He kissed her back gently before pouting at her words "I love you too, Mercy" He then let go of her slowly watching her walk away. After that he found a nearby bench where he sat and buried his head into his hands, holding back all his built up emotions

She made her way quickly back into the ballroom, sighing and putting on a smile as she walked back to her little group and Xander wrapped his arm around her again. She knew the announcement had to be soon, and she was dreading it.

He sat on the bench for quite some time before getting himself together, he put his useless cold gaze back onto his face before standing up and going back into the ballroom. He gave Mercy a quick glance as he spotted her, wishing he could pull her away from Xander. Kennedy made his way over to the same table with Geoffrey and sat back down with a heavy sigh

And so the time came. Xander had removed his arm from around Mercy and was gently tapping his glass with a fork. A hush fell over the crowd, and Mercy gave him a small, surprised look, pretending as though this was all news to her. Xander gently put the glass and fork down, giving her a bright smile as he began to get down on one knee, reaching into his pocket. Mercy held her hands up to her face in shock.

Kennedy sat quietly with his gaze down at the table, he was still racking his mind of how to get Mercy out of this situation without putting either of them in deep trouble. At the sound of the glass he looked up and his face color dropped pale, as he watched what played out in front of him. He bit down on his lip hard to the point it bleed a little as he held back tears and harsh words he wanted to share with Xander

Xander inevitably pulled the small box out of his pocket and raised it to her. He gave her a bright smile before asking the question Mercy was dreading. X "Ria, will you marry me?" Mercy bit her lip and took a breath, looking over at Kennedy for a moment and then back at Xander, slowly pulling her hands away from her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Xander's smile faltered. She took a gentle step back, shaking her head. "I- I.. Xander, please- understand- I can't..." She turned and ran off, sprinting out into the hall. Xander's face fell as he stumbled up. X "Ria, wait!" He quickly shoved the bax back in his pocket and ran after her.

Kennedy sat the edge of his seat as his leg bounced, he really wanted this to stop but he had to sit and watch. As Xander got down on one knee and popped the question, Kennedy kept his eyes on Mercy seeing that she look hesitant. When she opened her mouth to speak he was expecting a obvious "yes" but at her step back, he slowly rose from his chair getting a feeling she was going to run. After Mercy spoke a few hushed murmurs were spoken between the crowd as she stormed out of the room. Kennedy stood frozen for a second not believing what he had just witnessed but as Xander rushed off he finally snapped out of his daze and dashed out into the hall determined to try and get to Mercy first.

Mercy had a rather large headstart on both of them, running quickly through the halls. She was making her way swiftly down, running out of blind panic. Xander was just a bit ahead of Kennedy, barely able to follow Mercy by the edge of her gown.

Kennedy was trying his best to catch up by legnthening his strides as much as possible. He did quickly get neck and neck with Xander but easily was starting to push ahead of him. At that he felt a hand grab the back of his shirt and yank him down, which out of spite Kennedy grabbed his ankle as he went to run by, tripping him down to the ground with him. Now with the two on the ground they tussled around a bit befor Kennedy was able to pin Xander to the ground and raised a fist ready to strike with all the anger and resentment he had towards the boy but stopped himself letting out a deep sigh. "I don't have time for this..." He grumbled while getting up, X"And what makes you think she has time for a gardener like you" Xander spat out which Kennedy rolled his eyes and took off again, this time Mercy was completely out of sight which he just used his best guess at where she would be.

Mercy ran fast until she made it out into the garden. She stopped against her favorite spot, with her apple tree and the rosebushes. She broke down, sobbing quietly as she sank to her knees. She buried her head in her hands, smearing her makeup slightly as mascara tracks made their way down her face.