RULE #2:

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A dream is given every day.

But the gift of memory is not for everyone.

A dream is given every day.

But the gift of control is not for everyone.

A dream is given every day.

But the gift of knowledge is not for everyone.

Chapter 2

The first snow of the year drizzled beautifully in the morning sky. Today would be perfect, I told myself. Everyone started greeting me a happy birthday. The youngest of the group, Bomin, gives me this wide and gummy smile that brought warmth to my heart even in this cold, cloudy day. “Happy birthday, hyung.” He said and I said thank you. “

Here I am, living a different life in my dreams. I watched how the day unfold in front of me. The rush of happiness, the tranquillity of spending the time with my friends. I never felt more alive than ever. This is just a dream I told myself but then it felt real to me. The people around me seems to care about me and for the first time I don’t feel homesick at all. Everything that is happening helped me to stay warm and bright in a day where the sky decided to shower my world with drops of cold flakes.

Then my dream shifted and now I am inside a room, I can see a lot of albums hanging on the wall. I know I am in a dream but this moment feels like a dream to me. Then I suddenly thought how this wall contains legendary albums from the group I admire the most and that hopefully, our group would be able to fill this wall with ours after a few years had passed.

“Are you ready?” Bomin asked.

Ready for what exactly? I asked myself.

“Yeah, of course. I am excited to show them my cake decorating skills.” I put my left hand on his shoulder and returned the biggest smile I can do. I can’t help but smile when I noticed that he is almost the same height as me now. This kid is supposed to be the youngest but now he has grown so fast.

Then the live broadcast started and I am delighted to see that a lot of people are watching the live show even if I’m only decorating some cake. Luckily, the anxiety I am feeling for almost the whole broadcast appears to be gone now as Bomin supported me all throughout it.

As soon as I ended the broadcast, I went straight to Bomin and hugged him. “Thank you for everything.” I said as I pat his head. I wonder how long until he will be to tall for me to pat his head like this.

“Of course hyung. Anything for you.”

I woke up crying. The dream was so beautiful that I have no idea why I feel so broken about it. Did something happened? Is this dream from the past life of the Jaeseok from my dreams? Why does it feel like it is just a distant memory? A bittersweet one that is full of longing and regret?

Then I remembered what Woohyun and I agreed upon about my dreams. I hurriedly took my phone and called him. As soon as I hear the first ring from the call, Woohyun picked up and talked instantly, not giving me the opportunity to even say hello.

“Oh! Jaeseok. So you must have dreamed of something for you to call me this early right” He said. I can imagine him getting excited about it. He must be reading his books about dreams in some café now. (Yes, after our talk about my dreams in the library, he went with his friend to buy some books about dreams)

“What do you mean early, I haven’t woke up this late before?” I said. I must have overslept. To think that Nam Woohyun is already out for his morning routine that could only mean I woke up late.

“Why didn’t you wake me up by the way?” I asked.

“I want you to dream of something. We have no class for today so you can sleep all day and dream about your friends.” I heard him laughing. He laughed softly, maybe not wanting to ruin the mood in the café.

“Hmmm. Oh, well I dreamed of something actually.” I said then I told him every detail I can remember. Except I don’t have any idea what’s the name of that young guy. The youngest member.

“OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH! That must be what this book is saying!” Woohyun said.

“What book?” I asked. “Is this one of the books you bought?”

“Nothing. Some book that my friend gave me. It talks about the rules of dreaming.” Woohyun sounded serious. There was something different about his tone that he became mysterious and cool.

“Oh! Show it to me.” Woohyun agreed to show it to me if I get to go to the café as soon as possible. So I went there, thinking of how it will be my first time to visit the café where he usually goes. Whenever I need coffee, I would brew one myself at our apartment. Or go the café closest to our apartment. I wonder why Woohyun would spend too much time just to go to this place.

Then as soon as I entered I felt dreamy. Like there is something magical in this place that makes me feel safe and wonderful. There is this compelling for that is telling me to sleep and drift into someplace where I can escape reality.

