Love is like the wind, you never notice it until it blows off your hat. Candela hurried behind her hat, which danced and twirled in the sky a few feet about her. It wasn’t after about three blocks that it fell to the floor and girl picked it up and put it on her head, holding on to the tip of it for safety.
She looked up from the concrete floor to continue her way home, taking back her latest steps, since hats don’t have the best sense of direction. She ignored the people around her until a peculiar face caught her eye.
ay mi bien,
que no haria yo por ti?
por tenerte un segundo,
alejados del mundo
y cerquita de mi?
He looked back at her, and in a single glance he knew that it was worth it to turn around and walk to the opposite direction, and towards the girl with the red dress and cinnamon skin. He stopped her and as if by magic, she smiled, a wide smile, full of white teeth embraced by the brightest, fullest red lips. Everyone and everything around them disappeared.
ay mi bien,
como el rio magdalena
que se funde en la arena del mar
quiero fundirme yo en ti.
Love at first sight? Foolish thought, no, off course not. She could recognize his face a mile away, dark eyes and hair, a blunt expression, a cigarette resting on his lips. Consistently, he walked the same concrete path; toward the Kazekage’s house to meet his loved one. She wanted to tell him she loved him, that he was the reason why she couldn’t accept that golden ring. She would rather live a lonely life that an unfaithful marriage.
Hay amores que se vuelven resistentes a los daños,
como el vino que mejora con los años,
asi crece lo que siento yo por ti.
No matter how many times she saw him with her, the blonde strong woman, she wouldn’t give in. Making all her attempts to let go of a fantasy useless, her love towards the mystery man had only grown with every afternoon they crossed paths: she headed to the store, he headed to his lovers house. When she saw him approaching her heart sped, but as he slowly passed by her and walk on, her heart slowed down to a whisper, that feeling made her want it to stop for good.
Hay amores que se esperan al invierno y florecen,
y en las noches del otoño reverdecen,
tal como el amor que siento yo por ti.
Love as no time or place to be, it is all around and nowhere at the same time. There’s the lucky ones who feel it towards and back, but there’s also the miserable souls who fall deeper.
“Candela?” he said with a doubtfull look on his face
“haven’t talked to you in a long time Shikamaru” she said with a heavy accent, oh how he loved it: the over-pronounced words, without sounding bad it sounded so… peculiar. There wasn’t a lot of people from where she was from around here and her exotic presence just shouted for attention, like a glow stick in a dark room.
“yeah, I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing” he said shrugging and putting his cigarette out.
“it’s a good thing for everyone around us, but I’ve got to admit it gets unbearable at times”
“I wish I didn’t but I agree” he said letting out a sigh. She smiled at him and when she noticed his difficulty to hold back the need to kiss her, she giggled
“you evil woman, if only you knew…” he said looking at the ground “ hey… listen, I was thinking we could go out for a cup of coffee, you know, to catch up”
“I would love to”
“okay, so, I’ll call you since I’m staying at a hotel”
“I can’t believe you still have my number”
“I can’t believe u haven’t moved out of that loser’s house”
ay mi bien, no te olvides del mar
que en las noches me ha visto llorar
tantos recuerdos de ti.
Shikamaru couldn’t take his eyes off hers throughout the whole conversation, they talked about everything: the past, the present, the future, the good and the bad. Shikamaru, being a gentleman, paid for both coffees and escorted Candela to her door. They had agreed to meet at six, but time had melted into hours and it was now late, nine, almost ten. As they said goodbye, Shikamaru couldn’t resist anymore and gave in. He approached her slowly, to give her the chance to dodge the kiss if anything. She let him kiss her, but once she realized how good it felt, she pulled away and shook her head
“what’s wrong?” He sounded hurt, and he was
“I- I just cant! It isn’t fair, I never let go- you found her so quickly- por favor, no me hagas esto, tu no sabes o que me haces, no tienes ni la mas menor idea de todo lo que sufro cada vez que te veo por la calle-… whats so funny!?” she gave one last sigh of despair
“it’s just… you’re so hot when you talk in Spanish” He hugged her and her breathing slowed down to a normal pace once again. And then… she began to laugh.
