Drip!

....

In a high-end apartment located few minutes away from the center of Imperial City, a man was sleeping and tossing about in his darkened room, seemingly troubled by whatever he was dreaming about.

His ears twitched as the sound of the water dripping slowly in the bathroom assaulted it.

Drip! Drip! Drip!

His legs were kicking every now as his hands reached out for someone or something.

"Nnngn!"

The man groaned as he suddenly clutched at his chest with one hand and his throat with another while his mouth opened up, gasping for air.

…

In his dream, he was drowning… literally… He was struggling to swim to the surface as if there was something weighing him down.

"Help! Someone, please!" He yelled in his mind as he kicked. But no matter how hard he kicked, he felt as if he was sinking deeper and deeper into the lake and farther away from the surface.

"Wake up, you idiot!" He told himself in his mind as he struggled to kick his legs. By now, his strength had almost completely left him. He knew that he was in a dream, but it felt so real!

He was with someone earlier... They were talking about something, but suddenly they started arguing in a heated manner. He could not remember who or what they were arguing about, but for some reason, his heart ached, and he kept hearing a woman's voice as she cried.

"It's your fault! It's your fault! You killed her! Why! WHY?!"

Next thing he knew, he fell into a huge lake. At first, he was able to keep himself afloat, but he just kept sinking and sinking.

"Han Ye…"

A voice called out his name from the darkness below, and when he glanced down, he saw her…

His late wife…

"Yue Xue?" Han Ye thought as he looked at her. He tried to call out for her but his lips were sealed shut by something. She was getting farther and farther away from him!

"Han Ye, I miss you…"

Even now, her voice was still the same. He could still remember the beautiful soothing sound of her voice, and he remembered how he used to tease her that if ever they had a child, all she needed to do was to speak continuously and their child would fall asleep easily.

"Child?" thought Han Ye as he looked at his late wife carefully. He could see the pained look in her eyes as if she were blaming him for not giving her a child sooner.

Even in the deep, dark lake, he could still see her clearly. She was still as he remembered her. Beautiful… Full of life…

A life that was cruelly taken away from him so many years ago!

"Ye Xue…" thought Han Ye as he tried to reach down to pull her back up. He wanted to shout but he had no strength. He could not hold his breath any longer.

Suddenly, he felt water entering his nose and slowly filling up his lungs. He tried to cover his mouth and his nose, but his lungs were burning, craving for air! In the end, he gasped loudly and the moment his mouth opened, more water rushed into him.

Still, he tried to call out, "Ye Xue!!!"

But the only thing that he could hear was the slow, constant "drip, drip, drip" sound.

"Nngh!"

He struggled. His eyes rolled back. But just as he was about to give up, he heard someone yelling.

"HAN YE!"

….

A quake like movement woke Han Ye up from his nightmare. The first thing he did was to take in a deep breath. He could still feel the nightmare as if it were real and that he was really drowning. The pain in his nose and the back of his throat were there... Sweat covered his forehead and his shirt was equally stained with sweat.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the decorative lightbulbs that were hanging from his wall. It took him a few seconds before he realized that he was in his bedroom and that he was staring at his wall.

Someone tapped his arm and asked, "Hey, you alright?"

Upon hearing the question, Han Ye turned to the person who woke him up from his sleep. No, from his nightmare!

"ZiYan."

Sitting on his wheelchair, Zi Yan frowned as he looked back at his housemate who was sitting up by now. "You were shouting earlier. I was worried, so I came in."

Han Ye sat up as he murmured, "Just a nightmare…"

"Drowning again?"

"Yeah…"

"You've been having these nightmares quite frequently lately. Are you sure you're fine?" Zi Yan pointed it out because he had been hearing the sound of Han Ye's whimpering at night. He also knew that the man had been having night terrors more frequently now than in the last two years or so.