Wouldn't that be nice?
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*Ding*
The elevator doors open.
I walk out and take a couple steps toward my apartment.
I gently put Sora's feet on the ground and keep her leaning against my other arm while I get the keys and unlock the door.
The door opens. I pick up Sora again.
...
I rest her on my bed.
With my hands free, I close and lock the door.
I can't help but look at Sora while walking to the bathroom.
I brush my teeth and wash my hands before walking back to the main room.
My eyes are still glued on Sora.
She's sleeping peacefully in a beautiful frilly outfit, her golden-yellow hair is strewn across the pillow.
...
"P-Please help m-me!"
"You'll be okay... you'll be okay. Look in my eyes"
"W-What?"
"I will get you out of here, you will be safe, you will be okay."
"C-Can you p-promise me!"
"You will always be safe with me, I promise."
...
I shouldn't smoke with Sora in the room.
Well, I can just open the window and do it out there.
This day has been long.
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Lungmen is quiet.
Obviously not silent, it's just... quiet.
The shops are closed, only a few people seem to be walking around.
The only thing that seems to be awake is the top of the skyscrapers.
Those unimaginable heights are the only thing alive. They're too high to notice the world has slowed down beneath them.
...
I wonder, what do they do when they finally slow down?
Do they go to a restaurant and eat?
Do they go home and rest?
Do they have someone they love?
...
Love.
That infamous word.
The most known emotion.
The most feared emotion.
...
I once saved a girl from a kidnapping.
I taught her music, I taught her how to fight.
We got close.
She started to like me at one point.
But we went on as if nothing had happened.
Then I left...
And kept it all in my dreams.
Everything me and Sora did together was nothing but a dream.
A fantasy made up in my mind to help distract myself from my own life.
...But now.
It's real.
I remember everything vividly, word for word.
I remember saving her from being kidnapped.
I remember the look on her face when I said that I was leaving Penguin Logistics for however much time.
She was crying.
She was still trying to smile, still hoping that maybe I would stay.
But I still left.
Why wouldn't I leave? She was just a figment of my imagination.
Just a character in my dreams.
Just someone I dreamed to comfort me.
...
I puff my cigarette and look at Sora through the window's reflection.
...
Just someone I dreamed to comfort me.
That's it, huh?
Nothing else?
No love, no care.
She's just a girl who I made care for me in a dream.
Just a girl who has put all of her trust in me.
Just a girl who cried the moment she heard I was leaving.
Just a girl who I carried back to my apartment.
Nothing more...
Nothing...
Mor-
*Drip*
?
My hand gets hit by something.
It's not raining is it? Just snow.
I look down at my hand.
What else could it be other than rai-
Another drip falls onto my hand.
It came from right under my eye.
It's a tear.
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I'm crying.
*Screech!*
A group of motorcyclists rush by.
...
I can't get any privacy out here can I?
Lungmen may be quiet, but quiet isn't silent.
I close the window and extinguish the cigarette before tossing it into the trash.
I walk past my bed. Past Sora, and take a seat on my desk chair.
I look towards Sora, I can't take my eyes off her.
...
Isn't that a sign of liking someone?
Not being able to take your eyes off them?
...
I told myself that I would say yes if she ever asked me out.
But...
Did I mean it?
Do I actually like her?
Do I actually love her?
...
I feel another teardrop on my hand.
...
...
...
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"So you're telling me that I got so drunk that you had to carry me back to your apartment?" Sora asks.
"Mhmm." I answer.
...
She turns beet red. The clock hits 9 AM.
"W-Wow. I'm s-sorry then."
"Don't be. I promised that you would always be safe with me, remember?"
Sora's red face immediately dulls, and with a big smile, she says, "Yes! Of course I remember!"
...She really is cute.
"Well, that was just another case of me catching up with that promise." I say.
She giggles, "Thank you for that."
A short silence ensures. We stare at each other.
"You know, I had a pretty bad dream before waking up." She says.
I motion for her to continue.
"I dreamed that it was someone else who had saved me from that kidnapping." She kind of awkwardly laughs a tiny bit, "That, it wasn't you who saved me. In the dream, I never met you."
"I dreamed all of my life's big moments since the kidnapping without having you to support me." She continues, "I-It was honestly terrifying not having you by my side."
...
What was that one quote I heard in a song?
Oh... of course.
"Sora, remember how when we went to the studio again after I came back?"
She nods.
"Remember how we agreed that if you showed me your struggles, I would show you mine?"
She nods again.
"Well, if you show me all the bad dreams you hide, I'll show you mine."
...
I take a deep breath.
...
"I had a bad dream tonight as well." I say.
"I dreamed something akin to yours actually. A dream where I hadn't saved you, a dream where I was comforted by someone else, a dream where I never met you."
...
"It was horrible. I didn't have someone to play music with. I didn't have someone to cheer on during live shows. I didn't have someone who I could cuddle with guilt-free."
"It was then that it hit me."
I look into her eyes.
"Sora."
...
"I love you."
Uploaded on August 2, 2022. 1040 words.