“what did I miss?” he said looking down at her who was now on the verge of tears “what now? You were laughing just a second ago- come on, it’s okay, don’t cry”
“Shikamaru, you’re so sweet, I’m sorry, it’s just… look at us, we’re hopeless: no matter how much we try, there’s no way we can let go- He’s not coming home until Monday, would you like to come in?”
“sure, I’d love to” She felt relieved, one: he completely avoided having to deal with a girl crying, two: she finally realized what he had known since so long ago.
ay mi bien, no te olvides del dia
que separo tu vida de la pobre vida
que me toco vivir.
She woke up next to him. She stood up without minding the fact that she was completely naked and walked to the bathroom. She washed the smeared make-up off her face and put her long, tangled dark hair up into a ponytail before returning to bed.
Eventually she got bored of having to wait for Shikamaru and she surrendered to the last resource. She took the glass of water on her bed stand and dipped her fingers in. she slid the two fingers across the back of Shikamaru’s neck and blew clod air. He shivered, but instead of what she had planned, he turned around, took her by the waist and brought her closer to him.
“Shikamaru! You idiot! Wake up already”
“what do you want?” he grunted
“I need to tell you something… it’s urgent”
“hm?”
“I have to go”
“it’s Sunday, you don’t have to go to work today”
“no, I mean it, have to leave Suna, I can’t stay her for so long, you have no idea how boring it can get in this house! I want to go on a trip, anything to get out”
“how long will you be out?”
“whatever it takes to forget you” she turned away since it was impossible to look at his face at the moment, he was surprised, disappointed, and mad among others “Shikamaru, you have to understand, I’m getting married, this can’t go on like this”
Hay amores que se vuelven resistentes a los daños,
como el vino que mejora con los años,
asi crece lo que siento yo por ti.
She had left the next day, not even waiting to greet Him. She had left for a year, but to him, she was gone forever. No more Candela. No more… No more? How was he supposed to live? It was like they forced heroin into his veins for he last eternity and now, all of a sudden, she was taken away, an unquenched addiction, a depression worth dying of. Temari got sick of his attitude and sent him back to Konoha.
Any pair of brown eyes, a cascade of thick dark hair, cinnamon skin, and any feature that reminded him of her made him turn around and turn back in disappointed. He had never felt like this. When they first ended it, it was her that called him late at night, sobbing because she was unable to let go, he was the one that found Temari and settled quickly. He never knew he needed her this much. He didn’t realize what he was capable of losing until now.
Hay amores que parece que se acaban y florecen,
y en las noches del otoño reverdecen,
tal como el amor que siento yo por ti.
yo por ti, por ti,
como el amor que siento yo por ti
Just like she had promised, she married Him, and he grew never to hear of her again. He gave up on all hopes and begged Temari to let him in again. He married her, he was starting to be happy again until the day he ran into her again.
“Candela”
“Shikamaru” she was surprised to see how well his appearance was, and he was surprised to see life had given up on her long before her death. She was thin, she looked sick, while on the other hand, he was radiant with success.
“what happened?” He asked setting hand on her shoulder “do you want to talk about it?” She nodded and he lead her to the same place they had taken coffee that day, years ago, “there, now you can let it all out”
She looked reluctant, but once she found where to start, words poured out of her mouth like a cascade. “The day I left, I wasn’t sure of what I was doing, and during the trip I convinced myself that I didn’t love Him, I didn’t want to marry him, I never wanted to in the first place. I came back and thee was a wedding, I know I was stupid not to stop it before then, but for some reason I felt like I owed him. Then the mission came and he was gone. I thought fate was at last stepping on my side, but when I found out I was pregnant, I felt the whole weigh of the world on my shoulders. But it wasn’t until I lost the baby that I realized I don’t have anybody. I’m so far away from home in a place I don’t belong. I tried looking for you, I tried so hard because I knew I could trust you, but how was I supposed to show up? Was supposed to just walk back into your life and ruin it all over again?”
“Candela, you never ruined my life, you came into it and lit it up. I had never felt true happiness until I met you” he took her hand in his but it wasn’t enough for when she started to sob, he stood up and let her cry on his shoulders for a while.
That wasn’t the last time he saw her. He took flowers to her grave every chance he got. Indeed… she had given up for once and for all. No more Candela… No more? Certainly… No more Candela for the rest of his life, from the moment they pulled her blood body out of the tub, to the moment she was buried… those where the few hours that gave the final statement: No more Candela for once and for all…
