From the first moment I saw you, I knew you were mine.

Shuffling steps, rustling papers, strained voices talking into their phone receivers – just like a regular day. In the middle of it all, in the hallways of this hotel, you walked by with your elegance, your cute but alluring face, your perfect figure, and that twinkle in your eyes. It was as if I was staring into the sun.

Whenever we pass by each other, I can’t help staring at you, following you with my eyes till you’re out of my line of sight. I don’t know why but it’s as if a magnet is pulling me to you. But, you never looked my way.

And I never had the courage to get myself close to you even if we have already bumped each other a couple of times.

Then an opportunity came.

It was a quiet night and I was in the lobby just letting the time pass by since I had nothing much better to do. At least none till my next bout of paintings to go over.

I was just about to leave the lobby and board the elevator when all of a sudden, you came inside the hotel, heading towards the elevator. You greeted the people at the front desk, as usual, with your bright smile and went your way.

Why the hell am I getting nervous?

I chided myself.

I was about to chicken out but realizing how late it was, the clock just turned to 11:00 PM, I steeled my nerves and ran for the elevator doors like mad since they were closing fast. I managed to sneak my hand in and catch the ride.

“Sorry about that,” I muttered, keeping my head low and proceeded to stick myself on the back end of the elevator.

You seemed a little surprised by how I caught the ride but that radiant smile never faltered.

“Don’t worry, it’s alright,” you beamed at me, looking back. “Heading to bed already?”

You suddenly asked, back turned towards me.

Cat suddenly got my tongue. I couldn’t speak. But I didn’t want to be rude either. So, I managed to croak out a “yeah” instead.

Ugh. Embarrassing.

And you laughed. I looked up in shock. Probably looked like a stupid, clueless human, too. But yeah, whatever.

Then the familiar ding of the elevator.

Sixth floor.

My stop. Time to get off.

I started walking out but you were already out too.

“Same floor, eh?” you asked.

It took me a while to process you’re still talking to me but I managed to compose myself and not make myself look like a complete idiot in front of you.

“I guess?” I replied with a nervous laugh. And you just smiled, beginning to walk ahead.

“Walk me then?” you asked out of the blue. “Would be my pleasure.”

“Oh, by the way, my name’s Kim Yongsun. And you are?”

Kim Yongsun.

“Moon Byuli,” I replied quickly, not wanting to keep you waiting.

“Nice name,” a remark that sent my soul to heaven.

“Same as you.”

Then you suddenly stopped. “Well, this is my room so I guess this is goodbye?” you gently said, your smile not once leaving your face.

I shrugged not knowing what to answer, returning a smile.

“Well, I’ll see you when I’ll see you then, Moon – wait, what should I call you?”

“Moonbyul. Just call me Moonbyul.”

“Alright then, Moonbyul. I’ll see you when I’ll see you. Good night.”

And with that, you closed your door and I still couldn’t believe what happened.

Then fade to black.

As time went by, we grew closer. As fate has put it, we often meet each other in the hallways, in the elevator, basically, in all of the hotel’s premises.

Everytime has been chance encounters which lead to some small talks which allowed me to get to know you better. I now know that you’re Kim Yongsun, a marketing executive in Rainbow Bridge World, a genius but a really, really clumsy person. And a whiny one, too.

And you know that I am Moon Byuli, a freelance artist, and also a greasy human being. I’ve shown you bits and pieces of my greasiness which amused you a lot.

“So you’re an artist?”

“Hmm-mm,” I replied while sipping my coffee.

I invited you over to my room to look at my masterpieces, since you were so intent on finding out more about me because everytime we meet, it always ends up with you being the topic of the conversation. Because I wanted to.

And here we are.

I daresay in all those times we met, we’ve grown closer.

“These are wonderful artworks,” you said, eyes trailing down the details of the paintings. Then you smiled. I wondered what for. “You seem to like this style a lot.”

So you noticed.

“Yep,” I casually responded, putting down my coffee at the nearest table.

“Decalcomanie, isn’t it?” you asked, turning your head towards me, your brows in an inquisitive arch.

