Anhelo

Author’s Note: I highly advise reading Ch. 314: Elaine Montemayor before reading this.

The following is written in 3rd Person POV…

Spain, 2009, a year after Elaine Craig and Vicente Montemayor’s wedding…

“Do you ever miss it, Vicente?” Elaine asks her husband, as she watches the sun setting in the horizon, the Atlantic Ocean bathed in the warm colors of dusk.

Elaine is leaning on the balustrade of their balcony, her glass of Sangria half-empty next to her arm. Meanwhile, Vicente is lounging behind her, watching the same setting sun as his wife while smoking a cigar.

Elaine’s question grabs Vicente’s attention, but answering her became an afterthought upon focusing his sights on his new wife.

“[Wait! Don’t move!]” Vicente shouts in Spanish, before hurriedly getting off his chair. Elaine just rolls her eyes, takes another sip of her sangria, while waiting for her husband to return. She already knows that her sixty-plus year old husband only moves that quick for one reason.

Vicente comes barreling back with his easel, his palette and paintbrushes secured tightly in both his hands, and the canvas squeezed precariously under his armpit. He dumps all of it on the floor, before heading back to get his paints. Meanwhile, Elaine takes another sip of her sangria. When Vicente returns, he immediately starts setting up behind Elaine.

“Oh it’s beautiful, Elaine.” Vicente tells her.

“I’m sure it will be, Vicente.” Elaine replies dismissively.

“No, my dear. It already is. My job is merely trying to capture it forever.” Vicente replies sweetly, and Elaine can’t help her lips from smiling just a little.

…

“How do you want me?” Elaine asks, turning around and even pulling on the sleeve of her sundress to make it off-shoulder and expose more skin.

“NO! NO! Go back! ¡Darse la vuelta!” Vicente shouts in a mix of panic and anger. Elaine immediately turns around to try and go back to her previous position, accidentally hitting her glass in the process and causing it to fall over the balcony.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry!” Elaine shouts apologetically.

“No, no. I’m sorry, my dear.” Vicente assures her. “Please. I’ll get you another glass. Just don’t move.” Vicente tells her. Elaine goes back to her position of leaning on the balustrade like before. She does so stiffly, afraid of disappointing her husband further. A few seconds later, Vicente places another glass of sangria beside her, on the same spot where her last one was. He then pulls up the sleeve of her dress back onto her shoulder, and even repositions her to what he thought was better blocking for his next painting.

“There. Back as it was.” Vicente comments, before heading back to his makeshift painting area.

Although it did seem like everything was back to the way it was, it was obvious that it wasn’t. Elaine was less relaxed. The glass of sangria beside her didn’t have the tinge of lipstick her previous one did, and it was full and undrank. If she looks down, she can see her former glass shattered on the ground below. And, most noticeably…

“Ah, well. At least most of it is back as it was.” Vicente comments upon getting back to his painting area. “If only I could stop time so the sun doesn’t move too much, eh?” Vicente jokingly asks, and Elaine can’t help but chuckle. Not because she thought Vicente’s joke was funny, but because it reminded her of her brother.

“He just published a book about that.” Lainey says, unaware that she said it out loud.

“Who did?” Vicente asks Elaine.

“What?” Elaine asks back in confusion.

“Who wrote a book about it?” Vicente repeats, as he sketches the outline for his painting.

“Oh! Nobody! It was nothing.” Elaine tries to deflect.

“Come now, Elaine. We’ll be here for a while, and I’ll be too busy to carry the conversation.” Vicente tells her. “Please. I am interested to hear it.” Vicente encourages her.

“My brother.” Elaine admits, knowing Vicente would only get upset if she doesn’t relent. “He… um… he just published a book.” Elaine adds.

“Have you read your brother’s book?” Vicente asks, making conversation as he continues to sketch.

“I… I have. It’s the one I’ve been reading the past couple of days.” Lainey answers.

“Ah~, yes. The Undying Emperor, wasn’t it?” Vicente recalls. “What was it about again?” Vicente asks.

“Oh, um… it’s about this guy, the Emperor… and this girl, Xia… and other side characters that are mostly about the politics and religion side so I found them less interesting. Anyway! Yeah. The book switches perspectives between characters, but Xia and the Emperor are the main ones to keep track of. The Emperor is a ruler of some fantasy civilization. He’s one of those um… Hitler types and—NO! Not Hitler. Sorry. He’s the protagonist. Obviously he’s not Hitler. He’s one of those… God, I feel like I’m doing a book report again.” Lainey starts to tell Vicente, before panicking at her fumble.

