The bright sun shining down on Estorea's face irritated her.

With much reluctance, Estorea had forced herself to take a walk outside because she was always stuck at home.

It has been a year since she had gotten back to her body.

And although at times Estorea would get thoughts of Haigu, Aelia and Kieran. She would push them aside pretty fast. Not wanting to focus on them.

She still hasn't made any friends be fair. Still alone, the only people who would talk to her is her colleagues and boss.

Walking along the pavement, Estorea observed the surrounding greenery. It was a beautiful park. Even had a pond with ducks swimming around in it.

Suddenly, she heard barking... That seemed to get... alarmingly louder?

She turned only to see a huge American pit bull terrier... rushing at her!?

Estorea blinked, and suddenly saw a flash of blue hair, and right in front of her appeared a guy in a white shirt and blue jeans, a casual outfit. Standing in front of her, protecting her from the dog that had almost jumped at her.

Estorea suddenly heard him speak, "Do... Don't come closer!" His voice was soft and smooth. The pit bull stopped in front of him and tilted his head.

Then he started sniffing his clothes and shoes. Estorea could see the guy trembling. His blue fluffy hair sticking out from under his hat.

"GEORGE! BAD BOY!" She heard a scream, seeing a huge and tall guy who obviously body builds. Tattoos could be seen on his muscled arms. He was running right at them.

The guy in front of her trembled even more, and Estorea felt like she had to step up.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, he turned around and she saw tears in the corners of his eyes, threatening to fall.

Estorea didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This guy... He willingly stood in front of her to protect her...? And such a timid one at that...

"I'm so sorry!" The muscled guy reached them, kneeled down on one knee and scolded the pit bull who let out a soft whine as he lowered his head, his tail dropping.

The muscles guy sighed and shook his head, standing up. He widened his eyes at the trembling, close to tears guy. "Hey, are you okay, man? I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have let my dog run off like that."

The man nodded, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. "It's... alright.. Just be careful next time." He said softly.

The muscled man grinned and nodded, "I will!" He clipped the leash onto the dog's collar and walked off.

"Uhm... Are you okay...?" Estorea asked.

The young man jumped at the sudden voice, remembering that he wasn't alone.

Estorea got a good look at him. He had dyed pale blue hair and brown-bluish eyes. His skin was pale and smooth and he got really soft facial features. In conclusion, this guy is even prettier than girls!

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Yes... Are you alright?"

Estorea smiled, "Yes, thank you! You're very brave."

The young man's eyes lit up, and a light tint of pink crept up onto his cheeks.

"What's your name?" He asked, playing with his thumbs as he nervously waited for an answer.

"I'm Estorea. Nice to meet you...?"

"Nareik. You can call me Rik!" He replied cheerfully.

"It's nice to meet you, Rik! Wanna accompany me to eat at a café as a treat for protecting me?"

Rik flushed again, and he nodded. "Yes please!"

...

I always had a dream ever since I was young. A beautiful raven-haired woman with amethyst eyes. She was beautiful, and every time I saw her, my heart always started to beat.

It always felt like she wasn't someone from this world... or this dream...?

In the dream, I seemed to be a prince or something? The exterior of the room resembled a Victorian Era Study. It was really elegant and simple.

Plus, someone would always come into my study and call me, "Your Highness!"

I know Highness is ranked below Majesty, so I couldn't be a King. So most likely a prince!

Well, that's my assumption anyway.

I always remembered telling my parents about the beautiful girl that would visit me in my dreams constantly. They were concerned since it seems to be a very repetitive dream and brought me to a clinical psychologist.

They asked me questions about how I was feeling about that person, and I just told them honestly what my feelings were. After multiple sessions, the psychologist concluded that it shouldn't be much of a severe problem to me or anything and that I should be okay.

But if anything were to come up, my parents should bring me here back again to check.

After that incident, to avoid any more sessions, I stopped telling my parents about the girl in my dreams.

I always dreamed of different scenarios with her, sometimes, I would be sitting on a couch, doing my work while listening to her chatter.

I couldn't remember what happened in the conversation, but hearing her voice was enough for me.

In school, I would always be admired by countless of guys, girls and others due to my feminine looks. I'm aware I look very pretty. And well, both guys and girls have confessed to me before multiple times.

However, whenever they did so, my mind would always flashback to the girl. And I would shake my head and politely reject them.

Of course, some got a bit too handsy and rude, normally I'm quite timid.

But somehow their behaviour made me feel strong disgust and I feel extremely irked by it.

So irked that I just started carrying a Swiss knife and pepper spray around just in case!

After that one incident where a knife accidentally slipped out of hand at someone who was angry because I rejected them.

No one bothered with me, it's surprising they didn't become scared or frightened by me. Just a bit shocked and cautious. But the funniest part was that the guy who got violently angry at me got suspended! I admit, my schoolmates were quite unfair to him and ignored the knife part completely. But I didn't feel any guilt or anything, more like satisfaction.

So after I graduated from high school, I took a business degree in university and became a business consultant for large companies. Earned plenty. Not like until rich rich, but just enough.

And that was basically my whole life.

Well, until I met... her.

I was walking in a park and had seen an incoming dog dashing towards a black-haired woman in a green hoodie.

When I saw her back, my heart suddenly started beating. And before I knew it, my legs moved on their own and I was right in front of her.

Did I mention I was absolutely terrified of dogs due to an incident of a dog biting me when I was a child?

But regardless of that fear, my body just moved on its own to step up for her.

To be honest, although I look quite kind and nice. I'm not really at all. I guess you could call me two-faced? Well, I'm not hiding anything about my personality. People are the ones at fault for making assumptions about how I'm like by my appearance.

Back to what I was at before, yea, I'm really terrified of dogs. So I was surprised when I had taken the initiative to protect her like that.

And when the situation was over, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around and saw her emerald eyes. It was so beautiful. So bright, instantly, I could tell.

She was the girl from my dreams all this time. She may not have the same appearance or anything, but I can feel it. Completely feel it. It was an amazing feeling.

Instantly, I couldn't help but feel my cheeks heating up. My heart was beating incredibly fast. I could feel the beat echo in all parts of my body.

And I knew at that point.

We would be together forever.

Forever.

And forever.

____________

End.

24 October 2021.