𝖝𝖎𝖎. The language of you






𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄:
The language of you
(1971)




WHEN CORAZON IS NERVOUS, she never entertains it. She prefers to keep both her mind and body busy because being nervous tends to take a toll on her because her mind keeps rising with thoughts of everything that could go wrong that she knows will never happen, but still, it makes her anxious to no end.

Besides, why would she be nervous? It's not as if it's the first time she and Jasper went to do something alone together. Jasper drives her to Carlisle's research laboratory every weekend. Corazon accompanies Jasper whenever he goes to a bookstore or meets with a professional bookseller to bid on the latest collection they acquired. They share a room together, for goodness sake. They've been good friends for almost three decades.

Now that she thinks about it more, wow, it really did take her a hell of a lot of time to figure it out when it was right in front of her all along! If her inang was here, she probably would have scolded her, "Kung ahas lang yan, natuklaw ka na!"

So Corazon isn't nervous.

She's not nervous.

She really isn't nervous.

Not even a little bit.

"I don't need to be an empath to feel how nervous you are," Carlisle teases with a shake of his head and a sly grin on his lips. His blonde hair was neatly combed to the back. He was wearing a cotton-cashmere light gray collared long-sleeve shirt with a black tie, black pants, black leather belt, and a white lab gown with royal blue embroidery on the upper right side of the coat, Carlisle Cullen, MD, Cardiology. It's the specialty he decided to practice in the current hospital he's working in.

It's been two years since they've been on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska. It's one of the cities that Corazon favored for their residency location because they were surrounded by the snow-covered dense pine forests with the high mountains as their view. The long nights offer an ideal environment for them. The vast expanse of untouched wilderness provides them with ample hunting grounds. Their house's strategic remote location, nestled amidst the pristine wilderness, allows them to move freely without exposing their supernatural abilities.

They were supposed to stay with another coven, the Denalis. Carlisle considered them cousins of some sort because of the same diet. Still, Edward isn't particularly fond of the coven leader, Tanya. So he persuaded Carlisle somehow to reside in Alaska, but not with the Denalis. It was a shame Corazon wanted to meet them; before Alice, Jasper, and Corazon arrived at the Cullen's primary residency in 1950, their previous residency was with the Denalis. So it'll be some time before they move back.

Rosalie especially liked the winter darkness and a bit of isolation from the humans. Their low-profile lifestyle allows them to coexist with humans without arousing suspicion. Also, in college, night schedules are what they prefer the most. They tend to switch from every move; sometimes, they are in college and work as freshly graduated undergraduates. But, like now, their isolated location allowed them the liberty to do whatever they wanted.

Alice is working in a boutique. She's always the fashionista in the family. Corazon and Rosalie were often the models in the designs she drew, and she sold the sketches to high-end fashion brands at a hefty price. She's always in the loop regarding new styles in the market. Alice has always had an eye for the adaptability of recent trends.

Rosalie always had a fondness for collecting and fixing cars; Emmett was always the front man because no one ever trusts a woman's opinion when it comes to cars; they have an auto-tune & repair shop in the city, and she is not one to shy away from getting her hands dirty. Corazon often finds her in the garage looking exactly like a mechanic who enjoys spinning wrenches and starting motors, dressed as if she were a mechanic herself in a pair of faded trousers and a top covered with grease. Rosalie was also the one who taught her how to drive; it wasn't an easy driving lesson; Corazon was more scared of Rosalie's scolding than hitting the car; she never saw the point in learning how to drive when Jasper always offered to drive her to the place she needed to be, it took some time, but Corazon realized that she doesn't have to know and do everything—she's still working on it.

Esme works at home in her home office and always prefers staying home. She was quite happy to let the rest of them bring the world back to her as needed, but when needed, she often responded to consults in the architectural firm in the city. She's a brilliant architect, and Corazon saw the blueprints that she had made. Her grasp of form, space, and function is evident in every plan, which is a beautiful balancing act between the style and functionality of a visionary. She's always the one who designs or chooses the houses they'll be living in whenever Alice has a vision of the new location of their move.

Edward chose to study for another law degree. He can get pretentious with it because he has studied it before. He liked being the intelligent one in the room. For once, he and Corazon are so competitive regarding their excellence. He sometimes tutors piano lessons with kids, but it hasn't been as progressive as he hoped when he can't tune out their thoughts; his ego was quite hurt when all the kids could think about was how miserable he looked.

