Breathing and sweating heavily, she was looking so weary. I
looked at her for a while expressionless without a thought. I felt as if I was
resting and having time of my life. Rest or vacation is out of question at my
work. I could hear in the background a faint beautiful song playing. I felt
like I heard this song before, it was ‘Beautiful Sunday’ by Daniel Boone. And of
course it was Sunday. She increased the volume and the song started to play louder
and louder until I opened my eyes.
It was a call, seven in the morning. “Hello, Good
Morning!” said my boss. “You got to pick a guest from Paro airport at 10, sorry
for informing you late”.
I reached out for water and had a sip to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming. I thought about my plan for the day and said “Sure, I will be on my
way”.
“Good, I will message you the details. Good Day!” He hung
up and I hung up too.
I went to kitchen and got myself a good breakfast. I thought
about my work, as I usually do most of the time. I sense that I am more efficient
whenever I work alone. I had an advantage of being single and had a small
office set up at the corner of my two bedroom apartment in the heart of the
Thimphu city.
I thought about my dreams, I couldn’t really recognize the
lady in my dreams neither I could recollect most of it. I just remembered that I
had a good dream and she was there. All I could vividly remember was her pretty
little face with dark long hair and her light brown eyes. She was beautiful,
looked like she was in her 20’s as I am. Whatever, it was just a dream and maybe
it was normal for a man to dream such things. I set off to Paro.
It was a sunny Sunday with few clouds lingering in the
sky. Airport looked utterly empty when I arrived but gradually people filled in
at the reception. I still had forty five minutes to kill. I checked my mail and
messages. My boss had messaged me the details with a photo. It read “Channarong,
Director, Thailand Transport Department, age 45. Hotel: Ema Hotel, Room 802. Take
him for a coffee or lunch after check in”.
I printed his name and stood at the reception with many
others. I looked at many different names flashing toward the exit door. I wondered
how people created names, so many names, different names, some of which I can’t
even pronounce. Name has to be unique and identifying something or someone. But
then there were different kinds of name, tables and chairs doesn’t have
individual names but we do. A man was heading towards me. I checked the photo
on my phone, they look similar but not same. Real one looks tall and gentle,
hair kept well and his face so fair. It looked like his photo was taken when he
was ten years older.
“Welcome to Bhutan, it's a pleasure to have you here” I said
smilingly. “Thank you” he replied with even broader smile than mine. We introduced
each other and returned. While on journey we talked about weather and
transportation and checked him in the hotel. We agreed to meet for a dinner
later at his hotel. Hotel had an exquisite touch of traditional and modern
architecture and located few minutes away from town overlooking the Thimphu
river.
At the dinner, we had long conservation about our work. He
wanted to see the transport system in Bhutan, so he will be traveling to others
parts of the country for around eight days. My job was to pick him up and drop
him at the airport. We ordered rice, ema datsi and sikam and two lager beers. He
told me about the life in Bangkok and how time run so fast without one’s
knowledge, and how he started to feel relaxed in Thimphu. That was contrasting
to me, as I didn’t take a break from work for ages and all I thought was work. I
really needed to come out of this realm and be myself and have a good time of my
life at least for a while.
I asked “Channarong, do you take a break from work
sometimes?”
With a grin he said “Well, I take some break every year. You
know, we humans can’t be robots, even the robots shut down. I spend most of my
time with my family and friends. I think everyone takes a break at least once
in a year!”
I questioned myself “Am I the only one, who doesn’t even
care to rest myself? I don’t know how to care myself?” I thought over what to
answer and replied “It is true. I am also thinking of taking a break soon but I
didn’t decide anything on it”
He said with excitement “Why don’t you visit Bangkok? I
would recommend that!”
I thought it was a good idea to go to a far place for a
while and I also got saving enough for the trip. So, that was it, I decided to
visit Bangkok after two weeks in December. It might also help me to get rid of
cold winter here. At around 10pm, we were done for the day.
