What Do I Call You?

Chapter Seven

“Because it’s suspicious,” Henry said with a much firmer voice, startling me all of a sudden, “And I don’t like sharing other people’s business with someone I don’t really know that much yet.”

“So if I was a friend, for any circumstance, it could actually suffice?” I probed back innocently.

“Well, yeah,” The kid, on the other hand, obliviously answered with a nod. “I supposed, a friend could.”

“Then I’ll be your friend.” I quickly replied in assumptive delight.

“That does not feel any less suspicious at all,” Henry just scowled with a deadpanned sneer.

“Look,” I tried to reason out, mustering enough patience to dwell with this kid’s immeasurable demands, “I’m desperate and really tired here. You’ve got to help me, Henry. You’re the only one I know in this town, aside from Nari since she had just denied me.”

“Denied you? Denied for what?”

I exhaled with utter disdain and resentment. Do I have to do this? Well, I don’t have any other choice anyway.

“The thing is…”

And that’s how I ended up retelling the whole story about my incessant search for the girl from ten years ago to this poor skinny kid behind the receptionist’s desk. Now, he had to endure the long sob story. And to be honest, I don’t really want to stretch things out to this point, but I was really desperate. Besides, he was the one who asked for it first. I have to get his sympathy. I have to know more about her.

And as I finished just at the part where I have finally met Nari again and saw her face for real… I waited for the kid to give his feedback.

“It’s been a decade,” He simply said with undisguised amusement right after I finished the whole ordeal, “As what you’ve just said then, Mr. Takagi, you were blind. You didn’t really see her face. It could be anyone else from the past.”

I admit, the way he laid it like that, made sense. But still…

“No,” I strongly disagreed, blindly holding more onto my strong hunch as I glowered, “It’s her voice. I can never mistake it.”

Henry just snorted back with a teasing smirk on his face. Then he raised a brow and shook his head in disbelief.

“I feel really bad for you, Mr. Takagi,” He remarked with fake sympathy, and his words sounded more laced with enthusiasm in contrast. He even subtly snickered at my expense as he continued on, “But I do admire your confidence for being really bold in front of the locals and Ms. Hiden. It must have been very embarrassing…”

I scowled back and Henry just paused to sigh.

“But you have to be careful now.”

I felt numb upon hearing that remark and found myself staring at Henry’s stoic expression who still did not even bat an eye even after saying such an insinuating statement.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Henry just regarded me with a vacant expression under those rimmed glasses. The kid, who was just a while ago looked too weak and innocent behind the counter, had instantly changed his entire demeanor with an eerie ambiance as he stared straight into my eyes with a condescending look.

“This is not an ordinary town, Mr. Takagi,” He said in a monotonous voice. I felt chills as the words somehow trickled with a sound of menacing dread and it spooked me with inherent curiosity.

“The people here don’t just welcome any outsiders as normal people do. In fact, the locals even hate having visitors. So now that you have bluntly shown them your presence tonight… You have to leave immediately.”

I gulped nervously, muttering a shaky, “W-why?”

“There’s a reason why this town is hidden in the suburbs, Mr. Takagi,” he explained, “And for a person who just wandered his way into this town for the mere sake of chasing off some girl, the village might not really like that you’re here. And they will surely try all possible things to drive you away. So I’m strongly suggesting you now before it gets too late… It would certainly be better if you just leave right away.”

I gaped at him, frowning in disbelief, and started laughing at his words, trying to shift the mood back to plain humor. Why is he trying to make it sound scary all of a sudden?

“That’s insane,” I said, shrugging his nonsensical logic away, “You make it seemed like I’m totally forbidden to even be in this place.”

“Thus, my point.” Henry bluntly admitted with a shrug, “And to be honest, I was really shocked and bothered when I saw you walked past the doors of the motel. But you paid big cash for a room tonight so, I don’t think I should hate you now.”

I bitterly laughed at his off-handed statement and shook my head, sighing.

“Sounds like you’re not one to hate someone just because of some rule.”

“I’m not really the conformist type,” the kid only smirked. And I laughed again at his casual frankness. To think that he’s still young and not even old enough to know the ways of the real world, I might have underestimated this kid.

“This place is really weird.”

“Every place is weird, Mr. Takagi,” Henry pointedly remarked, making me raise a brow at him this time. “And only because there are people in it.”

“So then why?” I insistently probed back, “Why do you hate outsiders? Is it some kind of a rule in this town? Your mayor doesn’t like association, is that why?”

“I can’t really say anything more than what I just already did now. Just take my advice, Mr. Takagi,” He subtly looked away and went meek.

“So it’s confidential?” I smirked, feeling like I hit a nerve there. Then Henry looked at me again, shooting me with a placate stare as he grunted.

“Not really,” He sternly revoked, his eyes turning into daggers as he looked at me, “And it would be best if you just leave as soon as you can and never try to know any more about it, Mr. Takagi.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was taking off my heavy coat when my phone rang from the bedside table. I lazily picked it up after the fourth ring, not even bothering to look at the caller ID anymore. I was already expecting this.

“This is your rebellion, isn’t it?”

My butt bounced on the bed mattress as I sat down, wearily sighing over the receiver.

“Some post-adolescent phase?” My brother’s voice resonated in a clear diction from the other end as he furiously babbled on, “I don’t even know if that’s a thing. But you’ve got to explain what this BS is all about now, Taiyo.”

It’s been a hell of a day, I could say. I just don’t know what to think of this anymore. The soft ticking sounds of the clock on the wall opposite me kept me distracted for a moment as I stared mindlessly across the room. I let my back fall down on the bed in a soft thud and closed my eyes. My phone was still held against my ear.