Emmett, well, he tends to go along with the flow. He believes in the, live in the moment phrase; it's why he's always so easygoing. That as long as Rose is by his side, everything is as perfect as it should be. Corazon thinks Emmett is the only one who accepts vampirism with no qualms.

Jasper stayed at home as well. He still had difficulties when it came to controlling his thirst, so he decided to take a break from every other move. Esme enjoys his company; he's often quiet and always keeps to himself, except when Emmett forces him to spar or race. Emmett's good company for him, Corazon thinks Emmett reminded him of Peter. He also visits his friends for a week when he needs time away from his family or to calm his eagerness for Corazon. He always seemed so happier and lighter after his visit from his old friends, and sometimes Corazon thinks that maybe she wanted him to always be like that when he's with her, that he could be himself.

"I'm not nervous," Corazon confidently says as she scribbles in her research journal. She could feel Carlisle's eyes on her, and she looked at her side, looking at Carlisle with a firm tone. She repeats, "I am not nervous,"

Carlisle raises both hands in the air with a surrendered look and a shrug on his shoulder, "You're not nervous," He says, a little unconvinced, raising an eyebrow.

"Really, I'm not."

"Then you aren't."

"I'm perfectly calm."

"Okay,"

Corazon gives him a pointed look, shaking her head as she scoffs, placing the pen on the table and closing her journal, facing Carlisle as she crosses her arms to her chest. "I'm not nervous,"

"I think we established that you are indeed not nervous." Carlisle lightly chuckles as he smiles, leans on the table, his hips supporting his weight, and crosses his legs.

"Good. Because I think I need to convince myself more." Corazon releases a deep breath, "Tell me something about courtship in your time."

"When you put it like that, it makes me feel old." Carlisle remarks, and Corazon releases a gracious snort. "You are old, Carlisle," Corazon teased, "Don't worry, you don't look a day over thirty. If you are, I don't think the nurses would stop their endless flirtations to attempt to win you over,"

Corazon had witnessed it herself. How much attention and admiration Carlisle gains in every hospital he's worked in, though he never cared for any of it because he's only doing his job. He's married—which many are disappointed in once they see his wedding ring.

Carlisle dismisses what she said with a roll of his eyes, "I don't remember much of the courtship when I was human. The memories seemed to slip away over the centuries." He said it so casually, but Corazon could see the longingness in his eyes. Being alive for so long is such a difficult ordeal in the first place, and for most of his immortal life, he spent it alone. Corazon understood him in a way; she wouldn't want to live forever alone, too. She knows how difficult it was for him to turn Edward and the others into a vampire.

Carlisle never really wanted to place them under the burdens of immortality, but the way they had died, they never fully lived at all. Carlisle knows he is no savior; yes, he never considered himself as one, but Edward, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett deserved so much more of what life can offer, but sometimes, he wonders if he ever did the right thing. He is no saint or god. It's not his decision on who gets to live or die; he's been wandering the earth for so long, looking for another outlook on immortality, and when he found Edward, he knew it was selfish beyond compare, but he was lonely, it's no excuse, but he had no other reason. Until he found Esme then, everything seemed to fall into place.

He vowed to himself that he would never give immortality to another again, but then he found Rosalie. Of course, he'd heard of her; the Hales are the talk of the city and the papers; he'd read her engagement to Royce and seen her in the hospital because her older sister worked there. All he could think about was a girl with so much potential and a promising future ahead of her. He wasn't expecting Rosalie to be the woman bleeding heavily in the dark alleyway and the unmistakable marks of a woman who had been severely wronged, and he thought that she didn't deserve any of it.

Carlisle blamed himself when he saw how much Rosalie resented what she had become. She often made it clear that he should have let her die, and Carlisle couldn't find himself deserving of her forgiveness. He tried all he could to make Rosalie feel any comfort or relief. He even told her that if she couldn't face him anymore, he wouldn't take it to heart if she decided to leave their coven, but Rosalie stayed and made a simple request.

Revenge.

And Carlisle couldn't refuse. Now Carlisle believes that he has no right to take another mortal's life, but sometimes, death is such a justifiable action when the person on the receiving end isn't someone who's innocent. Royce stole Rosalie's life, her hopes, and her dreams. So he let her be; it's surprising that being alive for so long, he continues to open his mind further; he considers Rosalie as his own daughter, and she had been wronged in the worst way possible that men like Royce deserve his own special punishment in hell.

