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Begin Dream Sequence Two

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Your eyes snapped open and suddenly, you were in a small cubical, your hands holding needles, preparing to pin pieces of fabric to a mannequin. You looked around in confusion. There was a tape measure around your neck, and as always, various papers with designs were scattered across a large drawing table in the middle of your cubical.

“Jisa? Are you pulling another all nighter?” Your eyes moved over to the person standing at the opening to your space. You recognized them as one of your coworkers and best friend, Jia.

“Oh. Yeah. I figured I should get this done before I get my head taken off, you know?” You mustered up a weak laugh. Jia watched your hands tremble for a second before you shoved the pins into the mannequin and dropped your hands.

“How’re the shakes?” Jia knew you had unsteady hands, especially when you got tired. Sometimes the trembling would get so bad, you wouldn’t be able to hold onto anything without dropping it.

“Fine. The doctor said they’re getting a lot better.” Jia frowned a little bit, but walked into your space to give you a cup of coffee with a smile.

“Don’t overwork yourself. Maybe you should take a day off, and spend it with Sunggyu.” You let out a sigh.

“Yeah, maybe I should. Thanks, Jia.” Jia bid you goodbye before leaving you to your work. The designing firm you worked for was one of the best in the city. It had a good reputation, and the work load was decent.

You turned back to the mannequin and pulled out a few of the pins. You’d finished up the design you were working on now, and then head home. Your phone was dead, and Sunggyu was probably going to get worried if he didn’t hear from you soon.

You tried to finish pinning, but your hands were shaking so bad you accidentally stuck one into your finger and cursed, dropping it to the ground. You sighed as blood welled up on your finger and went in search of a bandaid in your desk.

This was a sign to give up and go home.

--

Your apartment with Sunggyu was within walking distance from your work place. Sunggyu made you carry pepper spray for whenever you came home late from work and couldn’t get a hold of him to walk you home.

The night seemed eerily too quiet, making you reach into your purse and curl your fingers around the can of pepper spray, just in case.

You didn’t even have time to react when you felt someone grab your arm and cover your mouth from behind you. The next thing you knew, you were pressed into a wall, staring with wide eyes into the face of someone that looked very familiar to you.

You blinked rapidly, too scared to move. You could see his chest rising and falling your your peripheral vision. You couldn’t tell if you were breathing or not. Someone loomed over his shoulder, eyes glowing red, but suddenly they were gone. The man looked over his shoulder to see a pile of ash behind him before sheathing his knife quietly.

He turned back around to look at you and brushed away some hair out of your face. You were vaguely aware that his other hand was still covering your mouth. He sighed and press his forehead to yours for a second before disappearing without a trace.

You didn’t know how you found the strength, but your legs took you all the way home and into your apartment, where Sunggyu had his phone pressed to his ear. He looked up when you opened the door and dropped his phone, running for you at the door.

“Oh my god, are you okay? I tried calling you when I didn’t hear from you at midnight, but you weren’t answering your phone and-” You were shaking as you dropped your purse onto the kitchen table and had to lean against it because all of the blood rushed away from your head.

Sunggyu stepped forward and caught you, holding you in his arm.

“Jisa, are you okay?” You nodded dumbly and sighed.

“I’m tired, Sunggyu. Can you tuck me in?” Sunggyu picked you up and carried you to your room without another word. You’d clean yourself up in the morning, but right now, all you wanted was some sleep.

You were asleep as soon as you hit the sheets, making Sunggyu sigh. He could smell him on you.

--

End Dream Sequence Two

--

When you opened your eyes again, you were back in the laboratory. On your nightstand was a bouquet of flowers. You could smell them from your bed and sat up, rubbing at your eyes. They were lilies.

Your... favorite. You blinked a few times as the smell of the flowers brought back a few memories. That was right. Lilies were your favorite flowers, but these didn’t smell like lilies. You threw the sheets off of yourself and stood unsteadily on your feet.

You leaned over to smell the flowers again to make sure. Lilies were your favorite flowers, but roses were your favorite smell, and these definitely smelled like roses.

The door hissed open again, making you turn your head to see Jaehyo walking in with his clipboard. He smiled to see you out of bed and followed your line of vision as you turned back to the lilies on the nightstand.

“Lilies,” you said. Jaehyo smiled and wrote something down on his clipboard.

“Yes, those are lilies. They’re a gift for you.” You turned back to look at Jaehyo, struggling to figure out the right words to express what you wanted to say next.

“But... roses?” Jaehyo nodded.

“Made especially for you.”

--

Woohyun and Sunggyu stared into the monitor, both mirroring identical grins on their faces. You were speaking again. Even if it was one or two words and simple phrases, you were speaking again. They’d been watching your progress on the monitors, since all you did was panic whenever they entered the room.

“Do you think it’s something in her blood that makes her react that way to us?” Woohyun asked, turning to Sunggyu. Sunggyu shrugged.

“Your guess is as good as mine. But whatever it is, we can only exchange blood with her when she’s knocked out. The techs have tested her blood, but they’re not finding anything abnormal.” It’d been a few days since you started talking.

