The next time my eyes opened, the sun was out and I was in a very messy hotel room that definitely didn't belong to me. I realised I was still in his room, but where was he? I wanted to thank him for literally looking after me the whole time.
He was in deep sleep on the sofa, it didn't look comfortable at all. But at the same time his face looked so angelic I didn't want to disturb his peace, but I really needed to get going.
I tried to reach Ken but he wasn't answering his phone, so I was on my own. I wrote a thank you note for him, gathered my things and tried to leave. That was until I accidentally bumped into one of his suitcases and made it fall so loudly he woke up startled.
"Oops. I'm sorry." I apologised.
"You don't have to apologise." He answered stretching himself out. "Where are you off to?"
"Thanks so much for taking care of me, I'll get going now."
"Wait! Let's get breakfast first." He said.
He was so confusing. One minute he acted all cold and pretend like he doesn't even know me and then the other he behaves like we were pals that go back a long time. I still had so many questions and no answers to them, because I had no courage to ask him. I wanted to ask him why he was at the train station that day, I wanted to ask him if he even remembered who I was.
"Let me wash my face and then we'll grab some." He stood up.
"No." I blustered, I didn't want to look at his eyes right now. Yet I found myself looking at them, I needed to get my guard up. I couldn't just cave in every time he bat his eyes. He looked at me wearing a hurt expression on his face, why? He asked.
"I'm tired Charles. I'm tired of your mind games. I'm really grateful for the help but that's about it." I put on my shoes to leave.
"What mind games?" He clutched onto my wrist and leaned in to say, "look at me when you're talking to me."
With whatever little courage and self control I had in myself, I mustered it too look at his face. His flawless, brilliant face. He just had one of those faces, the kind you don't forget easily and find yourself wondering about, are they real or were they carved like sculpture?
"Forget it." I scoffed freeing my wrist.
"No how am I supposed to forget it? How am I supposed to forget the best company I've had in a very long time-"
"You don't even remember who I am! Please stop. Stop being so nice to me. It's misleading." I finally said what I had been holding on for so long. It felt so good to finally get it out.
"That day on the train station, it was my second time doing too little and too late." He sighed. "I'm not about to make it a third-" I found myself placing my finger on his lips, stopping him mid sentence.
"Don't say anything at all. Please. It's already too late." I placed a finger on his lips to silence him.
"It doesn't have to be so complicated." He said, taking my finger of his lips, twining his fingers into mine.
"But it is. That's my reality and it's yours too, so get yourself together." I walked away.
"Emiko Nohara, Mrs. Edmond's star student. For someone so intelligent she barely even spoke, for someone with such bright eyes she never even saw me. I even sat next to her, hoping she'd talk to me but she didn't even try."
I turned around, did he really remember all of that? Did he really think all of that? He still had more to say, he was looking at me, asking me to come sit next to him and hear his side of the story. So I did.
She seemed to care a big deal about school, and I wasn't at school at all. I was away for Karting tournaments almost all of the time, I felt like I had a reason to talk to her. Truth be told, I didn't really care about my missing assignments, I just wanted an excuse to hear her talk.
The year flew by and it had become like a ritual now, I'd show up once or twice a week, she would tell me what I missed out on. Even if I knew how to do the homework I'd ask her for help anyway, it was the only time she'd actually talk to me. She spent most of her time wrapped up in her own world, lost in her own thoughts.
And then came the day she told me she was leaving, I don't think you understand how devastated my little heart was. I never got to tell her how wonderful she was, I'd never get to hear her sweet voice explaining literature reading to me ever again. I'd never get to look into her big, bright eyes ever again. She was already out of my league, and now she was slipping even further away.
Call it just an infatuation if you want, but it's still a part of me I hold very close to my heart. I felt so gutsy on the day she was leaving, I ran all the way from home to the train station. The train was already here and she was going to be gone. I told her to never forget me, I wanted to see her again.
My friends made so much of fun of me, they couldn't believe I had finally said what I wanted to. I realised I had no one to sit with in class, no one to annoy with my questions. That's when Giada came into the picture, she helped me stay on top of my work. Unlike Emiko, she was so easy to talk to. Maybe it's because she loved to talk, a lot.
I got along well with her but still hoped to see Emiko in the summer, I knew she would come to see Baba, but when I went to her house Baba told me she wasn't going to be coming this year.
My little brain was confused and heart was hurt, so she did forget me? She didn't come back for the next time I was so hopeful about. I couldn't possibly talk to anyone about "heartbreak" at this little age.
The year rolls by, I'm 17, I've grown into my features. I'm not just 'cute' in a baby face way. I'm cute in a 'gets a lot of female attention way' . I felt like an absolute stud, I was racing single seaters, girls thought I was cute and I was all the local news channels talked about in the afternoon.
The summer rolled around, I felt like my friendship with Giada has blossomed into something more. I had already lost one girl because I wasn't brave enough. And so I took my chances, I asked her out and we were now dating. Everyone loved her, she made me happy and that's all I could ask for.
And then one warm summer day, I see Giada walking by the harbour with the girl with the bright eyes. She looked even more gorgeous than I remembered, had I rushed things? What was I going to do now?
When Giada introduced us again, saying she was her good friend and all of us used to go to school together before she moved away, I played dumb. I acted like I couldn't remember who she was, when the truth was I knew exactly who she was and what I had promised to her. The problem was that I couldn't give her what I had promised to her again.
I never saw her again, I don't know what happened to her, where she went. Baba wouldn't tell me about her whereabouts either, and that's when I knew I had messed things up big time.
"People grow up and they grow apart. I don't blame you." I gave him a weak smile, patting his back.
"I realised that girl was back the minute I saw you in that antique shop." He looked at me sideways.
"The strange part is you've always moved on by the time I'm back." I laughed.
"Things went different this time around though."
"How so?" I asked him.
"I got to see her, with one of my closest friends who um... made bad decisions. And apart from that I walked up the red stairs with her, I spent a whole day with her in Cannes and I felt like a teenager again." He looked away, but a flush had already taken over his face.
"Look at me when you're talking!" I laughed holding his face to turn it towards me.
"I really believed that this time around I'll actually get her to stay. I'll convince her to give me a shot, and with that in mind, I broke things off-"
"That's the part that makes me think you're insane."
"Insane?" He frowned.
"Yeah. I know how you broke Giada's heart and I know how you broke Charlotte's heart." I went on rambling, "so if anything, mister Charles Leclerc, you are a serial heart breaker."
He rolled his eyes at my snide comments and continued anyway, "I ended things because I know it's disrespectful to both of the women. It would be unfair to make my ex girlfriend think I'm still in love with her and it would be unfair to Emiko because I promised something to her. So that's all I'm asking Emiko, will you fulfil what we promised to each other ten years ago?" He looked at me.
"You've got bad timing. Really bad timing." I stood up again, determined to leave this place before I made anymore bad decisions.
He asked me if I was really going to leave, I nodded and tried to scurry away. And he stopped me again, this time to tell me that he'll wait for my answer, as long as it took. I didn't answer that, I simply said I'll make sure to return his shirt back to him.
"I like to believe that won't be necessary." He smirked.