Chapter 37: Chapter 34

"Hey, handsome," Wendy commented when Johan came out of the room.

"Hello," Johan said neutrally as he headed for the front door.

Sipping their cup of tea on the couch, "Where are you going?"

"What does it matter?"

"Well, on your way back, make sure to bring back some tortillas. Francesca and I are going to-" The door shutting loudly startled Wendy enough to nearly spilling their tea on the couch as they struggled to salvage as much as they could.

In the garage after entering his car, he placed the phone on his charger which lit up the screen revealing the time, 11:15 am. As he exited into the street, 'Maybe her parents will tell her she can't go. Maybe she'll realize that this is a mistake and cancel it herself. Maybe her friends will call her and she would rather hang out with them. Yeah, any of those situations can happen.' He glanced at his phone and when he saw no activity from it, he lifted it and place it back on the dock. When the little red light appeared, he sighed, 'I said I was going to meet up with her today and now she's waiting for me at the train station. I have to keep my promise, no matter what I'm thinking. It's too late to turn back now. Besides, there's nothing left to turn back to. I might as well proceed.'

With four minutes left before noon, he arrived at the train station. At the spot where he would meet Lucy a third time now was an empty seat. 'Early this time, or perhaps she changed her mind after all. What do I want? What do I really want from life? Do I want some kind of validation, or am I just too stubborn to accept the reality? Maybe I should just abandon the world after all. There's nothing left for me here.'

“Hey!” a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts as he turned around and saw the one he most wanted to and dreaded to find.

Lucy stood in front of him, with a cheerful attitude, her hands behind her back. "Nice choice of clothing," she commented. "I was expecting you to come in a suit or something like that."

Johan was left speechless at the smile that she was projecting. She had a very coy mannerism as she looked at him with her gentle eyes. It was as if he was meeting a completely different person. He was expecting her to disappear into thin air and find himself still in bed, but as far as he could tell, the smiling girl before him was indeed Lucy.

"You look nice too,” was all he could reply.

As if he hit a switch, he noticed Lucy's face turning red right before she turned around. "Thank you," she responded facing away from him. This action further confused Johan who thought, 'I must be dreaming. Yes, that must be it. This must be another one of those weird dreams I keep having. It just has to. There is no way the same girl I met last time is the same one here embarrassed by my lackluster compliment.' He looked around for assurance of his thoughts but could only conclude that he was indeed conscience.

Lucy finally calmed herself as she turned around and asked, "So... How are you?"

"I'm doing okay," he replied. Another awkward pause as Johan simply scratched his head and looked around his surroundings. 'Is this a sign of things to come? Maybe it was a mistake to accept this. I should forget this whole thing.'

"Do you want to go to the park?" asked Lucy.

"The park?"

"Yeah. That small park we went last time. How about we go there and, you know, chat?"

"Oh... sure. Yeah, let's go then."

--

The distance between them was expected, but considering Lucy's attitude earlier, Johan thought she would be open to conversation. But it appeared that their return to the park also brought along the awkward silence from the last meeting they had. 'To think, I thought it was going to be no different than our chats. What's with this hesitation? I mean, she was quite proactive moments ago. What's with the awkward silence?'

"We sure do chat a lot, don't we?" said Lucy abruptly, bringing Johan's attention to her.

"Oh... yeah, we sure did."

"Yeah. It was really great, huh?"

"Yes. It sure was..." As hard as he tried to sound calm, he could not deny the unnerved quivering. 'She can feel the awkwardness through my words, I just know it. She's going to figure out I feel weird about this. I think this is it. She's going to find this too strange to continue on. I knew this was a bad idea. I just had to accept her invitation, didn't I? I should've stuck to my original decision and not-'

"Johan."

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Well, are you still having them?"

"Having what?"

"The dreams. The dreams of the couple?"

"Oh... well, not as of late actually."

"Me too. I haven't had the dreams in a while myself. Do you think it means anything?"

