I

Today, I am going to tell you a story, a true one based on my very own experience. I think it is quite interesting a story and can entertain you, so... enjoy!

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It was just an ordinary night like any other night. I went to bed after a long exhausting day, hoping that I would have had a pleasant dream, or at least not a mind-torturing one that would give me a horrible headache the morning after. Yet, I did not know that something really bizarre was about to happen to me.

Soon after I closed my eyes, I knew that something was not right. Unlike other usual dreams, I was not in some familiar places but somewhere like a kind of reception room with walls covered in light yellow wallpaper with little brown flowers pattern. However, it did not seem that there was anyone there, beside me.

Right at the moment I started to worry, a sound, which I thought was in a rather over-friendly tone, from behind took me by surprise, "Hello! Nice to meet you! My name is Khoa, and I am going to be your tour guide today."

I turned back and in front of me was an Asian boy with black hair and dark brown eyes, quite the usual features you get from a typical Asian. The boy was smiling, a friendly smile but somewhat enigmatic. Moreover, beside the boy's popping-out-of-nowhere, one more thing that really surprised me is the "tour".

"What tour?", I asked him without any thinking.

"What? You don't know which tour this is? Don't worry my friend, I will tell you everything on our journey. Let's go!"

Suddenly, Khoa grabbed my hand and jumped on the weird-looking machine near there (which, I swear, was not in the room just seconds ago), not allowing me to say a single word. No sooner than I was able to sit down properly that the machine operated, and everything around us turned white. Just in a blink, and we were somewhere else, flying. Yeah, literally flying, as I saw nothing like the ground or any other kind of surface below us. I was about to ask Khoa where we were, but Khoa took a step faster and announced, "My friend, welcome to Vietnam - a beautiful country in South East Asia!"

He stopped for a couple of seconds, and then continued, "This is the main and only country that we are visiting during the tour, but believe me, you will like it! Besides, for safety purposes, there are three rules which you should strictly follow: Do not speak, do not touch anything and the last one - also the most important one - do not stay more than five metres far away from me. Got it?"

I nodded and wanted to say, "Yes" but I suddenly realised that although my mouth was opened, no sound was given out. I was really confused, but Khoa noticed and gave me the answer, "Don't be worried my friend, this will not last forever. It is just temporary and soon after the tour, your sound will come back to you without a single scratch!"

"This is quite odd", I thought, "Well, this is just a dream, no need to be so serious about it."

Having had that thought in mind, I wasn't really concerned about my voice anymore but the surroundings instead.

Right then, we were flying above the city. From the machine, I saw people and vehicles rushing through the streets although, to be honest, they looked like ants marching from such height. Farther away from the city centre, I saw several factories, from whose chimneys masses of grey smoke were flying out, blending into the clouds.

"Gloomy", I thought.

However, while my mind was still filled with the smoke and clouds, Khoa started to speak, "All right, my dear friend, let's begin our journey, shall we?"

He paused to clear his throat, and then he continued, "The city where we are standing on right now is Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. She is gorgeous, isn't she? Nevertheless, we are not going sightseeing today. Actually, we are not going sightseeing at all."

Immediately, questions arose in my mind, and I was certain that they were shown on my face too, since he looked at me and gave me a smile, like before, a friendly but somewhat enigmatic smile.

"My dear friend, the tour you are going on today is no ordinary tour. The "place", or the "thing" to be precise, we are going to visit today, is the maturation of a little boy. What can match its beauty? The sweetness of the glorious fruit of life, the exquisite metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a gorgeous butterfly, the elegance of a flower blossoming in spring light; there are so many great words that can be used to describe it. That, my friend, is a true wonder of life!" Despite all those beautiful descriptions he gave, Khoa's expression did not seem to match the words he said. Actually, it looked as if he was making fun of it.

"My dear friend, all these times I have been waiting for this day to come, to be able to show it to you myself. I guarantee that this tour will be unforgettable." Khoa's words were full of sincerity.

There was a slight feeling of unsettlement. It was like when you found out that there had always been someone watching you from a dark corner all these years and you didn't have a single clue about it. "Why should he be waiting for me "all these times?"", I thought.

"Alright, this is just a dream and inside a dream, any thing is possible. So why can't there be a guy who had been waiting for a long time to show me something? Although I must admit that this sounds very, very weird", I told myself.

There was a moment of quietness since Khoa did not express any desire to talk and I simply had no idea what to say at that time. Eventually, it was Khoa who broke the silence, "The boy whose life we are going to look at lives in this city. In fact, his house is right below us. Let's pay him a visit."