GIA'S POV:

I kept checking my wrist watch over and over again as I felt annoyance slowly beginning to replace longing. My fingers were tapping on the table impatiently while my eyes remained glued to the empty street.

"Seolma! Am I being stood up again?" I sighed, dialing the first number on my call log and it dropped to the voice message again, annoying me further.

Stuffing the hopeless device inside the bag, my hands fumbled for a while before grabbing onto another device as it appeared with a well tangled piece of earphone wires along. I exhaled a deep sigh before starting to calmly disentangle every knot until the wire was perfectly straight again. Plugging it to the mp3 player, I let the playlist to run on shuffle and leaned back in my seat.

"Geurae... geurae... I'll be patient..." I muttered under my breath as one of my favorite song began playing and my mood started to get better while I hummed along.

"In between the continuous trips
The thing that finds me again
It is your voice carried by the wind
Can you forget?

Day by day
The day that you aren't here
Becomes a memory like yesterday
It burdens me so much

One day just for only one day
If only my hand can wipe your tears
Then I will tell you..."

"My everything..."

I felt my heartbeat instantly race at the sound of that familiar voice, as he sang the last line of that romantic chorus in his raspy voice. His warm breath was obviously tracing my ears, specifying the lack of distance between us as I took a deep breath. Noticing the stiffness in my posture, he began to chuckle softly and that was enough for me to return to my original murderous mode. My eyes shot open in a whip and I began attacking the boy with my bag as he screamed in jolt.

"Yah! Yah! Mian-hae! The practice time was extended and my phone died! MIAN-HAE!"

He was straining to block my assaults but I didn't stop at all. I was hitting him with all my might for standing up on me for a whole week and I didn't even start with the calls and messages yet. After several unsuccessful defense attempts he finally gave up and sat still, allowing me to attack him around the clock without any obstacles. Being well aware of his extreme strength, I repeatedly punched his solid arms with force but he just sat there unflinching to the attacks, infuriating me further.

"Wae? Wae? Why aren't you fighting back?" I punched him harder.

"Because I know that it was wrong of me to leave you hanging, so I deserve to be hit. You can even curse at me, if that'll make you feel better." His effortless words halted me immediately as I casted a closer glance at his captivating face.

Regardless of the naturally flawless beauty, the boy still appeared thoroughly beaten. His usually bright and bubbly face was dull and there were visible circles of dusk around his swollen eyes, signifying noticeable lack of sleep.  That's when I realized that he was totally worn out from both school plus training and here I was, making things harder on him. My originally sulky mood died out in a blink, as a huge storm of regret clouds crowded over my heart. I felt completely useless and inconsiderate of his genuine efforts in balancing between academics and ambition, alongside spending time for me, despite the tight schedule.

Though he already had pretty much a lot in his own plate, he still spared time to help me adjust to the city and new environment while all I did was complaint about the mean kids at school every day. And it has only been about a week since he couldn't make it to our hangouts as promised, and I felt really stupid for overreacting about it. While I was mentally scolding my insensitivity, I heard him moving his chair closer to mine as his warm hand reached out to me. He gently began my cheek, wiping the unconscious brook of guilt-ridden tears that were pouring on their own accord.

"Ehmm... for some reason, your tears seem hotter today... Mira-yah, is everything okay?" He slanted his head to the side as he watched me try to stop the tears but fail miserably at it. Smiling a little to himself in silence, he rose from his seat and began to gather both of our belongings.

"Gaja!" He lightly pulled me up and I followed without protest as we walked out of the café in complete silence. Like I'd predicted, he led us to our usual playground that looked over at the huge field of canola as I inhaled the familiar scent of that spot but unlike our normal routines, he skipped the swings and walked over to the nearest bench instead.

"What happened? Is it the school again?" He softly asked, while tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. The warmth of his touch was magically bettering my gloomy mood.

"Emmm... It's just the same thing over and over again. Only this time it got a lot worse than before and the teachers got involved too. I just don't get why they hate me so much, Won-ah. Especially, San Ha. I didn't do anything to her at all whereas all she does is pick on me. What's wrong with an orphan getting scholarship? How is it my fault that I have no parents or family? I didn't choose this life..." I struggled to continue further as sobs built up and choked my vocal chords.

"In this world, there's always more idiots than good people but don't worry, Mira-yah..." He moved closer, taking my hands in his as he bored into my eyes ardently, "...I'm here for you and I'll protect you from all that."

Although those words bore a pretty heavy weight, he still seemed strong enough to keep them and I chose to believe him with no terms applied. For the first time in the whole vile week, I felt truly touched and happy. Unintentionally, more streams of tears poured down my eyes as I memorized the image of the only boy I cared so much for, as he panicked a little.

