The Beginning of Us

A nostalgic voice….a desperate plea. Cherished light and warmth.

I am pressed against someone very special to me, so close that there is no space between us. We are bound to one another. Like an infant cradled at its mother’s breast.

Abruptly my eyes open.

Theres the ceiling.

I am in my room. It’s morning.

I am alone.

I have been dreaming. I sit up in bed.

Every so often when I wake up in the morning, for some reason, I am crying…………and I can never remember what I was dreaming about.

Before I know it, just like always, as I gaze out over those streets……….

I am……..

………looking for someone. Just one person.

i am……

The day started, with a sense of something I can’t figure out. It takes me to the past, like I am asked to do something that was left in between, but I don’t know what.

I brush off the feeling and walk to school. The first drop of snow fell on my shoulders. My mom always said- 𝐀 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭.

I intertwine my hands together and pray in my mind- God, I…..don’t even know what to ask you……..maybe I want that same happiness I had with James…………I don’t know how….and also I want to know about that dream, cuz everytime I wake up that dream disappears like it never existed.

While I was praying, I heard someone calling my name- Ella!! Ella! Goddamn Mannered girl!!!!!

I look behind me and see my friend- Blake. She has been my friend since quite a long time and also if you are wondering who is James, then maybe I think you all deserve to know the story of me and James.

A love blossoming like cherry blossoms and fresh grass, we thought we were meant to be together forever.

When one day, he met my older sister- Lila.

From that day, he changed, came to my house every day, not to meet me but Lila. It was like he got attracted to her, like falling in love at first sight, but I never knew Lila would trick him when I saw them sleeping together, clothes on the floor scattered like a decorative design on the floor and they were on the bed……laughing.

I wanted to scream at that exact moment, to rip them off but I held myself……I walked up to them and slapped him. I didn’t say for a long moment after slapping him.

I didn’t say a word for what felt like forever after slapping him. The room had fallen silent. Even the laughter that had echoed only seconds ago had disappeared as though it had never existed.

James slowly touched his cheek, staring at me with wide eyes. There wasn’t anger in them. There wasn’t guilt either.

Only surprise.

Lila, however, looked completely unfazed. She casually picked up the blanket and wrapped it around herself before looking at me with the same expression she always wore whenever she stole something that belonged to me.

A smile.Not a warm one.The kind that quietly declared victory without saying a single word.

You should’ve knocked-she said, almost lazily.I laughed.It wasn’t because anything was funny.

It was because I realized I had been the only fool in this room.

I should’ve- I replied softly- Then maybe I wouldn’t have wasted two years believing either of you.James finally stepped toward me.

Ella…listen to me.

No.

He froze.

I’ve listened enough.

Every promise he had whispered beneath spring skies…Every text that made me smile for no reason…Every plan we had made about the future…They all shattered inside my head at once.I looked around my own room.The photographs on the shelf.The birthday gift he had given me.The bracelet I still wore because he had tied it around my wrist himself.None of it meant anything anymore.I slowly took the bracelet off.James noticed.His expression changed.

Ella…please don’t.

I placed it on the table beside the door.

You don’t get to ask me for anything anymore.

For the first time, Lila’s smile disappeared.Perhaps she had expected tears.Perhaps she had expected me to beg.Instead, I simply walked away.Some heartbreaks are too deep for screaming.Silence hurts much more.That evening, I packed every memory of him into a cardboard box.Letters.Movie tickets.Tiny souvenirs.Even the pressed cherry blossom he had once tucked inside my notebook because he said it reminded him of me.I closed the box before I could change my mind.Mom found me carrying it downstairs.She didn’t ask questions.She only placed one hand on my shoulder.Sometimes parents know the answer before their children say a single word.

Some people-she whispered-are lessons disguised as forever. I didn’t reply.I wasn’t ready to believe her.

The next morning, the world continued as though nothing had happened.People laughedCars passed by.Birds sang.But it felt strange.How could the world remain exactly the same…When mine had ended overnight?Weeks passed.James stopped trying to explain.Lila acted as though none of it had mattered.

