Alek and Iris walked past the garden and into the flower field.
The sunflowers were all bloomed and, the sight was magnificent for Iris and, even for Alek who have seen it in the past. The sunflower looked majestic for Alek which was shorter than her.
They walked into the flower field with Alek leading the way, hand-to-hand. Alek was slightly taller than the sunflowers, and thus she could see where she was heading.
Alek occasionally heard Iris chuckle. Iris was short so, the leaf tickled her ears.
Alek thought an angel was laughing. The sound was so heavenly. Her laugh was so sweet and filled with happiness.
After they walked for what seemed like five minutes, they came into an open space. The open space didn't have sunflowers but, it had different small flowers that made the ground colourful.
There was a big rock in the middle of it. They sat there.
Alek didn't notice Iris had brought her lamb until she saw the lamb in her arms.
"What's her name? She's adorable." Alek asked her with a smile.
Iris was happy to hear somebody had an interest in her lamb.
"Her name is Belle," Iris told Alek with a grin. "Castor and Pollux gave me this on my birthday when I was six. They made it for me in school! They are the best brothers I have!"
Iris was one of the few people who called the twins by their given name and not their middle name. Castor's middle name is Jin and, Pollux's middle name is Rin.
Her smile stopped Alek from breathing a moment before she looked away from her and started making a flower crown with sunflowers.
'Dang, don't give me that smile of yours. It messes with my heartbeat!' Alek thought inwardly.
"Iris?"
"Yes?" She looked up from the crown she was making and faced Alek, tilting her head slightly.
"Do you like flowers?"
She wanted to ask Iris something else but, it was a little weird to ask a little girl she just met, so she changed the question last minute.
"Yes, they are beautiful and, it relaxes me. I love them! How about you, Nana? Do you like flowers?"
Alek didn't think she would ask back.
"Uhh, yes. I love flowers. Especially sunflowers."
Alek told her with a smile that was a little sad. Iris noticed she had brought up the wrong topic, so she hurriedly apologized.
"It's okay. I've been over it and, today is the to remember Aether so, allow me to share the memories of what we did as little with your brothers."
Alek was not really over it but, she couldn't show her weakness to the little girl.
"When we were little, we used to play all the time. Most of the time, we played shiritori, hide-and-seek and irotsuki oni. I especially loved playing irotsuki oni and, we would play the whole day.
One day, we all came over to sleep in grandma's house and your brothers, my brother, and I were told to sleep in one room.
We were excited and talk until midnight. We didn't want to get caught by grandma, so we whispered inside the blanket and used a torch to light up.
We didn't know how much time had passed until we heard a bell ring somewhere far away from us, indicating it was midnight. We came out of the blanket to close the curtain.
But the starlights were beautiful so, we just stood there watching the stars. The room we were in was facing the garden and, we could see the sunflowers behind it.
Then a yellow-orange light popped up from the middle of the sunflowers far away. We thought we were just dreaming or something but, we saw another light popping up, then another, followed by countless lights.
We looked at each other to confirm we were not dreaming.
We sneaked out of the window to get to lights from the sunflowers. We ran barefooted to the field, watching the lights flying away from the ground.
We came into an open space between the sunflowers and found the lights covering the ground. We were shocked!
But as we got closer, we could see that they were not fireflies or artificial lights. Each light had its colours, like personality. It looked like fairies were flying away to go to their home.
Then we heard their chuckles and laughs. It was not creepy chuckles. It was chuckles that makes you happy just by hearing it.
We stood there for a long time, hearing the laughs and seeing the lights floating away. And when they were finally four of them left of the lights, the lights came to us.
Each light circled each one of us. The lights had different colours for each.
Mine was more of golden-yellow, my brothers' was yellow-orange, Jins' was yellow-white and, Rin's was golden-orange.
They circled us for a long time until they went away from us and told us, "We'll meet again." before floating away like other lights.
I don't have memories after that. I woke up in the room with my brother and your brothers like nothing had happened.
But for some reason, we were reluctant to talk about that night, even with each other. Nobody stopped us from talking about that night but, we felt like we should just keep it in our mind.
Until now, I've never told anyone about this because I felt like I shouldn't do that and, even if I tell people, they will say that we were just dreaming, and I didn't want anyone thinking that way.
I don't know why I'm telling you this story, Iris. I feel safe with you and, somehow, you make me believe that it wasn't a dream...
But I'm not going to force you to believe my crazy story that happened a long time ago."
Alek looked at who was looking at her intently. She couldn't understand what Iris was thinking at the moment.
'Was she going to believe the crazy story? Or she's going to look at me like I'm a stupid chicken?'
Iris didn't say anything and just stared at the flower crown in her hands.
Alek couldn't bear the silence and stood up from the rock to look away from Iris.
She went around the open space twice before she sat on the rock, beside Iris again. It looked like Iris had finished making the flower crown and was staring at it.
When Alek was about to tell her that they were going back, Iris stood up, facing her and finally spoke.
"I believe you..." Iris paused and handed out the crown in her hand. "and this is for you, Nana."
Iris then placed the crown on Alek's head softly.
Alek smiled softly at her and took her hand.
"Thank you." Those words held many emotions and meanings. "Now lets go before they get mad at us, yeah?"
Alek grabbed the lamb and gave it to Iris before standing up off the rock and walking to the path that heads to the house.
They needed to be in a rush because they have spent a long time in the open field for too long. When they were close to the house, Alek asked Iris
"Why do you believe me?"
Iris smiled before answering her question.
"Because I know it's real."
Flashing a meaningful gaze before letting go of Alek's hand, running to her brothers who were talking in the garden, looking for their little sister.
Alek stood there, frozen on the spot.
Alek did not see that coming. She couldn't believe Iris said she believes her! But that was not what took her by surprise.
It was the little girls' meaningful gaze that triggered something in her. It wasn't a teasing look. It was the gaze, making her feel like she didn't know anything.
Is it possible that her brother knew that it was real? Did Jin and Rin know about it too? First of all, do they even remember about that night?
Questions started to clouding Alek's mind. She had many doubts.
She looked at the twins' happy faces when they finally found their little sister.
Castor took the lamb from the little girl's hand and carried it with him.
They asked her where she was, but the little girl said it was a secret. Iris turned around and winked at Alek before walking away with her brothers, each holding her hands into the house.
'Oh, Hell no! That girl did not just do that!' Alek thought before hastily getting out of the sunflower field to the house.