Elegi Of Rose

Ayu was quiet all the way home and she didn't utter a word to him. She could feel Roy's quiet gaze from time to time but she was just too furious to care. By the time they reached home, she hastily climbed out of the car and stormed towards the house.

It was then and only then that she realized she didn't have a key. He had it and so she waited as he made his way towards the door.

"You're acting like a child, Yu," he said gently as he worked with the keys. She ignored him, looking up at the sky like it was the most beautiful thing in the world. She transferred her weight from one foot to the other, anxiously giddy to get away from him and enter the house and lock herself in her room.

Which she immediately did the moment the door opened.

"Yu, come on, we have to talk about this," he called out behind her. Why did he have to call her Yu every time he was trying to be gentle? Determined not to talk to him and be a mute, she ran up the stairs and banged her bedroom door behind her.

*****

She planned to keep up with the silent war she had started the very next day. At first, Roy tried knocking on her door but to no avail until he got tired of trying or whatever that he finally stopped and was now probably busy inside his office. Good thing though that she had some crackers inside her room and she only went out to get some water or if she really needed to take some air. But she made it sure that Roy did not see even a tiny shade of her shadow.

It was three days after that Ayu felt like she couldn't eat another crumb of crackers. She knew she lost some weight from eating the same stuff but she was too proud to even go to the kitchen and make something.

But right now, as the moon shone outside, she was just too hungry to even care. So, carefully, surely, and quietly, she opened her door and looked across the hall to see if Roy's room was still lit. It was not. He must be sleeping. The heck! He could still sleep soundly knowing his wife was waging a silent war against him? Brushing that thought aside, she tiptoed her way down the stairs in bare foot and into the kitchen.

She opened the fridge and found some raw parts of a chicken.

"Chicken it is," she murmured under her breath. Then, she set to work. She felt like a burglar breaking into someone else's house and now she felt how they felt. Desperation and hunger must have driven people to do such ridiculous stuff, she thought.

She was absently looking at the frying chicken in the pan when her husband's voice rang out.

"That chicken's going to burn any moment," he said, his voice full of amusement.

Ayu was so proud of herself when she did not scream in shock. Maybe, unconsciously, she knew he was there all along. Turning her head at him, she stared before looking back on her current task. And yes, he was right. Her chicken was starting to get a little brown. But of course, she couldn't see that too clearly because she did not turn on the lights.

Roy was standing behind the kitchen counter that separated the kitchen from the dining area, his arms resting on the dark counter. "Still not talking to me? Come on, Yu, this is crazy." She couldn't remember when he started calling her Yu but it was only then that she realized it was the closest thing to an actual endearment.

I'm mute, I'm mute, she reminded herself. If only she could speak to him, she had loads of snide remarks to throw at his face and it would be highly gratifying to see his reaction. But no, she was mute. "There's pasta in the fridge," he said, changing the subject.

Amazing how she missed his voice. But no, she was not talking to him at all.

"I did not make it if that's what's keeping you from eating it," he offered, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "Rin made it and mom took it here earlier today. She looked for you but I said you were out."

With that, she whirled around and went to the fridge. She saw the pasta and sauce in two separate containers. She took them and threw them inside the microwave. Ah, the power of technology.

There was laughter in Roy' voice as he said, "I thought you'll like it." When she did not answer, he said, "Come on, Yu, what are you angry about? I was just talking to Lis about something. Hey, come on," he urged, following her with his head as she took a fork and took out the chicken from the pan. The only sound aside from his voice was the beep of the microwave and she walked towards it, took out the containers, placed them in a tray together with the chicken and started to walk out the kitchen. "Yu, come on..." he tried again.

She was mute, she was mute... She ignored him completely and was just outside the kitchen when she remembered she forgot to take something to drink. She went back, her husband just a meter away looking at her, went to the fridge, took out a bottle of orange juice and water and rushed out once again, back to the stairs and into her room.

He can rot in hell, she said bitterly as she attacked her food alone.

*****

The next day, she received a call from Tori that she had to come to the gallery to see the final touches for her exhibit the next day. She asked her manager to pick her up and she rushed out of the house before Roy knew she was gone. She busied herself by talking to the curator of the gallery and the men who were working on her pieces. She changed, well, almost everything they had already been doing. Tori pointed out laughingly that it was the main reason why she called because she knew she would change things.

The exhibit was themed LIFE and she wanted everything to look just like it. She wanted to make the impression that everything came out naturally and so, she placed some pieces here and there for no apparent reasons-under a chair, on a doorknob, on tables and of course, on the walls. But there was one painting that she carefully thought of and it was the one she had been painting in secret in her room--or in the balcony since she was not allowed to paint inside as what Roy had said. At first, she was hesitant to even include it in the exhibit but Tori said it was amazing and that she should put it on sale. She eventually ended up hanging it at the end of the hall that it was appeared to be the very center of everything.

By the time she got back home, she was feeling exhausted.

"Where have you been?" Roy demanded, his voice painted with irritation and concern.

Yeah, like that he cares, she thought.

He was standing just at the bottom of the stairs. She walked past him without a word.

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"Yu," he grabbed her by the arm and looked into her eyes. Oh, so now she was back to just being Yu.

"I'm tired, I need to rest," she said, her voice flat, and she shook his hand away.

He let her go and she climbed up the stairs.

"Where have you been?" he asked, following her steps.

"Not that you care," he muttered.

"Of course I care."

She didn't really intend to say that out loud.

"Yu, you're being a child here. You've been dragging this thing too long. We have to talk about it." He said hastily before she reached her door. "Tomorrow's your exhibit, right?"

There was something in his voice that made her think she had to answer if she didn't want her words be pulled out from her mouth. So she nodded.

"I'll be there," he said.

"Don't expect you to," the bitterness in her voice was too distinct. She opened her door and locked herself in.

She couldn't break down now. Tomorrow was her big day and she had to be full with energy.

*****

She woke up with a heavy feeling and she knew why. But she brushed those negative things aside, knowing they wouldn't help at all. When she climbed down the stairs to meet Tori who was already waiting for her outside in her car, she did not see Roy. She thought she heard him in his office, probably working.

Yeah, he's coming alright, she said in her mind.

By the time they reached the exhibit, she was back to her own world. She became too busy to even think about her husband. People would be coming in soon and she had to make sure that everything was set. Tori was busy preparing the wines and the finger foods Ayu didn't bother to know what.

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It was nearly five when Rin and Yeyena came and became the first ones to arrive.

"Oh my God, this is amazing," Rin said with awe, looking around the gallery. "I'm amazed, Yu!" "Thank you," she answered with a smile.

"I have to say, Ayu, that you have a great talent," Yeyena said without a smile.

"Well, thank you Yeyena," she chuckled. She knew the lady was just merely being herself.

She toured them around.

"What's that?" Rin asked, pointing at the end of the hall upstairs.

Ayu almost shut her eyes closed. She shouldn't have put up that painting.

"Oh my God, Yu! Is it Ren?" Rin cried out when they reached the painting.

"Yes," she answered. She had chosen to paint the picture she took of Ren and Roy sleeping with the baby sprawled on his chest. It was that time they babysat for Rin. "And Roy," Yeyena said, recognizing her husband.

"This is mine," Rin said. "I'm buying this!"

"Roy looks even hotter in that painting," Yeyena whistled. "Didn't know he can be hot even when sleeping."

"Hey, stop staring at my husband. Your mouth's watering," Ayu playfully pushed her.

"Oh, I need a drink," Yeyena fanned her face with her hand in exaggeration. "Where's the drink?" Yeyena asked.