I sat on my couch and started to read. Out of nowhere, I remembered
that dream girl. She seemed to be saying something to me, I can’t recollect
anything besides her pretty little face. I couldn’t get rid of her image, she
was just there, implanted in my mind. I turned the TV on, went briefly outside,
nothing seem to work. I got a bottle of beer from refrigerator and took a long
sip. It looked like it is working somehow. I wondered what if I see the girl
for real.
I would say “I saw you in my dream last night”
She would say “Wow! You don’t even know me, how comes?”
“I don’t know”
“I don’t know either”
So be it. Our conversation would simply end. I went to my
bed and started to read again until after few minutes I fell asleep.
I dreamt of her again. She was lying naked with me in my
bed with her soft and slim body against me. She was in deep sleep and looked so
vulnerable, sleeping like a child. I watched her and a faint thought aroused in
me, saying that I knew this girl somehow. I have met her somewhere, but she
doesn’t seem to be familiar to me. I touched her hair, it was so silk and had some
floral smell. I tried recollecting but couldn’t even figure anything nearer. Suddenly,
call rang from afar, and grew louder and louder until I opened my eyes. It was
an alarm clock and 8 in the Monday morning. I still continued to think about the
girl for a while but in vain. My boss called me after some 30 minutes to
accompany Mr. Channarong to his office, ringing Beautiful Sunday on Beautiful
Monday.
The day arrived for me to be in Bangkok. Channarong was
also in Bangkok and I met him the first day I arrived and had dinner together. I
stayed in a not-so-expensive hotel. There I was in a busy city but with a good
amount of time, time to do whatever I like and go wherever I like. I went
exploring city and seen most of the things for the first time in my life. I was
lost somehow in my own thoughts. At night I went to bars and day I went to
malls, beach, parks and restaurants. It was one of those nights in a restaurant,
I saw her, the girl in my dream. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Maybe she is just
similar to the girl in my dreams or maybe she is the one. I thought I was
dreaming. I went to restroom and washed my face. It is real, I am real. It was
so creepy to see her. She was sitting idly with a tiny coffee cup on the table. I stared
at her for how long I don’t know, but it seemed to be long. She looked more
beautiful than in the dreams wearing pearl necklace, dark skinny jeans and long
textured black top and had a tiny bag.
She walked towards me and said in English “Sir, can I talk
to you for a moment”
I replied expressionless “Sure, sorry I was staring at
you. It was… just… out of curiosity”
“Not a problem, I am Kanya by the way”
“I am Yoezer. I don’t know whether you will believe it or
not, I wanted to tell you something. Something that seems crazy and out of the
world. It’s a fact and it has been around me for a while now. I wanted you to
know that I saw you at least two times in my dreams” I said carefully thinking I
might sound stupid.
“Oh… how should I respond to that? I never heard of
anything like that, but I believe you. You seem like an honest guy. You look familiar
to me but I don’t think we have met before. You are not a Thai too”
We started to get close and had dinner together. All I could
think was her in my dream and her in front of me. I saw her naked lying next to
me and I knew her floral smell. I couldn’t believe these things were happening
in real. I thought everything is possible in this world, but I still mulled over it. I met the girl in my dream and now what. We became really good
friends and we exchanged our numbers before I departed back to Thimphu.
Back to work and now I got something extra to work on. This
dream thing kept lingering in my mind almost every hour except while sleeping. I
didn’t dream of her anymore. I called Kanya after some gap, asking her
whereabouts and had some usual friendly talks. That night I went to a music club for a couple
of beers and to socialize myself after an office brainstorming meeting. Club seem
to have a pleasant number of customers and a local band playing “Nge Thimphu”.
I like the song though, reminds me that this is my Thimphu and this is where I belong.
I sat around the corner and ordered a beer. I thought about the dream girl
again. I turned around to familiarize myself and suddenly I saw
the dream girl in Thimphu too.
PS: This is my first attempt to write a story, just a random thought
