COMPASS #1: Where The Sun Rises

Chapter 14

"Hey! That's unfair!" Easton's barriers have been liberated causing me to suffer its consequences. His simple actions of joy fluttered the deep-seated seeking soul for the warmth he offered.

Sports have been so inconvenient for me when I was bound to set my priorities to what really mattered according to Abuela. If walking down the runway was considered one, then I have something I play with.

"Believe me, your cheating won't lead you to victory."

His laughter echoed across the hall when took my only rook left on the board. "That depends on the situation. Even though karma is always there, if I win this game, I will be earning more than I could possibly lose."

"That's an elaborated idea but when you're too greedy, you missed out on the danger that never gave you a warning," I smirked and place my bishop on a tile that checked and caged his king together with my defended pawns and a knight.

South's suppressed laughter finally has been set free. He knew what could happen just minutes ago when his brother started being prideful without thinking that a rookie learns how to be an apprentice.

"Where's my prize?" My arms extended across the table with his face unpaintable by anyone. Leonardo Da Vinci would arc his brows, tilt his head, and even hang his jaw with his mouth open in disbelief.

He took his wallet out of his pocket; with growing incertitude, his finger halted its way of taking out what was meant to be handed to me. "I guess you're not in need of cash."

I fell into disbelief. "Seriously? I couldn't -"

There was silence beyond miles away when he finally placed a card on my palm. His skin touched mine as my brain echoed that enchantment repress for years of denying the viable emotions growing since the unheated winter days. Each electric shock reminisces the memories that were unlikely to be faded and the future that I have imagined.

If only I was being honest.

"Don't you like it, Elle?" I snapped out of my unseen thoughts as Easton asked when my eyes met his.

I looked towards South finding his forehead creasing in bewilderment at my unsaid drowning. Shaking my head to fall back into reality, I processed the non-expirable one-way ticket to my childhood home where times winter days mourn for the unseen sun in weeks and summer evenings burn the complexion.

Alaska. Where I believe that everything was still not falling apart.

A smile crept on my lips. "Thank you."

"You're welcome..." He started fixing the chess pieces and continued, "But I have to say sorry because you have to face our visitor later. I couldn't do something about it since he is our parents' visitor."

I hunched over the referred person and unconsciously instilled fear in myself. I grabbed the white queen chess piece for the table and stared at it for so long. The queen... the power it holds is measurable as there are still areas in the board it cannot step on in one move. There has always been a way for the other pieces to take over and place themselves to safety. Even pawns.

"It will be your brother," South finished the conversation.

I placed the queen at the center of the board. I smile despite the vulnerability. "I heard he was kind."

"Probably, as kind as me," Easton bragged had me and South burst into laughter.

For a second, I discovered how to feel fleeting joy in the middle of chaos. It was a small hint and short but it was somehow fulfilling.

"You're so full of yourself, Kuya. Kanino mo kaya namana ang kakapalan nang mukha?" pang-aasar ni South na nauwi sa bangayan nila sa sahig. They were wrestling each other in the matt that West ought to join while cheering for herself.