“Miya! Miya! Wake up!”

You slowly forced your eyes open. Mark stood over you with his hands gripped onto your shoulders.

“Mark?”

“Oh my god you’re fine.” he said with a sigh of relief.

“What happened?” you asked as you sat up, looking around.

“You were yelling and shaking, so I had to wake you up.”

“Where am I? Why are you here?”

“You’re in our dorm. I’m here because this is our dorm,” he said with a straight face.

You raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah but why am I here?”

“You fell asleep at the recording last night and we didn’t know where your hotel was so we let you sleep here for the night.”

“Oh..”

“Do you always get these dreams..?”

“Dreams?” you let out a little laugh, “more like nightmares. I got them for about a year after the acc-” you began to say but realised Mark didn’t know what happened.

“The..?” he urged you on.

“I’ve been getting these nightmares almost everyday since I’ve come to Korea,” you continued ignoring his question.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know.. I’m used to it know. Except for this one…” you said as you shrugged.

“What happened?”

“I was falling. There was nothing around me that I could hold on to. I was just free falling in darkness. I kept struggling and screaming for help but there was no use. I kept falling and falling. It seemed as if there was no end. Then there was this hand reaching out to me. I tried to grab it but I couldn’t reach. As I continued to fall, the hand would follow. Only ever a few inches away. But no matter how hard I tried I could never seem to reach it.” you clenched the blankets tightly.

Reliving the nightmare was making you feel anxious. You fidgeted with the blanket in the fist of your hands. Clenching it tighter and tighter as your knuckles turned white.

“Here, drink some water first,” Mark said while handing you a cup of water.

You sipped on the water slowly, taking short intervals of breathe, trying to calm yourself down.

“You said that you were used to it except for this one. Does that mean you always get a same nightmares?”

You shook your head.

“There are different variations but it’s always dark, and I’m trapped or tied up or being chased. This one’s different because there was help. In my other dreams, help was never there. Usually I can pull myself out because I know it’s all fake. But this felt so real. Every single time, I try to reach for that hand thinking there’s hope.”

He placed a hand on top of yours and gave it a little reassuring squeeze.

“If you ever need someone to talk to about these nightmares or anything else, you can always come to me.”

“Thanks,” you said as he got up off the bed.

“Wait Mark,” you held onto his hand, “please don’t tell anyone about these nightmares especially Jackson.”

“Miya, I know better than to do that. Everyone has secrets they don’t want the world to know. Your secret is safe with me.”

“Thanks Mark,” you smiled.

“But..” he sat down on the edge of the bed again, “can I ask something?”

You nodded.

“What happened 3 years ago? What made you so strong?”

“Strong? Believe me, I’m not strong at all. Every time I think about the past 3 years, I break down. It doesn’t matter where I am, I can’t control my emotions when those memories appear again.”

“Maybe that’s what you need to do to stop those nightmares. Forget. Why didn’t you get them after 1 year?”

“I guess I just got busy carrying on with life, getting back into the routine that I.. that I eventually forgot..” admitting the truth.

“Maybe after seeing Jackson triggered those nightmares resurface.”

You furrowed you eyebrows, “wait, how did you know that Jackson was involved?”

He gulped, avoiding eye contact with you.

“Mark! Tell me!”

He sighed.

“Yesterday when you were in the room with Jackson I overheard your conversation. I’m not exactly sure what happened but I know Jackson left when you needed him most.”

“Mark, look at me”

He lifted his head to meet your eyes.

“I’m sorry that you had to hear my disappointing past,” you said as a tear rolled down your face.

“You don’t need to be sorry. Miya. Instead I want to know the truth. I know what you told Jackson wasn’t the whole truth. I want to help you stop those nightmares.”

“If you really want to know,” you sighed, “The reason I didn’t tell Jackson was because I didn’t want him to blame himself. But I guess since you’ve already heard, you might as well know the rest.”

You continued to tell him your story from the beginning, including parts even your parents didn’t know.

“So that’s my life story finished,” you let out a breath.

He embraced you with an unexpected hug.

“I’m really sorry you had to go through all that.”

“I’m okay now, Mark. It’s all in the past,” reassuring him that you were dealing with it just fine.

“Tell you what. Every time you get a nightmare, message or call me or if we’re together just tell me in person. I want to listen to every one of them.”

“But why?”

“No but’s Miya-shi. I’m your Oppa and you have to do what I say,” he ordered.

“Why does everyone use ‘Oppa’ against me,” you mumbled and pouted.

Mark chuckled and said “Let’s go out into the living room. The rest should be back soon.”

You followed Mark out into the living room. Shortly after, the rest of GOT7 arrived at the dorm.

“Noona!! You’re still here!” Yugyeom came rushing towards you.

“Ah ne.. I just woke up. Thanks for taking me in,” you blushed.

“No worries Noona. It only took two of us to carry you in,” he joked.

You playfully punched his arm.

“Where’s Jackson?” you said as you slightly stood on your tippy toes, looking for him.

“He’s filming for the show Roommate,” BamBam answered.

“Ah.. I see..” you nodded.

The silence floating around the living room was interrupted when you cleared you throat.

“So where were you guys just then?”

“We went to eat but Mark wasn’t hungry,” JB said while eyeing Mark.

Mark shrugged it off and rolled his eyes.

Jr. perked up to change the mood, “What are you going to do this afternoon Miya?”

You pursed your lips, thinking, “I’m not sure. Probably go back to the hotel to finalise the sketches.”

“Why~ Can’t you hang out with us today Noona?” Youngjae whined.

“Please Noonaaa ~” Yugyeom begged.

“No I should really get the sketches done. Only a few days left before the next meeting. You don’t want to go without an outfit do you now?” you gave a slight smile.

“I guess not,” Yugyeom replied with a pout and dropped his head, staring at his feet.

“Come on, don’t be sad. Noona will shout you lunch next time okay?” you said as you placed your arm around his shoulder giving him a little hug.

“Okay…” he pouted.

“Do you need a lift to the hotel?” their manager asked.

“Oh no it’s fine. I can walk,” you politely rejected the offer.

All of GOT7 looked at you with their mouths opened, surprised.

“Walk? How close is this hotel?” Jr. blabbered.

“Hyung, there’s a hotel near our dorm?” Yugyeom asked with a confused look.

You giggled at their shocked faces.

“JYP moved me into an apartment. I’m living upstairs,” you managed to say in between your giggles.

“No way!” BamBam exclaimed in disbelief.

“You’ll have to host a house warming party then,” JB said smirking.

You glared at him but he shrugged it off like it had nothing to do with him.

You finally gave in and said, “Fineee.”

“Yes!” Jb said while pumping his fist into the air whilst BamBam and Youngjae high five each other with great excitement.

“Well, I should get going then. Don’t want JYP to think I’m spending all this time with you and not doing anything at all. It is my first big project after all,” you said with a huff.

“Okay,” they all said in unison.

Mark placed his hand on your shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. You looked at him and knew what exactly he wanted to say, ‘talk to me anytime.’ You gave him a little nod before waving goodbye to the others and walking out the door.