He wouldn't believe his eyes.
It couldn't be.
She wouldn't be here.
Enara was alive in Lunara a million lifetime ago.
But those eyes were looking back at him.
This is New York City. She couldn't be here.
He looked back at her closely focusing and studying everything about her appearance—her hair, her stand, her figure. She stood with her straight back, her form was slender. She was wearing a bright yellow summer dress and a pair of cream sandals. A gold purse bag was slung on her shoulders. Her long brown hair swept past her shoulders. They gleamed like caramel under the lights of the afternoon sun. It reminded him of the way her hair shone under the May summer sky then.
He blinked.
She looked away and walked on.
The unknown stranger continued walking until she disappeared before his sight.
"Enara. Enara!"
Shane said and shouted when the woman was no longer around.
"What are you saying, Shane?"
Katarina asked perplexed, frowning.
"You know I'm not Enara. Who is she?"
"She's my childhood friend."
Shane said in a short reply. He disentangled from her embrace and looked at her with a pleading look.
"Do you mind if you stay here for a bit while I go chase after her? Please?" he asked with urgency in his voice.
"I can do that."
Katarina replied with confusion in her tone.
"You'll be back, right?"
"I'll be back. I promise, Kat."
"Okay. Then, you can go after her. But, you'll have a lot to explain when you come back, Shane Anderson. Understand?"
"Understood, ma'am."
He said and walked in fast strides getting out of the park and running into the walking path chasing into the unseen trail left by the female stranger.
He saw the ice cream vendor he and Kat bought ice cream from an hour ago.
"Uhm…" Shane started thinking about how to call the man wearing a long striped green-sleeved polo and a green cap.
The man smiled at him.
"Roge. Roger's my name. But you can call me Roge," he said in a hoarse voice offering his name.
"Thanks, Roge. Did you see a woman wearing a bright yellow dress who passed by here?"
"There were two women who passed by here wearing bright yellow dresses."
"She has long brown hair and they shone like caramel when they're hit by the rays of the sun."
"Oh." Roge laughed remembering. "She stopped by to buy a cone of chocolate marshmallow ice cream and went that way. The other bought an avocado flavor."
He said pointing to his right.
"Thank you very much."
Shane said and hurried in the direction he pointed.
It was a long path and trees grow on the sides.
As he walked on he shifted his sight on either side of the tree areas and the green grass spreading over. Benches were scattered here and there and he tried to see if the woman who looked like Enara was sitting in one of those but she wasn't seen anywhere.
He tried to walk further ahead but no longer see any trail of her. He continued to walk on the cemented path and found the woman looking at a pair of deers. A doe and its fawn.
She seemed to have stopped upon seeing them and idyllically stayed over to watch them.
Shane stopped on his tracks and observed Enara from a distance hesitating to approach her. He was debating about approaching her or not. He might embarrass himself before her mistaking her to be Enara. So, from a safe distance, he stood and silently observed her while she stayed on her spot, her attention fixed at the doe tending its fawn. The female deer was licking the ears of the fawn that was sleeping curled next to her while she was lying protectively around it lying against a big rock behind them. The woman turned around and saw him watching the deers, too.
"Would you like to come over?" She said inviting him in a loud voice, waving at him. "You can see them closer if you wish."
"O—okay," Shane said agreeing in a loud voice.
He walked forwards crushing dried leaves on his feet as he walked through and joined her.
"It's beautiful to find a doe and its fawn out in these woods at this season." The woman said looking at the deers then shifting her gaze at him.
Shane was busy looking at her, examining the color of her hair, and silently studying her face when the woman tilted her face to look at him. He found himself at loss for words for once even when he simply needed to say yes or no. He tried to regain his composure.
He averted his gaze from her looking ahead and nodded.
"It's September. So, you'd expect to see them around," he said back. "They're searching for food so you'll see more of them."
"Do you know what they eat?"
He thought for a second then gave his reply.
"They like acorns, pecans, apples, blueberries, blackberries, persimmons, hickory nuts, and beechnut acorns."
"Wow, you know a lot."
"I did my homework on them," Shane joked lightly.
The woman released a pleasant laugh.
"They like carrots."
"That's wonderful. I wish I can keep one for a pet," she said sighing. "I have carrots at home to feed them. They're so adorable to look at and appear to be very gentle and friendly."
"But they're wary of humans."
Shane added looking back at her.
"Wouldn't you like to own one for yourself, too?" She asked throwing a glance at him.
