From Silver to Diamonds

Chapter 15

Whispering winds murmured secrets across the seven seas and waves crashed mildly on the sides of the pier then bounced back to the ocean.

 We strolled along the stone pier near the borders of the neighbouring country. The pier was far away from the heart of the city and was long abandon since the war and ferries were relocated further south. All there was left were old memories and attachments from the past for those who stood here every day waiting for their love ones to reunite.

From the information board that I walked by at the start of the pier, I learnt that the demolishment was excused because of the famous love legends that captured many curious tourists to the country. It was stupid because over hundreds of people camped out for few nights on the pier and refused to go home if the Prince and his government didn’t let it be. It’s just an old pier and people just walk leisurely down it and sometimes you can even catch one or two fishing at the edge. In other words, it’s useless and takes up a fair bit of space when it could be used to make extensions by filling in the sea in its place.   

Tired of walking, I stopped and leaned over the bars. Nicholas sensed by disappearance and joined beside me. I stared at the sky. Tonight, the sky was clear, the clouds had faded a little enough to let the spill of diamonds twinkling in the night sky. The only thing was missing from this spectacular display was the moon. How incomplete the sky was where there is no moonlight to shine your path.

“Good evening miss!” a Canadian tourist called over to us.

He was young, probably in his late thirties and wore a thick olive parker and beside him stood a woman about his age, maybe newly wedded and on their honeymoon.

“Can you take a photo for us?” he asked holding an instant print camera.

“Sure,” I agreed at once and took the camera.                               

“Oh thank goodness you speak English!” he jumped in glee.

The man quickly gave me a crash course on how to use his camera with a couple of easy steps by holding down to focus and press harder to capture. It was simple, it was a little camera crossed a printer and with all the basic buttons, three inch coloured LCD screen. I made a mental note that I must ask my parents to get one for Christmas and since I wasn’t allowed to spend the cents in the bank that I worked my bum off in the last few years for uni, I almost need to ask them for everything.

“So at the count of three, say cheese!” I held up my three fingers and began counting.

The couple chose a spot under a soft fluorescent lamp with the sparking carpet of stars and roaring sea behind them. I pressed the silver button and judged at the photo before printing it. A black glossy paper slowly popped out and the woman came striding up to us asking for the photo while her husband kindly asked back for the camera. 

Nicholas and I watched them as the woman shook the photo and the blackness slowly vanished and colours finally appeared on the flimsy paper. It was a work of magic; the photo was clear than I thought with only ten megapixels and unexpectedly the stars and everything in the background appeared as well.

At the heat of moment, the women suggested that Nicholas and I were to take a photo as well in a way of saying thanks. So we found ourselves standing awkwardly next to each other by the edge of the pier and Nicholas had kept his glasses on which he had it back on when he was trying to read the menu. Even though he said it was annoying to wear glasses, I secretly thought he looked cute in them. I always found manga guys with glasses are extremely attractive and he was the first guy in reality to be able to pull it off.

“Come on guys, squish up a bit,” the man said and motion us to squeeze in a little closer.

Nicholas was the first to respond and moved up behind me to close the gap between us. He was so close I could feel his breath tickling the back of my neck sending weird tingles down my body. It was alien for me to behave this way and the last time I saw him my heart and nerves system went out of control and since then I was never the same.