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He was on the beach this time.

Just where the water rose in lacy waves creating a soothing chorus, washing unto the softly golden hue sand in a comforting embrace. There he was with his face leaned backwards looking up. He raised his hands ever so slowly over his head as a shield. The rays from the setting sun slipped through his fingers, adding an ethereal glow that complimented his ebony skin.

The cool breeze swept through his blue-black afro curls, brushing it in a way that made my fingers jealous.

I couldn't breathe. How could he look even more dashing this time?

My heart raced with burning curiosity, just like every other time. Just who exactly was he? And why just why, was he invading my dreams?

The soothing air stiffened as the questions echoed from inside my head out into the surrounding air. He spun in my direction, and his brandy-coloured eyes widened.

What in the...

I sprang right up from my bed, my eyes snapping open as my heart pounded continuously in my head. My body quivered in the relatively dark room as heavy breaths released from my lips.

What just... Did he just hear...?

I wasted no time with my thoughts. I switched my bedside lamp on and snagged my sketch pad from the side along with my other materials, moving to sketch the scene before the moment passed. After scrolling through pages of different versions of him in a haste to find a space, I got to work. Getting lost in each stroke, trying to put down every little detail that I could.

Time went by as a blur from then on, with my eyes sweeping rapidly across the pages and my hands moving and painting through each curled and straight edge, hoping to get the perfection that was the scene. Rays of light seeped through the white chiffon curtains once morning was near, but I didn't stop. Couldn't stop, not until I was done. Not until I penned the last stroke down. I was once again lost in a trance.

"Eyi!" The firm and hearty voice crashed right into me like a harsh tide of waves just as the door to my room slammed open. At the entrance of the room, Abigail stood with her hands on her waist and her close-set eyes drilling daggers into me. She packed her jet-black long hair into a twisted ponytail, which made her naturally made-up face pop. And was she dressed up?

My eyes flickered to the clock on my bedside table. The long hand of the clock was just beyond 7, with the short one somewhere between 2 and 3. Oh crap!

"You're still on your bed?" she asked, her facial expression going slack. "And..." she paused, her eyes drifting down to the mess that was now my bed, and landed on the open sketch pad. "Have you been drawing again?" she groaned and threw her hands in the air. "Eyi, come on, we're going to be late!"

I scrambled about on my bed, trying to gather things together. "I'm so sorry!" I croaked, my voice hoarse, causing a shiver down my spine as I remembered the last part of the dream. Opening my bedside drawer, I swiftly dumped my sketch pad there to join its siblings. The others had different but similar pictures. "I just got carried away."

Abigail's eyes softened as she slightly cocked her head to the side. "Eyi."

"I know! I know!" I interrupted, scrambling out of the bed. "Just give me five minutes, okay? I'll be ready, I promise. It's my thing too, and I don't want to miss it for the world." We stared at each other for a second, her eyes asking me if I was really okay and ready, and I nodded.

I was. I had to be.

Abigail sighed. She wasn't satisfied, but she was letting it be for the time being. "Fine, but you've got only 5 minutes. Think you can get the exact time 5 minutes would be with that analogue clock of yours?"

I chuckled at her jab. She never really liked the clock. "Five minutes and I'll be out or I get us lunch."

Her lips curled into a smile. "Take your time then," she said before stepping out of my room and closing the door behind her.

The smile on my lips dropped as I made my way to the bathroom, stopping just right in front of the mirror. The irregularity of the dream swirled around me and crawled onto me like a second skin. My eyes settled on the pendant of my necklace around my neck in the mirror and the remaining fragments of my heart shattered as I took it into my hands.

Something wet slipped down my cheeks and I squeezed my eyes shut right away, trying to shake it away.

Shoot! If Abigail saw me like this. I needed to stop the waterworks. It'd been two years, for goodness' sake. I promised I'd stop. I was in Lijiang Old Town to move on, for crying out loud.

With my hands on each side of the sink, I controlled my breathing in and out before opening my eyes and staring at myself back in the mirror.

