Chapter 20 - A visit in a dream

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I apologize for the late update 😶‍🌫️ We got busy moving to a new apartment this week coupled with my back-to-back job but I definitely appreciate the love from all of y'all.

Just to amuse you a little, I'll share about a weird dream of mine.

I had a friend who was also my housemate. In the dream we are in the middle of a rice field, and I was just randomly walking around it (not sure how I even end up there 😅)

Suddenly a loud screaming came out of nowhere and my friend's auntie tried to kidnap my friend, screaming all the time that I was a bad influence on my friend.

I was screaming at her too to let my friend go and was asking for help from anyone, and of course we are in the middle of a rice field so no one else was there!

So, I woke up feeling like my blood pressure went up for no reason and my heart racing from annoyance since it was so random and got invested in it for nothing.

I shared the dream with my friend of course and he just found it hilarious.

Little old me then went to work with a headache that day.

Anyways....enjoy the read. Will try to add a few extra chapters this week.

Thank you all so much 🥰

XOXO

RedPurpleOrange

😽😽😽😽

Aila fell asleep even before Calvin was done taking a bath. In her dream she was walking towards her old apartment and paused as she looked at the dreary sky full of smoke and darkness.

The rain suddenly started pouring in and she had to run for cover. Soaked and feeling chilly, she opened her apartment door quickly, closed it and went mechanically with the rest of her day: taking off her clothes, took a bath and started cooking.

The rain is pouring quite heavily now outside her window, as she looked at the scenery while munching absentmindedly on her food, she has a sinking feeling that she had forgotten something but can't pinpoint it.

Suddenly she felt a movement from the periphery of her eye, she turned to see what it was and was shocked to find someone sitting opposite her.

"Hello." She said with a kind smile.

"A-Aila?" She voiced out, confusion in her voice.

"Yeah, it's me."

"How'd you get into my apartment?" She thought through the sequence of events and did remember that she locked the door after she came in.

"I've always been here." She said cryptically.

"What do you mean?" She obviously did not follow her train of thought.

She then pointed to herself and then to her and repeated:

"I've always been here."

"Then...why are you here?" feeling a bit uneasy at this weird conversation, she asked differently.

"I wanted to tell you, that I'm leaving."

"Leaving where?" From the memories she had before she hasn't seen the old Aila as someone with an air of maturity, she then noticed the crow's feet on the other woman's eyes and realized she seemed older.

"Please take care of them for me. They are such precious people." the old Aila added.

"You can always come back to make it better?" She answered, unsure.

The other woman shook her head sadly.

"My time had been long gone; it was a different world and a different time."

"Then...why am I living as you?" She thought it was bizarre; how can she be in a book?

"You're not living as me. You're living as you."

"What do you mean?" She felt even more confused with this conversation.

"You are where you're supposed to be. I can't tell you more unfortunately. You have to discover it yourself."

As if on cue that time ran out, the surrounding instantly all became blank white with only just the two of them within that space.

The older Aila then started walking towards her and hugged her warmly.

She awkwardly embraces her back. Unsure what is going on as she was trying to wrap her head around the strange situation.

"You did great until now, I am quite proud of you. Sorry it took so long to get to you."

She then held her face with her warm hands and with tears streaming down her face.

"I love you, live well."

She could sense all the sorrow and love from her with that one sentence.

Feeling that she is getting the last message from a loved one, who was forever gone, her tears also started falling in response.

The older Aila's image started to fade, and she was left in the blank space all to herself.

*****

Aila slowly opened her eyes and saw that it was already morning. She looked around and found that she's nestled in Calvin's arms.

What a weird dream...

She touched her face and found that there were tears in the corner of her eyes.

"What made you sad, honey?" Calvin's deep voice came from above her. She looked up and found that he was also awake.

"I... I'm not really sure."

Aila found the dream disturbing, she couldn't make sense of it. But she also felt sad for some reason.

"Well, do want to see the sites here in Greece later before we leave for home?" Calvin asked.

Aila paused for a moment.

Home...

Something she hasn't had in a while. With a beaming smile she responded:

"I would love to!"

*****

They are now walking around a town called Oia in Santorini, the iconic village with whitewashed houses carved into the rugged clifftops and overlooking a vast caldera filled with water.

Aila and Calvin had to walk hand in hand as there is quite a bit of tourists on the site, but she loved every minute of it. The town is alive with laughter and the streets are filled with old world charm.

They looked around trinket shops so she could buy things to bring home to her family. They tried out the local restaurant and discovered new cuisines. It was almost sunset when they get to rest at a local bar with live music and seated near the edge to see the sunset by the water.

She was so engrossed in the new experience that she just noticed that Calvin didn't buy any souvenirs for himself.

"You didn't buy anything? I'm sorry I should have noticed earlier."

"It's fine...I've got no one to bring it too anyway." Calvin responded nonchalantly.

She went silent for a moment; realized she didn't know much about Calvin. She was afraid to ask about his parents too as this might be a bombshell topic to him. She racked her brains and remembered Grandpa Harrison.

"How about your grandpa?"

Calvin scoffed.

"He's not that sentimental."

"Come on, it's the thought that counts. How about this? I could give you mine and you can tell him it's from the both of us so it's less embarrassing."

"Me? embarrassed?"

"Yes, you have a face as thick as a dam but anyway, how about this one."

Aila rummaged through her shopping bags and pulled out a little sculpture of an old man sitting by the rock while fishing.

"Why that one?" Calvin asked, puzzled.

"Because your grandpa is old?" Aila said as a matter of fact.

"Don't tell him that or you would hurt his feelings."

"What? besides look at it! it looks like him. Don't you think so?"

Calvin took a look at the sculpture closely and couldn't find any resemblance.

Resigning to fate, Calvin sighed and said:

"How about you wrap it and hand it to him yourself, I know he'll love it if it's coming from you. Just leave the reason you said earlier on why you chose that gift."

"What's wrong with what I said?"

"You're not very good at compliments, are you?"

"???"

I can take a compliment, that counts right?