? Wingless And Beautiful
?EPISODE 8?
When I went to the center the next day, I found Hunter in
the garden again. From afar, I thought he looked anxious.
He was pacing back and forth in front of the bench and I
couldn’t help smiling, thinking that I was doing that to him…
I was making him nervous.
He was wearing a pair of jeans and a dark blue knitted
sweater. His hair was disheveled as always. And I couldn’t help thinking… if he wasn’t blind, would he ask me out at all? Girls in my school would kill for a guy like this.
I walked as slowly and as quietly as I could. He stopped
pacing when I was a few meters away from him. He turned
towards my direction and said, “I was afraid you weren’t
coming.”
“I… took my time getting ready,” I said. I meant that. I
was wearing a pair of skinny tight jeans, a yellow off-
shoulder blouse, brown boots and a white beret on my head
and I spent hours curling the ends of my long hair.
I know! Hunter was blind. But that did not mean I
shouldn’t make an effort to look good for him, the same way
I knew I would if he could see me.
He smiled at me sheepishly and I had to take a silent
deep breath so he wouldn’t notice how much he could take
my breath away. “Thank you,” he whispered. “That meant a
lot to me.”
“So… what are we going to do today?” I asked.
He reached out for my hands and then he intertwined
our fingers.
“I don’t believe you have seen the rest of this place
yet,” he said. “Let me show you around. You would be quite
surprised.”
He led me out the garden, never letting go of my hand.
“You smell good, by the way. As always,” he said.
I smiled. “You not only smell good. You look good too.”
He led me inside the center. We took the elevators to
the right. Hunter moved and walked like a normal person…
well, almost. He knew the place very well. He even pressed
the number ‘2’ button on the elevator quite precisely.
The elevator opened to what looked like a library. We
entered it and were greeted by a woman with gray hair and
thick glasses.
“Madam… we are going to use the game room please,”
Hunter said to her.
“You know your way,” the lady told him.
We entered a room towards the right side and I was
surprised that it looked like an arcade.
Seriously? Inside a library?
There were billiard tables, air hockey tables, and several
video game consoles.
Hunter pulled me towards the third door. He swiped his
access card. The door opened to a small room with a huge
screen in the center wall.
“Voice command activated. Welcome, Hunter Vaughn,”
the computer said.
“One of the perks of being blind. They automatically
activate voice command option for you,” Hunter whispered
against my ear and I couldn’t help laughing. “Let’s sit.”
I pulled Hunter to sit in one of the cozy couches in front
of the screen.
“Game,” he said loudly, commanding the computer.
“What game do you want to play today, Hunter?” the
computer asked.
“Chess. Two players. Hunter Vaughn, black side. Player
two, white side.”
Immediately the screen in front of us changed into a
chess board.
“Display guides,” Hunter said and I saw the numbers
appear on the left side and the letters under the board.
Hunter turned to me and grinned. “I am assuming you can
play chess.”
“Of course,” I said. I even thought I was pretty good at
the game. But I was worried about Hunter. He couldn’t see.
“But you…”
“Will give you a hard time winning this. Watch me,” he
said cutting me off mid-sentence. “Your move.”
I turned to the screen. “Knight G1 to F3,” I called and
then I watched my chess piece move on the screen in front
of me.
Hunter grinned and then he said, “Pawn C5 to C7”.
The next moves we made actually amazed me. I
wouldn’t even guess Hunter was blind. He knew where all
my pieces were… like he was playing them by memory,
which I think was…
Genius! This guy could be a genius!
In the end, I lost. To a blind person! When I thought I
was probably one of the best at this game. He was staring
at me, probably waiting for me to say something. He has an
impish grin on his face that sort of irritated and challenged me.
“Rematch,” I said a little louder. The computer actually
caught that and reset our game. “Knight B1 to B3,” I called
out.
“Pawn D7 to D5,” Hunter commanded the screen.
“Pawn C2 to C4,” I said.
He smirked. “Pawn D5 take Pawn C4.”
I took it seriously this time. I was calculating my moves.
And I knew he was too. Only, he was doing it inside his
head! That was already a huge handicap and that is why I
didn’t want to lose again.
After five minutes, I watched in dismay as Hunter
announced, “Queen D3 to C2.” He turned to me and with a
proud smile he added, “Checkmate.”