Currently, Jaehyo was taking your temperature and giving you a shot of nutrients since you still refused to eat. You turned away from the needles and flinched slightly when you felt it enter your skin.

“I wouldn’t have to do this if you would eat,” Jaehyo said, covering your arm with a piece of gauze and taping it. You blinked a few times and sighed. He left you alone in the stark white room.

You looked around, pulling your knees up to your chest. An overwhelming sense of loneliness took over you, and you tried to figure out why you were so lonely when a name popped up in your mind.

Sunggyu.

“Sunggyu?” you called out softly into the room. Woohyun and Sunggyu sat up in their chairs and stared at you through the observation mirror as you turned to look in that direction with confusion.

“Sunggyu? I... Sunggyu,” you said again, this time with pleading in your voice. Sunggyu bolted out of his seat and ran towards the door of your room. Woohyun sat back in his chair with a frustrated sigh. It was always Sunggyu. You always seemed to like him better.

You turned towards the door, and Sunggyu hurried inside, looking at you with concern. Your eyes widened when you saw him and watched him approach you cautiously. The last thing he wanted was to give you a panic attack.

“You called for me?” He stopped moving when you tilted your head in confusion and stared at him. After a few long seconds, you nodded. Sunggyu breathed out a sigh of relief and started to move towards you again until he was next to your bed.

You looked from him to the bed until he figured out that you wanted him to sit down. Your body was screaming at you to get away from him, but your mind was curious. This was the man you’d been dreaming about, the one you had memories about wonderful things.

There was no way he could be that bad.

Sunggyu sat there and stared at you as you looked him over, up and down, and from side to side. He froze as you scooted closer to him.

“Jisa?” he said softly, as if he were afraid of scaring you off. You leaned over and laid your head on his shoulder.

And suddenly, all the panic left your body, and you were left with a feeling of warmth and security. Sunggyu turned his head slowly to look at you as you yawned and your eyes closed.

“Please stay,” you said, falling asleep.

--

Woohyun was in the training grounds of the facility venting his anger when Sunggyu found him. Why was it that you always favored Sunggyu over him? He showed you just as much love, maybe even more than Sunggyu did.

You wouldn’t even be there with Sunggyu if it weren’t for him anyway.

“Woohyun?” Sunggyu called. Woohyun answered by shattering a wall of concrete in front of him and whipping around to give Sunggyu a cold stare.

“Yes?”

“Seriously? You’re mad at me for this? How do I have any control over this?”

“You didn’t have to go in there.”

“You would’ve done the exact same thing if it were you.” Woohyun couldn’t deny it. He would’ve gone to the moon and back for you if that was what you wanted. But you still couldn’t be around him without panicking.

“She’s only seen you once. Maybe you should try again,” Sunggyu said, reaching out to grip Woohyun’s shoulder. Woohyun shrugged his hand off and shook his head.

“We have to go. It’s time.”

--

Begin Dream Sequence Three

--

Sunggyu watched you get ready for a party with amusement in his eyes.

“I think you look prettier without makeup on,” he said, reaching forward to wrap his arms around your waist and lay his head on your shoulder. You laughed at him as you leaned forward to finish applying your mascara and turned to face him.

“Really?” You pouted and jutted out your bottom lip.

“... I said you looked prettier without it, not that you don’t look pretty with it on or anything.” You laughed and leaned forward to give Sunggyu a kiss.

“Where is this party anyway? And why is it in the middle of the night?” You rolled your eyes as you went to find your clutch and jacket. You dressed modestly, but showed enough skin to look absolutely delicious. At least, in Sunggyu’s eyes you looked delicious.

“Do you have to go? We could spend the night in and...” He let his hands trail down your sides before squeezing your hips. You rolled your eyes and slapped his hands away.

“I haven’t gone out with my friends in a while. Stop that. You have plenty of other nights for that.” Sunggyu grinned mischievously at you before shrugging his shoulders and stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“I guess, if you say so.” The two of you heard a knock at the door. Sunggyu walked you to the door as you opened it up to see Jia with a big smile on her face.

“You ready to go? Hey, Sunggyu!” she said brightly. Sunggyu waved to her and looked you over one more time.

“You have your phone? It’s fully charged?”

“Yes, Mom. I’ll call you when I get there and call you when I leave, too.” Sunggyu rolled his eyes before leaning forward to kiss you again.

“I’ll see you later,” you said before walking with Jia. Sunggyu stood out in the doorway to watch you leave, arm in arm with Jia. Jia turned around and smiled, waving at Sunggyu before the two of you disappeared into the elevator.

Sunggyu caught sight of something on Jia’s arm that made him freeze.

--

“So, what kind of party is this?” you asked as Jia drove. You hardly ever had time to go out anymore, and Jia jumped at the chance to take you out as soon as you met your deadline.

“The kind that’s ridiculously hard to get into. Exclusive and stuff, but don’t worry! I promise you’ll have fun!” You laughed and sat back in your seat.

“If you say so.”