“Jaeseok!” I heard Woohyun call my name.

“Woohyun! Sorry I got lost in my thoughts.” I said. Then the feeling seems to be lost instantly. How is that possible though? The dreamy, magical feeling is so familiar. I never been to this place but there is something about it that I can’t even point out.

“So. How is this café? It looks great right?” Woohyun said.

“Hyung, the book please.” I am so curious about the book that I can’t even be playful with Woohyun right now. I just want to know what this rule book is and what rules are written on it.

Then I started reading the first rule…

Past can be a dream.

Your dreams could be the present.

A dream will never be about the future…

Unless the fates would play a game of torture…

Regardless of what you dream, things will never change.

The fates had already decided everything and you are only a glitch, a tiny speck of dust in the rule of time and space.

Whatever is written cannot be unwritten…

If it is bound to happen, it will happen.

Destiny, can never be altered.

I think I got goosebumps from reading it. “Wait I heard this from somewhere. I can’t remember. Ugh, why is it that memory gets so foggy when I am thinking about my dreams?” So maybe I dreamed about the past? Or the present. Whatever is written cannot be unwritten. Then why am I still dreaming about these things if I can’t change anything. But what would I change about it if everything looks fine and everyone seems so happy about everything?

Then I stared at the next rule.

A dream is given every day.

But the gift of memory is not for everyone.

A dream is given every day.

But the gift of control is not for everyone.

A dream is given every day.

But the gift of knowledge is not for everyone.

The gift of memory… so all this time I may have forgot about some dreams I had before? The gift of knowledge… so there is a possibility that the answers to my questions are already there and I just forgot about them?

The gift of control… this is very clear to me. I cannot control my actions whenever I am in my dream. Is that what this means?

Then Woohyun took the book from me. “Hey! Nam Woohyun.” I said. “Shhh. Don’t be noisy. Myungsoo will be mad.”

“Myungsoo?”

“The guardian of dreams and sleep.” Woohyun said with his mysterious voice (mysterious but funny voice, he sounds like a grandpa). I stared at Woohyun thinking what kind of weeds he must have took today.

“Just joking. But maybe, the real guardian of dreams is watching you. He must be playing with you.” Then he goes to counter to buy more food for the two of us.

We spent the day trying out some original recipes of Woohyun. He really cooks great. I really admire how he gets to create new dishes or even recreate improve some of the traditional recipes and make it into exciting ones. Though there is this one flaw that he has. Something that I still can’t explain no matter how hard I try.

He can’t cook fried eggs.

Yes. HE CAN’T FRY EGGS.

“Oh. You cooked a lot of food already, but have you practiced how to fry eggs?” As soon as I said these, Woohyun gave me this death glare and there’s a part of that wanted to take back what I said but I really enjoy dissing him since that day I learned about his flaw.

There are a lot of food to taste already but then he started cooking some fried eggs. Of course Woohyun would try to show me that he already knows how to make perfect fried eggs. Whenever he tries, I would always laugh at him for not being able to do a simple thing such as fried eggs.

“Why is it that you cook so well but you go and ruin the yolks of eggs when you fry them?” So he go on and cracked some eggs on the pan. After his futile attempts, I went and grabbed the eggs from him to show him how it’s done.

Then without warning, a memory came out of nowhere. I am cooking breakfast, the usual fried rice and octopus shaped sausages. It is still early in the morning and someone is filming how I cook. Beside me was the youngest member and clearly he has no idea how to fry eggs. We laugh at how this boy has grown up so much but he goes acting like a small child that needs to be taken cared of every now and then. I sensed some overprotective feeling as I watch him smile at the camera while making a mistake as small as this.

“Jaeseok?? You just burnt the egg!” My roommate’s laughter filled the whole kitchen. I never ruined fried eggs before and now he got his revenge for all the nagging I did about his fried eggs.

“Sorry. I need to write down something.” I ran to my room and started looking for a blank notebook where I can start writing about the dreams I remember. If the rule was right, then the fates may have been giving me dreams but no gifts at all.