I was having a dream. In my dream, I was being chased by the weird Halmeoni and no matter how fast I ran; it was useless as she easily caught up with me in a blink of any eye.

Just as I was at my wits end, I turned around and decided to face her bravely but I felt a strong Nightmare spirit. With that I woke up.

I sat up abruptly and rubbed my eyes to look at my surrounding....

The lighting in the living room was soft and it was in a modern style concept and mainly used beige as the colour. The appliances were black and the combination seemed cold. The only thing that I could guess from the owner was a huge poster which occupied almost more than half of the wall.

In the poster were a few young boutish looking males. Their shyness could be seen and yet they had determined eyes for moving boldly forward.

Where am I? How did I landed up on the sofa?

I was recounting the events before I lost my consciousness. I lowered my head and saw that my injuries had been bandaged up. Donghae reall did not send me to hospital and so this must be his home?

Where was Donghae?

The strong feeling of a Nightmare spirit came again and I realized Donghae dozing off near me. He must had been haunted by nightmares for a long time because of such a strong Nightmare spirit that I felt.

His face was pale and dark rings were seen underneath his closed eyes. Donghae was frowning and a thin layer of sweat covered his forehead. He seemed to be in agony.

I tried moving my arms and I felt I had recovered a bit of my energy. I think it would be okay for me just to enter into his dream?

I placed my palm on Donghae's forehead and slowly my palm felt hot. My body became light and light emitted at the place where my palm touched Donghae's forehead. The light enveloped us and my body starting to become transparent till I sank into his body....

When I opened my eyes, a different scene greeted me.

It should be after school time because there was a lot of children with bags and adults coming to fetch them.

Near to the gate was a cross junction.

"Umma faster!" A little boy about 10 years old was calling out to a middle aged woman behind him.

Their appearance would make everyone believed that they were related and the little boy should be the younger Donghae.

"Donghae, wait for me....." Donghae's umma was shouting out.

"But the chocolate pudding in the dessert store would be sold out soon if we don't hurry there." Little Donghae called out and dash forward.

"Donghae, it is dangerous. Wait for umma to cross the road!" Donghae's umma quicken her pace to chase after little Donghae.

Little Donghae stood in the centre of the road and turned his head around," Umma, faster!"

"It's very dangerous....." Donghae's umma ran towards Donghae abd she was full of anxiety.

At this time, a truck sped towards Donghae.....

'Beeeeeep'

The driver was sounding the horn madly while his leg was frantically stepping on the brakes but it failed.

Seeing that the truck was going to hit Donghae, Donghae's umma jumped towards him and pushed Donghae away.  She herself was seen flying off after being hit.

The surrounding was chaotic with full of screams and shrieks. Crowd began to form, someone was calling for ambulance,  some were talking about.... in this noisy environment, little Donghae seemed to turn deaf as he could hear nothing.

Donghae fell by the pavement and he witnessed how his umma became a lifeless doll bring flung up and landed on the road. Blood started to oozed out profusely from her body and it turned into a large pool of crimson red.

Little Donghae opened his mouth  but he only uttered a hoarse "Umma......"

Finally, they discovered little Donghae and someone came over to helped him, talking to him.

Donghae could not hear anything,  nothing at all

All the while his umma did not move and Donghae finally realized something; crying our loud.

"Umma.... Umma... Haehae does not want pudding anymore....  Umma, wake up. I am scared...."

Next to the gruesome sight, little Donghae was enveloped by fear and despair. He was crying so badly that his little chubby face was red.

This was Donghae's nightmare?

I sniffed and tried to control the urge to cry.

It was such a painful nightmare and no wonder that the Nightmare spirit was so strong. This must be the most painful day in Donghae's life.

Each time Donghae had this nightmare,  he had to go through this torment and he could not get out of it.

Donghae must be very sad?

Okay, I decided that once I recovered; I would help Donghae to destroy this Nightmare spirit. Just treat this as my gratitude to him for rescuing me from the weird halmeoni and treating my injuries.

Plus if I could destroy such a strong Nightmare spirit, I would definitely passed my exam with flying colours and I could show off in front of Yesung hyung.

Keke keke, daebak! How could I give up on this.

But now I think it would be best if I leave Donghae's dream and to wake him up from the Nightmare.

I closed my eyes and willed myself to leave Donghae's dream. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to reality and my body, fingers resumed to its physical form and the lights faded away.

"Donghae, Donghae, wake up!" I shook the perspiring Donghae and called out to him.

Donghae opened his eyes and he was in a daze. The sadness on his eyes was still there and his eyes also reflected his despair which hit me.

My heart squeezed and it felt like as if someone grabbed it, making me unable to breathe.

