I don't dream often, but when I do, its something bad. Unfortunately, usually that bad thing I dream of, comes true.

There's a superstition that when a mother has a dream of "ripe" objects, the daughter is pregnant. You could say my dreams are like that, except they're specific to the person, time, weather and of course what happens to them.

Three weeks before my mother's illness was announced to us, I dreamt of waking up at precisely 9 AM on a Sunday morning when my dad was home. I remember looking at the calendar and it saying it was December 14. I was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast with my dad. When we finished my dad told me to go call my mom, but when I went into her room, she was nowhere to be found.

I woke up and found her sleeping peacefully in her room, but on December 14 the exact thing that happened in my dream happened. It wasn't the first time. There were plenty of others, on a much smaller scale of course. I've had dreams about my brother getting into college, my dad coming home with a broken mast on his boat, sometimes even when the next big snowstorm would be.

So, when Zhang Yixing came into my life with no warning from my dreams, I didn't know what to think. This is the kind of things my neighbors would ask me about, but I would have no answer.

Within the few days he arrived, Yixing had already become the center of attention in our small town. A stunning, young, rich, Seoul dweller suddenly decides to move to a small fishing district like ours; that only asks for questioning.

After the day he gave me his coat, the baristas and people in the cafe gave been bugging me about him, but I only wish I had answers. I wanted to pry into Zhang Yixing as much as they did, but this man remained a mystery to all of us.

He didn't reappear until a week after. When I saw him, I immediately got his jacket that I've kept in the best condition, sometimes taking it out to imagine how it would fit on his broad shoulders.

When he walked in, he was wearing a different suit, but he still had a freshly ironed tie and polished slacks while adjusting the silver watch on his wrist. Our cafe was practically empty because it was the middle of the day, so I saw Lay's smile wide and clear the second he walked in, and of course I returned it. I immediately turned to pick up his jacket, which he received with a continuous smile.

"How have you been, Ahreum?"  His deep voice rang through the empty cafe and went over the whirring of coffee machines.

There it was again. He didn't use an ending, and for some reason I loved that.

"Its the same to me everyday." I responded, "what about you?"

He chuckled at my response, and I admired his deep dimples. "I've been adjusting to this island life." He admitted.

This whole time, we've been standing in the middle of the cafe, surrounded by the glass windows overlooking the serene waves. He was holding his jacket and I was holding a broom, so we decided to take a seat. He decided to order his usual drink, not surprising the baristas this time.

"Its gotten better." He said, nodding in approval after taking a sip of the coffee.

"I'm sure the baristas would be glad to hear it." I sat down across from him. We were still sitting in the same seats; the two-person table next to the floor-to-ceiling window. We were stationed directly in front of the dock which meant that whenever the husbands came back from sea, our little cafe turned into a place of reunion, not that anybody minded.

"Have you ever considered moving to the city?" Lay asked, breaking my thoughts.

"Of course I have." I answered bluntly. "Its just not really an option for me."

"I've been here for such a short time that I can't tell you which one I prefer, but I have a stinging suspicion that I will like the island life more." He said while looking out to the dock. "Where are your parents by the way? I figured they wouldn't be too happy to not have their daughter in college."

Normally I would have coolly told the person asking to either find out themselves, or just not worry about it, but I couldn't say that to Lay. "My dad's out at sea 90% of the time, and my mom passed away a while ago." I answered while looking down at my fingers.

There was silence between us. I figured he wasn't expecting such an answer. "I'm sorry." He finally said.

"Its ok. I guess I already accepted that life isn't fair to everyone."

"Isn't that the truth." Lay sighed.

"So what's your problem? What's going on in the city life that someone like you had to run away from?" I finally took up the courage to ask.

"I don't think you have time to listen to the entire story.” His gaze changed from looking outside to looking down at his hands. “But to make a long story short, someone who i once loved decided she no longer loved me, and someone who i once worked for no longer appreciated my talent.”

And i finally understood why he had to move away from the bustling city life and turn to our boring island life. And even though i never really had the chance to learn about city life, i didn’t really need to. From what i heard from Lay, everything moved faster. We all have 24 hours a day, but city people could do so much more.

“Thanks for telling me.” I said, lacking anything else to say.

“I figured at least someone should know.” His gaze went back to the shore. “I’m sure this small town realized that an intruder was here.” He chuckled while looking at me.

“You’re right about that.” I smiled. “So many people have asked me who you are.”

“Are you supposedly the go-to person for these things?” He raised an eyebrow, one of his dimples appearing.

“Not usually, but since i work here they just assume i would have seen you.” I answered, then a thought appeared in my head. “How did you find a house here?”

He laughed at my sudden interrogation. “There are more empty houses here than you think.”

I raised an eyebrow. I was almost 100% sure that the people who have been here never really leave.

“I’m not lying to you.” Lay leaned back in his chair. “I chose Anmyeondo because of the real estate.”

For some reason, a sense of disappointment washed over me. “Is that it?”

Anmyeondo is my home, where i grew up, where my family is from. To have someone say that the only reason why they found this island pleasing was real estate was… almost insulting. To me, this place was so much more than that.

“Of course not,” Lay began, leaning on his elbows. “Anmyeondo is aesthetically more pleasing than a lot of the other islands, everything else though, needs actually living there to find out.”

“A lot of things need to be.” I replied.

This time, Lay didn’t respond to me. He just stared at me. He had no smile, no frown, not a single sign of emotion on his face. I couldn’t see through this barrier he was able to put on.

“Ahreum.” He finally said.

I looked at him straight in the eyes as my response.

“I get the feeling…” His voice went off. “That you’re missing something.”

I raised my eyebrow, trying to determine if i should feel offended or not.

“Not like you as in yourself, but you as in your life.” He explained, though not very well. “It’s as if you haven’t seen enough of the world. As if you haven’t met enough people. As if you haven’t been loved.” He finished.

I looked at him dead in the eye, looking for a better explanation.

“It’s as if you’re broken.”

a/n: annyeong readers! i actually managed to update on Tuesday LOL. Sorry if today's update is a little confusing... i wrote most of it at like 2 am last night cuz i couldn't sleep. >.< I hope you like how Lay's and Ahreum's relationship is progressing because it's going to get a lot more ... should i say intimate... soon XD

hope you enjoyed the chapter! don't forget to comment, upvote and subscribe ^^

P.S KRIS IS GOING TO BE IN A MOVIE OH MY GOD YOU DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND I CRIED FOR LIKE 3 HOURS AFTER FINDING OUT THE NEWS I AM SO EXCITED AND HAPPY AND EMOTIONS JUST CANNOT BE EXPRESSED /ugly sobbing in background.

i'm sorry please continue with your day now. >.<