Rendezvous

After doing nothing, Claire decided to go out to breathe fresh air. As she continued walking down a path she saw a worn-out sign which read "Path to you". She stared at it for a few minutes before deciding to walk in the direction its arrow showed. She was amazed by the tree-lined avenue while following the path. A gush of wind disturbed the trees. She stopped to feel the wind before starting to walk again while looking around. 

Minutes later, she saw a narrow but long river at the end of the path. There are wooden benches stationed to its bank so she chose to sit in one of them. She observed the birds trying to hunt foods, the small school of fish struggling to survive without losing any of their members, and the tadpoles swimming like what's happening is none of their business. She rests her back on the tree's trunk behind her and closes her eyes. 

"What a peaceful place. I'm glad I decided to went outside. This can help me to destress." she mumbled with a relieved smile on her face.

An hour passed and a guy, named Martin, arrived at the same place. He scanned his surroundings until he caught Claire sleeping peacefully. He sat beside her and took out his pocketbook. He started reading silently as birds chirped cheerily above them. He was startled when Claire's head suddenly went to his right shoulder.

"That scared me," he whispered to himself. "She hasn't changed a bit."

He sweeps out some strands of Claire's hair and tucked them behind her ears.

"Mmmm.." 

He closed his pocketbook and stared at the river in front of him. He started reminiscing about his past where he started experiencing what they called a "slump". 

Martin is the youngest writer in the industry who solely focuses on drama. He published several books and some of them were about his past. Before being able to publish his famous works in the present, his parents contacted him after years of their absence. They told him to stop writing and start studying business to inherit their company which was on the verge of bankruptcy at that time. His situation frustrates him because the money he earned through writing isn't enough to satisfy his parents so he has no choice but to follow what they want.

Days passed after he started studying, their company's financial situation isn't looking that good so his father started taking out his anger on him by hitting him while his mother started to see someone without his father's knowledge. Martin stopped studying and tried running away but he was caught by his father. He was locked up in his room while his parents were arguing in front of his door. To be able to escape from the reality, he tried to start writing again but he can't seem to concentrate. He felt suffocated in his room. His frustration about his situation causes his stress to increase. He still tried writing for the next few days but he can't think of anything to write. He loses motivation to continue writing. He stepped out of his room as soon as he heard their front door shut. He went to the refrigerator to get a cup of water but due to hunger, he fainted. He woke up after, who knows how many days have passed, and what welcomed him was a white ceiling. He felt some presence beside him so he turned his head to the side to have a look and saw a girl sleeping with her head down to his bed. 

He chuckled at the sight because the girl keeps on changing her expression. Later on, the girl woke up and started explaining to him what happened.

She, Claire, was his neighbor and she was worried because of what she heard. Marting clicked his tongue because he forgot that they have thin walls so no wonder she heard his parents arguing. Claire sneaked out of her house to check up on him and since she learned how to picked locks on some videos she watched during her free time, she tried it on his home and once she succeeded, she immediately entered and saw him lying on the floor. She immediately called someone to help him.

"My parents? Did they---" Martin tried asking.

Claire shook her head before answering. "No. No one visited you aside from my parents, you know. Be grateful! As a fan of yours... oof!" she immediately clasped her mouth and turned away from him.

"Your.... a fan?" Martin asked curiously.

"Well.... yeah! Have a problem with it?!" 

"Pffft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Martin started laughing which made Claire flustered and that's how their friendship started.

Claire helped him with everything until he recovers from his slump. His parents were nowhere to be found up to this day. He was glad that Claire was there for him and it inspired him to write something out of his usual genre. Romance. He was afraid of breaking their friendship so he never told her how he like her, romantically speaking. So, what he did was to write what he feels and he was happy seeing her being proud of his work but feeling sad because of her cluelessness. 

"Wha---what?!" Claire suddenly shouted out loud as she woke up from her deep slumber. She looked to her side and saw Martin suppressing his laughter. "What are you doing here?"

"Your mom asked me to find you. She was worried, you know." Martin told her while wiping his tears due to laughing out too much.

"Stop laughing, jerk!" 

Both of them started teasing each other and sharing stories of their past until its time for them to go home. Before Claire announced her farewell to Martin, he started talking.

"You know you can call me any time. Right?" 

Claire nodded before smiling. "Don't be so dramatic. I'll be back after a year or two?"

"I know. I'm just telling you to contact me if you have time there."

"Heh. Don't tell me you're gonna cry?" Claire teased him but stopped as soon as she felt his intense gaze.

"Be like the river from earlier. Flow continuously without stopping. Reach your dreams. I'll be proud of you." Martin told her. "Let's meet there again. I wanna hear your story."