Tearing Paper

Intertwined

"The wind was pretty harsh today."

"Yeah," Dianne replied as she tidied the strands of hair that covered her face. "I hope everything will be fine."

"My kite seems perfectly fine," Devon boasted, pointing at one of the biggest kites that filled the sky. "We have a great view from here."

"Yeah, for your kite, that is," Dianne laughed sarcastically. "Mine was probably-oh!"

She exclaimed because she finally spotted her kite, already swaying in chaotic directions because of the wind. She frowned at Devon, who laughed so happily that he almost rolled off their boat. "Look at that! I should've helped you in making it! Your poor butterfly's falling!"

"I'll get that," Dianne growled as she got off the boat and ran towards the beach. She could not possibly remember where she tied her kite to in the middle of the increasing crowd, but she let her bare feet wet with water and sand as she ran towards nowhere.

She did not know why, but something inside her urged her to keep running.

-

"To my back you can see the beautiful, beautiful sights of Namiri Island's very own kite festival. The kites have been so artistically made by the locals, but some tourists who just arrived today also joined the fun by..."

Nate grunted as the reporter, unfortunately standing close to him, spoke gleefully. He did not get a boat, so he tried his best to watch from such distance that he did not even know where his kite had flown to.

"The weather is quite unfriendly tonight, but it adds to the jolly of finding out which kite is the strongest! And, if you see here, you will see one kite starting to topple-oh! It's actually pretty. On closer look, it is shaped like a butterfly, and..."

Nate could not help but smile as he saw that one kite that began giving in to the blowing wind. A butterfly. Maybe a little girl made it with all innocence inside her. For him, kites were battle weapons. It signified strength and endurance. He hoped his kite would-

"And, wow! Another one followed! This time it looks wider, but why does it fall? Oh, maybe it belongs to a tourist who doesn't master the art of kite-fixing yet. It's blue like the butterfly kite, too! Let's take a closer look. The two kites are actually intertwined now! This gets really entertaining-"

No.

Nate watched in shame as his kite started slanting downwards, getting closer and closer to the butterfly kite. Believing that nobody would take notice of him, he ran towards the tree where he previously tied his kite so carelessly.

-

Dianne caught her breath as she ran towards the tree where she previously tied her kite so carelessly.

As she got closer, she could see the figure of a man who seemed to be struggling, fixing the knots on the string.

It made her smile slightly.

It was totally forgivable for a petite girl like her to fail in kiting, but for a man?

Maybe he had no childhood.

She stopped smiling when she stood close to him, gasping in shock.

Or maybe he simply came from town.

"Nate..."