Demon's Protégé

Expect

 “Nari’s also a half-Japanese like you, you know?”

This little information about Nari’s origin had my attention instantly seeking for more, opting for a much elaborated explanation than I could possibly get as I shot Maria a curious stare with widened eyes. Although to be honest, I was already kind of assuming this one—given that her name was Japanese—but I was not yet completely sure of it until Maria had confirmed it with her own words.

“So her father is…”

“Yeah, he is.” Maria answered me right back with a firm nod, not even minding me to end my sentence. I watched her looked away when she spoke those words and I just went quiet as I observed a small curve of a smile slowly forming on her lips. “Her father was a very nice man. He’s not perfect but he was the best father he could ever be for her. In fact, you actually kind of reminded me of him.”

I got flustered with that sudden addition as she softly chuckled at what she just said. I was honestly flattered to even hear that from her. Though it did not actually register to me right away but I know what she meant by it. I heard her clearly. I was still not really sure of how to respond back to that vague remark and I only watched her with a smile on my face as she continued to stare at something unable to be seen.

“He was one of a kind. Strong and dependable type of person you would rarely get to meet in your life, you know,” Maria kept on with what I could presume sadness reflected in her eyes and bitterness laced subtly in her soft voice, “He was a man that’s too good for this world to have. Too bad he wasn’t given that much time to be here.”

Her ambiguous statement uttered in that depleting tone of hers did not even need to elaborate much of what she truly meant by saying those words. I might have already guessed about it just by watching the look of her face alone. There was a tragic tale behind the gloominess of her kind eyes. A bitter taste of misery hit me instantly and it numbed me with sadness as I felt even more bothered and affected. Mulling over the thought she had shared, I kept my reservation to myself.

After a moment of comfortable silence, I spoke again.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Maria turned and met my eyes as she smiled at my sincere apology. For a woman with such a fragile and bony appearance, she still looked very calm and collected after saying those words. In fact, I was slightly amazed of how sincere and composed she still acted even after sharing a very sensitive and personal topic with me. I kept my words to myself, deciding eventually to brush off the heavy mood as I chose to drive us away from the subject. I then asked about Nari’s younger years, to which somehow shifted the mood as we continued to bask in a brief exchange of words about less significant things that briefly led us towards a much more comfortable conversation. After a while, we found ourselves resettling into easy smiles as she shared many other silly stuffs about Nari’s childhood. It was halfway around three in the afternoon when the tea time finally met its end.

“This is for Nari.”

I handed the bouquet of tulips to Maria as I stepped out of their house and gave her a soft smile. Our long time of talking actually blew me a calm breeze of fresh air and it gave a refreshing peacefulness to my entire mind. For some reason, it really cured me from my recent troubles that I had been suffering for the past few days. When I had gone out of the door, the sky was already a beautiful painting of blazing orange and fading blue with thin clouds scattered around it. The sun still glared so hotly in the air that I could almost feel the sweat dripping down my skin inside my black suit, but it never really mattered. Though if I had only known that wearing such a formal attire was never really that needed in this simple yet wonderful short meeting, I would have just worn a typical casual shirt and a pair of denim jeans and stayed much longer.

“Thank you,” Maria blushed as she took the flowers from my hands, grinning back, “They’re beautiful.”

“I hope she’ll like them.”

“She will,” she told me, her eyes meeting mine and we shared a smile to each other again as I took another step back to leave.

“I really appreciated the tea, Ms. Maria.”

“You can visit anytime, you know.”

“Thank you. See you,” I uttered for one last time before I turned and went down on the stairs of their front porch.

“Be careful on your way back,” she said to me, waving. “It’s been nice meeting you, Taiyo.”

I gave her a genuine smile, completely grateful with her kind words before I finally started and walked towards where my car had been parked by the front of their driveway. The road of the neighborhood was still empty—like how it had looked like this noon when I came here. And as I drove slowly back to the motel, whistling a classic children’s song, I can’t help but feel a little lighter for some reason. I don’t know what particular song I was even playing to myself, it just got stuck in my head like some kind of syndrome and I kept humming it until I have finally reached the empty parking lot of the motel.

When I walked in, I instantly caught Henry yawning behind his counter as I stepped into the doors of the building and I smiled when he met my eyes. He merely waved and kept that placid look on his face, masking indifference.

It had been a good day, after all. And the smile on my face was the strong evidence that showed how it had, indeed, ended in a happy note.