Eyes On Me

Y'know I'm pretty envious of people in the world who follow the Final Fantasy series from its early beginnings to the 14th installment, because there's A LOT of ground to cover here and damn, the game concept looks gorgeous.

Maybe after As I can try looking at gameplays for all the Final Fantasy games, but the graphics for the first few games are really old and pixellated, and that might just make me give up halfway because the other thing I look for in games is the game art (cue boos from the classic old gamers).

I chanced upon Final Fantasy VIII when I found the song 'Eyes On Me' by Faye Wong. It's an old song I recognized but didn't quite know of when I was younger because I've heard it play a few times in my childhood.
The next time I heard it was when I was in Sec 4, at the band concert of another school where Mr Patrick Wong, one of the few teachers I respect a lot in my life so far, conducted.

A trio of saxophonists played the song and I instantly recognized it. I looked at the concert booklet and for the first time I connected a name to this unknown melody. It was 'Eyes On Me'.

The song is really old but it's beautiful in a quaint way. I went to research on the song for the heck of it and I absolutely love the story behind it, which is kinda like a backstory for FF8 if I'm not wrong.

The song, according to Wiki, unveil the hopes of a night club singer for romance with a particular member of her audience. The main characters of FF8 are Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly as shown in an embrace in the FF8 logo, but this song revolved around the brief romance between the protagonists' parents.

Rinoa's mother, Julia Heartilly, was a beautiful and talented bar lounge pianist at the Galbadia Hotel who wished to break out of her role as a mute bar pianist and pursue her dreams as an actual singer. 

When she was 22, she met a Galbadian soldier named Laguna Loire who would often go to the bar lounge with his two buddies when off-duty. There, he was captivated by Julia and would return night after night to watch her perform from the shadows.

The part I liked most is this: Laguna was terribly shy and too embarrassed to speak to Julia because he doubted that someone as beautiful and talented as Julia would take notice of him. However, unbeknownst to Laguna, Julia also harboured a crush on him. This part is captured in the lines that I picked out:

I saw you smiling at me

Was it real or just my fantasy?

You'll always be there in the corner

Of this tiny little bar.

I kind of liked it your way,

How you shyly placed your eyes on me

Did you ever know

That I had mine on you.

One night Laguna finally worked up the courage to approach Julia, and the two began to talk in Julia's private room, confiding in each other about their dreams - Laguna's aspiration to be a journalist and Julia's to be a singer. She told Laguna that she wanted to write her songs but never knew where to start. Upon meeting him however, she finally found her inspiration. Their start came to their end as Laguna was called away on a dangerous mission the same night, and Julia never heard of Laguna again.

The two never met again.

Julia married a good friend General Fury Caraway and gave birth to Rinoa. However, she died from an automobile accident when Rinoa was 5 and from then on Fury and Rinoa became estranged as Rinoa ran off to join a rebel group and took on her mother's last name.
Laguna on the other hand was severely injured from his mission and was found by a woman named Raine whom he fell in love with and later married. There's a cutscene in the game ending below at 2:15 showing how Laguna proposed to her in a field under moonlight (OMG cuteness overload), the same field where she is buried.

He was away looking for their kidnapped adopted daughter Ellone (the lady waving at Laguna in the video) when Raine gave birth to Squall and died shortly after, unbeknownst to Laguna. (seriously why is it that the females are dying in this game)

"Although brief and likely never consummated, Laguna and Julia's relationship plays a major role in the theme of destiny, a central theme for Final Fantasy VIII. Although circumstances kept Julia and Laguna apart their love was reconciled through the romantic involvement of their children, Rinoa (Julia's daughter) and Squall (Laguna's son)." - Final Fantasy Wiki

I think one of the most relieving things that could happen in life is when the person you admire requites your affection. It's pretty amazing if you think about it, the fact that both parties had their sights fixated on each other among the millions of other people who cross their path. But on the other hand, i don't think that unrequited love is the end of the world. I believe in destiny, God's destiny even, that will show us the people we will meet who won't necessarily travel the same path with us.

On a side note, Laguna Loire is pretty hot. ;)