Donghae slowly woke up and my reflection was seen in his eyes.  Instinctively, Donghae pulled back and spoke," You are awake. Are you okay?"

"Yup, I am okay. I see that you are having a nightmare and so I woke you up...."

Donghae paused and nodded his head. He sat up and began to smoothen his hair.

The atmosphere became tense. I tried to think of something to say to lift the mood but my brain was not functioning at this critical moment. While I was thinking of what to say, Dongahe lifted his head and looked at me.

"What.... what is wrong?" I felt pressured by his stars at me.

"You said that you are a Dream hunter?"

"Hmm." I nodded. Why was Donghae asking me about this?

"You can really see my nightmare?"

"Of course. Didn't I tell you earlier." Unknowingly I raised my chest up. Donghae still did not trust me? But he did not send me to hospital.

"Yes, you told me before but I still find it fascinating about this. Seeing that you are so terrified of going to hospital, there must be a reason and so I brought you home.

Huh how did Donghae knew what I was thinking?

"Because you said out what you are thinking." Donghae looked at me with a grin.

Ahhhh? I covered my face in shame. To think that I did not realize this. But...................

" I am really a Dream Hunter and just now I saw your nightmare where your umma....." I was frantically trying to prove that I am not lying but halfway through, I realized that I am deepening his pain and I quickly covered my mouth. "Sorry, I..." I replied shlyly.

Donghae's body became stiff and he sighed," I never think that you actually saw...."

"I can see it! But this nightmare had been haunting you for a long time because the Nightmare spirit seemed very strong...."

"Strong?"

"Hmm. The Nightmare spirits can be classified as strong or weak. The longer the Nightmare spirits resided in human's nightmares, the sadder and sorrowful will the nightmare be. The Nightmare spirits will became stronger and if they grew to the state that they are too strong, the human's life can be in danger."

"For the past 7 years, I can't sleep and eat well and it is the punishment for me as I cause the death of Umma...." Donghae stopped and he became sad.

What punishment? Donghae was so pessistimistic and no wonder the Nightmare spirit was so strong.

"Don't think of it this way. No one knew that the truck would came crashing like that. Plus your umma would be very upset if she knew that her death  made you to be like this. So, be happy and do you really want the nightmare to haunt you forever?" I stared at Donghae who was sitting on the sofa and I tried to make myself happy to influence his mood.

"You won't understand..." Donghae sighed, resting his legs on the sofa and placed his head between his head.

I looked at Donghae and I was lost for words.

"You can tell me about it so that I can understand. Though Yesung hyung always said that I am clumsy and stupid but I am sincere in wanting to help you. Don't worry because no matter what happens, I will think of ways to destroy the Nightmare spirits...." I blabbered on.

Yesung hyung ever told me that whenever I am nervous, I would start talking non stop. I sat beside Donghae

I went to Donghae and sat next to him. I started telling Donghae everything about Dream world, my life there and all the funny and embarassed incidents that happended while I was destroying the Nightmare spirits during my mission even till the recent case whereby a Nightmare spirit escaped when I sneezed.....

Halfway through, Donghae raised his head, wore his slippers and got up....

I was shocked and I stopped talking while I watched Donghae left the living room. I saw him going into the kitchen,  pulled something out from the fridge and popped it into the microwave. After about 15 minutes, Donghae came out with a plate.

Huh? Donghae was hungry?

"Stop talking and eat." Donghae placed the plate on the coffee table, in front of me. He seemed to have calmed down.

Huh? What was the meaning of this? Was Donghae implying that I am too?

I pouted and glared at Donghae. My vision swept across the coffee table and immediately I grinned widely - Wow! It was my favourite strawberry pie!

I went closer to it and sniffed. The sweet aroma of strawberry made me hungry.

Donghae was eyeing me with amusement, making me feeling embarassed till I straightened my body. I swallowed my saliva and mumbled softly, " I am... I am going to dig in."

I did not wait for Donghae's respond and quickly shoved a big bit of the strawberry pie into my mouth. The chewy goodness quickly spread from the tip of my tongue to my whole mouth. It was a feeling of pure happiness as if I am in Heaven. It was so delicious that I closed my eyes instinctively and let out a satisfied sound.

"It is so delicious?" Donghae squatted on the floor and looked at me funnily, holding his head on his hands.

I was busily shoving more strawberry pie into my mouth till it was full and I could only nodded while I chew. " Yes! This is super delicious.  If I can eat this everyday,  I will die of happiness...."

Donghae seemed to think of something and his expression became soft and his eyes had those warm glow.

Being stared by those glares,  I felt shy and poke a bit of the strawberry pie towards Donghae, " Do you want some?"

Donghae looked at me and then at the strawberry pie before he leaned forward and bit it.

I was mesmerized by the refined way that Donghae ate the strawberry pie and I did not know what to do.

