Chanyeol’s brows are furrowed as he clicks through the folders in search of a specific track. He hasn’t for the past week with the projects and what not and it’s giving him nothing but anxiety. While he was randomly clicking away, his eyes suddenly come across a familiar yet unexpected name and pauses. He blinks once, then twice before double clicking. It takes a moment before a voice actually is heard and it surprises him even more when it actually is Hera. He’s surprised by her singing abilities but what actually surprises him more is the conversation that happens after.

“H-How do you know that song? You weren’t even there, at my birthday.”

Chanyeol tries to recall Baekhyun’s more recent birthday and clearly, she wasn’t there. They didn’t even know her yet.

“I was. I was standing not too far away, having a heatstroke under the bear fur and dying of envy as you showered Haesoo with affection.”

His brows furrow deep into his brows at her reply. “Haesoo?”

Just then, the door to the studio swings open and Chanyeol turns around to find Baekhyun returning with their drinks. He’s clueless to what Chanyeol had just discovered until he hears his voice filling the room.

“I’m sorry.”

“Which birthday was this?” Chanyeol asks as Baekhyun struts over to turn off the speakers, startling Chanyeol in the process. “Did you two know one another before this?”

“It’s complicated,” Baekhyun says shortly as he slips back into his chair but Chanyeol isn’t willing to let it go.

“Who is Haesoo and why is Hera having a heatstroke under bear fur?”

“It’s just a joke,” Baekhyun lies but Chanyeol can see right through it, especially with how flustered he suddenly became.

“Byun Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun swallows.

“What the is going on here Baekhyun.” Chanyeol turns himself fully to face Baekhyun and sighs. “What’s going on between you and Hera? I’ve been wondering for a while but I didn’t want to assume things. You didn’t perhaps…”

“No,” Baekhyun answers clearly. “No. Nothing happened between me and Hera. I was faithful to Taeyeon until the very end.”

Chanyeol silently lets out a breath of relief. “Okay, you didn’t cheat. But there has to be something going on between you two,” Chanyeol insists. “You called her that one day when Taeyeon suddenly called off the recording session, aka the day you two broke it off again. What about that doesn’t sound suspicious at all?”

Baekhyun sighs and his body relaxes against the chair. He’s always known that Chanyeol was just pretending not to see that something was up between them and Baekhyun has been telling himself to be upfront with his best friend but who in this world would believe his ridiculous story?

Sighing once more, Baekhyun turns to Chanyeol. “You’re not going to believe anything I say and that’s okay because it won’t make any sense.” He pauses before reluctantly leaning over to dig out a small journal from his bag from the ground to present to Chanyeol.

The taller producer eyes the journal cautiously before taking it into his hands. He flips to the first page that was dated a few months ago, around the time Hera started working as an intern and hesitates. “What does this have to do with Hera though?”

Swallowing, Baekhyun lowers his gaze. “During the Goryeo Dynasty, King Taejo had twenty five sons and nine daughters. Among his sons, there was a tiny one named Eun, Wang Eun. Eun liked to play. He lacked martial arts skills and hated reading. His favorite item was this slingshot.” Turning to Chanyeol, he’s not one bit surprised to see him clouded in a wrath of confusion. He snorts and decides to continue with his story. “One year after a successful rain ceremony, The King decided that one of his sons were to wed. That year little Eun was chosen to marry the War General’s youngest daughter, Park Soondeok. She was the love of his life— quite literally— and unfortunately, their story ended before it could truly start, due to his stubbornness.”

“Once again,” Chanyeol blinks. “What does this have to do with you and Hera?”

Baekhyun points to his journal in Chanyeol’s hand. “Those are a collection of all my dreams.”

Chanyeol still looks as confused as ever but Baekhyun just silently urges him to read instead of asking any more questions. For minutes that seem like an eternity, Baekhyun sat in this painful silence as Chanyeol flipped through his journal. Each turn of a page made him groan inwardly because the more Chanyeol read on, the more vulnerable his thoughts and dreams became.

After what seemed like an eternity, Chanyeol finally closes the journal and after a long hard moment, he turns to Baekhyun.

“So, these are your dreams? You dream of yourself as Eun?”

Baekhyun sits up slightly. “Chanyeol, I’m Eun. I’m not dreaming of myself as Eun, I was Eun.”

Chanyeol eyes him strangely. “I’m confused…”

A loud groan rips through the room from Baekhyun as he pulls his hair in frustration. Suddenly, a lightbulb goes off in his head and he spins so sharply to Chanyeol that he jumps. “Call Wendy to come here.”

Nearly an hour later, Wendy finally arrives at the bubble tea shop near the company. She clearly looks confused and a little cautious with the way Chanyeol rushed her but nevertheless, she’s still smiling brightly as she greets them with a shy wave and a small bow.

“So, what’s this all about?” Wendy asks as she slips into the chair besides Chanyeol.

Chanyeol scratches his head as he pans from Baekhyun to his tiny girlfriend. “Uh.”

Wendy raises a brow at him before turning to Baekhyun, hoping for an explanation from him instead and it doesn’t take much for her to understand, more specifically, it only took two names.

“Eun and Deok.”

The confused look on Wendy’s face immediately washes away and it surprises Chanyeol when she turns to him with sentimental eyes.

