Chapter 20
Your Song, Our Song
“Where have you been?” Elizabeth’s voice seemed to reach the heavens, the moment she saw her daughter approaching.
Sophia, blank and quiet, was not able to respond to her mother right away. Her mind was somewhere else, and she could not stop thinking of him.
“Sophia, are you listening to me?” Elizabeth kept on, her blood’s boiling point elevating. “What’s happening to you? Are you sick or something?”
Sophia’s thoughts of Jericho were disturbed fully and finally, when her mother’s voice became angrier and louder. Then, she looked up, at her mom, still zilch of words, and floating.
“Tell me if you’re not interested anymore in this art class, and I’ll tell Ms. Bun!” Elizabeth stressed. Her disappointment was extending all over the place.
Scared stiff, Sophia immediately showed her interest and explained that something distracted her. It was followed by consecutive apologies, but in two minds, (for she debated with herself if she had to reveal her encounter with Jericho to her mom, or not).
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, feeling persuaded, to some extent, and in due course, forgave her daughter. “All right. Let’s go home now. I’ll call Ms. Bun later.”
Sophia managed a nod and walked with her mom, until they approached the parking lot. As the car moved, Jericho appeared through the all-glass windows of the building, with a steady and passionate stare at her side of the car.
Sophia looked at him, too, and felt so out-of-herself until they arrived home, before lunch.
A symphony of catering sounds came from the kitchen, and they found Philippe cooking.
“Honey, what’s the occasion?” Elizabeth eyed Philippe interestingly, sensing the smell of pasta, cooking.
“Oh, I think we should celebrate Nadine’s newly-found talent.” Philippe displayed boundless excitement. “I’m cooking pasta by the way, and later, I’ll mix it with arugula pesto and grilled chicken.” Then, he made a move to kiss Elizabeth and saw Sophia’s silent presence, from behind.
“You’re home, so early?” he asked Sophia.
Sophia stayed shut, showing no intentions of responding.
“Nadine’s quite easy to teach piano today,” Alex, who was hidden when he bent down to get cherry tomatoes from the fridge, meddled.
“Nadine just learned to play the piano. Only the basics, but not that bad,” Philippe supplemented.
“Oh, that’s impressive! Where’s that little pumpkin, by the way?” Elizabeth glanced around.
“She’s upstairs, having a nap. She must be exhausted after long hours of straight practice,” Philippe answered, with small laughs.
“And she’s kind of difficult to teach and really complains a lot,” Alex incorporated, snickering.
While listening to them, Sophia noticed something vibrating inside her bag. She excused herself and discovered that it was Jericho’s cell phone. He was calling.
Reluctant, Sophia cancelled his call.
To her surprise, it vibrated again.
Afraid that she might get caught, Sophia went directly to her room and decided to answer it there.
Accepting the call without leaking out any word, Sophia’s lips trembled. She did not know where it would lead her, but Jericho’s wary and hopeful voice made her go on, with the call.
“Hey!” Jericho repeated for the third time.
At a standstill, Sophia still couldn’t recover from her lock-jaw.
“I called to check if you’re already home. How are you there? Are you alone?”
Silence continued to be Sophia’s response. She was still hesitant, not sure if she wanted to go on with what they had already started.
“Sophia…”
“No, I’m not alone. I’m with... my family.” Finally, Sophia said something.
“Oh, that’s good.” Jericho made sure he sounded easygoing.
“Why are you still doing this?” Sophia suddenly dared to ask him.
“Doing what?”
“This thing that you’re doing. I don’t remember anything about you and—”
“And what, Sophia?” Jericho was very fast in stopping her from talking too much, fighting for his chances with her.
“I’m not sure of who you really are, to me…” Sophia murmured, and it just sent Jericho to the grave.
A moment of stinging silence passed.
Then, a very heavy sigh was heard by her. She could feel his heavy-laden breathing, through the phone.
“Sophia…?”
“Yes…?”
“Can we meet? Today, if possible? I just want to clarify some things.”
“I’m afraid I can’t. My family… is celebrating my sister’s new… achievement.”
“Ah, Nadine!”
“You know my sister?” Sophia’s tone, at last, became enlivened, manifesting signs of interest that ignited Jericho further.
