The Curious Theory of Kissing

12: Promise by the Sea

Note: Gulf's POV

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The weather is topping 36 degrees and yet my hands are cold. I couldn't decide on which direction I should be glancing at since I arrived. Lei, as she called herself, was coming at any given moment, however, I still don't how to make a fruitful conversation with her. She wouldn't give me any information about herself asides from being Mew's old friend and that she wanted to help.

I was scared of two things. First is how she found out about what happened. Second, is what exactly does she know about Mew's past.

"Gulf Kanawut? It's me Lei."

A woman with long black hair and brown almond eyes stood before me. She was young yet her beauty and her sophisticated clothes displayed her maturity.

I pressed my hand together and bowed my head. I remembered that Mew was older than me and I assumed that she must be too.

I offered her to take a sit and called the waiter to take her order.

"It must confuse you that some stranger suddenly offers you help." I nodded my head. It was very unlike me to talk to strangers but I was already rife with pessimistic thoughts, which are nothing but assumptions. I'm desperate to hear the truth and Lei looks trustworthy enough.

"Mew was my friend. My best friend to be exact. We were always together and at one point we couldn't even imagine not being in each other's life. I was the closest to him and yet I was the one who hurt him the most." She looks out the window as she reminisced about her life with him. The way she expressed her regrets and woes were not of a friend... but of someone who loved in great depth.

"I only wanted to protect him. I based my decisions on what I thought was best for him. I guess I was wrong. Maybe the love I devoted to him was nothing but baneful."

Lei proceeded to tell a story from almost two years ago. She told me how Mew met Aran and how his kind heart lead him to love unconditionally and without a care for what others would say. But fate isn't as kind. After all, only a few are considered the lucky ones.

The hairs on my neck stood up when she told me about the unpropitious consequences he had to go through for following his heart. It made my resentment towards Kao grow more. He knew how traumatizing that video scandal was for Mew and yet he had the audacity to make him go through it again. And for what? For his hurt pride?

"He was wrong. He wasn't the reason why Aran took his own life. But he flew to the States before I had the chance to tell him. I kept it to myself for so long since I heard he was taking therapy there. A year later he came back. He was so different and cold. I followed him silently and saw the apathy in his eyes. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to ease his pain... Until the day that you came. Nothing brightened him up more than you did. You gave him the chance he's been longing for. I was so happy to see him smiling again. You saved him."

I bit my lip. Now, I couldn't stop thinking of all the times I became selfish. "No, I didn't. I took him for granted, expecting he would patiently stand by me. By the time I figured out what I felt formhim, it was too late. If I only told him sooner, this wouldn't have happened."

"You have to stop taking the blame for something you didn't cause. I've seen him do it and it won't make anything better. We have to find him and bring him back to you. Stop beating yourself up. The both of you will get through this." She gently placed her soft hand on top of mine. It felt nice to take comfort in her words. And although his absence disheartens me, I had to focus on finding him.

x

"I've been in touch with my connections at the airport. So far, no one with his name has booked a flight or flew out of the country in the past 3 days. So there is a big chance that he might still be here."