Perennial Archives

Chapter 7

I didn't want to mislay Arthur, not when I was moderately hoping something would actually embark with a person whom I actually care about, however meeting Nana was conjointly important plus she impersonated it herself; it would be somewhat inappropriate not to see her at this time.

I had not completely unrecalled my mother, but I still cherished those memories that she entrusted us with. I was anticipating that meeting with my mother's side of the family would help me get some closure over what happened to her. I had never spoken to dad about mom, but I had always wanted to know her, be like her.

It was a sparkly time and I was packing my stuff when suddenly the doorbell rang. I thought who might it be because dad had told me to meet him at the airport. Was he home? Was he going to pick me up from here? But isn't it like 1pm right now? Was he early? Lost in these conceptions I came down and opened the door.

Arthur!! Eh.

"Hey", I said.

"I know I shouldn't have come but may I talk to you for a while?", he said charmingly. I couldn't resent that. I stepped aside to let him in.

We sat down on the couch facing each other.

"Anything important?", I asked him.

He nodded, "Yeah, otherwise it would've waited."

I nodded and he continued, "When...uh...will you be back?"

"Actually, my Nana is not well. So I don't know about that now", I replied.

"I didn't know that. I'm sorry to hear", he condolenced.

"Thanks. I'm going back after 10 years", I said.

"Okay, Clara I know I might sound stupid but I want to be with you, now and forever," he said looking at me. I was shocked at his words but wasn't able to say anything. I just stared at him and blinked in response.

He continued, "I think I have fallen in love with you. And it's beautiful, just as you."

I was psyched-out after hearing this. I knew he was special to me, I cared about him. I have had second-thoughts, about this connection that I feel with him before, but yes, I had started to feel that way about him too. I kept looking into his eyes.

He held me by my cheek and drew me closer to him. I closed my eyes. We kissed, more passionately than yesterday. There was more heat, more feelings, more serenity.

"I also feel the same about you", I said pulling myself back from his grasp.

"I hope we will talk about it more profoundly when you return", he said and got up.

"We will", I said and bid him good-bye.

I reached the airport at 5, dad had already checked-in the luggage and was relaxing at the lounge. My father and mother lived in Rupea village in Braşov town of Romania since before I was born. It was my first home and it had been untouched ever since my mother passed away. It was a beautiful countryside. Though I was quite young when we moved to the U.S., I never really exited my roots. I learnt Romanian growing up and about my culture too.

People say quite a lot about Romanian history. But when I lived there, all I had were happy memories. People say to me, 'Oh you're from Romania. Have you seen the Dracula's castle? What's it like? Or, is it real?'

Romania has a much rich culture than just being known as home to Dracula, who is completely fictitious. I always used to get tired of all the mocking about Romania.

My town falls in the Transylvania region, Transylvania being the central part of my country; it's known for medieval towns, mountainous borders and then castles like Bran Castle, a Gothic fortress associated with the legend of Dracula. The city of Brașov features Saxon walls and bastions, as well as expansive Council Square, ringed by colorful baroque buildings, the towering Gothic Black Church and cafes.

Also my country is famous for beaded jewelry, wine, carpets and rugs, ceramic mugs and hand-painted Easter eggs. I so miss Nana painting them sitting in the spring sun, while I was a toddler and ran around her. That's the only memory I have of Nana probably because my father had this photograph depicting the above.

My hometown Braşov is set on the foot of the Mount Tampa.

As excited I was to be back here, grown-up enough to recollect the memories; I also wanted to talk to Arthur about 'us'. The way we left things, I didn't like it.

It was almost a 12-hour flight from the States to the capital of Romania - Bucharest. When we exited the terminal at the airport when dad came up beside me, smiled at me and then said, "Welcome home darling." And I did feel like I was home.

We had booked an online train ticket from Bucharest to Braşov so it took about half and a two hours to get there.

When we got off the train station, I saw my uncle Aurelian Nicolau. Nicolau was my mother's maiden name.

We went up to him, where his car was parked. He exclaimed in excitement, "Oh, nepoata mea Clara." He meant to address me- my niece Clara. I have him a hug and he started crying.

Though our family and friends in Romania knew English, they spoke little of it. But now that I had to stay there they would have to brush up their English speaking skills from scratch.

"You look just like Adelina", he further spoke wiping away his tears and leading us to his car, "I'm so glad Clara came. Mother had been wanting to see her for a while now."

We got seated and drove off. My father and uncle talked in the front seats.

I sat behind and enjoyed the morning sun. I rolled down the window and took out my camera to capture my arrival. After clicking some pictures I put aside the camera and opened Arthur's contact on my phone. I had no network.

"Nene (uncle in Romanian), do you have WiFi, I don't happen to have a network on my phone", I asked him in the car.

"Can you be patient Clara. We are about to reach", dad scolded me. And I sulked. I couldn't tell dad that I was being impatient because I had an urge to tell Arthur that I've arrived safely here.

Also, I didn't mean to sound selfish like before while actually I was here to see my Nana.

We finally reached home.