Dreaming of 2010: Searching for the You I Know Now in the Past

In the early morning of August 26th, as soon as my plane landed, he was already waiting for me at the airport. The wind at 5:30 a.m. still carried a chill, but after picking me up and taking me home, he made a special trip downstairs to bring me a bouquet of red roses.

Last night, we were both exhausted and fell asleep early. However, I found myself falling back into the year 2010 in my dream. Back then, I hadn't met him yet, but my heart felt like it was holding a map filled with our future. I had only one thought: find him and tell him all about the life we would later share. I wanted to tell him that we would get married, plan every trip together, and have cute dogs and cats to keep us company at home.

I searched every place related to him: the Sheung Wan streets he often visited later, and the shop he once ran. All the doors were locked. I stood there, my heart pounding with anxiety. To make things worse, my ex-boyfriend—who I was still with in 2010—suddenly appeared. He chased after me, asking, "Where are you going?" Clutching the corner of my clothes, I hurried to say, "I don't know you," and tried to run away, but my feet felt stuck to the ground, and I couldn't move at all.

It wasn't until I stopped a taxi that I told the driver in a tearful voice, "I'm looking for my husband." He didn't ask any more questions; he just drove slowly and accompanied me as we wandered through the alleys that felt both familiar and strange. I stared at the street scenes passing by outside the window, and my heart kept hoping over and over again: Hurry up, hurry up and find him. I haven't even had the chance to tell him how happy we are now.

In the end, my alarm clock woke me up. I turned my head and saw him walking into the room and lying down beside me. Rubbing my eyes, I said, "I couldn't find you in my dream." He reached out and held me tightly in his arms. At that moment, all the anxiety from the dream faded away. It turned out that the person I had been desperately searching for in the old days had long become the sense of peace I saw the moment I woke up.