Tao's POV

I arrived safely at mainland China at around 8pm. I grabbed a local taxi waiting outside the airport and told him the hotel I booked. I decided to choose the same hotel we slept at the last time we visited China and we couldn't get a ride to grandma's.

I checked out of the hotel immediately the morning I woke up. I fetched another taxi but this time asked him to go to the nearest terminal station. I got it and waited until the 6th station. I walk out of the crowded terminal and decided to eat at the nearest store.

A man stared at me when he entered the store. He blinked his eyes thrice and bent a little closer. "Tao?"

I blinked, thrice as well. "Ne?" I forgot I'm back in China.

"It is you!" He laughed. "You have grown!"

I tried to accompany his laughter.

"The last time I saw you, you were still this tall. My your eyes retained those dark sun bags." He laughed. "I won't blame you if you can't recognize me" He laughed.

Thank goodness. "Dui bu qi."  I apologized in Mandarin. I asked who he was and how he gotten to know me.

It turned out that he was my grandfather's cousin. He decided to live his life outside the city. He reminded me of Chanyeol. I bet if these two would be in a room together, they wouldn't even know that they were talking for hours already.

"Are you going somewhere perhaps?" He asked.

"Actually I'm planning on going somewhere calming. I might go back to the provincial lake we went to the very last time we all came here."

"Oh! Then ride along with me, I actually have a residence there."

I grabbed the chance of getting for free at the cost of memory lane. I thought I could bear reminiscing memories I didn't know existed than to struggle finding my way.

Our road trip lasted for two hours and thirty minutes. He dropped me off the lake first and described to me his house. I slammed his car door close and he went on to clean the house.

The lake was the same as before, it was serene and calming, just the right thing I needed. I found myself a smooth stone or was it called rock? Whatever...

I grabbed a pebble a skidded it across the lake.

"Suddenly everything is turning around. Kris returning, Suho and Chanyeol coming to my life... It seems too much to be true."

I flashbacked to the kiss Suho and I shared. He said my heart skipped a beat. He felt it. I... felt it too. It was a thrill. It was my first kiss. Maybe Kris said made sense. The reason why it happened, was because it was new to me. Not because really felt something. It was just my mind creating an illusion.

Here you go again Tao! The best intentions bring about the worst troubles!

This won't do. I got up and walked to the village before sun sets. I found grandpa's cousin's house easily. It was the biggest house there is in the village!

He greeted me once I arrived, accompanied by his maids and showed me the room that I would be staying in.

"I hope you don't mind staying in a small room." He said. It wasn't actually a small room. It was bigger than mine.

"Hao le. Xie xie."

I opened the window and the moon was there alone in the starless sky. "Don't you feel lonely being alone there?" I asked in vain before coming to a sleep.

That night I dreamt.

"Tao!!!" I heard Kris voice. It was higher than his voice now.

I felt the wind coming from the south in a fast paced. I enjoyed the feeling. It was as if something is pulling me.

"Tao! Wake up please" Kris voice was shaking. "Call some help!"

I heard footsteps. They were running. Kris was still holding onto me. "Tao, please wake up. Please please."

Are you crying Kris? I wanted to ask but my mouth seemed sealed. I can't open it.

He held me stronger. "You won! Now please wake up."

But I am awake! I tried to argue. My body was in a daze. I didn't have control.

"What happened?" Another voice said. "Oh my! Is that..."

More people were now coming towards me. They were murmuring to one another.

"Move out guys!" The same voice said."Kris..."

"He... he fell." He cried.

"Shh... everything's gonna be okay." The voice comforted."Everything's gonna be okay."

A drop of his tears fell into my cheek and went down to my mouth. I could have swear I assumed it would be salty, unfortunately I didn't felt anything, I didn't taste anything.  

I think it snowed that day. I remembered my body becoming cold. Did I really fell of the oak tree?

I found myself sweating after the dream. I looked up the sky and the moon was still there. I touched my heart and felt it skip faster. "It is all just a dream, all just a dream. " I comforted myself.

I tried to sleep but I kept on thinking about other things. Whenever I tried to think about something else, it all boils down to confessions and Kris and Suho and arguments and choosing. It was pointless lying there. I couldn't sleep anyway. I decided to roam the residence. To my disappointment, there was nothing I found interesting.

I returned to my room. I could have sworn I heard a lady's voice giggling. I went through the window again. This time there were pieces of paper. I grabbed one and started reading it.

                "In exchange for what I asked, I bound myself to the curse that is immortality. But never did I regret my decision. She had grown into a beautiful woman, my daughter. I wished I can meet her but I know that is asking too much. I know my heart. It is her that makes me happy. Love is not always about happiness, but finding happiness when everything else is tragic seems to be close enough to what love really is."

The other parts of the entry was blotted with black marker. I could read them at all.

I tried to read them above a lighted candle, but the marker did a very good job at concealing both sides. I read the next lines that were available.

                "In the end, those who lived as a renewed persona has to return to their duties, because that is their fate: to be drifted in eternity."

I don't understand. This is why I didn't take Literature.