“Relax, Elaine. Just explain to me what you mean.” Vicente assures her, only half-listening in truth. His main focus is solely on capturing the view in front of him and not really the conversation.

“I mean, he’s one of those world-conquering types, but not evil per se. Like, he does it for a noble cause. He just has to conquer lands to make that noble cause easier to achieve. Something like that.” Lainey tries to clarify.

“He’s an expansionist, you mean.” Vicente suggests.

“Yeah! That! An expansionist. Thank you.” Elaine confirms, and Vicente just gives an affirming ‘mmhmm’ so Elaine will continue. “So yeah, he’s an expansionist because he needs to build an army to conquer this other civilization that has what he wants. And it turns out, it’s Xia! This poor girl from that other civilization that’s been a POV character. All this time, you thought she was just a POV character to show the vileness of the other civilization, but it was actually because she’s the one the Emperor is after. It was actually a really good reveal in the book.” Elaine recalls.

“I see.” Vicente says. “Why were you reminded of your brother’s book at this moment?” Vicente asks.

“OH! That’s because the big twist at the end reveals that the Emperor is actually some kind of wizard!” Elaine excitedly answers. “A time wizard. The book called him a chronomancer. So he’s like a guy that can stop time, but he can do more than that too. That was revealed because one of the Emperor’s close advisors attempted to **** him. The advisor wanted to **** him because the Emperor made peace with the other civilization so easily… and oh! He also killed that guy’s son. You see, they were winning the war and everything, but the Emperor called for a retreat once he found Xia. That’s when he killed the advisor’s son. The advisor’s son was actually an evil POV character. So I wanted to see him get his, even before he attempted to **** Xia. But yeah, during that **** attempt, the Emperor showed his powers… and that there’ve been hints about it throughout the book.” Elaine continues to talk while Vicente begins to paint.

“BUT! There’s even a bigger twist. Apparently, the stuff that the religious characters were spouting were actually more connected to the story, because it turns out the pantheon of gods don’t like the Emperor. The book even said they cursed him. It’s heavily implied it’s because he’s a follower of the Time God they banished. And it ends on a cliffhanger since Xia dies at the end because one of the religious characters was given a task by the highest god to kill her.” Elaine adds.

“Oh, and the monologue he gives at the end. About how he knows her **** is just a minor inconvenience. How her soul will take physical form again after some time. How he’ll long for her while he waits. Like he’s been doing for centuries. Waiting for the love of his unending life to return. His other half, he called her. ” Elaine says with some finality, finally taking a breath and placing her attention back onto the horizon. The sun, barely peeking out now.

“Ah~. He’s a Sisyphean figure.” Vicente comments.

“A what?” Elaine asks.

“The Emperor. He’s like a Sisyphus.” Vicente states. “For centuries, you said, yes? He waits for her soul to return in physical form, he builds armies and progresses civilizations to wage war in order to find her, he’ll win those wars because of his powers—but in the end, his other half always dies, no? Because the gods will it so. Not even his powers to manipulate time can protect her from their will. And the cycle continues. So he will long for her. Over and over. Only to briefly taste what he’s been longing, before it is taken away from him again. That’s the curse, is it not?” Vicente explains, getting a genuine appreciative smile from his wife.

“I didn’t even see it that way.” Elaine admits, and she genuinely seems appreciative of Vicente’s interpretation. “I should read it again.” Elaine says, getting a chuckle from Vicente.

“Your brother can weave quite a tale.” Vicente says, and this seems to sour Elaine’s mood.

…

“Do you miss him?” Vicente then asks.

“No.” Elaine quickly answers, and Vicente can easily tell it’s a lie.

He puts his paintbrush down, and approaches his young wife. He places his hands on her shoulders, trying to comfort her.

“No. I don’t miss it.” Vicente whispers into Elaine’s ear.

“Huh?” Elaine asks in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“Your first question. I wanted to answer it now.” Vicente tells her. “I don’t miss what’s across that ocean.” Vicente clarifies further. “The life I had there. The people I met there. They were all footnotes.” Vicente adds.