That not all life deserves to live.

Not long before, he relented and remembered what had happened to his wife. He made sure that Charles Evenson's disappearance was kept quiet. Neither Esme nor Edward knew what really happened; all they knew was that he was called away to another city for a doctor's conference. He asked for Rosalie's help, and she was more than happy to aid his endeavor.

After Rosalie found Emmett, Carlisle was relieved. It was a silent indication that Rosalie had forgiven him.

Carlisle always remembered his oath as a doctor, but he was a vampire first. He had a particular attachment to human life as a man of medicine. He is fond of the science of it, the medical practice of it. But human life itself, again, he'd been alive for centuries, and his philosophy is that humanity is more damned than they ever could be than vampires. Humans had seemed to progress in the rottest way possible—so much cruelty, violence, selfishness, and inhumane qualities that he had witnessed over the centuries that he lost faith in humanity for a long time but denied it to himself.

"Not even a tiny bit? Don't tell me you never fancied anyone when you were human?" Corazon prodded further. Corazon only knew how Carlisle was turned, how he stayed with the Volturi for a few decades, and how he left because Aro kept testing his control of human blood, Carlisle told her that he wanted the Volturi to adapt his lifestyle, but he understood when they did not, the Volturi Coven had been drinking human blood for millennia it's no question that they would never give it up for a less satisfactory blood.

Carlisle sighs, but there is no sign of irritation in his features; he ponders as he says, "There was a girl in the village that I remember courting; my father was ecstatic because she was from a well-established family in our community; they also preferred me because I was the pastor's son. I never really knew what happened to her after the raid. I was too afraid of myself to pay her a visit."

Corazon listened carefully to his words, tinged with sadness, "Did you love her?"

Carlisle pondered again as he grabbed his chin with his thumb, "I think I did."

Corazon frowns, "Do you really just forget memories?" seeing how much Carlisle looked like he was struggling to recall his human life.

"Over time, some memories of my human life faded over the centuries. I like to think that to create new memories, you need an empty space to fill it with." Carlisle fixes his posture as he removes his lab gown, folding it neatly around his arm.

"That's one way to cope with it," Corazon musters, eyebrows furrowing as she fumbles with her fingers, looking down on the floor as her shoulders slumped, "What if I don't want to forget?"

Carlisle answers softly. "Then you write it down and read it when you need reminding that there are so many more memories in store for you, a life ahead of you, and note how far you've come despite the trials and tribulations—your progress throughout the years."



•| ⊱✿⊰ |•



AGAIN, CORAZON IS NOT NERVOUS.

Okay, maybe a little bit. Something about Jasper Whitlock makes her nervous. She doesn't even know why, perhaps because he can see the raw vulnerability that she rarely expresses to the others, even Alice, but Jasper, she can't seem to escape his intense and lingering stare as if he can truly see right through her, understood her better than anyone— and that itself made her nervous, terrified even.

"Hey," Such a simple greeting brought a soft and gentle caress upon her senses.

Corazon almost lost a breath at how much she felt his voice soothe her. She turned around, facing him with a small, wobbly smile and a tilted head, rubbing her fingers together—as a nervous habit. "Hi," She mustered.

Jasper only gave her a knowing look, lips slightly twitching into a grin. "You're nervous," He points out confidently like a fact, which it is. He didn't give her a chance to answer, "You don't have to be so nervous, it's only me,"

Which is why Corazon is nervous; it's Jasper Whitlock. The man who knew her better than anyone else. What if he decided that he didn't want to do this? What if he loses interest in her in the long run? What if he decided that she wasn't interesting at all? What if—

Corazon didn't notice that she had spaced out. Jasper walked towards her in only a few strides, standing before her, towering over her, looking at her with so much sincerity, "Stop thinking so much. We haven't even started yet." He buried his hands in his pockets. Corazon blinked rapidly as she shamelessly let her gaze wander up and down his body.

He's wearing a simple black long-sleeve turtleneck shirt, gray trousers with a thin black leather belt, and brown oxford shoes. He wore a signet ring on his right hand, another silver ring on his pinky, and a Longines watch with a leather band in a black tone on his left wrist. His hair was still in a mix of disheveled and smooth, golden locks just above his collar.

