Isabelle x Mayor | My Greatest Mistake

Entry 12 ~ ♡Working Hard for You♡

❀ Isabelle's POV ❀

It's been a few days since I made up my mind on capturing (Y/n)'s affection, but I don't know how to go about it. I have a very clever schedule created by your truly, but it seems to have no effect!

1. Walk to work with high hopes of bumping into (Y/n).

I recently learned that he normally shows up around 9:30, maybe 9:35 if he decides to stop for coffee.

2. Greet him with a simple: "Good morning (Y/n)!"

It's a lot better than my former smile and wave, I believe that it shows how much I care. I want him to know that I'm always happy to see him.

3. Create smalltalk on the job.

(Y/n) is definitely a chatty one unless he's completely engrossed in his work. He likes talking about his past life and former hobbies. Every once in a while, he'll direct the questions towards me. I have to try my best to respond appropriately.

4. Leave when he does.

Of course I have to do this without looking obvious. (Y/n) sections up his work and strives to complete what he assigned himself before 2:30 PM.
Around 2:00, I listen for the rustle of papers or for (Y/n) to stretch and groan, signaling a soon departure. Then, I start tidying up. When I stand, sometimes he'll stop and wait for me.

Isn't he just the sweetest?

5. Smalltalk (again) on the way home.

I use the list of conversation starters I created based on (Y/n)'s personality. Of course, I want him to know about me as well, so I threw in a couple of topics that are important to me and pray that he doesn't find it weird.

~~~~~~~~~~❤︎~~~~~~~~~~

There are also special days when I ask him to hang out with me. They're definitely not often, I'm still super shy about asking him out. Well, he doesn't know that I consider them dates, but that's fine... for now.
     "Good morning, (Y/n)!" I greeted, catching up to him on the path to work.
It was 9:27.
     "Mornin', Belle! How're you?" He smiled wide, his teeth practically blinded me. I returned the heartfelt grin.
     "I'm doing well, thank you for asking." My smile eventually faded.  Today was September 3rd, another holiday that would keep (Y/n) away from me. The final August Bug-off was literally yesterday. (Y/n) didn't come to work, and I was unable to hear his voice all day. I'd completely forgotten about Weeding Day, I have to make sure Leif is all set up and get all of the prizes organized. You would think Leif could do his own dirty work, but he's a little slow.
     "Are you okay, Isabelle?" My heart tugged me out of my thoughts.
Did he just call me Isabelle?
     "Y-yes, I'm fine... I just remembered that today was Weeding Day, s-so I have a lot of errands to run." I reached up and scratched the back of my head, knowing exactly where this was headed.
"Really? Today? When?" I cursed the glimmer in his eyes.
"Whenever I finished helping Leif set up. He'll give you the details of the event." I informed with a false happiness. Part of me hoped he would offer to help.
"Cool! Though there aren't really any weeds in our town," he shrugged. "I better finish up quickly then!" I pouted internally as he ran to the Town Hall, leaving me to slowly trudge towards T&T Emporium alone.

♡ Time Skip ♡

"Thank you so much Ms. Isabelle!" Leif said joyously, the pink circles on his cheeks deepening.
"Mhm... happy to help." I replied with as much enthusiasm as possible. However, I didn't really have to worry about the feelings of my sloth companion, it takes a while for him to process simple things.
I set the flower print boxes down in the front of the plaza, exhaling with relief. They were full of blueprints and plant-themed furniture items. I contemplated why we even considered an event such as this one. If a town had the beautiful ordinance, what's the point? Even so, Leif insisted on coming down today. Apparently the most green of towns can have overlooked weed blemishes.
"Anything else you need, Leif?" I asked, smiling wide enough for him to randomly start beaming.
"Only some happy villagers to question me about the event! You can head on back now, I'll be just fine!" I eyed the light brown layabout, knowing he and Blathers has similar tendencies. He simply stared back at me, so I commented on his sluggishness.
"Oh don't worry about that! I promise I won't doze off!" He gave me a thumbs up and I now had confirmation that this was no longer my problem, I was free to leave.
"Okay then, have fun Leif!" I waved goodbye and hurried to the Town Hall, hoping (Y/n) hadn't sped through all of his work.
To my surprise, (Y/n) was already out and about, scanning the town for weeds. I hadn't seen him at all while helping Leif, so how could he have avoided my gaze? I waved the thought away, already familiar with (Y/n)'s weird amazingness.
"Hey (Y/n)!" I called out to him, waving. He didn't seem to hear me, so I began walking up to him. Suddenly, He bursted into a sprint, and was out of sight before I could shout his name again.
I gave up.

I'd entered the hall with a large amount of bitterness, slamming the door and screaming into the new pillow (Y/n) had kindly given me. I knew that I couldn't expect everything to go my way, but can you blame me for really wanting it to? After a two minute session of sighing and pitying myself, I began reading a confirmation form for a new building in Main Street. Something about this guy named Dr. Shrunk wanting to open a club. I was looking over the signatures (Y/n) had obtained from six of our residents when the door flew open. I set the clipboard down to see (Y/n) grinning wildly at me.
"C...can I—?"
"I finally got a new blueprint for a flower topiary and I want to build it right now!" He said, still smiling. I don't understand the fuss, it's just a simple topiary. But, it's my job to help him with placement.
"Okay! Let's head out then."
"I already know the location so I promise this won't take long." I nodded, scowling on the inside.

~~~

".... Right here!" (Y/n) said. I looked where he was pointing, there was a two-by-two patch of unmarked grass surrounded by bushes, flowers, and playground equipment. It's as if he already knew this project existed! Bewildered, I held up the digital frame, a pixelated version of the topiary came into view, showing us exactly how it would look when completed. (Y/n) let out a sound of delight.
"Yup! Right here!" I surrounded the area in a rope fence, a small section clear for Llloid to stand and collect donations.
     "Thanks a bunch, Belle!" All of the anger I felt before seemed to vanish, I felt at ease. His happiness was my medicine.
     "No problem, it's what I do." The smile that hadn't quite left yet brightened. He placed his right arm over my shoulders, looking towards the setting sun.
     "Want me to walk you back?" I was a blushing mess.
     "T-t-that'd be n-nice, thank you..!" We began walking towards my home, (Y/n)'s rambling fuzzing up in my ears. I couldn't hear him over the sound of my thumping emotions, yearning for more of his presence.

♡ Authors Note ♡

Yay another chapter posted on Monday!

I really am fantastic, aren't I?
(No, no I'm not)

Yes, Isabelle is a little creepy in this chapter, but I must cover all of the stages of love. Not to mention conflict is coming, why not enjoy some lovesick fluff until then?

I'd spent this weekend planning the rest of the chapters like a good author, so now I don't have to worry about delayed updates (unless I get lazy). As of now, there are going to be 24 chapters total, that means that we've hit the middle mark! Thank you all soooo much for supporting this story, let's reach the end with high hopes for Isabelle!

See you next Monday~!!!