The Dream

That night I couldn't sleep. I was amazingly thrilled about putting my first spell and discovering magic within me. I acted like a child that finally learned how to ride a bike without anyone's help. I wasn't sure if I did the spell correctly, but I hoped there was no fine print clause that went along with the spell…

"The boss, that the client mentioned would be all right… right?" I wondered nervously.

I was certain that all my intentions that I tried putting into the spell were pure. I concentrated on healing that person… Too bad that I wouldn't be able to see the results of my freshly discovered magic.

"What if the spell doesn't work…? What if that guy's pain gets worse?!" I started imagining every possible gloomy outcome.

Then I thought about… using the magic on myself.

"What if I could create the herbs and use them as sedatives? I could find out if my spell could actually work, and cool down at the same time!" I decided it would be a perfect solution.

I got out of the bedroom and went back to the shop. Then I took out some lemon balm leaves, placed them in my hands and concentrated on taking all the anxieties away. The herbs started to glow, just like before.

"I think I'm getting better at this!" I grinned.

Afterwards, I made myself a tea, went upstairs, drank the potion, and laid down in bed. The waiting for the herbs to work made me even more anxious than I was before. I started to seriously wonder whether my spell could work in those conditions or not. Yet, after about 15 minutes of drinking, I closed my eyes… and fell asleep peacefully.

I woke up filled with astonishing bliss, I couldn't tell why until I remembered the pieces of the dream I had. It was a strange, but incredibly vivid dream. In that dream, I was… happy. I was loved and I was filled with love. It was a kind of feeling that I had never tasted before, even though I was in love with Nick… or at least I thought that it was love.

The man in my dream was tall, well-built, had broad shoulders, strong arms… I remember being hugged by those arms. I felt safe in his embrace. I remember his scent. It was an intoxicating mix of perfume and the sensation of his skin. I remember his deep, charming, and warm voice calling my name. In that dream, I knew that he was the one that I was supposed to be with…

I couldn't tell why, but I knew it was the man bound to me by a kissing spell. I could feel it with every inch of my body that I was right!

As soon as I realized the meaning of this dream, my heart started to pound wildly. I stretched my mind, trying hard to recover every single detail of this dream… I remember that his hair was black, but… I didn't see his face… I didn't know his name…

"This is sooo frustrating!!!" I shouted, angrily jumping on the bed.

This dream of mine gave me knowledge that moved me a few meters further in a race where I had 100 miles to run!

"Great! Now all I have to do is look for a tall and strong, black-haired guy… Oh, and an important detail – he speaks English!" I felt like my magical research was going nowhere.

I walked downstairs to the kitchen to make myself breakfast and coffee before I went to work. I should be happy because, despite the poor results, I had made some progress, but I was too aware that, from today, I had 18 months left to live if I failed to receive a kiss from the person I had saved. Somehow, I didn't feel like celebrating in the slightest… Of course, my Grandma thought differently.

"I scent magic on you!" she announced happily, as soon as she saw me walking into the kitchen, "You casted your first spell, didn't you?"

"Yes… yesterday I managed to enchant some herbs to reduce pain… or I simply think I did," I laughed, nervously.

"Show me your hands," Grandma demanded, putting her glasses on to examine them.

I stretched my palms in front of her. She looked closely and grinned.

"Yes… it was a very strong spell," she claimed. "I knew you would become a talented witch," Grandma stated, confidently.

I sighed in relief. It was good to know that something I did had a chance of helping someone in pain. That put a smile on my face, helping me chase away the thoughts of my gloomy situation. However, I thought I should tell Granny about the dream I had…

"Grandma, is it possible that I dreamt about that person…?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes," she admitted, "It might sound cruel, but you are running out of time, so your magic is likely to give you some hints."

"Some… hints…" I smiled ironically, "But I could only… feel him. I couldn't see his face. What kind of a "hint" is that?" I asked, irked.

Grandma burst out laughing.

"Give it some time! Do you really think of dreaming about his name, age, and address?" she smirked.

"Yes! That would help! Feeling loved in a dream only makes me more miserable after waking up…" I sighed.

"You know… Your dream may be a projection of your future, something that is about to happen. Shouldn't you be more optimistic about it?" Grandma grinned and said, "Now eat your breakfast fast, or you will be late for work."

