Drunken Love, Que Son [jenna bush book club TXT] 📗

father refused, receiving no good reason from him. But Adam would not give up. He asked again and again, day after day. At last the father relented but said that they would both go together. Adam did not care if his father was going along. All he needed was to see Eve and his father had the means to help him do that. So two weeks after she was gone, Adam took the bus to Sai Gon with his father who still did not know his son's true intention. The father must have thought that Adam was on one of those bouts of adolescent madness and was suffering from wanderlust.

 

Adam and his father took the trip together. The bus arrived in Sai Gon early in the evening after a torturous two day journey. All through the trip, Adam could think of nothing but how he was going to find Eve. The mountains, the ocean, the green rice fields, and the scenery along the highway did not take his mind off her. He had her address, and once there he would ask his way to where she lived and would see her. His father said they would stay in his uncle's house on NDC Street while in the city, and they would stay for three days. The father was hoping that the trip would ease whatever it was that was bothering Adam even though he never asked Adam again about the purpose of the trip. And Adam did not volunteer any information either. He kept his mouth shut most of the times during the journey, and only opened his mouth when talked to. That evening, soon after arriving at the uncle's house, Adam asked one of his cousins for direction to Eve’s address and was told that it was not far away. The cousin even lent him a bike. He took the bike and set out just as darkness descended on the city. He rode along NDC Street. Sai Gon was a really big town and there was a lot of traffic and people and shops and lights of all colors and it was noisy. He made a right turn on LTT Avenue as instructed by the cousin then headed toward a big traffic circle where seven big streets met and began to watch out for the house number.

 

It was now completely dark but colorful lights from the endless store fronts on both sides of the avenue made him feel like he was in a festival. Then he found the house he was looking for, right at a corner facing the traffic circle. He stopped in front of the house and observed, it was a two-story building; and on the ground floor it looked as if it was a mechanic shop because the half-closed door and the sidewalk in front were black with dirt and grease. Except for pedestrians who were walking back and forth in front of the house, he did not see anyone who might be inhabitants of the house. He hesitated, then decided to approach the house and look inside through the half-closed doors and if he saw someone he would ask for Eve. He was sure he had found the right address. As he was thinking, suddenly from nowhere a small hand grabbed the handles of the bike and he looked up and there she was. An avalanche of joy took over his heart. Ecstasy. "Eve," he whispered then muted. The small girl with jet black hair and pearly eyes and ivory skin did not seem real; but it was her, his Eve.

 

"I had the feeling that you would look for me, I've been waiting," Eve said and her voice sounded so far-off like it was in a dream. In fact, everything around Adam had turned surreal, even the traffic noises became faint and faraway and the people suddenly floated like ghosts. The earth had disappeared and what was left was just heaven. Adam saw only one thing: Eve; and he felt only one thing: Rapture. Their spirits rose upward then melt into each other in an ocean of bliss, of indescribable happiness, of boundless ecstasy. And in that private heaven of theirs, he saw Eve radiate like an angel, and they were the only people that existed. How beautiful she was! He looked at her and his soul was sucked into her eyes. Lost. Forever.

 

The next day Adam waited for Eve at the corner where her school was. It was the monsoon season. When she came out in the late afternoon, they walked together to the house of Adam's uncle. The rain poured down in short bursts. But they did not try to avoid the rain, they just walked. At the house, Adam took Eve to the room where he was staying and while walking up the stairs his cousin looked at them curiously. They sat down at the table near a big window and outside darkness was approaching and the rain had stopped and the children had come out to play again. The street lights were also on. Eve and Adam sat facing each other and were engulfed in a quiet but intense happiness and they could almost hear each other's heartbeats. They did not feel the need to say anything. They just sat and looked at one another and felt the love; and during those moments, the two persons had actually became one. Hours passed. The room became dark but Adam did not bother to turn on the light. Then he walked her home.