"I am fine. I am brave and I am ready to move forward in every way."

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Maybe there was a part of me that wasn't ready to move on but there was also those tears. The tears which flowed freely down my cheeks the moment we were done for the day.

I couldn't exactly stop them nor did I want to. Not when the reason they were free falling was because I missed this - every sensation that taking tours brought.

I was floating through each visit. From the opening of their new historical museum, where historical tales that tugged at the strings of ones heart were on display, to the zoo and then the little village where most of the locals lived.

The village decoration had been one of the first things that pulled both Abigail and me towards the place. It wasn't like there was any bizarrely unique equipment used. It was the normal Chinese lanterns, paper cuttings, the mandarin trees and the plum blossoms but the way they were arranged stole our breaths away.

Each of the decorations had a story of its own, and I was pretty sure the village was considered some sort of museum, too. There was something so soothing and exotic about how the air floated through the coast, swirling through as the locals interacted with each other, laughing and chatting away. The music that danced through every household told tales of time past and the beauty that lay ahead.

There was no way I could put a stop to the tears once they started rolling down, even if I wanted to. I could never capture behind the lens of my camera the beauty of the place.

And so, by the time we walked back into the house, I had a huge smile.

Abigail slumped onto the only sofa we could gain, a relaxed sigh leaving her mouth. "Oh good Lord, I missed this," she moaned, reaching forward to massage her aching leg. I chuckled as I removed my camera from around my neck onto the centre table.

"Yeah, this was one of the best," I replied as I began setting up the camera and connecting it to my laptop.

She looked up from her legs, her mocha eyes glistening as they focused on what I was doing. Her lips lifted into a huge smile. "Is it picture time?!" she squealed.

"It's always picture time right after a tour."

"And you know what it goes best with?

"An espresso martini!" we echoed together and laughed, the echoes of our laughter filling the apartment with a sweetness it'd missed since we arrived here.

"I'll set up. You get the drinks." Abigail hummed, stretching forward to work on transferring the pictures.

"Yes ma'am."

I always got the drinks because Abigail made the worst espresso martinis. Even though it was her best drink. Handing over the equipment to her, I moved to the kitchen, letting the sensation of the entire tour wrap around me like a cosy blanket.

With the events of the day playing in my mind, there was no time to bother about the past. There was the only hope for the future. Hope that maybe better days were indeed ahead.

By the time I headed back into the living room with our drinks, Abigail was already flipping through the pictures with a grin on her face, reliving the day's events, too.

"Hey! I thought we were going to go through..."

I froze, my eyes widening beyond what was possible at the sight in front of me at that second. My heart was racing like crazy even as Abigail clicked the next button as she turned to me with a sly smile on her face.

"Y..."

"Take it back," I commanded. It was like there was a sudden weight settling in the pit of my stomach as I stumbled forward, almost pouring the contents of the drinks I was holding all over the computer.

"What?" Her eyebrows squished together in a way that on a good day, I'd have teased her about it, but not that day. Not with what I was seeing.

"Go back to the previous picture."

"Eyi?"

"Now!"

She didn't understand what was going on and, frankly speaking, neither did I, but she went back just as I reached the table, crouching in front of it. It was a picture of the both of us we'd asked one local to help us take by the main shrine.

But that wasn't what caught my attention. Not when right behind us were those brandy-coloured eyes staring right at me through the screen of the laptop just like they had that morning. 

I stumbled backwards.

"Okay, I know that's a pretty excellent picture of us but..."

"It's him!" I interrupted.

"Huh?"

I released a shaky breath as a tingle in my chest surfaced. "It's him," I scoffed.

"It's who?" Her voice rose just a semi-tone as she was already getting agitated.

I turned to her, the glazed look all over my face.

"Him!" I exclaimed, trying desperately to get her to understand, to see what I was seeing. He was there in the picture, staring at the back of our heads, looking like he was trying to figure something out. "The guy from my dreams!"

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𓆩♡𓆪 𝕎𝕆ℝ𝔻 ℂ𝕆𝕌ℕ𝕋: 1698

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