"Yah... Ulji-ma... emm? Seeing you shed tears, breaks my heart badly. Please, don't cry... HEUNG! HEUNG! UJJI-MALA, MILA-YAH!" I couldn't help but laugh amidst the tears when he suddenly started to act all cute and it was seriously adorable. Encouraged by the positive response, he thoughtlessly began to throw all kind of aegyo assaults as I was finally able to laugh sincerely. The boy stopped to stare at me for a moment before shaking his head with a wide grin as he spread his right arm towards me.

"Joh-a, iliwa!" Pulling me closer, he ordered tenderly and I obeyed without any objection. Crashing my head on his firm shoulder, I let his arms lock around me safely as he rubbed tender circles on my back.

"Won-ah..." I called softly.

"Wae...?" He asked adoringly, while glancing at me with a sweet smile fixed on his face.

"Mian-hae... You must be really exhausted, right? I should be the one offering you a comforting shoulder to lean on but I was being selfish without considering how hard it must be for you. Seems like I really did turn out to be a parasite..." I muttered as he knocked my forehead softly, and sighed in disagreement.

"Aniya... I'm beyond happy to have you near and if you smile because of me, that's enough for me. Algesseo?" He gently bumped his head with mine. I moved a little from his chest, to take a clearer glance at his face as it glowed with determination and care. Smiling with contentment, I nodded in silence.

"Joh-a..." He spread his arms wider again with a huge grin.

"Now, lean on me..."

★ 

I woke up to the faint sound of a song and a strong sensation of pain all over my body. Turning to my side a little, I focused on the familiar song as my mind crawled back to the first new dream that I've had in the past five years and I was instantly recalling every single detail of it. A sense of pleased fulfillment spread in my heart, at the confirmation that I've finally attained. Though I don't recall hearing the song anywhere until the earlier dream, I still found myself humming along to every single line like I knew them by heart.

"In the split road of my destiny
Even if they say it is a shattered dream
I wish I can bring you back again

One day just for only one day
If I can get to see you
If this aged prayer can bring you back

What I couldn't say
Deep inside my heart
The words I couldn't say
Then I will tell you..."

"I love you..." I whispered the last line from the bridge of that melancholic song as the only voice I kept hearing in my head echoed hazily from a distance.

★ 

RAVI'S POV:

I stood there, holding my shattered heart in my shaking hands when I reprocessed the words that I just heard and they were too much for me to take. For a brief blinking second, I doubted if I was in a diverse world instead of a real one. Tears of both delight and distress started to rain down my eyes, as I fell onto my knees. N hyung instantly reached beside me and hugged my trembling frame from the side. He seemed just as helpless as I was at the moment, while the older man patted my back with so much care.

"Wae, hyung... Why should things turn out this way? I can't take this... Hyung..." I choked holding my chest in a pathetic attempt of halting the pain away.

"Wonshik-ah... don't cry. Please listen to me..." He tightened his embrace while trying to hush my sobs but I could only cry harder.

"Hyung... It hurts... It hurts a lot..." I hiccupped distressingly. Hongbin who'd went to see the doctor off returned and he too, rushed towards me once he saw the ruined chaos I've become.

Though I already had a few doubts since the very beginning, I was still very hesitant to believe my own theories. They sounded too complicated and traumatizing to my own self and that's exactly when I started to run the opposite way whenever I noticed her from afar. After half a decade of loneliness and self-blame, I was finally braving myself to step out of that miserable zone and start moving towards her instead. However, least did I imagine for all of my earnest efforts to be crushed in the very first forlorn attempt.

Kang Gia is indeed Choi Mira.
Or, my Mira was now Gia.

I didn't know how to even put the situation into a sane sentence.

The doctor confirmed that Gia was indeed acrophobic and she had suffered a serious sequence of anxiety attacks all at once, as a result of climbing down twelve flight of stairs in the speed of light. Her already weak body was thoroughly drained from the intense stunt and to make things even worse, she was drenched completely by the heavy rain.

By the time she reached me, she was already at the verge of fainting and that involuntarily led towards dizziness and caused all of the indistinct blabbers. In short words, she was not in her right mind and everything she'd said back then could be meaningless. However, what terrified me the most was not the meaninglessness of her words but the memories of that event which she might not recall when she wakes up later on.

She might not remember that she fainted in my arms.
She might not remember how I ran holding my life.
She might not remember what she called me.

Just like how she doesn't remember anything about me or our memories together. A broken part of me was relieved to know that she might really be my Mira but another timid part was praying hard for it all to be another nightmare. I realized I was still as useless as I was five years ago as I recalled the events from the very night. My responsibility was to keep her safe and offer