Chapter 12

When It Rains

He woke up to see an embossed ceiling. The grand design that filled the ceiling was all he could see. The newly risen sun had just crept into his room. "Why am I here?" He thought to himself as he sat up. He then saw a familiar Post-it on his bedside table. He then took a while to look at it and just shook his head in disbelief. He slowly made his way out of bed, he knew where to go.

He didn't bother knocking; he just opened the door with caution and entered. "Why?" the young boy asked as he saw the still figure that was laid on the King-sized bed. "I'm asking you--" his raised voice was cut by a few calm words, "You wouldn't want to know why…" the figure on the bed said. "I would, more than anything… he's my father…" then the figure sat up to see a clueless Kai.

"Back then, your father had a dream Kai, it was to create the world's greatest Beyblade, simply that… but then I told him it was a stupid idea, it was after that moment he decided to leave you and everything else to fulfill his dream." Voltaire said as he stood up from his bed and opened the drawer of his bedside table. "He's waited his whole life for this… I guess that's all… but just as he was about to take it, something held him back, so dear to him he could never replace it for anything." Kai's eyes began to well up with tears. He didn't want to believe he was the reason for all this.

"So it's…" he was cut, "Because you liked to play that game of yours… why he wants to this. He wants to put a smile on your face and help you to get there…" Voltaire said as he looked at the graduation picture of Susumu that he always kept.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, in the late night, a woman was praying, praying that whatever her son would decide, he would know that he decided it and whatever it was he was going through, he would stick to his decision and let it pass until it was over.

A tear then ran down her cheek. After so many years, she saw her son and now he had to leave once more. It was painful for a mother to see that he would leave again. Then, the doorbell rang. She came to answer the door and a familiar person stood there.

"Is this the best thing to do? Isn't it too late for him to do this?" she asked the man that stood at the doorway. "He wants this, my dear…" he said as her head fell onto his shoulders and her tears just kept flowing like a river. "I don't want him to do this for some reason, it sounds so dangerous… going around the world with a friend only living on whatever it is he packed inside his backpack…" she said, her voice about to burst. "He's much older than before, he knows better now…" he said as his hand caressed her back. "Still… he's my son…" she said, her voice frail. "He's my son as well…" he replied.

As Kai lied down in his bed, with his eyes wide open he began to think about his father. He's done so much sacrifices, leaving everything, adjusting to a new lifestyle, and so much more; and here he was, trying to hold his father back. He never thought about it, but somehow, he knew that yes, he was holding his father back. He wanted him to stay so badly, nobody could blame Kai; he hadn't had his father for quite some time now.

But on the other hand, he couldn't say he didn't want his father to do what he wanted. He was doing it for his very own son. Then, the rain began to pitter-patter on the roof. He then stood up from bed and opened the curtain and saw the harshness of the rain. As each drop hit the window, he suddenly saw his life before him. He didn't think he was dying, why would he?

He then opened the door to the veranda and stepped barefoot onto the wet marble. The rain then hit his face, it felt relaxing, soothing. It was like being washed of everything; memories, actions, one's being. As the rain fell on him, he felt something warm in the cold, something that ran down his cheek. His hand then traced it and he labeled it as: tear.

"Why do I keep crying? Ever since he jumped into my life again, my emotions seemed to go on a rampage. Grandfather has changed as well. Everything changed since he popped out again. Everything…" Kai thought to himself as tears kept flowing. He didn't feel guilty of crying this time. The rain must've washed the guilt of crying away as well. He seemed to escape at that moment.

He then opened his eyes to see a dark Tuesday sky and rain the fell from the sky. As he escaped from the world he knew, he suddenly felt a crashing feeling. Like there was a wave that crashed against him; and he was falling. He didn't know what to do, but somehow, he didn't want to say again.

He didn't like that feeling of being lost. He guessed that was what his father brought along ever since that night in the mansion. He thought he was acting childish about this, he thought he needed to grow up, he thought of so much. He was elusive, to others, to his family, and surprisingly, to himself. He just wanted to know so much, he wanted to think of so much, when all the answers were right in front of him all this while.