Broken Flyght – Chapter 25

When I exit the train on my home platform, Jinzo is waiting for me near the exit. The late afternoon light is waning, slanting down over the station overhangs and cutting sharp shadows across the surrounding fields of golden brown rice. Off in the distance, the low buzz of a harvester competes with the calls of birds and frogs. I take a deep breath of fresh air before making my way forward. I’m home again.

Jinzo’s posture is relaxed and comfortable as I approach. He’s wearing his boots with denim, and a ripped up and worn brown sweater over a black shirt. I like his woven cotton scarf pulled up to his chin.

“I should be wearing a hat. It’s cold here.” He lifts a hand out of his pocket. “I’ve been keeping my hands warm for you.”

“Thanks.” I take his hand and thread my fingers with his. As we walk side by side on our way out of the station, I keep my eyes on him.

“Are you growing out your hair?” I turn to the side so I can reach over and touch the top of his head. But my hand gets stuck in the air halfway, and I pull it back in doubt.

That conversation from Carlos’s room sticks out in my head. I wonder what amount of truth there is to what Ai overheard.

“Go ahead,” Jinzo says, with a smile. He dips his head down, and I run my fingers over the top. His hair is soft and fuzzy, growing darker day by day. “I no longer have a dress code to live by, do I?”

I shake my head as I return my free hand to my pocket.

“Then, yeah, I’ll grow it back out again. Orbital Station mechanics have a dress code, and I got tired of having to tuck my hair into wraps or bonnets.”

“What’s wrong with hair?”

“It gets into systems where it shouldn’t. We already deal with plenty of loose hair and skin cells and other things.” He shrugs. “Or, I used to.”

“Right. I, uh, hope you’re going to stay with us… with me.” I clear my throat from the rock that’s lodged there. “If I have to deliver you back to Cressida, too, I’m going to be pretty upset.”

We walk for a few moments in silence, and my doubt grows. Aw shit. Am I about to be dumped?

Jinzo squeezes my hand in his. “Nope. I’m pretty sure I’m in the right place.”

“Good.” Relief floods through me. “I was a little worried there. You seem tense… or something. I’m not sure.” I don’t know him well enough to read his moods yet.

“I saw those articles about us this morning,” he replies, and his voice is tight. “People are not very nice to you, are they?”

“What?” Gee, I’m so eloquent when I’m confused.

“I read them. All of them. No one said anything nice about you, and they called you these awful names —”

“Stop,” I demand, pulling my hand from his. I can only imagine what they said. Things like ugly, homely, towering, gangly, built like a tree… I’ve heard them all before.

My vision narrows as I think about what Jinzo read about me. I didn’t read the articles. I was tempted to, but after I spoke with Marcelo, I went to the cargo bay and planted more seeds instead. I worked on putting the fish in their new tank and hooking everything up. I kept myself busy, which is what I always do.

“Don’t… Don’t tell me.” I stalk forward, using my longer stride to pull away from Jinzo in the direction of my old home.

“Vivi, wait.” He pulls up next to me and grabs my arm. “I won’t, but I – I’m really fucking angry about this. Really.”

I slow down a bit. He’s had beautiful Cressida for years, and no one has ever called her ugly. This must be a blow to his ego… and I shouldn’t care. I know I shouldn’t. But I care about him, and I don’t want to see him suffer because of me.

“I want to turn it around, make it right. I know Carlos is doing that positive rumors campaign for you. Who can I talk to?”

He’s mad and awfully determined. I keep walking.

“Come on. Give me names of friends I can talk to who love you. I’ll get more stuff out there.”

My skin tingles as I try to hold back the embarrassment.

“Jinzo, it’s okay. You don’t have to do anything.”

“Jin,” he insists I call him. “And no, I’m pissed, and I want to help.”

“Look, we’re coming up to the main house.” I point to the house in the distance. I called Tatiana Álvares earlier and got permission to walk on the land as long as I didn’t go in any of the buildings. She was hesitant to let me, but I convinced her.

“Don’t change the subject,” Jinzo says, jumping in front of me. I come to a grinding halt.

“You’re right,” I blurt out. “People are not very nice to me. They never have been. I couldn’t keep friends as a kid. Either my family was too wealthy, or I was too tall or too smart, or whatever other things people wanted to pick on.” I shrug, refusing to cry over this shit. I shed enough tears in my youth. “I’m not answering you because I have no friends for you to call. I only have a few people in my life who have ever been kind to me. My parents and they’re not talking to me right now. Ken and I’m sure he’ll say nice things once we’re together again, but it’s been a long ass time. Skylar and she loves me unconditionally because we’re family. That’s it.” I throw my arms up in the air. “I have no other friends. I haven’t been social in years. I don’t even know what’s popular in cinema or music. And if any of that stuff is important to you in a significant other, then you’ve chosen the wrong woman.”

Jinzo stares at me.

“Are we through? Are you done with me now?” His frown grows. “Because nothing you can do or say will change the perception of me being an ugly, tall, homely, utter bitch.”

He gasps. “Vivian…” The hurt in his voice slices through my heart. “Don’t say those things about yourself.”

