Another Romantic Dream

“It's almost 6 in the evening, nobody's here to help us.” Zannie was yawning while speaking. She couldn't help herself not to feel hopeless at this moment. Howard tried to call them so many times but none of them were reachable as of now.

“I don't want to assume this, but what if that medical head stopped our colleagues from sending help?” Howard assumed.

“I'm thinking the same way.” Zannie got out of the vehicle but she stumbled upon realizing it was still raining outside.

“I just can't stay here and wait for them,” she grumbled.

“You should wait here, okay?” she added and stood up.

“Hey, where do you think you are going? Don’t you know how dangerous it is for you to go alone?” Howard argued.

“What do you want me to do then? Stay still and wait for nothing? I don’t want to waste time though,” Zannie reasoned.

Howard shook his head and just adjusted Zannie's position, he even removed the tuxedo coat he was wearing and that served as Zannie's blanket.

“What are you doing?” Zannie suddenly asked, shocked at Howard's sudden gesture.

“Making you feel at ease. Alright?”

“How can I ever sleep in this kind of situation?”

"Just sleep well. I'm sorry," Howard insisted.

***

The next morning, Zannie just woke up hugging Howard and the same with him. She distanced himself from it.

"How did we hug?" she asked herself and noticed that the tuxedo coat that Howard was wearing was already on her and the mp3 player that he lent her was also low battery.

"Is your help really sincere?" she said while looking at Howard who was still sleeping, she couldn't help but simply admire him.

A few moments later, they saw the approaching vehicle and fortunately, it turned out to be their colleagues to help them out of being stranded.

"Thank god, they're already here," Zannie said then suddenly smiled and woke up Howard as well.

"Look, look, they're here," Zannie exclaimed excitedly.

Howard woke up quickly and immediately got out of the car.

"Thanks for the help," Howard said and after that scene, they returned safely to the barracks and just distracted themselves with other things.

In the evening...

Zannie still remained conscious and no matter how tired she was, there’s still no presence of drowsiness in her. There are no other volunteers returning to the barracks so that's also one of the things she wonders about. 

"Where will they sleep?"

She went out of the small room to see if any of her colleagues were coming back. But Howard, who was sound asleep on the bamboo bench, could not escape her sight. She sighed as she couldn't take her eyes away from him. That glimpse was like a magnet attracting her. Her other side urged her to move closer and approach the handsome sleeping man.

'I've been to a lot of places and the scenery I've seen is even more beautiful, but there are even more beautiful places I've seen.'

She even bites her lower lip. She didn't think he would feel any different while looking at Howard's handsome face. He had those lips that were tempting to kiss. Zannie glanced at the whole of it, damn all part of it was perfection. Zannie can't explain why this is just the attraction that wraps her personality because she's so close to Howard now. Her cheek was burning and she felt like she was floating now in the cloud. And she almost yearned for the man in front of her. How could it be? Is her inner self a demon?

She quickly averted his eyes from Howard. She also noticed that it looked crumpled because it was cold where they were. She suddenly thought of wrapping him with a blanket to at least relieve the cold and somehow make it comfortable to sleep. She was about to leave but she was startled when Howard woke up.

It was as if she was running a marathon because she immediately felt short of breath and her heartbeat quickened. She made no noise so surprisingly she woke the young man. 

"Stay with me for a while, please?”

Zannie was shocked after she heard those words. The tone of his voice was so captivating that he couldn't help but think of something.

 She was gulped several times. "I'm really going to go outside. I'm just breathing here and I can’t just ignore that you’re here and sleeping uncomfortably."

She jumped quickly but Howard was even faster. The man grabbed her waist so she lay down on top of him. God knows, it was so awkward right now. What if their fellow volunteers suddenly arrive and see that their position is like that? They may even think badly and spread malicious gossip about them..

"Howard, what are you doing? Will you just let me go?" she pleaded.

Until now, Howard still wouldn't let go of him and wrapped her in his arms. Zannie's heartbeat became even more erratic as she felt Howard's lips claimed her lips. She wanted to stop him. The young man's lips were soft but her body was softer to stop what he was doing right now. Is she just dreaming? The relish of such a dream—too good to feel but unlikely to be true.

And Zannie just woke up to Lucille's roaring voice. "Zannie! You're dreaming!"

She felt like she had an adrenaline rush. “You’re here? I thought everyone wasn't around.”

Lucille let out a bubbly laugh. “What the hell are you saying? We can’t even go anywhere since the relief operations have been halted for a while.”

 "You're saying something, 'Stop Ho ...' and then you have a subtle kind of mumble," Lucille added. 

Zannie rubbed both of her cheeks. She had a dream and she did not think that Howard was with her in that dream. 

‘Son of tofu! Of all the dreams, why did I dream such a scene?’ she castigated herself without a word.

"What time is it?" she asked Lucille who was well dressed and looked like she would be fighting again on day 2 of relief good operations.

"It's eight o'clock in the morning. One of our comrades has replaced you as an OIC. That's the order of the head of the NGO affiliated with us," Lucille admitted.

:That would be better. Let me sleep again, please?” Zannie pleaded and went back in her wooden pallet where she was sleeping whole night.