Invasion
Chapter 4

Takashicontinues to fly without looking back, noticeably beginning to get very tired,carrying a still unconscious Olivia. He notices that he’s already flying overthe city and begins descending. He inadvertently crash-lands on the street,rolling over, and drops Olivia. “Uhhh, shit,” he moans. He gets up, holding hisback, and walks over to Olivia. He starts shaking her, yelling for her to wakeup. “Olivia? Olivia, wake up!” he yells. She starts to come to. He tells herthat they have to go, now “Uhhh, what happened?” she asks, still tired andblurry. “You were tired after expending all of your energy and passed out. Igrabbed you and flew away as fast as I could,” he explains. “Ok. What are wedoing on the streets?” “Yeah, sorry about that. I was getting tired too and wecame down too fast. Sorry,” he apologized. “It’s alright,” she chuckles, “uhhhh….”“You okay?” “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she says as she gets up, though noticeablystill very tired, “let’s go.”

Theycontinue on walking through the city. “Wow, the city looks so different duringthe day,” says Olivia. A feeling of stillness and silence fills the air; theywalk past a bunch of buildings and shops and notices that the signs are inRussian. They realize that they’re IN Russia and wonder what they were doinghere; they also start to wonder what the soldiers are doing here. They continuewalking, noticeably still tired from their ordeal with the soldiers, and comeacross a wide, open area with buildings all around. “Where are we?” she asks inconfusion. “I don’t know,” he answers, confused himself, “this is getting strangerby the minute.” “Dammit!” Olivia exclaims, “why can’t we remember??” They walkaround, trying very hard to remember what happened, but can’t. They startarguing and shooting theories; they notice a monument with a statue of twopeople, one raising his hand and appear to be pointing at something, the othersitting down holding the handle of a sword in front of him, with the onestanding holding the blade of the sword with his right hand and holding ashield in his left. The front of the base seems to be depicting peoplesacrificing property with a text in Russian above it. “What the hell is this?”Olivia asks. “Well, it’s a statue,” answers Takashi jokingly, turning to her.“Thank you for that,” she replies sarcastically. She moves closer, staring atthe statue; a strange feeling overwhelms her. “The Monument to Minin andPozharsky commemorates the end of the Time of Troubles,” she suddenly recites,still staring at the statue. “What did you say?” “I remember…”

She thenflashes back to three days ago when they were both just here. They were doing atour of Moscow and just arrived at the Red Square where the Kremlin and themonument resided. They approached the monument with other tourists, takingpictures; the tour guide explained the monument to them, “This object you seebefore is called the Monument to Minin and Pozharsky. It commemorates PrinceDmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin who expelled the Polish army and put an end tothe Time of Troubles in the year 1612.” She was wearing what seemed to be standardtour guide attire, a dark blue vest and blue shirt with long-sleeves neatlytucked in and dark blue skirt down to the knee; her long-sleeves rolled up abit near her hands with her vest buttoned-up. No tear or wrinkle in sightindicated that she is organized, neat and takes her job seriously, but not tooseriously as to make a fuss out of everything. Evident in the way she smiles asshe explains and when answering questions posed by the tourists, ensuringeveryone enjoys the journey—she enjoys her job even when some of them talksamongst themselves and doesn’t really listen. “This whole area is called theRed Square for those of you who did not know. Behind the monument is the famousSt. Basil’s Cathedral and behind that is the Moscow Kremlin: it used to be theroyal citadel, but now is the official home of the Russian President. Thissquare is considered the central square of Moscow and all of Russia, connectingall of Moscow’s major streets with Russia’s major highways.” She had a centralRussian dialect or accent, the standard accent in Russia.

Both Oliviaand Takashi take a moment to take in the scenery, the buildings, and where theyare. “This is so amazing,” Olivia said, “isn’t it, baby?” “Yeah, it is,” hereplied. “Ooo, let’s take a picture in front of the monument. Come on.” “Okay,okay.” She prepared her camera and ran towards the monument while Takashislowly walked behind her, smiling. The tour guide stopped them both and toldthem they have 20 minutes to explore the rest of the square and then they willmeet back at the tour bus and move on. She nodded at her, smiling, telling her “ok”and continued running towards the monument. Reaching the monument, she lookedback to see Takashi still slowly walking. She yelled to him to hurry up. Thesmile on her face, indicating happiness, yet behind it lays another story. Shehad just broken up with her boyfriend four months ago. His name was Lucas, Lukefor short. A nice man, but like any other, only concerned with what othersthink of him. He never really loved or cared about Olivia; only saw her as asexual prospect, an object to gratify him. I guess he’s not really a nice manthen.

