Page 45

Shiro Tanaka

S oulmates, they say, are not always preordained or doomed to be lovers. They can just be friends— two souls who amidst the chaos and field of anarchy, managed to carve an entire galaxy into each other’s lives.

The relationship between Shiro and Veronica is like that of two souls connected by a single thread. Yes, they love each other to death—yet not as lovers do, but as kindred spirits, a twin flame that never burns out.

They vowed to always be there for one another. The world has always been far too vile for one to wander away without the other.

And this promise, they have so kept no matter how many times a disagreement almost caused them to fall out. They were always there for one another.

But today. No, lately, Shiro has been feeling like he is starting to fail in that department. He knows. He pays too much attention to his soul mate not to know that she has not been herself lately. Or wait, she has never truly been herself. All those smiles on cue, that bright personality like her world isn’t crumbling, have always been just a mask. Maybe this is her true self, the part where she is no longer in denial and accepts that deep down, she is unraveling.

Even though she has been stuck in an abusive home for years, Veronica has never for once made it so blatantly obvious. Her eyes were always shining so bright, and her smile, ever rivaling the stars themselves.

But those bright forest eyes that breathe life have been dead lately. Of course, she smiles, alright, but they don’t reach her eyes anymore. Her shoulders are always sagged, and she is always lost in thoughts, as if her body is here but her head is in a different universe, a very dark and troubling universe. Her lips would be in a grim line and her brow would furrow, as if she is reliving a bad memory, as if there is a war happening in the universe her head is stuck in.

And she has always been a sharp-minded girl, even if not the best in the entire school. She was always quick-witted and always excited to get the teacher’s question right, but she has become so dull in the past few days. She doesn’t answer questions again, and when she does, she doesn’t get any right. She is the school’s English whizz, the best in the entire senior class, but yesterday, the script came in for the test they took the day before and she scored poorly, below average, almost as low as Jeff Beckham, the boy that always scores the lowest in English…and every other subject.

She moves around like a ghost, so inactive. And Shiro can count how many words she has spoken in total for the past four days.

He has tried to get her to talk many times but to no avail. She is hurting, and it isn’t a mystery because he can feel it, too. After all, their souls are connected.

He just wants her to open up, to share her sorrows with him. He might not be of much help but he will listen. He will always listen and offer comfort.

“It’s mom’s birthday today,” Shiro says, trying to get a feeling of excitement out of her. She always loves being around during his mom’s birthdays. The woman tends to go all out to make it fun with lots of food and many things to entertain yourself with. He has no clue if this will help but he is at least hoping to get a positive reaction.

“She said not to come back home without you.” His mother didn’t really say that. She did say to make sure her daughter from another mother was invited. But he is hoping she will respect his mother’s call. Since he hasn’t been able to get through to her, maybe he isn’t wise enough. Maybe his mother, with her wisdom as an adult, knows how to talk to a teenager going through some sort of shock, grief, or depression.

Shiro really has no idea what his best friend is going through. But there is something else. Something seems to have been happening bit by bit and suddenly came all at once and knocked her to the floor.

Something happened in the last few days. Shiro has no idea what that is. But he knows very well that it’s connected to a certain someone.

“So…” He trails off, hopeful eyes zeroed on Veronica as she just quietly continues to walk next to him, two textbooks cradled to her chest, yet her lips have refused to utter a word.

“I d-don’t think I can make it.” Her voice is quiet, lacking cheer and color, a mirror of her empty eyes.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.” He tries harder, playfully nudging her shoulder with his like they always do to each other. “She’ll really love you to—”

“I’ll just call her and apologize.”

For the first time since they left their last class for the day, she lifts her gaze to him, and the light that usually glints every time she looks at him is not there anymore.

Shiro’s heart aches because of her pain that she possibly can’t understand herself. What if he loses her to the darkness dragging her into its abyss?

His mind flashes back to her so-called boyfriend. And his jaw clenches, his anger toward him sparking in his chest like a forest flame.

He came out of nowhere, like all devils do, and took advantage of the fact that she was desperate for someone to truly love her, not as a friend, for he was sure he gave her that, but as lovers do. She wanted a promise, a person that would stay forever. She has searched for that in every possible man, even the most ridiculous relationship she has ever found herself in, and they all failed her.

Then he came in. Ticked all her boxes, so fucking good to be true, he gave him suspicions. But she was always happy when talking to him or about him. Like a cartoon character, his name literally makes heart shapes pop in her forest eyes.

He couldn’t be so pessimistic and ruin her happiness. So he had no choice but to accept him.

Shiro has no doubt in his heart that he is responsible for this. He just doesn’t know what exactly he is doing to her. And he doesn’t understand too, why she is so protective of him, afraid of him, refusing to let go of him.

He is bad for her. She can see it too. But she said she can’t leave him. She said he won’t let her.

Who is this man? Shiro thinks again. He has been thinking for months now. And against her knowledge, he has tried doing a background check on him using the help of his mother’s security company. But for some reason, nothing much was unearthed. All they see is what he has told her— to a businessman, a medical school graduate, and a Russian Marshall.

But Shiro knows there is more. More which has been protected by a strong firewall.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Her quiet voice pulls him out of his train of thoughts. His brows furrow. The plan was to drop her off at her home.

“Sorry?” he asks, scanning her face. But her eyes are directed at something else ahead.

“I have to go with him.” She nods her head at the object in her line of vision, and he follows her gaze to the black-tinted car parked a few walks away from them.

The sight alone and the idea of the man inside that car make Shiro’s blood boil. She makes an attempt to take a step, and Shiro’s hand shoots out, grabbing her wrist.

“Stop,” she says, and Shiro notices the fear in her voice and in her eyes too. As if she is afraid that he is holding her. But not afraid of him, but afraid for him.

“You don’t have to go with him.” Shiro feels a wrench in his heart seeing her eyes tear up.

“Shiro, please.” Letting her books drop on the floor with miscellaneous thuds, she pries his fingers off her wrist. “Please, let go.”

“Vee?”

“He will hurt you,” she whispers, and his fingers finally loosen as he stumbles backward, stunned, confused, alarmed.

“Veronica.” His voice is barely above a whisper, eyes wide as he watches bend over to pick up her textbooks.

“I’ll call you later.” She glances back at him, and to ease him, she forces herself to manufacture a smile, waving at him.

Shiro stands in the middle of the parking lot, incapacitated and helpless, as his best friend walks earnestly to the car. A soldier pulls open the door to the backseat and she hops in.

As the door shuts, Shiro feels his soul leave his body. He feels as though he has lost something or is about to lose something.

Whatever that is, he isn’t sure.

But he will take anything, anything at all over losing his best friend to that dark.