When The Clouds Remember

CHAPTER 2- The Dream

The world was glowing.

Not from sunlight, but something softer. Warmer.

In the dream, I stood in a place I didn't recognize. The sky was heavy with stars - too many to count, too close to be real.

And then I saw him.

The boy from the street.

Except he wasn't soaked in rain now.

He was glowing too.

He reached out his hand -

And just before our fingertips touched-

I woke up.

The blanket was half-off my body, twisted from a restless sleep. Calia's lavender curtains fluttered in the soft breeze from her window. It was morning. Or almost. The light was blue.

I turned over on my side and let out a long breath. Everything from last night hit me at once - the rain, the walk, the sopas, the warmth of Calia's house, the way she tried to distract me with Twilight, and then...

Him.

That moment under the streetlight. The way my fingers burned when they touched his.

I sat up slowly, stretching. My clothes from last night were folded neatly on the chair, probably still a bit damp.

Calia was always good at taking care of people.

"Good morning," her voice came softly as she walked into the room holding a fresh mug of coffee. "You passed out midway through the movie."

I smiled weakly. "Sorry. You picked a boring one."

She snorted. "Girl, that was your pick."

I took the coffee and wrapped both hands around the mug. "Thanks." The warmth of the mug and the smell of the coffee comforted me.

She sat on the floor, facing me. "Wanna talk about it now?"

I paused.

She didn't even say what she was referring to - the rain? the aunt? the breakdown?

But I knew.

I looked out the window. The rain had stopped. But something inside me hadn't.

I sighed and looked down at my coffee "Something happened last night."

Calia didn't say anything - just nodded, like she already knew I needed to say it in my own time.

"When I stormed out of the house," I started. "I just kept running and running until my legs gave up. I ended up in this street I've never passed before. And then..."

I paused, trying to make sense of it myself.

"There was this guy," I said finally.

Calia raised her eyebrows slightly, but didn't interrupt.

"He was just standing there." I continued. "Holding an umbrella like the rain didn't even matter. He wasn't rushing, he wasn't cold... Parang kalmado lang siya. Too calm. Like he belonged there."

"Do you know him?" she asked, her tone gentle.

"No," I said quickly. "I've never seen him before. But when our hands touched-"

I stopped. My heart was pounding again just thinking about it.

Calia leaned in. "Touched?"

I nodded slowly. "He helped me up. And the second his hand touched mine, I felt something. Like... everything stopped. But not in a scary way. It was like-" I shook my head. "I can't explain it. It wasn't normal, Calia."

She was quiet for a few seconds, her eyes studying my face.

"I believe you," she said softly. "You're not crazy."

I laughed under my breath. "Thanks for the confirmation."

"I'm serious. I felt something when you came in last night - your energy was different. Like something in you... shifted."

I blinked. "You said that before."

"Because it's true," she said. "Your aura? It was like... humming. Kind of disoriented, pero charged. Like you were carrying something big."

"I don't even know his name," I murmured, staring into my mug. "He didn't even say a word. A black car picked him up and he just... left."

"Do you think you'll see him again?"

"I don't know," I said. "But something tells me that wasn't the end of it."

Calia smiled faintly. "If fate introduced him, then fate's not done yet."

Calia gave me a knowing look. "Well. You don't meet someone like that just to never cross paths again. Not in your story."

I looked down at my coffee again. I wasn't sure what kind of story I was in anymore.. I had an initial thought that we wont be meeting again, na yun na yun - but something told me it had just begun.

I set the mug down on the coffee table and let my eyes wander to the window. The sky was still gray.

And just as I was about to turn away, a single ray of sunlight broke through the clouds - soft and golden, slipping past the curtain and landing on the back of my hand.

Right where he had touched me.

I stared at the spot, feeling a warmth that wasn't just from the sun.

Something inside me stirred.

I didn't know his name.

I didn't know what that moment meant.

But I knew this:

That wasn't the end.

It was a beginning.