After a while, Donghae return to his seat and pulled out some tissue paper to wipe his mouth ," Still the same taste."

Huh? What was that supposed to mean? Ah, never mind. This was too delicious!

"Who made this? Can you ask her to teach me?"

"You want to learn?  Okay, wait till I am free." Donghae replied nonchalantly at me. His amber coloured iris was b with happiness.

"You made this?"

It must be a joke? How could Donghae possibly make such awesome strawberry pie?

I was inspecting Donghae with suspicion and he did not seem like someone who knew how to cook.

Donghae merely nodded his head and looked arrogantly at me," Haven't you notice that there isn't a 3rd person staying here?"

Oh he was right! Okay, it was a small matter because the important thing was to savour my strawberry pie!

The whole strawberry pie went into my stomach and I rubbed my bulging tummy while sitting on the sofa. I was staring at Donghae dreamily.

I am so full and I felt like sleeping.....

"Aren't going to go back home?" Donghae asked me after a long silent.

"Can I stay here for the time being?" I had made up my mind to help Donghae to destroy the Nightmare spirit and therefore I had to stay here with him!

For your information, it was not so easy to deal with a strong Nightmare spirit. I had to make a lot of preparation works till Donghae was ready and also till a suitable timing....

Donghae did not expect my reply to be as such and he was stunned, " But you are a kid, you should go home..."

"Yah I am not a kid though I looked small and skinny. My home is in the Dream world and it is very troublesome to travel to and fro. Since I am going to help you to deal with that Nightmare spirit, it will be better for me to stay here so as to gather more information on it...."

But the most imprtant reason was being able to eat my favourite strawberry pie! If I got to stay here, I would be able to eat the sweet treats and thinking of it made me felt that I am surrounded with bubbles of joy, laughter and blissful.

"Actually, I don't need your help...."

"Nonsense, how can you say that. It's settled. To express my gratitude for saving my life, I am staying here to get rid of the Nightmare spirit..." I pumped my fist in the air and showed a victory sign.

"No. I am not agreeing to this." Donghae interrupted me.

"Whyyyyy?"

"I am not used to staying with someone else."

Oh no.  I had to think of a way to stay here. My brain started to think... Oh right!

I quickly showed a puppy eyes and pouty expression ( especially to Yesung hyung when I gotten into trouble and needed his help) and whined," Wooo. ... Please Donghae, let me stay here...... See I am injured and my magic had not recovered. If I leave now, it will be extremely dangerous for me...."

"But...." Donghae hesitated.

I showed my saddest puppy eyes at Donghae and even rubbed my eyes, faking a sob," What you are doing now is not different in sending me to hospital. And you are responsible for my injuries."

Donghae touched the bridge of his nose," I apologized for causing your injuries, but... isn't your magic recover else how can you see my dream?"

Oh sh*t, Donghae saw through my lies.

I let out an awkward cough," Yes, I recover some magic but it was all drained off after going into your dream."

Donghae did not respond which made me feel nervous. It was such a rare chance that I met with such a strong Nightmare spirit and I am not going to miss this.

I closed my eyes and showed my dejected looks," If you let me stay here, I can help with the household chores, cooking.... In short, I will do whatever you tell me. Please.... let me stay here!"

Althought it was Umma who did all the household chores and Yesung hyung did the cooking. But.... It wouldn't be too difficult to learn and do right? I did not want to care anymore as the top priority was to let Donghae to allow me to stay here.

" Fine  you can stay here...." Donghae sighed.

I opened my eyes in atonishement and before I could say anything,  Donhae spoke," But you can't disturb me, can't be too noisy because I can't stand noise."

"Yes sir!" I saluted Donghae and I was jumping happily.

"And....." Donghae gave a lazy stretch and hugged the cushion, " I do not need you to do all the household chores. You just take charge of cooking and just maintain the cleanliness of this place.

Er....

"Okay...."

Donghae looked down at me ( due to his height) and pointed to a door," You will take the guest room. I am going to sleep now." Donghae hugged the cushion and walked into his bedroom.

I was stoned in my position while seeing Donghae disappearing into his bedroom. Somehow I had a hutch that my life here would not be so rosy.

Cooking and maintaining the cleanliness, how am I suppose to do that?

"I better ask Yesung hyung." I took out the communicator and tried to send a message to Yesung hyung but....

Arrgghhhh! There was still no signal. I had already escape from the weird halmeoni's bottle... could be it due to my magic not being fully recovered because of my injuries?

Aishi, it was giving me headache and I should just go and sleep. I would try again tomorrow.

I had no idea that I am going on a very tough journey to vanquish the Nightmare spirit.....

But even if I knew... I would still choose this path. Haiz.