"Well, I'd like to think that, perhaps, we are finally coming to terms with these dreams and are, you know, moving on from them."

"What does that mean?"

"I think it means that... we're finally overcoming them."

"Overcoming them? Like... the two are finally..."

Johan could see Lucy's face turning red before she turned around. "What I mean is that our minds are, you know, finally working things out."

"And what does that mean?" she asked, her head still turned.

"It means that... well... sometimes dreams are visions that we have of ourselves and... sometimes we conjure up images to try and solve dilemmas in our lives. Yeah, let's go with that."

She eventually calmed down and faced him, "That sounds pretty reasonable. How do you know so much about this?"

"I'm taking psychology."

"Oh, right. You did mention that. That sounds interesting."

Lucy's smile had returned and despite the joyous feeling that was gleaming from her, Johan felt compelled to turn away. "Yeah, That's probably it."

A vibration was felt and heard from his pocket. When he pulled his phone out, he groaned at the notification.

"What's wrong?" asked Lucy.

"Nothing. Just spam, that's all."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot I need a new phone. My friend dropped mine and broke it and now I can't get it to turn on. It was a cheap old phone so I'm not too worried about it, but I could use another one so we can continue to..." Lucy covered her mouth and exhaled before removing her hand. "I'm sorry. I forgot."

"That's okay," responded Johan. "I'm sure your parents will get you one soon."

"Oh yeah. That's right, my parents will buy me one... probably."

Silence returned along with the awkwardness as they continued down the path. His blunt exhaling did nothing more than enforce how queer the situation had become at this point. 'No matter what we talk about, it's just making things worse. I can't keep going on like this. This was a bad idea after all. I have all the proof I need. I have to put aside my feelings and do the right thing. I have to end this now.'

He turned to Lucy, "I have something to tell you."

The ringing from Johan's phone interrupted him and upon seeing who was calling him, "Oh, come on," he uttered before turning to Lucy. "Just give me a moment,” he told her before walking a few feet away from Lucy.

"What is it?" he said on the phone.

"Johan, where are you?” Wendy said on the other line, “Where are the tortillas?"

"Just for that? Get them yourself."

"You're on your way home, right?"

"What makes you think that?'

"Because it's Saturday."

"And?"

"You don't have classes on Saturday."

"So what? Don't you think that perhaps I'm hanging out with friends?"

"Hey, wait, you actually made a friend?"

"That's quite rude of you, isn't it?"

"So you really are hanging out with another human being?"

Johan paused for a bit as he looked back at Lucy before turning back. "Yes, I'm hanging out with someone right now."

"Who?"

"That's none of your business."

"Tsk, I knew it."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Johan, I'm worried about you."

"I had enough of you saying that."

"But I am. Just tell me what is going on. Why are you acting so strange? You fluctuate between being happy and being super mad. Now you're just wandering around aimlessly."

"Stop assuming things. I really am out with a girl." Johan jolted upon realizing what he said.

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"A girl? Margaret?"

"No, not Margaret."

"Clearly not me since I'm here at home, and you wouldn't count me as a girl anyway."

"What makes you think Margaret is the only girl I know? And you, I guess."

"As far as I'm concerned, that's the case. Every other girl you simply push away. No wonder Margaret thinks the alternative side of you."

Johan started rubbing his temple. "Alright, I apologize, okay? You just got me so mad, but at the same time, I don't appreciate you saying horrible things about me."

"What horrible things? I never said anything horrible about you."

Another pause as he tried to control himself. After shaking his head, "Listen, what if I told you I was with a girl?"

A brief pause before Wendy answered, "Johan, do you need someone to pick you up?"

"I'm serious. What if I told you that? What if I said that... there's this girl I like?"

"Johan, I can't understand anything you are saying."

"Am I breaking up?"

"No, I meant, you've been saying strange things lately."

"Please, just consider what I'm saying right now. What if I told you that I was in love with a girl? A girl that... I can't be with?"

"Is this about that dream?"

