The wind whispered through the tall grasses in the lush meadow. Distant bird calls chirped in the distance as the spring wind blew in the sweet scent of rain. Daisies, poppies, baby’s breath, and other wild flowers swayed in the breeze, giving the atmosphere a bright radiant glow. A small path wound between the tall grasses which Tao walked on. He sighed contentedly, enjoying the peaceful mood. Suddenly, he froze in shock when he saw another man walking through the flowers.

How did he get here? I thought this was my special place that only I knew about.

Tao ducked behind the tall grasses to avoid being seen. Closing his eyes, he willed the scenery to change so that he was completely hidden among the plants. Channeling power into a focused point in his being, he encased himself in a layer of invisibility. Assured the man would not see him; he quietly walked out from behind the grasses and crept closer to the stranger. Nearing the unknown guy, he sneaked around to glance at his face. Tao froze again. His gaze grazed the sharp piercing eyes, windswept hair, and defined eyebrows. Moving down, he noticed the man’s unbelievably tall height and toned body.

Looking back up at the man’s face, he realized the man was staring straight at him. Momentarily scared, he looked down, and realized he was still invisible. So how did the man know exactly where he was?

“Why are you here?” the man asked. Shocked, Tao took a moment to answer.

“I should be asking you that question. Why are you here?” Tao shot back.

“I’m here to save you.” He easily replied.

*Flashback*

 Tao was running along a rain slicked path, kicking rocks in anger and sadness. Rain poured down from the sky, unleashing cutting bullets of pain and coldness. But Tao didn’t care about the coldness or the pain of the stinging rain drops. All he cared about was the wrenching pain that refused to leave his heart. Stupid. Idiot. ARGHH! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE US? WHY? WHY DID DADDY LEAVE US??? Shoulders collapsing along with his body, he fell onto his knees as he stifled sobs.

“Why? Why did you have to make me cry? Why did you have to make us cry? Why did you force us to be sad? Why? Do you hate us?” Tao tearfully asked to the empty silence lingering around the dismal street.

“What am I supposed to do now? What do I do? What? WHAT?” Feeling like his entire being was collapsing, he wept, tears running down his face in rivulets, merging with the tears from the crying sky. Looking up, he allowed the numbing rain to pelt his face, preferring the physical pain over the unbearable pain lodged in his heart.

In his mind, he relived every single moment of the painful experience over and over again. He remembered the sobs of his mother. He remembered running to her, asking what was wrong. He remembered hearing the news for the first time. He remembered the numbness that overcame his body when he learned his dad, his loving dad, has been in a car accident. He remembered his refusal to believe the harsh reality. He clearly remembered every single painful detail of that inerasable memory lodged in his heart.

“Why did you die? How am I supposed to heal and forget? Even if people tell me to stop thinking about it, how am I supposed to do that? What if I forget the bad and the good? Huh? What am I supposed to do? Even if I try to ignore the pain, in only comes back stronger. I can’t cut the pain out of my heart. I can’t just forget. Trying would be like trying to sever that part of my heart.  I’d forget, but I’d bleed to death in the process. What am I supposed to do? What do I do to stop feeling this pain? What do I do? What do I do…?”

“Well, first off, you stop crying and yelling at the rain. The rain can’t do anything.” A boy remarked as he appeared out of nowhere.  

“Who are you?” Tao asked angrily as he stared at the tall 12 year old boy. He quickly stifled the sobs, and wiped the tears away.

“I’m Kris.”

“Okay. I’m Tao. You probably know what’s wrong if you were there the whole time.”

“Yeah… I’m sorry.”

“Sorry can’t do anything. Sorry doesn’t help.”

“Yeah. I know. You’ve probably been told ‘Sorry’ a thousand times. I want to show you something cool.”

“What?”

“You’ll know when you get there. So stop crying already. You’re acting like a big baby.”

“I’m not a big baby. Fine. I’ll go with you.”

Kris grabbed Tao’s wrist and pulled him towards a dense forest near the side of the road. Stumbling over bumps and ditches and feeling the silent sting of tree branches when they hit his arm, Tao managed to momentarily forget about the throb in his heart.

“Where are we going?” Tao asked in a small voice.

“We’re almost there.” Kris replied.  After walking some more, they finally arrived.

“We’re here.” He said as he stepped out from underneath the foliage. Tao followed and felt his eyes widen at the beautiful scene in front of him.

