o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The unfinished love: I lovED you
I'm sorry if I moved on
Loving you was easy to do
But to leave you was the hardest thing to do
So I said my sweetest goodbye of all
To stop my greatest fall
I love you
I lovED you
I do, I did.
But will I, once more, want to suffer?
To taste your sweet love, have it like a drug,
and not let go?
No, I don't; and so,
I lovED you
I thought about you
in the dark abyss in my head
You were so hard to deal with
That I almost wished you were dead.
But no. I couldn't. Because...I love you.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
That first year for her was the hardest for the past five years. How could anyone expect that he would just suddenly vanish?
He just went away. Just like that. No good byes, no kisses, no nothing. He was just...gone.
The evening was hot and the moon didn't shine bright enough. She surmised that rain would come soon. This evening was going to be a hard one. Midnight: the time of the dead...the time where people wake up because of nightmares--the time when Maya Natsume woke up because of a dream. Beads of sweat lied on her skin, her heavy breathing said it all.
The 23 year old girl looked at her clock and saw the time. "shit." she cursed. How could she sleep with all these dreams? She was going to do one of the biggest breaks in her life—getting promoted into that job that she wanted ever since she graduated from high school…a real teacher. She was going to be a real teacher instead of only being a substitute teacher. But she was getting worried because she couldn't sleep without dreaming of him.
The same dream for three days. She blames this all to her brother because he reminded her of him when he asked her if she still had his number on the phone. Five years, damn it! How could she have his number if they haven't had any conversation for five years?
Maya stood up from her bed and went into the bathroom to wash her face and when she opened the light, she looked down and saw her pajamas...a small red spot was there. "of all time..." she mumbled as she took a sanitary napkin from a small drawer.
After that break, she went to bed again and the same dream began to replay.
o-o-o-o-o-o
MONDAY morning, by six sharp, she woke up. Did her morning routines and went down to join Shin, Mana, and their four year old daughter, Shiho. With Mitsuomi gone in her life, everything changed.
Shin was now working as the manager of the Tawara Rice shop of another branch. Mana works as a nurse in a hospital. Their daughter, Shiho, is left in a daycare center every weekday; while Aya's in college and she lives in a dorm.
Maya got a nice job in Todou. Although it was just substitute teaching that she did, the money she earned was enough to sustain her needs. She taught Physics to third year students and she wouldn't get that job if she hadn't studied hard after Mitsuomi left.
She still loved him back then and the only thing that reminded her of him was that subject so she really did everything to excel in it. It seemed really stupid at first and she thought that nothing will happen to her when she realized that he wasn't really going back but it turned out to be a good thing after all because she liked the job. She didn't want to move out yet because she didn't like to live alone and besides, Shin didn't allow her.
Everybody has something right now and their lives are starting to get better. Or so they think.
The last sentence: the words of doubt and uncertainty.
"I'm going, brother." She said as she drank her coffee in one gulp, burning her tongue in the process. Maya stood up from the dining table and took her bag on the couch in the living room. This was also where Mana was fixing Shiho's hair. "Bye Mana-san, Shiho-chan."
"Bye-bye, Maya-san." Shiho said as she gave Maya a kiss on the cheek. Maya smiled and went on her way.
Her attire: a tight fit dark yellow smart dress that reached her knees with a low neckline, a tan coat that covered her good bust so that she'd look more decent, simple gold jewelry, her casual eyeglasses that she hated so much because she thought that it made her look older and wanted to replace with contact lenses, tan high heeled shoes that complemented her long slim legs, and a black handbag that contained everything that she needed. Her hair was tied up in a pony with a black ribbon, her face had light makeup…and even if this was the right attire for a teacher, she still looked like she was going to a photo shoot for models.
o-o-o-o-o-o
Meanwhile, somewhere far away, the silver cellular phone on the wooden table rang.
"What is it now?"
"Sir, the delivery has been processed but it was stopped at the—"
"What?! Again? Do something about this. Bribe them or make them pass the boxes. Make sure it gets to its destination!"
"But sir, we're already running out of sources! The next decisions shall be very risky already."
"Fine, withdraw all the cash and the deliveries. But find a port that would deliver the items immediately! We won't earn anything if this keeps on happening."
