In front the big audience, she sang and won the greatest contest in her life, letting people trap her with 'congratulations' and words of praise.
Inside the train, he didn't let the man borrow his phone for an urgent call.
In front the big audience, she dashed away before she could let these people hear her heart.
Inside the train, he dialed her number so the man could call his daughter.
.
.
.
Pop, rock, jazz, dance.
There are lots of music genres existing in the world. Different effects are given to people, of course. Some songs make listeners dance. Some songs are upbeat and happy, influencing people with positive vibe. And some, well, can make people cry.
Not with her.
She hates music and calls it noise. Songs are just the same, whether you call them ballad or not - she says. They are noises made to sound pleasant. It's mundane and sickly. She loathes them for a reason she won't reveal.
"You are too rough," he told her one day. She was in a botanical garden secluded in a greenhouse. It was a place away from the noise of city, filled with people who were studying plants. Her eyes looked away from the newsletter and brought it down. The music hater ignore the speaker as she left the table.
"Daina, why is there another stranger bugging me here?" She asked her friend who was watering a row of flowering plants - but replied not. She turned back to scold her friend but she realized that there's something wrong.
Daina was smiling still. The water she is pouring is suspended in the air. The time stopped. She whipped her head around to see that everyone else is on the same state. For the first time, she felt her heart pounding against her chest.
"Guys?" She called them, shook them to wake them up, but they were like stone statues, unmoving and inanimate-like. "What happened?" Her cold sweat dropped from her forehead as she ran to the glass door, until the same voice earlier spoke.
Her clicking heels stopped as she froze on her place. Now, hearing a sole voice with her company paused like a movie, she wasn't sure what to feel. She wasn't afraid, she told herself. The voice was like music and she should show same agitation towards it. With a deep breath, she turned her back and faced the speaker.
"I see, you loved singing before...until that incident," the voice whispered in her right ear. She glimpsed on the speaker but it vanished as soon as the whisper ended. She, who didn't believe supernatural beings, was now tricked by one? Her head stirred up to her right, but there was none. A pair of hands landed on her shoulders, its touch was gentle, almost normal - other than the fact that speaking to an entity amid a frozen scene is uncommon - she shuddered. "You're always looking at wrong way, love." He teased.
"Show up." She turned around and no one was there. Her steps brought her in the middle of the green house, she was looking around continuously, in case he began talking again.
"What if I grant your wish?"
"I said show up. I have seen this in movies. Show up and deal with me, you troll." She coldly remarked, picking up the newsletter from where she left it.
"We are not in a movie. Though you really play a role, this is reality, sweetie."
"Oh, yes. Sure. And this is a dream. Come on, show up so I can wake." Her attempts of unlocking the door failed, it was locked even if it wasn't. This is slowly getting in her nerves as she turned and ran to the opened window.
"Do you still remember your wish that time? I'll grant them. Of course, there is something in exchange. Nothing's free nowadays,"
She clambered to the chair to reach the opened window. Even though the chair was wobbly, she stretched out her hands to reach the window. But something was stopping her fingers to slip through the window, as if there was an invisible wall. Her patience broke as she jumped down, "what on earth is this dream?!"
"This is no dream, my fair lady." He mumbled against her hair. She felt his fingers running on her scalp, it was cold and making her shiver. She looked back and saw him finally. He was there, leaning against the glass wall. His hair was tied back and his shoulders looked strong. He was lean and tall, she was wrong to call him a troll. But his mischievous smile was something she felt dreadful. There were no pointed ears or nose, or wrinkled face, or tattered clothes covered with moss, or even greenish skin. He was perfectly human. "I heard your voice, in the past. Asking. Pleading. Begging for one last chance." He told her, hopping from one pot to another.
"Whatever is that, that was long time ago, and I do not wish the same thing anymore." She hissed, grip tightening on the newspaper. "I left past in the past. Why are you suddenly talking about a forgotten unthought wish?"
"Haven't you heard the saying? Be careful what you wish for. You should have remembered that before muttering wishes way back. And I am always hearing that wish, again and again and again. Getting fervent every time it is said." His smile was full of sly, he counted as a troll playing on her now. She just rolled her eyes, waiting for the dream to end. This wasn't reality, she couldn't feel the heat - but she was sweating. And he was jumping on the plants as if he was weightless. He was bloody-almost-floating!
"Ah, and where could have you heard that? I couldn't remember myself saying anything related with my-" she wasn't able to finish what she's saying when the wind blew gently and the next thing she knew, he was right in front her. He was too close for her liking, she was getting a good view of those blue irises and its spongy surface. He was pressing his forehead against her, making him bend down just to put it on same level. She was getting heedful with his finger pressed against her heart, and his other hand on the small of her back.
"Your heart. Your heart talks for you every time you order people to turn music down. You are asking for another chance, again and again. Because the same song is not going to play, right? I will give you a chance. Do it correctly and you will save your messy life now, and mine." He smiled and let her go. She distanced herself, feeling how that spot he touched searing with coldness. She knew he was correct, she was asking for it. Every time she hears a music, her wish is being relived - but she remembers nothing about the wish, other than it's a chance. The wish exactly? It was unclear.
"Who are you?" She asked, watching him drink her tea from the table. He glanced at her and chuckled, walking towards her. Every step forward of him, she walks away. He grimaced with her action.
"I am someone you met shortly in the past. We met shortly, so quick, but funny it is. Such short time we met, I am tangled with you in this knot of fate." He raked his hair up, some of his fringe just fell above his eyes again. "That's why I am like this and you are like that because of your wish. They decided long enough for that and you should be thankful. I will be with you to guide you, so do your best." He turned back and walked away even before he may reach her. "We will do it again and again, until you do it correctly. But we have a limited time. Everyone deserves second chances. We deserve a second chance, don't we?," his voice was now serious and cold. This might be his real personality, she mused.
"I am absolutely clueless with what you are talking about, so please leave me alone because I don't want to ruin our lives - "
"Exactly!" He exclaimed, interrupting her rant. She scowled and shut her lips tightly together because she was interrupted. Twice in a row. She was impatient with this dream for it's getting more vivid as the clock ticks. He met her eyes, blue against blue, hers was darker. "Exactly, that's why we're redoing it, honey. Cooperate so we will find the happy ending, okay?"
She raised her hands to stop him from saying another weird thing, his idiosyncrasies are beginning to be realistic to her and she doesn't want that, but she was stopped by a music playing somewhere. It was loud and clear, it was the song she was singing that time.
"Let's remove all our regrets, sweetie." He mumbled and she felt herself melting in his arms. That was her last glance on the botanical garden.