Summer Trap (Matsumoto Series 2)

Chapter 16

Chapter 16 That summer day

August 29, 2022
White Kamono Hotel

Until I went into college ay hindi na ako tinigilan ni Sarah. Para bang nabuhay na lang siya para gumawa ng paraan para mahirapan ako. It was like her life revolves around me— being my antagonist. At hanggang ngayon ay katanungan pa rin sa akin kung anong kaligayahan ang nakukuha niya sa mga bagay na ginagawa niya sa akin.

Was it for satisfaction? Success? Hindi ko alam kong sa sarili ko ako dapat maawa o sa kanya na wala nang ibang mundong makita kundi ang sa akin.

Nakaismid sa akin sina Sarah at Tita Kiana habang paalis na ako ng bahay nila. Sa wakas ay makakalaya na ako mula sa kanila. At ang naiwan ni Mama para sa akin ay legal nang napupunta sa akin.

Ilang mura at kawalan ng utang na loob ang siyang narinig ko kay Tita Kiana, at lahat iyon ay pinakinggan ko na lang at inilabas sa aking tainga. Sa ilang taon na kasama ko sila, mukhang nasanay na ang pandinig ko sa lahat ng pang-iinsultong ibinigay nila sa akin.

Nang makarating na ako sa may pintuan ramdam kong nakasunod pa rin sila sa likuran ko. Tumigil na ako sa paglalakad habang hila ang maleta ko. Hinarap ko sila sa pagkakataong iyon at sinalubong ang kanilang mga mata.

"Salamat sa pagkupkop sa akin sa loob nang maraming taon," hindi man lang ako nagbigay ng kahit anong emosyon sa kanila bago ako muling tumalikod at hilahin ang maleta ko.

Marami pa akong narinig na masasamang salita mula sa mag-inang bruha, pero ang tangi ko lang naramdaman nang mga oras na iyon ay ang salitang kalayaan.

***

They say everything looks magical when you're in love— that everything around you looks so dim, but the moment you met your eyes with him, all you could see is his every detail. The way he timidly smiles, the small movement of his eyes and how he looks at you with adoration, those hesitant hands trying to touch you, and the way he whispers words in different languages you never thought could be musical.

I may be writing tons of romance novels, that describe how beautiful love is, but as someone who hasn't experienced it, I just considered my novels as a flowery product of my own fantasy— something I couldn't reach.

But when our hands clasped together as he slowly slide it up, with the rustling sounds of the bed cover, the swooshing of the white curtains, and our lips giving each other's wishes. . .

I just realized that the most beautiful kind of love is a love not found in written words, but a kind of love that you can feel even when your eyes are closed.

It was that bright summer day, as the sunlight touches the hectares of golden rice fields, the moist of summer embracing people's skin, the mellow blow of the wind, the butterflies fluttering, and the bright colors of summer flowers, the chime of every passing bicycle, the sound of the urging train, the flow of the river, the chirping birds and the flapping wings of the huge eagle.

It was that bright summer day in that beautiful countryside, in a place so bright and warm, stood an old white hotel with its hundred years of service; sheltering a maiden who just found a place she could feel an escape— a warmth of home.

It was like having your eyes closed yet you could see the beauty of everything, like I was thrown into a garden filled with bright colors of flowers, and every touch of petals showering on my body was like feathers worshipping every part of me— his lips.

Kousuke Matsumoto delicately wandered around my body as if his lips were made for it, to adore me, to give me shivers, and to give me these tears I never thought I would have.