Ever since that night, Alaia's treatment of Maria had changed. Yes, before that conversation under the yellowish moon and stars, Alaia was nicer to Maria, but after that talk not only was she nicer, but she also started considering Maria's feelings first among everything. She's not just nice but kind. Alaia was smiling at her most of the time and she was also allowing Maria to stare at her eyes. Not the way that they would do nothing and just stare at each other's eyes. She meant that when they were talking, Alaia would no longer turn her back on her or turn her face in the opposite direction, so Maria wouldn't see her eyes. But they still couldn't stare longer than two seconds at each other's eyes. Their relationship- *Author coughs* friendship became even better after that night. But the most important thing is, Alaia became sweet. She would make Maria blush from time to time. Because of that, Alaia's servants would always tease her when Alaia leaves. She would lie if she said that she didn't like Alaia. She does. Just the sight of her or hearing her faint voice is enough to make the butterflies in her stomach go wild. Whenever Alaia touches her arm, she feels a tingling sensation. Maria didn't know how she would handle these feelings. She had never felt this before. She had never imagined that she would be on this page. You know that page where hearts are everywhere every time the person you like is near.
Maria pursed her lips and then heaved an audible sigh while separating the grapes from their stems and thinking of Alaia. She hasn't seen Alaia today yet. When she wakes up, she learns from the others that Alaia left with Ivan and Leo. She didn't know if they had returned already because she was stuck with the twins and the pixies. Because she was so used to Alaia's presence, hours of not getting a glimpse of her were hard.
"That sigh was because you haven't seen Your Highness today, am I right?" Alice teased, wiggling her eyebrows.
The three pixies and Alice's twin looked back at Maria and smiled teasingly at her. Maria's cheeks turned bright red in the embarrassment of being caught but she, of course, wouldn't admit it.
"W-What are you guys saying? I'm just kind of tired." Maria tried to reason out, but her newfound friends knew that she wasn't telling the truth. They'd been observing Maria and Alaia outside the picture and even though they never caught them being clingy or heard them confess their feelings, they were confident that those two had feelings for each other.
"Tired you say, you won't fool us, Maria." Hany, one of the pixies said, squinting her eyes at her.
Maria looked away from them and just returned her gaze to the grapes in her hands.
"What is the status of the two of you?" Alicia teased and bumped her thigh to get her attention.
Maria lifted her chin and let out an exasperated sigh. "Guys, I told you this already. We're just master and servant who only became close. There's nothing more than that."
The twins and the three pixies exchanged looks, not believing at least an inch of that statement.
"So, you're saying that you aren't looking forward every day and aren't excited about seeing and talking to her?" Hazel asked again, grinning widely, knowing that the answer to all her questions was yes, she was looking forward.
Maria didn't bother to deny it. She just averted her eyes and continued what she was doing.
"Your Highness, did you just get back?" Alicia suddenly uttered, looking behind Maria.
Maria's heart skipped a beat at the mention of Your Highness. She immediately turned her head at Alaia to greet her as well, no longer caring if her friends would tease her when they were alone again, but to her dismay, Alaia wasn't standing behind them just like what she was expecting. It turns out that the girls are just teasing her again.
"So, our little Maria here is actually looking forward." Alicia uttered again, still not done pestering Maria.
Alice and the pixies tried so hard to stop themselves from laughing. Maria glared at Alicia and threw one piece of grape at her face in annoyance. She had just busied herself with crushing the grapes with a wooden spoon as her cheeks turned into a darker shade of red.
The five just giggled in satisfaction and finally stopped teasing Maria.
Two minutes later, Maria heard Alicia greet Your Highness again and even bowed her head lightly, and so did her twin and the pixies. Maria ignored them. She assumed that they were just teasing her again. From the corner of her eyes, she saw them looking at her in confusion, probably because Maria wasn't greeting Alaia just like them.
"Maria, we're telling the truth now." Alice whispered, looking so serious.
Maria gave them a bored look, looking so done at them. "Nice try, but you guys won't fool me again, so you can stop your act now."
