Valentine's Day… a day celebrated by couples all over the world, with those who had someone in their hearts a little bit more courageous to confess their feelings on this day.
Throughout the town of Mystic Falls, businesses had been enjoying the mood brought by Valentine's ever since the beginning of the week. Even if not an official holiday, there were few weeks in the year more lucrative for them than the week Valentine's Day fell in.
The only chocolate shop in town was busier than it will be at any moment of the year.
The florist saw her stock of flowers – mainly roses – deplete at such a fast rate that her lips morphed into a smile.
Restaurants and cafes had menus specially prepared for the day. The windows and inner part of the establishments were perfectly decorated to fit the day, drawing the attention of couples who sought a place to celebrate the day.
It was still mid-afternoon, with classes of both schools in town having just ended. And even though the two were schools, Valentine's was a little different in one of them.
Contrary to love letters and bouquets, the teenagers from the Salvatore School were a little more… daring and grand.
An example would be the witches. Spells would suddenly surge in the middle of classes, a basic use of magic to work as an holographic letter.
Among the few letters "delivered" through the day, most of them carried only words of love and affection, making the receiver blush a little while the rest of the class whistled or commented to make the receiver even more embarrassed.
However, by the end of classes, one more letter was delivered before the senior students could leave the classroom.
Before the red wisps of magic could fully form into words in the air before him, John gave a sneaky glance towards Hope, asking if this was her doing.
Hope's response was a slow shake of her head. She was as surprised as her boyfriend – maybe even more than him, for obvious reasons.
Who is the whore daring to do it? Hope furrowed her eyebrows tightly, reading the words coming into existence with narrowed eyes.
Everyone else in the class was doing the same, even the Professor – Rose – didn't leave yet out of curiosity to know who was confessing to someone already in a relationship.
When the first words formed, everyone quietly read them, with it not getting much of a reaction from anyone.
However, things changed when someone read the middle section of the letter outloud.
"… Every night, I would welcome you in bed, wrapped in a gift that you would love to unpack. I would shower you with love and all the pleasure on the world, ready to carry–"
Whoosh!
With a wave of his hand, John dispersed the spell so he could free himself of more embarrassment and maybe the date of Hope killing him.
But things weren't as he wished. It seemed the caster of the spell was smarter than he expected, for a very excited, feminine moan followed the end of the letter.
"Ahn~!"
…
The entire classroom sunk into an awkward silence as no one had any idea of what to say or do.
Half a minute passed before the first person did something. Getting up from the chair, John walked towards the room's exit with his head low.
"Have a good evening, Professor." John said quietly while passing by his professor, trying to hide the weak red hue of embarrassment on his cheeks.
Right after, Hope rose from her chair. Her little bit of jealousy disappeared as she attempted her best to not laugh at the prank played on her boyfriend.
Outside the classroom, Hope quickly caught up to him. She held his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. "She got you this time."
"You thought of her as well?"
"Who else but Penelope would play such a prank on you?" Hope smiled humorously. "Remember, this is on you for trying to befriend her."
"That's what I get for trying to do a good thing? She sends me a magical letter with profanities and a fake moan." John said, sighing at the end of his words. "I hope no one did read the last part. It was embarrassing even for me."
"I doubt that." Hope said, climbing up the stairs to the dormitories.
A short time later, the couple stood before the door to Hope's room, with John patiently waiting for her to open it.
"Are you ready for later?" John asked, his arms crossed.
While she searched for her key in her bag, Hope glanced his way. "You refer to the dinner you mentioned yesterday?"
"The very same." John nodded.
"I would be lying if I said that I'm not." Hope pulled the key out of her bag, inserting into the keyhole. "It's my first time celebrating Valentine's. Maybe… I'm a bit excited."
"I am as well." John said, a very wide smile on his lips as Hope opened the door.
The door was opened, and just a little bit of its gap was enough to escape what was inside.
A breeze flowed out of her room, gently caressing Hope's face as the sweet fragrance of a myriad of flowers scattered across the hallway.
Opening the door fully, Hope's eyes widened in surprise by the scene. A small sea of flowers decorated her room, from her bed to her ceiling.
Slowly stepping inside, Hope looked around with awe. She tried to not stop on any flower, but the task was hard to manage since the floor was fully covered.
