“What do you mean by your name?” Baekhyun asks return.

Hera hesitates for a moment. “It’s not my name but it is.” She thinks back to the night of the party and the way he looked at her when she asked him if he believes of a previous life. Swallowing hard, Hera bites down on her jaw. “You have those dreams too, don’t you?”

She watches the slightest hint of his adam’s apple move up and down as he swallows nervously.

“In those dreams, I’m a prince,” Baekhyun recalls quietly as the color drains from Hera’s face. “I’m tenth in line to the throne. I have a favorite sling shot. I’m not good at martial arts. I hate to read and I’m married,” he swallows again with his eyes dead set on hers. “To you, Park Soondeok, daughter of General Park Sookyung.”

Hera remains in disbelief as she gently shakes her head in denial. “How… how?”

Speechless, Baekhyun just shrugs and Hera watches as the facade melt right off him. The usually happy and bright producer is gone and all that’s left are his troubling eyes that’s searching for answers in hers. The ticking off the clock is all that can be heard in the room as the two stare at one another in a new kind of silence. They’re unsure of their next move while wondering how the hell is this even possible. How do you approach this situation? What do you even say? Why is it happening?

“I’m,” Hera swallows and quickly turns to the door. “I’m going to leave.”

“Wait!” Baekhyun dashes to the door and places his hand on the handle to prevent her from leaving. “You can’t just leave like this!”

She takes a breath and gently places her hand on top of his on the handle. It sends jolts into his veins with a sense of familiarity. “I have to get back to work…” Hera turns to meet his desperate eyes. “I get off today at five. I’ll wait for you at the cafe.”

He hesitates to let her go but her eyes stay firm and eventually, Baekhyun nods with his hand slipping off the handle before stepping aside to allow her to leave. The door quietly snaps shut behind her and Baekhyun releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

***

After leaving Baekhyun’s studio, the rest of the day is painfully long for Hera but thankfully all she had to concentrate on was creating an outline with the notes she’d received from Baekhyun. Hera usually lingers around the studio after the clock because she enjoys the environment but today, she’s out the door the moment it strikes five. When she arrives at the bubble tea cafe near the entertainment building, Hera’s surprised to find Baekhyun already there and in line to order a drink. He turns at the sound of the doorbell ringing and holds little to no reaction when he finds her frozen at the entrance.

“Milk tea with regular pearls, right?” He points his thumbs to the menu. Hera takes a moment to register the simple question before nodding.

“And over ice,” she adds and he presents her the smallest smile.

They reside at the farthest and quietest corner of the little shop with their separate drinks as the sun skim the tops of the skyscapers outside the window. Hera keeps her eyes on her drink with her hands stuffed in the pocket of her jean jacket while her head overloads on questions meanwhile Baekhyun remains silent in his seat across from her. His eyes divert from her downcast eyes to the ice melting in both their drinks then finally to the window where he finds a distraction with the stop light colors. After an indefinite time of silence, a small sniffle snaps him away from the group of students at the crosswalk back to Hera who seemed like she was reaching her breaking point. He blinks in a moment of hesitation and big droplets of tears begin streaming down her cheeks despite her efforts to fight them back. Baekhyun wastes no more time and moves over to slide into the chair next to hers before pulling Hera into his arms. Her shoulders shake as her tears continue to pour out and soak his shirt but that only makes Baekhyun hold onto her tighter.

It takes some time before Hera is able to catch her breath again after breaking down. She’s still hiccuping when Baekhyun comes back with a brand new bubble tea for her after theirs became warm and diluted by the melted ice. She looks up momentarily from her hands to catch the small patch of wetness in his dark t-shirt before looking down again with a hiccup.

“When did you start having the dreams?” Baekhyun asks calmly.

Hera swipes the tear that managed to fall onto her cheek and sits up in her chair. “Ever since I was a child, I’ve had them.”

Baekhyun is surprised by her answer and she’s surprised by his reaction. How is it that he only started having them recently but she’s been having the dreams since she was young?

“Then…” Baekhyun blinks. “Do you remember your first dream?”

Hera sighs into a hiccup. “My sister was getting married to the King, so I was at the palace—.”

“—Was it perhaps when I gave you the flower ring?” Baekhyun suddenly asks and Hera shoots him a hard look. “It was… wasn’t it.”

She turns away and quickly wipes away another tear with the back of her hand. “This is so weird. I don’t like this feeling.”

Baekhyun furrows his brows. “What?”

Hera heaves a heavy sigh. “All my life I’ve kept these dreams mostly to myself and only occasionally told my roommates from time to time. It’s something that’s become a part of me and it’s weird because you have them too. I feel like my entire world has been exposed… Like you can see right through me.”

