O N E . 5

Bump!

‘Ow! What the heck?’ I rubbed my forehead, slowly peeking open my eyelids. My eyes still tired and hazy from sleep.

“Oh, sorry about that Sooyeon.” A voice came from beside me, startling me a little.

I turned to look beside me, my eyes half-lidded from the abrupt end to my sleep state.

My brother, Jinki, was behind a steering wheel. Driving frantically through the quiet streets of a suburb. He had the radio on low as it streamed a song I had never heard of. ‘Hold on…’

I sat up straighter in the passenger seat, dumbfounded and confused at the reason why I was in a car. This didn’t seem right, I was just in comfort of my bed sheets and soft pillows not too long ago. How the heck did I get here?

“Hey oppa…” I tapped his shoulder. “Where are you taking us?”

Jinki kept his eyes on the road, a deep etch of confusion started to grace his flawless face.

“I’m… taking you to school right?” He gradually turned his head to look at me. His expression an even deeper form of confusion. “Unless you wanted to be taken somewhere else before school? Although I wouldn’t recommend because you’re already late for role class.”

I tried to focus on what he was saying. But the one question that kept going around in my head was, ‘how in the world did I get in this car?’ I don’t even remember getting up in the morning and doing my morning routine! And I almost never miss a morning routine.

“How did I—”

“—Good morning city of Seoul!” The voice of the radio host boomed through the cars speakers, cutting off my sentence. “I can definitely feel the love in the air this morning, the sky is a romantic shade of pastel pink, everywhere I look there’s red roses! Now this is the question for you, who will you be getting a rose from on *Valentine’s Day?” the host paused, excitement humming in his cheery voice. 

All I could do was sit frozen on the passenger seat. ‘Valentine’s Day? But it isn’t even the fourteenth of February yet!’

“Valentine’s Day?” I mumbled, more to myself than someone else.

But Jinki seemed to have heard me because he chuckled. “Excited to get a rose from—?”

The end of his sentence didn’t reach my ears. ‘A rose from who?’ It was so peculiar. It was as if the end of his sentence get cut off and he was completely unaware of it because he was just smiling in my direction, expecting me to respond.

“Uh, yeah sure!” I say, trying to lace some excitement in my voice. Was there someone courting me that I was unaware of or something?

Trying to figure out how I got here just got me more confused and at a state of unease. It must’ve been a side effect of the potion, maybe there was a strong dose of sleeping pills crushed into the liquid. But still, today being Valentine’s Day is unexplainable.

Once I arrived at school, I stepped out of Jinki’s car.

“Hi Jessica!”

I followed the voice and saw that it came from a girl I didn’t even know. Gripping my bag tighter in my hand, I approached her. Her eyes seem to grow wider each step I took towards her. ‘Is she okay?’

“Um,” I started to say, the girl still frozen on the spot. “What’s the date today?”

“I-It’s February fourteenth.” She stated it more like a question. I nodded, I was about to thank her when she started to talk again. “Y-You’re talking to me. I can’t believe it!”

‘Uh… okay?’

I mumbled a quick thank you with a hint of uncertainty.

More people greeted me as I passed by them, but I didn’t pay them attention because I was trying to look for people I know. I don’t know anyone who’s approaching me. Why is so many people greeting me? I don’t even personally know these people.

I walked through the main doors of the school and came face to face with… ‘my face?!’ The massive notice board that took the whole wall space was advertising various clubs and events that were coming up. And there, pinned on the board was my smiling face, a non-braces smile! I unconsciously brought my fingers up to my mouth, trying to feel the tell-tale sign of the bumps of wire over my teeth. Nothing. I looked too different, but I couldn’t have been wrong about this. It was definitely me. Just with longer hair, and no bangs… ‘How is this possible?!’ I shifted my gaze to the big banner pinned above my face, along with the face of twenty other girls.

‘No… no way. No way! No way!’ 

The banner said, “Who will be your next Head Girl?” But it wasn’t that part of the banner that made me so shocked that I almost dropped my bag. It was what was under it. Which said, “Choose your Head Girl of 2006 now!”

2006.

I just stared at the four-digit number, too shocked to move or react. ‘How?’ I started to breathe deeply, knowing that a phase of hyperventilation will occur soon. ‘We were in 2004 yesterday. How?’

I stood, unmoving. I couldn’t get a breath out. I felt the signs of an intense headache in the near future as my mind tried to comprehend.

The potion… worked?

“Jessica! What the heck are you doing?” 

I was still in partial shock, so the voice startled me so much that I really did drop my bag this time. Picking up my bag, I peered over my shoulder to see Minjae flailing her arms around and gesturing for me to quickly come over. Once I got to her, she took my wrist and dragged me through the corridor. Most likely in a rush to get to role class.

“Hey—” Minjae called out to a guy leaning on a locker situated beside another guy who was getting a few lecture books out of his locker and placing it in his bag. At the urgent sound of Minjae’s voice, the guy leaning on the locker looked over his shoulder, his face now turned directly towards us.

‘Hang on…’ I rubbed my eyes, blinking a couple of times but nothing changed. ‘This guy… doesn’t have a face!’

Well, he did have a face. But it was so blurry that it started to make me dizzy. I couldn’t put a name to the face. Once the realisation sunk in, I started to internally panic, looking towards Minjae to see if her face was blurred too. ‘Am I going blind?!’ I let out a small breath of relief because her facial features was clear and distinctive as day. Now I can get a good look at her face, her cheekbones seem to be more prominent. Was she eating properly?

‘Wait, that’s beside the point!’

Looking back towards the guy, he moved his arm from behind his back and brought out bouquet of bright red roses. They were absolutely gorgeous, so gorgeous that I forgot about his blurred out face. Or… more like I naturally went with the flow, kind of like reciting a drama script you’ve practised for so long. I whispered a thank you, smelling the essence of the roses.

