What Do I Call You?

Chapter Thirteen

NARI'S POINT-OF-VIEW

Nari Hiden quietly closed the front door behind her in a soft click.

What a nuisance, she irritatingly thought to herself.

Yet, she could still hear her heart beating erratically inside her chest and it made her extremely annoyed for even feeling like that. She leaned her back on the door and sighed heavily, closing her eyes. He had been too aggressive and persistent with his demands that it had been annoyingly hard for her to even ignore him the whole time.

Why did he show up?

What was that conversation all of a sudden?

It was weird and it made Nari feel like she was slowly softening. Did he just blatantly ask her out on a date?

Why?

Why was he doing all of this?

Nari slowly opened her eyes, swallowing down a squeal of frustration. That guy had found her again. She never really expect it to happen, and she felt deeply troubled over the thought. In fact, she actually did remember him. And it shocked her to even see him again, all grown and even more manly now. The memory of that day ten years ago when she had sung that song was still clear and vivid in the back of her mind. He was just that innocent blind boy who had appeared in that secret place she had thought no one would ever find and now he even got his sight back.

He was still handsome. No wonder he had been the first-ever guy that got her blushing so bad when she was young. Nari felt even more conflicted by the reminder and tried to forget it all.

She can’t feel this way… He is a Takagi. And that fact was more than enough for her to push all the unwanted thoughts about him away. She must do something to make him leave this town. Yet despite that strong caution flashing insider her head, the memory of that soft piercing brown eyes and that smooth sound of his low baritone voice instantly weakened all of Nari’s defenses as the walls she had carefully built around her had easily gotten torn down in one sweep of his smile.

Just like that, Nari weakly pondered to herself. Why did I let him drive me home?

Her mental troubles immediately brought her into a state of bundled distress as she remained frowning alone under the darkness of their living room for a long moment. When she had finally came back to her senses, she quietly walked across the dim-lit space of the house and blindly maneuvered her way towards a narrow hall, leading her down to her bedroom. She slowly opened the door to her chamber and quickly turned on the lights before she dropped her body bag on the floor in a loud thud.

The stillness of the almost morning night gave her a mood for a solemn reflection. This has always been her daily routine, the nights would be her days while the days would be her nights. It was an ironic way of living but it was her choice to do it—because she had to.

She slowly dragged her tired feet towards her bed and threw her body down on the mattress with a bounce. How did he find her? She continued to wonder. He should have never returned. It would only take a matter of days before the entire town finally discovers his real identity.

‘Stay away from the Takagi’s’.

The long-given warning echoed inside her head again and it had been an adamant threat given by that dangerous man from her past. The possible harm it had heavily implied by those words only made Nari struggled more with the possible consequences it could bring to her life and her family if Taiyo won’t be stopped at all. What would she do now? How will she make him leave?

As she got drowned in the deep sea of her perturbed thoughts, Nari didn’t even notice the fragile figure appearing in her doorway.

“Nari?”

Nari quickly roused from her bed upon the sound of that voice calling softly towards her and she looked across her room. Her stepmother, Maria, was staring at her from the door that she had left open and stood there with a puzzled look on her face.

“Mom.”

“Are you hungry?”

Nari shook her head in response to her, pasting a weak smile.

“Why are you still awake?” Nari asked her stepmom, “I told you not to wait for me.”

Maria had been relentless since the day she got discharged from the medical center. Even when the doctor had reassured them that Maria was already fine, Nari still could not help but worry about her not resting enough.

“I was worried.”

Her mom’s usual response hit Nari with an instant wave of guilt. But she can’t really stop her no matter how many times she tried to tell Maria not to do it.

“I saw a guy outside. He’s not a local, isn’t he?”

The sudden reminder of Taiyo immediately made Nari winced in discomfort as she looked away. That total fool. She felt her stomach going weird as she subconsciously imagined his pretty face in her mind. She needed to get a grip. And he really needed to leave her alone. He’s a crazy stalker and totally stupid for even showing up here. And what was that staying here all about? Why can’t he just stop his craziness and forget about her? She will never go on a date with him.

‘Let’s go on a date.’

That line… Nari could not even believe that she almost got swayed but that and she tried to shake off that image of his smiling face when he had said those words to her.

“He’s no one,” she told her mom bitterly, “He’s just a random weird guy who got lost and found himself wandering into this town.”

“I don’t think so,” Cleverness dripped from her mom’s words as she walked towards Nari and sat beside her on the bed. Then she grinned in slight amusement. “He doesn’t look like the other guys to me. He got a nice warm feeling around him.”

“You just saw him from the window, mom.” Nari strongly rebuked, scowling, “And he’s a stalker. He even told me he loved me the very first time he saw me. I mean, how crazy was that?”

But Nari could feel her heart hammering loudly again when she remembered the moment he had kept telling her that straightforward confession for more than once.

“Sounds romantic to me.”

“Not to me.” Nari scoffed, trying to mask her blush with a deeper scowl.

“He even brought you home safe,” Maria bluntly pointed out with a slight crinkle in her eyes, a teasing smirk drawing slowly across her face. “Not all guys do that. And I like that about him.”

“Well, I don’t,” Nari looked away. Her constant animosity against the poor guy only made her feel exhausted. After a moment, she sighed in utter resignation with a sad glimmer in her eyes and added, “Men are all the same.”

Feeling tired after that, Nari dejectedly laid back to her bed again, ending the conversation to an abrupt silence. She closed her eyes and tried to brush away the troubles that still kept her feeling nervous and antsy. Then after a while, she felt her stepmom moving off from the mattress and she sensed her leaning down beside her to plant a soft kiss on her forehead. As Nari silently tried to perceive her mom’s movements across the room, the lights soon went out and she heard the door slowly closing in. Turning her body over, Nari opened her eyes and looked up to the ceiling. Her sight slowly adjusted to the darkness as it gradually got illuminated by the moon gleaming past her windows.

She just wanted to forget everything now. She just wanted to escape.

Men are all the same.

She started chanting those words inside her head, just to remind herself of the pain she had endured for the past decade because of those selfish beings trying to take control of her life. Furiously, Nari directed all of her burning anger towards Taiyo. It was because of him that she had to feel deeply bothered by her feelings.

He had to leave no matter what, she decidedly concluded.

No matter how many times he’d tell her he loves her, she won’t believe them anymore. After all, men have always been just after her for one thing. And that thing they had kept asking from her had already lost all of its value to her heart anyway. She could no longer feel anything in her soul but only that dark, poisonous hatred.

‘I love you.’

How easily to lie like that, and with those piercing brown eyes. Men would just hurt her and leave her once they had finally taken everything away from her. All the same and the only difference was with their own fickle use of words. She really hated them. Driven by that strong antagonistic resolution, Nari quickly closed her eyes back to sleep. She would never believe in those foolish things people called their own versions of love and happiness again. She had already learned the lesson in the ugliest way.

And she could never fall in love... Not anymore.

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