The Kiss

As he steps inside, the whole house is illuminated. He doesn't let my feet touch the ground as he carries me in his arms, gently setting me down on a huge fluffy sofa that has replaced my simple couch.

"You're just as I remember from the last picture you sent before you stopped responding to my calls, emails, and messages."

He looks at me with profound admiration and caresses my cheeks. I can tell that his eyes are getting watery.

I remember now, deliberately breaking up with him without telling him about my illness. I knew he would come but I just couldn't bear the thought of hurting him like that.

I hate the fact that my family were there too 'cause I have seen their suffering and it was unbearable.

I wish they had never learned about my illness, believing that I was having the time of my life somewhere in this world.

"I am sorry that I couldn't keep my promise..." I say, lowering my head. I feel my tears gathering but before they can fall, he wipes them away with his fingers.

"Everything has passed now. I am here with you now, that's all that matters," his tender voice makes me want to seek more affection. As if he can read my thoughts, he cocoons me in his arms.

"Wait a minute... " I pull myself out of his chest, almost terrified of a thought that just crossed my mind.

"You didn't... Tell me you didn't harm yourself to be here with me."

"Don't worry princess. I didn't do anything like that. I followed your instructions. 

Remember when you wrote that message predicting the future?"

If someday I go missing and stop replying to your messages, assume that anything and everything could have happened. Don't even think for a second about harming yourself to reach me. I want you to carry forward our dreams. Find a girl who suits you better and have a bunch of kids.

If you have a daughter, name her after me, even though I know your future wife may not like it. Assure her that I'm not a threat to your relationship. You loved me, even without a face to put to my name, so dont be stubborn. Accept her into your heart. After all, she is someone you can touch and feel, unlike me. Have a long and beautiful life, my love.

I can't believe that he's kept my words safe in a letter that now looks old.

"I've kept your letter inside my jacket for seventy long years, and my wife always made sure I had it with me. I followed your wishes, babe. At first, only boys came but I was determined to have a girl, and after six precious boys, our princess came.

My wife didn't have any issues with naming her after you because, unbeknownst to me, I had married one of your ardent fans. I discovered this by pure coincidence with the news that you weren't anymore.

We both cried when we learned about your sudden departure and she became your PR to promote your work around the world. She knew that my love was only for you but we had a best friend with benefits relationship and carried on married for 40 years.

She is alive and taking care of her grandchildren but my poor heart wanted so much to be in peace with you.

So in a beautiful sleep I found myself on the road and took the bus that brought me to you." 

He concluded.

I am beyond happy that my love had a long and beautiful life just like I wanted him to.

I lean in to hug him. I know we are just souls but I can feel his heart beat faster as he pushes his chest towards mine and wraps his strong arms around me. I also know that he his crying just like I am.

He cups my face, deleting my tears in the process.

"I love you princess," he whispers.

I hold his hands and kiss his palms. My trembling voice can only produce five faint words, 

"Love you too, my man."

He is about to kiss me when our stomachs growl. We both laugh.

"Ghost or not, these tummies need to be filled."

I sigh looking down at our flat bellies and make my way to the kitchen as he comes after me.

I cook, and he teases me all along. As I let the dish prepare in the oven, I follow him. He shows me his life, which lightens up the house.

The rooms that didn't open before are now fully open and hold memories of his life.

I am thankful to God for everything He did.

Still unable to understand the realm we are in, I can tell that my food has never tasted better than now.

The house changes again, merging both of our lives.

After we sit down to eat at the table, I recall what he said before.

"Babe, you said you carried the message for seventy years but you stood married for forty 

years. How is that possible?"

"Nothing can escape your beautiful mind." He playfully touches my hair, and his smile melts my heart.

"Well, she fell in love with another man and we amicably separated. Although she was a great companion all those years, I let her go to live with her love when I knew mine wasn't..." he hushed as his words turned to sobs.

Shhh, look, we are together now." I move from my seat and sit on his lap, holding him to my chest. With a pang in my heart, I try to soothe his pain.

"Did you wait a long time here, all alone?" As he raises his head, I can see the concern he has for me in those chocolate eyes.

"No, I just came here and I was taking a nap when you knocked."

"So is it true, the saying about this realm in the living one?

"What?"

"When one man asked for money, God answered that he needed a minute to make a billion but a minute in his almighty reign is forever in the living world."

"Ohh, I know this one. In my country, people are still waiting for that one minute to pass," I giggle, aware that I was one of them when I was a child.