“Baby, Happy Valentine’s Day.” I could tell he was smiling, the whites of his teeth prominent through the blur. I could tell that whoever the guy was, had a nice smile. He circled his arms around my waist, bringing his lips close to my ear, he whispered, “and Happy Anniversary.”

So I’m assuming that this guy is my boyfriend then. 

“H-Happy Anniversary,” I gently pulled myself away from him, trying to get a good look at his face but it was still no use.

Suddenly a bright streak of white light crossed through my field of vision, fogging my sight so much that everything seemed like it was being consumed by the light. Minjae, my boyfriend, they all started to fade. Started to slip away from my vision until I was completely surrounded by white and for a few seconds I felt it.

The feeling of losing warmth.

№

“Congratulations senior class of 2008!” Our principal’s raspy voice boomed from the PA system. “You have officially graduated from our school! We wish you great fortune as you venture through independence and find self-identity within society!”

‘What in the world?’ I wandered through the halls, occasionally tripping over my graduation gown and bumping into my classmates jumping around and signing their lockers. I was so confused, where was I? One minute I was with Minjae and my supposed boyfriend, now I find myself here. The sense of disarray and confusion ten times stronger than what it already was. ‘What’s happening to me?’ And what the heck was I wearing?

I averted my gaze from my gown, stopping to look at my surroundings. ‘Okay, take a deep breath, the only thing to do in situations like these is to be calm.’

Stopping in the halls seemed like the worst idea possible, I was immediately bumped into. The impact so hard that I almost fell forward. ‘Ugh!’ I straightened myself up. ‘This person is so going to get it!’

I turned around to bring wrath to whoever hit me—

“—Sica!”

It was Minjae, sporting long light brown hair. ‘Huh? Long hair?’

“There you are!—is looking for you!” Minjae yelled over the shouting boys in matching graduation gowns, swinging their graduation hats in the air. The hype and noise was so extreme that I didn’t hear who exactly was looking for me.

“Wait! Who’d you say was looking for me?” I asked, in a trance at the overwhelming situation.

Minjae didn’t seem to hear me and started to drag me through the throng of students in graduation gowns. In my state of utter confusion, I felt numb, my mind and body wouldn’t conjure up a response to think or do anything. So I just let her pull me through the main doors of the school and outside where marquees and a ton of chairs were set up. There were tons of people, mostly parents, milling around in formal attires. 

Once I finished observing, I looked beside me and realised that Minjae had disappeared from my side. ‘Where the heck did she go?!’ I frantically twirl around to find her but couldn’t, until realised I was looking for the Minjae I know supposedly four years ago.

“There you are.” A guy’s sweet voice whispered in my ear.

Arms abruptly encircle my waist, lifting me off the ground and twirling me. I let out a squeal of surprise. ‘Omo! That scared me!’

“I’ve been looking all over for you and so has Jinki hyung.” 

The guys finally lets me go after I give a bit of a struggle to get out of his arms.

I swiftly turned to face this person. 

‘It’s him again! The guy with the blurry face!’

His face was still completely blurry. My view was still too abstract that I still couldn’t put a name to the face and it was starting to frustrate me.

“Baby?” He cupped my face, his thumbs on my cheeks. “Are you okay? You’re looking a bit lost.”

No, you don’t get it. I couldn’t speak because his darn face was blurry. It was like erased, it was zilch. I wanted to so badly ask for his name but I had to think rationally, I mean, what kind of girlfriend doesn’t know the name of her supposed boyfriend? My slight frustration turned into anguish as I raked my fingers through his soft hair and down his face gently. The longing of wanting to know who this guy is became stronger. 

“Um?” The guy tilted his head. “Is there something on my face?”

I would’ve laughed if this wasn’t a serious situation, I mean, the guy didn’t even have a face to have something on it in the first place.

From somewhere far, like background music, I heard a constant beeping. The guy in front of me kept trying to get my attention but I was too focused on that beeping.

*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*

I looked around me, trying to locate the beeping, walking in a direction I thought it came from. I left the guy where he was and tried to see if anyone else heard it but no one seemed to be phased by it.

The beeping became louder, almost like it was coming right at me. It became too much, the beeping felt like it was tearing through my eardrums. I couldn’t hold myself up anymore. I felt myself fall to the ground, my body even number than it already was.

After that, all I saw was the sickening white.

№

*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*

I groaned, pulling out my hand from under the duvet and searched around for my clock, not bothering to look for it with my own eyes. Everything came rushing back to me, Valentine’s Day of 2006 and Graduation Day of 2008. My head started to pound just by thinking about it, the thrumming seemed to go on forever, almost endless, I shut my eyes even tighter—hoping it will lessen the pain. ‘Was that all a bad dream?’

*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*

‘Ugh! Darn alarm clock,’ eyes screwed shut, my hand moving towards the place where I knew my clock was. ‘Since when did my clock beep like that?’

 *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*

After what felt like five minutes of searching for my clock, I gave up, it didn’t seem to be where I thought it was. I buried my head deeper into the soft pillows, the texture of it seemed to soothe my headache. ‘Hold on…’ I deeply inhaled, my head still in the pillow. ‘What the?’ I took another sharp inhale, sniffing something that was foreign to me. The pillow smelt strongly of men’s invaluable cologne. That small detail made me still, it was then that I experienced one of those moments where once you realise one thing—you realise several other things. The cologne, the soft pillows, the constant beeping of the alarm clock when I had never owned one.

The realisation hit me, making me cautious of my surroundings as I slowly lifted my head off the pillow. It was then that I heard a deep grunt beside me.

…

‘Who… the… hell… is he?’

 №
word count: 2427 w
next update: 15th November, 2013