Kiss of A Titan
Chapter 59

Tuesday was the last day we had to spend in Hawaii and Richard, feeling a gloomy because of the tragic incident, decided to go out for a ride out of the mansion taking me along with him to clear his thoughts which negatively affected his attitude towards everyone in a sort of way that we were doing our best to not to upset him knowing the cause of his anger. His quarrel with his dad during supper on Monday evening, not only worsened the fact of him dealing with the irreplaceable loss of his mother but added more plight to his discontentment with the nook and cranny of the house including the servants.

This was because every part of the mansion reminded him about Mrs. Miriam and he felt a lot stuffy with every bit of furniture in the house constantly conjuring past memories he spent with his mother for the innumerable times they visited the mansion for the holidays since childhood. He had kept his distance away from the likes of everyone including Elizabeth, his elder sister, whom I learned from Hilary before accompanying Richard that Ben had phoned Elizabeth the exact same day their mother died without their father finding out what he did in secret.

Hilary also told me that Ben intently had not informed his father fearing that he would refute his daughter's presence from joining us for the holiday but for personal reasons best known to Hilary herself, she didn't mention to me the reason behind her father's hatred for his own daughter nor did she tell the exact cause for their misunderstanding. I was not an exception for his sudden withdrawal from everyone but it surprised me greatly when he told me to follow him to town in the same car we went out for sightseeing around the town the day before his mother passed away.

We drove around the city for hours in silence and I thought our outing would help clear the bad aura that hovered around him that Tuesday afternoon he invited me for a ride but it left little impact on his search for relief outside the confines of the mansion which seems to him, to reek with the smell of death. We could barely talk to each other at the restaurant where we hung out where we spent the whole day in solitude in a way that I didn't expect. Before our eventful return back to the resort, a rainstorm caught up with us on our way back and impeded our safe return.

Just before sunset, the tempestuous typhoon unexpectedly hit the southern regions of Hawaii with us in the center of the natural occurrence which followed after the sky had turned gray and almost swept us away like the rest of the cars that were on the street when the rain started. As a result of the storm which had pushed a lot of pedestrians from the sidewalk on the street, we had to take shelter outside a nearby gas station amidst several others leaving the vehicle aloof to withstand the violent rainfall that chased other passersby to where we were taking shelter from the rain.

A whole part of my dress became wet under the rain as we went to find shelter at the gas station and noticing the inner part of my dress was exposed, Richard took off his sweater and clad me with it. I thanked him for his care but he seemed all too lost in his pain that he looked away watching the raindrops descending on everything that was exposed to the rain without mercy. As time progressed into the late hours of the evenings, the heavy rain, which had us stranded for an hour and thirty minutes, slowly retarded its heavy downpour on the surface of the earth. I felt it best to lighten the mood Richard was in and without looking, I took him by the hand and pulled him into the drizzling rain.

He was aghast at this as I enjoined him to dance with me under the rain but the cheerful smile on my face somewhat prevented him from getting upset. We danced together in the rain under the watchful eyes of those who didn't want to get wet but we weren't embarrassed nor did we feel ashamed of getting our clothes drenched by the rainstorm. To them, we were foolhardy putting ourselves in danger but to us, we were having fun playing with the raindrops regardless of the chilly feeling of being soaked by the refreshing stormy rain.

After the rain had stopped, we went back to the car completely wet and Richard drove us out of the neighborhood when it was clear to leave. We both sat comfortably at the front seat not minding our wet clothes and as he kept steering us back the same road we had come, I noticed that his mood seemed to brighten a bit because of the fun we had under the rain. And it pleased me greatly that for a moment, I was able to change his mood which had been terrible all day. The night had fully caught on with us by the time we got closer to the resort and Richard, sitting at the driver's seat behind the steering wheel, felt a bit bored with the silence that had dawned on us ever since we resumed our journey back to the mansion. He intently tuned on the radio on the dashboard but he didn't seem to like the first two songs that were played on the broadcast and I was very much distracted with the opaque darkness of the distant ocean that stretched far off. Not getting the song he wanted, he suddenly became too eager to find the song he wanted that he forgot for a moment that he was driving and his continuous persistence in tuning the radio channels caught my attention. I turned to look at him and saw his derailed focus on the radio instead of watching the road despite the fact that he had turned on the headlights for him to see the tarmac road clearly. I hesitated and refrained from stopping his reckless driving thinking that he would be satisfied with a particular from the radio but that was not the case and he kept tuning it in anger.

