The Hurtful Promise
Chapter 1 - Mistrust
It was remarkable as it is when the night fell in complete darkness and silence sounded like a whirling white noise, but Shizuru is having a difficult time to fall asleep. The windows were shut to prevent the cold air from entering her bedroom. The fleece blanket and the soft mattress underneath gave her all the comfort she needed. However, she knew that she didn't stress herself in her work today nor took any unnecessary medications to do so. Why it is so? Is it because there's something wrong that happened throughout the day?
It would seem so although not directly affecting her but for someone else. She knew it all along when she met Aya's then-boyfriend, Kenji, at that time. The sense of distorted aura surrounded him as electric shock waves emitted dangerously from his body. There's something wrong with this guy, Shizuru told herself. Although she has the premonition that he met women on several occasions without being caught, Aya realistically caught him this time… red-handed.
Her phone vibrated quietly beneath her pillow as she slid it to answer. As soon as she placed the speaker part of the phone to her ear, she could hear her uncontrollable cries.
"You were right all along, Shizuru." Aya Matsui sobbed. "You were right about Kenji. I wish I had some psychic powers like yours."
"You don't need psychic powers. All you need to do is to read their personalities and intentions well." Shizuru said bluntly.
"But how to read…"
"Can we talk about this tomorrow, Aya? I'm sorry but I'm really tired. We could meet each other at Tropical café at nine in the morning." She interrupted reluctantly.
"Sure, why not. It's been a long night." Aya agreed.
As Shizuru ended their brief conversation, she couldn't help herself but felt pity about her best friend. It is ironic that these type of men love to be surrounded by beautiful women, which made it like a perfect accessory tool and made it even more attractive to other women than repulsive to them. Aya is prone to falling in love with bad men with the worst personalities that anyone can think of. Sure, they're equipped with all the good looks or even some good money to boost their pockets, but they never had a pure love that Aya was seeking.
Basically, that applies to her and every female creature on this planet. However, in this digital age of love, it is impossible to find one in the city, let alone in this country. It is unfortunate to say that in Japan, with a dwindling female population, it gave men a hard time finding the right partner. In addition to work pressure, women with grown independence are entering the workforce twice than twenty to thirty years ago. Women don't have the time to reproduce. Imagine this, looking for a right one is like having a chance of winning your luck in a lotto with a possibility of one to one millionth.
If anyone reasoned out that this is ridiculous, consider this a move by some men, who helplessly fall in love with holographic women.
Yes, digitalized women. Physically non-existent women who exhibit human qualities that made men fall even harder.
Shizuru laughed at herself whenever she encountered that bizarre news. What's even worst is that it is being celebrated and embraced by the opposite sex. What the hell are they thinking? A professional man married a virtual reality singer, said one headline of a top newspaper in the country. Some men are really sick in the head and mental rehabilitation is not enough. Perhaps, they're trying to redefine the words, cross-dimensional relationships.
If in case she does engage in such a relationship with "digital men", she would rather be dead. She also silently dismissed the idea that she could find one herself in one shot. Not this time as I enjoy my career, she thought selfishly. I have no problems for now and I am happy with my situation. However, if ever I do find myself dating again, I prefer real and fleshy men.
Shizuru's hair was soft brown, like the bark of an oak tree, not dark but simply gentle in any light with dark brown tantalizing eyes. Her tomboyish attitude has a no-nonsense approach to life's challenges. Her hourglass body is enchanting and possessed long flawless legs. She's also a 30-year-old successful interior designer employed at one of the most sought after employers throughout Japan, Red Swallow and Associates. She designed every rich and celebrity clients with her most creative and ambitious projects. She was the top earner in her company and no wonder she doesn't have the time to mingle with someone else. She was so preoccupied with her career that money comes through with it and she was satisfied with her earning capability.
It is by the fact that it is the most rewarding move that she ever did to herself.
Just all by herself.
Shizuru stepped out from the subway and ran hurriedly to catch the bus that will take her to her favorite drinking spot, Tropical Café. Fortunately, she caught the bus right on time before it closed in from people behind her. She walked carefully in the middle, trying to find the right window seat. As she found one, she sat and grabbed her cellphone from her shoulder bag. I'm on my way to the café, she texted.
She has to make up the conversation with Aya, as the poor maiden was devastated when she caught Kenji being comfortable with another woman. What is worst is that they're engaged to marry. It was the most humiliating event that ever happened in Aya's life. Good thing that her father wasn't with her. Otherwise, he could have killed him on the spot. Such a reckless cheater running like a fox as if Aya doesn't have a clue or two about his sideline flings. However, it was a blessing in disguise that their supposed marriage was called off last minute and saved Aya from future heartaches and headaches to the doomed union from the start.