Then the man hung up and sighed as his blind hands searched for the mug of coffee on his breakfast table. The old man across the table looked at him and mumbled, "You aren't doing very well with this business."
"Did I want to do it in the first place or did you force me?!"
"You failed me, son."
The man stood up from his chair and walked away, unable to disagree with his father's conclusion of his failure.
o-o-o-o-o-o
Her smooth soft hands gently surrounded the office's doorknob as she took a deep breath. "This is it" she mumbled.
Her heart thumped like mad because of all the anxiety that she was feeling. 'what if I mess this all up?' she thought. Maya opened the doorknob and saw the school principal.
"Ohayou, Maya-chan." The principal greeted. Maya greeted her back and the principal invited her to sit down. "I have been tracking on your records and I see that you're doing an excellent job." She said.
"Thank you, principal-san."
"But Maya…I'm afraid I can't make you a subject teacher right now. Don't feel disappointed, Maya-chan. You're doing really great but the only problem is that we can't find an available class. You understand this, right?" Maya nodded and the school principal continued talking. "But until further notice, I'll still observe your records and I'll see if I could make you the Physics teacher next school year."
"Really, Principal-san? Thank you so much. That's really great"
"Well that's all I have to say. Thank you too." Then she sent Maya away.
After that talk, Maya went back to her desk at the far end corner of the room and turned her computer on to do the handouts needed for Physics. It didn't sink in to her too deep yet that she had this 80% of becoming a regular physics teacher the next school year. The girl took another big sigh as she slumped on her desk at the far end of the room. Her officemate, Kintaro-sensei, the PE teacher, went towards her.
"So, how did it go?" He asked, "I think you talked to her in there pretty fast."
Maya smiled at him and said, "I almost made it." Then she took her eyeglasses off and placed it on her desk. "But she said that I could be the physics teacher next school year!"
"Well that's great, Maya-chan." He said. "By the way, there's a call for you at the main desk."
Maya stood up and thanked him. "I think it's your brother." He added.
She thanked him again and went on her way to the phone.
It was Shin who asked her how her "promotion" went. Sadly, she didn't make it yet but it was ok since the principal told her that she had a great probability of being the Physics teacher since the current one will most likely resign next year. After the call ended, Maya went back to her desk to do the handouts for the Physics class.
The lesson: Friction
So she typed the words in the computer until she stopped with the word static friction.
The maximum value of friction is called static friction, or friction of rest.
And suddenly, she remembered Mitsuomi again…
---------------------------------------------------
"Don't you get it? Friction forces can exist even if there are two forces that are not sliding against each other. Its simply what we refer as Static Friction. I already discussed this last week, right? Let's say that you had to push 38 Newtons…" Mitsuomi said while explaining everything that Maya couldn't understand.
"Well, yeah but this static friction…how can it exert 38 Newtons? I don't get it, If there's a huge stationary object and if I push it for force, it won't move because its too heavy but it will move if the box has 38 Newtons and I pushed it for 38 Newtons too, right?" she asked a question.
"No, No! If the box has 38 Newtons and if you exert force that is more than 38 Newtons then that's the time where the box will move!" He yelled. He was kind of aggravated right now because this was the third time he explained this. Maya pouted again. He hated that; it made him guilty for shouting or yelling at her even if he was so irritated because she couldn't understand anything. "I can't believe that we've been talking about static for two hours straight and you still don't get anything. And even because of your irresponsibility, you forgot to bring your text book; the most important thing to have when studying."
"Sorry…It's just so hard."
"It's okay. Maybe we should stop right now. I think I've taught you enough for the day…I'm just a bit tired right now so maybe we should rest now—"
"No! Don't give up on me. I'm trying my best to understand what you're talking about."
"I'm not giving up on you, silly." Then he smiled just to show her that he would still want to teach her tomorrow even if they last for two more hours.
"But you said it yourself, you're tired. It means that I'm just so thickheaded that you couldn't even explain something to me no matter how hard you try."
