Birthday Request

"Make a plea, Nala." Dad talks while thrusting a cake with a birthday candle lit on it on Nala.

"Dad, I don't believe in anything like this," Nala said with a smile staring at the cake in front of her face. She turned his eyes to Mother and Daniel waiting for her.

"Come on Nala, just make a wish. God will grant it." Daniel walked to stand by her side.

"Come on, honey. I've objected to holding the cake," Mother said, making Dad and Daniel laugh crisply.

"Yes, Mother." Nala closed her eyes. Although Nala doesn't believe in things like this, she inevitably makes a plea. The problem is Nala doesn't have a plea, she feels all is enough.

So she made a plea that wouldn't have been possible.

'I begged on my birthday. There will be handsome men coming down from the sky like winged angels who will love me, accepting my flaws and strengths sincerely.'

Nala smiles with her plea. Then she opened her eyes and blew out the number twenty-shaped candle until thin smoke soared to the ceiling.

"What did Nala ask for?" asked a curious Daniel.

"Secret," she replied with a smile.

After they all eat the cake, Nala decides to go to her room. She climbed the stairs with a heart that warmed Nala grateful she got to her current age in good health and still has a complete family that loves her.

When Nala got to her doorstep she held a door handle that felt cold on the surface of her skin.

Nala opens it and is immediately confronted by a blinding standing man with large black wings on his back. He holds a tan on his tan hand that stains his face and smiles innocently. The man's different color eyes stare right into Nala's bead without winking. Then the mouth with full lips began to open.

"Nala, the chocolate is sweet. Like Nala."

***

Nala wakes up from her sleep, still overshadowed by nightmares as clear as the sun in the afternoon. That dream was part of the reality when she had his birthday this afternoon, but it was Raymond who greeted her at the door. It's part of the nightmare.

Nala rubbed her sweaty temple with her hands. She grumbled to herself for listening to Raymond's words with her heart, not her ears.

Nala glances at the clock perched on the nightstand, she exhales when she sees the clock still showing at two and a half in the morning. She lay back and hoped the darkness would greet her, apparently not. Nala can't sleep. So she grabbed the grey blanket and started walking outside the room.

Nala's eyes are greeted with a gentle light coming from Raymond's room in front of her, illuminating the hallway towards the dark stairs. The door was open just as Nala left it at night. The reason is Raymond can't open the door handle.

Nala begins to step slowly not wanting the sound of her feet to be heard on the wooden floor and wakes Raymond who may have had a sharp hearing.

Instead of finding Raymond lying on the bed while Nala was on the doorstep, Nala instead saw Raymond sitting at the window with his body pointing out. Raymond's head looked up at the dark sky with the dots of light.

Nala sees Raymond's outstretched wings flapping slowly with soft feathers dancing in the morning breeze that bites Nala's skin because of the cold. The black feathers on Raymond's wings are as dark as the sky right now.

Nala is transfixed as Raymond turns down from the window with his eyes widened as he crosses paths with Nala.

Raymond's smile blooms instantly and walks with his bare feet on Nala. Nala's eyes come down to see the tattoo written on Raymond's perfectly sculpted chest in front of Nala.

Nala's eyes go up to stare at Raymond again. Ignoring the intense aroma of chocolate caresses her smell in such a way. "Why don't you go to bed and sit at the window?"

They're still staring at each other. "Ray is staring at the stars and the moon."

Nala's throat became dry. She nods quietly trying to ignore Raymond's large wings whose ends are on the side of Nala's body.

"Not sleepy?" asked Nala. Raymond is like a piece of magic that is always able to draw its essence to Nala and seem to attract Nala to keep staring at him.

Raymond shook his black hair. "No, Nala. Elves only take a few hours to sleep."

And Raymond re-opens his voice. "Why did Nala wake up from sleep?"

"I woke up having nightmares and couldn't sleep again," Nala said holding her breath as the black wing sucked into Raymond's back.

"Why would Raymond be a nightmare for Nala?" he asked hesitantly.

Nala just let the question hang without an answer. She breathes the air deeply and instantly regrets when the smell of chocolate dominates more than the scent of the morning wind blowing from the window.

Nala unknowingly rubbed her arm as the cold pierced her skin. She was jolted when the glass shifted shut by itself. Nala's jaw closed.

"What just happened, Raymond?" asked Nala with her enlarged pupils and glanced at the window behind Raymond's back.

"Nala's cold, isn't she? So Ray shut it down," Raymond replied in a low-pitched voice.

Nala just muttered in no uncertain way behind her throat, not knowing how to respond. "I have to go back to the room or Daniel will find out and scold me."

Nala glances slightly at Raymond's face, Raymond's jaw drops, and his eyes occasionally blink. Not knowing what that means, Nala turns around and walks back to her room.

When Nala closes her bedroom door with a pounding heart and hot cheeks, Nala is overshadowed by a dream she just had. Half of it is true that she asked for such a request but Nala just didn't expect it to be real.

Nala walks into a glass window similar to Raymond's, she opens it slowly. The cold air begins to hit the surface of her face and Nala inhales deeply. The air in the city is sometimes not as fresh as the morning and this is the first time Nala has woken up so early. Enjoy every second that goes slowly.

Nala vaguely hears the singing in a low, deep voice. It came from Daniel's room. Nala never knew her brother could sing melodiously even though it sounded like a meaningless murmur because Nala didn't understand what language was sung. Just stranger in Nala's ear.

Nala peeks, Daniel is leaning on a small balcony in his room looking at anything. It was Daniel who sang quietly.

Her brother always wakes up in the morning but Nala doesn't know that Daniel will wake up so early. Then Daniel looked up at the starry black sky in dim light.

Nala hears Daniel's next voice which sounds quite loud in a quiet morning. "Star, tell him. I hate it so much. Very, hate more than I can do."