Chapter 101
9. On the Edge of Paradise
The sound of a child’s laughter returned to the small village on a fall day when the marigolds were in full bloom. The child’s bare feet were always dusted with beach sand, and wildflowers were tucked beside their hair.
Today, right after lunch, the child wandered up to the field stretching behind a quaint little house. Their round cheeks blossomed into a bright smile.
“Martina!”
Hearing her name from somewhere, the child peeked out from a sunflower patch taller than herself. Spotting the woman approaching from afar, she waved happily. Like all common folk of the lower class, the child had no family name. Just “Martina,” a name that seemed to bless the fruit of this love.
“Mom!”
The woman, pushing through the brush, crouched before the child and gently tapped her small nose. The chubby nostril was smudged, probably from playing with dirt for some time.
“We’ll have even more laundry today.”
The woman’s affectionate teasing made Martina giggle, puffing up her cheeks. Her eyes resembled her father’s, while her delicate eyelids reflected her mother’s features. It was a truly pretty face.
After fiddling with her hands for a while, the child held out something. A ring woven from bright yellow flowers in full bloom.
“I made this for Mom and Dad.”
The woman smiled warmly as she looked at the ring. The breeze tickled them both as the scent of blooming flowers rose from the field. Side by side, they spent a long time building sandcastles and weaving flower crowns.
“Daddy!”
The child suddenly sprang up at that moment, waving her hands with a bright smile like she had when greeting her mother. The woman finally got up and turned around. Behind the man sitting atop a saddle on a horse, the sun was gently setting.
The woman gazed quietly at the scene and suddenly thought of the boy who once stood bathed in sunlight.
All the moments of love, hatred, resentment, and longing slowly faded away like the evening glow, drawing the day to a close.
“Here we go.”
The man, having dismounted, gently lifted the child onto the saddle. Then, wanting if to walk side by side, he took the woman’s hand. She smiled softly and said to him,
“I don’t want to walk. I want to ride.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll carry you.”
Above the horizon, the sun was already spilling its daily light, and the waves swayed gently. Everything was as it had been yesterday. Ordinary, yet beautiful.
“What’s the name of this flower?”
The child asked, tapping playfully with her toes from atop the horse. Just like the day she was born, yellow flowers were blooming abundantly across the field. The woman quietly recalled that memory and spoke softly,
“That’s called a marigold. When you were born, a lot of them were blooming just like this.”
The child murmured the name quietly with her small lips. Each season, the flowers bloomed again, always staying in the same place.
It was a fate one couldn’t avoid, even if they tried to resist time. An inevitability that would never change in the future. Just like the two people standing hand in hand here now.
The child smiled brightly, watching her parents walking closely beside her. Her plump eyes curved neatly in delight.
“Hm, I heard every flower has a hidden meaning. Does this one, too?”
As the child tilted her head with curiosity, the man and woman’s gazes met. Ten years had passed, and another ten were to come, yet no matter how much time flowed by, they always looked at each other just the same.
“…Someday.”
“Happiness that will surely come.”
Every moment that had passed and every moment yet to come were fate. Like the returning winds with each season, like the two holding hands tightly now.
The three shadows slowly disappeared into the setting sun.
The mysterious sky, visible only at this very moment, followed their backs.
A time when light and darkness longingly embraced each other.
– The End
Hello, thank you for reaching the end of ’10 Year’, I know it still feels like there are plot holes and unexplained stuffs, tbh there was no more stories like after stories to explain it. I didn’t really realize it at first, but I did reread the whole thing again and some things pop out even more. Perhaps the author forgotten some plot that was intended in the start or something else.
In my opinion, it did get better near the end when the plot singles out.
Again, I really appreciate the time taken to read this book 🙂
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