La Prima Luna (The First Moon)

Chapter 4 : The Voyage to Japan

"Life is unfair."

That's what people often say about life. But perhaps most of them just can't be grateful enough for their life. Valentina Scarlatto was among those people. She used to ponder in self-pity, thinking how unlucky she was. Getting picked on by boys and even girls led her to blame her stern, gloomy face.

"You should smile more. Smile from the bottom of your heart until your eyes look like they are smiling along. You'll look much sweeter when you're happy, dear," said her mother while she took care of the small wound on Val's head. It was the day she began to shut herself off from everyone and change.

It wasn't that Dilla couldn't accept her daughter the way she was, but her sharp stares caused her smiles to look more like grins, and those grins seemed arrogant. It didn't help that Val was quiet and shy outside the family, because then she would smile less, and even when she did smile, it would be that small grin. However, it was Dilla's way of telling her daughter that she could be sweet, not only scary, when she wanted to, and that she should ignore those brats for they knew nothing of her. Once she finished tending her daughter's wound, she placed a small kiss on her forehead and smiled.

"It's alright. Someday they'll look back and wish they had treated you differently—nicely."

But Valentina was too small to understand that the world spins—what goes around comes around. She couldn't accept her mother's words entirely and refused to do as she advised. Rather than smiling, she turned cold, almost emotionless. She used to be angry towards G's sarcasm, but now she'd learned to outsmart him calmly. Even towards her family, she spoke and laughed less.

Some days after, a mother of one of the boys who threw pebbles at her came and demanded responsibility. She was angry because her boy came home with bruises. It was G's doing, she wanted him to be punished. She also demanded Dilla an apology as well as pay for her son's treatment, not knowing how her son had crushed Val's naïve heart as well as Dilla's feelings.

"Then, what about my daughter? If the pebble thrown by this boy had caused a serious damage to my daughter's brain, then what would you do? I will make sure to tell my son not to beat other kids, but I am not apologizing for something your son started."

The woman was rendered speechless.

Rather than giving the woman the money she needed, Dilla lent her the first-aid kit and offered help anytime needed. The woman was the wife of her husband's old friend after all. Feeling unsatisfied but guilty nonetheless, the woman left. She had realized the fact that his son's injuries would soon be gone, but not the painful experience that changed Val. That would not disappear in a short time. In fact, it might not disappear at all, for people change.

Valentina wanted to be perfect, to be a real lady. She wanted it so bad she became someone else. Ironically, the harder she tried, the more she flawed herself—for example, her ignorance. As if misfortune was a competition, she was blind to the fact that someone else, somewhere, was more unlucky than her—and she wasn't the most unlucky girl. Her unpleasant phase continued until she met Giotto. Then things started to change once again. Even the boy who lost his parents and had to work at such a young age didn't think life was unfair. He had always seen life as an adventure and he enjoyed it, taking both bad things and good things as they were. His positive mind was overwhelming and it damaged Val's dignity in a good way that she realized how selfish she had been—whining about small problems when she was already lucky enough.

Her family was quite fulfilled, not too rich, but not even close to poor. Her father, Raniero, was a cigar merchant. His friend from Spain, who ran a tobacco company, gave him a job selling cigars in the Asian continent. This explained the big library in her house with a wide variety of books. His profession was also the reason why G would smoke in the near future. Eventually, he became curious about the tobacco goods, and one thing led to another, he became a smoker. Val, who learned about the world through books, was filled with curiosity and excitement when it came to exploring the world. She often asked to be taken on one of her father's business trips. Of course, he denied it at first. However, recently, as much as Giotto's smile was contagious, so was his adventurous nature. His vision of the world inspired her to keep begging her father. Val became so persistent and determined that her mother was touched to see her liveliness, which had been missing for years. For the sake of Valentina's happiness, the loving mother persuaded her husband to grant their daughter's wish. Raniero finally gave up and, after some time, promised to take not just Val, but the whole family, on his next trip to Japan. The girl was thrilled. It felt as though joy was bursting within her, pushing from inside, urging her to hug her father while she held back a squeal. But even that was not all.