What Do I Call You?

Chapter Eleven

“I didn’t tell her that you’re here,” Chris returned to my table after a few minutes with a tray in her hand, carrying a pint of beer and a plate of fries. She told me those words with glinting mischief in her eyes then casually placed the fries on the table. I gave her a smile of sincere gratitude and happily took the beer she had handed me with kindness.

“Thanks.”

“I thought she might jilt from the gig if I said something about you,” she explained. “Just so you know, she leaves at one in the morning as soon as the pub closes.”

The helpful tip made me grin even wider at her and she openly returned it with a friendly wink.

“You’re a nice fella.” She then said, her voice softer as she smiled down.

“Thank you.”

“You know Nari, huh?”

“I do,” I answered, consciously looking away to stop myself from saying anything more.

“It’s unlikely to have outsiders like you here but I really hope you’ll enjoy your whole stay.”

“Thanks.”

“No worries, funny guy.”

Then she left again, though this time, I don’t think she would ever stop by my table anymore. I eased down in relief as I took a long sip from the beer she had given me. It felt really nice. It has been a very long time since I had a drink alone like this. The total independence had me feeling quite peaceful as I basked in it. No more bodyguards, no more abrupt phone calls, no more butlers, nor drivers surrounding me and following me 24/7. This was complete independence. Just me alone—totally alone.

It was bliss.

Letting the sway of the jazz music from the band playing on the stage drowned me into a mood of relaxation, I casually leaned my back on my squeaky seat and sighed in relief. Soon after, the music in the background suddenly stopped. I looked up to the stage and saw a young guy walking to the front of the podium and spoke over the microphone.

“Now it’s almost time for the main event. Are you ready?”

The crowd replied wildly after that and I shifted on my seat as I already got a feeling of what was about to happen.

“I hear you all on that. So why don’t we call her up here, huh? Live from the Birds Haven tonight, we bring you one of our own finest voices in town… Nari!”

The crowd suddenly went loud as they shouted her name in a chorus. And right on cue, Nari finally appeared from backstage, walking gracefully as she stared across the stage. Her fiery long hair had been tied up into a red bun on top of her head. I watched her closely, noting the few thin strands of her red locks that had fallen down like silky laces on the sides of her cheeks, framing that small face. She was wearing a white knee-length dress with a colorful pattern of flowers drawn all over it. Her boots squeaked on the wooden stage as she moved and took the guitar from a band player behind her. She then walked forward, wearing the leather strap around her body.

“Good evening, Avian Hills.”

Her voice flowed smoothly through the speakers and I was caught in a trance for a moment as I stared at her. She strummed a single chord while the crowd still continued to shout her name in unison. Her eyes roamed around and she smiled, settling on a high chair that one of the guys behind her had provided. Another person approached her to adjust her microphone on the stand. She tested the device and greeted the crowd again with another breeze of her warm consoling voice. The crowd cheered back louder and some even whistled in response.

From a very far corner of the pub, I remained completely frozen as I sat on my chair with my eyes glued to her. Silent and watching, I let everything else fade into a blur.

“Wanna hear something new tonight?” she asked after, her sweet voice shifting down to a low murmur, resonating a cold vibrating sound that still warmed me enough to smile to myself. Her voice had always lulled me in my dreams for the past ten years, and I only used to hear that same voice singing that sad beautiful song. But now that I was finally seeing her in person, I soon noticed the change that time had made on her soft voice. It was now huskier and a little deeper. As I continued to listen in while she spoke from the distance, I was immediately brought back to the memory of that very particular windy day ten years ago…

“I have a new song tonight,” Nari said softly, pulling me out of my trance, “I hope you’ll like it.”

Whatever it was, I would like it no matter what.

I heard the crowd agreeing to her words with delighted reactions and rambled praises. She smiled again and started strumming a sweet smooth intro. It began with short cutting sounds and soon met a little slide of a chord, then it went on for a repetitive tune. It sounded sad but romantic and sweet, like a poetic melody…

It continued to reverberate inside my mind, giving me a heavenly visual of grassland under a radiant clear sky with a view of falling leaves in the air… Something quite vague and clear; something that tells one of freedom but expressively carries on an immeasurable weight of isolation with it.

“I want to fly…

Yet I have no wings,

No dreams to try,

And only fears in me.”

The first few verses of the song came in like a soft brush… It gave me a hazy wave of sadness and tranquility—a contrasting feeling that overwhelmed me. ‘Melancholic’ could be the exact adjective to define how it sounded like. She played it well in a sweet tune, but the lyrics heavily depicted an unidentified misery.

“I’m jealous of it,

The wind, as it carries over,

I feel okay, kind of complete,

But I’m not happy anymore.”

What does she mean by singing this? Did she write this by herself? And if she really did, what was she trying to say with those lines? Why does it feel so sad? And why does it also make me feel warm inside?

The song continued to play on, while my mind wandered away. The moment the melody finally ended in one last strum, I was instantly snapped back to reality and had myself waking up to the sound of cheers and Nari’s chuckles echoing from the microphone. She smiled from the stage and spoke towards the crowd who was anticipating another song from her.