Takashifirst met Olivia at the university accommodation and started hanging-out, sortof. Although they both are studying arts—psychology—they don’t see each other alot outside of the accommodation. They were friends, although Luke prefershanging out with the more popular crowd and doesn’t really talk to him.Nevertheless, Olivia didn’t abandon him. She still talked to him and hung outwith him. Takashi had secretly liked her, but never actually had the courage tosay it; he stayed friends with her. He never quite understood most peoplethough; never understood their need to be accepted by others through lying anddeceit. Or maybe that was just his twisted perception of reality. Anyway, hegrew up in a quite wealthy upper middle-class family. They weren’tmillionaires, but his father made more than enough to support him and theentire family. He never really cared about money though; and he wasn’t arrogant,despite being quite wealthy. He never flaunted his wealth or his knowledge. Infact, he was quite the opposite. He just wanted to be happy, never tried tostand out—too much—and rarely gave answers to questions he knew the answers to.He just wanted to be accepted for who he is, not for someone he’s not. Frequentlybullied at school, he had very little friends. But he didn’t really care back then.The experience taught him a lesson though, and enforced those which he alreadyknew: to never be arrogant, never judge people before you truly know them,never hurt others, and to always try to be yourself no matter what.

Takashialways follows his heart, doing what he loves and all that. Or at least, hetries. And he loves his family, no matter what and no matter how many countlessfights or arguments they always get into; and he respects his father for alwaysknowing what he wanted to do in his life and not regretting it to this day. Hisfather is of Japanese descent, and his mother American, and is very wise fromyears of experience under his belt. He takes his responsibility as the head ofthe family seriously—too seriously sometimes—always working day in, day out tosupport his family, but always tries to replace time to spend with his wife and children.

When Lukefinally left Olivia, she came to Takashi, crying. They sat down and she huggedhim, and told him everything: how he was an asshole and a jerk that neverreally cared. Takashi could just sit there and listen, telling her it was gonnabe ok, gently stroking her back. She cried on his shoulder, “Oh, Takashi.You’re a good friend, and a very sweet guy,” she then looked at him and smiles,“why can’t all guys be like you?” He chuckles, “If all guys were like me, Idon’t think the human race would be able to progress and/or survive.” Shestarted laughing and stopped crying. She looked to him with a smile, her eyesstill filled with tears, reflecting the lights. She was always happier being withhim than Luke, even when they were still together. Takashi always made hersmile…made her happy. But, she didn’t realize how he’s more perfect for herthan Luke, until it was too late it seemed. Or perhaps she secretly alwaysloved him too and was waiting for him to make the move. She asked him if she couldstay the night with him; he was a bit uncomfortable, but allowed her to stay.He couldn’t have just told her to go away after what she had been through afterall.

Thefollowing morning, he awoke to the smell of fried eggs, bacon and sausages. Shehad awoken ahead of him to make breakfast for them both. He stood up, still abit sleepy, and walked, fumbling, to the table. She finished and put them allon two plates with toasted bread. “Olivia, you really don’t have to do allthis,” he told her kindly. “Yes, I do,” she replied with a soft voice, lookingdown. She turned to him and grabbed his hand, “As a thank you for listening andletting me stay the night.” “Okay,” he said quietly, not knowing what else tosay. She continued to look at him, still holding his hands. “What?” he asked. “Ishould’ve done this a long time ago,” she said, realizing that he was alwaysthe one. “Would you like to…go out with me?” she nervously asked him. He lookedat her strangely; this is what he always wanted yet he was unable to speak. Itwas a bit uneasy for him considering that she had just broken up with herboyfriend after all. He was happy to finally have the chance to go out withher, but can’t help but wonder, if she was only using him as the rebound guy. “Please,”she suddenly spoke. He snapped out of his rumination and looked at her. “I’vealways cared about you,” she confesses to him, “even when I was with…him. And Istill do. You were the one who was always there for me when he was gone, doing Godknows what with his friends, haha.” She gave him a big hug before speaking quietly,“You were always the one who made me happy, made me smile. And you still do. Ishould’ve realized it sooner,” she released him, “I know you care about me too.I can see it in your eyes.” She smiled at him. “So, what do you say?” she askedagain. “I…would love to,” he replied with a sincere smile, “but we’re havingbreakfast now.” He couldn’t have said that with a more naive face; it wasprobably the most naive face ever coupled with what probably was the most naivething ever said in that situation. She laughs, “Well then after, you dummy,”she said with light-heartedness. “Hahaha, right.”

