Summer Sickness

Chapter 5

Pearce is leaning on the door of his room while staring at the floor and thinking about what just happened.

The shadow behind the rustling of the leaves came into the light and came forth the princess with blonde hair.

"Sorry," Elesa began. “I heard the two of you talking and I was actually leaving but I saw you two so I stopped.”

Pearce didn't bother to look at her. There was silence between them and it just broke when…

"Why did you say you would not stay here for a month?" Elesa asked.

Pearce did not speak and jumped from the branch down and faced her with a serious look. Because of his look, Elesa was startled.

“Ah so-sorry. I did not mean to—"

Pearce walked closer to her but he stopped besides her.

"You already heard it, so why bother asking… chismosa (An insult for eavesdropping)"

Elesa stopped and Pearce finally walked past her.

“Yeah, how could I eavesdrop you guys like that. I didn’t even respect your privacy. Sorry.”

Pearce stopped and actually he didn’t know why because there is no reason for him to stop him.

“Anyways, I was thinking. If Yani refuses you to have the bet…” Elesa confronted him. "…why don't we be the ones to have the bet?"

There was silence for a few seconds before Pearce answered.

"You don’t know what you are talking about," he replied.

Even though Pearce did not face her, he could feel Elesa's smile on him. “I know what I heard and I know what I’m saying because like you said so, I am a chismosa. And since you are the one who proposed the bet, you will be the first to decide what your bet is.”

He ignored what she said and walked away. Elesa did not complain but instead followed him back inside the Main Cabin. Pearce thought they would go their separate ways but Elesa kept following him.

"I know how to go back to my room," Pearce said but Elesa ignored him and still followed him.

When Pearce arrived in front of his room and saw that the electric princess was still tailing him, he stopped, turned around and pinned her on the wall which is why Elesa was surprised.

"I don't have the time to play with your antics so leave," Pearce threatened.

Elesa gave him back a serious stare, not a hint of fear in her eyes.

“You have cold eyes. Why, is it because you are sad?”

Pearce was speechless and his face changed in shock.

"Is this the reason you were able to say all that?" she added.

Pearce walked away from her and turned away immediately. He could not speak because he looked like a bad person caught in his act. Elesa let out a sigh.

“So anyways, let's just go back to betting. I promise after this, I will leave you alone.”

Pearce still did not speak.

“Because you don't want to say yours, I will be the first one to bet. My bet is—“

"That I will stay here for a month," Pearce cut her off, which surprised Elesa because she thought he would not answer but immediately a smile formed on her lips.

"No," Elesa replied with a smile so Pearce faced her in no time.

"My bet is that after a month, Yani will evict you out of here."

Pearce remained in shock.

“So since that is mine, yours will stay here after a month. If you win, then good you will stay but if I will win and you decide to leave… ”

Now she's wearing a confident smile.

"…I will go with you away from this nation."

There was silence between them after Elesa said that but broke it when…

"So that's all," said Elesa. "Sorry for the inconvenience," she turned around and walked away.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked, which made her stop. "Do you need anything from me?"

It took a while before Elesa turned to him and gave him a smile.

"I just thought… you're so mysterious because of how you deal with us but just like the others, you can be easily read," she turned her head back to the front.

“Don't worry. I'm just here to help. Nothing more,” was Elesa's last promise before she finally left.

Pearce was still leaning against the wall while thinking all about it and out of the blue, a hidden smile formed in his lips.

"So you're just here," said a voice so the smile immediately disappeared from his lips as he looked at the speaker.

A woman with white hair and eyes and a floating cloud approached him. Full of wonder that Pearce was just staring at her.

"Before you enter your room, I just want to tell you that tomorrow, I will come here in the morning to pick you up on the tour in our cabin," she explained coldly. "I'm just saying this so you won't be surprised tomorrow."

Pearce was still staring at her in wonder.

"Do you want to ask something?" she asked coldly.

"Who are you?" he asked sparingly.

The person he is talking to was slightly startled and let out a sigh.

"I'm Callie, the ice princess," she replied. “We introduced ourselves to you yesterday but I understand if you can’t remember it because there’s a lot of us that introduced ourselves. I will tour you tomorrow at the Ice Cabin so I am advising you to wear winter clothes because it is cold there even though it is summer here in the Main Cabin.”

Pearce did not speak.

"Do you have any more questions?" Callie asked coldly.

Pearce just avoided looking at her.

"If none," Callie said. "…I’ll meet you tomorrow," and she walked away.