“Dad’s going nuts, Taiyo…” My brother went on. “Mom is getting hysterical since you’re not even picking up any calls from her. They were almost convinced that you had been in some random car accident and just died unknowingly. I don’t even want to go further with all the nuisance of searching and police involvement. And it’s only been two days. So, please relieve me of this stress, Taiyo… Explain with much more sense.”

Searching? Police involvement? I cringed at the thought.

“I’m at the Preston borders.” I simply answered back, feeling the weight of exhaustion finally settling over my entire body. I started to feel heavier, eventually forgetting what I was about to say. I must have been drained too much with all the driving and lack of sleep from the previous nights of traveling all the way from Paris to here.

“Preston?!” Kevin exclaimed back, scoffing. And the sleepiness somehow subsided. His screeching voice made me winced. “At the old mansion? Does the caretaker even know that you’ll be there? Where the hell are you staying at?”

The white ceiling met my tired eyes as I decided to focus my attention on the small swirls of gray lines drawn on it just to keep myself awake. My brother silently waited from the other end while I kept my silence, feeling a little disoriented and distracted. I was actually still a little bit hung up from the last conversation I had with Henry downstairs.

“I booked a room at a motel near the mansion,” I finally spoke over the lulling calmness around me, “I’m at a town they call Avian Hills.”

“Motel?” My brother anxiously inquired, his voice sounding much softer now. “Avian Hills?”

He must not be fully aware yet of the existence of this place. Well, it’s not like it could easily be seen along the road. I only came across this one because I had chosen to take the alternate route because of the rain. And now that I thought about it, if I didn’t take that route, I wouldn’t be able to meet Nari tonight. Maybe, this is really fate.

“Taiyo?”

“Don’t worry,” I mumbled back in a haste, snapping out of my thoughts upon the sudden sound of my brother’s voice hovering over my ears, “The receptionist here is nice. I didn’t really expect to find a town near the mansion, but the heavy rains had caused the main road to close down for the night so I’ve decided to spend the night here for a while. Luckily, it’s just a couple of miles away from the property. It’s actually kind of a nice place and it’s very suburban. They even have a pub here.”

“A town at Preston?” My brother repeated in disbelief, “I didn’t know that. I thought the whole expanse was totally deserted until now. I was always scared to go there before because I knew that it was remotely uninhabited.”

“Yeah, I thought the same thing. But there are actually people living here. It was weird and everything… But they don’t look odd to me. I might even stay here for a while.”

A loud crash from the other end jolted me in alarming surprise and I cringed when the screeching feedback sounded after.

“What’s tha—“

“Stay where?!” My brother shouted so loud, his voice booming out of my phone and I reflexively pulled away from it and flinched. “What the hell are you saying, Sun?!”

He said my nickname… And now it’s getting really serious.

“I know, I know. It’s totally out of the blue, but it’s ju—“

“What the hell is this all about?!” My brother lashed back, not even giving me the chance to explain. I could physically feel the fury from his voice even when he’s just talking through the phone, “What about our family business?! You’ve never really taken it seriously! You’d made a deal with dad, Sun! We’ve given you plenty of time to work with your personal issues! We have been patient because we didn’t want you to feel pressured! I even felt guiltily indebted because you took the offer since I had my music career before me. I reluctantly gave the position to you because you said you could do it! But now, you’re suddenly saying you’re going to stay at some old town for god knows how long again?! Sun, this is getting out of hand now… And it sounds like you’re just trying to give one of your absurd excuses to run away from the business again! I mean, what the hell?! When are you going to take full responsibility like a man?! This is totally ridi—“

Bereaved and pressured with all the rambling, I abruptly put the phone down and ended the call. I have heard enough of his words. It’s not like I really don’t know the consequences of what I am doing now. I knew what was coming to me when I had accepted dad’s position two years ago. I was fully aware of it all. But at the moment I had sat on the chair in front of his big mahogany desk, with all the folders and papers and documents piled before me, I jilted. It was like being slapped hard by some kind of reality that I didn’t want. And feeling more trapped than ever, the entire world just shifted before my very eyes. I was eventually consumed by that overwhelming feeling of loss. Everything around me just suddenly turned into a sickening motion of mocking conformity. It felt even more suffocating than when I had been deprived of my sight for years in the past.

I didn’t feel any sense of purpose.

And maybe it was even way before that very day I stepped into my father’s office, that I was bummed out of the life I was about to take. I had never really felt completely happy. I would always have that empty part in my soul that I could never figure out what and could never know how to make it disappear. I even tried to look up for reasons why I’m like this and it all just went back to that one windy day… Ten years ago…

My phone rang beside me but I just ignored it, letting it clamor on its own until it eventually stopped. I’m just really tired tonight. A lot had happened, along with a series of stupidity and selfish impulses that I could only bitterly laughed about as I recalled everything in my mind. I closed my eyes again and tried to force myself to sleep.

After a moment, my phone vibrated again and the loud ringing distracted me from my almost slumber. I angrily moved off of the bed, picked the annoying thing from the mattress, and quickly turned it off. I put it on the bedside table in a deliberate smack, placing it far from me. I sighed in relief when it finally calmed down and laid back on the mattress again to enjoy the solemn silence.

Waiting for the wave of sleepiness to come back to me, I quietly think over my previous actions and soon realized that maybe Kevin was right… I’m really running away from everything. I could not even take responsibility even when I have already made a promise. I know I’m completely acting immature and reckless, dodging the calls and hiding in this village… But I don’t think I still have any courage to stop this all. Just when I have finally met her for real…

I don’t think I could ever stop this anymore even if I really wanted to.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------