“Sophia, I know everything about you and… I’ve known you all my life.”
Upon hearing it, right away, it submerged Sophia into a puddle of questions. He knows everything about me? And he’s known me all his life? How? Why?
Noticing that he was slowly pulling Sophia into his magnet of hopes, Jericho took control of their conversation, immediately. “I also know you have a brother. His name is Alex.”
Astounded all the more, Sophia now began to accept his claims as true.
“You want me to tell you more about you, Sophia?” Jericho progressed, not circumventing, so as to grab all his chances: to make her believe in him, to compel her, to get her back into his life.
Sophia turned quiet. Not a word was spoken by her, for a full minute.
But Jericho sensed it as that kind of silence, everytime she was confused or troubled.
“Tell me when I can call you again,” Jericho asked, after a while.
“I don’t think that’s a good—”
“I’ll call you around nine tonight!” Jericho quickly said, not allowing Sophia to refuse. He needed to avoid words, that were too impossible to bear. “I hope you answer my calls. I love you. Bye now,” he suddenly concluded.
Sophia leaned against the wall and slid her back, downwards. She found it hard, really hard to identify those things jumbling in her thoughts. She felt worn out into shreds, until something kicked her in the head to read her diaries: to know more of the past, and to see if Jericho was really what he said he was, in her life.
Going through her diaries, she noticed this one that seemed older than the others, yet it appeared very special and intriguing. She opened it and by chance, she read the parts in which she wrote many things about her life in Forest Green.
Dear Diary,
I was bullied in school today. I was hurt by Beatrice and her friends but Jericho came and warned them. He is in high school but he’s always there, waiting for me outside our school building. He asked me if he could walk me home and I agreed. He had his guitar with him.
Along the way, he started to make me merry with his romantic songs. His voice was very pleasing. I was touched when he started singing the song he wrote. He told me that it was for me.
I heard the lyrics and they were very striking endearing. For the very first time, I felt like someone cared for me.
We stopped by the mango tree and he told me of his jokes. They were really funny! He made me laugh, Diary. We were laughing, singing, and dancing. He was like my compass everytime I found myself lost, because of the cruelty of the world around me.
He’s so sweet, diary. He’s so sweet. But grandma, she never likes him. She always reminds me to avoid him. If only she knows how I feel so protected and so valued, everytime I am with him.
Love,
Sophia
Sophia could hardly stop her eyes from brimming with tears. She didn’t know that she was actually unhappy during those days. But she saw a folded piece of white paper attached at the back of the page. She opened it and saw a hand-written song, with guitar chords. It was untitled.
Sophia could not help but truly get emotional. She turned the white paper over, and saw another handwriting. It seemed like it was a poem.
Your eyes, blue as the wide ocean;
This suffering deep down my soul fades away;
Your presence calms the wild waves of my seashore;
Fulfil me with your tender love, I pray;
Those words coming from those tiny lips;
Flourishing elegantly as purple tulips.
Take my hand tonight, my darling;
Forbid it not for I’ll be sighing;
Let me fly you to the moon;
Dance and sing so soon;
Darling, your yes that I ardently desire;
Grant me tonight and I am in seventh heaven.
Sophia was put to a stop when she heard a knock on her door. It was her father.
“Honey, the food’s ready! Please, go downstairs now,” Philippe called out, and quickly went back downstairs.
Sophia quickly closed her diary and pressed her eyes shut, for a moment. She took her time hiding the diary under her pillow, and headed for downstairs.
Seeing her family settled into their respective seats, Sophia hurried to join them, as the welcoming bearing of her father speeded her.
“Hey, Soph! I just learned to play the piano. I wanna be the female version of Beethoven,” Nadine shared with glee.
Sophia brushed away her sadness and turned all of her attention to her sister. “I’m happy for you, Nad! I hope someday you’ll teach me.” She made sure the bliss glanced off, when she said these words, and sat opposite to Nadine.
Nadine shrugged her shoulders with swarming confidence. “Sure, sis,” she guaranteed and forked the pasta, long enough, and that left some pesto pasted around her mouth.
