Of Ambiguous Nature
Taichi: Since I have no significant part in this story, Mizzie said that I could do the disclaimer.
Everyone else: Get on with it then!
Taichi: Mizzie doesn't own Digimons or Aupres Cosmetics (it's a real company) and she apologizes for not updating her other stories.
It is near midnight when Sora left Mimi's engagement party. The stars twinkled and shined; a beautiful contrast with the dark blue sky. Suddenly, the smell of roasted chestnut embraced her senses. It has always been able to give her such a warm and happy feeling.
She nearly laughed when she saw the man selling chestnut, he must've been psychic, roasted chestnut is exactly what she wanted right now.
"Would you like some roasted chestnut?" The man asked smiling at her warmly. "It is in season right now and they are absolutely fabulous." He added.
In season... It was so many years ago, in Italy and the chestnut was also in season.
That year, the Odaiba choir group got invited to Rome to perform, their song wasn't that spectacular but nevertheless, and the people of Italy enjoyed the Japanese music. The day after the performance, as the sponsor promised, they toured Rome. The city was congested with tourists and everyday people rushing about on scooters and bikes. Other than the ancient buildings, there wasn't much that caught Sora's eyes. It was almost surprising when Sora realized that she has been staring at the Fontana di Trevi so long, that everyone from the choir were gone and the only one left beside her is Yamato.
It was just when she felt panic rising inside of her, her nose instinctively captured the smell of roasted chestnut. Beside the fountain, there was an old man selling chestnut. She never realized that she could find roasted chestnut outside of Odaiba. Its sweet and nostalgic aroma made her forget about the panic and about the fact that she was lost in a foreign city. Mayhap she deliberately wanted to be separated from the group...
"I want roasted chestnut." She turned around and told Yamato.
He nodded, and like a true gentleman, paid for the chestnut. Then, the two of them decided to sit by the edge of the fountain and nibble on the snack while awaited for their group to come back and find them.
"Do you remember what the tour guide said, that if you face away from the fountain and toss a coin over your left shoulder; you will one day return to Rome?" Sora asked as she fumbled through her pocket to find coin and tossed it over her shoulder and into the fountain. She looked at Yamato expectantly as she handed him another coin. He sighed as he took the coin from her hand and also thrown the coin into the wishing well.
"What did you wish for?" Sora asked softly and was surprised to see Yamato starring back at her blankly.
"It is after all, a wishing fountain. Right?" She explained herself. True, no one has ever said that Fontana di Trevi was wishing fountain, yet somehow etched in her memories, somewhere in Europe, there's a wishing fountain and it may as well be the Trevi Fountain since she doubt she will see another fountain during the tour.
Yamato gave an exasperated sigh a started taking his shoes off and paused at seeing Sora's look of disbelief.
"I am going to find that coin and do it again. Although I don't believe in the whole Fontana di Trevi stuff, but since I am doing it, I might as well do it properly."
Sora laughed. His answer amused her enormously. "You are not a person who likes to do things in halves are you."
"Actually," his answer came after a short pause, "I just don't like to settle for second best. That's all." Yamato grinned at Sora childishly.
"Well, what you are planning to do is disrespectful." She scolded him softly and placed a hand on his shoulder to emphasize to stop him from his action.
"I am sure if you do it again sincerely, the spirit of the fountain won't mind." She held back a chuckle and handed him another coin.
"Spirit of Trevi Fountain eh?" Yamato teased. Nevertheless, he made a wish before throwing the second coin into the fountain. Yet he remained silent and starred thoughtfully at the fountain long after.
Sora, unnerved by the silence, decided to be one to break it. "So what did you wish for this time?" She repeated her question and never expected an answer. After all, wishes aren't meant to be told to anyone else.
"I wished that the woman who had captured my heart and soul would marry me one day." Yamato said and starred straight into Sora's eyes and gave a hopeful smile.
Sora's heart fluttered and she blushed slightly. For a moment there, it seemed that Yamato was proposing to her. However, her logic told her otherwise. Their relationship has always been ambiguous. They valued each other and cared deeply for one another. Yet they danced indecisively between close friends and lovers.
She broke their eye contact abruptly and turned away from him. "You know what I wished for?" It was a rhetoric question, for she continued with her answer immediately, "I wished that time will stop right now and everything will remain as it is right now. So beautiful, carefree and full of hope."
It wasn't a rejection. Then again, Yamato didn't make a direct offer to her. Somehow, in their ambiguous nature, contrary to Sora's hope, something definitely had changed.
She felt Yamato's smiled falter slightly and when she gathered enough courage to turned around to look at him, he seemed to be a lot older and more mature.
They sat in silence and wallowed in their indecisiveness until the tour guide found them and lectured them about their irresponsible behavior and the duo apologized profusely and promised not to do it again.
For many years after that incident, they remained close friends. Neither of them gave another any indication that they wanted to take their relationship further. Yamato's singing ability flourished and he left Odaiba choir and went on for professional singing career. Sora however, decided that she wasn't cut out for singing and left Odaiba choir to study Business in Harvard Business School. They ceased contact after that, they've both became too ' busy' to remain in contact.
The next time they ran into each other was surprisingly in Rome, in front of Fontana di Trevi. Yamato was looking for inspiration for his new songs and was traveling in Europe. He was meant to leave Rome 2 days ago, yet something felt unfinished and prompted him to stay and come to Fontana di Trevi one last time before he leave for Tuscany. Sora has just finished her degree in Business and was on her way to attend a conference about International Business in London. She had decided to leave for the conference a few days early to visit Rome and have a proper tour of the city.
They laughed at the way fate worked and each offered silent blessing for the spirit of the Trevi Fountain.