“I first met Hera when I was fourteen. She was twelve. One night when we were having a sleepover at my sister’s place, she told me a story about a tiny prince who fell in love with the daughter of a war general.” Wendy watches as Chanyeol turns from her to Baekhyun with a mixture of awe and shock on his face. When he turns back to her, Wendy simply smiles before continuing. “He appeared in her dreams almost every night. She would tell me about them from time to time. Hera had always wondered why the boy kept appearing. From very early on, she had believed they weren’t just ordinary dreams because in dreams, you can still manipulate them; she couldn’t.”

There’s a slight pause before Wendy continues. “Then she met Byun PD and stated that he was The Prince in her dreams—.”

“—What do you mean by The Prince?” Chanyeol interrupts suspiciously.

Wendy calmly motions to Baekhyun across the table. “Tenth Prince of Goryeo, Wang Eun or otherwise known as Prince Gwangjuwon.”

Chanyeol’s jaw drops in more disbelief. “Babe, what type of joke are you guys trying to pull?”

“I’m one hundred percent serious,” Wendy explains calmly. “Hera never lived in Korea long enough to learn proper Korean history and this isn’t even Joseon we’re talking about, we’re talking about Goryeo Dynasty.”

“So,” Chanyeol’s brows furrow as he tries to piece everything together. “Are you trying to tell me that you,” he points to Baekhyun. “And Hera were a married couple in your past life and not just that, but you were the Tenth Prince of Goryeo and the reason why you guys remember is because you— Eun—died with one last wish to love her again?”

He looks at Wendy in hopes of her revealing it’s all some sort of prank but one look at her and Chanyeol knows she’s telling nothing but the truth. Sighing, he finally turns back to his friend.

“This is hard to believe but it explains why you keep speaking rubberish in old korean in your sleep,” he finally says. “So… what now? You two get together and shouldn’t that be the end of it?”

Baekhyun ruffles his hair as he groans. “That’s what I thought too but I realized it’s not that easy. Hera has to realize the actual events that unfolded and she has to realize the true feelings of Eun by herself. Until that happens, she won’t ever truly understand why a single wish was able to create all this chaos a thousand years later.”

Chanyeol makes a face sour expression after he recalls reading about their deaths. “That’s… sorta intense though… I mean… it’s actually really intense.”

Wendy turns from her boyfriend to Baekhyun. “What happened? Hera mentioned something about how your recorded death in history was far from what actually happened but she doesn’t know the details either…”

When Baekhyun’s expression slightly falters, Wendy grows worried and nudges Chanyeol for an explanation instead but he shakes his head and motions at Baekhyun with his eyes.

“You know what,” Wendy suddenly says with a nervous chuckle. “I already know too much about everyone’s past.” She shakes her head and Chanyeol shoots her a weird look. “Man, how did I become the only seemingly normal one. Let’s just let everything fall into place on its own, okay?”

Chanyeol’s eyebrow even higher just like his curiosity but he decides to hold off on his questions for later. Baekhyun’s issue was already more than enough for him to handle.

After the emergency meeting, Chanyeol decides to call it day and bids farewell to Baekhyun so he can send Wendy home. Instead of heading straight to her apartment, they decide to make a quick pitstop for some ice cream to cool them off a bit. As they sat on a bench nearby, Chanyeol finally remembers what he was going to ask Wendy after seeing an ad of EXO on the record store across the street from them.

“Earlier, you said something about knowing to much about people’s past. Are you perhaps talking about Seulgi?” Chanyeol asks after a spoonful of his chocolate chip ice cream.

Wendy sighs as she curls into the bench. “You know, recently I was thinking that life was pretty simple before Hera started working at SM, meaning before we met any of you guys.” She purses her lips. “Then I realized, Seulgi knew Sehun prior to even meeting Hera and me. The more I think about it, the more I realize that we were all truly fated to meet, in some way or another.”

When she looks up at her boyfriend again, she can tell he’s contemplating her words very seriously.

“Do you regret it?” He asks carefully.

There’s a pause before she shrugs a little. “Both of my friends, my closest friends are hurting in ways I don’t believe I can truly understand or be able to cope with if it were me. Do I regret meeting you? No. But it’s just unfair.”

“You can’t put yourself down for that,” Chanyeol explains. “It’s out of your control.”

Wendy purses her lips cutely as she sits back up again. “I know.” She glances at the EXO poster in the store window across the street, more specifically at Sehun and her gaze falters. “Right now, it’s the calm before the storm. I know it and I’m honestly scared.”

Chanyeol traces her gaze back to the EXO poster and his chest suddenly tightens. “Are they okay, Sehun and Seulgi?”

She looks up from her cup of melting icecream. They’re too okay, that’s the problem. The past will always catch up to you somehow, one way or another and she’s not sure how they’ll handle it this time.

***

“So he knows?” Hera sighs into her cup of tea as Wendy recaps the day for her and Seulgi. “And he actually believes it?”

Wendy nods. “It seems like it. He’s said he’s been very cautious of you two for a while and in a strange way, this is the only way to explain the situation. Plus he also said Baekhyun at history so for him to suddenly be so knowledgeable of Korean history, this makes sense.”

Seulgi snorts and shakes her head as she takes a sip from her large mug. “Nothing in our lives make sense these days.”

“You,” Hera turns to Seulgi with a stern finger pointing at her. “You and Sehun need to be careful. He comes over too much and I think the sasaengs have started to catch on. The other day when I was leaving for work, I swear I saw one lingering around the entrance.”