Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Lanna Gets Angry

A new day has come on Sunny Island. Mark wakes up in the morning as bright as the color of his hair. Without wasting any time, he starts his usual morning routine, and goes off to work in his ranch. There are less things to do that day, so Mark heads to the kitchen to get started on lunch a little earlier than normal.

In the kitchen, he makes his famous fried fish over rice and yam pudding like he usually does every day. But as he is about to place the cover on the boxed lunch, he stops to think for a moment. His friend Luke from the diner has told him to give up on Lanna the day before. As he remember the 2 years of rejection, he feels that maybe he has a point.

But even though he has decided to give up on Lanna, the fact remains that he still made lunch. He thought about eating it himself, but he came up with a better plan instead. Since he got his work done early, he feels that it may be a good idea to pay a visit to Chelsea's farm.

He packs the lunch in his backpack, then leaves his ranch, and heads to Chelsea's farm. According to the directions Chelsea gave to Mark the day before, her farm is located north of the Jungle area. It's quite a far walk, but he has more than enough time to get there before it gets late.

After getting past the Jungle area, Mark arrives at Chelsea's farm. Unlike his ranch, Chelsea only has a small house big enough for a single person to live in, but no other buildings. Just a large empty lot of fertile land good for growing crops. Her land is surrounded by huge mountains, so he can tell by the terrain that she will have no problems dealing with wild dogs or other wild animals.

Inside the farm, Mark finds Chelsea tilling the dirt to plant seeds. He can easily tell by the sweat on her forehead and the blazing sun that she is tired. The look on her face brings back memories of how he started in the farm. The Summer days were too hot, and the Winter days were too cold. Only the Spring and Fall were the only days that are not too rough.

After watching her for a minute, he decides that it was time to let her know that he has arrived. He walks in and waves while greeting, “Hey Chelsea! You need a hand?”

Chelsea looks up and finds Mark walking at her. She wipes the sweat off her face and pretends that she is not tired from the work. “Hi Mark! I wasn't expecting you.”

Mark stops in the field, and takes a look at the work Chelsea has done so far. Since Chelsea has just started, he isn't surprised that not much has grown yet. Many of the tilled dirt plots didn't have any seeds in them, and those that did still need a lot of work.

“I had some extra time from my ranch, so I thought I'd give you a hand with yours. I hope you don't mind.” said Mark in a bashful manner.

“Really?!” said Chelsea shocked that Mark would help her with the work. She then looks down and continues, “But there's so much to do, I couldn't possibly ask you to help me do so much work.”

Mark smiles, then pulls out his tools and says, “Don't worry about it! I'm glad to help!”

“Really? . . . Well, okay! You can help if you like!” responded Chelsea happy to get some help in her farm.

“So, what do you want me to do?” asked Mark.

“Well. . .” Chelsea then pulls out several bags of corn seeds from her rucksack and says, “You can water the onion seeds that already I planted, and I'll plant these seeds.”

“No, you can't plant those seeds now!” warned Mark.

“Why not?”

“Because it's already so late in Summer. If you plant them now, you won't have enough time for a single harvest. You should save them for next year.”

“Oh, you have a point.” said Chelsea as she puts the seeds back in her rucksack. “Thanks for the advice, you're pretty good at this sort of thing.”

Mark's face turns red as he says, “Well, you know. I did make a similar mistake a while ago. I grew some eggplants in the end of Fall, and I didn't get any crops from them.”

Chelsea laughs and they continue to work together in the farm. Since Mark has so much experience in crops, he explained to Chelsea that the crops only need a certain amount of sunlight and water to grow healthy. Too much water or sunlight might damage the crops, or the crops may wilt and die. Chelsea had no idea that raising crops needed a certain technique, so she is glad that she has a friend like Mark to teach her.

Meanwhile in the village, Lanna walks around the village to get some air and exercise. But as the time passes, she grows frustrated as she waits for Mark. She checks the time, and notices that it's already 2:15pm.

“He's late!” Lanna said to herself. “Where is he? He always comes here at 2 o' clock to deliver my lunch, now he's not coming?”

