Forget-Me-Not

Chapter XII: A Promise

"Hey", she called which caused Raine to halt his feet. "What's with the eccentricity?"

"What's so eccentric about me?"

There should have been no necessity to explain what she meant for everything was obvious not only for Phoebe and Ray but also for the guy himself. Sadly, the person being talked about was a living singularity which made him annoyingly and unnecessarily inquisitive. Phoebe wondered at times if the guy was just messing around or he was really a genuine oaf, but either way, every person who would converse with him for the first time would surely find themselves on the verge of losing sanity.

"You're acting weird, not that it's unusual about you being yourself, but believe me it's creepier this time."

The guy seemed oblivious as he stared her down. "I don't get it."

Phoebe rolled her eyes and tried to gasp a great amount of air to soothe herself down because if she wasn't careful, she might go berserk and start committing a murder at the very moment. Plus, she was trying to make things go smoothly this time since it was the last day of her stay in Baguio for this year and she didn't wanna leave any trace of wretched memory.

"Nevermind", she said as she approached the television divider where a single frame rested.

It was a beautiful young woman. No, she must not be that young, but she actually did look youthful. She was wearing a floral white dress with a summer hat adorned with magenta-colored flowers which Phoebe couldn't tell the name. Her jet-black hair styled in big waves were thrown in the air as the wind blew and it seemed like the cameraman just captured the moment coincidentally. As Phoebe examined the picture further, she could tell that it was taken in Boracay because of the appearance of the fine white sand and the crystal-blue sea on the background.

"Raine, is this... your mom?", she asked with hesitance, thinking that it might just bring back old painful memories to the guy.

Raine's aura didn't change a bit, and he also answered casually. "Yeah, she's pretty, right? I don't take 'No' for answer."

Phoebe responded with a faint smile which clearly showed agreement. There was actually no need to force her to say "Yes" because her mom was truly pretty, no, she was gorgeous. Phoebe tried to trace down the fine lines on the guy's face, as well as the distinguishable features, then she looked back at the picture of the woman. From there, she could already tell that Raine really did possess resemblance of her mom. Then, she tried to visualize Ray in her mind too, the younger one did have similar features to his older brother too, but there were some which were exceptional. Probably, Ray had inherited these dominant traits from his father.

Phoebe then strayed her eyes again on the house, she noticed the improper placement of stuff like the center table resting immediately beside the small couch and the canvas of a cluster of strawberries hanging on the wall beside the door frame. She thought, with two guys living in a single house, a plain, boring, and lifeless lifestyle was expected. Ray didn't have any knowledge about art or fashion because all he'd been living his life for was money for it was the top necessity for their survival. That was quite trivial because he'd always been preoccupied already. The older one, Raine, did have unique sense of liking towards specific things which made him knowledgeable about them. That meant, he knew almost everything and he could tell anyone anything they needed as long as it was limited to those specific things. However, if it was something that didn't catch his interest, he tended to be an airhead.

"Mind if I do some renovations?"

The guy raised a brow. "Renovation?"

"Your house is a complete mess. I'm not saying everything is a mistake, but try to study the surrounding for a moment.", she said as her head began tilting from left to right.