 

They saw one another one more time and on the third day Adam had to go back to Da Nang. At daybreak in the morning he must go back home, his father was already sitting with him on the bus waiting for the time to depart. But Adam got off the bus and ran to Eve's house which was not far from the station. He must see her face one more time. He saw Eve on the other side of the door; she had been waiting to for him to show up to say goodbye because he had told her the night before he would have to return to Da Nang that morning. Trapped inside, Eve looked at Adam through a narrow opening between the locked double doors. She did not have the key to open them. Adam looked at her and felt excruciating pain in his heart. "I must go. I will be late for the bus," he said breathlessly, then yanked himself away from the doors and ran back to the bus. And as the bus started to roll out of the station, he broke down and cried, but he did not let his father see the tears in his eyes and he swallowed his sobbing. Sensing something was not right, his father asked him what the matter was but Adam did not answer. It was his private pain and only he could understand.

 

Back home, Adam was satisfied that he had seen Eve again, and he felt less agitated. But he still thought about her every minute of the days. He continued to hallucinate, to see her face in the space in front of his eyes; and every time he walked home, he convinced himself that as he stepped into the house, he would see her there. But she was not there. Ten days after the trip, Adam received a letter from Eve. He opened the letter, trembling, and on the page, she had written only two words, "My love," and she wrote it over and over to fill the whole page then signed her name. Just "My love"-- and nothing else. Adam was deeply moved. He could see written on the page Eve's loving-madness. They were both seventeen that year.

 

Days went by, months went by. And while Adam continued to indulge in his idle and drunken way, the longing for Eve became less intense. Then one day she returned to the city, probably because school was over. Again, she stayed at her grandfather's house and this time she worked as a dressmaker at a shop in the market. In the evening, they would see one another on the roof of Adam's house or in the park by the river like they had done before. The love was still all heart and mind, there was no physical contact; and even though sometimes Adam felt an urge to touch her face or hands, he restrained himself, bashful. One afternoon Adam came home and saw Eve sleeping. He sat down next to her and his movements woke her up. She opened her eyes and looked at him, and he lied down, but she sat up with a fearful look in her eyes and retreated to a corner of the bed.

 

"You can't do that!" She said.

 

Adam's intention was to touch Eve. Seeing her reaction, he sat back up then walked away, the smell of her body trailing him.

 

Summer. Another afternoon. The house was deserted. Five o'clock. Adam was sitting in his room, and he heard footsteps--Eve was coming up the stairs. Then their eyes met, and together they walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Adam felt tense and his heart beat fast. They both knew something was going to happen and they were determined that it would happen, it must happen--here and now. A long and agonizing silence ensued, anxiety built and built, then suddenly the words came out of Adam's mouth, "Give me your hand," and Eve reached for his left hand with her right hand and both hands immediately grabbed and squeezed each other tight as if they had been waiting a lifetime for this moment. Time and space suddenly vanished. How soft and cool and electrifying the touch was! Adam was breathless and he felt his penis harden. And it ached. It was his first skin-to-skin contact with Eve, and as the hands continued to hold tight and the fingers caressed, it felt like a silent and sustained explosion. Adam was overwhelmed by an incredibly good feeling that he had never felt before. Virgin skin on virgin skin. His penis got harder and harder. Adam was out of breath, and suddenly he ejaculated, and for a few short moments, it felt as if he had ceased to exist. Ecstasy took over him quickly and completely. Then as the orgasm faded and the breath regained its steady rhythm, he slowly turned his head and looked at Eve and saw her resting her head on the back of the couch with her eyes closed and her hand was still grabbing his tightly as if she was falling and needed to hold on to something. He saw the anguished satisfaction on her face. No words. Then as the erection subsided, Adam slowly let go of Eve's hand and stood up and walked to the window. It was now dark outside but things in the living room were still visible because of the street lights. An hour must have passed. Still stunned, Adam looked into the distance outside the window, while desperately savoring the residual feeling of his first sexual experience. He felt wet and sticky in his pants. The clock ticked. Then he became aware of Eve's presence behind him. She took his hand again and whispered his name with her small trembling voice. Her body was so near it almost brushed against his and he smelled the odor of her skin, the kind of sexual odor that female animals in the mating season exert to attract the males. As Adam now thought back, those moments had been lost forever, those moments when sex was a thing godly, holy, sacred, to be worshipped with the utmost reverence. No, Adam thought, feeling the tension again as Eve came closer to him, it is too much, it cannot go on. If they continued the adventure, he would have to make love with her and he knew she would give it to him--with all the love, with all the willingness