Goodbye Summer

Nine

Sean had already grown accustomed to the nightly nature's sound that used to scare him before when he was younger. Because unlike before, it had already given him a sense of comfort the moment he let it embrace him. Peace had always presented itself whenever he gets into that place. Or he would like to think himself that.

The sounds of the twigs breaking underneath the weight of his steps broke the silence in the small woods. He was not bothered by it, for he was so eager to reach his destination to achieve the peace he sought of everyday.

He had to do this until the pain goes away, until she goes away. He had to get used to being away from her, for his own sake, for her sake and especially his cousin's sake.

Until now, he was carrying the burden of guilt of hurting his cousin and the only thing he could do is just escape— to escape from everyone. He didn't know anything else.

He had taken the tree as his refuge every night, to avoid his family and to avoid her. The gravity of what he had done had taken its toll on him and all he wanted was to disappear. He could not forget what he had done to Ken, the physical and emotional pain he inflicted, the cries of his mom and the desperate resistance of his dad just to stop him.

Sean pressed his eyes shut as he made his way into the clearing, already wanting to free his mind from all these thoughts. The familiar tree stood out still mightily and when he thought he could be alone again, he was proven wrong when he noticed someone who was already there before him.

Scott stood silently, staring at a fixed point on the trunk with a small smile on his face, seemingly not noticing his arrival.

And so he decided to leave despite his eagerness to have his peace because he didn't want to speak to someone right now. Not especially if that someone was his best friend's dad. The father of the girl he's in love with.

"Sean?" Scott's voice made him stop in his tracks. Hesitating, Sean took a deep breath before turning to the older man.

"Hi, Scott," he said, forcing a smile. "I was just..." he trailed away, not exactly knowing how to explain himself.

"Ah no, no. You can stay here, I'm going anyway," Scott said, finally stepping out of the tree's shadow to face him. "It's just surprising that you know about this. So how did you know of this place?"

Sean looked down at his camera. "Mom and dad brought me here when I was younger."

Scott chuckled. "Right. I should've known," he said.

He walked beneath the tree's shadow again and Sean couldn't help but follow him. "Your mom and dad carved their names here when they first dated, even though they broke up for a long time after that. Well, they still ended up together," Scott said, pointing to where Miya and Cheuk's names were carved.

Sean looked over his parents' names on the trunk. He never thought about it much when he's spending his time by the tree, but seeing it now, the initial thought of being with someone he wanted to be with for the rest of his life despite the challenges didn't seem so appealing anymore.

"You know, I wrote mine and Tessa's names there without her knowing," he laughed, pointing at their names. "It was complicated back then. I wanted to date her, I wanted her to be my wife, I wanted her to be the mother of my future kids but it seemed impossible at that moment," he said, with a wistful smile on his lips.

Sean looked up in curiosity. He had thought Scott and Tessa always had it easy.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand?" he asked, genuinely curious.