“Except you.” Vicente tells Elaine, before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“And since you are here with me now. There is nothing to long for back there.” Vicente adds.

“I guess that’s true.” Elaine concedes, trying to look towards Vicente who was behind her.

“It’s true for me, but not for you.” Vicente points out. “At least, not all of you.” Vicente caveats.

“Elaine Montemayor may not long for anything back there, but I believe Lainey Craig does.” Vicente shares with Elaine, who looks back into the horizon as twilight approaches.

“When I told you to not move, so I can paint what I saw, I was not trying to capture a moment, my dear.” Vicente says, before pausing for a bit. “I was trying to capture a feeling.” Vicente reveals.

“Anhelo, we call it. In English, it is translated as longing. That… that is what I saw earlier. That is what I’m trying to capture. And what I am trying to preserve forever in my piece.” Vicente tells Elaine.

“It sounds beautiful, Vicente.” Elaine tells him.

“I can’t wait to see it.”

Ten years later, during the gallery opening of Vicente’s self-proclaimed final series of works—and his self-proclaimed masterpiece as well…

‘I hate it.’ Lainey says, as she stares into Vicente’s finished painting he titled ‘Anhelo’.

“I love it, Vicente!” One of the gallery guests loudly praises the piece. Vicente bows in gratitude to the compliment, before being showered in applause.

“And I bet that the woman in this scene is your lovely wife, isn’t it?” Another rich pompous gallery guest asks.

‘How the fuck is that me?’ Lainey asks the rich pompous guest in her mind.

“It is art, my friend. It is whoever you perceive it to be.” Vicente tells them.

“Who do you perceive it as, Vicente? Surely your wife.” Another guest asks, and Vicente only smiles at first.

‘His late wife.’ Lainey answers the other guest in her mind.

“Of course.” Vicente finally answers his guests, but Lainey can tell he’s lying.

‘Even from behind, I know the woman in that painting is older than me.’ Lainey observes. ‘I was drinking sangria, not coffee. I had a sundress, not a white gown… and it definitely wasn’t sunrise.’ Lainey continues to nitpick everything that wasn’t accurate in the painting.

‘Even after a decade, I remember that day vividly. He hid this from me for ten years. Saying it wasn’t finished. Saying he hasn’t captured it yet. Saying every excuse under the sun so I drop it entirely… And I finally know why.’ Lainey thinks to herself.

‘Anhelo, we call it.’ Lainey recalls Vicente’s words.

‘Longing.’ Lainey remembers.

And it’s then that she realizes that he did capture that feeling forever.

It just wasn’t her feelings he was trying to capture.

‘You cannot trust him.’

‘No matter what his Silver Tongue makes you believe.’

‘It’s not you he loves.’

‘He only loves that you remind him of her.’

A year later… Vicente’s deathbed…

“I feel her coming.” Vicente whispers.

“Who’s coming, my dear?” Elaine asks him.

“Muerte.” Vicente answers.

“I still don’t understand. Your health… it just…” Elaine says, holding onto Vicente’s hands tightly, with tears forming in her eyes.

“It’s because I finally told you the truth, Elaine. After years of lies.” Vicente admits.

“Those aren’t important now, Vicente.” Elaine tells him, not wanting to hear her dying husband’s painful admission of guilt.

“Youth and Love, my dear.” Vicente reminds her, and Elaine’s grip on his hands grows even tighter while her tears freely flow. Understanding what he implied with his words.

‘You don’t love him anymore. That’s why he’s dying.’ Elaine can’t help but blame herself.

“Don’t cry for me.” Vicente tells Elaine.

“I had it all planned. I knew this would happen.” Vicente admits, taking Elaine by surprise.

“Anhelo, mi querida.” Vicente says to Elaine.

…

“I am done longing.” Vicente tells her with a wide smile.

His eyes are directed at her, but it's clear that they are staring right through.

He does not see her.

He only sees his other half.

“Maria.” Vicente gasps.

One final time.

Appendix:

Silver Tongue (100 Friendship Points): You become naturally persuasive, and those around you enjoy hearing you speak.

Youth and Love (100 Love Points): So long as the person with this trait has a love score of over 60 with someone, their physical appearance will change very slowly over the years, allowing them to remain youthful for longer. Their health will also match their youthful appearance.