[Chapter V: Premonition Part II]

Hakyeon found himself waking up the next morning, covered with sweat.

A dream that was so real, a voice that felt so familiar, called to him every night since then and the only thing that resonated from the dream was the little boy’s cry for help.

“Save us,” Hakyeon repeated to himself as he found himself dazing off in his study.

Ka-chak.

The front door opened downstairs. Sanghyuk was back from school.

Hakyeon went downstairs to welcome the younger back.

“W-welcome back,” Hakyeon said mid-way down the steps and looked down to see his younger brother putting his coat back on the rack neatly.

“Uh, yeah. I’m back,” Sanghyuk simply replied.

“H-how was school today?” Hakyeon tries to continue the awkward conversation despite not knowing why he came down to greet the younger in the first place. It wasn’t like the usual.

“It was alright,” the younger found himself raising his brow as he saw the older behaving rather strangely and awkwardly.

“Are you hungry? I’ll make dinner,” Hakyeon said and walked down the stairs finally to meet his brother in the eyes.

“I’m fine. I ate already with friends,” Sanghyuk said and walked pass Hakyeon.

“I see…” Hakyeon was obviously disappointed.

Sanghyuk glanced as his awkward brother but stopped mid-step on the stairs. He looked down at Hakyeon for a second and asked, “don’t you have a novel to write?”

“I’m … on a break,” Hakyeon said. “Kind of.”

“Huh?” Sanghyuk tilted his head in confusion. His workaholic brother, on a break. Sounded rather unlikely but he didn’t care too much to ask further. “I see.”

Hakyeon watched his brother disappear back to his bedroom and then, hit himself on the head. “Ugh! Why is it so hard to act normally?”

Ever since he started having those dreams, Hakyeon couldn’t find himself looking at Sanghyuk like usual. Every time he passed by his brother, he was tempted to ask if Sanghyuk knew the little boy in the photo he found. But why would Sanghyuk know someone that he’s never met before? Even before he was taken in by grandfather? It just didn’t make any sense. But why was Sanghyuk with the little boy in his dreams?

“Eunji-ah,” Hakyeon said as he glanced down as his cup of tea with his editor at a nearby café.

“Hmm?” Eunji didn’t look at him at all and only focused on correcting her writer’s manuscript.

“Do you ever worry?”

“About?”

“That,” Hakyeon said as he looked up in the sky.

Eunji knew what he was referring to immediately since it was still the talk of the town.

“Not really,” she said. “I mean, we’ve been living under that thing for 15 years. It’s a little too late to be worrying about it.”

“But what about the other night? Those flashes… aren’t you scared?”

“I was asleep when that happened. I did read the newspaper the next day but honestly, anything crazy can happen at this rate. The Mirage is unpredictable, I’ve learned to live with it.”

“You’re really strong.”

“Ha? What are you talking about?” Eunji couldn’t understand where Hakyeon was getting at with the conversation.

“Everyone has been going crazy over the Mirage and those flashes but you… you’re not worried at all. How do you do it?”

Eunji let out a sigh. “Rather than worrying about something unpredictable and unknown, don’t you think it’s more important to live with what we have now? Also, if you have time to worry about the Mirage, why don’t you worry about what you’re going to write next. So, have you given it some thought?”

Hakyeon shook his head nervously and buried his head even further down into his empty cup of tea.

She let out another sigh.

“I knew this was going to happen,” she said.

Hakyeon peeked up with an expression as if he was going to ask “really?”

“You used to write for fun. You’ve always written about the impossibles based on your own imagination, inspired by your grandfather’s writing and his collection. But ever since he got hospitalized, your writing has changed. The things you’re writing now isn’t to express your own imagination but simply to fulfil a deadline so that you can earn enough money to pay for your grandfather’s bills and save up for your brother’s tuitions,” she said. “Hakyeon-ah. Aren’t you tired? You say I’m strong, but what about you? How are you holding up? You even dropped out of college to take care of your family.”

Hakyeon looked at Eunji, holding back his tears. He was tired. Almost too tired to even say a word or complain. He didn’t feel like he had the rights to complain especially when all he’s done thus far was for family.

“I’m fine, Eunji-ah. It’s like you said. They’re family. I’ll do anything for them because they’re my family,” he looked up at her for once and let out a weak smile, trying to reassure her as much as possible. “I’m fine. They’re the only people I have left.”

If he didn’t have gramps or Sanghyuk, what else would he have to keep him on his feet before he collapses?

Ka-chak.

The front door opened again. A repeated cycle of Hakyeon hearing his younger brother come back from school. The moment Sanghyuk opened the front door, a draft of winter air blew indoors and travelled through to the living room.

