"You guys came!" Mari said excitedly running to them.
"Alex! Erica! Prince! Cupcake! Ariel! Tera! Emma! Lila! Kitara! Kitara! Sukka! Aang! Kagome! You guys came! we missed you." Mari exclaimed.
"Kitara, Aang, Sukka, Kagome. Welcome back, how was your trip?" Ting and Tang said, welcoming them.
"Come here guys! Gimme a hug!" Gabriel said happily.
"Stop being childish, Gabriel." Emily said smiling.
"I'm not being childish at all dear. I really miss them." Gabriel sad.
"Alex! Where have you been? I missed you so much." Mari said hugging her brother.
"Sis! I went on a trip with Lila, Prince and Cupcake. Cutie went with Erica, Tera and Ariel. While Kagome Aang, Kitara, Sukka and Emma went together." Alex said still in her arms.
"Why you only calling her sis? Have you forgotten your second elder sis or are you looking down on me since you haven't met me in months?" Fancy said from the side.
"Little sis! I missed you too. And come on, how could I have forgotten you? You're also my big sis." Alex said to the satisfaction of Fancy, however not clarifying whether he looked down on her or not.
"Tera, Erica, Ariel, Emma. I missed you guys too. Where did you go this time?" Mari asked.
"Meh. We just went to big sis' island for a while." Tera replied.
"Yeah. We ate loads of seafood, I'm sick of it." Ariel said with Emma nodding in agreement.
"Big sis! Little sis! You're back! I missed you so much!" Nino said jumping on Erica after hugging Tera.
" Nino! You're getting heavier!" Eric exclaimed still hugging Nino tightly.
"What do you mean?! I'm not fat!" Nino said.
"Nino, you're more of a girl than a girl right now. Tut tut." Tera said tutting and shaking her head.
"Cutie! Ariel! Emma! I missed my baby sisters and favorite friend so much." Alya said hugging her younger sister and her bird.
"We missed you sis!" They both said hugging her tightly with satisfaction.
(Everyone was conversing happily b4 Yie suddenly sighed loudly and exclaimed.)
"Ah! It sucks to only have an elder brother I know younger brother or sister!" Yie said eyeing Adrien with plain disdain.
"Hey! What's with that look?! And, are you disdaining me right now? Blame Mom and Dad!"
"If only you weren't older than me. You should have been born after me. Ugh! You're so annoying." She said kicking him and turning around to run away.
"Hey! Ouch!! You're gonna pay for that, you brat!" He shouted and started running after her.
"Thank goodness they are not twins, if not, I'm not sure we'd be free of trouble or even able to survive till now." Emily sighed and said smiling to Gabriel.
"Thank goodness we didn't birth another one." Gabriel said smiling.
"Socks to be you. My children are all obedient." Ting said sarcastically.
"Yeah. Whatever." Gabriel said and rolled his eyes.
"OH my gosh. It's 2 days left before you guys leave!" Adrien said to the parents.
"Adrien's right. Let's make these remaining days worth it starting from today." Yie said in rare agreement with her brother.
"Yeah!! They can take the private jet. It leaves anytime." Fancy said.
"It's not every time we travel we take the private jet kids." Emily said. "Besides, we have to act like normal rich people." She continued.
"Emi's right kids we've been too extravagant lately." Tang said. "We've got to make a decision right now. Are we going to the park or not? Also, notify Sabine to invite the whole school and anyone who wants to come should come to the party. We should go to the beach and Thursday. Is that alright with everyone?"
"Yeah." Everyone said.
"Alright. Let's go prepare to go to the park. I only need to change my slippers so I'll go prepare the car now." Mari said.
"I'll go change my skirt to shorts and come meet you." Lila, Erica and Emily said to Mari.
"I'll be outside." Mari said and left.
"We'll all be out in some minutes." Ting said after Mari making sure she heard.
"Did anyone say outing?" Henry asked as he entered.
"Henry, change out of your beach clothes. We're going to the park, also welcome." Nora said when Henry came in.
"Alright. But just to let you guys know, I'm spending my vacation here." Is said to everyone's shock.
"Since when did you like the company of others?" Kagome asked knowing he hates socializing.
"Just because I'm here, doesn't mean I have to talk."
"It does." Ting said.
"Oh! Your ma-"
"Don't call me that yeah. Here, I am Mo Ting." Ting said.
"Alright. I'll call you Ting and Tang then." Henry said.
