Chapter 15: Reminiscence
Chapter 15
Nino guessed his message didn’t get through to Ohno when he reached home. He had sent the message after he left his workplace. He asked if it was okay for him to have a private tour in his gallery after work. His intention was to seek for more information regarding Yuu. He wanted to know if Ohno had subconsciously portrayed his interaction with Yuu in the portraits as Tomo. He glanced at his keitai. It was already 8.30 pm.
Nino startled when his keitai rang suddenly. He dropped it on the carpeted floor, eyeing it suspiciously when it stopped ringing. Just when he reached for it, his keitai rang again for the second time. Nino answered the call immediately when he saw the caller was Ohno.
“Hello?” Nino heard Ohno’s voice at the other end of the line.
“Hi…” Nino answered as he sat on his couch. “I didn’t expect you to call.” That was obviously a lie.
“Uhm…I .. was… I kind of neglected my phone today. I only saw your message after Jun kun reminded me to bring it home. Sorry…”
“Oh I see. I thought that maybe my message didn’t get through.”
“Oh no! It got through. I was happy to know that you wanted to visit my exhibition.”
“So, do you think if it’s okay for me to do so? I hope I am not giving you any trouble regarding this.”
“No, it won’t be a problem. I had already talked to Jun and he agreed. But…”
“But?”
“We had moved mostly the paintings in my studio. And it was not that organized compared to the exhibition, so…”
“It’s ok,” Nino interjected. “I am fine with it.”
A sense of contentment washed over Ohno. He couldn’t help but to feel a light-hearted. “We can go now if you want. I have the keys with me.”
“Ok.”
There was a sudden pause in the other line. Nino could sense that Ohno was hesitating. “Ohno?”
“Uhm…”
“Yeah?” Nino continued to guess Ohno’s words. He soon figured out what the older man wanted to say when he heard those three words.
“I can’t drive.”
Nino burst out laughing. “I know.”
“So…”
“I will come pick you...” Nino glanced at his clock, “… around 9.15,” Nino replied as he grabbed his coat and car keys. “But first, you need to treat me to ramen.”
***
After a short trip to the ramen stall, both men had their stomachs filled. They didn’t talk about the nightmare that Nino had the previous night. They kept their conversation light as they drove to Ohno’s old studio which was a 45 min drive from Ohno’s place.
“We are here.” Ohno switched on the lights and brought Nino into his old studio where he kept his paintings. “Sorry about the mess. We wanted to move these to Kyoto.”
“Kyoto?”
Ohno nodded. “My next exhibition will be held there.”
“When?” Nino asked as he moved to inspect some of the works. Most of the paintings were flora and fauna.
“Next two weeks, I think. After Jun finishes all the paper works,” Ohno led Nino to another part of the studio. “Let me show you my favourite pieces.”
Nino followed him, not minding the fact that Ohno was holding his hand, leading him to another room where he kept his favourite art works. Ohno’s eyes were shining brightly as he talked animatedly about his works. He showed Nino’s his many sculptures and one that he made after his mother. It was amazing as the details were intricate and Nino saw a lot of resemblance of Ohno with his mother. There was even a photo of his mother being placed side by side the sculpture. Before he could give his compliments to him, Ohno had disappeared into a smaller room. Intrigued, Nino went to join Ohno.
Nino watched Ohno took some of his paintings from the shelves and started to place them near the walls. “Is this your working place,” Nino asked.
“Yes, sort of. I did most of my work here but I worked at home too.” Ohno told Nino. “Be careful of the shelves, I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Nino made his way carefully to Ohno. He could see that this room was some sort of a storage room with hundreds of scrolls lying on top of the shelves.
“Didn’t you show all your works to the public?”
Ohno shook his head. “Some yes but some I kept here. Jun and his team picked the best that represent me as an artist.”
Nino identified with one of the painting entitled Sakura. “This,” Nino said with smile. “I remember this.”
Ohno beamed. They moved closely together as the room was small. “What about this one?” Ohno asked.
The next one was an old traditional Japanese house. Nino took a step closer to observe it. There was a line of purple hyacinths at the front porch of the house. Purple hyacinths. Nino could almost smell the fragrance emitting from the painting itself. He had dreamt of those before. Did he?
“I didn’t have this one on the exhibition. Jun said it looked far too normal. I guess it did.” Ohno told Nino.
The next one in line was a pair of fluttering butterflies. One of the butterflies had its wings wounded whereas the other one was in perfect shape. Intrigued, he turned to ask Ohno for an explanation. But the next painting caught his eyes. It was The Lady.
Yuu.
Ohno turned to watch Nino’s reaction. “What do you think of her? I believed you seen her before in my exhibition.”
Nino walked towards the painting he saw in the gallery. The Mermaid. “She was pretty,” Nino said. It was Yuu. Nino could see that Ohno had painted her exactly the same way he saw in his dreams. “She was pretty.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you think of this then?” Ohno deliberately pointed the mole on the lady’s chin. He saw Nino unconsciously covered his own chin as he admired the painting. The lady was dressed in a snow white kimono, with a sakura hairpin on her headpiece. The lady was graceful but one could see there was a line of tear streaming down her left cheek. Ohno didn’t have this showcased because it was personal to him. He didn’t even show it to Jun.