Red roses, yellow roses, orchids, tulips… Hope recognized some of the species of flowers used in the current scenario of her room.
Entering as well, John avoided stepping over any flower by floating a few centimeters above it. "Sorry if I was too extravagant. I know you prefer things simple, but–"
"I loved it." Hope interrupted him, spinning on her heels to face him up. "I… couldn't ask for more."
John's lips stretched a little bit more listening to her words. Moving closer to her, he made a platform under her feet and moved her up.
Hope let out a small yelp out of surprise as she felt herself rising up in the air, but her focus was soon regained when her eyes met John's.
When he moved his hand to hold her waist, Hope instinctively laced her arms around his neck.
The scene was romantic, to say the least. Under their feet was a sea of flowers coloring the room and their fragrance surrounding them. Together, Hope and John rotated very slowly, almost like a slow formal dance.
"This is only the beginning of what I planned for the day." John whispered, moving a wisp of hair away from Hope's face. "It might not be as cliché and grandeur as an ocean of flowers, but I expect you will enjoy it."
"Whatever it is, I am sure I will simply adore it." Hope cupped her cheek, giving it a light kiss. "And don't you think you are the only one to have things planned. I… prepared one or two things as well."
"Consider me interested." John said, bringing her closer to a tight hug.
Hope accepted it fondly, resting her chin over his shoulder as they shared a quiet moment of affection.
…
Hope stood beside her bed, her feet submerged by petals. She held her chin while contemplating over a decision she deemed difficult.
At the end, she couldn't reach a final decision alone and had to seek help from the person she thought to be the most suitable in this situation.
"So, this one?" She raised a long black dress in front of her, the scene reflecting on the video call she was having with her aunt. "Or this one?" The last option was a silk loose dress that didn't fully cover her legs.
Resting her chin on one hand, Rebekah twirled her other hand while holding a glass of wine. "It depends on what you want to transmit."
"And what do I want to transmit?" Hope asked.
"I love the looseness and how cute the short dress is. It matches your teenager vibes since that's what you are. It exudes youthfulness, it's charming and formal as well." Rebekah commented, taking a sip of her drink.
"And the black dress?"
Slowly, Rebekah put down her crystal glass. "It's not different from an invitation to sex."
"So, the other it is." Hope said, putting the dress away.
Rebekah rolled her eyes. "I thought teenagers these days were more open to these things. I guess my adorable niece is different in that aspect as well."
"Is it really a problem to wish for something to be special?" Hope asked while she walked around the room, fetching a few things.
"Of course not." Rebekah shook her head. "But I believe it is my duty as the cool aunt that I am to share my wisdom with you, and one of them is: Trying to make every little thing in a budding relationship perfect normally doesn't work well."
"I still want to try." Hope declared, picking some jewelry from her jewelry box.
Listening to her, Rebekah simply shrugged her shoulders. "Is he at least willing to wait?"
"Yes. He hasn't been rushing me either."
"Well, what a gentleman." Rebekah smirked, some amusing thoughts crossing her mind. "Even so, make sure the leash is tight on him. Boys only think of one thing, after all."
"He is not like that…" Hope muttered, but then she remembered every time she had caught John glimpsing at her cleavage or tried to take a peek at her butt. "Okay, maybe he thinks about it a few times… or kinda often." The night a few days ago was proof of that, with Hope doing her best not to blush.
"Of course he does, he is a boy." Rebekah laughed lightly, noticing the faintest red hue on her niece's cheeks. "And that's why I will emphasize once again, keep your eyes open. It's not uncommon for hunters to target a prey, even if it was taken by others."
"Geez, why do you have to say things that way?" Hope rolled her eyes, a sigh escaping her lips.
Her niece's reaction just amused Rebekah even more. Just when she was about to add some more words in the conversation, a notification popped up on the upper part of her screen. Her eyes instinctively narrowed as Rebekah pulled down the notification, reading what it was about.
Meanwhile, even if she wasn't paying full attention to her aunt, Hope still noticed the tiny changes in her expression. "What is wrong?"
"Hm?" Rebekah hummed, her attention going back to her niece. "It's nothing, just a small problem Marcel has faced with the group he has been managing recently. You know, the newbie vampire making newbie mistakes."
"So, someone died?" Hope asked, the idea leaving a sour taste in her mouth.
