Chapter 200: Still Leitana

LEITANA

Leitana sat cross-legged in the middle of the big bed, fresh from her piano lessons. She was wearing one of Ravial’s oversized shirts again, the hem covering her thighs. The late afternoon light poured through the windows, warming the room.

This was her daily ritual, one she had kept for weeks, ever since she first arrived in America and felt self-conscious about her English and Ravial had given her a phone, she had asked one of the staff Clara on how to improve her English. She opened the ELSA Speak app on her phone, her favorite AI pronunciation coach. She had been using it almost every day for the past two weeks.

She propped the phone on a small pillow and tapped “Practice Session.”

The calm, clear female AI voice began:

“Today’s focus: Consonant clusters and sentence rhythm. Repeat after me: The proper English sounds are very important for clear communication.”

Leitana leaned forward, concentrating.

“The proper English sounds are very important for clear communication,” she said slowly and clearly.

The app listened, then gave feedback in a friendly tone:

“Very good, Leitana! Your ‘th’ sound is improving. Let’s try again with more natural rhythm.”

She repeated it a few more times, then moved on to new sentences.

“I want to speak English with confidence so I can share my music with the world.”

Leitana repeated it carefully, then smiled when the app gave her a high score.

She picked up her notebook the, one of the ones ravial had gotten for her and wrote the new sentence neatly:

\- The proper English sounds are very important for clear communication.

\- I want to speak English with confidence so I can share my music with the world.

She whispered the words again to herself, nodding with satisfaction.

Next came new vocabulary:

“Resilience is the ability to recover from difficulties. Example: She showed great resilience during hard times.”

“Resilience,” Leitana repeated softly, writing it down. “I like this word.”

She continued for nearly forty minutes, practicing intonation, new words like “eloquent,” “cherish,” “vulnerable,” and “determination.” Every time she got a good score, she would smile proudly and write the word or sentence in her notebook.

When the session ended, the app said:

“Excellent work today, Leitana. You’re making beautiful progress. Keep going!”

Leitana closed the notebook gently and hugged it to her chest, feeling warm and accomplished.

“I'm getting better,” she whispered to herself, a soft smile on her face. “One day I will speak very well… for mi baby… for mi Ravial… and for myself.”

She leaned back against the pillows, still holding her notebook, feeling quietly proud of how far she had come since leaving Vanuatu.

Leitana still sat cross-legged on the bed, notebook open on her lap and pen in hand. Ravial had just come out of the shower, hair still damp, wearing only black sweatpants. He leaned against the headboard with his laptop on his thighs, working while helping her.

“Okay my lamb,” he said calmly, eyes on his screen but attention fully on her. “Spell Organization.”

Leitana’s brow creased in concentration. She wrote it down carefully, whispering the letters to herself before showing him.

Ravial glanced over. “Close. One more time, Organization.”

She tried again, slower. “O-r-g-a-n-i-z-a-t-i-o-n.”

He nodded. “Good. Next: Determination.”

She wrote it, then looked up. “Mi Ravial, please say it again. The middle part is tricky.”

He repeated it patiently, voice low and smooth. She wrote it down, biting her lip.

They continued like this for the remaining words. Some were easy. Others made her frown and ask for repeats. Ravial never rushed her, he waited, corrected gently when needed, and praised her when she got them right.

“Resilience,” he said.

She wrote it.

“Next: Eloquent.”

Leitana wrote it, then looked up at him. “Mi Ravial, please say it again?”

He repeated slowly, “Eloquent.”

She corrected her spelling and smiled.

After the 20th word, she handed him the notebook proudly. “Done.”

Ravial took it, pulled the red pen from behind his ear, and began marking. His expression stayed calm, but the corner of his mouth kept twitching upward.

“Eighteen out of twenty,” he announced, sounding genuinely proud. He circled the two mistakes gently. “You wrote ‘Recieve’ instead of ‘Receive’ the ‘i’ before ‘e’ rule can be tricky. And ‘Embarassed’ instead of ‘Embarrassed’ double ‘r’ and double ‘s’.”

Leitana sighed but smiled. “I always mix those ones.”

Ravial set the laptop aside and pulled her closer, kissing all over her face, forehead, cheeks, nose, and finally her lips.

“I’m so proud of you,” he murmured between kisses. “Your English is improving so much. You use ‘mi’ less now. You’re getting stronger every day.”

Leitana blushed, leaning into his affection. “Mi… I am not trying to change who I am or pretend to be different. I just want to improve myself. My accent will never change fully, and I don’t want it to. Bislama is still part of me.”

Ravial cupped her face, thumbs stroking her cheeks. “Good. Because I’m not embarrassed by the way you speak. Your Bislama makes you my Leitana. It’s beautiful to me and you don’t need to be anyone else.”

He kissed her deeply, biting her lower lip gently. She bit his back playfully. He chuckled into her mouth, the sound soft and warm.

When they pulled apart, Leitana glanced at his laptop. “What are you doing on there?”

Ravial stroked her hair. “Just some business contracts and reports. Nothing important right now.”

She nodded, then picked up her notebook again, smiling at the neat list of words and corrections.

Ravial watched her with that intense, obsessive softness only she ever saw.