1. SCARS ARE HARD TO HEAL

The dream flashed through...the tightly held hand loosened its grip before it started to slide away. The doctors rushed and occupied their position.

"The pulse has dropped" alerted the nurse.   

"CPR. CPR" ordered the doctor.

Everything was falling apart.

The chaos didn't seem to disturb her anymore. His last words kept ringing in her ears like an echo.

*********

"Over-Over-Over-Wake-up-Wake-up-Over-Over-Over" repeated the alarm.

The Deep long curtains seem to hide the passage of time making it hard to differentiate day and night. Even though the bed seemed much cozier than yesterday she gave up the fight to sleep again.

It was another weekday and another workday to get started with.

The dark shades of dresses in her closet didn't seem to make any difference from each other. She took out the usual shade of black and laid them on the bed and walked to the washroom to take a shower.

The vapors gave a feel of freshness as she walked out from the shower with her bathrobe and a towel wrapping her hair. She walked towards the thick dark curtains. She grabbed an apple from the table as she munched it along her way. She slowly peeped through the window. The dark clouds hid the sun well spreading a cloudy ambiance assuring the need for an umbrella.

The images she had from her sleep flew past her mind. It had been haunting her for more than a year.

The incident was hard to classify as a nightmare or a dream. It was the day when she lost the humane connection with the world.

She prepared herself for work with her formal black dress and a neat pair of nude heels to combine with her boring yet elegant style of dress code.

The phone rang twice before she took to answer the call, "Hello."

A deep male voice replied "Good morning Meilin. Want me to pick you up for work? I am heading in the same direction."

She didn't seem to have any interest in continuing the conversation as she hung up the call without another word. She gazed at the call list that only had one name; Lin. She cleared her call list and grabbed her umbrella before heading out of her room.

She glanced at the elevator before taking the stairs.

She took a taxi and headed towards her workplace. The window slowly started to embrace water droplets that poured aimlessly from the sky.

The atmosphere reminded her of the days that they had spent together. The times when they shared one umbrella.

When they had their favorite ice cream admiring the number of water droplets that touched the ground each time it left the sky.

The beautiful memory stayed with her. Even if there was happiness, now it felt painful; exactly like a scar, happy to have it healed yet sad that there is a mark left as a token of remembrance.

The cab stopped in front of a huge building. She alighted from the cab. She stood there for 10 seconds as she read the name of the building again 'Blue Chaos' and headed straight towards the entrance.

Ahead of her in front of the entrance, she saw Su Lin get off from his car. He looked at her when he caught her glimpse. As she got closer, he didn't budge from where he stood. He fixed his gaze on her.

She walked past him leaving no space for him to react. He felt helpless as he lowered his head.

He wished if he could turn back time. He wanted to be the shoulder that she could lean on to rely on. But now everything was far out of reach.

He turned around to head into the building to begin another hectic day.

"Memories can be sometimes painful with the passage of time."