I Kidnapped My Mommy (ON HIATUS)

2 - Dream Man

It was always the same dream. 

Her soft voice echoed across the vast golden field of daffodils but no one answered. She was calling for someone to come back to her. 

She didn't even know who she was calling to. She looked around and there was no one else aside from her in the middle of a sea of yellow flowers. There was nothing to find except for thousands of vibrant daffodils and the clear blue sky above. 

Surrounded by such beauty, she should be happy and calm but there was only emptiness in her heart and a creeping fear that she had lost something very important but she didn't know what it was. Just as she was trying to figure it out, the earth beneath her feet started rumbling and shaking. She fell to her knees as the lush green leaves around her dried up and turned brown. The golden yellow flowers fell off and piled up around her. They kept piling up until they trapped her in place and couldn't move. She struggled to get away but more flowers came to wrap her body and arms.

"Help!" she cried but no one came. She hoped in her heart for someone to save her. She didn't know who it was but she completely believed that he would come.

"Please help me!" She called with all her might but the daffodils kept swarming around her, drowning her. The more they came, the more she lost hope until she was completely covered with the flowers, suffocating her in darkness. The petals grew sharp thorns that cut and sliced through her skin especially her back, arms and belly. 

She was bleeding, heartbroken and unable to breathe. The inexplicable pain in her heart was worse than the physical struggle of her body that was held, wounded and engulfed by the sea of daffodils. She felt that the nightmare may not kill her but the extreme feeling of loss and emptiness will. 

He didn't come. The comfort and security that the person she was yearning for in that field would've given her never happened.

***

She would always wake up from that dream full of fear and sadness. She always felt that her nightmare was related to her life-threatening accident years ago. The deep scar on her back and lower abdomen reminded her of that. Although the scars on her shoulders and arms eventually faded away, she remembered her pain and struggle as she recovered from her injuries. 

Her parents would always come to comfort her from the bad dreams like they have arduously nursed her back to health that year. Aside from her physical injuries, Mia's parents also patiently helped her heal her wounded mind and spirit. Whenever she woke up from a nightmare, her mother would give her warm milk to drink with her pills. Her father would hold her in his arms but she wouldn't feel secured. Only the arms of the man she called for in her dream would've given her comfort and strength. 

She never saw the man in her dream but with this stranger kissing her, the image of her dream man was slowly formed in her mind and the familiar feeling as the strange man held and kissed her filled Mia's heart. 

"No!" She immediately scolded herself. She must be crazy! How could this feeling be familiar to an unmarried woman who has never had a boyfriend?

With that in mind, determined to break free, she tried to push away from her body him but it was either she was too weak or his strength was too strong because he seemed unbothered by her useless effort. The arms that wrapped around her body tightened and the hungry kiss that seemed to go on forever deepened. 

Mia opened her eyes but the faint light from the moon that seeped through the French windows showed her very little. The room was dark but she could tell that it was very large and exquisite. She didn't have time to appreciate it though, there were more pressing matters, particularly the man who continued to press her down with his body and assert sovereignty of her mouth. She focused her eyes on his face. 

She couldn't see much given that their faces were mashed together as they kissed. There were thick, perfectly-arched eyebrows over his closed eyes. His long eyelashes naturally curled at the ends. His nose has a high bridge. And his lips? Well… They felt soft and warm and ideal to her full lips. His fair skin was clear and smooth. He had thick black hair scattered on his handsome forehead. Handsome? Was he handsome? From what she saw, he was. And familiar. She again wondered why she felt that the stranger was familiar to her. It was clear to her that it was her first encounter with the man who was clearly violating her. She should be hating him from the bottom of her heart but she didn't. She hated herself more instead. She hated herself for being so confused and weak at such a crucial moment. 

Just as Mia was blaming herself, he spoke with his lips still touching hers, unwilling to let her go. As if an inch away from her kiss was an inch away from his own life force. His voice was low and gentle with a little hoarseness caused by his heightened desire as his warm breath sprayed on her skin. "Am I not kissing you well enough?" Every word sent shivers down her spine and a thrill to her nerve endings. 

She didn't know how to respond as she found herself looking into his dark brown eyes. She was momentarily stunned by how mesmerizing they were. He made her unable to think straight again. He kissed her so exquisitely but it was also inappropriate. While she was thinking of a response, he chuckled and teasingly bit her lower lip. "It doesn't matter. I'll soon make you forget everything else but me." 

"Bastard! Let me go!" She cursed him in her heart but the words never reached her swollen lips. 

Before she could react, her lips were covered with his again. He kissed her more aggressively as his hands started creeping under her silk pajamas. Every inch of skin he touched burned and stirred something inside her. She closed her eyes tightly and swallowed back her moans. She screamed in her head as her heart started to panic. She had no experience but instincts told her what the man intended to do. She was scared. Scared that her body would betray her and the stranger would succeed. No! Her precious first time… How could she lose it in such a way?!

She struggled under him and tried to hit his chest but her hands were caught by his big palm. She tried to kick him but her knees were caged between his legs. She couldn't move at all. When she was desperate, someone knocked on the door. The sound was like the battle horns of her saving army. The man released her lips and let out a frustrated growl as his weight lifted from her body. Before she could open her eyes to see who he was, the man already got up with his back to her and strode to the door. 

Breathlessly, Mia tried to focus on his leaving back to find more clues about where she was and who the man was. He was tall, about 180 centimeters. He wore an elegant black suit but the coat didn't hide the fact that his back and shoulders were broad and well-built. She stared quietly until he disappeared behind the door and she was finally alone. 

Alone and confused in a strange room. She pulled the quilt to her chest and sighed heavily. "It must be a dream," she mumbled. She hugged her knees and tucked her face between them then closed her eyes as she kept telling herself, "It's just a dream. Another nightmare. It's not real." 

Mia tried to convince herself and whispered to herself in the way her parents would after she woke up from another dream, like a little child, "Mia, it's just a dream. It's not real. You're really not in a strange room. You're safely sleeping in your hotel room. There's no stranger. That never happened. You were just too tired from the long flight from home."

Without another movement aside from hers, hearing nothing but her rapid heartbeat and soft whispers, she began to calm down and believe, "It's just another nightmare. Like Mom and Dad always say, 'don't be scared of dreams, they disappear once you open your eyes'." Mia was already a grown woman of 28 years but she wasn't embarrassed to be dependent on her parents. In her memory, she was little they loved her and doted on her like she was the most precious pearl in their hands. She knew how much they had sacrificed to raise and take care of her especially since she needed special care after her accident. All they asked in return was for her to live happily and continue to accept their love until they grow old. 

"I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry, Dad," Mia whispered. "I should've listened to you." If she wasn't too stubborn and thought she could sleep without taking her bedtime medicine for a few days because she would be too tired for the nightmares to bother her during her trip to New York, this wouldn't have happened. They had been reluctant to let her go so far away from home but they knew how passionate she was about teaching so they let her attend the conference with a long list of To-do's and Not-to-do's. Thinking about her parents, their gentle voices and warm hugs, Mia fell asleep again.