"In a way. I mean, you said so yourself that I was the reincarnation of the nobleman."

"Yeah, but you brushed it off as nonsense."

"What if I told you I'm starting to believe it? Maybe I am his reincarnation."

"Johan, I didn't say it in a way that was believable. I mean, I like the idea of reincarnation but I think you are taking this way too literally. I mean, remember the first time you told me about that dream? You said a girl tripped and you rescued her. You said she looked just like the girl in your dream. Well, I don't think that's the case. I think you are just seeing things because you are very lonely."

"Edwin, please-"

"Is it true then?"

"No. There's only one girl who looks like the one in my dream, okay? I'm not seeing her image everywhere."

Yet another pause before Wendy responded, "So you said you're out with a girl?"

"Yes."

"And this girl... looks like the girl in your dreams?"

It was back to Johan hesitating before he answered, "Well... possibly."

"And you're hanging out with her right now?"

"Uhh... yes..."

"Then take a picture of her and send it my way."

"I beg your pardon?"

"If you're telling the truth, then you will send me a picture of this girl."

"What is the matter with you? Who just asks for a random photo of a stranger?"

"So she's a stranger?"

"You know what I mean. That's very rude and presumptuous of you to demand such a thing."

"Looks like I'm going to have to be brutally honest. I'm sorry Johan but I think you're starting to lose your mind or something. Maybe you need to seek a psychiatrist."

"I am not lying. She's right here, okay?"

"Then let me talk to her."

"No!"

"So you want me to take your word for it while you are in this state of denial?"

"I'm not denying anything, I'm hanging out with a girl."

Wendy sighed, "Johan, come home, please. We need to have a talk."

"What talk?"

"Just come home."

"I'm right now hanging out with someone and I don't care if you believe me or not."

"Knock it off, Johan. You're being delusional. I don't know what you are thinking but it's not healthy. It's not normal.”

"Normal? What is normal? I don't care what you think, okay? I especially don't care what you think about me."

"I'm just doing this for your own good."

"Don't even bother, okay? You want to talk about me behind my back, go ahead, but don't expect me to be compassionate about your issues."

"I've never talked behind your back."

“Well, in any case... just...”

“Will you please just come home?”

"How many times must I tell you? I'm hanging out with someone, and that's all there is to it."

"There you go again with that imaginary girl."

"I'm not imagining things. She's with me right now."

"The girl from your dreams?"

"Well... let's not consider that."

"Johan, I hope this dream hasn't clouded your judgment. I mean, if you're not careful and you see this girl everywhere, you'll end up going out with someone you will regret."

"I'm not seeing this girl everywhere. Why don't you believe me?"

"Then let's say you are telling the truth. Who are you going out with? You should be careful, okay?"

"What logic are you going by to say that? What is the matter with me going out with a girl? That's normal, isn't it?"

"I'm not trying to creep you out or anything but you seem to be confusing fantasy and reality. I didn't want to mention this but the way you talked about that peasant girl, she seemed quite young.”

“What?”

“Just my speculation. However, I recall that there was a field trip with some middle school students on the day you saved a girl. Johan, did you save one of those kids? Was it one of those kids who you saved on that day? Because you said she was beautiful and I'd hate to think you said that to a middle school student."

Johan's brow scrunched up, "What are you inferring?"

"What I'm saying is that you're letting your imagination lead you to-"

"No, I meant, what if I did save one of those kids? What if the girl I did save was one of those middle school students on a field trip?"

"Uhh... well, that would be creepy."

"Because I called her beautiful?"

"Hey, your kind of creeping me out."

"What exactly is wrong with that? If I find a girl beautiful, what does it matter how old she is?"

"Johan, where are you going with this? Are you saying that you're in love with a kid? Because that's gross."

With all his might, Johan slammed his phone onto the concrete.

Staring at his now broken phone with eyes full of anger, clenching his fist, and breathing heavily, he recalled his surroundings. His eyes darted toward Lucy, completely shocked at what had transpired just a few feet away from her.

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