“Right! And next time, avoid too much complaining, okay?” Alex intervened, and stretched Nadine’s cheeks, out of his combined fondness and thrill for her. Finally, a family member would be joining his gang of musicians. He wished Sophia would join it, too, but he knew it was far from happening. Sophia was more into painting, something that he and Nadine were absolutely worthless at.
“Ouch! Okay, fine! You don’t have to stretch my cheeks, though.” Nadine struggled to peel his brother’s hands off her flushing cheeks. It was as if they were super glued, and they were difficult to remove. “Please, stop now. I mean it. It really hurts,” Nadine pleaded more.
Alex just chuckled.
Philippe and Elizabeth were overjoyed to see their family complete and happy again. Their eyes drilled into each other, and full of relief.
When they were done eating, Sophia helped her mom clean the table while her father and siblings hopped into the living room to watch their favorite game show.
“Honey, next time you feel distracted... call me or your dad, okay?” Elizabeth smoothly talked to her. “And what distracted you, anyway?”
Sophia fell still for a moment, and thought of things to say.
“Sophia…” Elizabeth rang a bell in her. “Are you having flashbacks?” Now, Elizabeth faced her, looking more serious.
Sophia bowed her down but her mom leaned her face forward, to examine her eyes.
“Tell me what distracted you,” she repeated.
Hesitant, Sophia chose not to tip out any detail.
“Sophia, honey, you have amnesia and you must understand that I am trying to help you.”
“I know, Mom, but…”
“But what?” Now, Elizabeth’s voice raised a bit.
On the verge, Sophia wanted to escape the situation. She knew she wasn’t geared up for what could happen, for how her mom would react once she let the cat out of the bag, that someone from the past was coming on the way.
Irritated with speculations flashing in her eyes, Elizabeth spoke again. But this time, with a moderate voice. “Have you met a stranger today?”
Sophia’s steady look at the floor continued. It seemed like she was slapped straight onto a sea cliff and rolled back into the sea, and then was slapped again. Seeking for courage, she opened her mouth but nothing emerged.
The frown in Elizabeth’s face deepened. “Sophia, I asked if a stranger approached you! What’s happening to you? Goodness!”
Sophia stayed wordless, shaking her head, brooding over the thought: what if her mother had any idea about her encounter with Jericho? Meeting her mother’s eyes, there were assumptions. What did I just get myself into? Oh, God… Sophia thought as her lips began to tremble.
Elizabeth got her jaw up, her eyes still punctured into her daughter. “I understand you don’t want to disclose anything to me. I’ll do the dishes. Get upstairs now and take some rest.” Elizabeth was frustrated beyond doubts, that her queries were left unanswered.
Sophia followed her mom and went upstairs. To temporarily remain silent about Jericho was a smarter choice, she thought, but a guilty feeling left her hanging on a ragged rope.
That night, while observing herself in the mirror, Sophia’s mushrooming track of thoughts about Jericho was distracted by a call. She thought it was him but it was the other cell phone that was ringing. She galloped for it and saw Zarah calling.
“Hi, Sophie! How are you?” Zarah’s greeting was deafening, with a pleasing feature. “There’s a party at Monique’s! It’s her birthday! She just called me and asked if we could go.”
Taking in her lively way, Sophia livened up her tone, too. “Really? But... she never told us ahead of time. And how’s Europe, by the way? You returned early.”
“Oh, Europe’s fine. Dad suffered from an extreme form of food allergy in Copenhagen so we came back home too early.”
“I see…”
“Anyway, Monique told me that it’s actually sudden! You think Alex could go?”
“Um, I’m not sure! I’ll go and ask him.”
“All right! Call me later, then,” Zarah concluded, like greased lightning.
Sighing, Sophia went to her brother in the living room.
“Cool! I’m going.” Alex was relieved that something was about to break his boredom. “How about you? Are you going, too?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hey! You’re going, okay?” Alex did a lot of gestures just to convince her. “You need to get out of the house, sometimes.”
They endured exchanging words when Elizabeth saw them. It seemed to her that they were planning something, something close to trouble. As a result, she sprinted, to ask them.
“We got invited to a friend’s birthday party,” Alex hoped but the objection was readily relayed to them through their mother’s shaking head.
It was further confirmed when their father said no and told them, instead, to stay home for the night.
“But Dad?” appealed Alex.
