The sound of soft whispering made Dawn shift a little in her bed and she slowly opened her eyes, focusing on the source of the sound. Was it humming? A yawn formed on her lips as she blinked a few times, her ears on full alert. She didn't hear anything for a while and closed her eyes, thinking she had imagined the whole thing.

And she was still exhausted and tired so she went back to sleep without even realising it.

She had no idea how long she dozed off for but by the time she had collected her thoughts and woke up again, she didn't feel as tired before. The headache from last night was long gone and her eyes felt much better. She felt her heart beating normally and took a big sigh of relief. Thank god it wasn't anything serious like the flu.

She slowly got up and stretched a little. A cushion lying on the floor right beside her bed took her by surprise and she bend over to pick it up. Another strange happenstance.

Ever since she got Olivia, she was woken up by the sound of her meowing at 6 in the morning for food. But for some strange reason, she didn't get woken up by a hungry, angry and vocal kitten this time. She adjusted the strap of her tank top and pulled up her hair in a bun, walking out of the room with slow footsteps. Her head hurt a little because she moved a little too quick and she was so glad she didn't feel nauseated like last day.

Wait. When did Ash go home?

All she remembered was him ordering some pizza and them eating those by the pool while the kittens slept on the couch. He must have left after putting me to sleep. She nodded at the conclusion she came up with and walked out of her room, starting to look around for her cat.

She found the white one asleep on the couch while her own cat sleeping like a loaf beside him.

Loki is here?!

She paused for a moment.

Ash didn't go home?

She looked around but didn't find him in her peripheral vision. She quickly ran towards the window, looking out for any sign of paparazzi. Finding no suspicious vehicles, she drew the curtains and turned around, taking a sigh of relief. If they come to know about Ash spending a night here, the headlines they would come up with would be... interesting, to say the least.

She started walking around her house aimlessly, looking for the sign of a man's presence.

She found him sitting by the pool, his legs dipped in water as he kept staring at the ceiling, which for some reason had a painting of a mermaid and dolphins on it. The sight of him looking so relaxed and peaceful made Dawn's heart skip a beat. For a moment her mind went into overdrive as she began thinking how this would have been the normal if their break-up never happened.

Shaking those thoughts away, she slowly opened the door. The squeaking noise caught his attention and she waved awkwardly when he looked in her direction.

"Good morning."

Dawn nodded slightly and wished him back,"Good morning. You didn't leave last night?"

"You told me to stay."

Dawn blinked. What? She told him to stay? She really couldn't recall. "What? What do you mean I-"

"Well, not me exactly," He moved his legs in the water, watching the ripples. "You were sleep talking and asking someone to stay. Must have been a dream."

She really couldn't remember if she dreamt anything last night. "May be. Wait, the whole night you were in my room?"

Ash laughed lightly, his giggle resonating in the empty room. "Yea. And you were sick. Couldn't leave you like that you know."

"Don't you have to go to the hospital?" She asked,"I can cook some breakfast for us before that."

"I took a leave."

"Wh-"

"I didn't sleep properly last night," Ash stretched,"And I didn't want to leave you alone before you woke up so yeah."

"You could've woken me up though."

Ash shook his head, giving her a soft smile. Patting the space next to him, he softly requested her,"I already made some food for us. Sorry for using the kitchen without asking."

"No issues." She hesitated for a second but took the spot next to him, dipping her feet in the water. The cold water made a shiver run through her spine and she let out a soft whimper.

"You know Dawn," Ash started, his eyes glazing over the shiny water surface,"In your dream you kept saying someone to stay. Is everything okay?"

Dawn blinked, not recalling anything about her dream,"I seriously don't remember anything."

"Do you.." Ash went over the sentence in his head, wondering if he should just go forward and ask it. "You know, miss your ex boyfriend or something? I mean, you did look very happy in the photos you had with him."

"What? No," Dawn softly denied,"I mean, I liked him, yes, but it was more of falling for an idol. And the breakup was necessary. I just didn't feel... connected to him anymore. It was good whenever we talked but other than that, I just didn't feel anything. Kind of hard to explain."

"What about him? Did he share the same sentiments though?"

Dawn shook her head in denial,"I don't know but staying in a relationship where you just don't feel anything about the other person is very insulting to the other person too. They deserve better."

"Yeah," Ash breathed in,"That's true."