"Nah, it's not at that level. But certainly someone has a couple bones broken now." A couple dozen, but still a couple. Rebekah thought. "But putting that aside and going back to what is important, just… try to enjoy a good Valentine's with your boyfriend. From what I see, you might need to prepare yourself for something very extravagant." She looked at the countless flowers dispersed over the room. "It reminds of a small incident caused by your father during a Valentine's we spent in France."
"Really? What happened?" Hope asked curiously, earning a smirk from Rebekah as she recounted the story.
As Hope resisted the urge to laugh at her father's antics, a different scene unfolded on the other side of the veil which separated dimensions.
With everything he had, Klaus tried to do anything possible to somehow interrupt Rebekah's words. "Rebekah!!!"
"Did he really do that?" Hayley asked Elijah, laughing her heart out.
The man did his best to not laugh at the scene recounted by his sister, in which he slowly remembered some details himself. "Rebekah is concealing some details to keep Niklaus' image in your daughter's mind." The corner of his lips curled up. "You should've seen the sight. I still am surprised by his effort to compel so many doves to fly over the Château de Fontainebleau to impress the French princess." Elijah couldn't resist to remain serious anymore. "Who would've thought that so many birds flying over the state would make everyone think it was the end of times and to stain the building with so much…"
"Arghhhhh!!!" Klaus screamed, wishing he was killed again so he wouldn't relive that memory ever.
[Scene Break]
The night covered the sky of Mystic Falls in a cold embrace, with the stars watching the world twinkling a little more brightful than previous nights.
The coldness lurking around bothered some, with the extreme cold of this particular night not matching the day that was Valentine's.
Still, if there was one person not bothered by it due to how nervous he felt, that person was John.
By buttoning the last button of his white long-sleeved shirt, John took a deep breath as he shook both arms to let the sleeves adjust.
"Okay, John…You got it." He cheered himself up, taking a last look at the mirror before walking to his door. "She will like it, hopefully."
John opened the door, but didn't close it until he fetched one last bouquet he had prepared.
Thankfully, the walk of nervousness wasn't long since they were neighbors. However, when he was about to knock on Hope's door, John took one more long breath to calm himself.
Knock! Knock!
After knocking, John hid the bouquet on his back while he patiently waited for his company for the night.
The wait wasn't long, steps approaching the door were heard and the knob turning alerted John that it was finally the time for their date.
While the door opened, John had decided to say something first and hand the bouquet. However, he was incapable of it by the sight before him.
There, in full glory of her beauty and elegance, with wisps of her hair swaying in the air by the cold winds coming from beyond her open window. The light of the moon slightly changed the tonality of the air, making it a perfect blend of auburn and brown.
Hiding a bit of her perfectly sculpted curves – but accenting them in other places – she wore a short, cream white loose dress of silk and long sleeves. It blended comfort and refinement, with a modest V-neckline showing a bit of her cleavage, tempting John to look at it at all moments.
Black boots adorned her feet, a type Hope was already used to. It gave a nice contrast to her dress, highlighting both pieces of the outfit.
This night especially, Hope didn't wear any rings. All she had were her necklaces, which the young man had never seen her without them.
For a good few seconds, John was incapable of saying anything. He simply observed Hope and admired her beauty, thanking whatever good deeds he did in his past life to have the luck of finding someone as the girl before him.
After a couple moments of silence, Hope smiled awkwardly. "Won't you say anything?"
"I have no idea what to say." John replied. "No words could fully transmit how awed I am right now."
Quietly, Hope laughed. "You can just say I am beautiful."
"I thought that was obvious." John stepped forward, closing the distance between them. "You are marvelous, Hope Mikaelson. I can't think of a woman as beautiful as you." He said, pulling forth the bouquet.
Even though she had already noticed what he was hiding, Hope still smiled widely towards the gift and his sweet words. "I can say the same about you, John Neo. You worked a little more than normal to tidy yourself, I can see."
Slowly, John spun on his heels to give a full sight to her. "Well, I couldn't look as usual tonight. I am the host, right?"
"Right…" Hope stood on her tip-toes, lacing her arms around his neck. She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "I hope your plans satisfy me fully tonight."
"That's the only objective." John smiled widely.
He picked up her off the floor in a princess carry, making Hope let out a small yelp. The sound distorted as John flew out of the room by the window, their figures disappearing in the night.
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