Don't Touch Me

01 - Start of the Mishap

The blinding rays of sunlight penetrated my eyelids. The cold breeze of air gently kissed my face, making me fully awake. I found myself lying down in an open grass field. I gazed around and found that I’m in an unfamiliar place.

I immediately sat down as I realized how dirty the grass could be. Before my mind got colluded by dark thoughts, a purple-colored flower caught my attention. I bent down and took a closer look at it.

I don’t know if I should touch it as it would surely contain a lot of bacteria, but its beauty is indeed alluring. I haven't seen such a flower before.

“What flower could this be?” I uttered unconsciously.

“Forget-me-not,” a man’s voice from my back spoke that scared me. I thought I was alone. Who’s the person behind me?

I quickly turn around to see his face, only to find out that his face is only inches away from me. He stretched his arm towards my back that made his face even closer to mine. My eyes widened and I impulsively leaned back. Little did I know, I was already closing my eyes.

“Isn’t it pretty? Its name is so unique, just like the meaning behind this flower,” the man whispered.

I decided to open my eyes, only to find out that he was only caressing the flower behind me. I thought he was going to do something else.

Woah, woah! What am I thinking?

I shook my head to shrug those thoughts away. I flinched as the man in front of me spoke.

“Do you know what this flower means?” he asked and took a step back. He offered his hand as if telling me that he wanted me to help myself stand up.

But I could only stare at his hand, afraid of holding it because of the dirt I might acquire. Afterall, the palm is one of the dirtiest parts of the body.

Yet, my contemplation was futile. Before I could reject, he was already bending down to grab both of my arms and help me stand up. Strangely, I felt comfortable with human touch for the first time. Maybe because he was smiling all the time? And his smile is a bit...adorable.

Yeah, I'm a guy but even I find him cute. Strange.

“Forget-me-not is the only flower that both conveys true love and memories when given to another person,” the man said while staring at my eyes. His round eyes are truly mesmerizing. I couldn’t help but get hypnotized and unconsciously asked.

“Who are you?” I uttered in daze.

He let go of my arms and flashed an adorable smile.

“I’m---”

This loud music made my eyes wide open. A familiar sound lingers in my mind. It's Bazinga by SB19. My alarm ringtone.

I gasped for breath while sitting up. The black and white interior welcomed me, as if I was teleported in just a blink of an eye.

But wait, this is my room.

“It’s a dream,” I unconsciously uttered with a sigh.

With frustration, I glanced at my phone to turn off the alarm.

What a cliffhanger. I didn’t even hear the guy’s name.

Is it possible to dream of someone you've never seen before? Hmm, I think that's quite a good inquiry that I should find out.

Wait, what if he’s…

No way.

“A soulmate?” I blabbered once again. But that’s impossible. How come I got to dream of a guy I’ve never met? Did we already meet but I forgot about it?

I could only scratch my head in annoyance and felt a bit moist on it, making me realize that...

I’m so filthy already!

Out of impulse, I jumped off the bed and scanned my study table on the side. I can feel my chest getting tighter upon seeing the sight. Without thinking much, I grabbed my bathing towel and headed to the bathroom.

This is a nightmare, Shane Notre.

I need to clean myself right now!

THIRD PERSON’S POV

It’s already almost five in the afternoon. But the dream that Shane had last night still lingers his mind. He wasn’t able to start working today at all because he was preoccupied by the guy in his dream.

“This is bad. I need to finish the storyline this week. I have to pass the prompt next week, but goddamnit! I always ended up making a portrait of that guy!” Shane annoyingly blurted.

Shane began to roam his eyes around to think of ideas, but it was futile. Thus, he thought of his last resort, and that is to exert his bafflement in the arts.

“If I drew you, will you leave my mind in peace?” Shane asked, as if talking to the guy in his dream.

He took a deep breath and shook his head to compose himself to start making the outline. It was quite a tedious work as he only saw the guy once in his dreams, but he finished it after three hours.

He heaved a big smile while staring at his artwork. He felt relieved, as if a big thorn was taken off from his chest.

Feeling good upon finishing the artwork, Shane thought of posting it on his social media account to vent out his emotions.

He was contemplating whether to leave the caption blank as usual, but then again, he felt too hyped to suppress his feelings.

“Dreamt of a guy I’ve never met. Strange.” he typed.

With that note, his stomach grumbled, reminding him to eat dinner already.

“Time to fill my empty stomach,” he uttered and stood up. However, he was able to get a quick peek of himself as he passed by his home’s mirror.

“Yikes, I feel so dirty again. I should wash up first before eating,” Shane thought.

While taking a shower, a few compliments filled Shane’s post of his artwork. However, a comment immediately turned the table upside down.

“Using Greyford Southwood for clout? Just how low could this person get?”

“Is that my Grey?”

“A lousy artist using Grey for fame? I wanna puke!”

“That's nice artwork. But don’t use Greyford for clout. That’s lowly.”

Meanwhile, the man who is currently savoring the comfort of the hot shower had no idea that the mishap had already started.

---

"We meet our soulmates when we’re on our soul path."

-Karen M. Black