A Tale Beyond Destiny

Chapter 11: Happiness and Contentment (Caleb)

After that not so awkward scene between Caliana and I, we decided that we should just go and walk on our way home. Of course, we made sure that we looked presentable enough and not like little kids who had tears on their cheeks or whatever. Also, we already had a safe distance between the two of us because we both realized how weird it was that we had done something like that because of the surge of emotion that we had, though I could tell that it was just alright for her.

She was even humming as she was walking by my side, and was looking around the place from time to time. I could see how her face would light up whenever something caught her attention, and the way she would shift her attention to that something, which made me also stop so that I would be able to wait for her.

I did mind it though. As long as she was happy and contented, I was willing to wait and stare at her while she was doing whatever she wanted to do. I did not even care if that was one of her weird antics or not. All I wanted to do was to gaze at her and see how happy she was, even though she was just doing the simplest thing.

It was fine. Everything was fine as long as I could see that joy in her face, and that contentment in her eyes. Everything would be alright as long as I could see how much she enjoyed herself, and how free she could be.

I did not want to open up her past, and I never intend to; though I guess that if she was willing to open up, then I would be willing to listen to her too. I did not want her to be so uncomfortable, but whatever had happened in her past, it was the reason why she had not done any single thing, even the simplest thing, that this world could offer. It was as though she was imprisoned in the past, as if her every move was monitored, as if she could not do anything without a fear that someone would scold her for doing so.

That was why I made a vow to myself that I would never be someone who would stop her from doing whatever she wanted to do. Rather than doing that, I wanted to be someone that would support her, and make her believe in herself. Someone that would make her feel as free as she wanted to be. Someone would be there with her, but she would never be cautious, she would never be afraid of doing anything that she wanted to do.

I wanted to be like that, but I also knew that it would be hard. I might face something that made me want to give up on her, but either way, I would still come back and support her on whatever she wanted to do. I would not bind her with something she did not want to. It was just alright for me to support her from afar, if that is what she wanted to do.

“I am sorry,” Caliana said, that made me snap out of my thoughts and frowned at her as if I wanted to ask her what she was apologizing for, but then, she just smiled at me once again as she started to walk by my side. “It seems like I was delaying our walk on the way home by stopping on some stuffs. I thought that you really hated it, but I guess that I was wrong.” She then looked at me and gave me a smile that almost made me show her my grin too. “Because it seems like you are enjoying yourself too.”

I laughed, almost a little louder than I should have, before I slightly shook my head as I tried to match her pace. “Yeah, you are wrong. I did not hate it.” I looked at somewhere, other than her, before I continued what I was saying. “In fact, I enjoyed watching you with that contented look on your face. I enjoyed looking at you while you were trying to do some things.”

I heard Caliana let out a short laugh before she turned to look at me, but I did not meet her gaze as I tried to focus all of my attention on the path in front of us. I tried to act as if I did not feel her gaze, though I must say that was not really the case. I knew that she was looking with that same expression on her face whenever she would turn to fix her gaze on me, and I did not want to spoil the moment just because my heart would beat so fast if I looked at her too.

“I might say that it sounds so creepy,” she said, which made me raise one of my eyebrows as I gave her a glance for a second, before I turned my attention on the path we were walking once again. “But it is you, and I never really think that it is uncomfortable. I guess that I even liked it when you are looking at me.” I could imagine that she shrugged as soon as those statements left her lips, and I almost could not keep my emotions at bay.

I felt like partying, jumping on the spot even, because of the sudden joy that I felt, but I tried to stay as calm as I could because I knew that Caliana would be weirded out by me. After all, I did not even know why I was acting like this way. To be a prank, this was the first time that I have ever acted like this way towards someone.

Though I guess that was the effect that Caliana had on me, but then again, it was just alright for me. As long as it was her, and not anyone else. As long as she was the only person that made me feel this way, and not somebody else.

I did not talk after that. I just resorted to keeping my silence as we walked down the street. And it was not until we reached the street where the vendors had resided that it made me think of an idea that Caliana might like to do.

I stopped in my tracks as I looked at that street, and I was right when I thought that almost all of the stores were open and accommodating almost every customer that got interested in the things they were selling. It was lively, too lively for my own taste that is, but I guess that trying something new from time to time would not hurt me, right? After all, I really think that Caliana would like to buy some things on that street.

“Caleb?” I heard her call my name, which made me look at her and I saw that she was walking right back to the spot where I stopped at. It seemed as if Caliana was already walking ahead of me, and she just now realized that I was not by her side. “Is there something wrong?” she asked me with a frown on her face.

Before she could even think of something so odd, and before she could even be worried about me, I smiled at her as I waved that topic off. I even answered that I was fine before I looked on that street again, and that was the moment that she turned to gaze in that direction too, as I heard her gasp and became in awe because of what she saw.

“This street looks livelier than the other ones that we passed by earlier,” Caliana pointed out, which made me look at her as I saw how her face lit up with joy because of the things that she could see on where we were standing at. “This place looks nice,” she even said as a huge grin started to form on her face that made me smile too as I turned on that street again.

“It is really nice,” I told her as I put my hands in my pockets. “This place even holds a festival whenever there is a holiday, and many people, locals and tourists alike, are going on this street to check out the things that they might like,” I explained, which even added on Caliana’s excitement.

I looked at her once again and that was when I saw a childlike grin on her face as her eyes lit up, once again with joy, while she was still looking at that side of the street. It was as if she was thrilled and wanted to check things out, and my idea earlier came back to my mind.