Jasper always looked so beautifully handsome like always.

"Like what you see?" He chuckled, his voice taking on an even more velvety quality.

Corazon hummed as a teasing smile finally on her lips, "I would be a liar if I said no," He laughed softly, and Corazon almost felt herself shiver. Then it was his turn for his eyes to wander, and Corazon summoned all the confidence she stored for the night; Alice was the one who arranged her wardrobe for their date.

A sage green lantern sleeve sweater of polyester knit, soft draping sleeves, and mock turtleneck that has a wide ribbing, nubby textured front and back styled for a close fit, white trouser pants with a high-waist band in a woven blend of rayon and polyester with cuffed wide-flare leg styling and a vinyl belt, paired with a brown leather rattan platform mule sandals—it's why she almost leveled with his height. Small pearl earrings and a gold pendant with a dainty ruby stone.

"You're captivating." The deep timbre in his words made her undead heart flutter.

"I could say the same," Corazon replies; Jasper offers his hand, which she takes with no hesitation as Jasper leads them outside, but not without Emmett teasing them.

"Enjoy kiddos and no funny business," Emmett warns with squinted eyes as he points his hand between them, with his other hand perked on his hip, left foot forward. Jasper opened the car door for her, which is Jasper's car, a midnight-black Maserati Ghibli 4.7 Coupe that he and Rosalie ordered from Italy, while Rosalie purchased a silver Berger Camaro SS/RS.

"Emmett," Corazon calls him while leaning on the car window.

"Yeah?" He answers with a grin as he crosses his giant arms to his chest, and Rosalie walks to his side with an amused expression.

"Shut up."

"Never."

At that, Corazon only rolled her eyes. Then she heard Alice's fast footsteps and hopping, almost gliding toward them with a camera in hand. "Something to look back to." She only said with a smile, and Corazon knew what she meant, something along the lines of 'for proof that your doubts are wrong.'

"Have fun," Rosalie tells them as Jasper tips his head and Corazon waves goodbye while Alice re-enters the house and Rosalie forcefully pushes Emmett inside. Jasper starts the car, and the night drive towards the city is peaceful and quiet. Corazon is thankful that Jasper washed her worries away with his gift; she is finally enjoying herself with him.

The scent of buttered popcorn wafted through the air as they approached the drive-in after paying for their tickets. The flickering lights of the giant screen. Jasper parked the car and turned the engine off. Corazon looked around, noting that only a few cars were parked for the drive-in theater for tonight. A low-budget horror movie played before them, and Corazon couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous it was.

Her hands settled on her lap, her body leaning in Jasper's direction, eyes focused on the screen; she didn't notice that Jasper's observing eyes noted every expression on her face. He felt nothing but content, his hand itching to hold hers as if the gods were listening to his wish. Corazon gasped in surprise as she leaned more to his side, instinctively grabbing his hand. She didn't remove it from his grasp and settled it there, and Jasper didn't wish to pull her hand either. Then he felt her head nestling on his shoulder, so he fixed his position to make her feel comfortable.

Jasper breathed in, the scent of cherry wafting in his nose, and he knew that he was a goner.

Then they both heard heavy groans and breathy moans as the sound of a creaking car. They both looked at each other, and they both laughed. Jasper said, "We should ditch the movie."

"I think we should. It feels like we're invading their privacy." Corazon agreed as Jasper started the car and maneuvered, exiting the parking lot. "Where to?" He asks. The distant murmur of classic rock tunes played softly on the radio as the empty roads, and the flickering neon lights of the opening bars accompanied the streets.

"Maybe the field? Somewhere, we can lay out a blanket." Corazon suggested, and Jasper only nodded in response. They arrived at their destination. The empty fields surrounded by the dense forest are perfect, in Corazon's opinion, as the cold breeze sweeps over them and the night sky is blanketed with countless twinkling night stars.

Corazon took the folded mustard-colored wool blanket in the back seat; she placed the blanket there because she always barrows Jasper's car whenever she decides to drive alone and have a pleasant leisure in the park, and lay a blanket like what they are doing right now.

"I like it here. It's so beautiful." Corazon says while looking around, and Jasper only answers, "It is," Looking at her. Corazon then sat on the blanket laid on the ground; Jasper followed suit; their only source of light was from the car, which was more than enough.