They sat in silence for a moment to and Dawn closed her eyes, taking the moment in. "I heard you singing while I was sleeping."

Ash's eyes widened in panic as he quickly apologized,"Sorry! Did I disturb your sleep?"

"No," Dawn opened her eyes, watching the sunlight sparkling on the water, the bluish tiles reflecting it, making it appear even more blue. "But it did make me remember about the time we got drunk and blasted music while singing in the most stupid, obnoxious voice."

Ash laughed at the memory. "We were celebrating you turning 19. What were you expecting?"

"Anything but standing at the balcony of my flat and singing Never Gonna Give You Up at the top of our lungs while being stupidly drunk."

"It's a miracle how you didn't get any legal notice even after all those wild stuff," Ash joked.

Dawn shrugged, passing him a coy smile,"I did get a notice and just paid a fine to the society club and was done with it."

"Oh my god," Ash burst out laughing,"You bribed them!"

"No," She hit his arm playfully,"They told me that I had to uphold certain rules and values if I live in a complex and that I would have to make sure it didn't happen again. So I asked them to mail me the penalty fine for it and they did."

"Was there even a penalty fine?"

His question brought a guilty smile to her face. "Nope."

"So you did bribe them."

She looked away from his captivating brown eyes. "It was a fine okay, meant to keep my mess ups away from reaching my mother's ears."

"Whatever you say."

"Stop," She let out a small laugh,"Gosh, you're judging me so bad."

Ash shrugged,"I mean I was the one who got the drinks which made us drunk so I am to blame too. Can't judge you for that."

"We hadn't seen each other in months," Dawn leaned towards the pool, looking at her reflection in the water. Her messy hair looked even more chaotic. "So we kind of went overboard."

"You could have told me about the fine thing back then," Ash added,"I wouldn't have minded that."

"You had exams from next week. Didn't want to distract you."

Ash nodded,"But you did want to tell me though, didn't you?"

Dawn pondered for a moment before nodding her head. "Yeah."

"Then you should have," Ash said,"You never say what's on your mind most of the times and then keep thinking about it without even discussing anything."

"That's just the-"

"Type of person you are, yes," Ash interrupted her,"But you should actually speak what's on your mind though. Atleast with people you are comfortable with."

Dawn nodded, although she knew she would never take this advice. "Yeah."

"And you have a fucked up sleep schedule, fix it."

"Yeah."

"Are you even listening?"

"Yeah."

"You're irritated at me, aren't you?"

Dawn paused for a while. "What? No. Obviously not."

"You were quiet for a while so I thought I had ticked you off."

Dawn pulled one of her legs out of the pool while making swirling waves with the other one. "I was just thinking about stuff you were telling me. I am not irritated, I was just thinking."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah… that playlist we were blasting on my birthday, do you still have that?" She asked him.

"Why?"

"Because" Dawn started,"Nostalgic purpose?"

Ash raised an eyebrow,"I think its still in my Spotify. Want me to play it?"

"Yeah," She wondered for a while while he pulled out his phone and looked though his apps.

"Ash?" She asked and he hummed, without looking up from his phone, indicating he heard her.

"Thank you for staying."

"No biggie," he flashed her a grin and pressed play. "I added few more songs in here sometime ago."

"So you kept playing this album even after we broke up?" Dawn teased him,"Aww."

He rolled his eyes at her playfully,"What do you mean? Those are good songs. Heh."

Dawn closed her eyes, listening to the peaceful melody of the song start. Its been a while since she listened to these and it took her on a trip down memory lane.

That's the thing about music. You can listen to it anytime and anyplace but it will always take you back to the special memory you have associated with the song.

Waking up to kiss you and nobody's there

The smell of your perfume still stuck in the air

It's hard

Yesterday I thought I saw your shadow running round

It's funny how things never change in this old town

So far from the stars

She could feel herself going back to the time when she was on a call with him and this song was playing in the background while they were studying. He knew she liked this song because she had a huge crush on the ocean blue-eyed singer and also because it reminded her that she would do anything to go meet him whenever she could.

If the whole world was watching I'd still dance with you

Drive highways and byways to be there with you

Over and over the only truth

Everything comes back to you

She began humming the tune and Ash watched her, entranced.

Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he would get another chance to sit near her and watch her humm in peace.

When the next song started playing, Dawn let out a small laugh,"This song, hahaha."