"You smell like home." He snuggles his face into the crook of my neck, taking me by surprise and sending an electric current through my body.

Having dreamt for this moment so long, I can't hold myself anymore as I plant kisses all over his cheek and twine my fingers through his wild locks. Unable to resist, I take in the serenity of the moment.

"You are home", I whisper gently. We lose track of time as we stand there, lost in each other's arms. He breaks the silence first, carrying me upstairs.

He stops before our shared room, puts me down and takes my hand, placing them over his chest. I feel so small in front of him.

"If it weren't for your words, I'd have come here sooner. Living without you was torment. 

Although time passed and other loves entered into my life, your part in my heart was untouchable. Like they say, only you on one side and the whole world on the other. I love you my princess."

I am left completely numb as he ends his speech. Millions of times I have dreamed of such. an encounter in the living world but it was meant to be here in this realm which I am  choosing to call Heaven. Because this can be nothing less than Heaven.

He bends his head and my heart, that I don't know if I can call an organ anymore, starts to beat frantically.

I lose hold of gravity as he takes me by my waist and lifts me. His other hand slides against my neck, gently grabbing my nape.

This is the moment I have been waiting for since the first time we discussed it. He always swore to kiss me on our first meeting.

Who knows how much time has passed in the living world and if this moment isn't our first meeting.

I pause. Wait, why am I thinking so much about it? Where's my kiss?

I don't feel him anymore.

What is going on?

What is that light?

I'm trying to open my eyes, still in anticipation of a kiss that never came.

Ohh God, the light is so strong it could blind me.

I finally open my eyes only to find the mighty sun glaring at my face.

I adjust my eyes, blinking till my normal sight is back and I can see my surroundings.

I realize that I'm in my room, having dozed off on my swinging chair in front of the enormous window.

Resting on the ledge of the window is my laptop, a plate of cookies, and my phone, now blinking with messages I've missed.

I take the phone in my hand, flexing my numb fingers as I scroll through the news.

Yes. This is the real world. The living one.

The war in Ukraine rages on. The Israel-Palestine conflict has taken another bitter turn. Poverty still thrives, not just in the streets, but in the minds of those who govern the powerful states. My books remain tucked away on apps.

And then, there it is—
The letter I once wrote to him.
A message I never sent. Written during one of those quiet, dreadful nights when I feared my end might be just around the corner.

It wasn't just me. The whole world, even now, trembles under the weight of a looming apocalypse. And yet... I had the audacity to write him something like that.

I never thought I was selfish.
But that letter—it held a selfishness I didn't even know lived inside me.
Reading it again, those words cut deep.
Especially when I imagine myself in another woman's shoes...
Learning your husband still clings to a dead lover.
And worse, has named their daughter after her—me.
No.
I would never let that happen.

With one click, I delete the unsent version, and write something that finally feels like me:

If someday I go missing and stop replying to your messages, assume that anything and everything could have happened. Don't even think for a second about harming yourself to reach me. I want you to carry forward our dreams. Find a girl who suits you better and have a bunch of kids.

Once, I read in a book by Paulo Coelho that humans have more than one soulmate. I am sure you will find the other half in case we don't get to be together in this lifetime. Always remember that love can heal every wound—even a shattered heart.

These words feel like me again.
Not the woman from that dream—who clung too tightly to the idea of being irreplaceable.
I think I understand now where that part of me came from.
It's the ancient, mortal desire... the one that's haunted humanity since the beginning of time.
The hunger to be eternal.
To matter, beyond the moment.

But I know now—
My name doesn't need to pass down through generations.
Not carved into anyone's child, or stitched into anyone's grief.

If I am to be remembered at all, let it be this:

Let my words be the immortality of me. 

Sometimes dreams are just portals to other realms, be it HEAVEN OR A PARALLEL UNIVERSE. I am getting used to these strange dreams by now. Although I wouldn't mind if what I dream of were to become reality, the tapestry of my fate has something else written in my life path.

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Thank you for coming to the end of this story that for the first time holds something personal for me as  an author.

Without the romance part that I don't know if it will be real one day ( hopping to find that kind of man that will listen to me 😍)

I truly had a dream just like I wrote in Part two.

If any of you have had any strange dreams like I had, I would love to know them. Who knows your dreams can pinch my fantasy and I will write something about them.

Last but not least.

Give a try to my ongoing story "Forgiveness No Punishment" that soon will be touching the end.

I need all your support to get energy to finish before this year ends.