“No, son. Don’t push me on this.” Philippe’s mood turned quickly into a stone. “You just had your accident and I don’t want it to happen again,” he stressed, in tons. His eyes were clearly flickering red warning lights.
Elizabeth supported her husband and begged the two to be cooperative. “Please, give us time and space to recover from everything that happened.” Elizabeth pleaded, her voice echoing with heaps of unsettled problems, as she massaged her forehead again and again.
Sophia felt stricken. But for Alex, attempts to escape suddenly bordered on his mind.
“Just join Nadine tonight! I’ll let you watch the TV until dawn but you have to promise me that you’ll never escape tonight, understand?” Philippe warned solidly, his gawk concentrated entirely on Alex as if he had already detected his schemes.
Alex, though very much disappointed, agreed to his father. He grabbed the TV remote control and switched the game show to ESPN.
Nadine promptly complained and made a move to get it back, and Sophia was there to reinforce her gutsy act.
“I’m the eldest and you must obey me!” Alex bragged.
“You’re so unfair, Alex!” Nadine countered. “You’re the eldest and you must know how to give way to your younger sisters!” Nadine pointed out further, on her way to snatching the remote control again.
Alex was even more watchful so he was able to distance it a meter away, and it now enraged Nadine to the max.
To calm her sister down, Sophia offered to help her go to bed early.
Like a kitten scraping her claws before a dog, Nadine gave Alex a pointed look and obeyed her sister. And then, they turned their backs on each other, in bitter blood.
Sophia accompanied Nadine to her room and helped her prepare for bed. Soon, she realized that it was almost nine. Jericho was probably calling now. Though there was an impulse of eagerness that travelled through her every nerve, she was too quick to block it. Stop it! Remember, you’re still uncertain of him.
“Sophie,” Nadine, all of a sudden, talked.
“Yes, Nad?”
“Are you going to sleep now?”
Nadine’s cute voice made Sophia pause from covering her with a blanket. “Not yet,” she muttered, getting the fact that she might be asking for some favor: reading her some fairytales, perhaps.
“I miss you. I miss you tickling me because of my nasty jokes about you.” Her digging up of memories was not expected by Sophia.
Lifting her head up, Sophia joined her on the bed and palmed her sister’s aroma-scented hair. “I wish I remember them, Nad. I’m sure they’re really funny.” She inserted a small laugh, in the hope of turning her sister’s grimace into a smirk.
It was quite effective. Nadine not just smirked. She actually had a louder laugh and she even shared how Sophia got annoyed by them.
“Really? You drove me mad by your mean jokes?” Sophia asked in disbelief, on the move to grab Nadine’s chin and shake it from side to side.
“Yeah! Trust me, Sophie, you’re easy to piss off!”
“That I don’t believe.” Sophia shook her head kiddingly and kissed Nadine on the cheeks. “Goodnight now, Nad,” she whispered smiling.
“Why too soon?” Nadine shrugged her shoulders in protest.
“Um, it’s just that… you need to sleep now so you’ll grow up very fast and exceed my height,” Sophia expounded, and she knew she couldn’t admit that someone was actually calling her by now.
Exhaling a tank of dissatisfaction, Nadine nodded and whispered back her goodnight.
Sophia forced a smile and provided her sister with an ephemeral look. She turned off the lights and left by the time Nadine finally closed her eyes.
Sophia already missed a thousand of calls, all of them from Jericho. The second the cell phone vibrated again, Sophia was on-the-lookout to answer it, without any delay.
“Hi!” Jericho greeted.
“Hello…”
“Guess what?”
“What?”
“I’m outside your house. Will you look out the window, please, so I can see you?” Jericho implored, yet somehow managed to sound very demanding.
Although terribly tense, Sophia managed to look out the window and saw a strange car parked a few meters away from their gate.
“Why are you here?” she asked, jumpy.
“I just wanna see you tonight.”
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Sophia countered, when Alex suddenly opened her door.
“Who are you talking to?” Curiosity crawled under Alex’s skin, noticing how his sister stood by the window as if someone was outside their house. “Is there someone outside?” he asked, elongating his neck to look through the windows.
