After the brief call, Rania couldn't remove the smile on her face as she put her phone down on the table. She shook her head twice and tried to get back on the story she was reading, but Zeid completely took over her mind. It had been two weeks since she last saw her boyfriend because of all the business matters they had to attend to. Either that or their break schedules just didn't align. Because of that, she waited eagerly for time to pass and for tomorrow to come.
Soon enough, it was near dusk, and it was time for Rania to go back home. She tidied her office desk, picked her bag, and went straight to the elevator down to the parking lot where her car was. Driving around the town with her music turned on, she stopped by a gift shop and came out carrying a bunch of wrapped boxes inside a paper bag. She carefully put them on the back seat then drove some more until she reached a flower shop where she came out carrying a bouquet of rose, lily, and iris flowers. She continued driving again until, at last, she reached the place where she planned to go—the local church and orphanage, and also the place where she spent most of her childhood.
Aside from her ability to hear unknown voices, Rania was also a little special in terms of family. You see, when she was just a mere child, around three years of age, she lost her parents in a car accident. Her parents had always been obedient when it came to laws, especially traffic codes but unfortunately, the driver of the car that hit theirs wasn't.
Sitting in her car and looking at the church from the parking lot, Rania couldn't help but reminisce about the events of her childhood. She could still remember it like yesterday—the little her getting treated in the hospital after the accident, and the officers saying they tried salvaging anything they could get from the car wreck in order to get info about her relatives, and that they did manage to find some but after they called, none of them came to pick her up. During her parents' burial, she was also told that a few friends and coworkers helped arrange it and that no one else from their family came to visit. Because of that, she had to start living in an unknown place with unknown people, abandoned by her own relatives. She didn't blame them, though. They weren't close with them in the first place, and picking her up only meant another mouth to feed for them.
Though everything was foreign to her, Rania thought that all in all, she didn't hate living in the orphanage. What happened to her parents was really unfortunate, but the pastors and everyone else there had been kind and accommodating to her, especially the youth pastor who cared for her the most as if she was her own child—Lailee. She learned a lot from her growing up, mostly about God and His words and wisdom. That was perhaps one reason she learned to be kind and ready to throw herself just to save a child she didn't even know.
Shaking her head, Rania stopped herself from getting further down the memory lane. It's been a long time since she last visited, so she couldn't help but feel nostalgic. But then again, she didn't come there to reminisce. She came to visit the children and the pastors, bearing gifts! Turning off her car's engine, she got out and took the presents she had brought with her, along with the bouquet of flowers, making her look like a female version of Santa Claus in mid-autumn.
"Rania? Is that you?" a cute and chubby middle-aged woman standing from the church's entrance asked her. A group of children gathered around her, and she was tending to them.
Tilting her head to get a better view, Rania's eyes glimmered as soon as she recognized the woman.
"Ms. Lailee!" she shouted in her joy. Her feet automatically sprinted towards her if not for the many things she carried.
"Oh, let me help you with that," Lailee immediately assisted her, and the children followed along, taking the paper bags from her hands.
"Wow! What kind little kids," Rania said as she patted their heads one after another.
Lailee chuckled. "Yes, they are—pretty much like you were when you were a child."
"Awwww," Rania giggled a bit in her joy. She then hugged her tight and gave the bouquet of flowers to her. "I missed you so much!"
"Ha-ha-ha-ha! Still a little child yourself, huh?" Lailee teased and rubbed Rania's back.
With Rania as a young woman in her twenties and Lailee in her forties, they looked like the perfect mother and child.
"I missed you more," Lailee whispered to her ears dearly. "Thank you for the flowers and the gifts. You didn't have to, though. You're still new to your job. You should save up so you can leave your grandparents before they force you to marry some unknown guy."
That's right. When Rania turned fourteen, her biological grandparents suddenly showed up and took her from the orphanage where she was already living happily with everyone. A glimpse of their stern faces flashed across her mind. Later on, she found out that her dad was actually an elite, and he ran away from home to marry her mom—the typical parents who disagreed with their child's love life. That kind of scenario was rampant during her parent's generation, apparently. Because of them unexpectedly taking her into custody, Rania had to leave her warm home and go into another, which was colder and strict with a lot of things.