“What about we go and take a look at that place?” I suggested, which made her snap her head towards me, so fast as if she could not contain her excitement any longer. I saw how her face lit up even more when I said that to her. “If that is what you wanted to do right now,” I added as I gave her a smile.

I thought that she would agree that easily, but then, I saw how her smile and excitement dropped when she looked at me from head to toe, then she fixed her gaze on my face once she had checked something on me, which I did not know what it was.

“But what about you?” she asked me in a low voice, as if she was sad over something that I did not have any idea about what it was. I frowned at her and was about to open my mouth and ask her, but she continued to talk and I decided that I should just listen to her. “I mean, you are still wearing your sleeping attire and we cannot possibly look around the place with that kind of look, you know?”

Ah. So that was why she was hesitant about this idea. She did not want me to feel uncomfortable, though I never felt that way the entire time that I was with her. To be a prank, I just noticed it now that she pointed it out. I had almost forgotten that I was still in my pajamas as I did not bother to change because I was too busy looking for her.

My smile returned to my face as I tried to joke, “You do not look so good either, you know?” and I received a glare because of that s*lly joke. She even looked down on herself as if she was checking her clothes, before she looked at me for a brief second, then she suddenly looked away from me.

“At least I look presentable enough,” she whispered, though I guess that she wanted me to hear it because I knew that she was not trying to hide that she became so upset with what I said. “Unlike him who looks like he just went out of his house without even giving any single care about what has been happening around him.”

I let out a laugh when I heard her say that, and I shook my head once again. She then glared at me, but I just shrugged it off as I went near her. I put my hand on her shoulder, and thankfully, she did not cringe away nor do anything that indicated that she did not want me to touch her.

“That is not my point, Caliana,” I told her in a voice that was loud enough for her to hear what I would say, clearly. “What I wanted to point out is that we can check things out, then we can go home right away.” She looked at me, and I gave her a smile, an encouraging one that is. “I don’t care about what they would say about my outfit, or something like that. All I care about is that we can both enjoy this time.”

She stared at me for a whole minute, and I stopped myself from moving away from her, not because I was uncomfortable with her gaze, but because I was too contented with how she was looking at me that it had gone to the point that it scared me, for real. Though instead of doing that, I just squeezed her shoulder, not enough to hurt her but enough to encourage her to agree with what I wanted to do.

I saw she was trying to weigh down the pros and cons of this plan, then, to my relief and joy, I saw her slightly nod her head as she looked at that street again. Her excitement was once again evident on her face as she did not look at my side anymore, and all her focus was on the stalls all around the place.

“Alright,” she even said to me as she started to walk on that street, though I could clearly hear what she said next that made me grin as I shook my head. “Just do not ever complain to me when people will start whispering about your choice of outfit.” I could not contain the laugh that I had when I heard that from her, but I just let it go as I followed her all around the place.

We walked and walked, and sometimes, we would stop at one of the stalls to check out the things that they were selling, but then again, we were not buying anything because we were just contented with checking things out. Though I guess that Caliana wanted to buy something but she was just stopping herself from doing so.

I saw how her face would change whenever she really wanted to have something, but whenever I asked her if she wanted me to buy that for her, she would look at me for a brief second before she looked away from me once again and shake her head to answer my question. She would say that she was just alright and she was just checking things out, though I doubt that was really the case.

It was not until we reached a stall which was selling many stuffed toys, that I saw that Caliana really paid an interest in something. I saw how she looked at that not-so large smiling penguin and I instantly knew that she wanted to buy it. I could even see how her eyes would sparkle whenever she would squeeze that said stuffed animal.

“Do you want to buy that?” I asked her once again, but this time she answered me with a nod, unlike earlier when she was turning down the thought of buying everything that caught her attention. She even hesitated at first, but then, only a look on her face and I instantly knew that she really wanted to buy that stuffed animal. “Then I guess that we should buy that penguin,” I said as I tried to find my wallet in my pocket.

Her eyes widened, not in shock, but because of excitement as she asked me, “Are you sure about that?” as if she could not believe that I would buy it for her, which I found so absurd, because I really wanted to buy almost everything she wanted for her own enjoyment.

I just nodded my head at her as I focused on finding my wallet, but then, my heart sunk when I realized that I did not have a chance to get my wallet earlier. It seemed as if I was too worried about her, and I did not even think of bringing my wallet with me.

“You did not bring your wallet, am I right?” she asked me when she saw the conflicted look on my face, and even though I was ashamed of my own mistakes, I just nodded my head at her to answer her question. She laughed at me, then she brought out so much cash that it made my eyes widen. “Then I guess that I should buy this for me.” She then smiled as she held that stuffed penguin.

“Where did you get that money?” I asked her, because I was sure that I had never given her anything that day. She then looked at me and grinned as she explained that she had met a man earlier who tried to comfort her and talked to her, and then he suddenly gave her cash even though she did not ask for one. I frowned when I found that it was very odd that she met someone like that, and so I said, “I will not scold you for talking to someone you do not know, but I just wanted to say to you that you should be careful if anything like this ever happens again.”

She frowned at me when she heard that. “He was nice to me though,” she said, which made me glare at her, but she just shrugged it off. “Though I must say that I agree with you that I should be careful next time,” she added that made me soften my gaze at her as I smiled and nodded my head.

Then, that settled our talk and she finally bought the stuffed penguin using that money that the stranger gave to her, and suddenly, out of nowhere, she held my hand using her free hand, while she was hugging the stuffed animal on the other one, and my heart could not stop its fast beating.

“I guess that we should go home now, Caleb,” she even said, which made me feel so fluffy inside.