Cindy wasn’t sure how it even happened. It was so sudden, so strong when it hit her that it practically had her falling on her butt, winded at the force of it all. The realization that she loved you. She didn’t even notice for a while, thinking little of how she always gravitated toward you and how much time she spent thinking of you until someone jokingly pointed it out. Then it all clicked, why she was so focused on you all of the time.

She felt silly, like a teenager again. Her heart pounding, sweaty, butterflies in the stomach so strong she could vomit. The overwhelming urge to force you to love her back and smother you and tie you up and control you and make sure you only listened to her and nobody else ever. You know. Normal lovey-dovey stuff. It’d been years since she liked anyone romantically, the last time she could remember it happening was when she was 15, so a while. It’d felt much the same, that intensity, but upon a very fierce and heartbreaking rejection, and then her crush moving away to somewhere she couldn’t follow, the feelings fizzled away.

She thought for a while she’d never love again. It’d hurt her a lot. She kept that mindset of it simply ruining her romantic aspirations until you. You sparked it all over again, and she couldn’t stop it. It was hard to even run the village anymore, slipping up and making mistakes she shouldn't have in her management since you were clouding her mind. Neglecting her work in favor of writing little love poems in her notebook. Stalking you, digging up every file for information on you, not letting a single thing slip past her. Detailed records of purchases and where you spend the most time at, what you avoid, what you’re drawn to. Even how you eat.

A confession was necessary, this she knew, but she was terrified of rejection. Furthermore, she had no idea how to even begin. If she came on too strong there was a likely chance you’d be scared away, just like her old crush had been all those years ago. Not to mention the damage it’d do to her reputation as the mayor! But maybe… coming on strong was the trick. To make you fully understand how much she truly adored you. To show you her heart. To serve it to you on a platter, in the hopes that once you got a taste, you’d be put under her spell, and never leave her.

So that’s what she did. The biggest agony was being unable to show how she loved you, how she craved you. There was nothing worse, no physical pain or damage could be worse than the mental torment.

It was a miracle that she had been able to write that letter in such pretty cursive writing and flowery language when her hand wouldn’t stop trembling, an invitation for you to come over the next day for dinner. A special event was planned, emphasizing that it was important that you be there and don’t miss it! She had made sure you didn’t have anything else prepared for that day anyway. No excuses!

She ignored everything else for the rest of that time, instead getting her bearings enough to make dinner for the next day. All sweets and pastries, as customary of Sweets village! She worked hard to make them herself, just for you. The final course was the only one that mattered though.

When you showed up, you noticed how off she was. The sickly pallor of her skin and the clamminess of it, the slight stumble she had and the subtle trembling of her body. Her erratic behavior completely at odds with her usual more composed, upbeat personality. The food was good at the very least, even if the company was awkward and raised millions of red flags. Your sinking suspicions of something being deeply wrong was confirmed though once she handed you that final platter and raised the lid to reveal it.

Her sugary sweet, pink, candy heart on the plate, writhing and pulsating rapidly as if it were still racing in her chest.

“It’s for you,” Cindy explained, her voice quivering as she gazed at you with twisted admiration, a wide, unnerving smile spanning her face. “I really, really love you. And people always say that their lover has their heart… so, I’m giving you mine."