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Him.
The water felt strangely warm for this time of the night.
The darkness made Ryo feel safe, as if nothing in the world
mattered.
This was much better than warm candlelights that lit that table,
back at that expensive restaurant they were just in.
Ryo wondered if Eliza felt the same way.
The water underneath was so dark that he couldn't even see his
own hands clearly, relying on the crawling feeling of the waves
surrounding him to assure him that they were still there.
He forgot where he put his shirt.
The water felt strangely fine.
He couldn't see Eliza at all. He didn't know where she was. Once
they had been swallowed up by the night water, they were
separated by the waves and blanketed by the darkness that
surrounded them.
It was like that Marco Polo game he used to play when he was a
kid, except that this time he didn't have the luxury of a
'Polo!' reply to reassure him that he wasn't alone in this
darkness that he created for himself.
But then again, what really did reassure him that she was still
somewhere in the water, along with him?
Ryo forgot where he put his pants too.
Or even his boxers.
Or anything else he owned.
The water felt strangely fine, caressing his skin as it gently
rubbed by.
They were in this fancy restaurant just a few moments ago, a
restaurant that Ryo had never been to before, one populated by
high-class waiters wearing sharp tuxedos, holding a silver
platter along with that clean cloth on his arm, asking "And how
are we doing today" or reciting "Today's special is 'Asparagus
au flambe', with tender asparagus flame-grilled, carefully
placed on top of a succulent steak". The menu had at least
twenty pages devoted to nothing but fine wine, and a couple of
scant pages featuring dishes that costs almost as much as what
Ryo and Eliza spent on groceries every month.
It was staggering.
It was scary.
Yet this was to be their last dinner together.
Ryo felt bad.
The water comforted him so with such a tender caress.
Even if he cried now, nobody would probably know. The waves
could carry the tears away while washing his face clean at the
same time, the darkness could hide him from the eyes that stare
when you're sad and blue, when you're depressed and confused.
This was the best way for anything to really end.
He was running out of air.
She had a roasted chicken while he had lamb legs. "Why did you
get roasted chicken at this place?" He had said while pouring
the second cheapest wine on the list, her wine glass was so
clean it even glinted under the silver rays of the moon. "You
could have got that at any other place."
"I like chicken, that's why." She smiled. "Besides, I don't
remember any other place that have chicken 'tenderly seasoned
with herbs and spices, to seal in all the natural flavors to
bring out the best that chicken can bring out'."
She laughed at it with the cutest smile Ryo had ever seen in
her.
He wondered how he looked like at the time. Was he the dope that
he always was?
Something seemed missing at dinner.
His lungs are now screaming for air.
He didn't know whether he wanted to surface yet. Maybe just stay
here till everything goes dark and the curtains can fall down on
his story. There was no point in fighting back at all. He could
never win. Winning only happened on fictional stories, like the
movies that they showed on theaters, like those soap operas that
came on during the laziest hours of the day. Fighting back
didn't always give you a chance to win. Life hates to lose to
little humans like him, weak and pointless, just a little
speckle in the big picture of the universe.
Was there a reason to go back at all?
The water felt soft and welcoming.
But that touch didn't feel like the water at all.
Something else.
Something that he remembered.
Ryo looked back through the darkness, and although he couldn't
see anything at all, he felt something soft grab his right hand
and holding it firmly, yet gently at the same time. The feeling
of it brought back happy memories and scenes in his mind, things
that he had treasured yet forgotten.
It tugged him softly up to the surface, and although the
darkness was still blanketing whoever was holding him, he
already knew in his mind when he felt it, when it grabbed ahold
of him and gave him a reason to go up.
The moonlight reflected brightly in the waves of the water.
"Why were you under the water for so long?" He heard her voice
as soon as he came up, his lungs gasping for air and grabbing as
much as it could. "I thought you were drowning or something down
there."
"I was waiting for you." He replied, wheezing as his voice
competed with the desperate gulps of air that the lungs took.
"You could have just waited up here."
"I know, but it just wouldn't have been the same."
"You're crazy."
"I wouldn't deny that at all."
She smiled as she reached over and grabbed him, pulling him
closer as she enclosed him in an embrace. "You're just so
crazy." She repeated over and over again, softer and softer each
time, until they were both quiet with the calls of the waves,
holding each other tighter and tighter, as if only the warmness
from each other would keep them alive in the cold sea, as if the
bond between each other would be the only things that would
allow them to survive under this freezing night.
Yet it wasn't freezing, nor even cold at all, the water was warm
in this early May night.
Ryo could feel her lips rubbing and kissing his neck.
"And I will never forget it all." Was all that she whispered
then.
Ryo couldn't remember where she put her clothes. |
