Orpheus

Chapter 10: Stay

But if the destinies refuse my vow,

And no remission of her doom allow;

Know, I'm determin'd to return no more;

So both retain, or both to life restore.

Bright placed the book on his chest after reading these lines. He and I have been practicing this reading session together for about three weeks now. It's refreshing to see him in this light. After I confessed my feelings to him, he's been different - something that I haven't imagined of him.

As of the moment, his head is resting on my lap as I comfortably lean on the headboard of his bed. His right hand is holding the book, while the other is pressing my palm. This has been going on for a while now. His favorite thing to do is to press my palm then he will smell it, kiss it, and say, I love the smell of your hand.

"These lines are my favorite. It's so powerful. And it's true too, right? When you lose someone, it haunts you forever, and it often forces you to believe that the only thing that can make you happy is if they will come back to life," he said while smelling my hand.

"Hmmm..." I paused to create suspense with my answer. "While I believe that that's what it meant, I also think that we can look at it from a different angle," I added.

"What do you mean?" Bright asked.

I touched his face gently, and then I let out a deep sigh. "Orpheus went to the underworld to request from Hades Eurydice's life. He asked for it, and luckily he was given the chance to. But as we try to look at his ardent will to bring Eurydice back, let's not forget the fact that he risked his own life going to the underworld." I stopped for a while. I let my finger brush through the tip of his nose. A tiny smile formed around his mouth. Satisfied, I continued, "Like what a memory does to a living soul, it makes the soul die because the person cannot let go."

Bright stared at me for a long time. We both fell silent. I can hear his heartbeat and it tells me that he's calm. He got up from his position and slowly went near my face. "Are you for real?" he asked. Then, he pressed my cheeks and kissed my lips. "What did you eat, huh? Why did you suddenly turn wiser?"

I wasn't able to hold my laughter with what I've heard. Bright can be funny at times. He's been very different since the first time we met, and everything that he shows feels very genuine; like it comes fully from his heart. Did he become a different person? I don't think so. He was probably hiding this personality of his when Euri died. It's a coping mechanism. The emotions he felt over the course of time that he was grieving for the loss of his girlfriend, he also turned sad, angered, and most of the time bitter.

"You're so funny, love," I told him as I continued responding to the little kisses he's been dabbing all over my lips and face.

"Having you beside me, right here, right now, is just an absolute delight, Win. Can you stay with me a little longer?" Bright told me while intently surveying my whole face. He's just an image of a man so in love. And my heart is fluttering so wildly. But at the same time, I felt a bit of fear from his reaction.

"Why not forever then?" I exclaimed. Bright smiled even bigger with what I said, but his eyes still emit the same fear I've felt from his voice. So I continued, "Hey love, why? What's wrong?"

"I don't believe in forever, Win. With what happened to Euri? No. I can't. That's just too painful," Bright said, still with that pain in his tone.

"So, you don't trust that I will stay with you forever?" I challenged him. I'd like to just give him an idea of how serious I am with him. I don't quite understand my feelings as well. There's just something about Bright that takes me to another world. It's a feeling of bliss that never in my entire life have I felt.