“Will you love me five years from now, ten years from now? Will you love me when your parents want us to separate, will you still love me if you have to choose between me and your family?” Ariel asked, her heart aching with pain. Every word she uttered was meant to cut Jiro like a knife through the heart. She pulled out of his embrace and turned to look at him. The bus had already left, leaving just the two of them in front of the bus stop. Jiro hung his head low, his shoulder slumped.
“I don’t know how to answer you Jiro, I don’t know what to say…”
“How would you answer if everything was the way it was before?” He asked. Ariel shrugged and chuckled softly.
“That’s just it Jiro…everything is not the way it was before, it will never be the way it was before. I’m sorry, but I…I don’t want to see you anymore.” She choked on the last word, her heart was breaking.
Ariel felt like she was dying inside…why was he making it so hard for her to resist? Why was it so hard to say no? Ariel steeled her heart and avoided looking him in the eyes.
“Please let me go…and don’t look for me.”
Ariel closed her eyes and felt tears cascade down her cheeks. She didn’t want Jiro to see the tears, she didn’t want him to know that every word she forced out of her mouth hurts her as much as him. Turning away from him, Ariel started walking down the street. She needed to distance herself from him…the pain in his eyes was torture for her.
“Marry me! Ariel! Marry me!” Jiro shouted, his voice echoing down the street. People on the street stopped and stared at the two of them. He ran up to her oblivious to the crowd gathering around them.
“You ask about my love for you…will I love you in five years? Ten years? Twenty years…one hundred years? Yes Ariel, I will still love you.” Jiro cupped her face in his hands and begged,
“Stop seeing me as a kid, I know what I’m getting into when I decided to be with you. I want to protect you, love you and your baby. I want to raise your child with you, grow old with you. I couldn’t sleep because of you, I was debating…debating with my heart and my head until I realized…I choose you…. Please Ariel, please stop pushing me away!”
“Jiro, you are only seventeen years old…” Ariel started but abruptly stopped when Jiro kissed her forcibly on the lips.
“Damn it! I know I’m seventeen, so are you!”
Ariel blinked a couple of times and stared at Jiro as if seeing him for the very first time. Jiro dropped his hands from Ariel’s shoulders, surprised by his own outburst and the kiss.
“Sorry…” he apologized.
“I can’t marry you Jiro. I can’t.” Silence. The atmosphere was so tense and awkward, the small crowd of people walked away, some turn their head back curiously. The silence etched on until Jiro finally sighed and asked,
“Will you marry me in ten years?” He refused to give up.
“What do you mean?” Ariel frowned.
“I want to marry you, if not now then in ten years.”
Ariel felt her lips reluctantly curved in a half smile, it was just like her best friend to say something like that.
“If you promise to open your heart to other girls and date them seriously. If we are fated, then in ten years if I am still single and you are still single then we can give our relationship a try.”
Jiro grinned and sighed in relief…there was still hope for him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The room was becoming too stuffy for him. It didn’t matter how many times he went outside for fresh air, he still felt restless and bored. Tiffany sat beside him chattering with their friends, the same group of people they hung out with since grade school.
Joe tapped his index finger against the wine glass, his eyes glancing at his wrist watch every few minutes. He wondered if Ariel was eating, if she was scared at home by herself…and if she worried about him like he was worried about her.
Joe sat up abruptly, why was he worried about her anyway? She’s fine, it’s not like this was the first time she was home by herself. But this was the first time, Joe thought about her and he was perplexed at himself. Doctor Wang really scared him when he said Ariel might have a miscarriage if he didn’t take good care of her…eating every day with her, learning about her…and her little quirks of likes and dislikes brought them a lot closer than he would have like.
He sometimes wondered if he would be able to part ways with Ariel and their baby, Hope. When the time comes will he be able to let go of his baby? Joe frowned, of course he can…he already promised Ariel. Ariel and the baby…were never part of his future plans, he already has his life mapped out…graduate from high school and attend Taipei University majoring in business. After his business degree, he will work for Director Xu for a few years before taking charge of his father’s business. Naturally he will marry Tiffany and the two companies will merge into one…expanding their business was a goal he shared with Tiffany.
Joe picked up a wine glass and placed it down without drinking. Staring at the wine glass he remembered the conversation he had with Ariel a few days ago.
~~~~~Flashback conversation with Ariel
“Joe?” Ariel asked with a mouthful of eggs and rice.
“Yeah?”
“What are your dreams for the future?” She asked, her eye brows arched waiting patiently for his answer. Joe hesitated. He opened his mouth then stopped, he didn’t know what to say. Dreams? Joe shook his head and shrugged his shoulder,
“I have future plans if that counts as dreams. My goal is to graduate from Taipei University, worked a few years, then take over my father’s business. I have goals of expanding his company by joining forces with Director’s Xu’s company.”
Ariel’s eyes brighten in awe and she gave him a wide grin.
‘Wow, you are soo lucky to already have your future all figure out!”
Joe felt uncomfortable with the compliment…it wasn’t his dream, it was a future that was already mapped out for him since the day he was born.
“What about you?” He asked curious. Ariel grinned and replied shyly,
“I don’t really know if this is a dream or not, but I want a simple life…a happy life.”
Joe frowned…a simple life? What does that mean? He wanted to know more about what she meant.
‘What is that?” He asked.
“A simple life? My simple life is waking up every morning to the person I love next to me. Cooking breakfast in the morning and rushing my children to get out of bed so they won’t be late to school, ah and guess what? Hope will be the oldest so she’ll probably help me with the little ones…” Ariel paused to catch her breath and noticed the intrigued look on Joe’s face.
Such simple a dream yet the young girl was so animated, her eyes flashing with life. Joe couldn’t help but compared how he viewed his future and how she viewed her future. For a brief second, he wanted to be part of her dream…part of her future. Joe could not deny that he was intrigued by the way she view her future…it was so full of excitement and hope, he wanted to be a part of it.
“You have a beautiful dream, I’m sure it will come true.” He said sincerely. Ariel grinned and nodded in agreement.
“You too Joe, I know your dream will come true. Meeting me was probably not part of your plan huh?” She teased and continued eating. Joe paused and stared at the young girl for a few seconds then not knowing how to respond, he filled his mouth with food.
~~~~~~~~End of the flashback
You’re right Ariel, meeting you were not part of my plan. Joe thought wryly and quickly drank the glass of wine.