"Do you still remember the last time when the two of us was at Fontana di Trevi?" Yamato decided to bring up the past first, for he has been mesmerized in the past for the last two days he sat and gazed at the sculpture of Poseidon featured on the Trevi Fountain.
"Of course I remember!" Sora laughed, "That's one scolding I would never forget. I have always thought that getting lost in a foreign city was terribly romantic and that incident changed my entire notion. How foolish I was when I was 17." Sora sighed contently.
"Then again, I had you with me the whole time Yamato and the experience, although not romantic, wasn't half bad."
Yamato gave a melancholy smile, for that time, he had every intention to take their relationship as close friends further. Perhaps he had moved too fast and scared her off, nevertheless, he wanted her and six years has not changed the way he felt about her.
"That was only six years ago, Sora. I doubt six years could change a person that much. For one thing, I am absolute certain that in secret you still though getting lost in a foreign city is terribly romantic. For another, I am certain that my feelings and wish had not change at all." He gazed upon her and drank in her beauty. No, six years had only deepened his desire for her.
Cautiously, he extended his hand and reached for hers. When she didn't draw back or flinched, he slightly tightened his grip on her hand and that's how the two remained for the rest of the day. Wandering through Rome, holding hands, munching on roast chestnuts and catching up on the past six years of each other's life. Yamato tried his best not to flinch at the mentioning of her past love life and Sora tried not to sound surprised at how little he dated over the past years.
Yet regardless of how intimate they acted in Rome, when Yamato kissed Sora goodbye the next day at the airport, their relationship remained as confusing as ever. Sora wondered whether Yamato loved her or only lusted for her. And although Sora was cordial towards all his advances, her cordiality did not give him any indication whether she saw him more than a friend.
The two remained in contact this time. Apparently, Yamato's Europe inspiration trip worked well and his new album went to the top of the Japanese chart promptly and he moved from his hometown Odaiba to Tokyo where he hoped that could enter the Korean market one day. For Sora, the trip to Rome seemed to rejuvenate her energy and she was soon hired as head manager by Aupres Cosmetics for Shanghai division and she promptly relocated herself to the fast growing metropolitan. It pleased Sora greatly that all the Chinese she had picked up in the past had come to great advantage and she blended in with the people of the city with ease.
A little over a year after their reunion in Rome, Yamato flew over to Shanghai to spend a holiday with Sora. The two of them visited The Bund, and Yamato stared across the Huangpu river at the high rises that symbolized the future, while Sora leaned back on the post and stared at opposite direction; at the remnants of the past.
It was there where Yamato proposed to her. Shocked, terrified and slightly pleased, Sora rejected him, using her work as the excuse.
Yamato laughed bitterly. It was the first time in Sora's life where she saw Yamato so dejected and lifeless and it scarred her. It made her almost regret that she had rejected him. Yet she wasn't ready and he needed to know that.
Yamato remained absolutely cordial throughout his visit afterwards and gave no indication of the fact that he had ever proposed to her.
Yet when he returned to Tokyo, the consequences of her rejection amplified. Their contact became awkward and it slowly ceased. He needed time to recuperate and she understood that.
An ocean apart, they both went on with their life as best as they could and pretended that nothing had changed. Needless to say, things between them had changed and the next time Sora heard from Yamato a couple years later sent her senses into complete shock.
He was going get married, with Mimi.
Sora was invited to their engagement party back in Odaiba and she was further invited to be Mimi's maid of honor.
She clenched her teeth and flew back to Odaiba and smiled forcedly through the entire function, and wished the couple best of fortunes.
The real consequence of her rejection set in then, and she was too late to make any alterations. She had always taken Yamato for granted. She thought that he would love her for the rest of his life and she would not need to give back anything in return.
As the night dragged on, it became more and more unbearable. When she realized that it was close to midnight, Sora quickly excused herself from all the merriness and ran out of the reception as fast as she could.
Chestnuts. Roasted chestnuts. That's what she wanted right now...
Suddenly, a hand was placed on her shoulder and she was pulled back from her reminisce and straight into his eyes.
"Yamato!" Sora cried in surprise, "what are you doing here?"
"You know I am someone who doesn't like to settle for second best." He gave her a vague answer; nevertheless, both of them saw clearly the offer within the answer.
"But what about Mimi!"
"She isn't a person who like to settle for second best either. Apparently, everyone except for you noticed that my gaze lingered only on you." Yamato lifted one of his eyebrows. "Mimi is the one who called off the engagement actually and advised me not to make the biggest mistake of our lives and chase after you."
"She loves you."
"No. She idolizes me. I am everything that she dreamed should be, but I am not her match. She knows that and she knows that I knows that." Yamato shrugged. "We just decided to get married out of the desolation of our lives. I have only loved one person and I can only love that person. You know who she is."
Sora smiled. Ambiguity! She loved it and she hated it. But right now, she didn't quite mind it so much.
"Really! She might just take you for granted." She jested and her eyes twinkled mischievously.
"I am willing to take a chance at that." Yamato grinned as well. "I have a feeling that she had learnt her lesson."
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Say, I would die for some roasted chestnut right now."
"Yes, my princess. But then again, I suppose you could wait until we get to Fontana di Trevi, right?" Yamato winked and Sora caught it right on cue.
"Or I could always wait a little longer..."
Finished!
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed my other stories and I would like to apologize again for not updating them. You see, the word consistency works terribly with my nature and I normally, prefer to write short stories although they tend not to be as exciting as the longer stories sometimes.
Lastly, although I promise I would try harder to finish my longer stories, my writer's nature come in waves (normally during the extremely busy time of exams). So...Well, that's it for now folks.
Mizzie