The street lamp flickered and went off. I shuddered, that goes the last one.

Ahead of me, the familiar eerie street stretched out, reflective of the murky towering trees before it pinpointed into pitch blackness. The whole world that night became lit only by the faintly luminous full moon, while all around me screamed deadly silence.

This is why I loathed Thursday night tutoring; I’m never home before dark. And what’s more? The place had dismantled street lamps that scarcely worked.

A distant growl sent goosebumps on my arms crawling even more, and immediately I skipped into a faster pace, praying I could quickly get home. At the same time, a pair of lights emerged from opening. It was almost proportional – the rate at which the vehicle came towards me to the rate I sped myself up, and by the time I noticed what was about to happen, it was already late.

Piercing through the silence was the sound of braking wheels screeching across the road, followed by my lasting shriek as I was whammed backwards. It was unaccountable, the pain that shot through my body from the force of the car and my jarring landing on the ground.

My head spun in a chaos of panic; the whole world seemed as if in utter chaos, and I could feel myself bleeding to death. Who was it? Who hit me? WHO IN THE BLOODY DAMN WORLD IS SO CARELESS AND BLIND DRIVING –

I was mad. Real bloody mad, and I would have stayed so and exploded into flames with the boiling combustion of anger and agony if it hadn’t been for what I saw next.

Someone rushed to my side and knelt beside me. A man; a young man. A…cute young man.

Why did I feel such a strong stab of familiarity?

Fighting the pain, I forced my watering eyes to stay open and stared up at him. He leaned closer, shaking me and speaking to me, words I could barely hear.

Was it?

It can’t be…

Those eyes… I could swear it on my life; those were Hong Ki’s eyes.

No way!?!?!?

I stared harder, wincing.

They looked a trillion times more pained than I was…why?

Could he have been the driver?

My nose tingled with a strong smell of alcohol, but other than that my senses were numbed; I couldn’t hear nor speak a word, or move my hand to desirably touch that…face.

Hong Ki…

I wanted to call out his name, no – I wanted to scream it.

Hong Ki!

But, like any stupid miracle, he vanished as quickly as he appeared, leaving everything in chaos once again.

Oppa?!...............................................

********

I woke up coughing and gasping for air.

What the heck was that?

Beside me on bed, Cathy turned and groaned irritably, “Another nightmare?”

I took two deep breaths and let my racing heart calm before facing my sister.

“I dreamt of that night… again,” I said slowly, uncertain to deem it a nightmare.

Cathy frowned. “You mean… But it’s been two years since…” She paused, rethinking it, “Why now?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. But this time it was different.” I looked at her, wondering if I should say it.

“Go on? Different, how?”

“This time I saw Hong Ki....”

I waited for her to roll her eyes and laugh, or call me stupid, or maybe even tease me for the fact my own Ultimate Bias killed me – like how she would usually respond. Instead, she frowned even more, as if actually giving what I said a good think through. But my wait was met with her pulling the blankets up to her ears before telling me to go back to sleep.

“Your delusional mind seems to worsen when you’re sick. I wouldn’t even be surprised if I’m called up with you dead on the flight tomorrow.”

Her words were mumbled, but I smiled at the tint of concern I could sense. Sisterly intuition, she couldn’t always hide when she cared about me.

I lay my head back down and thought back to Hong Ki’s glistening eyes, the way they looked so desperate when they focused on me.

Oh what the hell Annabel, it was just a dream.

You see, two years ago, I was involved in a car accident. A typical Thursday night, it was, on my way home from school, when an unexpected car sped down that narrow, rayless road and ran straight into me. Who the psycho driver was, although the police reportedly searched for several weeks, never really found them. For 3 months, I was hospitalised and operated on, with ongoing uncertainty to whether I would pull through.  

And nightmares like the previous one visited me more than too often.

I suppose one could say it was Hong Ki’s powerful, husky voice that saved me from it all; the trauma, the recovered yet weaker than ever body I was left with after being permitted out of hospital, but mostly the trauma.

Even the doctors praised my sister for the deed; introducing me to the world of Korean-Pop, and instead of focusing on her favourites like B2ST, Super Junior or Wonder Girls, I found FTisland. The instant chemistry of love at first sight between me and Lee Hong Ki must’ve pulled my soul back to life.

He had eyes that shone brighter than the brightest star in the night sky, a face cuter than a baby lamb, and although I didn’t understand a single word, the resonance of his voice was something I can’t hear enough of.

I doubt any Primadonna can. And the strong passion I felt towards him surely surpassed any normal fandom love.

It was immeasurable, my dedication to my heroes, and after a year of saving, I finally had enough to personally travel to Korea. I didn’t even ponder about why I saw Hong Ki’s face tonight, what it may mean. The dream was forgotten quickly. All I could feel was excitement in leaving Sydney tomorrow, and the thought of it sent tingling feelings inside me.

Wait for me oppa, I’m coming!