I groaned. “How did you do that?”
He stood up from his seat. “Hunter Vaughn, Chess
Master since the age fifteen!” And he bowed left, right and
center. He looked so proud of himself, it made my loss even
more frustrating.
“How is that even possible?” I asked him. “Are you sure
you’re blind?”
He laughed. “I would give everything to see the glare on
your face right now,” he assured me. “And to answer your
question… it’s all about having a very good memory and a
lot of imagination. I was playing blindfold chess even
when… even before I lost my eyesight.”
I buried my face in my hands. “Oh my God, I feel so
stupid.”
Hunter laughed. He went to me and raised his hand,
reaching out for mine. I took his hand and he pulled me up
on my feet. I felt him snake his arms around my waist as he
pulled me to him.
I stared up at him and gulped. I was sure that my heart
was pounding loudly inside my ribcage. I hope he couldn’t
hear it.
“I was gonna wait until the end of the date to kiss you,”
he whispered.
“But?”
He took a deep breath. “I haven’t really been a patient
guy.” And with that, he leaned forward and his lips found
mine with so much accuracy I couldn’t have escaped that
kss even if I wanted to.
His breath smelled like mint. His lips felt like velvet. His
arms were like iron bars, caging me, holding me against his body. I went pliant and helpless. My heart pounded
uncontrollably, and my pulse hammered like crazy.
When the kss was over, I felt dizzy. I was glad he was
holding me. I don’t think my knees would be able to support
me. He leaned his forehead against mine and inhaled the
scent of me. I closed my eyes. I didn’t look. Instead, I did what Hunter did. I felt! I savored the moment without
seeing… without looking.
“What are you thinking?” he asked in a whisper.
I took a deep breath. “That… that was my first kss,” I
replied.
He leaned forward and gave me another kiss. Then he
smiled. “Then you will never forget me.”
“I have a feeling I won’t,” I whispered against his lips.
He gently pulled away from me and took my hand in his.
“Come. I don’t want to ruin this date by beating you in
another game of chess. Apparently, you are not such a good sport.”
“What? No!” I protested, glaring at him.
“And you have a short temper,” he said, laughing. He let
go of my hand. Then he pulled me, wrapping his arm around
my shoulder, hugging me to him and kssing the top of my
head.
Next, he took me to the music room. I got excited to see
all the musical instruments around me.
When my parents
were alive, my life was full of music, happy tunes and
inspiring melodies. My stepfather’s musicality was one of the things that attracted my mother to him.
“Apart from the guitar, what else can you play?” Hunter
asked.
I saw a grand piano in the center of the room. I smiled
widely and then I took Hunter’s hand and pulled him
towards it. I pulled the piano bench and sat on it, telling
Hunter to sit down beside me.
“I’m going to sing and play for you. I’m actually a
frustrated singer,” I joked.
I placed my fingers on the keys and then I closed my
eyes, letting my hands play the notes I knew from the heart.
I sang the song for my mom… for my stepdad and for
Hunter’s mother. The people we held dear in our hearts,
who were taken away from us too soon.
“Spend all your time waiting, for that second chance…
for a break that would make it okay…”
I didn’t realize it but tears were rolling down my cheeks
when I sang. I remembered my mother… and how she didn’t
have a choice but to save my life… how she chose escape
than face the consequences of what she had done to her
soul mate.
I remembered my stepdad, and how he never made me
feel I wasn’t his flesh and blood… how he truly cared for me and provided me with the fatherly love I had craved so
much since I was a kid. And that, had he been himself… had
he not lost his lucidity… he would never have scarred me.
I also cried for Hunter. I understand how he chose to
cave in, and shut his father out. He was angry… he blamed
him for losing the most important woman in his life.
And not only that… he lost the most important gift of God… the gift of sight.
I wanted to comfort him… to convince him not to give
up… to give him even just a little sense of purpose again.
So he would continue his journey… and realize that no matter how much he lost, life was still worth living for… there was still so much in the world that was worth fighting for.
“In the arms of an angel… may you find… some comfort
here…”
I sang the last words and played the last notes a while
ago, but we both seemed to have frozen in time. None of us
spoke. We were lost in our thoughts. I was not strong
enough to speak again. Tears kept rolling down my cheeks
but I refused to make a sound. I refused to let Hunter carry
my burden… because I knew he was already carrying too
much of his own.
