When was it that they met?
Ayde didn’t have to think too hard. It isn’t the intelligent way his mind works, mapping memories in easy access catalogs with labels as bizarre as scent, color and sound.
Her memories were etched deep inside him the moment they met all those years ago; she was an exchange student on a two-week field trip and the way she glanced through him that gave it all away. He was smitten right there and then and his world was turned upside down until she returned again during the monsoon season. It was then everything truly began and ended tragically on his behalf.
He had relationships before, girlfriends that came and went. Despite his academic achievements, he was one sought for by all the pretty girls in town. Mind you it was a small student town but there were plenty to pick and choose from. His family stature gave him an extra edge and he has always been one to socialize whenever given the chance. There was nothing he couldn’t do; he was young and free as everyone else, a star student with a cosmopolitan facade to boot.
But Sia -
She was something else entirely. Plenty of exchange students had crossed his path though none had her wit, the way she looked through people like an open book and glanced through every pages as if she fully understood. He knew she did; oh there was no fooling him. When she left the first time there were no vows exchanged or promises of tomorrows. Her return was a surprise that caught him offguard and when she left again, he found himself begging for Heaven’s mercy while frantically tried to find means of being with her again.
If he were to describe her then, she was like the fresh morning dew that fell on his hands and feet, cool as she was beautiful, and gone by the rising of the sun. Her acceptance of him was absolute; she even knew before he realized how futile his feelings were for her. Despite his wit and charms, he could never overcome his family and what they had planned for his future. It devastated him how she understood so well and left him torn and cold in the rain.
But she returned as she always did, full of surprise and caught his heart offguard once more. He decided to give it all to her, he wanted her to be the first in his life. He remembered telling her that she may not be his last, but he wanted to remember her for the rest of his life. The breaking of her heart broke his too and that was the last time they ever saw each other again.
Until now.
