LOVE ME IN ANOTHER LIFE

Daniel stood still, with eye focus on Andrian position.

“ Please take him out of this place.” Elara said to the police.

Andrian gets into Daniel and speaks.

“ I am going nowhere, this is my house.” He said.

“ He speaks and acts more like Andrian.” The police were amazed.

“ Do you know anything about him?” The investigate him

“ What do you expect me to know about Andrian? “ Daniel speaks.

The police breathed in shock, and had to leave immediately. Andrian remains in Daniel's body.

He hadn’t stopped studying her, though not in a way that felt invasive. His gaze carried that same quiet ache Adrian’s had — thoughtful, restrained, as though he were searching for something just out of reach.

Every time she met his eyes, she saw traces of the man she’d lost: the curve of his jaw, the faint scar by his temple, even the subtle way he tilted his head when listening. It was all too familiar — and yet, not.

Daniel wasn’t Adrian. He couldn’t be.

“So you were… close?” he asked gently, breaking the stillness. “ You still wonder.?” He added with a smile.

Elara hesitated, her throat tightening. “We were engaged,” she whispered. “He was supposed to come back last March. But the plane…” She trailed off, unable to say the rest.

Daniel’s expression softened with quiet grief. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how hard that must’ve been.”

Her fingers tightened around the mug. “I thought I was getting better,” she murmured. “Until you showed up. Until you looked at me with his eyes.”

Daniel dropped his gaze, guilt flickering across his face. “I didn’t mean to bring pain.”

“No,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “It’s not that. It’s just—” She exhaled. “You said you’d been dreaming of that painting. The one with the man reaching toward the light. Why?”

“I don’t know,” he said, brow furrowing. “When I woke up in the hospital, the doctors said I’d been found unconscious near the northern coast. I had a head injury — no ID, no memory of how I got there. But when they showed me photographs of the crash site…” He hesitated. “It was the same stretch of beach from my dreams.”

Elara’s breath hitched. “The same beach where they found fragments of the wreckage?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

Her pulse quickened. “Then maybe you were—”

“I wasn’t on that plane,” he interrupted softly. “I checked. The passenger list didn’t include my name. But somehow, I know it. The sound of the sea, the fire in the sky — it’s like I’ve been there before, just… from the other side.”

Elara’s fingers trembled against the mug. “The other side?”

He lifted his gaze to hers, voice low. “The space between living and not. That silence before waking. Sometimes I think… he’s still there.”

She swallowed, her voice barely a whisper. “Adrian.”

“Yes.”

The name hung between them, fragile as glass.

Outside, the wind brushed against the windows, carrying the faint hum of distant thunder.

Daniel leaned forward, his hand resting lightly on the table. “Can I ask you something?”

Elara nodded wordlessly.

“Before he disappeared… did he ever mention strange dreams? Or hearing things that didn’t make sense?”

She blinked, startled. “How did you—?”

“I see them,” Daniel murmured. “Flashes. His hands painting by candlelight, his voice whispering something I can’t understand. Sometimes it feels like… like his memories are bleeding into mine.”

Her heart skipped. “That’s impossible.”

He gave a small, humorless smile. “So is waking up with another man’s face.”

Elara rose from her chair, pacing toward the window. The rain had thinned into a drizzle, silver threads glinting against the glass. She pressed a hand to the cold pane, her reflection blurring beside his in the faint light.

“Adrian used to tell me,” she said softly, “that love doesn’t end. That it just… changes shape. Like water, finding new rivers to flow through.” She turned to him. “Do you think that’s what this is? Some… shape of him trying to find me again?”

Daniel’s voice was barely audible. “Maybe.”

Their eyes met — a quiet collision of grief and wonder. And in that moment, something in the air shifted. The faint scent of cedarwood returned, curling through the room like smoke.

Elara froze. Daniel’s head turned sharply toward the source.

“Do you smell that?” she whispered.

He nodded slowly. “Yes. It’s the same as before.”

Then, a sound — faint but clear — drifted from the studio. A single note from the record player, though no record had been placed upon it. Elara’s chest tightened as the low hum began again. Adrian’s hum.

She turned to Daniel, her face pale. “He’s here.”

Without thinking, she rushed into the studio. The air inside felt heavier, warmer, almost breathing. The painting stood beneath the lamplight — and once again, it had changed.

Now the man’s fingertips touched the light. And from that light, another hand reached back.

Elara stumbled back, hand over her mouth. “No… no, it can’t—”

Daniel appeared behind her, eyes wide as he took in the scene. “It’s him,” he whispered. “He’s reaching through.”

