Love Letters ( English Translation)

8

Co-translator: phuchana_sibtis

ENGLISH TRANSLATION - Love Letters Chapter 8: Who is the writer of these letters?

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Hello.

You’re not bored of adventuring with me yet, right?

Honestly, if I were to tell other types of stories it wouldn’t be interesting enough to read past the second letter. My life outside of traveling isn’t very exciting; I’m just an average guy, nothing special compared to others, living a simple life. While I was in school, I took up a part-time job in order to save up personal spending money. Every summer trip came from my own savings, like any typical student.

That being said, allow me to bring you along on an adventure once more before I bore you to death with my personal stories, wouldn’t you agree?


Before, I had spoken of the cities in different countries with colorful architecture. This time, I would like to tell you of a unique blue and white city.

I am taking you to the island of Santorini, Greece.

Firstly, I’d like to ask you to close your eyes and paint the image of bright white houses atop a hillside. There is a church adorned with a blue dome roof and, in the foreground, the indigo sea beneath a clear blue sky. You’re standing on a balcony, filling your lungs with fresh air and bathing your skin in the morning breeze and sunlight. When you open your eyes, I’ll be here to take you on a tour of the village.

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Puwanat smiled and closed his eyes happily. It’s truly amazing that Mr. R.K. can make his heart pound like crazy and turn his face red just by reading the words in the letter. He had already seen photos of this location before so it wasn’t difficult to imagine. The young man raised his head slightly and took a deep breath, picturing the breeze and sunlight as Rashane suggested. But the scenery wasn’t the only thing he could vividly feel; the young man felt the warmth of arms holding him from behind. Mr. R.K., resting his chin on Nat’s shoulder and whispering in a soft, deep voice to go explore the beauties of the island together.

Tightly shut eyes shot open at his own imagination. He didn’t know if it was because of Mr. R.K. 's writing that easily drew him in to picturing this nonsense again, or if he was just too emotional to sort these feelings.

This R.K. guy was not as average as he once implied. He’s such a good flirt, infact, that this kid had lost track of how many times he caught himself fantasizing over him.

Puwanat laughed at himself for getting so defensive. He cracked a small smile at the paper in his hand and continued reading.


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I’d like to believe you actually closed your eyes. Now, my nice boy has opened his eyes to continue, right?*

My nice boy…*
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Puwanat pursed his lips tightly, so rattled by the phrase* that his cheeks got all hot. He’s seriously losing it now; his mind drew a picture of Mr. R.K. extending a hand toward him, his own hand being placed into the tall and bulky (or so he imagined) writer’s palm as he allowed himself to be pulled along to see the beauty of Satorini together…

*T/N Sorry for the weird trans, direct trans is good person or good boy but that's a little weird in english so I settled for nice instead. Just note that while it can be a flirty term it’s still cute and modest.



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Allow me to start by taking you out for a walk along the beach. The beaches here are colored black, red, and white like none other. Known as Black Beach, Red Beach, and White Beach, these three are named after the colors of layered rocks surrounding and crumbling into the beach. The results of past volcanic eruptions, each beach is uniquely beautiful and will leave an impression on you.

Personally, I am really fond of Red Beach. Both the surrounding cliffs and the sand are a strange looking blood orange. But I think you’ll love White Beach. The sand, cliffs, and boulders are all blanketed in a pristine white, contrasting the surrounding turquoise waters just like the colors of the village. Not to mention the clarity of the waters that puts the ocean floor on clear display.

I’ve always said I’m passionate about architecture; this location in particular has a uniquely beautiful ancient village. As I mentioned, most houses are painted a clean white, with a few light pastels in the same area. I especially love the white striped designs: simple but charming with the accented dome roofs. The blue domed church along with the artistic planting of houses along the hillside practically make it a work of art on its own. You’ve probably already guessed that it will gladly be sketched into my notebook.

Aside from taking a scenic walk through the village, taking a boat tour around the island is an activity you can’t miss. Not only does this island have beautiful architecture, but many fascinating archaeological sites as well. It may be just ruins but it still captures that ancient Greek civilization feel. You may already know but traces of history are another thing that I’m passionate about. I could easily spend days endlessly wandering through the ruins.

