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After the festivities for the lovely Emma had ended, the entomologist found herself more excited than she thought she would be for her birthday. In the silent of the big library, her mind took a good moment to think about her excitement, there wasn't something unusual about it, or did it?
Suddenly, the image of the explorer invaded her thoughts at the speed of light, he was one of the people that helped with almost all of the surprises for the young woman. He even got the gardener a present, all of this with that bright smile of his. Melly immediately shook her head as the memories started focusing more on the man than the birthday girl, she couldn't let herself wander around with those thoughts!
Letting out a sight, she stood up from her chair, careful enough to not drop some of the books that rested on her legs, the entomologist starts making her way to her room. Sleeping may be difficult for her, but it was better than just sitting alone on a chair thinking about a man.
It would all be all right in the end, tomorrow would be just like any other birthday, no young man giving her attention, no party, just her and her bugs.
Or at least, that's what she kept repeating to herself all the time she spent awake that night, trying to fall asleep.
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The sneaky sunlight made it's way through the thick turquoise curtains, hitting with all of it's brightness to the sleeping woman's eyes. With a groan, she turns around, her back now facing the window, and squeezed her eyes a little bit as the thought of getting up came to her mind. A cold autumn day was probably waiting for her out there, and the warm sheets around her didn't made anything better.
Eventually, she opened her eyes. The image of her own bedroom became clearer with time, and she knew it was time to get up, just as she slowly propped herself on her elbows to properly sit up on her bed, someone knocked on the room's door.
Making sure to keep quiet, she sat up, and waited patiently for some type of hint of who it was, before that weird side of her that tormented the entomologist yesterday on the library would come back.
“Miss Plinius, it's me, Emma” Without noticing, the entomologist's shoulders had tensed, and relaxed as soon as the girl said her name “May I come in?”
“Please wait a moment” Melly ran to get something to cover her face once she said that, the gardener is a good friend of hers, but it hasn't come to the point were she feels comfortable with showing her face, no one has managed to do that yet anyway.
Now all covered up, the entomologist quickly opened the door, revealing the excited face of the younger girl. The entomologist smiled under her helmet, despite Emma's sweet appearance, it was odd to see her being so excited to see someone on the manor, which means she must really like Melly, or something very good just happened.
“Happy Birthday, Miss Plinius!” The gardener turned around to grab something behind her. After successfully grabbing it, she faced the entomologist with a smile who expressed great affection for the woman in front of her. Melly looked down at what the gloved hands of the girl were holding, and gasped when she saw a brand new aerial insect net.
“I saw the state of your older one, and you've helped me a lot with the garden, so I crafted a new one for you, thank you very much for your help ” The happiness was shared, because despite how low her voice was, the older woman kept thanking the girl with the hat.
“It's very lovely, Emma... Yes, this will certainly work better than my other one, thank you ” Such words made the gardener smile even more than she already was.
“ Emma's so happy you like it! Oh! Right! Kurt told me that he wants to see you once you're ready, so please don't keep him waiting, or he will drive Mr. Pierson crazy! ” Both women giggled at the last sentence, though funny, it wasn't exactly a lie, the explorer had a bad habit of jus starting to tell stories to everyone near him, a nice thing when they're for Melly, but for the rest of the manor, it was a nightmare.
After dismissing the young girl, the 29 year old woman turned around and entered her room, closing the door behind her. She put the gift near her desk, right were her old net was, a few jars with flying insects were next to them. Before steering to her closet, the sunshine from the curtains made her stop, giving a good look to the outside after moving the heavy fabric. Knowing the place she was in, if it was cold outside, it was even colder inside of the manor, time making it's structure almost unable to stop the cold from creeping inside.
Once dressed, she gets out and heads straight to the dining room, it was still morning from what she could see, perhaps a little late than the time she normally gets out of her room. If she was lucky, the explorer had chosen one of his long stories to tell the thief, and he would still be sitting next to the tired man despite his plate being completely empty.
“ And there I was, Kreacher! Completely cornered by the giant beast, but that didn't stop me, Oh no! It did the opposite actually, you see-... ” Not even close as the thief was and she could hear him, perfect. The thief's eyes widened as he saw the woman coming towards them, his face seemed to thank all things in heaven in this exact moment.
“Y-Yeah! yeah! A-All ri-right, you-your girlfriend's he-here! K-kreacher w-will go now... ” Giving the explorer no time to even question the way he referred to Melly, the man almost flies away to another part of the manor. The two of them followed him with their gaze until he was no longer seen, and with a shrug, Kurt turned on the chair to face the woman in front of him.
“ Good morning, Melly ” The man suddenly started packing some of his books and other stuff in his backpack, that looked about to blow up in any moment.
“ Good morning, Kurt. You're leaving already? ” He shook his head in response, awakening her curiosity. Saying nothing, she sat down on the chair in front of him, deciding to say nothing else about it.
Breakfast with Kurt was always rumoured to be slow and boring by the other survivors —or the ones that weren't his friends, at least— but to Melly it seemed to last too little. Even if the table was full of people, there was something special about hearing him talking with such joy, perhaps it was a selfish feeling, but the ignorance of the other survivors made her feel as if those passionate words about travels and adventure were all meant for her, and only her. Silence on the table was never a good sentiment for her.
Her change of clothes earlier ended up with her wearing a type of beanie to cover her eyes, which allowed her to eat peacefully. The idea of wearing that fancy costume of hers was tempting, but the pearls on the veil would quickly annoy her. But even with a easier way to eat, she still did it as slow as she could, enjoying every word that came from Kurt's mouth.
“ Emma told you that I wanted to see you, right? ” As an answer, he got a nod. “Then there's no need to take so long, but please don't choke too!” His giggle made a gentle smile appear on her face, before she grabbed the spoon again and took a bite from the cake's left over.