"Hey," Ash pinched her slightly on her arm,"It's a good song."

"Double meaning, yes," Dawn corrected him.

"What double meaning?" Ash raised his eyebrows, challenging her playfully,"He is being straightforward about what he wants."

Dawn let out a laugh again and noticed Olivia roaming around outside, occasionally peeking through the window then walking away. The poor kitten must have been hungry.

"I'll go feed them," Dawn got up, a little water splashed on Ash's pants and he laughed.

"I fed them. They are looking for us perhaps?"

"Then lets go inside."

"Yeah."

"Ash," Dawn quoted a line from the song,"The pedal's down and my eyes are closed."

Ash let out a laugh, walking up a little fast to catch up with her,"So you're saying that you have no control?"

Dawn winked in his direction,"I don't have a loaded gun."

Dawn opened the door and found Oli running past her, chasing after Loki. Turning to look at Ash, she said,"Speed."

"We could have called them Lightning McQueen."

"Yeaaaa," Dawn let out a yawn,"I'll go brush and get fresh? Okay?"

"Yep."

Dawn walked into the bathroom slowly, her ears on full alert. Ash had a habit of breaking out into singing whenever he was sure she wasn't around and the cute, over the top expression he had while singing always made her laugh and filled her up with so much adoration that she couldn't explain.

She brushed and cleaned herself up as soon as she could and tied her hair up while putting on a clean pair of pajamas. Before turning the door open, she paused and listened for a while and heard him humm the tune and she couldn't help but smile. Some habits stay and she was glad that it stayed.

The sound of him humming stopped when he heard the door unlock and Dawn watched as he put down two plate on the kitchen counter. "What did you make?" She asked as she walked towards him and opened the fridge to take out some juice she brought few days ago.

"I just found eggs and some bread in your fridge so bread toast it is."

"What happened to the leftover pizza from yesterday?" Dawn looked around and her eyes landed on him for explanation. "You finished everything?!"

"I woke up early okay?" He grinned and rubbed his neck sheepishly,"The pizza was very tempting."

"Asshole," she took a plate and sat down on the table. "You could have left me one piece."

"Whenever I did that earlier, you told me that I should have eaten it if I felt like it."

"Yeah because I was trying to impress you by being a good, understanding girlfriend," Dawn paused, flushing at the thought,"I mean..now, I just.."

"Hmmmmmmm…" Ash wiggled his eyebrows at her, teasing her,"Aww.. you were trying to get into my pants?"

Dawn could feel her face getting red. "Thank you for the food."

"And now you're avoiding the question."

As if on cue, I want it that way started playing and Dawn silently sipped her juice, passing the cartoon to him. He shook his head and pointed at the stove, saying,"Making some tea for us."

"Oh."

Tell me why

Ain't nothing but a heartache

Tell me why

Ain't nothing but a mistake

Dawn rocked her head, singing,"Now number five," and looked up at Ash who had spoken the exact same lyrics. The moment their eyes met, they burst out laughing.

I never wanna hear you say

I want it that way

"I can never listen to the song in the same way again," Ash said after calming down. "Whenever I hear this part, the number 5 part leaves my mouth before I know it."

Dawn nodded enthusiastically,"I know right? Its like we got Pavlov'd."

Dawn got up and carried the empty plate to the kitchen and put it in the sink. The sound of plate got Olivia's attention and she ran to the kitchen, meowing loudly.

"What just happened?" Ash asked, watching the brown cat meowing at Dawn.

"Whenever she hears the sound of a plate in the kitchen, she'll come running, thinking FOOD!"

The sight baffled Ash. He watched as Dawn took some dry food out of the container and poured some in the bowl nearby. "Loki never does this though."

"Oli picked this habit from my mother. She would always feed her whenever she made breakfast for us and thus, Oli thinks every time a plate moves, its eating time."

"Well can you blame her though," Ash laughed," Johanna looks like the person who will spoil cats and other pets."

"Yes!" Dawn nodded,"Ever since I got her, she would called Oli in the sweetest voice she could muster and pet her, play with her and chase her around."

"Well its her grandkid so ofcourse she does."

"And can you imagine? She's away on a vacation but everytime she calls, she asks how Oli is first then asks about me. Oli replaced me!"

Ash laughed and Dawn joined forces. "Are you jealous of your cat? Hawww."

