"I can't do this! Why would you do this to me?" Elsie sobbed.
"Because, we only want what's best for you!"Her Mother shouted back, now pounding on the wooden door that had been shut in her face. "Please come out, Darling."
"No I won't! I won't let you marry me off to anyone!"
"Sweetheart, this is what your father would have wanted. He would have wanted to know his daughter was taken care of."
"He wouldn't have married me off," Elsie whispered into tear stained hands. "He would have at least let me pick my husband. Maybe even fall in love."
It was not common for girls of her time, to fall in love. Most girls were married the first man to look their way, others were married to someone their parents chose for them. Her Father had always believed that Elsie would find love, real love. Like the kind he had once shared with her Mama. Not the lady standing outside her door, that was her adoptive Mother. Elsie did love her, Millie had raised her since she was three. After her Mama died, her father had remarry quickly so he didn't have to raise Elsie alone. It wasn't out of love, more of out of need for his daughter to have a mother. But, they grew to have a good relationship, a year later Elsie's younger brother Peter was born. Her father loved them so. When he passed it tour her heart in two, and their makeshift family was never the same.

A pounding on the door brought Elsie back to her senses. She was getting married tomorrow. She could not go through with this! Elsie threw all of her most important belongings in a cloth sack and climbed out of her window.
'What I am doing?' She thought. 'It's either this or spend the rest of your life with a man you will probably never love.'
She kept walking, making her choice.

She walked along trails for what felt like years before stumbling along a little town just south of where she had grown up. First, she used some of her money to buy a small loaf of bread before deciding to make her way out of town. When she felt a hand touch her shoulder. And her hand met her dagger before anyone could have cried for help.
"Woah! Easy there Killer!" A man in mostly black cloths laughed. "Look here we have a fighter!"
"Don't touch me!" Elsie snarled gasping her dagger tighter. 
"Settle down, no one has to get hurt." He smiled warmly putting two fingers on Elsie's dagger and pushing it down. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Oliver, and it is truly a pleasure to meet you."
A warm feeling started to spread up Elsie, that is before she shoved it back down.
"My name is Elsie," She spoke trying to keep her composure.
"What a lovely name," Oliver smiled.
"What is a Killer like yourself doing here all alone? Without her trusty gang?"
"That's none of your concern," Elsie retorted.
"Oh, but it is. Because I have to make sure you get back home, as any gentleman would do," Oliver said, a thin smile across his lips.
"To be completely honest. I am looking for a gang to join."

And those words changed her life.

"Oh really? Well I know just the gang," Oliver smirked. "Come with me."
So Elsie followed, hoping that her new friend won't lead her to a horrendous death.

Years passed, and with every day that passed they fell more in love. Elsie loved her life, their gang was really just a group of six of Oliver's close friends. Now they were Elsie's family too and her and Oliver had even gotten married. They traveled from town to town, a new place every month and they never stayed in one place for too long. Some towns weren't exactly fond of 'gangs'. Every night Oliver and Elsie would gaze up at the stars and point out the constellations.
"Ollie, look at that one!" Elsie pointed.
"I see it, love," he sighed.
"No, you don't. You can't see the stars if you are facing me!"
"You are all I want to see."
"I love you," Elsie breathed.
"I love you too."
"Ollie? What were you doing in the village the day we met?" Elsie asked.
"Will you still love me if I say I was running?"
"Running from what?"
"My parents were going to make me marry a girl who lived a little north of that city. I ran in the city to get some bread, and it was just fate that I saw you," Oliver explained.
"I was running too, my Mother had made a promise to a family who lived in that town, that I would marry their son." Elsie looked at Oliver.
She had married the man she had swore she would never love. The man she had tried so hard to escape from. The man she had thrown her future away so she didn't have to be his wife. Yet she loved him anyway, she wanted to spend everyday of the rest of her life with him.
She was proud to be his wife, help lead his gang and share in his happiness and pain. She would be there for it all. Because they had what was called Hidden Love.

Hey guys! What do y'all think of one of my first short stories? I am so excited to be able to write more of these for y'all! I really wanted to start out with something sweet. And I didn't kill Elsie off! Aren't y'all proud of me? Poor Meilin from Spirt Animal Adventures died or came close to death like 15 different times.
Anyways, I am excited for this new series! Please leave story suggestions down below! Have a great night/day and thanks for reading!