Tears filled her eyes. “For what?”

Daniel stepped closer to the canvas, his hand lifting almost unconsciously toward the painted figure. “Maybe for us.”

“Elara, don’t—” she began, but it was too late.

His fingertips brushed the surface — and the room pulsed with sudden warmth. The light flickered. For a heartbeat, everything slowed. The scent of cedar deepened, mingled with salt air, and faint whispers filled the air like echoes trapped in glass.

Elara staggered, gripping the wall. “What’s happening?”

Daniel drew back, gasping. His hand shook violently, and when she looked closer, faint traces of gold shimmered along his skin — gone a moment later.

“I saw something,” he whispered hoarsely. “The sea… fire… and him — standing in the water, calling your name.”

Elara’s vision blurred. “You saw Adrian?”

He nodded weakly. “He said… ‘Tell her I’m not gone.’”

Her knees nearly gave way. She reached out, grasping his arm for balance, tears slipping down her face. “Why you?” she whispered. “Why does he speak to you?”

Daniel’s voice trembled. “Maybe because I’m part of him.”

For a long time, neither moved. The only sound was the soft crackle of the storm’s tail fading into silence.

Then Daniel turned to her, eyes glistening. “Elara, I need to know what he was working on before he left. Anything — letters, sketches, notes. Something that connects to this.”

She hesitated, still trembling. “There was a notebook,” she said at last. “But I could never open it. It was sealed with a lock I didn’t have the key for.”

“Where is it?”

She led him to a drawer in the studio desk. Inside lay a worn leather book, darkened with time. A tiny silver clasp sealed it shut, engraved with the initials A.C.

Daniel touched the lock gently — and with a faint metallic click, it opened.

Elara gasped. “I’ve tried for months—”

He looked just as shocked. “I didn’t even—”

They exchanged a wary glance before he turned the cover.

The first page held a charcoal sketch — the same image from the painting. Beneath it, in Adrian’s handwriting, were five words that chilled her to the bone:

“When the storm ends, follow him.”

Elara’s voice trembled. “Follow him where?”

Daniel’s gaze flickered downward. “There’s more.”

Finally, near the end, one note stood out, scrawled in haste:

“If the light finds another vessel, don’t be afraid. Love will know its way home.”

Elara’s hand covered her mouth, her eyes widening. “Vessel…” She looked up at him, her voice breaking. “Daniel… he meant you.”

He shook his head, stepping back. “That’s not possible.”

“Then how else do you explain this?” she whispered, pointing to the painting, the lock, the scent that returned whenever he was near. “You found his letter. You look like him. You dream his dreams.”

He ran a hand through his hair, pacing. “I don’t know what I am anymore. I just know I can’t leave until I understand why I was drawn to you.”

" You don't understand yourself, how do you expect me to trust you.?" She asked him obviously.

" There's no need to trust me, rather believe me to find him."

Elara’s heart ached — torn between fear and longing. She stepped closer, her voice soft but steady. “Then stay.”

He froze, staring at her.

“Stay,” she repeated. “Until we find out what this is. Until we know where he is — or what he’s become.”

Daniel searched her eyes for a long, breathless moment. Then, slowly, he nodded. “All right.”

" But don't come anywhere close to me." She spoke on how she detest him.

" Shouldn't I help anymore." He asked her.

" Maybe I don't want your help. Besides, the police are searching around. I believe they will find him."

" Am I a stranger.?" He asked just as Andrian has always asked questions.

" I am supposed to be committed to him in search of my man. But no, he might be a dangerous stranger."

" What are you thinking about?" Daniel got her attention.

" Excuse me." She stood and left. Max followed her immediately.

" You seem to be familiar with that stranger." Elara asked Max. Max ran fast to Daniel and started playing with him.

" He plays Ike Andria, even Max got connected to him." Elara said within herself.

Max shocked its tail around, then sat on the floor, its face focused on Daniel.

" Who are you.?" She asked Daniel again.

" Why not swim with me.?" Daniel asked with a tone sounding like Andria's.

" Come on Elara, it has been a long time since we played."

" I don't know you from Adam." She replied with shock..

" Are you his ghost.?"

Elara yet to ask properly, Andria left Daniel's body, for a moment, and stood before the wall.

" Get her attention, make sure she loves you." Andrian told Daniel.

"Love....?" He asked.

" You have started again." Elara asked him.

" Who are you speaking with.?" She asked him without hesitation.

" Maybe someone you know.?" Said Daniel.

Daniel stared at Elara, then asked Adrian Ghost. " She is arrogant, you can't expect me to marry her."

Elara, trying to leave, broke a glass cup.