After they left, the bedroom was so quiet that only the "tick-tock" of the clock on the wall could be heard.
Serena Sullivan held her phone, staring blankly. After a while, she opened the phone. The last message with Ethan Grant was a "good night" sent two days ago.
He was far away in Country A, with no calls, no messages.
Serena curled her lips in a self-mocking smile. She didn't know what she was expecting, nor when this intense love would stop.
She placed her phone on the bedside, unable to sleep, just lying there until around two or three in the morning when she finally fell asleep in a daze.
In the dream, she saw that young man who held her in his arms and said seriously, "No one can bully my Serena!"
The words "No one can" were like a spell pushing Serena to the depths of the abyss, back to Solaria.
"Serena!"
It was that familiar call again. Serena struggled to open her eyes from the dream, vaguely seeing Ethan Grant, a man familiar to her very bones.