I open my mouth to protest that he brought this up in the first place when he steps forward and brings his hands up to my cheeks. When he’s in his boots, we’re almost the same height. Almost.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I just hate the injustice of it all. You’re an amazing person, and it kills me other people don’t see that.”

I sniff up, unable to keep the tears away now.

“They don’t have to. I’ve made it through life so far with tons of people treating me like crap or hired help. You need to be okay with it. If you can’t, I’ll understand. Honestly.”

He wouldn’t be the first person to back away from me like I was the plague.

He sighs and pulls my face forward to plant a kiss just to the side of my nose.

“You’re a strong woman, after all you’ve been through.”

I roll my eyes. “It could’ve been a lot worse. I could’ve grown up someplace not here.”

I look past him to my childhood home, empty and quiet now. This is the time of year I used to love. Rice threshing, heaps of potatoes, winter squash and funky-looking gourds. Our winters here are mild and short, but we’d still make the most of them with bonfires for the farm workers, hot chocolate on the weekends, and warm beds with fluffy comforters.

“Don’t let this bother you,” I tell him, and I huff at the absurdity of this situation. “I should be hurt by everything said about me, but I’m numb to it now. I want to concentrate on moving forward.”

I take his hand again and pull him along.

“Do you see that?” I ask, pointing at the house.

“What am I looking at?” Jinzo’s voice is timid, trying to come out of the hurt he’s feeling.

“Golden hour.”

The house is changing colors as the sun dips to the horizon. Warm yellow light bathes everything around us in a glow that tingles my skin and sets the landscape on fire.

Jinzo’s lips twist in a sweet smile. “Golden hour,” he repeats, nodding his head. “A foreign concept for someone who grew up on a spaceship.”

“Someday,” I begin, pulling him close as we walk along the front property, “we could sit on the porch together and just enjoy the peace of the evening. Or we could walk through the fields and talk about our days.”

I point to the narrow dirt road that leads off into the distance, into the lands where we cultivate heirloom varieties of wheat and specialized radishes I bred myself as a science project when I was fifteen. Yes, I really did not have any friends growing up.

In truth, this farm is my greatest friend. It has always been here for me. It promised me companionship when I was lonely. It wrapped me in its warmth when I was sad. It fed me when I was hungry and sheltered me in times of need.

There is nothing in this universe more important to me than this place. I can’t let my brother and the bank take it away from me.

We walk through the grounds slowly, and I show Jinzo all the places that mean the most to me. He laughs at my stories of the silly things I did as a child and asks about what grows where, and how that’s done, and what was most profitable, and the risks we took that were total failures. I have to believe he’s showing interest because he’s going to stick around.

By the time golden hour is through and the sky is turning dark, I’ve walked Jinzo all over the property. My feet hurt and my legs are tired, but I feel whole again. It’s been a long day with hardly any sleep, but I know that tonight, I’ll sleep well curled up in Jinzo’s bed.

“There’s one more spot we need to go to before we call a car to take us to dinner.”

“Oh yeah? You have some wealthy man who’s going to pay for a four-course meal plus dessert?”

I burst into a hearty laugh.

“I love your laugh,” he says, poking me in the ribs. “It’s very genuine. And I saw the restaurant bills for our stay at the casino. You like to eat.”

“Eating is what I do best.”

“Uh, I’m pretty sure there are other things you do better.”

Okay, that’s enough to make my cheeks blush.

“Cut it out.” I push his shoulder, and we laugh at each other again.

The light is almost gone by the time we make it up the hill that looks out over most of the local property.

“Wow,” Jinzo breathes out as we crest the hill and the Kawabata lands stretch out for kilometers in every direction. “This is all yours?”

“Well…” I shrug.

“Sorry. It will be yours again. I’m sure of it.”

I step down into a small depression and wrap my arms around Jinzo, letting out a long sigh as I take in his warmth.

Jinzo drops his lips to my ear. “Did you just make yourself shorter than me?”

“Yep.”

He huffs a laugh and squeezes me. “You know what, Vivian Kawabata? I find you totally sweet and charming. You’re a good person with a heart of gold. And I think we’re all going to be happy here someday.”

Someday.

I lift my face for a kiss, reveling in the romance of this moment. Jinzo’s a great kisser, and his lips on mine warm my body and remind me of our time together last night. Hopefully the first night of many together.

“Ah.” I release myself from his hypnotizing lips, or I would stay in that position forever. “One more thing.”

I pull away and turn towards the south. On the horizon, the lights of autocars follow a road many kilometers away.

“See that?” I point into the distance. “That traffic light right there, and the two roads that intersect?”

“Yeah.” He presses his cheek against mine to sight the place I’m pointing to. “What’s that?”

“About twenty meters into the property from that road, and another five meters past the willow tree, on the edge of a field of wildflowers we grew to attract bees and other pollinators, is the spot where my brother buried something. Something he was so scared of losing or having someone else find that he copied the map on actual paper and left it with his girlfriend a whole world away.”

I turn and look into Jinzo’s eyes, and I’m comforted to see the same sense of determination I feel myself.

“And a few days from now, we’re going to go dig it up.”

Jinzo encloses my hand in his, and we both watch the spot in the distance until the light from the sky fades away and night descends on our little corner of the world.