her own excited thoughts with the daily news, she started to drive towards the docks where she had a private boat waiting for her.

The ride there seemed to take forever, but when Scarlet arrived all the preparations before boarding went so smoothly that she was on her way to Mineral Town in less than an hour. “I can't wait to see what your life is like now, Jack.” She whispered from her private room as the ship rocked her to sleep.