Aya Matsui is Shizuru's best friend since their preschool days. She possessed a black bob cut hair with bangs. Her skin is almost porcelain white and body is quite athletic since she's an occasional marathon runner. They were as close like sisters, which made sense since both of them came from an only girl in the family and looking for a sister. Although Aya doesn't have a sibling on her own while Shizuru has a younger brother name Kazuma. Their parents knew each other as they live a few blocks away from their small hometown. However, as they grew older and developed their own maturities, each of them made a promise to each other that they would look after one another as being more than just sisters… perhaps you may call it soul sisters.
Aya was already waiting at the table with a glass of cranberry juice at hand. She looked at the window trying to find Shizuru at the urban crowd. Finally, she heard someone tapping until she looked up and found the brown-haired lass.
"Shizuru!" Aya said with excitement.
Shizuru entered to the Tropical Café. It was small, for about seventy people in seating capacity and the atmosphere was very lively. It is simply painted with turquoise and white colors with nautical decorations around it. She opened the double doors, strutted towards to her spot and found a seat right across the table to her. She didn't even bother to order some drink from the café. She took off her denim jacket and hanged her shoulder bag in her chair.
"Aya, I'm sorry about what happened last night." Shizuru apologized.
"There's no need. I need that night off to clear my head." Aya explained. "Besides, you may not understand the whole conversation since my sobbing is so turbulent."
"So, how did you find out about it?"
"I followed Kenji to his usual meeting spot. I remembered that he told me he has to meet with his friends. Initially, it was a bachelor party but I knew he already had one, as I was informed by his friends."
"And?" Shizuru questioned her.
"Kenji went to this massage parlor to treat himself some relaxation. A woman, who is five years younger, approached him and started kissing passionately. It turned out that this female massage therapist is one of his mistresses." Aya revealed with a little hurt from her eyes. She realized that despite an awful discovery, she's not fully recovered from him.
"One of his mistresses? My golly! How many women did he sweep with his poisonous charm?" Shizuru asked in disgust.
"I honestly don't know…" Aya discontinued her sentence.
Shizuru reached out her hand to hold hers as a sign of comfort. In this terrible time, women needed to be together and emotionally support each other. Perhaps masculinity has taken so far and wide in this crazy society where men can have many mistresses as they want, regardless they will be caught or not. Sure, it's normal, said the society with a little male egomaniac mentality. However, if a woman is caught having an affair with a man, it is considered as the greatest disgrace.
Shizuru wanted to reach her cigarette from her bag but couldn't do it. It is prohibited to smoke inside the café, as she needs more time to console her.
However, it boiled her blood upon finding out what Kenji is skillful of.
Ever since Shizuru met Kenji for the first time, she knew that he was such a manipulative and deceitful man. She knew, from the start of their relationship, that he loved to toy Aya's feelings and her blindly love. This man constantly displaced the blame onto others when he is clearly the person at fault. He performed the most impressive mental acrobatics in order to make it seem as if others are the cause of his terrible behavior. You could 'nail his foot to the floor', developed ironclad guidelines, and you could show objective evidence that he is at fault. But he would always found a way to displace blame. In fact, this is his most reliable trait—his ability to always blame others for his bad behavior.
However, no matter what Shizuru did, Aya is psychologically dysfunctional until she extended her with some of her psychic powers, in order to wake her up to reality.
Shizuru never admitted to Aya about her metaphysical abilities. When she was a child, she had a dream that an old woman was carrying old pottery full of glistening water above her head. Later on, as she passed by and saw Shizuru crying in pain, this old woman put her pot down to the ground, dipped her hand and blessed her forehead and wiped her eyes with it. As soon as she woke up from that dream, she felt something that left her in transcendence. From that night onwards, she was never the same person. Whatever she encountered, touched or at least looked into someone, she would automatically know what a kind of person she or he was…not to mention some an occasional glimpse of the person's past.
"Shizuru, about last night. You told me that it is all about reading peoples' personalities and their intentions? How do you do that?" Aya asked with curiosity.
"I looked at their faces, specifically their eyes. Eyes are the gateway to a person's soul. If they say something that you thought that is meaningful, think again. Most of the time, if they said it the second time, it is perpetually senseless." Shizuru advised her.
"Huh? What does that mean?"
"It goes with experience, Aya. I met a lot of men in my life and they will court you with the loveliest words, gestures, shower with the most expensive gifts and drive you to the fanciest places, but they are all too shallow to see. True intentions are not there. Men are physically here but their thoughts are somewhere else. I am talking about the instincts that we have."
"I dated a lot of men, too, Aya." Shizuru continued, "They bore me to death, especially with the words that you will hear over and over again as if they are reading Shakespeare. I don't like that and pretty much I can spot a fake from miles away."
