To Catch a Gust of Wind [COMPLETE]

Chapter 3 - Silay after Dark [#13]

"I...I love you, Miss Suarez. In my mind I'm shouting your name every night and deep in my heart my soul is longing for you each day," Rafael said suddenly. The words came out so quickly even he himself felt surprised at first. He couldn't believe he had that in him, for the first time. And it's without the hesitation he feared would reveal in his voice. He spoke the words naturally out of his lips. Yes, he knew them by heart for those were the special words he had written for Rica. It's in the letter...and he felt relieved. He unloaded too heavy a burden from his heart...unspoken love was burden enough.

Remembering them now and how he said them, Rafael smiled at himself. How did he come out with those words to say to Rica? Sounded corny and how he must have sounded like a fool...

But not to the girl whom the words were written for.

Was she blushing? Not a bit.

But Rica smiled. She looked at Rafael's eyes, those dreamy eyes with the long, curved eyelashes. "I thought you won't say it," she said. "You always look at me smiling, that contagious smile of yours. I don't know if you smile at every beautiful girl you meet at school. So you have decided whom to fall in love with? Or you're just trying your luck?"

So she had noticed me at all. How did Rica come up with that? Rafael thought. He didn't expect her to be able to think like that. But he forgot. She's intelligent and by the looks of it, she's capable of anything.

"'Tis better to have fallen in love with you and lost than never to have felt love at all," Rafael said. He didn't know why he said those lines. It just came out spontaneously. Aha, now he's talking and he's talking poetry.

Rica looked at Rafael. Both were still standing in front of the bench. Rica smiled, a kind of smile that hid something mischievous.

"In Memoriam, Alfred Lord Tennyson," Rica replied. "It's a pity, Rafael. Come on, say something better than that. You started it."

Wow, Rafael was stunned for a moment. Is she challenging me? he wondered. She likes poetry. Now, don't get me started on this one, he thought smiling in his heart.

He looked down at his feet for a moment then faced the girl. "Yes, it's true, Rica. I have fallen in love with you. Your face...would launch more ships than Helen's, Helen of Troy, and could even burn the whole of Silay, if need be," Rafael said. Is it a bit too much? He couldn't care less.

"The Tragedy of Dr. Faustus, Christopher Marlowe," Rica said without batting an eyelash. "Corny you said that. But I know you know more than you're letting on. Your love is blind, Rafael. And you don't see the fool you have become by falling in love with me."

Oh, where had he read those lines? Surely, Rafael had read about Shakespeare. Literature was his favorite subject under Mrs. Chan when he was in third year.

"The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare," Rafael said. Now it's his turn in this game of both minds indulging in romantic poems. "These stones would not be my prison nor that gate would keep me in a cage. I'll find you wherever you go."

Silence but it didn't take a minute for Rica to reply. "To Althea from Prison, Richard Lovelace. Don't worry, Rafael. You're the master of your fate and the captain of your soul." Her face brightened, her lips curved into a fine arc.

"Invictus, William Ernest Henley," Rafael answered. He's getting the hang of it. And Rica was enjoying it, too. He felt her, or the representation of her, moving closer to him, not physically, but in a metaphorical sense. "Nobody can dissever my soul from your soul, Miss Suarez."

"Annabel Lee. You read Edgar Allan Poe?" Rica asked. "He's a drunkard."

"Yes, but he wrote The Raven, a beautiful poem," Rafael said.

"Rica, I say this to you, if you leave me, I would rather love Death, to take into the air my quiet breath. I would feel it rich to die, to cease upon the midnight with no pain."

Rica looked at Rafael squarely. "You don't mean it, do you? Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats, my favorite," Rica said. Now she's blushing, Rafael saw it.

Rafael got an ace up in his sleeve. "I'll fly to you on the wings of desire. I'll let loose both my body and soul and unleash ecstasy on fire."

Rica's face became serious. Seconds turned to minutes but she hadn't say a word. Then she laughed. She looked even more charming when she laughed. "You must be joking. You made that up. It's in your letter."

"Got you," Rafael said. "So you did read my letter, didn't you?"

They stood there for how long, Rafael had no reckoning. Just when he thought their secret meeting had come to an end, Rica took his hand and they sat down on the bench together. She opened her black shoulder bag and picked something inside. She got a little hard-bound book.

"I want to give you this," Rica said. She gave the book to Rafael.

"What's this?" Rafael read the title. "The Legend of Kansilay. You're full of surprises, Miss Rica Suarez."

"After you graduate, who knows, we might never see each other again. Be sure to read that book. If you know the story of Kansilay, you won't forget me." Rica leaned over towards Rafael, brushing her hair aside. Their eyes locked on each other. No words could describe the moment. That moment was best left to the imagination.

Rafael kissed her gently, ever so gently on the lips. Rica's hands ran down the length of Rafael's arms and stayed there a little longer...

He had won not only her heart but her mind as well...

Rafael's celphone rang. He got it out from his pocket and swiped the screen. "Hello, Thea. Yes, I'm going back now."

How could he ever forget the first girl who had captivated his heart?

[End of Chapter 3]