Pearce just watched her until she disappeared from his sight before he entered his room. He immediately sat down on his bed and still remembered what just happened earlier but it didn't take long for him to lie down and tell himself…

Just forget about it.

…

The next day, Pearce fixed himself and got dressed up when he woke up. He followed what he was told and he only wore a shirt and shorts because of the heat of his room and thought of just carrying an oversized jacket when he got to the cabin.

After it, he went straight to the door and upon opening it, he saw the princess leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her eyes closed. When he closed the door, Callie immediately opened her eyes.

"Oh, there you are," she said sleepily and yawned at the same time. Pearce just looked back at her.

"Let's get started," Callie offered and started walking and Pearce followed.

As they walk into the hallway of the Main Cabin…

"You look tired," Pearce stated.

Callie didn't say a word and Pearce didn’t mind when…

"I'm sorry," Callie said. “We ice people are not used to coming here to the Main Cabin every summer. The heat of the weather affects us.”

Pearce was slightly surprised by what he found out.

"In that case, how can you last?" Pearce asked.

"Because of this," she pointed at the cloud over her head so Pearce looked at it. “This is called a 'flurry'. This gives us ice so we can stay in the heat but it doesn’t last long.”

Pearce just looked at her and looked back at the path they were walking.

They also immediately got out of the Main Cabin and walked down the road with snow on the side. They arrived in front of a large gate made of ice while Pearce put on his jacket because of the cold.

“If possible, please wear the hood of your jacket too. I left the white wig in my office.”

Pearce looked at her. "What for?" he asked.

"Ice people will think that you are a bad person because of the color of your hair even though I am with you as their princess."

Pearce did not speak again and just did what she said while Callie opened the ice gate.

When Pearce saw the inside, he was immediately amazed because he could see that everything is made of ice, even their buildings.

As they walked, the princess explained and even though Pearce was looking in the other direction, he was really listening to what she was saying. He found out that everyone’s temperature that lives here is low and they don’t eat or drink hot food and drinks. He also saw that every piece of equipment they have inside their house is made of ice and the important buildings like Ice Hospital and Ice Academy.

Then they immediately went to a castle made of ice.

“This is the Ice Palace. This is where me and the prince of this cabin, Prince Jethro, live. And just for your information, the prince himself built this palace.”

Pearce ignored her and just stared at the huge ice castle.

"Come inside, so you can rest as well," Callie offered as they immediately entered.

Pearce saw that even up to their palace, everything was made of ice, even the stairs they are climbing. As they walked to Callie's office, someone immediately came out of the room they were passing by and looked at them.

"Oh Callie, good morning," he greeted happily.

"Good morning too Jethro," Callie greeted back.

Jethro looked behind Callie and saw Pearce.

“Good morning to you too, Pearce. So today is your tour here in this cabin,” he smiled.

Pearce did not speak.

“Pearce, the prince is talking to you. Give him some respect,” Callie ordered but Pearce ignored her and just gave the prince a serious look.

Callie sighed.

"I'm sorry for him, Jethro," Callie apologized.

Jethro smiled at her. “You don't have to apologize, Callie. I know that's how he treats us and I understand,” and he looked at Pearce again but Pearce still did not take his eyes off him seriously.

It was as if Pearce was examining the prince from his toe to his head, astonishing both the ice prince and princess.

“So uhh I'll be going Callie. I will be back soon,” Jethro bid goodbye and started walking.

"Where are you going?" Callie asked.

"Just in the Main Cabin," was Jethro's simple answer.

"It's too hot there today."

Jethro stopped and turned to Callie.

“I know that and I am used to it. Don’t worry, I won't stay there for so long,” and he continued to walk away.

Callie started walking towards her office but she noticed that her guest was not following her so she turned around and saw that he’s still watching the prince leave with a serious look on his face that made Callie wonder.

"Is there a problem with the ice prince?" Callie asked.

Pearce did not turn his gaze to the speaker but replied.

"If what I heard earlier is correct, didn't you say that almost all ice people are cold in dealing with others but why does he seem so different?"

Callie could not answer immediately and let out a sigh.

“You are very observant, Pearce. He really is different. He really behaves very differently but he is still an ice guy,” said Callie. "Why did you ask?"

Pearce did not say a word and just walked past Callie while she followed, wondering at her guest. They also immediately entered Callie's office and Pearce looked around the office before entering.

Her office was simple and did not have much equipment but only piles of papers on her ice table. Pearce immediately sat on the couch made of snow.

"Do you want a drink or something to eat?" Callie asked.

Pearce just shook his head saying no and Callie did not speak again and just sat on her chair and started writing while Pearce watched her do what she was doing.

