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A fierce storm breaks out all over Fontaine, howled, the rain continues to rain, long and persistent. The sky shatters, forming a thin fog layer on the gloomy glass window. The court of Fontaine at night is roaming with the wind, the storm has lasted for a long time, accompanied with the fierceness that causes many activities to become stagnant. Freminet is no exception and he has to stay indoors for the whole week. Despite how much he’s craving to be hugged by the warm ocean water, he knows only fools would go diving in this weather.
Freminet disfavors the rain and storms. Stormy weather brings back old memories, about his childhood, his mother. Everytime he has a recall about those bad collectives, the urge to vomit all of his dinner to the ground grows bigger.
“..Hydro dragon, hydro dragon, please stop crying..”
Murmurs to himself, within the thunder concomitantly hit his eardrum, the headache grows worse. As expected, another sleepless night. Just as the young man is thinking about going out to change the atmosphere instead of sitting in his room frustrated. Charlotte’s voice echoed outside the door, softly, with a light knock.
“Freminet, are you still awake?”
Freminet opens the door, facing her eyes, suddenly feeling strangely peaceful. All of his previous thoughts also disappear and resolve.
“Maybe tonight won’t be that bad.” He thought to himself while listening to her voice, softly whispering stories for him to forget about the storm outside and the pain in his muscles every time the sky roars.
Charlotte seems worried. Every minute past, she’ll raise her head and look out the window, with her hands holding his, gently twirling his fingers and then tilting her head, welcoming him with a warm smile.
Freminet wants to laugh at her expression, wants to comfort her, wants to tell her not to worry too much about him. But at that moment, a thunderclap echoes straight down, causing a moment of panic in the room. Charlotte quickly gets up from her seat, letting go of his warm hands. But the warmth doesn’t disappear, he can feel it enveloping his ears and a familiar scent fills the tip of his nose. Swallowing all the words he was about to say, Freminet stays quiet, suppressed by the noisy heartbeat of his.
Slowly opening his eyes, Freminet was stunned to see her face appear right before his eyes at that distance. The only thought in his head is how lucky he is, to have Charlotte here.
Another wave of thunder, lightning streaks across the dark room, hitting her cheeks and his eyes. The dim, dazzling light isn’t enough to light up the whole room, but it was enough for Freminet to see the tension in her, even though she has her eyes tightly shut and her lips pursed. Yet, she still didn’t forget to protect him like a kind of loving instinct, from the heart.
Little does Charlotte know, her small hands were not enough to block out those scary sounds outside the pouring rain. But her rush to soothe even the pain that had not yet bled made Freminet feel joy. Peace. Radiantly passionate.
Oh, how could I express all his love for you at this moment, my dear? “Charlotte, how loveable are you?” Even the sound of her breathing is softer than anything, so gentle that it has a bit of earnestness that makes people bewildered.
and Freminet keeps drowning in it.
Freminet didn’t have time to realize that he had hugged her. Charlotte’s hand confusingly lets go of his ears because of the sudden hug, but his heart keeps screaming, like a child. Naive and foolish, hastily holding onto what he cherishes for fear that it will disappear. He hugs her, tightly, as attached as tomorrow will be the day they aparted.
Lessons that he learnt from the past brings him peace. But is it peace or is it the longing misery that still silently gnawed away? Half of a person’s soul dies when they are lost, unable to find a place to call “home”, to return to. Freminet used to be like that, when he kept waiting for the same old day, waiting for the rain, waiting for his mother to come back.
There are so many regrets in life. Freminet himself only wishes for a true “family”, and when he reaches his goals, he wants no regrets. So that he can see the sunset clearly before his eyes, set foot on distant hills, his lungs filled with the scent of burning grass. But he keeps wandering around, even though the House of Hearth did provide him a shelter, a place to return. His heart feels unsatisfied. The beautiful sunset, the gentle wind, a few steps on the flower field and the whole area is immersed in love. He will temporarily forget all the years of sadness but will still be sad when the night comes, feeling empty in his heart, seeing the stars in the sky far away. And then, Freminet will remember about the rain.
Charlotte is not like a shower, nor a persistent thunderstorm. The shower quickly came and went, it melted away somewhere before it could completely soaked his shoulders. The thunderstorm is too intense, not like her at all. Charlotte is much gentler, endlessly absorbed. Yet the drizzling rain is not like her, even if it's a dull gray tingle with a bit of shyness and brooding, it also can’t compare to her.
His eyes were sobbing, thinking, perhaps, she sounds more like the ocean after the rain. When everything is quiet, the sunlight shines and the cool steams make people’s hearts no longer noisy. She soothes him in every rain, makes him longing after every rain, between every rain.
At that moment, his heart wonders. How did those rainy days pass, how did he experience these thunderous days before meeting her? Holding his diving helmet, wandering around the Marcotte station with his eyes gazing toward the court of Fontaine. Sometimes, he would find a shelter at the Poisson town or just jump directly into the Salacia Plain, trying to ignore all the dizziness each time the thunder rumbled. For someone like Freminet, it’s not a very painful or miserable memory. But now, he feels regretful because he didn’t find her sooner , to hold her in his arms. Even when that seemingly non-existent sadness came back to suffocate his lungs, Freminet breathed a sigh of relief on her thin shoulder, realizing that there was this warmth, he didn't want anything more.
Humans are truly greedy, selfish creatures. Freminet thought as Charlotte responds to his unexpected hug without a word or question. Sitting in her embrace, his arms nurture the hopeless desire, desire for Charlotte to understand his feelings.
Freminet does not consider himself as a passionate or ostentatious lover, but the enthusiasm shown through small gestures cannot fool anyone. He, himself also realizes that he has clearly fallen that deep for a girl. It’d be impossible for him to lie that he has no feelings for the reporter.
Because, every day, when he wakes up, Freminet will find himself at ease when he sees her smiling picture next to his pillow. Because on a full moon night, no matter how beautiful the moonlight is, it still couldn’t compare to her shining eyes. Because on those hot afternoon sun, her glowing smile while holding bunches of flowers he gives her.Today could be Rainbow Rose, tomorrow could be Lumidouce Bell, and the day after, he could give her Lakelight Lily. But no matter what flowers she received, all the flowers will fall from the fists of fear to decorate her beauty.
Charlotte gently holds all of his secrets, Freminet is no longer sorrowed, or his sadness has lessened a lot. He looks at her, directly in her jade eyes. Sincerely grateful to have met her.
“I love you so much, I just wish for you to understand even just a small part of my feelings for you.” But Freminet didn’t say those words, he swallowed them down his throat, shutting them deep in his heart. And let out a small “Thank you.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll always be here for you.”
Freminet cheeks brightened up, a smile forming up on his lips while he is burying himself in stupid infatuations, drunk in passionate love stories.
He loves her so much, between all the scattered feelings he has gathered, he only loves her. She is not as bright as the sunshine out there, but she is the peace that he has been longing for for so long.
That’s it, Charlotte places a light kiss on his soft blonde hair.
“I think the Hydro Dragon will stop crying soon.”
Yes, he will. Since you’re here with me.