"If they don't run away from me, why not?"
A stag came over joining its family. Soon enough the doe and the fawn rose from where it was lying and joined the stag.
"They're leaving."
They saw the trio huddled together and retreated to the deeper parts of the wood.
"It was fun observing them," she said. Then, checked her watch. "Oops! I'm late."
She looked back at him.
"It was nice talking to you. See you around."
The woman said leaving his side and walked back fast on her heels.
Shane kept his gaze observing until the last tails of the deers disappeared out of sight. He looked to his side again but the woman was no longer beside him.
Damn. He forgot to ask her name.
He roamed his eyes around looking past the trees and the path that headed onwards. She couldn't have walked fast, could she?
Shane thought trailing the path. Then, he saw a toilet built at a far corner. She might have gone inside.
He found a nearby bench and waited on it.
Fifteen minutes passed but Enara didn't come out of the toilet. He rose from his seat and looked for her everywhere again.
Then, he saw her squatting next to groups of swans that were grazed by the banks allowing her and some kids to touch them. She was chatting with the kids and their parents who were giving bits of food pieces to the kids to throw them to the swans. The birds didn't react to the food thrown except for a pair that energetically dipped their necks on the water to get food now and then. Soon the rest of the swans glided away from the humans floating to the center of the lake.
"Maybe you can give them worms," Shane said as he approached them squatted next to the white birds.
"We don't have worms with us," the young boy said immediately.
He appeared to be around five years old. He looked up to his parents who were tearing small pieces of bread giving them to the boy and his little sister. "Should we have brought worms, Mom? Dad?"
"Nah. Let's go fishing next time, Dex, then you can have worms."
His dad said.
The kids threw their last bits of bread into the water.
"Let's go now, kids. It was nice to meet you, Ran." Dexter's mom ushered her kids towards her. "Say goodbye to Ran, kids."
"Bye."
Dexter bid goodbye waving his hands.
"Bye." The younger girl said squealing in laughter. Then, the family walked back.
The woman stood up from her position. As she was about to leave, Shane grabbed her shoulders from the back.
"Enara. Wait."
He said without haste. He was finally able to catch her. He's not going to let her go that fast again. Not this time.
The woman turned back to face him.
She smiled at him with a kind of familiarity that Shane knew or maybe how he hoped he used to know. Hoping she's Enara. His Enara.
Then, she frowned and looked meanly at him.
"Why are you calling me, Enara? My name is--"
"Rana!"
"Rana!"A woman's voice was bright as the sun called to her.The woman called Rana jerked her head towards the woman who just called her by her name. Shane turned around to see a woman with short wavy blond hair wearing navy blue shorts, a white t-shirt, and a pair of denim tennis shoes. A violet jacket was tied around her waist and a thin golden necklace hang on her shirt. She had a backpack on her shoulders and was carrying a picnic basket."Why are you so late? I've been waiting for you for the past thirty minutes now."She said looking at her watch then back at Rana darkly."Please don't tell me you've lost your direction again.""I was trying, Julienne. I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me.""You're such a child, Ran.""It can be so much trouble finding the direction to be here. And besides, I found cute deers as I was walking on my way here. And I needed to use the toilet.""You were feeding swans," said Julienne rolling
Rana went down as she heard a couple left the store with the bell chiming upon being closed.She was walking down the stairs when she heard a voice of a man and a woman who appeared to be undecided whether they would buy the bracelet or not. She would have gotten down fast to see how it was going but stopped herself when she heard the shy voice of Noreen, her young assistant trying to persuade the customers to buy it.She hid a smile to herself.Working over a month now at her A&V Shop, Noreen has shown wonderful progress. She started the job being a very silent type of assistant and Rana was quite worried because she needed someone good at selling her antiques and vintage items. Her previous assistant Ariadne who was twenty-five years old was a brighter and more talkative sort who could easily sell to customers but she was eight months pregnant and decided she needed leave for her pregnancy so Rana decided to give her one last month.Rana could do th
"See you, Monday, Ran." Noreen said as Rana closed the door of the shop. "Have a great weekend, Noreen," said Rana looking briefly at her and raising her hand in a wave. "Bye." Noreen turned her back and walked on. Rana locked the door with her key and hid it back inside the inside pocket of her bag. She closed her shop at five when it's Saturday. She walked in the opposite direction Noreen took and headed along the streets deciding to buy cakes as she passed by a patisserie shop to give herself and Julienne a sweet treat. It was Saturday after all after a long working weekday. She knew that Julienne would feel elated seeing it. That woman loves cakes more than her. It's her behemoth addiction. What amazed Rana about Julienne was despite her best friend amassing a large quantity of sugar in her system she didn't get fat easily. Julienne has a beautiful curvy body which Rana envied while she could only be either slender if not so skinny. She passed a meat shop and bought roasted
