LOVE. No other name.

Black and White 3

                It’s been months. It’s been months since I last went to this place. Yes, I passed by it every afternoon coming home from school, but I almost always ran past it. I never went here on a Saturday, until now. The memory of the last time I’ve been to this place was just too… agonizing. I was, back then, waiting for a girl who never came and I never again expected to come. Oh, look who’s here. The girl who never came.

                I feel all my anger evaporating…but I pretend to be furious. I stop walking and I slightly hesitate, do I walk past her or turn back? I look at her and say coldly, “Bye.” Then I walk away with my back turned to her.

                “Hey!” her voice makes me pace slower. “If you don’t want to see me ever again, there’s only one thing you can do.”

                I put on my ‘enraged’ tone and turn to her, “WHAT?!”

                She walks towards me and thrusts a small shovel and a tree sapling (which I recognized to be one of those fast-growing types) towards my chest, “Plant this. There.” And she points to a spot close to our—I mean, my—tree.

                She didn’t even say please, she acted as angry as I was pretending to be, but still, I took them and started digging. And my mind floats, wondering about what she was doing here before I came.

~~~~~~~~~~~~               

“Thinking of you, idiot,” I screamed in my head.

I knew exactly what he was thinking, especially if it was a question regarding me. Almost always. I didn’t know how or why. I just knew.

I wanted to answer the question he mentally uttered. I wanted to tell him that I was so sick of waiting for him. So sick of waiting for the boy who never came after all these months. Yes, I know I missed one Saturday, but I came and waited every Saturday after that. I was so tired and irritated, how could he be so sensitive, yet insensitive at the same time? I was supposed to be demanding for an apology.

                As he was busy digging, I looked at our tree, and my heart was full of joy just seeing it. This is a special tree. It lies in the middle of two villages, Ishac’s village and mine; somehow it connects and divides them at the same time. But, to Ishac and me, this tree is not a boundary. It’s what binds us together.

                A thought crosses my mind, and then it hits me like a punch to my gut, what really binds us together? This tree or my sister?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                As she was busy looking at our—I mean, my—tree, I stopped working. Did she know I fell ill after waiting for her in the heavy rain and the blistering cold just months ago? Probably not. I was supposed to be demanding for an apology.

                I opened my mouth to tell her that, but she suddenly took the shovel and continued digging.

                Minutes later, we were helping each other plant the new tree and we were planning, who’s gonna water it on Monday, who’s gonna weed the area around it every week, who’s gonna make sure it grows straight and tall? BOTH OF US WILL, so never mind the ‘schedules’. It was funny, we even thought about giving it a name. I gave it a special nickname, known only to me, “Our Other Tree.”

                Earlier, I was angry at her for obvious reasons, and she seemed equally angry for reasons unknown to me, but now we were acting like we never argued.

                I had been so confused lately, about my feelings towards Xieca.

                But now I know just what to call it.

                LOVE.

                No other name.

--NOTE (Fun facts):

In the musical, for the part where Xieca and Ishac were "arguing" before and while planting the tree, they had a duet of the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler. Again, you may listen to that song while reading if you wish.    XD