"I think it's best if you let it go", I sensed that he was getting infuriated by the radio but he ignored me. Then I stretched to touch him believing he would let it go if I stop him myself but he didn't let go "Richard...you'll get us killed if keep doing that", I warned folding my hands and he laughed.

"What's so funny?", "There's no one else on the road except us and I really want to listen to some good song", "Then pick one already", "I'm trying....", The words were barely out of his mouth when an incoming truck suddenly appeared in front of us.

"Look out!" I shrieked in terror, telling Richard to take control of the wheels while waiting for the inevitable to happen. The headlights of the incoming vehicle shone into our eyes, almost blinding us but Richard was quick to steer the car out of harm's way. The car luckily missed the incoming truck but failed to get back on track and ventured off course into the bush before crashing into a nearby tree a short distance away from the corner of the road which had been too narrow for Richard to steady the car.

Fortunately, the truck driver stopped driving and called the paramedics who arrived shortly at the scene of the crash in an ambulance. They found us unscathed with mild superficial injuries despite the catastrophic damage sustained by the car during the accident and took us to the hospital for immediate treatment. The news of the incident soon reached the ears of the Richard's family members as well as those who were there present and they went to the hospital the same night fearing the worst had happened to Richard particularly Mr. Stark only to find out that nothing severe happened to the two of us and that they had worried for nothing.

Upon Mr. Stark's instruction, I was discharged first after the few wounds I sustained got treated and was given a quick flight ticket back to Houston the following morning. Although I felt bad about Richard's dad's decision that I should leave prematurely, I could do nothing but to oblige so as not to cause any more inconveniences between Richard and his father.

It was largely through Mr. Stark's effort that I safely returned back to Houston and upon arrival unexpectedly, my aunt was glad that I returned in one piece even though it was her two kids that met me first when I returned. I told my aunt all that transpired during the holiday with the Jefferson's in Hawaii particularly what happened to Richard's mom but no one had to tell me to keep the accident a secret from her. It was unlike me to hide something important from her but with the thought of how she would freak out if I had told her that we got into a car accident, I decided to keep that part under wraps. I had had enough of the unwarranted setbacks and I didn't want Aunt reprimanding me for putting my life at risk to one of them.

As expected, not many people were thrilled to see that I had resumed school on Thursday morning which coincided with the third test we were to have in our class before exams though I was thankful that the friends I had welcomed my return with the usual gossips about how things had been in the school during our absence and Chloe was in the center of it all. It was thanks to her that I got to know that Katherine had apologized to Coach Robbins about what she did when we were in Denver and how she got to know this even though she wasn't in the Titans team remained a mystery to me.

But all I could think about the few days I returned was seeing Richard come back to resume classes with me but Richard wasn't yet back from his holiday that was meant have ended on Wednesday nor was he seen three days later for which I had anticipated that he would have already return back from Hawaii to complete the necessary things meant to be done at Houston High and the athletic teams as well not to mention that nationals were around the corner and the summer games were coming to an end in order for nationals to begin in the month of September.

Barely half of the athletes knew I went with Richard to Hawaii and only a few were bold enough to find out from me if the untimely death of Richard's mom was true to the rumors that was already circulating around school following a broadcasted news about her death the third day of Richard's absence from school.

All hopes of seeing Richard again were dwindling way faster than I thought when he did not appear in school the following week and I had almost given up the thought of setting my eyes on him again when Chloe came to meet me at the library where I had confined a whole lot of my activities to ever since my return from Hawaii and told me he was already seen in school that the same day practicing with the male athletes at the school stadium.

At first, I thought Chloe was making a joke but her words seemed too persuasive enough to convince me to go see for myself. I went over to the school stadium in order to see for myself and found it to be true. Amidst the five athletes who were sprinting on the race track in their sporty outfit was Richard, running to the finish line and then back to the starting point from whence they had begun the race.

I waved to him as soon as he was done running, hoping he would see me despite the distance between us but it was only after Linder tapped his shoulder that he realized that I was trying to get his attention at a farther distance. He waved back with a smile on his face the moment he recognized me and blew a kiss at me with his hands before going back to join the runners for the next lap. I knew he was delighted to see me judging from the lovely way he responded when he saw me standing a quarter mile eastward away from the stadium above the arena where the games were usually.