A few minutes passed just like that when Callie sighed.

"If you have something to say, just say it," Callie said while writing.

Pearce was slightly startled and immediately turned his gaze to the front.

"I have no question," Pearce replied.

"In that case, I have."

Because of what Callie said, Pearce looked at her again.

“I was just wondering about your question earlier. Why do you look at Jethro like that? You seem to have a problem with him.”

Pearce did not speak immediately and turned his gaze to his front first. The silence passed first when…

"Isn't she the one with the problem, princess?"

Callie could not answer immediately and was surprised.

"What do you mean?" Callie asked back nervously.

Pearce looked at her. “On how he deals with people. It looks wrong.”

Callie was shocked and fell silent.

She could not answer because she did not seem to get the point. She wanted to say something but she didn't really understand it.

"Are you saying that it is wrong for ice people to smile and be happy just because I said almost all of us are cold?" Callie asked.

It took a while before Pearce could answer.

“I am new here so I don’t know the people here very well but I know what you mean that ‘almost’ all of you are cold. I am not saying that it’s bad whenever you people smile.”

"Then…" Callie said. "…what's your point?"

Silence passed again before he spoke.

“The princess of your nation. She doesn’t seem to be happy whenever he talks to her.”

Callie was speechless and startled looking at Pearce who was just staring at the table in front of her.

“Ho-how? How did you know?" Callie stammered.

Pearce was slightly startled and turned his gaze to her.

“Ah, so it's true. I thought I was just imagining things.”

Callie fell silent after he said that. She could not speak because she also doesn’t know what to say because she seemed to have been told a secret that she just revealed. She knows that there is not one secret that could not be revealed but what she hated the most was that she was the reason for revealing it. That is one of the deepest secrets that this nation keeps.

Silence passed and Callie knew she was used to such silence but for now, she just wished someone would ruin it and good thing it did when…

Ring! Ring! The phone rang. She didn’t hesitate to answer it.

"Hello this is Callie, the ice princess."

[What's with the formality, Callie? It's just me Fuego.]

She knew that most of the time, only Fuego is the one calling her but now, she was surprised to find out that he was the one he was talking to.

"Fuego… it's you."

[Uuhh… yeah it's me.]

Even though she can’t see him, she knew the person on the other line was wondering.

“What’s wrong? Do you need something?” Callie asked.

[Nothing really. I think you're the one who is troubled. Are you okay, my princess?]

She paused once looking at her guest who is now staring at the floor and thinking.

“I'm okay. Nothing's wrong. Just busy with stuff,” Callie replied. "So why did you call?"

[Oh uhm well just wanted to hear your voice and uuhh know how you are.]

Because of what he said, Callie already knew what he meant.

“Tell me you're in front of the gate again waiting for me to come out.”

[Huh? Wha-what are you talking about? I know you can't come here in the Main Cabin because it's summer and why would I wait in front of the Ice Cabin's gate wearing a thick furry jacket just to wait for you?]

Callie sighed. “Yeah, you're right. So where are you now Fuego?”

[U-uhm he-here in uuhh… in the Main Cabin. Yeah I'm in the Main Cabin.]

"Mm-hm and let me guess, you're wearing a thick furry jacket right now?"

[Wait…] she heard him gasping out of astonishment in the other line. [How did you know?]

"Tell me Fuego, why would you wear a thick furry jacket if it's summer in the Main Cabin?"

[Uhm because uhh… oh.]

Callie just rolled her eyes on his realization he's caught.

[Okay you got me. I'm waiting here in front of the gate in case you're done with the tour so that uhm... well I was planning to invite you to have lunch with me and since you can't go inside the Main Cabin, I'm planning that we will have our picnic here… uhm in front of the gate…]

"Fuego, we are not allowed to do that there—"

[Yeah, and I know that too.]

Callie paused. "So why are you still waiting there?"

It took a while before he answered on the other line.

[Because I want to see you. I miss you Callie.]

"We just met yesterday, Fuego."

[Yeah and I suppose that will be our last for now because I won't be able to see you until summer ends right?]

Callie was speechless because she knew that would happen. The temperature is rising every time it's summer and during these times, she knows it's too hot there now.

“Fuego…”

[Yes Callie?]

“Wait there. I'm coming,” and Callie immediately hung up the phone.

She got up immediately and was about to leave when she noticed the visitor sitting, looking at her. She almost forgot about that.

"Pearce," she said. “By the way, this is where our tour ends. I will take you back to the Main Cabin.”

Pearce just stood up in response. They also immediately left the palace and as they walked, Callie noticed that many were looking at her.