I wanted to simply answer yes but considering you wanted this to get to know me better, I decided to play along and show you my greasiness, on how greasy I could really be. I moved closer to you, inches away from your face with a playful spark on my eyes and a greasy smile while moving my brows up and down saying ‘affirmative’.

You were taken aback a bit, stepping back but after half a second you laughed and playfully smacked my face away, whimsically laughing while turning your back on me. But not before I saw you blush.

“Ya, that hurt you know,” I said, laughing.

“Shut up, Byuli and tell me something about this,” you said with a smile while pointing to an abstract painting.

“Oh that,” I said then explained what it was all about when suddenly, you looked up.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“A butterfly,” you said pointing its direction with your lips. I automatically looked up and there it was, a monarch butterfly.

How random and adorable can this girl get? I chuckled in secret.

Your eyes told me it was something you wanted. “Want me to get it for you?”

You shook your head. “No thanks. I’d like to get it myself.” So, you stood on your tippy toes and reached up but was still far off.

I just shook my head and laughed. This girl would probably break her arms and legs trying to reach for that butterfly.

“Quit laughing at me!”

“I’m not!” I stifled my laugh but try as I might, I couldn’t completely stop them. I chuckled at her naivete.

“Hmmph!”

“Okay, okay, I won’t laugh. Geez. Let me get it for you now, shortie. Watch and learn,” I said and winked at you but you didn’t budge. You kept on reaching, still. Our hands made contact but only for a brief moment. Then, I managed to reach out my hands for the butterfly but it flew away after a second because your feet gave out and you accidentally nudged my rib cage a little hard which caused me to groan and scare the butterfly away.

“Look it flew a—”

I never got to finish.

Thud!

And then silence. There’s this atmosphere I can’t name but it’s heavy. I tried to look away, tried to ignore what I wanted so bad but unfortunately, I couldn’t. I got caught and trapped in those hazel eyes.

Yes, this was an accident, your legs giving out then you nudging me on my ribs, you stumbling over dragging me with you and me falling on top of you. Yes, this is something I didn’t purposefully want but it’s already here and I can no longer hold nor suppress my desires back. I looked at your eyes and somehow, I don’t know if I’m just imagining this but, it was as if you also wanted the same thing.

I stared at your eyes deeply just waiting for a sort of resilience but none came. I looked at your eyes harder and there was no resilience there. Nervousness, yes; but, protest, none.

So, I made the move.

Slowly, I inched my face closer to yours and you started to close your eyes. I took that as a yes and closed the gap between our lips and –

And then I wake.

Like always.

Every. Single. Time.

The moment I get too close, just when our lips are about to meet, just when everything is going to be intimate, it all ends.

I look at my bedside clock – it’s still 7:30 AM. I was just asleep for 4 hours, but it felt like I’ve lived a hundred or a thousand days. It has always felt like time moves so fast within that universe. Everything seems to flash by like nothing. One second it’s there, the next it’s gone. An hour feels like a day and a day feels like an hour; a month feels like a week and a year feels like a month.

What you think you have, you don’t; what you think is yours, it’s not; what you think lasts forever, it doesn’t. Everything you have can disappear in just a snap of a finger, a tick of the clock, a blink of an eye.

Just like that.

And indeed, just like that.

I look at my artwork hanging on the wall, laced with my favorite style: decalcomanie, “the art of transferring pictures and designs and permanently fixing them thereto,” says the dictionary.

I scoff at my thoughts. For starters, we are like this, our existence, my fantasies. In both worlds, in this and in my dream, we are together, we are inseparable. But like decalcomanie, there will always be subtle and huge differences.

After all, it was just an alternate reality. In this lifetime, I can only have you in my dreams, in a world where reality is an alternate impossibility. Because in the real world, you were his, not mine. In his hands are you happy. You are also happy with me but you only see me as your best friend, your sister, not a significant other.

Indeed, it’s just like us.

Like decalcomanie.

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Hello, everyone. I'm sorry if this is so lame. This is my first ever moonsun fic and I didn't really know how to write this at first. I just came up with the foreword and stemmed it from there. And I just recently went back into writing after a very long hiatus due to a very long and pesky writer's block. *sigh*

But, all that aside, I hope you still had a good read. Although lame, I hope you enjoyed it a little. 

Have a nice day everyone ~