She only waits a few more minutes before she grows tired of waiting. She then decides to go to the Diner to have some lunch instead of waiting. In order to get to the diner, Lanna passes in front of the Cafe. As she passes it, the sweet smell of cakes, cookies, and pies lures her closer to the Cafe. She peeks into the window, and her eyes glow with excitement as she sees the other customers eating on all sorts of sweets that she loves so much.

Both her empty stomach and her love for sweets draw her towards the entrance of the Cafe. But before she touches the door handle, she stops herself, and takes a step back. “Wait, what am I doing?” she asked herself. “I am a famous pop idol! I cannot be tempted with such high calorie sweets. I have a figure to maintain, my fans would be so disappointed with me if I gained weight!”

But even as she tells herself that, the constant sweet smell coming from the Cafe continues to temp her to have a piece of cake. The pressure between the delicious sweets, and her job as a pop idol drives her mad. She has no other choice but to use her will power, and run away as fast as possible back to her own house.

Back at her house, she tries to catch her breath from running off so fast. But running only makes her feel even hungrier than before. So she takes a seat on the front steps and says to herself, “Honestly, why do I have to deal with this anyway? When I was on tour, I always had someone bringing me lunch every day. Now that I'm living here by myself, I've always had Mark who brought me food every day. Not once have I gotten food for myself.”

She then stands up and starts to pout. She then grows angry and continues to say to herself, “Where is that guy anyway! It's already thirty minutes past two, and I still haven't seen him yet!”

Frustrated from waiting for so long, she then starts to march towards Mark's ranch as she says, “Fine then, if he won't come to me, then I'll have to go to him and give him a piece of my mind! How dare he call himself a fan of mine!”

She arrives at the ranch quickly, but she doesn't find him there. There is no answer at his door, she doesn't find him at the barn or coop, and he is not at the river where he fishes every day. This makes her feel even more frustrated than before. She's losing her patience, and she is only getting hungrier.

Since he is not at his ranch, she checks the other place that she knows he visits frequently. Doing her best to avoid the Cafe, she heads into the Diner to see if he's in there. After a quick scan, she doesn't find him there either. At this point, Lanna is very annoyed with Mark. She is so angry, that everyone else in the diner can see the angry aura around her. Rather than greeting her, they steer clear away from the unhappy Idol as she walks towards Luke.

Luke is busy counting the money he has earned from the lunch rush hour. It's already 4:00pm, dinner is about to start, and Lanna is hungry and very angry. Because he is so busy, he doesn't notice Lanna approach him. She then slams her palm on the table gaining Luke's attention, but at the same time scaring the wits out of him.

“Where is he!” yelled Lanna.

“Um, who are you talking about?” responded Luke.

“Mark! That's who! I would like to have a word with him!” answered Lanna.

Surprised to see her come to the Diner looking for Mark, he answered, “I'm sorry, but Mark is not here right now.”

“I can see that he's not here!!” she yelled slamming her hands on the table repeatedly. “What I want to know is where he is right now!!”

“Well, I'm sorry, but I really don't know where he is.” he answered almost fearing that she's going to strangle him. Just then, he remembers the conversation he overheard between Mark and Chelsea the afternoon before. He then tells Lanna, “It may be possible that Mark is at Chelsea's farm though.”

“Chelsea? Who is that?” asked Lanna curiously.

“Chelsea is a girl who just arrived a few days ago. She started her own farm up north of the Jungle area. She met Mark yesterday, and I overheard that he was interested in becoming her coach. He was so excited about it, he even forgot to eat lunch yesterday.”

Lanna places her hand on her chin, and thinks for a moment. Knowing Mark's personality, she could see him doing something like that. But she feels that being a coach is no excuse for leaving her hungry. After thanking Luke for the information, she leaves the diner, and heads to Chelsea's farm.

At the farm, Mark and Chelsea has just finished the work for the day. All the onion seeds has been properly planted in a good formation, and all the seeds have been watered. It is now finally time to have something to eat. So they sit together on a large boulder, and Chelsea pulls out a rice ball from her rucksack.

