He woke up with Vienna Teng’s Waking Hour playing in the CD player, and with the love of his life beside him. He could do nothing but look at her.

And look at her, he did. Then he sighed.

She took a deep breath as Vienna Teng sang “Eric’s Song.”

I measure the time and I stand amazed.

They’ve been together ever since she was a child.

He was with her when she first bled. He was with her when she fell from her bike for the first time. He was with her when she first fell in love. He was with her during her first heartbreak. He was with her when no one took her out to her first high school dance.

Every time she laughed…every time she cried…he was there.

As he recalled these, Vienna Teng kept on singing.

Strange how we know each other…

It was from him where she got her very first kiss. She never knew it, though. She was sleeping when he stole that kiss from her lips.

There's a distance erased with the greatest of ease.

Whenever she would cry about “giving her first kiss to the wrong person,” he could only sigh. He wondered if it would change things if she knew to whom she really gave her first kiss. But he didn’t have the courage to tell her. It would only make her feel worse.

They were fourteen during that time. Now they’re seventeen…and she still doesn’t know that the one she first kissed was...

Strange how certain the journey, time unfolds the petals for our eyes to see.

As time passed, he was falling for her more and more. When was the first time he fell in love with her? Even he doesn’t know. He just…did.

But as his love for her grew, so did his fear of losing her. One day, she might just forget him and never call on him again when she needed him.

When that day comes, he says, that will be the time he shall cease to exist.

Strange how this journey's hurting, in ways we accept as part of fate's decree.

He wrapped his arm around her. She just stayed still, continued dreaming of things that may or may not have anything to do with him.

This made his heart cry. She couldn’t feel him, and he knew it. How did he know? He couldn’t feel her either. He was just an imaginary entity after all.

He moved closer to her, and whispered things in her ear, pretending that she could hear him. He told her that if time decides to take her away, he wouldn’t object. She has to grow up. However, if she should need him, he will be there – the non-existent boy who loved her with real love.

To his surprise, she smiled. Did she hear him? Did she feel him after all? Were they just given a miracle?

Ignoring all feelings of sadness and happiness, now he felt only love. He stayed beside her and watched her some more.

“You know what makes me happy?” He uttered to her. Vienna Teng couldn’t have picked better words to describe it.

…The sacred simplicity of you at my side.