Love

"Leigh… are you… hiding something from me?"

I asked Leigh as I tried to look straight in his eyes while we're standing beside the lounge beach chair but that tall guy really tries his best to avoid my eyes!

"Wh-what!? No! None! I-I wasn't hiding anything from you, Ella! Wh-what made you think otherwise?"

Said Leigh while stuttering and still trying his best not to look straight into my eyes.

He's definitely hiding something from me. I can feel it. Leigh's hiding something from me.

"What made me think otherwise? Simple. The way you stutter and how you try your very best not to look straight into my eyes."

I answered to Leigh's question as I cross my arms while still looking at him then nods at him. Leigh quickly look straight into my eyes with his shaky eyes while biting his lower lip. Please work, please work, please work!

"Fine! I already knew you before the agency assigned me to you. I mean, before I annoyed them to assign me to you. Well, what I meant was uhm… I… I was the first one who heard you cry."

Confessed Leigh while he's still looking straight into my eyes.

"Wh-what?"

"I've tried to tell the others that I heard you crying but no one ever believed me. That's why whenever I have free time from my studies, I secretly visits the real world and search for you."

Continued Leigh as he now looks down then caress his nape with his right hand.

"Wait, what? Studies? Even dream agents study?"

I asked Leigh as I look at him with a trace of confusion on my face. Leigh quickly looked back at me with his widened eyes while raising both his eyebrows.

"What? Y-yeah. Dream agents study."

Answered Leigh as he nods at me, making me look at him with my widened eyes. I did not see that coming.

"Wh-what… why do you study?"

"Many, many, many things. Almost everything that's connected to our kind. That's why it took us twenty years before we were allowed to do our jobs."

Answered Leigh to my question again while he's still looking at me. I just nod at him as an answer and a sign to continue what he's telling me earlier, making him giggle a bit.

"Can I continue now, Ella?"

Asked Leigh as he now smiles at me.

"Y-yes. Y-yeah. Sorry."

"I don't know why the universe chose me to be the first to heard your cry instead of the agency, but I am glad that the universe helped me find you to be able to help you heal."

Continued Leigh as he messes my hair while still smiling at me, making me stare at him for half a minute before I came back to my senses and remove his hand from my head.

What's with my guts today? It's telling me that there's really something Leigh hasn't told me yet. It doesn't hurt if I ask, right? It's just so suspicious how he's able to make my heart flutter.

"Okay, okay. Leigh. I have a question for you."

I said to Leigh as I point my clasped hands at him while pressing my lips inside my mouth with my teeth.

"Okay… what is it this time, Ella?"

Asked Leigh as he step back and his eyebrows knitted. Okay! He's taken aback! That's a good start, right?

"Are you… a player?"

I asked Leigh as I continue to point my clasped hands at him. Please no, please no, please no.

"Yeah! I'm a player! A basketball player! How'd you know?!"

What? That's not what I'm asking. Oh, right. I forgot. He's not human. My bad.

"No, no, no. Not that kind of player! What I meant was… a player in the game of love!"

I explained as I unclasped my hands and raise both my eyebrows. Leigh's eyes widened as soon as he heard it.

"Is love a game you humans play? I thought it was the purest feeling of all feelings?"

Asked Leigh while he's still looking at me as he tilt his head slightly. Oh. My. God. Is he a puppy or what?

"Wh-what?"

"Well, as I told you earlier that we, dream agents, studied a lot of things connected to our kind… I forgot to tell you that we also study a whole lot of things connected to your kind as well. And as I remember it correctly… 'love' is the purest feeling of all feelings for you humans. Am I right?"

Said Leigh as he continues to look at me then tilts his head the other way. No. I… I shouldn't let myself fall again. No… not again.

"Y-yeah… you're right. But it wasn't the purest feeling every single time. 'Love' can be used as an excuse to hurt someone else. It can also be a betting game where you guess whether that someone will become someone's. 'Love' is pure… yeah… until it wasn't… until it was connected to lust. Until it was used to someone's advantage. 'Love' isn't always a happy ending… it can also be a tragic… a horror… a trauma."

"Ella… did you… develop… a trauma from love?"

Asked Leigh as he slowly stepped closer to me and he reached out his hand to touch my hair while he looks at me with a trace of worry from his shaky eyes, making me step backward while I look at him with my shaky eyes. Leigh quickly stopped half way, stepped back and places both his hands behind his back.

"Y-yeah. Humans in the real world are cruel."

I answered to Leigh as I look away from him then tuck mg dangling hair behind my ear.

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Ella."

Apologized Leigh, making me look at him then saw him still looking at me with so much worry in his eyes.

"N-no! It's not your fault, Leigh."

"But still!"

"Uhh… Leigh? Why am I feeling so sleepy? Wh-what's happening?"

I asked Leigh as my eyes slowly closes and I became out of balance.