“I’m back,” Sanghyuk said as he hung his coat on the rack and took off his shoes. He walked into the living room and stopped in his tracks to see Hakyeon standing there with an apron on. “What are you doing?”

“Hmm? This? Year-end cleaning,” Hakyeon said.

“That’s a month away. Aren’t you too early for that?” Sanghyuk looked at the calendar hanging along the corridor.

“The earlier the better, don’t you think? Plus, I’ve been bored.”

“…”

“What’s wrong, Hyogi?”

“What about your novel?” Sanghyuk asked.

“Oh, that? I didn’t tell you? Eunji gave me an early winter break and told me to get some rest. I’ve been kind of on a writer’s block recently and can’t come up with anything. Luckily, the last few novels I wrote have been doing really well so we don’t have worry about finances for the time being,” Hakyeon said with a smile.

“I see…”

Sanghyuk puts his backpack down onto the sofa and grabs a mop that was sitting by.

“Hyogi?” Hakyeon was surprised.

“Where do I begin?” Sanghyuk asked.

The two of them found themselves spending the rest of that Friday afternoon cleaning up the house from top to bottom. The place they grew up together in had a lot of memories from the attic all the way down to their basement which was filled with their grandfather’s collection of stories. Up in the attic was a lot of their old family heirlooms and furniture that their grandfather refused to throw away, saying that they were all precious memories of them growing up. On the second floor were the main bedrooms and study room, each room personalized such as Sanghyuk’s planetarium-like bedroom or Hakyeon’s Scandinavian-style bedroom. Then, on the first floor was their living room, kitchen and dining room. It was a place where most of their memories came together as they remember the entire family, including their grandfather, sitting by the TV or around the dining table.

“Do you remember this, Hyuk-ah?” Hakyeon said as he took out one of the books in the basement to show the younger.

“It’s your favorite book, isn’t it?” Sanghyuk said without a second delay.

“It is. That’s because gramps wrote it.”

“And you’ve read it so many times that even the pages are completely worn out.”

“That’s not all. Remember this?” Hakyeon showed the younger the tear on top of the bindings of the book. “When you first came to us, we fought over this book once. I got so jealous that gramps was only looking after you that I even pushed you away when you grabbed this book.”

“I remember. You were such a bully,” Sanghyuk a little.

“Yeah… I was, wasn’t I? But you know what, I’m so glad we found you. I’m glad to have you as my younger brother, Sanghyuk-ah,” Hakyeon said.

“… Stop saying that. You’ll make me throw up,” the younger took the book out of Hakyeon’s hands and placed it back on the shelves. But just as he did and looked back at his older brother, he noticed Hakyeon growing silent.

“Hyung?” Sanghyuk grew worried. “Is something the matter? Are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m okay. I’m fine-…”

Hakyeon choked on his words. He couldn’t form the word he’s been uttering everyday to himself anymore. How many times has he told himself that everything was okay and that everything will be fine? Without even noticing it, tears began to fall.

“Hyung!” Sanghyuk was completely taken back by Hakyeon’s tears and didn’t know what to do or what was wrong. But he could tell. He could guess what the cause of Hakyeon’s breakdown was because Hakyeon was like an open book.

He didn’t say or ask the older anymore and simply hugged his brother to comfort him. “You’ve done well,” Sanghyuk whispered gently to Hakyeon as he patted the older on the back. “You’ve done well.”

“Save us,” it was that voice again.

“Who are you?” Hakyeon really wanted to ask but no sound came out. It was another one of those dreams again. Just how much longer will he have to dream of this? He was getting sick and tired of them.

Every night, he finds himself covered in sweat, waking up in the middle of the night and still being unable to get used to those dreams. Aside from the usual call for help, nothing else happened and the dream always ended abruptly in the middle when Hakyeon finds himself falling into the abyss.

A month have passed since the flash in the sky but nothing unusual happened and just as Eunji said, the panic finally died down. Everyone went back to their normal lives and the topic became – How to spend the New Years holidays?

“Cheers!” Eunji said as she held up her pint of beer for a toast with Hakyeon. “Thanks for all your hardwork this year,” she said and chugged down the beer happily.

“Thanks for taking care of me this year too. You’ve worked hard,” Hakyeon said nervously and toasted back with his smaller glass of beer. “And… sorry for putting up with me.”

“Haha! Don’t fret. I’m used to it,” Eunji laughed, already a little tipsy after a few more sips. “But are you really okay? You look paler each time I see you. Did you see the doctor yet?”

“It’s nothing. The doctor said I’m fine. Just not enough sleep,” Hakyeon sighed.

“Those nightmares again?” Eunji knew about it. Hakyeon told her obviously.

He nods. But do those dreams really count as nightmares?