"I like this more than the movies," Corazon tells him. Jasper softly laughs. "Of course, there's no horny teenagers here."

Corazon was about to make a joke until something in her smart brain seemed to malfunction as she opened her mouth, but no words came out; she snapped her fingers, and her hand covered her face, voice muffled. "It's so difficult translating the words in my brain before I can say it. It's been three decades of practically speaking English all the time, and I still have difficulties. You know I'm much funnier in my native language."

Jasper gently placed a hand on her wrist, removing her hand from her face, looking at her with a tilted head, "So teach me," His soft yet deep voice, a blend of serenity and profound understanding, touched her soul.

"Really?" Corazon asks, blinking her eyes bewildered. "I'd like to learn," He responds shortly. Then he could feel the rush of excitement in her emotions as she stood up from her seat, opened the car, and took a small notebook and pen from the compartment.

"Well then," Corazon cleared her throat as she sat back down next to him, "To learn a language, you first must understand the history of it, the root of it." Jasper nodded along.

"I think in history it's often mistaken when it's said that the Philippines was discovered by Spain, not really it was rediscovered. Before the colonization of the Spaniards, the natives and their tribes already had their own language, beliefs, etc." Corazon scribbled down in her notebook.

"Filipinos are of Austronesian ancestry, so Malay, but the language grew distant when the Spaniards came and made Spanish the official language. You know what colonizers do to a country? They erased and destroyed every bit of roots that my ancestors had. Replacing it with their own, hence why we are the only Catholic country in Asia, while it should have been Anitism or Bathalism." Corazon gave him a pointed look.

"After three centuries of colonization, the original language died, and numerous Spanish terms were borrowed into Tagalog. Among these were the terminology from Spanish households and religions and the widespread use of the Spanish number system, particularly when handling money. There actually became a fusion of mainly Tagalog or Cebuano and Spanish. Chavacano is a Spanish-based creole spoken in Zamboanga and Cotabato City in Mindanao."

"The original Filipino writing system was based on the Baybayin alphabet before it was replaced by the Latin Alphabet, then the Americans colonized the Philippines. Our official language and alphabet turned into English—the Japanese tried to change our language again, but their reign was short-lived." Corazon tells him with a shrug, and then Jasper asks, "Do you know how to write Baybayin?" The word sounded so foreign in his mouth as he tried not to butcher it.

Corazon's shoulder slumped as she pursed her lips, "Unfortunately, I did not. It's difficult to find any books with the manuscripts of the alphabet, but I would like to know how to write in Baybayin." Jasper thoughtfully nodded as he went quiet again while Corazon continued,

"Learning Tagalog is much easier than learning English because there are no silent letters. So, a word in Tagalog sounds exactly as it looks like it would sound. But let's start with the pronunciations of consonants and vowels—Katinig and Patinig."

"There are twenty letters in the Filipino alphabet called Abakada, which have five vowels and fifteen consonants." Corazon wrote a column for each consonant and vowel, then placed it on Jasper's lap. She pointed the pen at the written vowel, pronouncing each letter fluently and accurately. "Now you try,"

Jasper looks at her hesitantly with furrowed brows as he grabs the notebook. Doubt is present in his features, and Corazon urges him with a smile. His tone is soft and curved? In a way, it was as if he was eating the words out of his mouth.

"It's okay, but for a particular vowel sound, no part of your mouth should move while voicing it. The pronunciation is more stressed and a little rough." She repeated the correct pronunciation, and Jasper repeated it.

Jasper enjoyed learning her language because he felt closer to her than before and because it made Corazon happy. As for Corazon, she felt closer to her roots, which is what she had needed for a long time.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

━━ I am establishing a new rule that I won't update any chapters until the previous chapter I posted isn't receiving the amount of attention/hype (comments & votes) I would have preferred, so this time I know that ya'll actually want to read my updates. This might get a weekly update if I am satisfied with the feedback!

━━ My apologies for the lack of updates. I was recovering from the fever I caught two weeks ago. I've been trying to finish the chapters for Act 1 before publishing anything, but I have been STRUGGLING anyway. Hopefully, this 4K + words chapter will make up for it in the meantime! Also, I resigned from my job at the end of August, so more writing time for me and no more pain in the ass boss! (Thank fucking god)

━━ This chapter is literally this:

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