Maria was so sure that they were just toying with her again. She was so sure that she got them right this time and wouldn't be fooled again, but the thing is, this time her friends were really telling the truth.
"What's the act and who is fooling you?"
Maria's eyes widened when she recognized that voice. She saw her friends giving her an I-told-you-so look before they returned their attention to what they were doing. She heard footsteps drawing near her and stopped at her side. She smelled the familiar peppermint and that's when she was only convinced that her friends were really not toying with her, this time.
Maria slowly turned her head on her side and found the older girl standing next to her as their arms lightly grazed each other. Alaia is intently staring at her. She was staring straight at Maria's shaky orbs.
Maria freaked out on the inside. She wondered if Alaia had heard what they were talking about earlier. She couldn't help but think what if, just like what happened weeks ago, Alaia was just hiding somewhere and eavesdropping. What if Alaia heard her friends' teases? What if Alaia also thought that she liked her? What if Alaia distanced herself because of that? What if Alaia never talks to me again because she thinks I'm weird?
Because of the thoughts and worries that were bothering Maria, she ended up just staring at Alaia instead of answering her questions. Alaia started worrying when she saw that Maria looked troubled, so she grabbed Maria by her shoulders and lightly shook them to snap Maria out of her thoughts.
Maria blinked her eyes, finally coming back to her senses. Her eyes widened when she saw that Alaia was standing too close to her. She gulped down in nervousness and took a step back.
"Y-Your Highness." Maria finally uttered.
"What's wrong Maria? Do you have any problems?" Alaia asked. Alaia just ignored the fact that Maria took a step away from her but deep inside, that pinched her heart.
Maria scratched her cheek and looked away from her.
"It was nothing. I'm just probably tired. A-Anyways, did you just get back?" Maria asked, changing the topic.
"No. We got back less than ten minutes ago." Alaia lied. They just got back. She went to the kitchen first to look for Maria but when she didn't see her, she went straight here, hoping to finally see Maria.
"O-Oh. Then aren't you tired? Do you want something to eat, Your Highness?"
Alaia shook her head. "No, I'm okay." I'm okay just seeing your face again. "Are you and Alice here again to help?"
Maria nodded her head lightly and then looked down at the grapes she was crushing in a wooden bowl.
"Y-Yeah. W-We're also killing some time."
Alaia looked around, "Then can I perhaps also give you a hand?"
Maria snapped her head back at Alaia in surprise and so did the other girls.
"I-It's okay Your Highness. We're fine. You should just rest, Your Highness." Maria insisted, earning support from the other girls.
"No, it's really okay. I wanted to help."
In the end, they just ended up allowing Alaia to help. It's not like Alaia was interested in making wines, she just wanted to spend more time with Maria. And even though she was indeed tired, she would gladly choose this rather than rest. Simply because she wanted to stand next to Maria.
"Can you tie my hair, Maria?" Alaia requested while pushing the long sleeves of her tunic up to her elbows.
Maria immediately abides, actually dying to do that. Her eyes are twinkling when her hands finally get hold of Alaia's smooth silky raven hair. She wanted to lift some strands to sniff them, but she didn't want to be seen as a pervert. Maria carefully tied Alaia's hair into a high ponytail which suited Alaia a lot before she instructed Alaia on what she would do.
Maria was restless. Now that Alaia was standing next to her, she was hearing her voice and her nose was being filled with Alaia's peppermint fragrance; she felt so self-conscious. Her mind was clouded with thoughts about Alaia. Because of that, she absentmindedly crushed a bunch of grapes which made the juices spurt in her face.
Maria mentally cursed in frustration and immediately wiped the juices off her face. She looked back at Alaia and saw the older girl busy wiping the juice that spurted on her cheek. Alaia smiled at Maria, to assure her that it was fine.
"Your Highness, there's also some juices on your mask." Maria uttered, watching Alaia.
"Oh, is that so?" And just like that, Alaia casually removed her mask to wipe it off. Forgot that she wasn't supposed to do that.