Sora & Fumiko

Chapter Fifty-One

"Sora, how can you say that?"

"Because it's true. If I didn't get into an argument with him, he wouldn't have died of an heart attack."

I leaned in closer to Sora, his eyes clouded over with guilt and deep sorrow.

"If I was honest with him before," He continued. "Things wouldn't have ended like that."

I shuddered inwardly, refusing to agree with him that he was to blame. Sora was a good man who risked his life for me so there was no way I could think anything bad about him.

"Tell me what happened." I asked softly while tracing the muscles on his chest, his skin still a little too pale.

"Well," he sighed. "I was very distraught when we moved to the city but the awe of the buildings and crowds of people drew my attention away from that. My father said farmers were anachronisms and that we had to become working class people in the city because everyone was doing it."

I nodded, understanding what he was saying. No one was really into farming anymore and other than Sora and the Saito's, no one else lived in the farming community of our town.

"I was crushed when he told me that because farming was my joy and my dream and I thought he felt the same."

He turned his head towards the window, the silky white curtain lifting and falling with the breeze coming through it. I brushed my hand over his cheek, knowing his frustration because he was the only one still carrying his dream.

"What did you think about the city life?"

"Well, to begin with, my school was Japanese orientated so it was really hard at first. I couldn't comprehend why he decided to send me there but I guess he probably wanted me to learn about my culture."

"I see, that's where you learnt to speak Japanese."

"Yeah, it was really difficult, since I only spoke English. People would come up to me speaking in Japanese and I could only smile and nod, hoping they wouldn't​ notice I couldn't understanding​ what they were saying."

I laughed a little, imagining the embarrassment he must've​ gone through at that school. He smiled at my laughter, glimpses of himself​ I hadn't seen in a while showing.

"If you think that was funny, you should've seen how my classmates reacted when they heard I was a farmer back home. One of them even asked me if I rolled around with pigs." He laughed and my face lit up briefly. "I did make a few friends and they helped me to learn how to write and read Japanese- kanji, Kana and even Hiragana. Tae, Natsu and Naomi were my best friends and they made life for me a little better, even though Tae always called me Sota instead of Sora because he said I had a girls name."

"Well at least your experiences there weren't​ all bad."

"You're right, they weren't." He agreed. "My grades did improve again after a while and I worked really hard, believing that if I did well enough before I graduated, I could come back home."

He sat up, his hair falling​ over his eyes as dark shadows concealed what he was thinking.

"I graduated, and I was ready to come home but my father told me he had other plans for my future. He was going to send me to work at this place but I refused to go."

"He must've been furious."

"He was, but I was adamant about it. It was unfair, just because he forgot his dream, he expected​ me to forget mine."

"You had a right to stand up for what you believed in." I added.

"Yes, but I wish I didn't. He told me I was stupid and I'd never achieve anything. He said he couldn't believe I was his son." Sora tore his gaze away from me, regret evident on his face. "Do you know what the last thing he said to me was? He said I disgusted him."