“You didn’t find it weird when you first saw me?” Baekhyun continues. “You didn’t find it weird that I look exactly like the boy in your dreams?”

“Well, I did ask you if we met before…” Hera reminds and his jaw falls open when it comes back to him. “When did you first have the dreams?”

Baekhyun hesitates and immediately shrinks back into his chair. He scratches the back of his neck nervously as Hera furrows her brows at him. “That night I took you home… But it didn’t happen when I was sleeping though.” He sits up. “When you came out to see me after I left the note, the room suddenly shifted into Damiwon and you were smiling at me. We were boat racing.”

Hera raises a brow. “We’ve never boat raced at Damiwon. Why would we boat race at a bathhouse?”

Baekhyun also raises a brow. “What are you talking about? I saw it with my own eyes. You had a fan in your hand and the boat was in the water.”

Hera gently shakes her head. “No…”

Baekhyun gently nods his head. “Yes…”

She shakes her head more and he increases his nodding.

“Is it possible that you haven’t dreamt of it yet?” Baekhyun wonders out loud with Hera gasping at the possibility. “So we’re not always dreaming the same thing… How about…”

“—My father threw a dagger at us and I pushed you onto the table,” Hera narrows her eyes as she leans in over the table. “True or not true.”

Baekhyun leans in and breaks into a whisper. “True. He said I looked like a pile of cow manure and you blew on my elbow.” He puckers his lips to imitate the way she blew on his little oo. “Hoo, hoo.”

She gasps and falls back into her seat. “Then when was the last time you had one?”

“Yesterday.” He slowly retracts into his chair and lowers his eyes shamefully. “It wasn’t the first time I had that dream but it was our wedding day…”

Hera immediately breaks into an ugly scowl. “You mean the night I slept on the floor because you were throwing a tantrum and took up the entire bed.”

He nods once and immediately looks away. “I didn’t say that you couldn’t sleep on the bed. I just said I need a bigger bed.”

“How can I sleep on the bed when you had your arms and legs all open,” Hera spreads her limbs out like how he did. “Like this. You obviously didn’t want me to sleep there, you big meanie!”

Baekhyun instantly curls into a ball of guilt before it hits him that he’s feeling sorry for something he did in a dream and snaps to Hera who seems to have realized it herself, judging by the flustered look on her face.

“We should probably try to figure out why we’re both having these dreams…” He suggests quietly and Hera nods in agreement. “But how?”

Hera looks up from her lap. “My roommates suggested seeing a fortune teller or a psychic…”

While in thought, he purses his lips and Hera thinks it makes him look like Eun. “Okay.”

Hera grunts. “Um. What. Really?”

Baekhyun nods. “This situation is already weird as hell, how much weirder can we get?”

There’s a brief moment of silence between them again before Hera looks up from her fiddling fingers and shoots him the smallest nod of her head. He offers her a small smile and it seems to give her some relief. She takes a sip of her bubble tea and chews on a few of the pearls before clearing .

“I didn’t know you and Taeyeon were together,” Hera mumbles so quietly Baekhyun almost misses it.

He chokes in the middle of his sip and startles Hera but quickly waves her off when she shoots him a worried look and turns around to clear his throat. When he turns back around, her eyes are wide and alert and it makes him somewhat guilty for a reason.

“Oh, yeah,” Baekhyun acknowledges quietly. “Chanyeol told me it gave you quite the shock.”

Hera surprisingly shakes her head. “Actually… It all made sense after I connected the dots,” she chuckles awkwardly. “I’m a bit oblivious to things so… But then again, I understand.”

He a brow at her last statement. “Understand what?”

“I understand that you and Unnie have to keep it on the down low,” Hera explains. “Because she’s a celebrity and it can cause a scandal. That’s why I had no clue.”

She renders him speechless for a while before he releases a small chuckle. “I guess…”

“How long have you two been together?” Hera asks before gasping and frowning. “Wait, you don’t have to answer. That was too personal. Sorry.”

He surprisingly shoots her a warm smile before sighing. “Three years?” Baekhyun looks down with nostalgic eyes. “I’ve always been a long time Girl’s Generation fan, her fan especially. When I got this position, I was so careful around her and I thought I had it all down until I had to work with her on her first solo album. We spent hours and hours alone in the studio. There were so many nights we stayed up until dawn to perfect her songs. Then on the last day of recording,” a corner of his lip curls into a small smile. “I decided to tell her how I felt. Rather than just the singer I’ve always seen on stage, I discovered the human side to her and fell in love. Thankfully she reciprocated the same feelings.” He looks up from his hands and Hera immediately looks down. “Sorry, I got carried away.”

Hera chuckles and shakes her head with a soft smile. “No, it was cute. You guys are cute together.”

That’s what she tells him but what she doesn’t tell him is how much her chest is aching just from w