World Class Poet

“W-what do you mean by someone else? I don’t love anybody else but you!” Fantasia’s expression spells worries.

“Sure, that’s romantic love. But isn’t there another form of pure love that one can experience?”

Fantasia’s eyes widen as Ravel’s words bring her to a realization.

“Mama…”

“I realized at the cemetery the other day. You try hard to be strong but your heart is filled with enormous love you didn’t have a chance to give back to your mom. However, at this place, at this hour, you can symbolically store a piece of your feelings and lock it forever, so that it’s not lost even if none of us is around anymore.”

Fantasia’s eyes get moist, she quickly dismisses her tears. “But what about you? Wouldn’t it be better if we stored our love at this vault?”

“You don’t need to do this for anybody else. You can say ‘I love you’ or ‘Thank you for being here for me’ to your dad anytime. And the two of us have countless of days ahead. There’s enough time and opportunities for us to feel the warmth of our feelings. But you can’t do that with your mom… so please, take this and show her how much you love her.” Ravel offers the Love Box again.

Fantasia hesitates, gazing at the box in his hands. “Ravel… that’s…”

She finally smiles and accepts the box. “Thank you… This is a proof of my eternal love for my Mama.”

Fantasia takes a pen out of the box and writes a heartfelt message dedicated to her mom.

“Hmmm…” Unsure of what is lacking, she asks Ravel to hold it for her.

“One more thing…!” She removes the scarf from her neck and places it carefully inside of the box. “Now it feels right!”

With one hand each, they push the Love Box back into its place on the wall. Fantasia's box had the letter 'm' on the back, completing the verse that said: "...in the cheeks of dear mother Slava."

***

After a day full of romantic attractions in Banska Stiavnica at the Bank of Love, Ravel and Fantasia returned to Bratislava. Walking down the street, Fantasia couldn't forget what she had witnessed.

“That was so amazing! Marina must have been a very happy woman to have such an amazing man like Andrej Sladkovic by her side!”

“Well… you see… Andrej Sladkovic finished the poem one year after Marina married somebody else.”

“What?!”

“Yeah… reality is often disappointing.”

“But that’s so unfair! Hmph, I’ll just pretend I’ve never heard this. My headcanon is that they got married, had 15 children and lived happily ever after. Yeah, that sounds nice.”

15 children?! Is that your idea of a family life??

“Ravel,” She stops briefly on the sidewalk. “Thank you very much for such a beautiful birthday gift.”

“Heh, I’m glad you liked it, but that wasn’t your birthday gift. I just wanted to do something for you.”

“It wasn’t? Wait, come to think of it… why are we going this way?”

***

Ravel and Fantasia find themselves in front of the Bratislava High School.

“What are we doing here? It’s summer vacation, I don’t wanna see this building till September!” Fantasia shakes her head like a little child refusing to eat her food.

“Please, let’s go inside.”

“And how? It’s locked now.”

Ravel unlocks the large steel gate with a key. “We do have a friend or two at the Student Council, right?”

Leading her to the front door of the school, they halt before it. An envelope with a number ‘1’ written on it is glued to the door.

“Fantasia, this is my gift to you.”

Ravel shows her the white envelope with a hand gesture, allowing her to take it off and explore the contents. She takes out a piece of paper with Ravel’s handwriting.

The title read ‘Fantasia Is Unique’ and it was followed by ten verses:

‘When I first met this unique girl,

I could not imagine how

deep my feelings would be for her.

But look at me now.

Was it our doing? Was it our destiny?

That the spillage of water have brought us together.

I can’t answer that honestly or easily.

But now I want to be with you forever.

Oh, Fantasia, the name that brings me joy.

Please, be mine and I’ll happily be yours.’

“Awww, did you write this~??? That’s so sweet! This is the first time anybody has dedicated a poem to me!”

“Yeah but… I might have gone a little overboard,” Ravel confesses.

He opens the main entrance of the school and lets Fantasia enter first. She’s astounded by what she sees before her. A sight she’s never even dreamt of - countless envelopes with numbers written on them spread across the walls of the entire hallway. The numbers start with 2, 3, and continue all the way up to 15 and beyond.

Fantasia, completely awestruck, silently takes the envelope no. 2 and she discovers a continuation of the poem.

“You don’t need to read them all now, let’s just walk further,”Ravel takes Fantasia’s hand to lead her into his classroom. She follows without a word, still in a shock.

Upon opening the door of the class 2.A, she finds even more envelopes.

“I don’t know what to say…” she whispers, overwhelmed by the gesture.

“I wanted to write you a song but... I wrote and wrote until I realized that these lyrics are already too long for a song. So I kept going and ultimately turned it into a poem.”

“How many…?”

“300 stanzas. 3,000 verses.”

“B-but that’s more than Andrej Sladkovic’s Marina!!”

“Well… when I reached the 2,700th verse, I thought to myself that I shouldn’t let some man from 19th century outdo me! So I challenged myself to prove that my love for you burnt hotter than his for Marina!”

Fantasia notices a small splash of water spilled next to Ravel’s desk, with six envelopes surrounding it, as if marking the spot.

“You’re such a dummy…” Fantasia immediately understood the significance.

“This is the place where we first met. And this is the reason why that day didn’t end just like any of your other working days,” Ravel takes the last envelope with a number 300 written on it and hands it to Fantasia. “Happy Birthday, my love.”

“…I wanna read them. All. Now.”

“That’s-“

“Happy Birthday!!!!” Their friends, Eleona, Leanna, Zinia, Ares, Seko, Silveria, Zhang and Yutaka, all suddenly burst into the classroom, showering confetti and presenting a large birthday cake.

What are they doing here, interrupting our romantic moment?!

“Woah, you guys!!” Fantasia’s finally woken up from the shock caused by Ravel’s endeavor and she smiles warmly at the group. “Why are you here??”

“Who do you think had the authority to get the keys for him?” Silveria smirks, winking at Zinia.

“And who do you think has helped him distribute all of these verses here?” Yutaka adds, implying that the boys had assisted.

“I b-baked this cake, so I h-hope you’ll like it…” Leanna taps her index fingers against each other.

Eleona steps forward, “Dear Fantasia! We would like to wish you all the happiness and love in the world! Please don’t change and bring smiles to the people around you just like you’re doing it now!”

Looking around, Ravel does notice nothing but delighted faces wearing bright smiles.

“Oh myyy, I feel like I have gone emotional enough times for today, stop it~!” Fantasia’s eyes well up slightly again. “I’ve never had a birthday party like this with so many people! I’m so happy to have you all…!”

“You look very good in that dress!” Seko compliments her.

“Did your hair get shinier? What kind of a shampoo are you using?” Zinia takes a strand of her hair into her hand.

“She’s our sun! BAM!” Zhang yells.

“Did you ever notice that when a girl enters a relationship, she appears more beautiful than before? Why do you think that is?”Eleona asks the group playfully.

In that moment, all the dots in Ravel’s mind connected perfectly.

‘Every time you come to our home, you shine brighter and brighter!’, his mother’s words echoed in his head.

‘When a girl is happy, magic happens’, is what Ariana used to say.

‘Don’t worry about your appearance, just be happy and the rest will sort itself out.’ is what Fantasia’s mom believed in.

Finally, he understood.

“Fantasia… When was the last time somebody called you the ‘U’ word?”

CHAPTER 45: END