Chiara's mistake was talking to him for the first time, Jasper's mistake was confessing the truth to her.
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Chiara led a monotonous and uneventful life until she met the enigmatic Jasper...
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At first, I wanted to ditch the headphones. But Jasper convinced me to keep them for a while. He thought they might be important for us to understand our connection better, one of the missing puzzle pieces we needed. I agreed with him because we were both listening to the same melody. It made sense.
Why, if not, would we have been listening to the same melody?
He confided in me about an intense feeling of dread that had been haunting him, and how he felt a mysterious force pulling him towards me. In turn, I opened up to him about the desperate and helpless emotions that had consumed me during my time trapped on the bus, and the unsettling sensation of being in a place where I didn't belong.
Strangely, the environment around us reacted very differently to each other. While the bus opened its doors for him without hesitation, it seemed to resist my every attempt to exit. Even the bus driver herself appeared to be more accommodating towards him, I was in shock when he told me that she had reminded him of his stop. It was as if the very world around us was conspiring against me, and I couldn't shake the feeling of being unwelcome and unwanted.
And yet it didn't want to let me go.
We were walking next to each other and, at some point, I noticed our hands were close together. Suddenly, our fingers intertwined and we found ourselves holding hands. I was surprised, but it felt right, it made sense. It was as if we had subconsciously known all along that we belonged together.
He gave me comfort and happiness, and walking hand in hand made me feel a little bit safer. It was a surreal feeling, but one that I cherished. While enjoying the moment, I also couldn't help but notice the onset of a massive headache.
After all, I had it all wrong. He didn't abandon me, something in his eyes when he told me he couldn't stop trying to figure it out, even awake, told me it was the truth. Something in that deep blue let me know he had felt as empty without me as I felt without him.
And I knew overthinking was always a possibility, maybe I was flying too close to the sun. But in that moment I didn't really care.
The lack of any useful signage made it difficult to navigate our way out, and we found ourselves turning in circles without a clear direction. It was as though it was purposefully trying to keep us trapped within its borders. Every shadow seemed to hold a hidden danger, and my mind was constantly playing tricks on me, coming up with up terrifying images of what could be lurking just out of sight.
Even though I knew that it was probably my overactive brain making me feel scared, I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
But then, out of nowhere, a loud noise shattered the silence, making me jump and sending my heart racing.
For a moment, I was completely disoriented, my mind racing with terrifying possibilities. Was it a gunshot? An explosion? Weren't we supposed to be alone? My imagination came up with all sorts of gruesome scenarios, and I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead.