Rania sighed. "Don't worry. I believe that's not gonna happen to me, especially since I got Zeid. Luckily, I fell in love with someone rich enough for them." She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders on the last sentence.
"That's true. Zeid is really nice. He visits from time to time, too, bringing gifts like you no matter how many times I say it's not necessary. You know, if you do that too often, these kids might grow spoiled!"
"Ha-ha-ha! We don't visit that often, that's why. So gifts every two or three months aren't gonna make them spoiled, right?"
"Hmm… I wonder about that."
"Ha-ha-ha! Then, it's up to you to discipline them."
"But of course. Anyway, let us come inside. It's chilly out here."
"Right! Sorry, I was wearing a coat, I didn't notice—"
"It's fine," she smiled. Then, in a serious manner, she said, "Although, there is something I want to discuss with you after we finish greeting and chatting with the others."
Rania furrowed, curious as to what it was. But she knew Lailee. With that tone and that worried look on her face, she could tell that something probably not good was up.
And so, time passed until night came, and the head pastor urged Rania to stay the night so she could rest instead of driving a long distance again, to which she agreed and shared the room with Lailee. After taking a bath and preparing for bed, Rania and Lailee finally got their free time to discuss the matter she mentioned earlier. Sitting on the couch facing each other over hot chocolate, the two of them talked.
"Rania," Lailee started with a worried face, "do you still remember that dream you always have on your birthday? The one you used to tell me?"
With widened eyes, Rania nodded. "Yeah, I remember. Why?"
"Are you still having them?"
"Weirdly enough, yes. Maybe my brain somehow put it in its system to dream about it every year, ha-ha! But yes, I still dream about it."
"Hmm…" Her face furrowed more.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"Rania, you know about my gift, right?"
"Your spiritual gift, yes. Did you finally get the answers to what my dream is about?"
"No, I haven't. But instead, the other night, I also dreamed about something."
Pulling the bouquet of flowers she gave her earlier, Lailee showed it to Rania.
"I dreamt of this—a bouquet of a rose, lily, and iris."
Trying to connect the dots, Rania pondered, but she still didn't get what Lailee was trying to say. She often gave her those flowers in a bouquet every time she visited there—maybe that was why Lailee dreamt about it.
"You liked rose because it means love, I know that. Lilies mean hope, and irises, faith. It's the three greatest things, that's why you loved all three flowers in one bouquet. But those are good things. Why do you sound like it's a bad thing?"
"That's what I initially thought as well. Until, after dreaming of those flowers, I think I saw your dream, too."
At these words, Rania flinched. "Y-you mean, that awful—that…."
"Yes. The exact same dream," Lailee nodded.
Rania left her mouth open, wanting to say something, but she was at a loss of what to say.
"I felt chills right after seeing it," Lailee continued. "And I started thinking about the meaning of the flowers again. So I double-checked the book where I got flower languages. There's a lot of meanings to them actually, but what stood out to me when I was reading them was that—for rose, the meaning secrecy; for lily, it's the flower commonly given during funerals or death; and for iris, a message."
Rania shivered upon hearing her words. She wasn't sure why but for some reason, she felt scared. Perhaps it was because she knew that Lailee's spiritual gift involved interpreting dreams, and when she does get her answers from above, it always ends up true. Deep inside her, she knew that whatever she was talking about shouldn't be taken lightly or brushed off like it didn't concern her or that they were just overthinking things.
"Rania, I still don't understand it fully, but I think, whatever it is, you need to be careful. Secrets, death, and message, those words… I don't think they mean anything good."
Nodding her head still in a daze, Rania agreed.
"Yes. I-I'll be careful. You, too. Please, always take care of yourself."
Soon after that, the two of them slept—or at least tried to. Hearing those ominous things, Rania couldn't help but worry. She prayed earnestly that night for everything to be okay and that maybe, it had a different meaning. Shaking things off her brain, she finally managed to sleep a few moments later.
But then, when the clock struck twelve, signifying the next day, which was actually her own birthday, she dreamt that dream again. Yes, like how it happens every year for her. It was a dream about… a planet crumbling until it turned into ashes and disappeared completely.