Is it because the Fire Prince is waiting in front of their gate again? They all know about their relationship and many don’t understand because there is a huge gap between them as an ice person and a fire person. They can touch each other but their situation is also the same like a water person and an electric person.

Suddenly, ice guards arrived and immediately blocked Callie, much to her surprise.

"What is it?" she asked coldly.

"Princess, there's an intruder with you."

Callie was surprised by the answer and immediately looked at her companion and was surprised because he was no longer wearing his hood.

"Hands up intruder!" an ice guard points to Pearce with an ice spear.

There was no trace of panic on Pearce's face and he even did what the ice guard said.

"Wait this guy is not—"

"What are you doing here? A metal person like you is not allowed here. Are you not aware of that?” the ice guard asked.

Pearce didn't say a word and just gave him a cold look.

“Wait, listen to me. This person is not an—“

"Princess, just calm down and we will escort you back to the Ice Palace while we take him to the ice dungeon."

Callie could not speak. So this is the reason why everyone is looking at her. And even if she is the princess, when this is the situation, people will judge first. In the first place, it was her fault after all. She is thinking too much and she doesn’t realize her responsibility now. She has to do something.

She quickly went in between the guards and immediately took Pearce's hand and with all her might, she pulled Pearce away from the crowd and out at the gate of the Ice Cabin. They immediately got out and she thanked God that they were able to make it.

Callie is panting while his companion just stared at her without a trace of fatigue.

"Pearce, sorry," Callie said between her breaths. "I am sorry for what happened earlier. I did not notice that your hood was removed.”

Pearce didn’t say a word and was still watching her gasping for breath.

"Your hand is warm," Pearce suddenly said.

Callie was surprised and realized what he meant so she immediately withdrew her hand from his.

"Sorry," Callie apologized.

Pearce looked at her carefully.

"That’s not good for an ice person like you, right?" Pearce asked.

Callie was speechless and just avoided looking at him. It looks like the princess was caught.

"I'm fine," Callie replied.

She can already feel the warmth on her face not because of the flutter…

"What's this?"

The two immediately looked at the speaker and Callie was shocked to look at Fuego while he was frowning back at them.

“Fuego.”

He gave them a serious look.

"Sorry, have I disturbed you two… flirting?"

They were surprised by what he said.

"Fuego, it's not what you think—"

"Really?" Fuego said immediately. "Then why are you blushing?"

Callie did not speak immediately. She wanted to tell why but telling it to him…

"She's not blushing," Pearce said. "I think she's—"

Callie immediately covered Pearce's mouth which surprised Fuego.

“I'm just tired from running so my face is getting red. That's all,” Callie replied.

Fuego didn't say a word and was still staring at them in shock. Callie removed her hand.

"Please, don't tell him," Callie whispered to Pearce.

Pearce just looked back at the princess.

"I know I'm stupid sometimes…" Fuego said so they looked at him. “…but I'm not stupid enough to see you through Callie.”

He gave her a serious look. "You're lying."

Callie was surprised again and she was speechless.

She can't imagine how many times… how many times has she been really caught off guard? Her eyes began to water and even this, she also doesn’t know why.

Fuego was shocked and didn’t realize that Pearce was walking in front of him but before Pearce finally left, he whispered something to Fuego.

"Don't jump to conclusions and hear her out first."

It left Fuego shocked as Pearce continued to walk away.

When he entered, he stopped at the door for a moment before continuing to enter.

He knew it was right that he left the two to talk but hopefully… he should have thought first of asking the princess to lead him back to his room because he is lost again. He tried to remember but he's really bad at directions. He kept walking around and he passed a hallway and saw someone leaning against the wall. He approached her and was about to ask but he was surprised to find out who it was.

The sleeping princess of the nation is leaning against the wall. He just looked at her and didn’t know if he would wake her up or…

He noticed that she was losing her balance so he immediately supported her as a reason for her to wake up.

"Jethro!" she said as she woke up and looked at the one who supported her.

A few minutes passed as they stared at each other when the princess was startled and immediately stood up.

"Pe-Pearce, it's you," she stammered.

Pearce just looked back at her.

"What are you doing and sleeping here?" Pearce asked coldly.

"Ah I'm waiting for you," she replied.

Pearce raised his eyebrow. "And why here?"

"Because this is besides your room."

Pearce was a little surprised as he looked at the door right beside them. It was good that he saw his room but he also looked at the person he was talking to…

Boogsh!

He was surprised at what happened to the princess now lying on the floor right in front of him.

"Princess?"