Eventually, everyone moved on.Everyone except me.That was two years ago.Now, every morning begins with that same dream I can never remember.The same tears I can never explain.The same unbearable feeling that someone is missing from my life.Not James.Never James.

Someone else.Someone whose face disappears the moment I open my eyes.And somehow…No matter how many times I tell myself it’s only a dream…My heart refuses to believe it.

Now back to my day…..Blake kept shaking her hand over my face…….trying to bring me back to the real world. I brush her hand off and glare at her and she smiled and said- Now there is that glare, I was missing.

Blake was the only one who stayed when everything went wrong and I did the same for her. We were inseparable, she knew about my dreams and kept nudging me about that Japanese movie- 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞

I laughed it out…..and said to her- then maybe hope for me to get a handsome new boyfriend. We both laughed loud…as we walked to school, arms clutched together.

Suddenly….a helicopter…passed over us….we stared at it…thinking the captain must be so brave, flying it while it’s snowing….but the snow was bare enough to cause a chaos. I stared at it….something in my heart flips and I noticed Blake smirking at me…I give her a gentle push and walked ahead of her…..but something in my mind made me think that maybe this helicopter might be connected to my dream somehow.

High above the city, where the snow looked like tiny white stars drifting across the earth, a helicopter sliced through the cold morning sky.

Evan rested one hand against the window, watching the streets disappear beneath layers of white. From up there, everyone looked the same, tiny figures rushing toward another ordinary day.Ordinary.That word had long lost its meaning.

He hadn’t slept the previous night.Not because of work.Not because of the weather.But because of the dream.Again.

A familiar warmth. A voice calling his name. Arms wrapped around him so tightly that he could almost believe they belonged to someone he loved.And then…Nothing.He always woke before he could see her face.Every single time.The strange part wasn’t the dream.It was the loneliness that followed.

As though someone had been taken away from him long before he ever had the chance to meet them.

Evan.

His thoughts snapped apart.His co-pilot glanced over, one eyebrow raised-You’ve been staring out that window for ten minutes.

Evan let out a quiet breath and looked ahead again-I know.

You had that dream again, didn’t you?For a moment, he didn’t answer.Then, almost too quietly to hear, he replied-…Yeah.

Outside, the helicopter continued its path across the snowy sky.Neither of them noticed the girl standing on the street below.Nor did they know that, for the briefest second, two strangers looked toward the same sky…Both carrying memories that didn’t belong to this life.

…

Neither of us knew that, somewhere beneath the falling snow, another person had awakened with the same emptiness in their heart.The distance between us was only a few thousand feet.Yet it felt like an entire lifetime.

⸻

Little did I know…The helicopter I had been staring at for so long carried someone whose heart was just as restless as mine.Of course, I didn’t know that then.

To me, it was just another helicopter disappearing into the pale winter sky.I sighed and hurried after Blake before she could complain that I was daydreaming again.

You’re walking slower than a turtle today-she groaned, folding her arms.

Oh, be quiet-I muttered, catching up beside her-You complain more than my mom.

She gasped dramatically and placed a hand over her chest-That is the greatest insult you’ve ever thrown at me.

I couldn’t help laughing.For the first time that morning, the heaviness in my chest eased just a little.Maybe Mom was right.Maybe life really did keep moving, no matter how badly you wanted it to stop.

The school gates came into view, crowded with students trying to escape the cold. Voices mixed together, shoes crunched over the thin layer of snow, and someone nearby was already complaining about an upcoming assignment.Just another ordinary day.Or at least…

That’s what I thought.

A few months passed after that.Life became quieter.Not happier.Just…quieter.

The dreams never stopped. Every morning I still woke up with the same tears, the same emptiness, and the same feeling that someone, somewhere, was waiting for me.

Then, one evening, Dad suddenly called me into the living room-Ella.

I looked up from my book-Hm?

He folded his hands together and looked unusually serious-I’ve decided to hire a bodyguard for you.

I blinked.

…A what?

A bodyguard.

I stared at him for a few seconds before laughing.He wasn’t laughing.