“Comeon, slowpoke,” she said to him as he walked slowly towards her. “Ok, ok. Let’sjust take the picture and get outta here,” he said. “Alright,” she said with asmile and enthusiasm. “Uhh, one problem: Who’s going to take the picture?” heasked her. “Oh, right. Uhmm, excuse me, mister! Could you please take ourpicture in front of the monument?” The man, wearing an overcoat and a hat, withhis face slightly covered but was still visible, turned to her and spoke, “Ofcourse, young lady,” with a German accent. “Oh, you’re accent. Are you fromGermany?” Olivia asked as Takashi looked at him with untrusting stare. “Ah,yes. Guilty. But, my mother was American. We actually moved to the states afterI finished junior high school; I did my high school and university there,” hereplied before turning to Takashi, still looking at him with suspicion, andsmiled. “Wow. That must’ve been hard for you,” she inquired. “Not really. Atthat time, I wanted to go see America, since that’s part of my heritage,” heexplained. “Oh, ok. That’s good then.” “Thank you. Alright, shall we take thepicture now?” “Oh, yes, yes. Come on, baby.” They both moved into position asthe wind began to pick up speed. “Ok, smile now.” Snap! He took the picture andlooked at it. The wind speed started to get higher and higher by then. The manheld his hat while Takashi and Olivia covered themselves with their jacket.“Ok, wait one more.” Snap! He took the final picture and handed her camera back.“Thank you,” Olivia screamed as the sound of the wind got louder. “It was noproblem,” he replied as he looked to the sky, “you kids better get out of here.It looks like there’s a storm coming.” “Yeah, you’re right,” Takashi screamedto him quickly as lightning flashes and thunder roars, “come on, Liv! Let’s go!”“Alright. Thank you, again!” “No problem!” he replied as they rushed back tothe tour bus. The man then looked back to the sky as if he knew something.“It’s a big storm indeed,” he said quietly to himself.

Backat the present, Takashi shakes Olivia, who’s still staring at the statue, tellingher to snap out of it. “Olivia, Olivia! Hey!” he says to her as she comes back,looking confused, “hey, what happened? You alright?” “Yeah, I...I’m fine,” shesays, regaining herself. She then suddenly looks at Takashi with love and tears.“What?” he asks her, confused. “Baby?” she says before hugging him while crying,“oh, baby.” “Whoa, whoa,” he says as he pushes her away, “what are you doing?”“Hugging my boyfriend,” she says, pointing it out, “is that wrong?” “Excuse me?”he gets more bewildered. As if a guy likeme could…be with a girl like her, he thought to himself. “I remember. MaybeI don’t remember everything, but I remember us...together. I love you.” Shehugs him again. Takashi looks confused as ever, but yet, he feels slightlycomfortable with her, like he knows her somehow, which he does but just can’tremember. It feels familiar just like back at the department tore where theywere hiding—they cuddled each other as they slept. That felt familiar to him,as was the hug just now, even though he denied it back then. “Are wereally...together?” he asks her as they hug, smiling. “Yes, I remember,” shereleases him, “we were here before. This place: it’s called the Red Square.”“What were we doing here?” “We were doing a tour or something; I think we wereon holiday. Well, are on holiday, Iguess.” “Really?” he still can’t believe it. “Yeah, that’s why I remember thisstatue or monument. We took a photo in front of it.” “We did?” he asks her asshe stares weirdly all of a sudden. “No, it’s just... I remember the guy whotook our photo. He was nice, but there was something about him…” “Like what?”“I don’t know. I just have a weird feeling,” she then chuckles, “I remember you looking at him suspiciously,actually.” “Really? I did that? Uhhh, I really don’t remember.” “Try toremember,” she holds his hands, “at least, try to remember us. Please.” He looksat her and is suddenly overwhelmed with feelings. And so he tries to remember,for her; he trusts her for some reason. He tries hard with an intense look inhis eyes. He suddenly stops and looks at Olivia. But at last, he does remember;it all comes flowing back like a video playback in his head. He remembers theday she came to his room; he sees her crying, hugging him, and talking to him. Andhe remembers the breakfast and he accepting her offer to go out with her. Shewalks up to him and says, “You remember, don’t you?” He raises her head, “Yes,I do.” “Oh, baby. I love you.” He lets out a happy chuckle. “I love you too.” Theyboth finally accept their love for each other and share a long kiss as the sunsets on the horizon.