“You can not get away from me! You will always be a crane! You belong to my cage! A bird that couldn’t and shouldn’t be flying!” a fierce man shouts, that’s the emperor.

“They say a crane and serpent can harmonize but only if they are a man and a woman,” the voice shattered, he’s the lover of the emperor. A man. The man continues, “The world is against us. A man is only for a woman. You should not be with a man too. You’re an emperor think of your people and the future of the empire. We already fight enough. It’s time for us to rest. There are battles that we can’t win even we want to,” a shaky voice said.

“Call me wicked but I can’t allow it! Jail him!” Emperor said with dark eyes and a deep voice. The two guards assist the other person to the cell. Before the frantic man leaves, his lover talks, “You’re not awful for not letting me go because I am the happiest person when I am with you. You’re cruel because you don’t wish us to be happy. This is the only way I know how to love you. Tell you to leave and let go. Let’s meet in our next life and I yearn the wait will be short, and meaningful like a poet. For now, let me savor each letter that I wrote to the pages of the story that we used to be the main characters,” the emperor stop and replied, “I won’t let you leave this cage even you despise me. If this will be the only way I can keep you? Then live it.”, after that, he left.

A month has passed, and the emperor married a woman, and his lover in the prison commit suicide. The emperor got miserable and vanished. No one knows where he is at now.

Grayson Ramey opens his eyes and whispered, “What a dream.”

When Grayson was young, a woman asked while slowly caressing his hair, “Child. Do you know why I named you Grayson?”

“Hmmm? Why mother? I wanted to know too, I’m intending to ask you back then but I lost it in my mind?” from lying down, the man suddenly gets up and sits. He faces his mother with curiosity in his eyes. His mother displays a gentle smile and responds, “A man wrote a short story titled, A struggle of Our life, her daughter complained that she’s tired of fighting and struggling. Like a normal life of a middle-class family. It seemed when one problem has solved, another soon followed.”

The mother stopped talking, so Grayson asked, “What’s next mother?” the lady extends her hand and holds her child’s hand, “her father, a chef, placed three pots and put water on them. After, he placed them on the three-made clay stove. When the water is boiling, the father puts the potato on the first pot, the egg on the second, and the coffee beans on the last. The last thing he did is remove what the pot contains. The daughter asked what he’s doing; the father invited his daughter to press the potato, peel the shell of the egg and observe what happened to the bean. The potato was hard, but because of boiling water it became soft and weak, the fragile egg became hard. However, the coffee bean is unique, it created something new. He asked her, “Which one are you?”

“Grayson my child, the meaning behind your name is a desire to understand. I want you to possess the loving truth of life, to understand that life isn’t about all happiness. One day, you will be glad that you didn’t give up because it leads you to where you at in the future. You need to know that it’s not always the stormy day but what will have after the rain and thunder.”

Tears drop run down into Grayson’s cheek, reminiscing his mother. He’s 23 years old now but his mother’s memory is still fresh to his mind. Today is his mother’s funeral. She died from brain cancer, they discovered her illness when it’s already severe. They thought that the constant headache is just because of the lack of sleep.

This is where Grayson Ramey’s life started to change.

People often dream that maybe in a hot spotlight; at someone’s eyes, the movements of their foot, the swing of their hands, and the glow of their eyes are captivating.

Grayson wore the dragon robe, this type of dress was the emperor’s robe in ancient times. It suits him because he is Chinese, and has white skin, neither of his height is small nor tall, just fine. Pink lips and long eyelashes, brown eyes, and pure black hair. He’s the type of man that you will surely look back to twice because even he is a man, his thin skin, soft face, and the exact size of his body occurs like a woman. He is wearing it as an outfit because he will be performing in a moment now. They are no longer in historical time, technologies have been developed and expand. So wearing that kind of robes is no longer the case.

The light dimmed and that is the indication that he needs to start. He slowly walks on the stage and the spotlight turned to him, and all spectators have become silent. The piano started to play, he closed his eyes and slowly swing his hands, and move his foot. He also moves his head and you can see the gentleness of the dance, and it feels like he’s performing for a movie. He is like a gem that shines in the dark.

After he finished dancing and opens his eyes, he met someone’s eyes, staring at him carefully and deeply. It made his heart jump one beat. He turned around and left but couldn’t remove to his mind the man that glances at him a while ago. The man has piercing and tattoos on his arm, broad chest, and brown skin but cold eyes.

“Prepare your things and change your clothes so we can go home and rest,” he only came back to his senses when someone lectures. He just disregarded the thought about the man he noticed a while ago.

Soon after: Grayson had already forgotten it. Not until when he came to visit a shop where he usually come to rent a costume; he saw the man standing firmly and brushing the emperor’s robe with his hand, and that robe was the one he used when they first met. He froze and when the man turned to him, he can’t help but his heart started beating fast and loud.

Again and again and again. Just like when they first met.

It feels that he recognized the man.