The glow of the laptop screen had long merged with the golden hues of the setting sun. Anaya didn't notice the shift from afternoon to evening until shadows danced softly across her room, and the gentle warmth of sunlight brushed her skin like a whisper.
Her eyes had been on him for hours.
From one website to another, one article to a video, from interviews to fan pages. she read everything she could about Yu Chen. Born on May 21, 2002. A member of the Chinese boy group Universe. A solo debut with the song Youth. Stage name AD. She even found mentions of his early struggles during training, brief clips from variety shows, and flashes of his shy, boyish smiles in fan compilations.
Her heart fluttered at the thought. The way he bowed after each performance, how he grinned bashfully when someone complimented him. It was like watching a memory that she had never lived but always wanted to.
Time passed. The soft rustle of evening breezed through her window.she is closing her laptop with a gentle sigh, and she stood up. The room, now soaked in the quiet light of sunset, felt like a dream she wasn't ready to leave, but something pulled her outside.
She walked to the terrace, the sky painted in strokes of orange, pink, and a calming violet. Clouds floated like gentle thoughts across the horizon. The world seemed slower, tender. Standing at the edge, the wind brushing her hair, she looked up at the sky and shouted suddenly, while laughing...
"Wow! I've got a boyfriend!"
The words flew freely from her lips, echoing off the quiet buildings around.
"Am I really in love?" she whispered next, voice soft and unsure. "Maybe…"
As evening faded, she went back downstairs and entered into the restaurant where she worked. The familiar clinks of dishes and warm lights wrapped around her. Her violin music, as she playing in the background was soft tonight. Humming with delicate hints of violin weaving through it like a gentle rain falling on a lake.
She paused. The violin felt like someone was telling a story without words. Her fingers moved slightly as if remembering the keys of an instrument she never learned. The soft notes seemed to match her heartbeat. Turns out the another instrument that was playing seems to be her heartbeat.
The work passed smoothly. She played a few more songs for customers, helped her boss with the counter, and even smiled more than usual. Something in her felt lifted, like she was holding a small secret that made her glow from within.
After dinner, she walked quietly upstairs.
Night had settled, calm and deep. The city outside buzzed in a distant hum. She slipped into her room and opened her laptop again. Her heart leaped as she clicked on his video, the same one she had already watched three times today. His voice filled the room again. Gentle. Honest.
Her phone buzzed beside her.
An idea struck her. Quickly, she picked it up and opened Instagram.
"Let me find him here too…" she whispered herself.
She typed his name... In IG
First, fan pages appeared. Dozens of them. Some filled with edits, others posting quotes and moments. She clicked through them, some are warm, some are funny, some are full of love from people who clearly adored him. But none of them were really him.
With a breath, she opened Google, searched again, and this time found a verified Instagram link.
Yu Chen ._.@ad_official
She clicked it...
And there he was...
The profile picture. The grid full of quiet moments, candid photos, performance clips, a sunrise he once captured, a blurry picture of coffee and a book.
Without thinking twice, her thumb hit the blue button.
Follow..
A soft smile spread across her face.
By then, it was nearly midnight. Her laptop still glowed beside her, his voice playing gently in the background. The world around her had fallen silent.
She curled up beside her pillow, the screen lighting up her face as her eyes slowly began to close.
I don't know what this is, she thought.
"But I think… I'm happy..." She whispered herself.
The soft hum of his voice still lingered from her laptop, like a lullaby wrapping itself around her thoughts.
Anaya drifted into sleep, her heart light yet full. Her breathing slowed, and the world dissolved.
Darkness..
It wasn't frightening, but vast and quiet, like floating through space.
Then, Anaya entered into a place which is filled with full of darkness.
She found herself standing in the middle of it, barefoot, weightless. The silence was complete, until,
A glow sparked...
Faint at first. A distant, warm light ahead of her, beckoning.
She began to walk towards it...
Each step brought her closer, the glow growing brighter, more golden. It swirled and pulsed, as if alive, like it was calling her. Suddenly, it shattered, bursting like a delicate glass orb.
And before her eyes, the dark melted into a dazzling city. Buildings taller than dreams, lights blinking like stars brought to earth. Glass, neon, and shimmer stretched in every direction. It was breathtaking.
And then..
Suddenly a hand stretced towards her back...
She felt it first, before she saw it. A soft presence reaching out from behind her. Slowly, she turned around.
First, Anaya saw the hand ...
Then, she slowly drifting her eyes towards him slowly.
There he was...
"Yu Chen."
Dressed in soft white, glowing like he belonged in that radiant city of lights. His eyes were gentle, his lips curled into the faintest smile. And his hand extended toward her, steady and kind.
He didn't say a word.
But he didn't have to.., like he doesn't have any words to speak. But, only stretch her hand towards her.
Like, he was inviting her. Into his world.
Anaya looked at his hand, her own trembling slightly. Slowly, she raised her fingers, her heart pounding. Their hands were just inches away. Just one more breath, one more moment..
Snap!
A force tugged her back.
Like a string, invisible but powerful, yanking her away from him.
"No...!" she gasped.
The lights blurred, the buildings melted, his face faded.
She fell back, back into the dark, back into the real.
Eyes wide, chest heaving, then, she sat up in her bed.
Her room was silent, the screen on her laptop now black.
Outside, the night whispered.
Tears welled in her eyes, not of fear, but something deeper. The ache of something lost too soon. A warmth that slipped through her fingers.
She covered her mouth with her hand, her chest heavy with emotion.
"I saw him," she whispered. "He was right there…"
But dreams don't wait. They don't let you stay.
And now, all she had was the silence again.
and Anaya thinks, "turns out its just a dream." While wiping her sweat out off her face.