Emlade: Where We Met

Under the Blue Moon

It was an autumn night in Emlade, a small port town located at the northern hemisphere where folks could easily recognize each other's faces. Kra and Hara were meeting at the central park, both were heavily dressed up to fare against the cold breeze. It was relatively quiet with murmur of ships tending to business at the port few kilometres away. The park was only dimly lighted and Kra and Hara had to be at close proximity to be able to see each other well enough.

"I am leaving tomorrow," said Kra. He was a tall, lean bespectacled man in his late 20s. His light brown hair reached past his shoulders, keeping his ears warm.

Hara was a smaller-built young female whose hazel eyes were obviously moist. Her voice trembled as she said, "I wish I could go with you. I really do. I want to go with you. You can't just leave me alone here..." She started to sob.

Kra looked at her with a sense of both loving and regret. He extended his arm and patted Hara's head. "We both know I have to leave. Let's not make your father furious again." Kra showed her a bitter smile and Hara continued crying. "You will find someone else. And you will be happy. I guarantee."

"I don't need your guarantee," Hara said quietly. There were no other noises, but she felt like her own voice was being drowned. "I need your promise."

"Tell me," responded Kra without skipping a beat. If it was to soothe her even a tiny bit, he would be glad to make any promise.

Hara took a pause, trying to recollect her calm. She was breathing heavily and her tears kept coming out. "If- When you find someone else, and have children with her... Tell your children to come here. To Emlade."

It was definitely not a common thing to promise. Before Kra could ask for the reason, Hara added, "I... I met you in this town. I met you and loved you -- I still do. But we cannot live our love and... I know it's selfish of me, but I think it'll be beautiful if your child comes here and finds their love in this town. In the town where we met..."

This promise reflected Hara's resolve and Kra wanted to respect that. He refrained from grabbing Hara's hand and holding it tight, because he knew it would be unfair to her, so instead he removed his knitted gloves and gave them to Hara. "Alright, I promise that I will have my children come to Emlade. Hara, you may use my gloves as you please. You can throw them away, or you can hold onto them and pass them back to my child one day."

Hara received the gloves with her numbing hands. "...okay. Have a safe trip, Kra. This is the last time we see each other." Her voice trailed off, a clear betrayal to how she was actually feeling inside. Kra noticed but chose to ignore it. Hara was the one who left that night, walking off in frustration, leaving Kra standing still in the middle of the park. Hara could feel Kra's eyes were on her, so she began walking faster. She had not met Kra ever since.

***

That is the story my mother would tell me secretively, with eyes looking like they were about to cry. My mother met a handsome foreigner during summer, who had come to Emlade for a leisure trip, and they fell in love. My grandfather opposed their relationship and eventually succeeded in kicking the foreigner away. I had heard this story many times over my entire 17 years, but every time my mother would look like it was her first time sharing her story - teary-eyed, trembling and hushed voice - that I had never dared to interrupt her.

I asked her, once, whether it meant that she never loved my father. She panicked immediately, and said that it was not the case at all. The way I saw it though, I thought she must have been in love with the foreigner all this time.

My father was a devoted civil servant, who was introduced to my mother through marriage arrangements. It seemed that my grandfather had ties with my father's family, hence the talk of match-making their children came about naturally. He was a caring father and he was a good man. You know the saying, 'good people die early'? It applied to him. He died when I was 11 in a car accident. He was not in the car. He was merely passing by. The car crash happened and he wanted to help get the driver out of the wreck, but the car caught fire and he, along with the driver he had intended to help, could not be saved.