"I'm tired because I've work all day and I haven't had any dinner yet." He sighed. "Maya, I'd be more than glad if you go with me again tomorrow to explain our lessons further. You're not thickheaded, you were very eager to listen but unfortunately, you didn't get anything at all. But don't worry, I'll still teach you tomorrow." He said that to comfort her because she was being too pessimistic about her self again but she just frowned even more and fixed her things.
"You don't have to give me white lies to make me feel better. I know—"
"Those weren't lies." Then he gazed at her seriously to show that he meant what he said. "You have to believe more in yourself; you know you're not stupid."
She smiled at him—well, he is right. "Thanks, I guess you're right." She replied.
--------------------------------------------------
For the big great fact that Mitsuomi already left her, to easily remember him this was truly disturbing for Maya. 'All the blame should go to brother…' she thought. And besides, it was him who asked her if she still had her ex's number…
'It's long over…why think about him?'
Maya continued typing the handouts anyway since the other teacher should edit it first before giving it to the students. She had no time to look back and remember more of what happened to her last year in High school. It was the sweetest, and also the most painful.
"Maya-chan," Mr. Dedu called. Dedu-sensei was Maya's homeroom teacher when she was still in High school; he taught English. "How did it go?" he asked the same question kintaro-sensei asked a while ago. She told him the same thing that she almost made it but it was okay since there was always the next school year.
When he left, she continued her work until lunch time. There were three messages from Emi Isuzu, asking her how her "promotion" went. She told Emi the same thing and Emi thought that it was a fine decision since Maya still had to work on how to discuss a lesson with perfection.
And thus, the day carried on. Work was different from study—and this, Maya found out once she sat on that desk in the faculty area. Unlike being a student, you had less freedom, you couldn't cut work like cutting classes, and sometimes, she had to do a lot all at once. She rarely proctored a class because of an absent teacher and what she did most of the time was to write the handouts and check the papers.
As the clock neared five, she had her things ready, her computer was shutting down, and she was trying her best to finish checking the Quiz papers. Then, the unthinkable happened.
Souichiro Nagi called her on the phone. Her own ring tone startled her so much that the straight checkmark that she did on the paper suddenly became a crooked one.
"Hello?" she greeted. Souichiro and she became great friends and he was the first one who cheered her up when she realized that Mitsuomi wouldn't come back. He was the only one who knew besides her brother, how far her former relationship with Mitsuomi went. Their friendship continued and it even got stronger when Maya finished college at the age of twenty-one. By that time, Souichiro was in third year high school; and that was also the time Aya and he became classmates. Later on, by the middle of the school year, she became his girlfriend. Right now, they're both in college. But Bob Makahira was there too, of course.
"Hey, Maya-san. How are you?"
Maya smiled and said, "I'm fine, Souichiro-kun. How about you? Aya?"
Souichiro laughed. "We're ok here. I heard what happened there a while ago from Shin-san. I'm sorry…but at least you're still going to be a teacher next year."
"Yeah, I'm fine, really. "
….
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The silver phone rang again, but this time, it wasn't on the wooden breakfast table. In frustration, the man threw his phone away. He fixed his collar, ruffled his hair a bit, and stopped outside the sliding glass door. Hell, he didn't care what kind of job they'll give him. He just wanted to be here.
He knocked and a smiling face greeted him warmly inside.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"I was really nervous a while ago, Souichiro-kun." Maya said. She was still talking on her cellphone with Souichiro
"Really? Well at least you didn't mess it all up..."
"Yeah, I was scared. But it's over now. Anyway, is Aya's—" Maya was cut off when she thought she saw some outsider enter the faculty room but it was only Mr. Dedu she saw.
"Is there something wrong?" Souichiro asked on the other line.
"No, no…I just thought I saw someone, never mind."
….
After five more minutes, Souichiro had hung up and Maya continued to finish checking the quiz papers and when she looked up, the familiar green-haired man that she could recognize anywhere was suddenly just three meters away from her desk.
A small helpless gasp escaped her lips. Her emotions suddenly spilled out and she didn't know what to do. Mitsuomi was here, and she…she didn't know what to do!
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
I owe everyone an apology for updating really late. So, what do you think so far? Does the fic suck? Haha. Please review because it'll really help me to improve the story. ILY all! Merry Christmas!!