A giant cherry tree sat in the middle of a verdant, lush meadow. The blossoms were blooming in the fresh rain. The small fragile buds drifted in the breeze, dotting the nearby grass with bursts of pink and white.

Rain droplets hung in the air, suspended from the leaves of the cherry tree. The sun was just coming out from behind the clouds, and the rays of light hit the droplets of water to create rainbows and sparkles under the radiance. The grass was damp, with dew glistening under the sunlight, creating miniature lights, floating amongst the greenery.

To say the scene was beautiful is a complete understatement. Tao had no words to describe the perfect beauty of the sight in front of him. It was breathtaking. It was delicate and dazzling. It was radiant and it was stunning. All he could say was-----

“Wow. This is absolutely amazing.”

The blooms are blossoming after the rain. Is this what can happen to me? Will I become a better me? I think this is what Kris wanted to show me.

“See. After the rain, the cherry tree has finally blossomed.” Kris remarked.

Tao only mutely nodded, unable to say anything coherent.

“Thank you.” Tao whispered, afraid noise would ruin the beauty in front of him.

“You’re welcome. I’m here for you. I’m here to save you.” Kris said while smiling at Tao. He understood Tao’s feelings without a single word exchanged. He simply accepted all of Tao.

*Flashback Over*

“Kris!” Tao exclaimed.

“You finally remember me huh?” Kris asked with a crooked smile on his face.

“What do you mean finally?”

“Well, I’ve met you a couple of times in this dream world, but you never remember me after.” Kris replied sadly.

“I promise to remember you this time.” Tao pledged, holding his hand to his heart.

Kris lightly laughed. “Okay. I’ll hold you to that.” Tao eagerly nodded.

“Where did you go after? I never met you again after that meeting.” Tao asked.

“The day I met you was the day before I was going to move to Vancouver, Canada. Honestly, I was outside in the rain because I didn’t want to move. I was mad at my parents, since they were forcing me to leave the one place called home. But I met you, who was crying about your dead dad, and I felt so bad. I was so lucky to have a happy family. I wanted to make it up to you, and that’s why I showed you that cherry tree.”

“Ahh... Do you still live in Vancouver, Canada?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you like it there?” Tao curiously asked.

“Yeah, I guess. I never completely adapted I guess. Do you still live in Qingdao?”

“Nope. I moved to Shanghai after my mom died. Qingdao held too many sad memories.”

“Your mom died?”

“Yeah. But it’s okay. When she died, I thought about what you told me, and it helped me get through. I was so sad, and then I dreamed I was here, in this dream world place. It was really calming and peaceful. It reminded me of the cherry tree meadow.”

“I’m so sorry. Again.” Kris said.

“It’s okay. I’m still really thankful that you got me through that first one. I think that was the most important one. I live with two of my best friends, Baekhyun and Lay. They’re really nice, and helped me a lot. What about you?”

“I stay with Chanyeol and Chen, my dorm mates. They’re really nice and weird.”

“That’s good. You should come visit sometime! Then, even if I forget you now, we could meet in actual life so I don’t forget you!”

“So you’re planning to forget about me?” Kris teased.

“No! Just in case! I don’t want to forget you again! I’ll tell you my phone number and you can tell me yours.”

“How are you supposed to remember my phone number if you can’t even remember me?” Kris asked.

“Uh….Will you remember? Do you usually remember?”

“Yeah…”

“Then you can remember, and then call me.”

“If you don’t remember who I am, won’t I seem like a creepy stalker?”

“Uh… I have an idea! I can create a pen, and write it on my hand and yours! That way we can both remember. I’ll write down what happened on my hand. That’ll work right?”

“Yeah. It should.”

They exchanged phone numbers and wrote them on their hand. With one last hug, they waved ‘Bye’ and went on their separate ways.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~~

Tao woke up in bed with a clear memory. Good thing I remembered this time. I wonder if the pen thing worked for Kris…

Kris woke up in bed with a pounding headache. Oww… What the hell? Why does my head hurt so much? Is it because of the dream?? I finally met Tao, and got him to remember me…

On different sides of the world, the two of them smiled together as they thought about each other.

A/N: Sorry for the short, crappy, melodramatic chapter. If it seemed rushed, I’m really sorry… I’ll try to make it better. I’ve been really busy with random work and homework, and practice, but I’ll try to update soon. Thank you to all who have subscribed! Love you guys so much! Hope you enjoy!

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