After she was done eating, she waited for the explorer to stop fighting with his own backpack and then came closer to him. Without a warning, he softly took her hand and slowly started and carefully pulled as he walked some steps, Melly soon understood what he was trying to do, however, instead of letting go, she gave the grip a little bit more of strength as they walked side by side.
For a birthday, it wasn't bad, she wasn't used to do something too special about it, so at least having someone else with her on her walk in the forest was nice. Although in all of Kurt's talking, a very bad feeling started to bloom, caused by the fact that he never mentions something about her birthday, just walks with her and talks as he had forgotten about it. He couldn't have possibly done that, right?
It was about lunch time that the explorer stopped next to a huge tree, who's branches looked strong and big. Accompanied by a specie of boards put together, the mix looked perfect and stable enough for people to walk in it. By some reason, this was where he decided to stop to eat with her, and then he stayed there, until a butterfly passed by them.
“ Did you managed to know what type was it? ” She shook her head “ I have a little job to do here, is it alright if we part ways? Don't worry, I won't go too far”
With a simple "yes" she made her way to the small creatures she saw far away, some of them looked familiar but a little bit more of research wouldn't hurt, right?
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It had been a long time since they separated, and hope was being lost. Of course, how could he let herself get away with a fantasy of having such attention? Kurt probably didn't even remembered her birthday, and the worst part of her told her he forgot about her back there too. Or maybe- ...
The butterfly they saw earlier came resting on her hand just when she started feeling like crying. It's small wings moved slowly, but didn't moved, it rested peacefully on her, as if the small creature didn't have such a short, and fragile life. Suddenly, a memory of what she's heard of people came to her mind as she saw the butterfly.
“ If you whisper your wish to a butterfly, and then softly blow, it will fly away happily, making it come true. Your wish will also come with happiness and love. ”
The entomologist wasn't a young, foolish girl to believe in such things, but those words gave her enough hope to try it, specifically because the butterfly also never left, she continued to be there. Slowly, and with all the gentleness of the world, she moved the winged insect closer to her lips, and whispered a wish, then softly blew. Almost as if that was it wanted, the butterfly quickly flied away.
With a sigh, Melly stood up and made her way back to were she remembered the explorer was, hoping his curiosity didn't drove him too far.
Great was her surprise when she was back, because her eyes saw how the boards where carefully put together to make a floor, and a big, thick sheet was wrapped around of some branches, making a roof. The improvised treehouse counted with some other thinner sheets, held by some sticks, playing the roles of walls, and a rope ladder hung near of the tree's trunk.
And the most special part; the big banner that said "Happy Birthday", the detail that almost made her melt on the spot. Quickly she made her way to the top, finding that he was already inside, drinking some hot liquid, and in front of him, carefully in a table of books, there was a shortcake decorated with bees, flowers, and butterflies.
“ Kurt.. This is... This is beautiful ” The explorer smiled at the compliment and sight of her coming closer to were he sat, feeling relieved to know she enjoyed her surprise. Despite the thin walls, the warm, fuzzy blankets intertwined with some pillows helped to be more comfortable and also with the cold weather.
“ Edgar helped with the decoration on the cake, did you noticed? ” Melly laughed at that, she knew Kurt was able to cook, but he made a huge mess when it came to that part “ But enough talk! It's time for you to blow the candles, before this place falls entirely on this precious cake ”
Between laughs, the candles were lit, and it took a few more seconds, since some bearded man made the choice to start singing. After the song ended, she immediately blew up the candles, confusing the explorer.
“ I already made my wish today, and it has come true ” Of course, he didn't understand what was that supposed to mean, but for the entomologist, it didn't matter.
“ Man... But don't think you've won yet! ” he quickly turned to search something on his back pack, revealing a small present on a few seconds. Looking at her with a smile now, he extended his left arm, leaning his body a little bit so the gift didn't accidentally hit the food or the books.
Choosing an easier option, she accommodates the pillows and blankets to sit next to the explorer, making less difficult the motion of giving and receiving the gift. Now with the wrapped object on her hands, she delicately opens the paper, making sure to not rip it and slides the item off of it, revealing a book. A present not everyone would like to receive, except that this book was different, she has read every single one that she has managed to get her hands on, but the title in front of her was a complete stranger to her.
“ Where... Did you found this? ” Her voice sounded angry, but her eyes reflected pure curiosity and amazement.
“ I forgot I had it, to be honest. My dad gave it to me because of my phobia, you know the one, but I never read it. ” Kurt looked down at his hands at the memories of his past “ I may not like them, but I know how much you love reading about them, I wanted to help with your research even if I don't have much ”
Putting the book down to her side, Melly reaches out and places her hand on Kurt's, making his gaze settle on her “ You've helped me enough by accompanying me on those walks, and this book is amazing, thank you”
“ Can I hug you? ” He gently wrapped his arms around her waist and upper back after she answered a soft "yes" to his question. Heart beating faster and faster as he felt her arms on him, it was nice, but due to his worry of making her uncomfortable, he separated first.
Next, he layed down on the floor using the pillow to support his head, and tapped his hand on the wood next to his side, inviting her to do the same. She sat closer, but didn't layed down yet, opening her book and giving it a small look, the entomologist soon caught on that the explorer also wanted to read the book, his curiosity over powered his fear.
Doing as he wanted to, she made herself comfortable next to him, holding the book with one of her hands while Kurt used his opposite one to hold "his side" of the book. Quietly reading next to each other, slowly loosing track of time, and being all alone. All of it, made Melly's heart feel warm and at peace.
Far away from what they could see, a butterfly flied near, the one who the entomologist made her wish to; the wish of her assumptions being wrong, at least for once in her life. And the unspoken one when she blew the candles; company.