She was like walking and talking sunshine. I admired her ability to find a silver lining in my dire situation. If only I could take over some of her optimism…

I took a deep breath, slapped my cheeks, and told myself one more time that a miracle would happen, and I would be ok. Then I went to work, forcing myself to smile, and building a fake positive aura around me. I walked to the office determined to believe that something good would happen…

"Something bad has happened!" Grace called as soon as she saw me walking into the office.

The expression on her face instantly wiped away the smile I carefully painted and preserved on my way to work.

"Another change in the script?" I asked, laughing hysterically.

"Worse! They broke up!" Grace shouted, on the verge of crying.

"Who?!" I tried to comprehend the situation.

"Amanda and Gareth, our leading couple, broke up in their private life!"

My heart almost stopped. I forgot how to breath, and my mind went absolutely blank. I stood there staring at Grace blankly, hoping that my system would restart soon. I felt like someone just decided to drop bombs on 80% of my life.

"Marcus called out an emergency meeting. We should go there now," she stated in a depressing tone.

I followed her there without saying a word, and then collapsed on a chair in our meeting room, still waiting for my brain to work. A few brain cells that remained active started to process our current situation…

In short, Amanda and Gareth played the main roles in "The CEO's Only Weakness". They weren't that popular when the drama started, but they both gained publicity fast. Later, they announced that they were a couple in real life as well, which naturally gave them even more publicity, and raised the drama rates by a lot. Recently, with a more and more boring plot, the only thing that kept the drama going was their relationship, which has now officially came to an end.

"Let's face it… this is a disaster!" Charlotte, too, was aware that jobs were on the line, "There won't be another season for sure! We will all be moved to other departments. Good thing that I made some connections in the meantime…"

"Actually, it's worse…" Marcus stepped into the room coated in cold and gloomy air, "I talked to the higher-ups. The drama production is cutting the drama into 8 episodes, which means we have three more to rewrite in the way we would finish the whole story. After that, I will be moved to talent show production, and the rest of you will be reevaluated."

"Reevaluated? What does it even mean?!" Grace's level of annoyance reached a certain… dangerous level.

"It means that the management will reexamine your abilities to work at the TVM. I heard that the CEO wanted to fire all of you right away, but the general manager pleaded to give all of you another chance…"

All of us looked at each other in disbelieve and frustration. The four of us were hired at the time, and we were working night and day to make this drama work, despite all the criticism and roadblocks. All of us put our blood, sweat, and tears into it, and now someone was going to examine our abilities?! This was more than unfair…

All of us spent the rest of the day and the entire night rewriting the script in a way that our main characters wouldn't meet even in a single scene. No matter how hard it was for us to believe, the former "loving couple" demanded not to see each other until the end of the production… Writing that required beer, a lot of beer.

In the end, we came up with short romances that the male and female leads had with the extras, added just for the three last episodes. In the final episodes, the leading couple reunites… over the phone, so that the scene could be shot separately. Then we placed an ending scene that included a taking wedding scene in a long shot, where the doubles would stage as the wedding couple, and finally a kiss in the sunset without showing faces…

It was around seven o'clock when we finished the last scenes. We were all satisfied with the job well done, but we were also sad, because it was probably our last task together. No matter how different our personalities were, all five of us created a great team…

By the time of our goodbyes, we were completely exhausted, sleepy… and drunk. Marcus gave all of us time to get some sleep and sober up. He alone decided to sleep in his office, and meet us back at 1 PM. Charlotte was picked up by her newest boyfriend, Grace and Sonia took a taxi, and I was dumb enough to go back by bus to save some money.

I got out of the building swaying on my feet. The rising sun was blinding me. I was standing right outside the entrance and kept blinking my eyes, hoping to see something more than a big bright spot… and a lot of colorful, little spots around it.

Suddenly, somebody bumped into me. I swayed, lost my balance, and was certain that I was about to fall. I stretched both of my hands towards the pavement, trying to cushion the fall, but unexpectedly, someone caught me in half, making my upper body hang through his arm.

"Be careful," the person chuckled in a deep and charming voice.

Then he swiftly brought me up, and walked inside the TVM station's headquarters, before I had a chance to thank him or see his face. I only saw him from the back. He wore a dark navy tailor-cut suit, and had wide shoulders. The thing that he left on me was his scent… which I could sense much stronger than usual in my current, unsober state. I wasn't absolutely certain that I could trust my senses, but his scent… it was the scent of the man from my dream…