Dad, are you serious?

Completely.

But why?

He let out a slow sigh-Because of that incident at school a few weeks ago.

I immediately groaned-Oh, come on…

Let’s just say…it was one of those incidents I would rather erase from my memory forever.And I think all of you are better off not knowing about it either.

I’ll be fine-I protested.

I know you will-Dad replied-But knowing isn’t enough anymore.His voice carried a firmness I had learned not to argue with.The conversation ended there.No matter how much I complained…His decision had already been made.

The next morning, I walked downstairs expecting another ordinary breakfast.Instead…Someone was already standing in the living room.

Tall.Ridiculously tall.

He wore a neatly pressed black coat, though a few strands of messy dark hair stubbornly fell over his forehead as if they refused to listen to anyone.For some reason…It suited him.

There was something strangely calm about him.He wasn’t trying to look intimidating.Yet the moment he stood there, the entire room felt quieter.Like he carried confidence so naturally that he didn’t need to prove it.

Dad walked over with a smile.

There you are.

The man turned toward him.The two of them shook hands.Then Dad unexpectedly pulled him into a brief hug.

Thank you for accepting.

It’s no trouble, sir-he answered.

The moment he spoke…My thoughts froze.That voice.Soft.Gentle.Warm enough to make every other sound in the room disappear.Even James had never spoken with that kind of calm.Where…Where had I heard it before?I searched my memories over and over again.Nothing.Yet my heart insisted otherwise.Dad suddenly looked in my direction.

Ella.

I looked up.

This is Evan Brooks.

Evan finally turned to face me completely.For a second…

Neither of us said anything.His eyes lingered on mine just a fraction longer than they probably should have.Almost as if…He was trying to remember something too.

It’s nice to meet you-he said quietly.

My mind was too busy trying to place that familiar voice to notice that he had already held out his hand.Only after he cleared his throat did reality return.

O-Oh…

Heat rushed to my face.

Sorry.

I quickly reached forward and shook his hand.The instant our hands touched…A strange warmth spread through my fingertips.Not painful.Not frightening.Just…Familiar.My heart skipped a beat.For reasons I couldn’t explain…It felt as though I had finally found something…That I didn’t even know I had been searching for.

I pulled my hand back almost immediately.It simply felt…warm.As if my hand had remembered his before my mind ever could.I quietly rubbed my fingertips together, pretending nothing had happened.

Maybe all those strange dreams had finally started affecting my brain.

Dad clapped his hands together, completely unaware of the silent confusion between us-Well then-he said cheerfully-I hope the two of you get along.

I forced an awkward smile.Evan gave a small nod.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.It was barely there.But somehow…It suited him.

Dad glanced at the clock hanging above the dining room entrance-Ella, you’ll be late.

I looked up-What? Already?

I grabbed my bag from the couch, nearly tripping over my own shoes in the process-Great…perfect…this is exactly how I wanted my morning to start.

A few minutes later, I found myself sitting in the passenger seat of a black SUV that smelled faintly of coffee and pine.

The heater hummed softly as snowflakes melted against the windshield.

Neither of us spoke.The silence wasn’t uncomfortable.

Every few seconds I caught myself stealing a glance at him.His attention never left the road.

One hand rested lightly on the steering wheel while the other shifted gears with practiced ease.

His expression remained calm.

You’ve looked at me six times.

I nearly jumped.

W-What?

The window reflects everything.

My cheeks immediately warmed.

I wasn’t staring.

His answer was so calm that I couldn’t even tell whether he was teasing me.

You’re annoying.

I’ve been told worse.

When the school building finally came into view.

Thanks for the ride.

You’re welcome.

I stepped out into the cold morning air.Before I could close the door, his quiet voice stopped me.

Ella.

I turned around.

Yes?

For a brief moment, he simply looked at me.

Then he shook his head ever so slightly.

Have a good day.

You too.

Halfway across the courtyard, I couldn’t help turning around one last time.The black SUV was still parked where I’d left it.

It felt as though fate had quietly begun weaving our lives together long before we ever learned each other’s names.

Continued……..

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