Fates Between Us

Interlude #1

Thailand had the worst weather in September, at least for Tul. It's always too humid, too hot, or too cold to truly enjoy Phuket's beach. It didn't help that he ran a coffee shop by the beach and had to be exposed to that cranky weather the entire month.

He truly disliked it.

Until one night, as he was cleaning up for closing time, he noticed a person standing alone just a few feet away from him. It was a man with long black hair, wearing gray shorts like him, and a printed shirt that barely concealed his muscular physique. The man looked incredibly familiar but even when they looked at each other, Tul couldn't seem to remember where he had seen him before.

"Boss! I'm out, see you tomorrow!" The voice of his waitress jolted him from the sudden intense staring game that he was playing with the stranger, and he looked back down at the table he had picked up, bringing it inside. The waitress was gone and he was fully alone, but then the stranger wasn't: he was surrounded by two kids who pulled him away. Tul could only watch him go with a remorseful feeling.

He suddenly regrets not asking for the stranger's name and swore to try his luck the next time the man shows up. He wasn't sure, however, if it was normal for anyone to have someone haunt their thoughts so easily.
The man didn't show up again, yet Tul continued to stand outside his coffee shop daily after closing time, waiting every night. He didn't understand why, but the idea of seeing the stranger again became the main source of his joy.

A year passed and September rolled around again. The time came to stock up on a new coffee brew so he drove up north, hoping somehow to see the man of his wildest dreams on the road. The man didn't look like a city boy, Tul thought, but then they hadn't talked to each other so he couldn't possibly know for sure, and Thailand wasn't a small piece of land.

He was still full of hope. He had a lot of hope in his heart that he would find that man.
It didn't take him much time to finish his business, get his fresh supply of coffee, and drive back, but he had to eventually stop by and visit his family in Bangkok. The drive to the city was usually dreadful and Tul didn't know why, but he didn't even notice it this time.

He had just parked in front of a pastry shop when he came face to face with the stranger that he had been looking for for over a year now. They looked into each other's eyes for a second. "Uuh... Excuse me," The man said, the sound of his voice sending shivers down Tul's body. "May I pass?"

Tul wished he could just hold him up, but another woman walked beside them and he had to step aside, which made the man bow at him and leave, holding bags of sweets. Tul didn't know how long he stood there in shock but when he finally snapped out of it, the man was gone.

"Fuck!" he hissed to himself before making his way inside to get the pastries he wanted. He drove home, upset with himself before he realized, as he parked in front of his family's house, that his hopes hadn't been in vain.
He had met the guy and even had the chance to hear his soft voice. That voice added fuel to his dreams, making them even more real. He didn't know why but he could clearly hear the man call his name in the dreams, as if they were memories.

The thought made him scoff on some mornings as he brushed his teeth while thinking of it, and he brushed the ideas off. However, he still had hope - if he had met the man twice, then maybe he would see him again soon. The hope continued to float around in his heart as he drove back to Phuket.

Then life returned to normal, aside from the fact that, after closing his shop, he would sit on a chair outside and wait for the man to show up again every night. He had dreamed of their discussions, of the man's laughter, of a life he wasn't sure was possible.
Flr some reason, the man looked like he was part of nature. "Hey Tul?" he dreamed once. "I got us chilli seeds. Now I can make you organic spicy food, no more processed condiments."

He didn't know why but that dream woke him up with a wide smile. He couldn't stop smiling that day, especially when someone served him some spicy chicken during lunch. He's never liked spicy food before but somehow he indulged in it then, much to his waitresses' shock.

There were many things he had started enjoying or craving ever since his dreams became vivid. Mostly, he, the coffee addict that he was, now craved herbal teas and handmade jams. He would also swim during new moons, naked, in his house's mini pool; for a reason he didn't know, that made him the happiest.

He also got himself outdoor plants, which filled his usually empty and unused backyard. He didn't know the reason for the sudden love for and interest in plants, but it made him happy so fuck it.

However- as much as he had happy dreams, a single, bad one persisted, so bad it would wake him up in fear and terror. He didn't know if it was due to how his hopes and wishes remained unanswered or because his family kept pressuring him to marry and have kids. However, he was in his mid-thirties and perfectly understood their concern, so he didn't think that they were the trigger of his nightmare.

He would have that nightmare for three nights in a row before he could have nice dreams and manage to sleep, then the cycle would repeat itself, every week of every month for a long year. At some point, he felt like he couldn't take it anymore.

He held himself back from doing anything drastic when he woke up sweating buckets and crying for the umpteenth time. A loud part of his mind screamed for him to look for the man to ease the pain, to try and make it work. At first he truly wanted to; he even visited the neighborhood where he met the man in Bangkok, but eventually his family caught on and opposed his pointless quest, setting him up to meet a monk for spiritual healing. Tul hadn't wanted to argue that no, he wasn't possessed. At least, not in the typical form. His family wouldn't be able to understand that anyway.

He had always been a very spiritual person, for as long as he could remember, but that visit to the nearest temple brought him dread and fear for a reason he couldn't understand. The monk received their gifts and recited his blessing before revealing that Tul was hosting an ancient soul misleading him into finding a lost love. It surprised Tul as he hadn't told anybody what he was looking for. He didn't believe it at first - didn't want to - but he felt like he lost a huge part of himself the second he decided to let go of pursuing the stranger and married the woman his family chose for him, a month after that visit to the Temple.

He still didn't know what exactly he had lost, the memories of it fading away as time passed but he moved on, living his life with the feeling of something missing still lingering at the corner of his soul.