“I did that?”
“Yep,” he said with a little smile.
She still had that stunned look, not quite believing what he said. “And you were a poor boy?”
“Yep.”
“But all this,” she spread her arms indicating the garden, orchards and house, “How?”
“Let’s just say hard work and perseverance.”
“Wow, that’s something!” she exclaimed and looked at him, still with a measure of disbelief.
“But why did I bully you?”
“Well, you were one of the wealthy kids, pretty and smart, and I was the boy with hand-me-down clothes, old bag and worn boots.”
She shook her head slightly as she tried to process that in her mind.
“I can’t believe I did that.”
“Well, that was a long time ago,” he said with a smile that dismissed the bad things she had done to him.
She sighed with a little relief. “It’s good to see you did great for yourself.”
“It was quite a challenge, given I didn’t do well in school and my mother was still struggling, so I needed to earn money, and I dropped out to begin working at a farm.”
“Amazing, the successes you’ve gained,” she expressed.
“And you became the lawyer you had said you wanted to be.”
“Yes, it was my dream.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”

Her friends came back extremely happy with the photographs they had taken and promised to visit again. Amar, knowing the great efforts and heart his sister had put into creating the picturesque dream garden, called her from his phone.
“Can you come over to the Toucan Benab, please?”
He introduced her to the small group of visitors. “This is Attorney Alana Sookram and her friends from the UK.”
“Oh, wonderful!” Sarah expressed with a warm smile. “So nice to have you here.”
“It’s marvellous,” was their comment. “We simply love it.”
“You’ve done an amazing job,” Alana complimented her.
“Thanks, but I couldn’t have done it without my brother’s support.”
“That’s so great.”
A phone call came in for Sarah, and she excused herself to take it. Then, she turned back and offered to Alana and her friends, “Would you like to try some freshly baked cherry and guava tarts?”
“We’ll be delighted,” they accepted.
Sarah took them to the house and invited them to sit on the downstairs veranda to enjoy the cold, fresh drinks and tarts.
“This is heavenly!” they expressed.
As customary to all visitors, a small complimentary basket of fruits was given to them. As they got ready to take their leave, Amar walked up to them and said quietly to Alana, “It was nice having you here again.”
She smiled, “And thanks for treating us so nicely.”
He nodded with that pleasant, casual smile and, taking a deep breath, she stepped a little closer to him and said, “I’m sorry for the bad things I did to you.”
“That’s okay, I never held any animosity.”
“See you another day,” she said with a promising smile.
“Very beautiful,” his sister said at his shoulder as Alana drove off.
“Yes, she has always been.”
She did not visit the garden of dreams for a little while and though he tried not to think of her, he just couldn’t stop his thoughts, and he wondered, “Is she feeling guilty because I told her she used to bully me, or is it because she knows now I was once poor and she doesn’t like that?”
One month later, she visited with two of her colleagues and all his worries dissipated.
“We had a big and challenging case,” she told him, “and we won, so it’s time to relax a little.”
“Congratulations,” he extended to the three attorneys. “I like to see women succeeding in their fields.”
“Thanks, that’s encouraging.”
And so, after unexpectedly meeting again since primary school, a nice casual friendship began to develop. They were not in the same social league or from the same family status, but they enjoyed each other’s company. He liked the way she smiled, the sound of her laughter, but sometimes, while talking, he noticed a flicker of sadness in her eyes. It was clear she was worried about something, but he did not let on to her that he noticed until one day, she said to him, “Your mother is such a sweet woman.”
“Yes, and a superheroine to us, her children.”
“And your father?”
Amar sighed and said with a wry expression, “He left us a long time ago, so we grew up with a single mother. Then many years later he died.”
“That’s a story of struggles and heartache,” she said.
He didn’t say anything and after a long while, she looked up at him, that sad look in her eyes.
“My mother is a very beautiful woman, soft and kind, but sadly my father cheats on her.”
“Oh, sorry to hear that.”
“And whenever that crosses my mind, it makes me feel sad, to a point where I don’t want to talk to anyone, just wanting to be alone with peace and quiet.”
“So that’s why you fell in love with the place?”
She didn’t have to answer because the look in her eyes and the way she smiled answered the question for him. An overwhelming feeling of joy filled his heart and he said to her, “You can come here anytime you want. Even though I won’t always be here, I’m most times at the farm.”
“Thank you,” she said, and reaching out, she touched his hand, “You’re a kind person.”
And as the months went by, they met at weddings, birthdays, at clubs and restaurants, and the casualness of their friendship changed to something closer, but he wasn’t sure how she felt about him.
He eventually braved his mind to ask her.
“Is it okay to introduce you as my girlfriend?”
She turned to look at him and asked with no smile on her face, “Why?”
He was a bit taken aback by her response, and he couldn’t retract the question, so he answered from that unique feeling in his heart.
“Because I like you very much.”
She held that serious look for a longer moment, then smiled slowly until he could see the warmth in her eyes. Then she answered, “Yes, you can.”
Amar exhaled with relief. “Darn, I thought you—”
She laughed a little, “I was just playing with you.”
For the first time, he saw a spark of love in her eyes, and lifting her up in his arms, he spun around with her, as she squealed with surprise. He put her down and held her close in his arms in the dream garden, for in life a dream had found him.