But I was no longer listening to the rest of it, my heart was still stuck in a loophole of feelings brought out of that previous song. And with the wave of sorrow slowly putting me into a suffocating lapse, I quickly stood up from my seat and quietly left my table. I dashed out of the pub, breathing in the sudden kiss of foggy air under the cold night that had met me when I finally stepped outside. The chills instantly gave me the freedom to breathe evenly.

That was weird. It felt like a panic attack back there.

And as the moon glowed over me, I decided to wait outside instead.

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It was almost one in the morning when it happened.

The sudden burst of people coming out from the pub had me immediately retreating from the tall bushes on the side of the building. I quietly hid and tried to take a few peeks to see if Nari was coming out. Spreading away like bees from a hive, the locals gradually disappeared into the stillness of the dark morning with their echoing noises subsiding as they walked further away. I sat on the grassy part of the ground beneath me, sighing in relief that I had managed to avoid meeting any of them. Soon after, I heard another group of people walking out of the pub and talking at the entryway.

“Go home now,” I immediately recognized the voice of Chris speaking to somebody, “Let me and Ferrer do this. Mari is waiting for you, Nari. I don’t want her staying up so late every night especially when she just got out of the hospital.”

As soon as I heard Nari’s name, I instinctively stood up from where I was crouching behind the bushes and marched towards the front. I could still hear them talking when I quickly rounded the corner to see Nari. The moment I had finally shown myself there, all the talking stopped. The three people before me gaped at my sudden appearance.

“What are you doing here?” Nari was the first one to speak as she sneered at me.

“I was thinking of driving you home. Hi.”

“You’re the creep,” The bulky guy, whom Chris had called Ferrer from before, grimly noted behind Nari.

“He’s not a creep,” Chris defensively countered and turned to Ferrer, who was standing beside her, to give him an angry scowl.

“I’ve already told you to leave last night,” Nari said, scowling at me, “Why are you still here?”

“Let me drive you home this one time. It’s really late,” I appealed back.

“I can go home alone fine,” she declined right away. “Leave me alone.”

“Yeah, just leave creep. Or else, I’ll be the one to carry you out of here. And I bet you, it’s not going to be pretty. I’m gonna make sure you’ll never return back again.” Ferrer morbidly threatened me with a deathly stare.

“Stop scaring him,” Chris angrily chided, giving Ferrer a hard smack on the head.

“What the hell-”

“Why can’t you just let him, Nari? For Pete’s sake. He seems like a very nice man.” Chris demanded in a stubborn voice, snarling at Nari’s way. She just ignored Ferrer’s scowl as she gave me a smile of support from the distance. “It’s several blocks away and really dark out there. Why can’t you just try and be a forgiving woman for once and accept the kind offer of this charming gentleman?”

“But he’s a creep,” Ferrer retorted again.

“Shut up,” Chris turned and snottily shoved him back, “Give the guy a break, will you?”

“Let me drive you home, Nari,” I muttered in the midst of the noises and blankly stared towards Nari.

Nari just glared at me the whole time. But she looked like she was already contemplating. I gave her a pleading smile, one last attempt to make her say yes as I silently begged. My eyes remained lingering on hers. And I didn’t back away, letting her judge me with that stern look.

Then after a very long moment of just staring, she finally sighed.

“Fine,” she said, grumbling the word. “Just this one time.”

And I beamed.

“Only this one time.”

It might still felt like she was just heavily being pressured by the moment, but I was not really going to complain if she was agreeing anyway. I grinned with utter happiness and looked over at Chris who smiled back.

“Now that things have been settled,” Chris said, grinning smugly. “You two can go now and we will do the rest for you.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled back to Chris.

“I’m Chris, by the way,” she finally introduced, which I felt was already too late now.

“I’m Taiyo.”

“You’re foreign?” She gaped back.

“Half-Japanese.”

“Interesting. Well, since it’s really getting late. Just take care of our Nari, Taiyo.” She told me, smiling. “Make sure she gets home safe.”

“I will, Chris.” I courteously responded.

“Bye, Nari.”

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” The hinted threat was very apparent from Nari’s voice as she regarded Chris with a menacing glare.

“I can’t wait, sweetie,” Chris just snorted, smirking back. “Good night.”

“See you, Miss Chris,” I said afterward, for the last time. Chris eventually gave me a thumbs-up while Ferrer just grunted, still glowering my way as I moved to leave. Nari stood beside me, waiting as I started to round back to the path leading us to the motel and she soon followed me behind in silence.

Slowly, the quietness began to surround the air above us with a weight of awkwardness and I quickly tried to come up with something to say just to break off the ice between us. But when I turned to look at Nari over my shoulder, I unexpectedly caught her staring at me from the back. It was too startling that I felt my heart pounding at the mere sight. She quickly turned her face away, avoiding my eyes and it left me meekly befuddled. She was cute, though. And I grinned to myself all the way down the rocky route until we had finally reached the motel’s driveway where my car has been parked.

It was—it seemed—going to be a very pleasant late-night drive. And my chest instantly warmed up to the thought.

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