Chapter 8 C W T C H

C W T C H

(Welsh) (n.) a warm, affectionate hug, cuddle or snuggle that gives a feeling of a safe place or home.

Eunae was strolling by the beach and basking in the morning sun when she met a little girl playing in the sand.

After spending days of crying her eyes out in the hotel room, she finally decided to go out and relieve everything she had been feeling. The space had been nothing but suffocating, and she knew she had to go out to breathe. Locking herself in a four-walled confined space almost drove her crazy. She knew she needed to escape.

"Hi, sweetheart, may I know what you're doing?"

Crouching beside the little girl, Eunae wondered as to what must have taken her interest. There was nothing, but millions of particles of sand shaped into different forms, yet the little girl looked way too happy. Too happy that it was almost as if her eyes were shimmering.

"Family."

Eunae furrowed brows before looking down on the abstract figures on the ground, "Oh, are these your family?"

"Yes! Momma, Dada, and Baba!" The girl happily exclaimed, bouncing on her feet.

"Are you that happy?" Eunae asked, quite dumbfounded. "Would you mind sharing what's making you so happy about your family?"

"Because family love."

"What, again? Love?"

The little girl bounced on her feet and let her pigtails whirl with the wind, "Mmm! Love!"

Almost instantly, a crease formed on her forehead as Eunae tried to understand what the little girl meant. She wondered if the child meant she loved her family or if love meant family, and the thought of it alone had her chuckling from within.

As funny as it sounded, Eunae eventually found herself immersed with the possibly answer. It was a simple statement. A very basic response for that matter, yet here she was having a hard time comprehending what it truly meant.

Tilting her head to the side, Eunae continued to grasp for the most possible answer there was, while watching the little girl play with the sand.

She was naively dragging the stick, left and right and back and forth, until she seemed satisfied with the abstract art she did. She was doing nothing out of this world, yet she unbelievably looked jovial, satisfied, and triumphant.

Momentarily dazed, Eunae wished she were just a child again where everything was simple, where the little things could easily make her happy.

A pat on the head to greet her, a vanilla ice cream to lift her up, a kiss to relay she was loved, a hush to calm her down, and having coloring books, unsharpened pencils, and broken colors as the only problems she could ever had.

"Why do people have to grow up?" She mumbled, looking at the sand.

Eunae could not help but wonder as to why people were so desperate to leave the peaceful circle of life only to be thrown out into a warzone of misunderstood emotions, unreturned feelings, wrong decisions, wasted chances and unequal opportunities.

Why do people have to walk out from their comfort zones and explore more of life when everything within their own personal circle of safety was enough?

Why do people love risking so much only to suffer at the end?

Eunae was swimming in her thoughts when she felt a hand on her cheek.

"Why Nana cry?" The little girl asked, crouching in front of her with furrowed brows.

"Nana?"

And just then, Eunae watched as two little hands covered and caressed her cheeks, "Don't cry, Riri here," the little girl soothingly mumbled, wiping away the unknown tears that streamed down her face.

Dazed for a second, she found herself sobbing even more as the warmth of being cared shook her to the core.

Who would have thought that a simple gesture would make her feel everything she had ever been yearning for?

Eunae thought her eyes had already been dried out with how she cried last night. But the moment the little girl jumped to her chest and encased her in a hug; she felt the bounds around her body break all at once.

Without any second thoughts, she abruptly returned the warm embrace and let the tears swelled her eyes as she held onto the little girl.

This was everything she needed ever since she left the house. Someone whom she could embrace and cry on. Someone who would spare her a minute and ask what was wrong. Someone who would soothe her and tell her it was okay-that it was okay to cry-to be honest with herself and let her vulnerability peek once in a while.

And ironically, she found everything she needed in a tiny naïve girl, who all did was to tend to her hurting in the simplest way she could never imagine. Someone too young to even have clues on how dreadful and spiteful life was.

And it was okay. It was entirely and probably more than okay, because even for a teensy moment, Eunae was able to let loose of everything that was piling up inside her.

Every hurt, every doubt, every question, every yearning tucked away deep within her manifesting into salty droplets that brimmed her eyes until she finally felt free.

As the incessant humming of the little girl soothe her, while the little fingers caressed her back, her relentless sobbing soon died down little by little until she was no longer gasping for air.

"Nana okay?" The little girl asked, lifting her head from Eunae's chest, and meeting her eyes.

"Nana's more than okay, sweetheart. Thank you so much for your sparing me your time. I've never been this comforted for the past years," Eunae ruffled the little girl's hair before planting a chaste kiss on the young one's head.

"I guess, you're okay now, aren't you?"

Startled, Eunae abruptly looked back. Her eyes questioning the unfamiliar presence before her.

"Baba!" The little girl yelled, throwing her small frame onto the man crouching right in front of them.

"Take it easy, little flower, these might slip from Baba's hands," he said softly, accommodating the little girl in between his legs. He stretched out his arms for the ice cream cones not to fall.

The man could somehow be the same age as her because his young features told her so.

He had this huge but fit physique, probably a toned body to describe it way better, and a handsome face that might had cost thousands of dollars to maintain.

"Here, take this."

Eunae was dumbfounded when he stretched out his arms and handed her an ice cream cone. There were two cones in his hands that were seemingly going to drip any time from then.

"Words may fail but I'm sure ice creams won't," he smiled, handing her one of the ice cream cones in his hands.

"O-oh, thank you," she smiled back sheepishly, shyly taking it away from his hold.

Their hands gently brushing passed each other, seemingly making the man jolt. Her eyes quickly shot up from the ground to look at him only for him to look away as soon as she met his eyes.

He had a pair of dark brown orbs and they looked lovely, although strangely quite dilated for a brief moment if she saw it right.

Tilting her head to the side as if asking what his problem was, the man only coughed and cleared his throat.

"Are you okay?"

Instead of hearing any response, Eunae got rather lost in his eyes. His orbs looked enchanting-effortlessly drawing as a matter of fact that they sparkled like fairy dusts.

"Baba, Nana cry," the little girl suddenly confessed. She seemed to enjoy sitting on his lap that she relaxingly rested her small frame against his front and savored her ice cream messily.

"Nana cry, bad," she added, finally making Eunae blush, feeling utterly shy and suddenly having the urge to run away. It embarrassed her even more that she shown her vulnerability to people she did not even know.

"I know, little flower," he scratched the back of his head bashfully before looking up at her, "I actually saw everything. I've been standing by the side for quite some time."

If she wanted to run away a minute ago, now, she just wanted the ground to open and swallow her whole.

The fact that a grown stranger saw her bawling her eyes out like a pig ready to be killed any minute from then embarrassed her to bits. He must have surely seen how the relentless sobs wracked her body, and with the thought of how a mess she looked alone had her felt undeniably stark naked before a stranger.

Without a breath, she stood up to walk away only and for a hand to wrap around her wrist, halting her from even taking a step.

"Stay...don't worry, I'm not a chatter box," he mumbled ever so softly, "Stay with us for a while."