Thawed (Jackunzel) - COMPLETED

Chapter III

"Your highness, it's time for your etiquette class. Your highness?"

I can hear the small thump-thump of his shoes as Hugh walked around the garden to find me. I tried to blend myself with the green and white leaves of the tree when I saw him look up for a minute and walk past my hiding place.

As soon as he walked out of my sight, I let out the breath I was holding. "Good. He already left." I laid back at the trunk of the tree, my left leg dangling on the thick branch I was sitting on. "Etiquette classes are so dumb. I already am a lady."

"Heh. A lady? You make me laugh."

The icy voice that was tinged with amusement almost made me fall off the tree. "Jack!" I stuttered, "Why are you here?" He crouched down in front of me as his right hand took a firm grip on a sturdy brach above. He was about to open his mouth when I continued, "Ugh, never mind that. . . this is my tree, get off!" I leaned towards Jack and hit him multiple times on his arms.

"Ack! Rapunzel, stop! If you do that, the branch will..." a loud crack stopped Jack from saying another word. The branch we were sitting on started to break.

Afraid of falling 15 feet to the ground, I hurriedly went to Jack and clinged to him. Wrong move. Because of the uneven weight, the branch gave out and we fell.

I closed my eyes. "GYAAAAH!!"

My shout was muffled by a loud splash. Suddenly, I can't breathe. I opened my eyes to see what happened; we landed in the pond. I swam my way out of the pond, worried about Jack. I hope he knew how to swim. After all these years, I never saw him swim. . .

The same icy voice greeted me when I reached the top, "Ra. Pun. Zel!" I looked up to see Jack glaring daggers at me.

"What in the world are you thinking?! Do you want to die?!"

I didn't listen to his sermon. Instead, I run to his side and inspected him."I'm sorry, okay?" I ran my hand over his forehead. "Did you get hurt? Are you okay?" I looked at his body. "Ack! You're soaking wet! Hurry, go inside, you'll get sick."

I was frantically pushing him when he turned around and held my cheeks. With a slightly amused expression, he said to me, "What a stupid princess you are. . . You're the one who's soaked, idiot." then he placed his forehead on mine.

"Huh?" What's happening? Why are we so close? Why am I panicking? Why is it that even if I shaking, I'm all warm? It doesn't even make any sense!

My gaze turned to Jack's face. His face is inching slowly towards mine. Are we gonna kiss? No, it's impossible. But then I saw him close his eyes. I screamed inside. He's gonna kiss me! He's gonna kiss me! He's gonna kiss me!

I can feel the tip of his lips brushing against mine. Just a bit more. . .

I completely closed my eyes, waiting for the full kiss, but. . .

"Achoo!"

Jack moved away from me. "Wha?!"

I covered my mouth, half in shock and half to prevent myself from laughing. Jack was completely at a loss. His mouth was agape, his brows furrowed. Before he could speak, Emilia called out to me. I pushed Jack in surprise.

"Princess Rapunzel! Hugh and Claus had been looking all ove-. . . Princess!" she immediately went to my side, higly alarmed. "My goodness princess, what happened?!"

"Umm..." I gave Jack a side-ways glance and felt my ears heat up. "N-nothing! We were just fooling around and then we fell in the water. Clumsy me!" I tried to laugh off my embarassment. Gosh, that was too close.