The Longing Sea

After spending over two decades living in the big city, Gong Jun returned to his hometown, a small municipality by the sea where he ran a modest flower shop he inherited from his grandmother. His life was peaceful and quiet, save for a bizarre recurring dream that kept visiting him every night from the day he came back to the town.

The dream was of a particular memory from his childhood. Back then, his parents had brought him to a local aquarium in their hometown. Gong Jun was separated from them as he wandered off in the maze-like place. In his attempt to find his way back, he came across a giant water tank in a room full of strange machinations. Gong Jun distinctly recalled that he had seen something behind that transparent glass wall, but every single time he was about to remember, he always jerked awake from the dream.

All he could ever recall was a streak of vibrant red gliding in the water, a pair of beautiful dark eyes, and a gentle, lovely smile.

As the dream became an unsolvable mystery in his otherwise uneventful life, one day, a stranger appeared at Gong Jun's doorstep. Strange as it sounds, the stranger bore a striking resemblance to the pair of eyes and smile that he always saw in his dream.