“Oh, Alex!” Sophia was startled and unintentionally stopped Jericho’s call. “It’s just that...” she tried to explain, accompanied with a slight shaking of hands. “Um....” Obviously, she was stumbling.
“Is there someone outside?”
“Uh...”
Alex, by now, was near the windows, but Sophia suddenly stopped him and attempted to change the subject matter by stressing that he didn’t knock.
“There’s a door for you to knock, Alex! Why not knock?” she laid emphasis on, stiffening her back, so as not to appear nervy.
Outside, Jericho wondered why the call ended, all of a sudden. He pressed call again, but a man’s shadow surfaced through the windows. It made him assume that it was Alex’s. The moment he was a bit certain, he started his car and left, discontented.
“I want to go to the party,” Alex admitted to Sophia.
“Alex, dad and mom will get mad...” Sophia groaned, drooping her shoulders, in anxiety.
“I need you to cover for me.”
“What? No!”
“Just do it!”
Still, Sophia seemed unmoving.
“Please, Alex... I don’t want mom and dad to worry about you again. Remember, you’ve been arrested!”
“Okay, I get it! Thanks for your help, anyway!”
Seeing how Alex sighed, in his failed mission, Sophia immediately apologized. “I hope you understand.”
“But you know what? You’re right! Why not stay home tonight?” Alex turned things around, scratching his head. “By the way, how’s your art class?”
“It’s... fine.”
“I see.” He lifted an eyebrow, a perfect arch, and let a rush of air come out from his mouth. “You sound sad. Are you sure it was fine?”
“Um, I guess so.”
“Put a smile on, sis! It’s turning you ugly! You’re even uglier than Ugly Betty now!” Alex played some fun and left her, laughing.
Sophia sat on her bed and wondered if Jericho had plans to call her again. A second went by and the cell phone went vibrating again. Answering it, she rushed to the bathroom so no one could hear her.
“Was it Alex who entered your room?” Jericho confirmed.
“Yes, it was Alex.”
“What did he tell you?”
“A friend of ours is having a birthday party tonight, and mom and dad don’t want us to go. But Alex… he wants to escape.”
“I see. How about you? Do you want to escape, too?”
“What? No! I knew you would call me and I....” Sophia was saying when she realized she sounded cheap. She wished she could take those words back right away, feeling she would die of shame, but it was actually a feeling of relief, for Jericho.
“And what, Sophia?” he asked, revealing excessive delight.
“Nothing!” Sophia was fast in denying. Afterwards, an awkward silence controlled their talk, leaving only the hammering sounds of their hearts, that reached up to their ears.
“Sophia…?”
“Jericho…?” Finally, Sophia spoke again.
“Yes, Sophia?”
“You know I have amnesia, right?” Unsure, Sophia got up the courage to ask him.
“Yes, Sophia. I promise I will do my best to help you.” The way he delivered it, sort of rushed in, flooded through the four chambers of her heart, and extended beyond her spine.
Sophia managed to be grateful.
“Anything for you, Sophia.” Jericho made sure safe haven manifested in his voice. “I guess I have to say good night now!”
“Why?” Sophia asked, but she flushed the instant she realized she had made it obvious she wanted to prolong their conversation.
“I suppose you need to get some rest now,” Jericho carried on.
“No, I’m not that… tired.”
“Are you sure?”
Goodness, I can’t believe I just said that! A very cheap response! Oh, God! Sophia squeezed her eyes shut, in shame, and immediately changed her mind. “You know what? You’re right! I should be resting now!”
Jericho smiled on his end of the line, feeling over the moon at Sophia’s obvious desire to talk to him, some more. At last, thank Heaven, he was slowly dragging, her back to him, and he couldn’t believe it was all happening now. His long wait was almost, finally over!
“So, is it good night now?” Jericho wanted to conclude before distractions and other things could stumble upon them.
“Um, yeah…” Sophia bit down on her lower lip, battling the discomfort of her stupid feedbacks.
But Jericho strove to tell her one important thing. “I love you…” he murmured in a soft, moving voice.
It was something that neutralized the acidity of her embarrassment. Those three words from him instantly went down into the core of her soul, and it took her about half a minute to make progress. By the time she realized she needed to give him a response, she whispered back her good night, and ended his call, smiling.
