“Jiyong…”

Jieun knew she should not call him like that, but there was one time when she unconsciously called him like that. He looked at her and smiled without saying anything. Jieun would have said “Sorry I should not call you like that” but she did not. And that was when their borderline completely faded away. She had been calling him “Jiyong” since then.

“Hm?”

They were lying on their own beds, looking at each other through their phones. That was regular. Sometimes, he would fall asleep first through their conversations and Jieun ended up hanging up after a couple of minutes or hours. She somehow felt happy just by looking him sleeping like that after many exhausted days of working, especially recently for his new album.

“Are you nervous for tomorrow?”

Jiyong looked at her again. His eyes always made Jieun felt like he had something on her, but she also knew that there wouldn’t be anything on her that he was looking for.

“Kind of. I don’t know. Have you ever come to a sense that you feel nothing? I mean, I always dream of having a large-scale concert like this. Of course, I’m happy for making my dream come true. But somehow, it still feels so illusional to me.”

Jiyong turned his side to the ceiling and started to mumble things coming from his own mind. Jieun would understand all. She had been there too. She was there. She was still there. She knew Jiyong would feel this way though, she knew him too much that she would never be surprised by any of his words.

“I know. I can relate to that. But are you supposed to be sleeping right now because you will have a big day tomorrow?” She tried to lift up the mood. “You should not talk about things like this before sleep, do you know that? You are supposed to be relaxed before sleeping, Kwon Jiyong.”

“Yea yea Jieun omma. You could be my second omma for those naggings.” As soon as he said that, he could realize that these words could have meant something different. He tried to search for her eyes. He wondered how she would react.

“Ok Kwon Jiyong. Listen to omma. You have to forget about the nasty days that you have been through. Omma told you that you are the best son and also the most talented artist so don’t you worry.” Jieun giggled through her twinkle eyes. She should have noticed to that sentence, shouldn’t she?

“Sure omma.” Jiyong smiled at how innocent she was.

He would think. “That’s my Jieun.”

Then, they were talking about random things that nobody would ever have thought of. Jiyong and Jieun yet had a matching chemistry, but Jieun would always know what Jiyong wanted to say, except for his intention of saying things toward Jieun. Jiyong was a flirty, indeed. He was too experienced in these things, everyone knew that. He got many girls in his hands; still, he was a fool in love. He would easily fall in love with the wrong one. He knew that, but since it was love, he believed he could make it become a right thing.

‘The more you was broken, the more you would fall in love eventually.’

He knew that too, he knew too well to realize that he still needed somebody to heal his big hole in his heart. He also knew that he should stay out of it as much as he could, before he would fall in the same trap all over again. Jiyong did not want to fall in love, still he was desperately looking for someone that could complete him. Sometimes, he would wonder if Jieun could be someone like that. Then he would shape his mind in a way which he thought he could find someone like Jieun, who was not Jieun.

“Are you not going to stay after your performances, Jieun? Are you sure? I’m going to do some of the new songs near the end of the concert. You should not miss that.”

“I know but I already made a promise with Hyori unnie, you know that right?”

 “You should have come, this kid.” Jiyong would want Jieun to see his performances anyway.

“You know, it would also be weird if I stayed at your concert until the end. You know that, oppa.” Jieun frowned.

“Who cares? You’re my friend. They know that too.” He felt weird somehow when the word ‘friend’ came out from his mouth. He never had such kind of friend like this anyway.

Jieun looked at him and thought. “Of course, you are even more than my friend but I can’t do this. It’s too risky for both of us, especially for you.”

“Why did you not say anything?” Jiyong felt nervous. He wondered if he had said anything wrong that hurt her. He could not think of anything. “Jieun?”

“Ya Jiyong you’re really annoying. I said it before that I have to go with Hyori unnie.” Jieun tried to jokingly be annoyed.

“Ok ok ok, this little crazy girl. You’re so mean to this oppa.” He decided to joke back. Jiyong knew there was something wrong with Jieun but he also knew that he should not ask at that time.

“By the way, are you going to sing that song too?” She knew he would know which song she was referring to.

“I don’t know. I might. But we will see.” He was silent for a while before opening his mouth.

“I’m sorry. I just think that it’s a good thing if you can sing it out loud to your fans, who are always being beside you. It makes you feel better if you can let things out of your mind.” Jieun whispered through her breath. She must be tired.

“Jieun?”

“Oppa don’t you know……… how good your voice is in that song? It’s so emotional that……… I think I can relate to that song too. I bet your fans would love it……… if you sing it in your concert tomorrrrr……..” Her whisper was getting lower when it eventually became a small breath.

He turned his side completely to her. She was sleeping already. He unconsciously smiled when he got to watch her sleeping. It was his first time looking at this girl sleeping. Jiyong was always the first one to sleep during their conversations. Then, in the morning, he would find his cellphone sometimes not hanging up until 2 hours later. He would wonder what would she have been doing in 2 hours when he was sleeping. Was she supposed to be sleeping early too? Just then not until he had put on his video call for almost 2 hours just to look at Jieun did he realize the reason why she did not hang up in the first place.

“Is it always nice looking at people sleeping?” He would say it while watching Jieun sleeping. She could have heard it. Nobody really knew.

He never really looked at someone sleeping before, in fact, when someone was literally just sleeping. He had so many experiences in bed before, so he should have so many chances to watch someone sleeping. But he had never done such a thing like that. He was always the first one to sleep since it was always exhausted for him. Jiyong also knew he should have met someone like Jieun, a girl that would never give him exhaustion and tiredness.

“Someone like Jieun, am I too much of a jerk?” He wondered.

Eyes opened.

“Good morning sleeping beauty.”

“Jieun?”

“You forgot to hang up last night or you just slept after I slept?” Jieun giggled. She was having her hair drying.

“What? I did not hang up? I slept? Is it morning already?”

“Yea sleeping beauty. It’s time for you to wake up. Too bad there is no prince or kisses.” She jokingly . He was such adorable with his not-fully-waking-up face.

“Oh my god. I can’t believe it. When did you wake up?”

“Hmmm.. 2 hours ago I guess?”

“What time is it now? Oh god.”

“It’s 10:30 already oppa. Don’t you have to rehearse for your concert again?”

“Oh god. Yeah I have to be there around 12:00. You should wake me up Jieun ah…” He scrubbed his head and Jieun giggled again.

“Oppa you know I don’t wake people up during their sleep, don’t you?”

“Alright alright. I have to get ready. Talk to you later Jieun ah.”

“Ok.”

Then, she hung up. He wondered what had happened last night. Did he not hang up? Why did he do that? Did he just sleep during the time he was watching her sleeping? He could not remember, and just then he got some reminiscenes from his last dream.

He was dreaming of something very bright that attracted him so much. He supposed it was a star; he remembered touching it and it faded away. Just then, his hand began to fade away and it started to spread all over his body. He could not help it, but there was someone there taking his disappearing hand back. As soon as that person held his hand, he felt a very warm feeling toward his hands and his heart. Just then, he opened his eyes and saw Jieun standing there.

“What a fascination.” He thought to himself.

Is that person Jieun? Or else, who could it be? He did not know. He wanted to figure out. She could be. Why did everything make sense when it came to her? That dream definitely was more reasonable if that person was her.

“Jieun ah… is it you?”