The tranquil sound of the waves splashing towards the shore reverberated in the area as Georgina and Giovanni walked on the seaside—letting the cold yet calming chilly winds brushed on their body while their hair dance along with it.
Despite the rowdy atmosphere nearby, the two maintained their undying silence. Georgina remained her eyes on the ground as she followed every footsteps he left while Giovanni keep walking ahead and staring at the vast sea. Not until out of the blue, she stopped from walking and stared at his broad back whilst smiling a bit. She didn't move or spoke a word. Georgina was just looking at him as if she remembered something from the past.
But it only took a second before she recalled an old memory as Giovanni turned to her direction with those innocent face and vague smile.
It's exactly the same scene in the past. Same place, same time and same position. Everything was just like that day.
'Gia, shall we go back here once we decided to broke up?'
It's those words that made her heart skipped a beat as she avoided his gaze and tried not to shed a tear. She couldn't help but tightened the grip on the strap of her sling bag.
'He knew it,' there's no doubt about it.
All his sudden actions, the way he changed his attitude in a second, and his calm demeanor throughout the entire time they spent earlier, he knew it.
"Why are you just standing there, Gia? Is there any problem?" He asked.
"N-no, I don't h-have."
"Come here. There's a part on this place that gives off a beautiful view of the sunset. Hurry up before someone else took the spot."
"Hmm..."
She continue to followed him until they reached the rocky part of the seaside.
It's mostly at the end of the seaside. There's no one around and the rocks are quiet huge and slippery. Compared to earlier, you could clearly heard the raging splashing of the waves towards the rocks.
Giovanni went ahead first before helping Georgina to climbed up, so she wouldn't slipped down. But as they sat on the top, Georgina's eyes widened—mesmerized by the irreplaceable beauty displayed in front of her. The orange sky engulfing the sky as the sun was about to set down, it reflected on the sea as if there's an aesthetic painting presented right in her eyes.
A rare peaceful and cozy atmosphere for her since she went back in the country.
"This is beyond my expectations." She said.
"You look satisfied, it's good. I thought you won't like it."
"It's really a good place to rest, I mean here."
Another silence filled the surroundings, you could only heard the voices of those people nearby and the waves that kept hitting the rock back and forth.
Without knowing, Georgina caught a glimpsed on the man sitting beside, but he was just staring at nowhere with those phlegmatic gaze. In fact, she don't know what's going on or what to think anymore. Since earlier, memories from their past kept coming back like a film on her head. Nostalgia, guilt, or regret, she doesn't know the feelings she had right now.
It's just painful.
Amidst the thoughts running in her mind, she got startled when Giovanni's gaze met hers. She unconsciously looked away as a tear fell on her eyes.
"Why did you do it, Gia?" Giovanni asked.
"D-do what?"
"I mean calling off the wedding between you and that man, Henrick Jung." He said. "This past recent days, I thought a lot of things and this question pop out on mine, 'why do we need to end up like this?' I just wanted to love you, but why I can't forgive you? Maybe, it does hurt a lot. Everything that happened between us since your mother came, it hurts me a lot."
"V-van..."
"Don't apologized. Yes, I got hurt and my family got involved. We lost a lot of things because of you. But, I still have my family and friends to rely on." He said, chuckling. "So, while I'm watching my family during the New Year's Eve, a thought came to me. Where are you? What are you doing? Are you alone? Are you cold? I don't have any idea what are you doing since you vanished after the incident that happened between you and Kiela. Warren wasn't with you anymore, you called off the wedding with Henrick, so you probably won't stay there and your father wasn't here in this world anymore. You're afraid to be alone, so you must be crying all the time."
No words came out from Georgina and just listened to him as she looked down with those tears on eyes.
It's the first time that Giovanni showed his honest feelings and worries towards her. They always fought and blame each other, but his words today hits different from Georgina's perspective. Maybe, she knows him well enough to understand that those words he uttered will never be branded as lies.
"You know, the day when you run off during Kiela's birthday... It's the day when you received a bad news about your father, right?" He asked. "When I saw you cried, I wanted to run to you, but my pride won't let it to happen. During his wake, I stayed outside and watched you. But luckily, Henrick never left your side. That man... Seriously, I hate him but at the same time during your downfall I'm thankful that he's on your side and reassuring you. I couldn't be with you, so I only did what I can."
"W-what do you mean?"
Giovanni smiled. "You don't need to know whatever I've done."
"Van..."