“Why did you draw this?” Nino asked, ignoring the little stabs of pain he had when he saw it.
Ohno turned his attention towards the painting. “I don’t know. It was supposed to be her wedding day but she looked sad.”
Nino was confused. “Her wedding day?”
“I know this sounds weird. But I got this inspiration after I woke up one day in my office. I just couldn’t shake the image off my mind so I put this onto my paper.”
“No, you are not weird.” Nino said quietly. There were times to he wrote what he felt from the dreams into the lyrics he composed. “You are not weird at all.”
But what if I told you that I think she was you? Will you say the same thing too? Ohno pondered as he watched Nino silently from behind. He had moved away from the kimono lady to another painting. The painting he had been working on this afternoon. In his hurry of meeting Nino, he had forgotten that he had left the painting to dry in the room.
Nino stopped to stare at another painting. The paint still looked fresh and new. It was a painting of him.
“I took the liberty of painting you. I thought of giving this to you as a gift, I…” Ohno explained.
“Thank you. It was very nice of you to do this,” Nino said. He wasn’t sure if he should make up an excuse to run or face the artist. Nino was worried. The feelings he had for Ohno was clearly eating him up the first day he met him at the recording studio. But still, why couldn’t he be honest with Ohno on how he felt? Was this purely his or Yuu’s? In the midst of confusion, Nino accidentally walked too close to the shelves where Ohno placed most of his old painting scrolls.
“Watch out!” Ohno shouted and pulled Nino closed to him. He made sure the scrolls didn’t hit him as he had Nino pinned to the nearest wall. “Are you all right?” Both of them asked at the same time.
“I should have found a better place to keep those…”
“I am sorry about your paintings…”
Nino found himself staring at the brown almond shaped eyes he saw in his dreams. His breath hitched when he realized how close he was with Ohno facing him. He could even smell his cologne mixed with light tobacco smell.
Ohno didn’t move an inch. He was taken by the beauty of Nino’s face when he had him so close with him. He found the beauty mark on his chin and unconsciously he had brought his hand to Nino’s jaw. He touched the mark lightly on the chin. Ohno wanted to do something more. He moved his thumb a fraction more and traced Nino’s lips.
Nino closed his eyes. What are we doing? His lips parted slightly as he felt Ohno’s thumb tracing his lower lip. Nino wanted to move, wanted to push Ohno away from him but there was something that he wanted from this. What do I want? Nino opened his eyes when he felt Ohno’s thumb left his lips.
Words were no longer needed when Ohno cupped Nino’s cheek lightly.
I wanted to kiss you.
And Nino let him.
***
“Missy, he’s here.” Yuu’s maid helped her out from the small opening of the garden’s wall. “Please be discreet.” There was fear in her maid’s face.
“I will.” Yuu assured her.
Tomo was waiting underneath the sakura tree. His eyes lighted up when he saw Yuu. There was a bandage on his head. Yuu reached out to touch his face.
“Did my dad do this to you?” Her tears streamed from her eyes. “He promised he wouldn’t.”
“Yuu, please listen to me.”
“Let’s elope. I can leave right now. We can go anywhere…”
“Yuu! Please listen!”Tomo raised his voice slightly. “We have to stop.”
“Stop what? Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t want my family to get hurt because of our folly and I don’t want you to get hurt either.”
Tomo’s face and voice became serious. Yuu hated this all this grown up thing their parents made them listen to. All she wanted was to have Tomo by her side. Yuu took Tomo hands into hers. His hand was big and rough. A contrast to her pale and delicate snow white skin.
“I am a farmer’s son. I don’t know how to speak nor act politely. I have to work in the field to earn my wages and yet you…” Tomo sighed when he watched Yuu’s eyes filled with tears. “Yet you were the one that I fell in love with since we were children.”
“Was it wrong for us to be in love? Was it so important if we had different social standings?”
Tomo shook his head. “We…”
“I want to be with you forever and ever. In this life and the next, and the next and the next,” Yuu confessed. “Just don’t leave me here.”
“I…”
“Let’s run away together.”
***
Their kiss was sweet and languid. But at the same time, it evoked so many memories of Yuu and Tomo in Nino’s head. Nino felt confused on how he was supposed to feel. He should be happy because he had stopped fighting his own feelings and yet he felt guilty at the same time when he thought of Yuu. Why am I feeling this way? No, I shouldn’t…
He must put a stop to this before they got carried away.
Nino willed himself and pushed Ohno away from him. Ohno looked confused for a moment as Nino stepped away from him. “I…I will tell Jun to fetch you,” Nino told Ohno.
“I…" Ohno said quietly. He wanted to say more but Nino didn’t let him. Nino left without saying anything else.
***
AN: Sorry for the late update! I will try to finish this asap! it will get pretty angst after this.
Btw, i will be moving my new fics to my new community soon. You are welcome to watch and most posts will be public. Membership are only granted to the selected few.