--

And Jia was right. As soon as you stepped inside of the house, you could tell it was going to be an interesting party. There were people all over the place, looking almost impossibly pretty in the lights. The house itself was huge, and the party seemed to be taking place in the foyer. Two sets of stairs on both sides of the room led up to a balcony overlooking the place, where a number of men were lounging on chairs with girls hanging all over them.

One of them stopped in mid-laugh before turning his head towards the entrance and narrowing his eyes. He leaned out of his chair to get a better look, and caught sight of you handing your jacket off to someone to take away.

“No. What is she doing here,” he said, gritting his teeth. He stood up abruptly and disappeared.

--

“Just do some mingling, Jisa. Lots of new people to meet. I’ll be right back,” Jia, said, leaving you alone. You had a hard time making friends and approaching people because you hardly ever went out.

“Jisa? What’re you doing here? I didn’t know you ran with this kind of crowd.” You turned around to see Jaehyo walking up to you with a drink in his hand. You’d never seen him outside of his work before, and you had to admit, he looked pretty good in casual clothes.

“I don’t, really. I’m here with a friend. Wow, you look good,” you said, raising your eyebrows in surprise.

“What, and I don’t look good all the times you see me at the coffee shop? I’m wounded, Jisa. Really.” He sighed dramatically but grinned at you when you rolled your eyes. You caught sight of some marks on his arm and raised an eyebrow. It looked familiar, but then again, it was probably just your imagination because you’d never seen him in short sleeves before.

“Jaehyo, who’s this?” someone asked from behind Jaehyo. He turned around and grinned, pointing at you with his pinky.

“This is Jisa, a regular customer at the store. Jisa, this is Jiho.” You stared at him in a daze as he smiled at you and reached out for your hand, planting a kiss on your fingers. Jaehyo rolled his eyes.

“Pleasure to meet a beautiful lady such as yourself.” You saw his eyes flick to your arms for a moment.

Suddenly, you felt someone behind you and an arm drape itself around your waist.

“Take your wandering eyes somewhere else, Jiho. She’s mine.” You stiffened and turned to see who was talking and froze. It was him. The man that you kept seeing everywhere. The feeling that you knew he was familiar was nagging at you again.

“She doesn’t have any marks on her,” Jiho said with a grin, “so that means she’s fair game.” Jaehyo knew Jiho must’ve been on something to argue with the man.

“Come on, Jiho. Before you say something stupid and end up getting killed.” Jaehyo smirked at you before leading Jiho away, who just threw his hands up in defeat.

“I can never get the pretty ones. You were just a fluke.” You turned to look up at the man, but his face was hard when he turned to look at you.

“Come with me.”

--

You sat on a large bed and watched as he paced back and forth in the room.

“What’s going on? Can you at least tell me who you are and why you keep following me around?” The man stopped, and suddenly, he was right in front of you, his face inches away from yours.

You leaned back with a yelp, falling backwards onto the bed. He was over you as soon as you fell and held your hands down, burying his face into the crook of your neck before taking in a deep breath.

“You smell so good, but he would kill me if...” You laid there, breathing hard, too scared to move.

“Damn right I would kill you. Get off of her.” You blinked a few times as you recognized the voice.

“Sunggyu?” The man sighed and slid off of you, allowing you to sit up.

“Sunggyu? What’s going on? What’re you doing here?” You got off of the bed and started to run towards him, but the man grabbed your wrist and pulled you back, making you cry out in pain. He instantly looked regretful and loosened his grip a little bit.

“Woohyun, stop that. What do you think you’re doing?” Sunggyu said, staring the other man down.

“What we should’ve done a long time ago! Bond her, mark her, and make her ours. Don’t think that I let you keep her to yourself just because I was afraid of you.” Woohyun. So his name was Woohyun. That did nothing to jog your memory, though. Right now, you were so scared, you were trembling slightly.

“Woohyun, she’s scared. Just let go of her. She’s not going anywhere.” He turned to look at you, but you wouldn’t meet his eyes. He was handsome, that was for sure, but that didn’t stop you from being scared. Sunggyu knew he could feel you shaking, there was no way he couldn’t.

Woohyun sighed and let go of you, allowing you to run for Sunggyu and bury your face into his chest.

“Sunggyu, what’s going on?” you asked again, shaking in his arms.

“You’ll be okay, don’t worry.” Then you suddenly felt someone behind you and turned to see Woohyun pressed against you from behind.

“Woohyun. What are you doing?” Sunggyu asked, his voice holding a small warning. Woohyun pulled out a small knife and held it against the side of your neck as Sunggyu’s eyes widened.

“Woohyun. No.” You turned your head slightly and froze when you saw the knife.

“Sunggyu,” you said slowly, trying not to panic.

“Woohyun, think about what you’re doing. We can’t. It’s not-” Woohyun let the knife graze against your neck, making Sunggyu groan as small beads of blood welled up on your skin. You felt his grip on your waist tighten as Woohyun pressed closer to you.

Your eyes widened as you felt something pierce both sides of your neck. You let out a small gasp as your vision started to spin. Then everything went dark.

--

End Dream Sequence Three

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