“What are we going to do about it? We can’t have you always getting those dreams. It’ll be bad if this continues-“

The front door opens and interrupts their conversation. Sanghyuk returned just in time.

“Welcome back, Sanghyuk!”  Eunji changed the subject immediately at the sight of the little brother.

“You’re here again, Eunji-noona,” Sanghyuk said with an indifferent expression on as he saw her.

“Hehe~ I heard you went back to school to wrap up club activities?”  

“Yeah. It’s nothing,” Sanghyuk said.  He looks at the clock and calendar as if to double check what the date was. “Shouldn’t you be with your boyfriend? It’s New Year’s Eve.”

“Oh, we broke up on Christmas Eve. So, I’m free~ Plus, Hakyeonnie here would be lonely if he had to spend tonight alone,” Eunji wrapped her arms around Hakyeon tightly and smiled blissfully in front of the younger brother.

Sanghyuk gave her a little of a side glance, a little annoyed at how drunk Eunji was already.

“Wait, didn’t Hakyeon say that you were going to spend the night with your friends for countdown?” she remembered.

“That’s…” Sanghyuk didn’t know how to reply.

“Hyuk-ah,” Hakyeon finally spoke up after noticing the younger hiding something behind him. “What are you holding?”

“This…”

Eunji smirked and snatches the box right out of the younger’s hands.

“Hey!” Sanghyuk tries to take it back but before he could, Eunji had already opened it in front of Hakyeon. “Oh? What’s this? A cake?”

It was a strawberry shortcake, topped with more strawberries than the usual.

“I bet this is for you, Hakyeon-ah,” Eunji said. “It’s your favorite, isn’t it?”

“Really?” Hakyeon looked at Sanghyuk for confirmation.

“… It’s… It’s New Years,” Sanghyuk becomes flustered and finds himself averting his eyes from Hakyeon.

Hakyeon tries to hold back his smile but he couldn’t as he felt too blessed. Sanghyuk came back for him during New Years. He wasn’t alone anymore.

“Thank you, Hyogi,” Hakyeon said.

Along with Eunji, the three of them did their New Year countdown. Though Eunji was mainly the one who did the singing and dancing, getting drunk eventually, Hakyeon was happy to spend the last few seconds of the year with the people he loves.

If only gramps was here too… Hakyeon couldn’t help but feel sorry that he couldn’t have their gramps join them again this year.

That’s when Sanghyuk noticed it and grabbed Hakyeon’s hands out of the blue. “Next year. For sure,” he quietly said to Hakyeon.

“Mmm. Next year. The three of us for sure,” Hakyeon smiled back and was able to hold back his tears.

After seeing the drunk Eunji off in a taxi, the two brothers went back to the living room to clean up the mess that was left behind. It was nearing two in the morning and they were feeling tired from taking care of Eunji and her energy.

Hakyeon went upstairs to wash his face before getting ready to head to bed.

“Tonight was fun,” Hakyeon said and looked at the mirror, unable to stop his smiling.

“Save us.”

“Huh?”

Again.

Suddenly his smile disappeared and so did his reflection in the mirror as it turns into images of horror. Worlds were falling apart, fire and high tides covered the lands, cries and distress surrounded him as if it was really there. Was it another one of his dreams? Was he sleeping? But when did he fall asleep?

No. This was all too real. He was awake and this was unlike any ‘dream’ he’s had.

“Find them,” the little boy finally said something different this time.

“What? Find what?” Hakyeon called out and tried to look for the little boy. He couldn’t find the boy but only hear his voice. “Who do you want me to find? Just who are you? What do you want from me?”

“Find the keys. The light that prevents the worlds from colliding into each other. There’s no time. You have to hurry!” he said.

“Keys?”

Just then, the images disappeared before him and everything went back to normal. The mirror reflected Hakyeon’s face again but this time, something changed.

On Hakyeon’s forehead, a circle with glowing rims appeared and pulsed at the sound of his heartbeat.

“A key…” he gulps.

That's when Hakyeon finally realizes that all those dreams he's been having weren't dreams. They were premonitions of the future that awaits.

A/N:

Sorry for the delay. I've been meaning to update with a new chapter but as you may know, this story is my 2nd priority at the moment since I want to plan out the rest of [White] more thoroughly. Please wait patiently because I'll definitely get back to writing this lots more when I can.

Also, I want to wish every one safety and please take care of your health. Since I live in Japan, we've also been extra careful due to COVID-19. Don't worry too much though because a lot of the news have been exaggerating our situation even when our government is only trying to be cautious. Since I work as a teacher, our schedules have been all over the place too due to the virus but it's nothing too much to worry about. So, everyone just make sure to take care and stay hygienic, okay?