Under the Jasmine tree;
Lyra and Apollo, both artists, meet around their college campus. He plays the guitar, and she paints the world around her while sitting under the jasmine tree. They can't let go of each other. But fate had its own hand in the...
On December 20th, five years ago, I got in a car crash on my way to visit home during winter break. I received a light concussion in my head, rendering me unconscious, and my body responded by pulling me into a coma so my mind could heal.
In that duration of nine days, I managed to live in my head for almost five months, living a different life than the reality I'm in. Doctors claimed that my brain couldn't form new faces, it can only imagine faces it has at least seen one, even in passing. That's why the life I lived during my coma seemed so real.
But in the end, it was a figment of my imagination.
I walked towards the 'New horizon' record label. I had to drop off a few files with some notes I wrote about the production of my first song.
After I woke up from my coma, my life collapsed. I had imagined that I lived a life with so many of the people I see every day, when in reality, I was the only one who knew about it. I couldn't look at Quand la lune brille without remembering the first time I went there with Lyra. I couldn't look at the field behind our college campus without bursting into tears. I couldn't look at a jasmine without slipping into a panic attack.
That was in the first year after I woke up from my coma. It all slowly stopped hurting like it used to after the first year. I started going to therapy with many people who experienced severe cases of lucid dreaming in a coma. So severe that they thought they died in their lucid dream world.
By the end of the fourth year, I had already graduated and started my journey in the music industry. My story managed to reach a few influential people, who helped me sign a contract with the 'New horizon' record label. In my coma, I imagined it as a radio station, but in reality, it was a record label I had seen in the passing.
After a year of writing songs for the label and my career has skyrocketed. In that year, I met a few aspiring artists who needed sponsors to help them start their own art studios. So, I did. All their art was displayed in my art gallery, where they could sell the masterpieces, they made.
Under the jasmine tree.
That's what I decided to name it. The first painting I commissioned from one of the artists was a painting of the sculpture of Eros and Psyche. It still hangs in my apartment with a note under it.
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My phone buzzed in my pocket. "Where are you? Aleah is going to eat the cake! You should've fed your cat more cat food!" Faith's voice called out when I answered my phone.
"Yeah, just give me ten minutes. I have to drop off something at work. And I did feed her! It's not my fault she has the energy of a Ferrari engine." I pushed the door open and walked in the record label.
"Don't be late! Get the flowers on your way." A soft chuckle left my mouth as she closed the call.
"Hello, Apollo. Do you have a meeting with Alexi?" Killian, the man working at the reception, asked. I shook my head.
"I just came here to drop off the first verse and chorus of the song, I managed to remember a bit of it last night." Turns out most of my dreams revolved around memories from my coma. So, when I told Killian I wrote a whole song in my lucid dream, he urged me to try to remember it so we could produce it into an actual song.
A lot of the things in the lucid dream were real, like Killian, Alexi, and the Jasmine tree.
But not Lyra.
"Let me take that, I'm going to him right now, anyway."
"Thanks." I left the building and walked to my next destination before I could go to Faith's birthday party. I walked for a few minutes before I reached the shop and pushed the door opened.
"Apollo, my boy. Come in." Alexandra smiled at me from behind the flowers she was restocking.
"Faith asked me to pick up flowers." I returned the old lady's smile.
"Sí, sí. Here they are. Faith already paid for them." She walked over to her counter and gave me the bouquet of jasmines and tulips.
"Gracias, Alex." I gave my Spanish a shot.
"Not quiet my boy, but there's progress." She laughed at my horrible Spanish. "Also, did you get her a gift?"
I facepalmed my forehead. "I knew something was missing! What do I do now?" I frantically looked at Alex.
"You can always try finding something in the antique store beside mine." I nodded my head.
"Thank you!" I waved at Alex as I ran out of her store and towards the antique store next door then walked inside. I walked up to an old man behind the counter.
"Sir! It's my friend's birthday today and I forgot to get her a present."
The man tsked and smiled at me. "I think I have something for you." He turned around and took out a box from one of the shelves. He passed me the small box, which I opened to see two handmade bracelets.
One bracelet had strings colored Pink, green, and yellow, while the other had a few different shades of blue. The first bracelet had a charm in the shape of a music note while the other bracelet had a charm the shape of a paintbrush.
"They're perfect." My eyes stung.
"I'm glad." The man smiled as he packed the small box in a bag for me. He probably thought I was crazy for almost crying because of two string bracelets.
'What inspired...these color choices?'
'I was inspired by your socks the other day.'
"Hello sir." I turned to see a girl with a hoodie on her head.
"Hello, dear. Are you here for more papers?" The old man asked, and she nodded her head. "Give me a second." He opened one of the drawers in the shelves behind him and took out old papers.
"I'm assuming you need more brushes." The girl cheekily smiled making the man playfully sigh. "This will only take a moment." He told me and I nodded my head.
"I'm using them for an art project I'm doing." The girl told me with a smile.
That smile could make the stars jealous and challenge the moon in its beauty.
I smiled back at her, "you have a beautiful smile." I felt my hands shaking.
Her brown eyes twinkled. "Thank you." She turned towards me, making the hood fall of her head, revealing her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. A few strands of her hair fell on her eyes in curls.
"I'm Apollo." I extended my hand for her to shake.
"It'snice to meet you," She shook my hand. "I'm Lyra."
