[The passage of time flew by me, like I was inside a chrysalis being pampered and protected, just waiting for my wings to sprout, and inside it felt like I was stuck in the realm between the physical and spiritual.]

  ...

  On a midsummer solstice, where the villagers celebrate their upcoming bountiful harvest by giving out flowers to each other, a mother decided to again, bestow upon her wreath to her son who was asleep, for a hope that her wish may come true.

  The mother with both of her hands gently laid down the wreath on her son's head, she then gently caressed her son's hair and told him a story about how her life went, her husband's day, and the neighbor's day, every day for the past three years, without ever missing a single day-

  "Hey, did you know? this solstice it seems that we will be harvesting the most pineapples I've ever seen in years! I bet you would like to eat until your mouth feels raspy." but then again similar to yesterday, to the weeks before, to the months before, and to the year before, there was still no response...

  Estella just smiled back at her son, still laying there feebly, with a peaceful look on his face-

  "It's okay, I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes..."

  "B-By the way I heard our neighbor Alicia apparently have gotten pregnant, and all of her family came home to celebrate, but when the baby came out, it had the same green eyes as her brother, but that trait only appears when both of the parents have green eyes, isn't that kind of funny?" Estella then went on and on, changing from topics to topics until she fell asleep while holding her son's hand-

  On her dreams, she was always inside a room that would be flooded with water, however every time she would try to run, her body and the objects around would completely remain in stasis, until she became asphyxiated.

  There was no going forward or backward, only guilt that she can't seem to wash away, as every time she woke up, she would completely forget everything that just happened-

  However, this time it was different, she felt a single touch on her head, and that was enough to pull her out of that nightmare...

  With her head lying beside her son's stomach, as she opened her eyes, the lights reflecting through the windows began to reappear in her sight.

  A familiar silhouette then started patting her while she was half asleep, she couldn't help but feel comforted by its little and soft hands.

  She then leaned on forward, but when she came to be fully awake, she could not contain herself-

  "P-Philip! Is it really you? I-I'm not dreaming, am I?" Estella asked in disbelief.

  "Waaah!" Tears began to fall from her eyes, uncontrollably, while she hugged her son as tightly as she could.

  Sniffle! Sniffle!

  Estella couldn't contain herself; she had been longing for this day to come, even with just a tiny fraction of hope, then all of a sudden just like that-

  In return, Philip seeing the sight of his mother, also hugged her tightly, it's just that-that was what he wanted to do for the past three years that he had not been able to move, to comfort her, because even though it hasn't been that long since this family took him in, and that at first Estella was reluctant, what followed after was what can only be called a mother's love.

  Philip fully accepted her, Estella was his mother now, and as a gesture of that, he wholly embraced her...

  Several mixed emotions surged throughout her, it was like time had slowed down for her, because she wanted to savor every last bit of this moment.

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  Because even remembering those painful memories, starting from day one-

  ***

  But now those painful memories were slowly being washed away, like the tears that were rooted from sorrow to happiness.

  Then as Estella was continuing on hugging her son, not willing to let him go, Philip uttered his first words after a while, "Hey mom, what about the pineapple-and what were you talking about when you mentioned Alicia's baby?"

  ...

  [It's been a few days since I've awoken and quite frankly, I've been having a hard time adjusting to my new body.]

  [I feel light like there were restrictions that have been lifted off of my body, like some part of me had been corrected. But most importantly of all, after I awoken, I can now finally use magic...]