Leina oblivious of what her brothers planned for her decided to shrug off the loom of hopelessness off her shoulders and enjoy the weather with Diane.
She made eye contact with Diane and the puppy as if reading her mind started running enjoying the breeze while Leina followed suit and ran alongside her carefreely.
"Now that's the stuff, Diane, ugh how I missed this." she huffed while running toward the maze that they had.
"Oh whoa, girl nope we do not venture that way remember what happened last time." as if she was being tortured Diane whined but turned reluctantly and as she did she caught sight of a figure approaching their way and instantly took a stance before Leina, protecting her from whoever was approaching.
Baffled at her actions Leina looked at the direction Diane seemed to be growling at and saw ash blonde curls dance with the breeze and instantly froze recognizing who was heading their way.
"Whoa, now I come in peace Miss Puppy and Miss Puppy's owner."
"May I know the reason why... umm...." she stuttered realizing she did not know his name.
"Alexander. My name is Alexander and I am surprised you forgot even though I introduced myself thrice now," he said chuckling while looking at Diane sweetly.
"I did not forget I simply was not paying attention to things that do not require it" she rushed to explain with a pink hue visible on her face from embarrassment.
".."
He looked stunned for a second and said "Oh, well then that's okay by me I too share the same sentiment." And looked at her before smiling and approached her with his hand-drawn in front of him.
"Well let's try this one more time. Hi, my name is Alexander Harris Smith it's a pleasure to meet you," he said waiting for her to shake his hand.
Leina stared at his hand and then looked at his face which seemed to have a constant smile on it.
"Hi my name is Leina Reinhardt nice to meet you too Alexander" She took his hand and shook it briefly before withdrawing it and looking at Alexander with a 'now what' expression.
Noticing this he awkwardly looked around the vast garden and then the maze behind her and said, " Well no need to be so formal you could just call me Alex like your brothers do"
"I do not see the need to do that"
"And why is that?" he asked slowly as he was reeling in how mature she sounded for a 9-year-old.
"We are not acquainted, however, you are acquainted with my brothers so I opted to call you Alexander instead of Alexander Harris Smith." What she said baffled him and he could not understand why she spoke so maturely for her age. Even he didn't speak like that at his age!
"Could you please slow down with those big words I really can't keep up" he said while his smile faltered slightly.
"Are you not 15 years old you should start speaking more maturely instead of stopping me from sounding intellectual which I am" She stood defiantly as if she could tower him unfortunately that could not be the case.
As he stood there while the breeze waved through his hair he took in those amethyst eyes and the wind which was blowing loose those black strands from her face and wondered if he should just back out of the deal he made with her brothers but he paused and thought to himself 'why am I scared of a small little girl, ugh this is ridiculous'.
"Well I want to be your friend"
"Are you not too old to play with dolls and toy cars?"
"I still enjoy playing with my childhood toys"
"Well I do not want to be your friend"
Alexander's smile faltered slightly before he thought of something.
"Oh well I was hoping to get someone to read the latest edition to Klearin Jack's Adventures but I guess that won't happen, oh well" Alexander saw something flicker in those hazel eyes and could guess that he finally got her.
...
Leina was feeling conflicted right now. She had been an advent fan of Klearin Jack's books and was looking forward to asking her father to get his latest edition for her, which she could still do, however having someone she could talk to about it was very rare.
She sighed and said, "Okay fine, but I only want to have you as my reading acquaintance and we shall see from there forth."
Happy with making some progress he held out his hand once more and said, "Deal" which she took and said, "Deal".
Both of them unaware of where this small deal they made sealed their fate.