You may have heard that volcanic eruptions sank most of the island in ancient times and left it as the crescent shape we see today. I won’t get into the scientists’ beliefs on this being the lost city of Atlantis because I don’t want to have you yawning at my history lesson. But, if you ever do find yourself interested, I have everything recorded in my notebook. Perhaps someday we could read it together and I could answer any questions you may have- I promise I’ll never get tired of them.

I won’t bore you with academic matters. I’ll just say that if you’d like to see the Nea Kameni volcano, you can take an ancient boat to ride to the west side to see the still-active crater. The coastline of this tiny island is lined by strange black volcanic rocks- hardened lava. Looking out from this point you can see the white villages in a gradient over the indigo blue sea.

Next, allow me to take you on a boat back to the village to have dinner while watching the sunset together. You know, the sunset there was as beautiful as a dream. Gradually, the sky shifted into a dark orange. Surrounding the round sunare its final rays descending into the horizon, casting shadows on the seafloor and rays beaming across the waves. The surrounding village with small blue, red, and pink doors, all bathing in the orange glow of the setting sun. It engulfs everyone as if setting under nature’s spell.

I still vividly remember each and every sound from that day. I can hear the memories loud and clear as though the violin is still beside me playing a lullaby. I saw many couples huddling together happily and could only imagine how nice it would be to have someone standing beside me to admire the last light of day together. As I’m writing this letter, one question comes to mind…

How great would it be? If I had you there with me?

But those days are long past. I can’t take you back in time, but what I can do is bring you along for a future endeavor. I want you to stand by me and see these places with your own eyes - or we could go to a location of your choosing to create new experiences for the two of us.

It’s just a thought of course, whether it comes true or not I’m already happy that you’ve kept my letters. You may never understand how much joy and strength writing you you brings me. I’d like to thank you once again for accepting the friendship I am offering.

We’ll meet again in the next letter.
Yours, R.K.


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Puwanat’s lips pressed together in a thin, straight line. He wasn’t thinking too far into it, was he? His cheeks suddenly heated up as he reread the last paragraph over and over and over again - no matter how many times he read it, it could only be interpreted as the writer making a move on him…!

As for the ending of the letter- how could you expect him to think otherwise?

Nat wanted to argue that he was just a little swept up. The two hadn’t even met- would something like that even be possible…?

But Mr. R.K. put the letters at his door. Mr. R.K. would’ve had to live somewhere in this condo, otherwise he would have no way of getting the letters to him in the first place. Even then, he’d only recently moved in and between studying and working had had no chance to even see his neighbors faces. So, how did this man even come to know of Puwanat?

It’s not like he’d never dated or been flirted with, but for something of this manner… It was a first. It was just so strange that he could feel the other’s warmth, politeness, romanticism, so much so that he gets all flustered and confused- all from some words on a page. He can’t deny that the loneliness and vulnerability caused by his father’s actions may have contributed to him being so easily shaken by comforting words. Mr. R.K.’s letter came to heal his heart right when he needed it. Every single word lined across those pages gave him wings to fly away from the pain his father gave him; fly straight into the warm embrace of R.K. and everything will be alright.

Puwanat got up from the desk and carefully folded the five letters into their respective envelopes, stowing them gingerly into the desk drawer. The roar of thunder outside demanded his attention and he looked to the window to watch the rain begin to fall from the darkened skies. Mr. R.K. must be sitting with a cup of tea watching the overcast sky somewhere nearby, right? What is the young man up to now? Sitting on a soft mattress with his favorite book? Or perhaps, thinking of the student… and writing the next letter to him?

The student shifted his focus back to the glittering raindrops drizzling down his window. He cracked a small smile at the thought of R.K. doing nothing but staring at the water droplets. When will he finally meet the man that made him sit here trying to imagine his face? When will he finally hear if his voice is as soft as he had fantasized? When will he finally get to know…