"Alright! Let's go! Mari, Erica, Emily and Lila are waiting! And Henry, use your magic to change your dress. No need to change yourself." Tang said going out.
***At the park***
"Mari, come with me, I want to take you somewhere." Adrien said as her pulled her along.
"Stop pulling me!..." Mari said, hurrying her footsteps to match his, however still a few steps behind.
Adrien's POV:-
-- meanwhile, Adrien's heart was pounding and he felt excited and nervous. He quickly took Mari to a secret place in the park only he and Yie knew of.
'Precious Lord, help me overcome this important phase in my life.' Adrien thought to himself.
Mari's POV:-
"Where is it taking me? Wait! Don't tell me he's going to confess today?! I'm not prepared! My heart is not ready for this. Iot dot dot I don't know! Why is my heart beating so fast? Tikki, what's happening?"
"You like him! Face it!" And all so familiar voice which wasn't Tikki said to Mari in her head.
"Reject him! You know your parents won't allow with!" Another voice said in her head.
"Just follow your heart, Mari." A third voice said to her in her head.
"Yeah! Do what the third voice said!" Voice said in her head but she couldn't hear it.
"Royal me, Angel me, thank you. Devil me, I don't need your advice at this time, at least not now." Mari said in her head.
"Hmph. Don't come crying when your parents disown you!" Devil Mari said.
"I I don't care-" she said to the devil voice and snapped back to reality because of Adrien's voice outside.
"Mari, have been calling you for the past 2 minutes. Is there something wrong?" Adrien asked worriedly.
"Oh no! No! I was just mesmerized by the beautiful sea of flowers. I'm sorry, did you say something?"
"No, I just ask a simple question."
"Oh! What was it?" Puzzled Mari asked.
"It was about our childhood. Do you remember it?"
"Oh? Of course, I do! It's one of my most treasured memories." She mistakenly said out loud to both hers and Adrien's surprise. "Oh... I... I" she stuttered, flustered.
"It's alright." Adrien set joyfully. Then it suddenly turned serious to Mari's shock.
"Why? Why are you so serious all of a sudden?! You're scaring me!" Mari said panicking.
"Oh? I scared you? I'm so happy. You're finally scared of me! You used to say you'd never be scared of me when we were young." Adrien said smiling.
"Oh, come on! You were so cute and jolly then, would be scared of you? I could even say, I had a small crush on your cuteness then." She unexpectedly said out loud again.
"You... What?" Adrien asked shocked.
"I... I said that was then." She said, trying to act nonchalant and all the blood rushed to her head in embarrassment and nervousness.
"You're blushing and you said that was then?" He asked teasing her.
"..." The blush spread to her ears.
"Look even your ears are red" He said rubbing her earlobe.
"You, what are you doing?" She asked trying to run away.
"Where are you going? come back." Pulling and the brother into the sea of flowers to sit down still holding her hand.
"Let go of me." Mari said.
"No." He said and kissed her palm. "It's rare to see you so flustered." He looked up at her from her palm.
"What are you doing?!" Shocked, she quickly retracted her hands.
"Pfft! Haha" he burst out laughing.
"Stop teasing me!" She said hitting him.
"Oh, so you want to play dirty." He said and started tickling her.
"Oh my God. No!- STOP!!" Laughing, she said in between breaths.
"No chance." He laid beside her and continued to tickle her.
(She rolled away and he rolled after her, and later Adrien landed on her. Stunned, Mari switched positions immediately.)
"..." Adrien was speechless.
"Ahh.." she sighed breathless, however in a very pleasant mood. "When last did I have so much fun?"
"When we were kids." He answered her question. "Mari, don't overwork yourself so much. I don't like it. Everyone's staying together during this vacation. Let's all share the burden together. I know your kingdom's the largest, and you have more burdens, but please, please! Don't carry it all on your own. You need to relax like now. Don't try to hard anymore. It doesn't sit well with me."
"Why? Why are you nicer to me than others? You're making my heart throb. I don't like that." She said tearing up.
"Why? Why don't you like throbbing for me? Mari, I love you and I want your heart to only beat for me and me alone. I also want you to be happy as it beats for me." He pleaded.
"It's not that I'm not happy. But...our parents..."
"If you're only worried about our parents, I promise to try my best to convince them to accept our relationship. You only need to say yes." He said, reassuring her.
"Alright." Mari smiled brightly.
"Thanks." He smiled in relief and pecked her cheek.
(Meanwhile, the new couple didn't notice the presence of the three people behind the trees behind them.)