Dreams

A small girl stood in the garden, plucking the sunflowers ruthlessly as she gazed at the gate impatiently. Where was he? He said he would be here! She stomped her feet in a tantrum.

"Lan'er, what is it? Why aren't you coming to play?" A small boy came behind her, dressed in a designer suit worth a small fortune not a thread out of place. He stared at the flowers on the ground solemnly, his little face set in stone.

"Nothing, Lin-ge, just go back. I am waiting for someone." She sighed, her little fingers playing with the edge of her dress as she looked at the ground, feeling sad.

Honglin's face scrunched in confusion. "Who?"

Chunlan was about to ignore him when she heard a sound at the gate, the stone landed on the ground with a thud. She became excited. "He's here."

She ran to the gate and jumped up to unlock the gate. She smiled. "You are here."

The cute little boy gazed at the girl with amazement. She was like sunshine in his dark world. As young as he was, he understood a lot of things happening around him. And he always wanted to live in a house just like this before him.

She grasped his hand and tugged."Come in."

They walked to the middle of the garden, where a group of children were playing ball. Two girls tried to team up against one boy as they tried to cheat.

"Hello, everyone. I have a new friend here who wants to play." Her soft tiny voice called out.

They stopped playing, looking at the boy dressed in clean but worn out clothes. A girl dressed in a red dress and a red bow tied around her hair looked at him in disdain and muttered. "Oh, She found a beggar!"

"Mengqi!" Su Menxiang chastised. She tilted her head in curiosity. "Lan'er, who is this?"

"This is my new friend, Jihai." She looked at her friends with determination and threat in her eyes. If they refused to play with him, she won't play with them either!

Honglin who watched quietly recognized what that look meant and sighed in defeat. He walked forward and stretched his little hand in greeting. "Hello Jihai, I am Wen Honglin. Welcome to the family."

************************************

Chunlan saw her world shift as she found herself in another garden. She walked around trying to recognize where she was. She finally saw a feminine figure sitting at a table in the middle of the garden pouring tea.

"Oh, you are here. Come sit."

Chunlan walked with caution to the table, shocked at the woman's beauty. She wasn't sure there was any woman who could compete with this one in front of her. "Who are you?"

Gesturing her to sit, the woman pushed a cup to her. "I am Tamara, the goddess of Transmigration. I want to talk to you."

Chunlan was shocked. "Transmigration?"

Tamara chuckled at the sight before her. "Surely you didn't think what was happening to you isn't a universal phenomenon?"

"I guess so." Chunlan finally sat down.

"Well, here is the thing. My father gave me and my brother Talros, the god of Reincarnation an assignment in order to make us grow a "conscience". She rolled her eyes at the word. "Whoever wins this assignment gets a reward which I cannot tell you."

"So what was the assignment?" 

Chunlan asked. 

"Make a story of happy ever after."

Chunlan felt her blood freeze. So she was just an experiment? Her whole life was whisked into another world and it was just an ASSIGNMENT?!

Unknown to the reactions on Chunlan's face, Tamara continued. "So I picked you and started your story which my father wrote thinking I was on the right track, right? Unfortunately, you messed things up in your former life! Completely messed things up! You were a failure!" Her beautiful face were in dismay.

Happy that this woman wasn't happy, Chunlan asked. "So that means you lost, right?!"

Tamara's eyes flamed up, before they became drowned in guilt. "Never! I have never lost to anyone, especially Talros. So I cheated, by using his powers without his knowledge to give you a second chance."

"What?"

Tamara narrowed her eyes. "Are you complaining? You have a second chance to start all over with Jihai! This time, make things right!"

Chunlan became quiet."Alright."

Tamara's lips tugged into a smile. "Good. Oh! I forgot, you must remember, some things won't change even though you try to change it and some things would change as you change them, maybe good or bad so be prepared, alright? Well, time for you to go. Good luck!"

Chunlan suddenly felt something click and asked. "Wait, if your brother picked this same story, that means....."

"-yes, someone near you is reincarnated. Someone near you knows about this story, other than you." Tamara explained.

"What?!"

"Bye!"

With a faint headache, Tang Chunlan woke up.