“You sing… like an angel.” Finally, he spoke. When I
turned to him, I saw that he was trying his best not to cry.
He took a deep breath. “I feel your pain.
But you are stronger than that. Don’t let your misery define who you really are. You… are an angel to me, Allison. And yes… I do find comfort now. Because God sent you my way.”
He reached forward and felt for my chin. He tilted it up
and leaned forward to kss me.
He tasted my tears. I’m sure
he also felt my pain, no matter how hard I tried to hide it.
Then he pulled me into his arms and hugged me.
I felt him kss the top of my head and inhaled through my hair. We sat there for a while in silence, listening to the beats of each other’s hearts.
I never felt like this before. For the first time, I felt a
sense of thrill… a sense of excitement, coupled with a sense of comfort. Hunter may be blind, but I felt like he saw
through me, pierced through my tough shell, broken through
my bottled-up emotions.
I felt that there was no one else in the world who could see the real me, who could protect me and keep me safest in the world.
After a few more moments of silence, I heard Hunter’s
watch beep. “I think that would be the call for lunch.”
I didn’t know where he was leading me next. But we
entered the elevator again and this time, he pressed for R.
“Rooftop?” I asked.
He grinned. “Top of the world.”
The elevator doors opened and Hunter took my hand in
his.
Carefully, he led me out and then he counted his steps
towards the right. I found a door in front of us and saved
him the trouble of opening it for us.
The door opened to the rooftop pool. “Where to? You’re
not going to push me, are you? I can’t swim,” I said in a
teasing tone.
He raised a brow at me, as if he was really bewildered
with my confession.
“A kick-ass chick who plays the guitar and the piano like a rock star, sings like an angel, and challenges my genius in the game of chess… cannot swim?”
“Well, what do you know? My parents thought music
was a life-saving skill.
I’m sure they’ve been misinformed.”
Hunter took a deep breath and I didn’t miss the trace of
frustration on his face. “I wish I’ve met you before…” He
trailed off. “I would have loved to teach you how to swim.”
I smiled and reached out to squeeze his hand. “It’s
never too late for that. Maybe someday.”
He smiled back at me. “Yes. I’ll figure something out.”
He led me towards the covered gazebo on the side.
I was surprised that the table had been set for two. There was
a waiter there. Hunter felt for the chair and pulled it for me.
“Thank you.” I wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to
do that, but I had a feeling that before he lost his eyesight.
Hunter was raised to be a gentleman. And he needed to feel like he was still his old self today. He needed to feel normal.
That he could still ask a girl out and give her the time of her life. And I realized that I was having the time of my life. I felt better than I ever did in a very long time.
After lunch, we made a stop in the dormitories. He
opened the door of one of the rooms. When I stepped inside,
I found a neatly arranged bedroom. Everything was white.
The bed, the couches, the lamps and other decorations. The
only things that were blue were the wallpapers and the
carpet floor. There was a drum set in the corner.
“You play drums too?” I asked.
He nodded. “It was the only thing I could play after my
accident. Somehow, for the past year, all I wanted to do
was… hit something.” Surprisingly, he said that with
amusement in his voice.
“Won’t you disturb the others in the next room?”
“The rooms here are sound-proof,” he replied. “Just let
me get my guitar and we’re out of here.” Then he grinned.
“I wouldn’t want you to think I have dishonorable plans laid
out for you.”
I actually glared at him and hit him in the stomach with
the back of my hand. “Oww!” he yelped. “I was kidding!”
“Go quick. I don’t want anybody to catch me here,” I
said. “I don’t sneak in to a guy’s bedroom on the first date.”
“Just tell them you couldn’t help it. You find me very
irresistible,” he said in a conceited tone.
“I will tell them you’re only pretending to be blind, so I
would feel bad enough to go out with you.”
“Ouch! You don’t really mean that, do you?”
I stared at his face and I thought I saw pain cross it. I
immediately felt guilty… and stupid!
What were you thinking?
I didn’t know how to tell him how sorry I was for saying
what I said. I guess my time talking to no one else but
Meredith made me a little insensitive.
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