Perhaps it was because both of them always have a thing for rivers, that Minhyuk and Chorong found themselves back at the river where they first met. It wasn’t that far from their flat ― give or take 40 minutes by car without all the traffics.

Perhaps it was because it was still so early in the morning, with not a single vehicle on the road and nearly no one in sight when they arrived at their old neighbourhood, that all memories came creeping into their mind like every single thing happened only yesterday.

Perhaps it was because they were together, that not even the coldness of the weather could ruin the moment.

It wasn’t particularly romantic ― river-watching, Chorong thought. Perhaps it was a habit of theirs, since it was something that they grew up doing, and as the saying goes, old habit dies hard. Perhaps, it was something that tied them together, like a bond.

It was a gorgeous day, regardless of the chilly wind that blew every now and then. She gripped his hand tight, suddenly recalling the nightmare she had the night before while seeking for even the slightest tinge of warmness from his skin.

“Why do you look so worried?” Minhyuk asked, noticing her frown.

She darted her eyes away, startled by his question. “Do I look worried?”

He nodded, eyes staring right ahead at the streaming water. “You already look so old. If you keep on frowning like that, you’d look much older,” he teased. With a scowl, she hit him on the shoulder, causing him to wince in pain but still managed to laugh at her reaction. When the laughter subsided, he turned to gaze at her. “Alright, jokes aside. What’s the matter, really?

She looked away, wondering if she should tell him about the dream. “It’s nothing,” she murmured after pondering for a bit.

“You know,” he returned. “Your nothing always means something,”

Chorong made a face, half irritated over the fact that Minhyuk always found a way to read her mind like an open book. Wanting to avoid his question, she glanced around. “Is it weird that I have yet to see anyone around?”

“Actually it bugged me for a while too,” he replied with that beguiling smile of his. “But it’s not gonna be an excuse for you to change our topic of conversation,”

She clicked her tongue at him, causing him to chuckle. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you,” she surrendered. “I had this dream last night,"

“A dream?”

“I guess you can say it was a bad dream,” she shrugged. “I was at Han River. I don’t really know what happened, but suddenly I fell down,” she went on. “I was drowning,”

Minhyuk fell silent on what she had just told him and stared into a distance, taking it in. Then he turned to face her with a smile on his face. “Hey,” he said, nudging her arm. “It’s just a dream,”

Feeling his fingers her hair, she closed her eyes and nodded at his words. Because it was his words, she wanted to believe it. Because it was him who uttered the words, she had to believe it. Him, not anyone else

: :

“Minhyuk,” Chorong croaked out, her voice so soft and delicate it almost came off as a whisper, as if it would break her to pieces if she had screamed a little louder. She stared at the grey cloudless sky, and for a brief second she thought she saw a jet trail, but it disappeared as soon as she blinked.

She reached out her hand. Even though she knew it was already hopeless, somehow she just wished someone would grab it, but she was only clutching air.

: :

Chorong opened her eyes in desperation, startled by her own dream. She took a look around and heaved a sigh of relief upon learning that she was still there by the river, and Minhyuk was still there by her side. She stood up, careful not to wake him, and walked towards the river.

“Bad dream again?” she heard Minhyuk’s voice behind her.

She turned around with a smile plastered on her lips, soothing herself more than it soothed him. “It’s nothing,”

“If you say so,” he said, not wanting to argue.

With her hands shoved in her pockets, she gazed into the flowing water, then at the old cherry blossom tree where the bullies were hiding at that day. She wondered whatever happened to them now.

A gush of balmy wind passed by, wrapping around her body before it left, and the coolness of it pierced her skin, making her shudder. The sharp pain suddenly reminded her of something. Then she realized something else.

“Minhyuk?” she called out, afraid.

“Hmm?” he murmured back, eyes still closed.

“Why am I dripping wet?”

He opened his eyes now and sat up straight. “Because … you jumped into the river without me knowing?”

She shook her head. “I did not,”

Frowning, he studied her. Surely, she was drenched, with her clothes and long locks sticking to her skin. Just when he was trying to come up with a reason, her voice interrupted his thoughts.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked, looking even more worried.

It took him a while to comprehend what she was saying. He looked down at his own clothes, and realized that it was torn badly at some places. Feeling a sting on the tip of his nose, he rubbed it gently and saw a smear of blood on his finger.

That was when he finally remembered.

“Hey Chorong?”

“What?”

“It wasn’t a dream,”

Chorong’s eyebrows creased as she tried to understand the meaning of his words. “What are you saying?”

“What I’m saying is,” he said, looking straight into her orbs, “the bad dream you were having, the one I had, but I didn’t tell you about ― those dreams are not just dreams. This is a dream,”

Then she remembered falling, and just continued to fall as if there was no end to it, until the coldness of the water pricked her skin and swallowed her whole. She remembered reaching out her hand to no one in particular, just hoping that someone, anyone would grab hold of it. She remembered the grey sky. She remembered gasping for breath as the water filled her lungs.

She remembered it all.