Julienne was out on the top floor of the building hanging the bed laundries that she just finished washing. It was Saturday. She’d been alone in the apartment since Rana left for work very early. She woke up past nine am earlier and just lazed around the entire morning. She watched at least two films--a romantic and an action movie. By the time she finished watching the two films, it was already lunch. So, she closed the TV for a while and went to the kitchen to make shrimp pasta and toss salad for lunch. Then, she made lemonade for her drink. She loves weekends. Especially, Saturdays like this. She can laze all day round and just do whatever she wants. Saturday is her solo day as she likes to call it herself as Rana is out in her shop all day while Sundays are for her and Rana. They decide whatever they want to do together on Sundays. The first day of the week. Before work resumes the next day. She straightened the soft thick white blanket on the pole metal and bent over to get t
The floor was bustling with work. Phones were ringing. Sounds of typing could be heard. People were moving in different directions. "Shane, come to my office for a minute. We need to talk," said the plump woman dressed in a formal black coat covering a white top and gray pants when she came over to Shane's station. She wore thin round gold-rimmed glasses with a gold chain hanging loose with its end secured to the glass support tucked in the ears of a golden hair pulled back in a twist knot. The woman crossed the floor and went inside her office. Shane finished typing the last sentence of his article and saved it. He rose from his chair and walked to the office. He opened the door and closed it. The woman was typing in front of her PC. She sat with a very straight posture. Her name is Laura Simmons, the editor-in-chief of Daily Newspost, their newspaper publication. She stopped when she saw him and looked at him through her glasses. "I like the last article you wrote about the pan
How will I get you out of there? Shane thought as he looked incredulous at the object with utmost intensity. When he lost that bracelet twenty years ago, he gave up the thought of returning to Lunara. But now that he's seen it, there might just be a chance. But he needs to know how to get it out first. He didn't know how to go back to his old home which was metaphorically speaking a billion light-years away. And when he found himself inside this strange place of New York City where he arrived twenty years ago the first thing that he kept looking for was that moon charm bracelet that had been secured to his wrist. It never lost itself while he was still at home back in Lunara despite playing all day long. It had a secure fit that prevented it from falling off his wrist. And now the only thing that reminded him of who he truly was--was securedly locked inside the glass-covered case displayed among the ancients of the world. He was chewing on his cheek as he looked at it with grim fer
She must be Enara. Shane thought in silence. His hands curled at his side. Its knuckles whitened. Shit. Julienne cursed inwardly. Did she just say amnesia? Julienne felt embarrassed revealing Rana's condition to Shane. He looked shocked she noticed. She observed him with fury and asked nicely. "Will you please forget I told you that Rana is an amnesiac?" "Why? It doesn't matter." He retorted. His voice was flat. He tried his best to contain his shock. "You're not supposed to know it," said Julienne with a large sigh escaping her lips. "You're a journalist remember? What if you write something about her on the paper? Amnesiac people are points of interest among sensational newspaper writers. It would deeply hurt Rana." Shane looked back at Julienne's cross expression and gently patted her shoulders. "Don't worry. I don't divulge secrets, Julienne. I'm a news journalist not a gossipmonger nor a tabloid writer," he said with emphasis. She still looked at him with distrustful eyes.
Shane brought Katarina to the 150th-anniversary celebration of the American National Museum. The pop artist was singing her latest hit while they were seated at the back. Other guests and special guests of the night occupied tables before them. Katarina was dressed in a cherry red dress and her hair was twisted in a knot behind her head. While Shane was dressed in his black tux beside his fiancée who looked fabulous and ravishing in her hot red dress, his sight was already caught stolen by another woman dressed in a bright sky blue dress whose hair was also put up. He could only see the slender nape of her head. The woman turned her head revealing her oval face with curly caramel strands to see Shane looking at her. Rana gave him a small smile upon seeing him and turned back her attention to the stage. After another song, the pop artist was replaced by a band led by a male and female singer who played the music, and the dance floor was opened by Mayor Blasé and his wife. All the othe