"What about Kenji? What did you find about him?" Aya murmured.
"He's too charming. Let me rephrase that, he's too dangerously charming; especially that he tangled you with his web of lies. I tried the very best that I can warn you about him, even before the events took place."
"Like what events you're talking?"
"Remember the time when you are insecure about your posture? Kenji asked you to straighten up and constantly chuckles you whenever you correct it. Any true man will never make fun of you. Instead, Kenji's fake love is heartless. Another incident is that when you made a mistake of mixing with his tea of sugar and milk, he raged, made a quick judgment and punished you without hearing your apology and explanations."
"But isn't that Kenji made some apologies to me, too." Aya defended.
"He was but committed those same mistakes as if he never learned…and never will."
Aya felt embarrassed with the whole scenario, as she doesn't want to continue the conversation. She felt stupid and helpless on how her trusted best friend for so many years, who tried to warn her, neglected her advice on not to continue her relationship with Kenji.
"I would like to apologize that I mistrusted you," Aya whispered.
Shizuru leaned closer to her so that no other people can hear their heart to heart talk. "I forgive you, bestie." She quipped.
"I try to be careful for now on." Aya promised, "but right now, I'm not actively looking for one. I just want to enjoy my new found personal freedom."
"That's the spirit! That's the Aya I know." Shizuru celebrated.
Shizuru opened the door and took off her shoes. She went home and felt free at last, freedom from overthinking about Aya's safety. At least, she's out of trouble, for now, she thought to herself. She closed and locked the door behind her as she prepared to take meditation. She doesn't want to eat dinner as of this time since she's too lazy to cook. Who needs to cook anyway if she has the microwave just to feed for herself?
She went straight to her bedroom and changed her clothes. Something cotton and comfortable, she contemplated, as she chose a shirt and shorts and grabbed the rolled rubber mat and spread it out throughout the floor. She prepared the space with dimmed lights, switched her cellphone to airplane mode and sat with her legs crossed. She mentally asked the intention of her meditation, Will Aya be safe for the longest time?
Stillness overcame her as Shizuru began to receive distractions coming from her own mind. She needed to eliminate them. She discerned all senseless thoughts and segregated what is important to her. Her breathing was getting deeper and deeper until she found a focal point. These are the messages that Shizuru received from her meditation.
Watch over her for the longest time.
Why?
There's more to come and more dangerous.
Why her?
Not just her.
What do you mean?
Remain alert at all times.
I can handle myself.
It needs more.
I have powers coming from you.
There's one that is stronger than yours.
Who is this one that you're talking about?
From some reason, the meditating messages stopped as she opened her eyes slowly. Her thoughts are getting more eccentric by each and every passing day. I must have asked a wrong question, Shizuru wondered. My intentions are all for Aya with the highest possible good. Instead, she collected with an overload of warning information.
"Don't tell me that Aya could hurt herself one more time with Kenji," Shizuru whispered in small but dead space in the air.
For a brief moment, she experienced goosebumps as a spiritual guide answered her pending question.
It was more than just Kenji…a dangerous one.
"What?" She shouted.
However, there's no reply this time.
Shizuru has to keep her mind about the dark side of meditation. She was well aware that absorbing repressed emotional traumas that can be resurfaced she may not be ready for. It can also destabilize her. Perhaps, she came across a psychology article, the dark knight project. It highlighted the research in a well-known university, about a certain rehabilitation center for those who suffered traumatic meditation experiences. Many of these people come to an established doctor as a last resort after unsuccessfully seeking out help from therapists and meditation teachers.
So what happened to these folks?
Many of them described hellish experiences, often during meditation retreats, where they were assailed by negative emotions, thoughts, and powerful compulsions. In different ways, they were caught off guard by the inner forces unleashed through meditation.
For example, it described experiences with patients where meditation was a catalyst for things like breakups, psychotic breaks, and an inability to focus at work. Other stories chronicle otherwise well-adjusted young people losing all their drive, focus, and ambition as a result of deep meditation experiences.
Could it be that her spiritual guide was not her usual guide? Hmmm, that would be impossible since the highest possible good gave her a stern warning about the events that are about to happen and Aya was not the only person involved. Could it be that there will be another spiritual challenge that awaits her? It is possible since life was all about physical, mental, spiritual and emotional challenges in order for us to evolve and transform into a wise person. Could it be that this person, whom the spiritual guide was referring to, came from the underworld to terrorize the physical world of beings? It would seem so since she was drawn to the spirit world before, thanks to her younger brother, Kazuma Kuwabara. If this can occur again, she wouldn't be surprised about it.
"I am ready." Shizuru declared.
-To be continued-