"Gia, you sacrificed a lot for my sake. I blame you with everything that happened to me and my family and you took it. You took all the responsibility even if it's not your fault. Revenge. I wanted it so bad. However, if that revenge would ruined you, I think we should give up. There's nothing in this world that I want to see so bad more than your genuine smile. Let's give up and let your mother win."
"No. I don't want it." She said, clenching her fists. "I don't want that evil witch had her last smile. She's the last person I wanted to smile. Van, let's just try agai—"
Georgina gone speechless and dumbfounded when Giovanni abruptly pulled her to a tight hug. It made her bursted out crying like a lost child as she hugged him back.
"You've done enough, Gia."
"N-no... I still can't do anything for you to forgive me."
"Time. Time will heal us. Maybe, not now but in the near future. We've done enough and hurt each other more than we could imagined. I don't want to make you cry, it hurts. It hurt so d*mn too much."
"Van... I-I'm sorry."
"I don't know what's happening all of a sudden, but I had a gists of what's about to happen now." He said. "I knew I told you I don't want to see you smile or be contented, but not to the point that you'll sacrificed your existence for the sake of bringing everything back to normal. You're not going to leave in exchange of this date, am I right?"
A vague smile formed on Georgina's lips. "O-of course not. I told you, I'm rebelling against that evil witch."
***
The sun completely went down as darkness filled the sky—emphasizing the white-yellowish luminous moon that shone brightly behind the million sparkling stars.
Under those beautiful, picturesque scenery, you could only hear the cries of cicadas engulfing the deafening silence in the area as well as the faint sound of the vehicles from the main road. Georgina, who was sitting on the swing slightly bent her back as if about to lie down whilst holding tight on the side of the swing and move back and forth without saying anything.
She was just looking up and sighing deeply.
After they took some pictures and walked around the seasides, Giovanni brought her to an old playground near the school, an elementary school in precise. He didn't gave any information why he wanted to go to that place, they just went on and left her for a moment.
The day was almost over. They didn't do anything special but to follow their couple bucket list for an entire day and had a deep conversation on the seaside. Even though they didn't brought it up again, those words they told to each other still lingered on her mind. It's as if repeating continuously and trying to analyze it over again.
Amidst her deep thoughts, she noticed her phone vibrating, so she took it out and answered without looking on the screen.
"Hello? Georgina Alvarez speaking..."
"Are you having fun?"
A familiar voice of a man answered which made her chuckled. She heaves a deep sigh and looked at the sky again.
"I told you not to call me. It's my date with him, you know..."
"The man you're still in love with? Did you fell harder as you spend the entire day with him? How about me?"
"What can I say about you? All I could think was him. I'm too cruel to say this to you, but lying won't do anything good for us."
"Tsk. I know."
A brief moment of silence came in between them, only Georgina's long, deep sighed could be heard.
"Are you having a hard time? Do you realized something? You can just tell me while I'm not busy." He said and chuckled.
"Can you listen to me even if it's too cruel for you to hear? I'm just being selfish here and I really knew it more than anyone."
"Just tell me."
"I... I love him. I still do. The way my heart beats around in his simplest action and the way he looked at me. D*mn, I don't know how to calmed down." Georgina said. She tightened the grip on her phone and stared on the ground. "B-but... I'm gonna lie to him again. There's no way I could say those words to him. Not now and even in the future because... We decided to let it go today."
"You're really honest on that part, what could I even say on this situation?"
"I-I'm sorry."
"Nevermind. Between us, you're the one who's having a hard time here. Besides, it's not like I'm not part of that pain you're feeling no—"
Georgina's eyes widened when someone from behind took the phone to her and answered it before she could heard everything Henrick was about to say.
"Of course, you're one among many people who hurt her. I'm not the only one to blame here, you know?"
It's Giovanni. He was glaring intensely at her which made her looked away and gulped in nervousness.
"I didn't expect to hear your voice, man. But, what's with your tone? Are you still holding a grudge on me?"
"What do you think? Of all people that surrounds Gia, you're the last one I want to see hurting her. I'm not holding a grudge on you because of what you did to me, but I'm doing so because you made her cry." He said. "You keep breaking your promise to her, and I'm always the one who encountered it. The one who took the responsibility, but also the one who won't gain anything."
"H-huh? What are you saying? You're talking like we knew each other for such a long time."
"We are."
"W-what?!"
"Don't call and disturb our date. You have plenty of time, but I only have today."
"H-hey..."
Giovanni ended the call before Henrick could speak a word. He heaves a deep sigh and give the phone back to Georgina, who's face covered with shock and confusion upon hearing his words.
"V-Van, what do you mean about those words you uttered?" She asked.