"I am just baffled because she kept saying she didn't want a pet and now, there she is, acting as if Oli adopted me and not the other way around."

Dawn heard her phone ringing and she began making her way to the bedroom, saying,"Wait, must be Mom."

"Okie."

Ash watched Loki joining Oli and them eating together. He got up and fetched the water bowl, planning to clean it and give them some water.

Dawn didn't get much time to spend with the cat but somehow, Oli was as attached to Dawn as she was to this beautiful kitten. Whenever they met, she would keep complaining about how mischievous Oli had been yet looking at her like this reminded him that she didn't actually mind.

She was a lot more cheerful and happy as compared to the time they had to met for lunch because of their mothers. And he believed Oli played a huge role in it.

Its funny how having a pet changes people.

He could feel his phone vibrate in his pocket and took it out, knowing full well that the guys were spamming his inbox. The wedding was around a month away and things were picking up pace. Ash was excited as the best man yet a part of him was also anxious. It was a type of thrill that he couldn't put into words.

He had known Gary and Leaf since they were kids. He witnessed their evolution from friends to lovers to fiancee and fiancé. And now, he was going to see them open up a new chapter in their lives, as partners for life.

To be honest, he thought that they wouldn't last. He always had a lingering thought that Gary would fuck up somehow which would make Leaf so mad that they would be done for good. The thought made him worried sick because it would mean him having to pick sides.

You can never choose between two best friends. Whatever you do will end up hurting the other one in way or another.

So when they kept going strong, even after all the years, even after all the fights, even after all the fuck ups, part of him believed that they were soulmates. And a part of him hoped that he and Dawn could have ended up like them.

He opened the group chat and went over the details of the bachelor party and quickly typed a reply of his own and put his phone away.

His eyes lingered towards Dawn's bedroom, waiting for her to come out and he immediately looked away, warmth creeping on his cheeks.

He watched the kitties running around in the house and he laughed. Whenever they were together, they would play fight, chase, bite as well as groom each other. He was amazed at how they got entertained easily.

"What are you smiling at?"

Dawn's question took him by surprise and he looked up at her, watching her soft expression.

"I was just wondering how kittens get entertained easily. They were chasing each other since morning and didn't get bored."

"Oh yeah?" She sat down beside him on the couch, taking him by surprise,"You watched them chase each other all morning. So tell me, who is more entertained?"

Ash opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. Damn she had a point.

"Good point."

"Hmmm."

They stayed in silence for a while but it didn't feel overwhelming or uncomfortable like before, atleast not to Ash. He could see her scratching the nailpolish off her nails, a thing she did when she was thinking about something.

"Something concerning you?"

She shook her head, surprised,"Nothing extreme, just you know.."

"Dawn," Ash gave her a comforting smile, rubbing the back of her hand,"I can lend you an ear if you want."

He watched as she nodded, as if making up her mind about something. The way she bit the bottom of her lip then took in a deep breath signalled him that she had already made her decision.

"May called me few moments ago."

"Huh?" Ash couldn't understand why she would call her out of the blue. Unless…..

"Yeah," Dawn let out a light chuckle,"I was as surprised as you are. I mean, she didn't contact me for months. Of course I was surprised."

"I see."

Her tone wasn't cynical or condescending. She was simply surprised by the turn of events, that's all. "She invited me to Leaf's bachelorette party."

"Oh." He nodded. His hunch was right.

A part of him was dying to know about her response. Would she go? If she wasn't, what did she say to turn down the offer? Did May ask her again after she denied? Was Dawn fixated on not going or did she agree easily? With questions swirling in his mind, he looked up at her again, asking,"So, are you... going?"

"I mean," Dawn paused for a while,"Yeah, I am."

.


.


Soooooo… its been a long time since I showed up here, isn't it? XD sorry about that, was so caught up in life that couldn't write even if I tried.

A short chapter but it was something I wanted to write. A short, carefree, emotional turmoil-less chapter where I didn't torture any of my favourite characters. This is more of a buildup towards the next chapter and I think most of you can already guess what it is. I have had the next chapter planned out for a while(ever since I started the story) so you know I'm so freaking excited to write it. So hopefully it'll be up sooooon!

Started playing a game called Genshin Impact few weeks ago. I love the lore and the graphics. And I might have a teeny-tiny-miniscule crush on one of the characters XD

So see you guys soon?

~ Darkestlightofhope