Alma 119 The Sun and His Sunflower

A feeling of immense weight.

It was as if someone had thrust upon him the heaviest object that could be conceived: The sum of all things that were.

He nearly drowned when the Divine Furnace had bonded with him.

An unbroken stream— no, a polyphonic flood of shapes, colors, and sounds had assaulted the remnants of his fleeting consciousness. The framework of reality come undone for the newly awoken transcendent being.

Everything that'd been hidden underneath the surface layer of reality — the beautiful patina of the corporal world — had become visible him in an instant.

Hundreds of trillions of thoughts, wishes, ideas, and memories had passed through him from the ancient past, the ever-changing present, and the distant future…

Stars pleaded to him for his protection in the past, while the ever-blossom trees from the future sang songs of worship across the gulf of time in the future.

It'd been too much for him to handle. He'd not been prepared for the sudden and overwhelming rush of sensory stimuli.

Had it not been for her timely intervention, he would have likely experienced a permanent and unrecoverable ego death, forever lost in an endless tide of unbound space and time…

Her voice had brought him back from the brink and given the clarity he desperately needed. She had become an immovable anchor in the midst of all the chaos around him — a static, unchanging presence that he could nestle himself against the unforgiving and unrelenting storm.

She had become a guidepost, a reference point that he could use to properly reconstitute his own identity — his own image of himself…

Still, it's so goddamn embarrassing to think that I had to become that… thing in order to finally see her for herself.

Reed sighed.

"Hm? Why the long face? What ails you, dear?" said Lu'um. She knew that his sigh was almost always indicative of an issue when it concerned Reed. Lu'um knew that he was no longer the type to sigh carelessly because of trivial problems, regrets, or frustrations.

In past, Reed might've been like that but it rarely ever happened after he'd grown out of his shell.

He really didn't want to tell the truth but knew that if he didn't, she'd have him dead to rights regarding the promise they'd made to one another.

But he if had to be honest, he disliked it. Not the contents of the promise, of course, but rather that they had to make a promise like that in the first place.

It shouldn't even have to be stated, let alone made into a promise — a rule, a law to be followed by the both of us.

It should have been the natural thing to do from the outset.

After all, who'd ever want to lie or hide secrets from their significant other?

You wouldn't lie to your precious family or your closest friends, so why would ever even consider lying to the person you love?

Behavior like that… does not bode well for any relationship, be it romantic, platonic, or familial. It reeks of… insincerity and indifference to the feelings of others.

It was different for him. He, who had lived and grown up alone, had developed a unique perspective as some who'd once been an outsider.

For a majority of his life, he'd been a loner at heart; someone who had willingly cut himself off from the world.

"…Hunger really is the best spice in the world. Normal people don't know how good they have it because they've never felt how it feels like to starve. If they knew much it hurts, they'd never act the way they often do," said Reed.

They lack the required perspective to see what they're actually doing. Sullying the most precious possession they own without even understanding its true worth…

"Can there be anything more pitiful than this? I do not know… But I do know that's probably it's among the worst things one can do. And I know this because I, too, have been guilty of the same detestable crime at least once—"

Lu'um covered Reed's mouth with one of her hands and said, "Shh… Do you hear that, my love?"

Reed's eyes darted around their living room in confusion and then let out a muffled, unintelligible grunt. He had no clue what she was talking about.

She straddled Reed, kissed his forehead and then whispered in a honeyed tone, "…That was the sound of my forgiveness relieving you of your guilt. Did you hear it?"

Her sweet, hushed voice felt like velvet on his ears, an extremely enjoyable sensation that perked Reed up in… various ways, so to speak.

Such was the unique privilege of youthful, passionate love not unlike theirs.

Oftentimes, all it took was a single, fiery spark to set the forest aflame…

And Lu'um, by Heaven and Earth, was a prodigious firestarter.

So spirited and unrestrained was she a character that at one point, a certain prince had once referred to her as a "spicy pepper" in jest…

Reed took her hand off of his mouth and said, "W-Why are you always so…!"

Damn cute! I can't even…! She's too much; I can't win against her…!

Lu'um buried herself in his chest and said, "I trust you, silly. That's why I know we'll get past this too, just as we've done with everything else…"

"As long as we're in this together, I'm sure we'll triumph anything that life throws at us. Maybe we'll stumble here and there and perhaps sometimes things might get bleak, but in time it'll all pass like it always does."

"Eventually, the stormy clouds will part away and the sun will shine down on us. I'm sure of it."

Her strong amber eyes held within them a conviction that was rarely seen. She truly was of the belief that they could overcome any obstacle as long as they put their mind to the task.

It was only natural for someone like Lu'um, who possessed a strong and vibrant personality, to be so inwardly resolute in what she believed.

"…You're like the incarnation of a sunflower rather than that of the moon," said Reed, "…But I won't deny that you're just as beautiful the moon though…"

In his mind, there was no better to describe her.

She's just like a sunflower — vibrant and strong like the shining sun; gentle and timelessly beautiful like a flower.

A smile bloomed her face and she softly said, "…That makes perfect sense because you're my sun… Without you, I'd wilt and die just like a sunflower…"

She slowly closed in on her prey and then, well… a fiery love blossomed.

…It was game of give and take between them, much like an actual sunflower and the sun.

The sunflowers would only bloom when under the light of the sun and nothing else. In return, the sun enjoyed a special privilege that one else had — it was the only one that would ever receive the smile of a sunflower.

Her brilliant smile belonged only to him and no one else.

His warmth and light belonged only to her and no one else.

Neither could live without the other anymore, for they were one.

Such a profound bond was only seen in fanciful stories about pure love — fantasies for naive, starry-eyed fools — and yet, they had accomplished the impossible.

Were they abnormal people or was what'd happened a fluke, a miracle of some sort?

It was neither.

Truth be told, they were both normal as could be, no different than anyone else. The only difference between them and other couples was they understood truly one another all the way.

What they possessed was intimate knowledge and understanding of the other person's feelings, desires, and thoughts — everything that made them tick.

That was why their relationship was akin to an unbreakable, glittering diamond. Both of them had shown to each other that they were invested in the other's bliss and not just their own. They were genuinely interested in what the other sought in life and actively supported each other.

Love was love. An exchange of lives and at the same, a mysterious event where two incomplete lives blended into a complete whole.

…Perhaps they'd chanced on that important little pearl of wisdom a little sooner than most, but what did it matter? As far as they were concerned, they absolutely delighted that they'd skipped the painful process of learning about love — the heartbreak of failed relationships.

Normal people would learn what they realized — the secret to true love — over the course of numerous relationships until it dawned on them, if at all. There were some souls that would never realize the truth, bless them.

Those people would never experience the pure, sublime joy living with someone they truly loved…

But not them; they'd be just fine.

Diamonds were everlasting, after all…

Chapter end