Mark notices her meal and asks, “Is that all your having to eat? Just a rice ball?”

Chelsea looks at her rice ball and admits, “Well, I am a bit tight on money right now. I spent most of my money on buying this farm. The rest on seeds, tools, and whatever I can buy for food. Since I can't go to Luke's Diner every day, this is all I can eat until I can get a few harvests in.”

“Even so, you still need to eat something a bit better than just a rice ball.” At that moment, Mark had an idea. He remembers the meal he has prepared earlier, and feels that it may be a good idea to share it with her.

At that moment, Lanna has just arrived at the farm. A big sign that says, “Chelsea's Farm” is nailed to a fence post near the entrance. Glad that she found the place, she takes a look inside and sees Mark. But she hides behind the sign as soon as she notices that he is not alone. She peeks from behind the sign, and sees Chelsea sitting with him.

Curious to know what is going on between them, she stays hidden behind the sign. She watches Mark carefully and says to herself, “I wonder what is Mark reaching for in his rucksack?”

Just then, Mark pulls out his boxed lunch and says, “Hey Chelsea. I made an extra lunch. If you like fish, you can have it.”

“Are you sure it's okay? You haven't had anything to eat yet.”

He then hands her the boxed lunch and says, “It's fine. I always eat later anyway, so just enjoy.”

Since he insisted, Chelsea accepts his boxed lunch, and opens it to see what's inside. Lanna's eyes pops open, and her jaw drops as soon as she sees that the lunch Mark has given Chelsea is the same exact lunch Mark usually gives her.

“That. . . That. . . That's mine!!” she stutters to herself as she watches Chelsea take the first bite of the lunch.

“Wow! It's so good!” yelled Chelsea. “Did you really make this lunch yourself!?”

Mark scratches the back of his head in a shy manner as he admits, “Well, I did have years of experience making lunch.”

Chelsea continues to eat as she says, “Wow! I can eat this every single day!”

“Is that so?” asked Mark. “Well, if you like. . . I can make lunch for you every day.”

“Really? But You've done so much for me already. I couldn't ask you to do that for me.” answered Chelsea.

“It's fine.” reassured Mark. “I do it all the time, so there's no need to worry.”

Chelsea takes a deep breath and blushes. “Thanks Mark. That will help me out a lot.”

Lanna sighs, and leaves the farm without saying anything to Mark. Seeing that she cannot get a free meal from Mark, she returns home empty handed. As soon as she arrives home, she realizes that she is still hungry. She is in no mood to go to the Diner or do any work, so she heads to her refrigerator where she pulls out some leftovers from yesterday's lunch. She then takes her lunch, and sits on her desk of half written pages.

In the middle of her meal, she puts her food down and crosses her arms. Even though it is her favorite food, eating yesterday's leftovers is something she is not used to, especially since Mark always bring her a fresh meal every day. Even though she is hungry, she is too frustrated and disappointed to eat.

“Honestly, why do I have to put up with cold food?” she asked herself. “I am Lanna Songstress, a pop idol. And as a pop idol, I deserve a fresh meal every single day!”

She then takes a deep breath and looks out the window. She then continues to speak to herself, “That girl, Chelsea. I guess she must be Mark's type. After all, he did choose to give her that lunch, and not me. But I still would like to know what's her deal anyway. I mean, I understand that she's new and she needs help and everything, but she can't even afford her own meals.”

Out of frustration, she throws away the remains of the cold leftovers. After thinking for a moment, she concludes, “I get it now. Luke says that Chelsea has just recently arrived in the island. So she's just pretending to act cute and innocent to take advantage of Mark. That's not fair, I was in the island first, so I should be the one who is allowed to take advantage of Mark!”

Rather than sitting still, she pushes off the pile of papers off the desk, and grabs a fresh page to come up with a plan. It takes her a while to come up with an idea on how to get Mark to start making her daily lunches again. Later that night, she finished writing her plans, and she'll start putting them into effect tomorrow.