♫ Onestar - I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

“When I look into your eyes, I don’t think about all the pain I have been through, I think about finally having all of the happiness I’ve been waiting my whole life to enjoy.”

Unknown

“Chaeyeon-ah. Where are you going?” Sakura asked as she looked at Chaeyeon who was standing in the distance.

“....”

“Chaeyeon-ah?”

“....”

“Chaeyeon?!”

“....”

“Lee Chaeyeon!!!” Sakura screamed as she bolted up out of her chair.

Sakura was breathing heavily as she felt that her entire body was drenched in sweat.

“I must have dozed off.” Sakura said to herself as she looked at her surroundings, paper scattered everywhere on the floor.

Still shaken by her dream earlier, Sakura decided to take a little break to calm herself down before going back to working on her thesis. She walked to her bathroom and the sink, continuously splashing cold water on her face. After a couple of splashes, she looked up into the bathroom mirror and saw that her face was completely flushed of any color.

What the hell was that?

Sakura thought as she turned off the sink and walked back to her bed, plopping down on it. Sakura knew it was only a dream, but she didn’t like the lingering feeling she still had. She grabbed her phone off her desk and looked at the time.

“It’s 3:00am… she’s probably asleep right?” Sakura said to herself as she thought about a certain person.

“I shouldn’t bother her if she’s finally gotten some sleep. Since I haven’t messaged her goodnight yet, I’ll do that real quick before going back to my thesis.” 

Hoping you’re having sweet dreams with Brownie-kun beside you. Sorry for the very late message.

Sakura let out a sigh as she put her phone down after sending the message. She got up and stretched for a moment, but then heard a ding from her phone. She quickly rushed to check what it was, and was surprised that Chaeyeon replied.

You’re awake?

The message read.

ME? Why are YOU still awake?

Sakura quickly messaged back. She saw the typing icon pop up for a second before it disappeared. There was nothing for a moment, but then suddenly her phone went off. 

“Hello?” Sakura said as she picked up the call.

“....Are you still studying?” Chaeyeon softly asked.

“Yea, but I’m taking a break right now. Why are you still up? Could you not sleep again?”

“No. Brownie-kun has been doing a really good job with helping me sleep. I just got really into a manga and didn’t realize how late it got. I was about to fall asleep, but then I heard a notification on my phone.”

“Sorry then. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s fine. I missed hearing your voice anyway.”

For the past few weeks, Sakura had been swamped with studying and finalizing her thesis that she hadn’t been able to see or talk to Chaeyeon. She’s just been attending her classes, going straight home to study, working on her thesis, and maybe getting something in her stomach every single day. And even if she did have some down time, Chaeyeon was the one who was busy so they could never match with each other.

“Have you been eating at least? You’re not skipping meals are you?” Chaeyeon asked.

“Uhh… yea. I’m eating.” Sakura replied.

There was a moment of silence, confirming to Sakura that her lie wasn’t working.

“You’re not going to do well if you don’t have some nutrients in you. Eat properly, even if it’s on the go.” Chaeyeon said sternly.

Sakura smiled as she missed hearing Chaeyeon nag at her.

“Are you listening?” Chaeyeon asked as she didn’t hear a reply.

“Yea, I hear you. I’ll eat properly.” Sakura said softly.

“Saku-chan?”

“Hmm?”

“Is something wrong?” Chaeyeon suddenly asked.

“What?” Sakura replied, caught off guard.

“Maybe I’m wrong, but it just sounds like something is on your mind.”

Sakura was flabbergasted as to how Chaeyon could tell just by her voice.

“How’d you know?”

“I just can.”

“Huh, what great powers you have.” Sakura said with a chuckle.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Chaeyeon cautiously asked.

Sakura hesitated for a moment as she contemplated on wanting to let Chaeyeon know or not, but decided to since she didn’t want to keep feeling the way she was feeling bottled up.

“I had a bad dream earlier when I dozed off.” Sakura said as she returned to her bed.

“A bad dream? What was it?” Chaeyeon asked.

“... It was about you.”

There was a bout of silence as Chaeyeon was probably surprised by Sakura’s answer.

“Me? What about me? Was I cheating on you with someone or something?” Chaeyeon teased.

Sakura smiled as she knew Chaeyon was trying to cheer her up by messing with her, but it didn’t help much.

“No, you weren’t cheating.” Sakura replied.

“So what happened?”

“.... I don’t really know actually.”

“Huh?” Chaeyeon replied, sounding even more confused.

“...You were standing in the distance and I was calling you, but you didn’t answer. After screaming your name a couple of times, you finally turned around and said something to me, but I couldn’t hear what you were saying. You smiled at me and then walked off. I tried running after you, but no matter how hard I tried to chase you, I couldn’t catch up. Just as you were about to disappear from my sight, I woke up.”

The line went silent for a moment as Chaeyeon didn’t say anything and Sakura was busy trying to calm herself again.

“You know that’s only a dream, right?” Chaeyeon finally spoke up.

“I know. It’s just, I couldn’t help but feel worried. It was just a weird feeling overall.”

“Hmm, sounds like I need to talk to your Brownie-kun. He’s not doing a very good job at protecting you from nightmares. He’s slacking ever since Brownie-kun 2.0 showed up.” Chaeyeon amused.

“Yea, or maybe he’s just jealous of you because I’m paying more attention to you and not him.” Sakura replied.

“Well, he needs to learn to share and still do his job diligently.”

“Right. Next time you come over, you’re going to have to reprimand him.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

Sakura heard Chaeyeon giggle, causing her to giggle as well.

“Feeling better?” Chaeyeon asked.

“Mmmhmm. Much better. Thank you, Chaeyeon-ah.” Sakura replied as her heart finally calmed down.

“After this week, my schedule should be a bit more open. Let’s meet up as soon as possible, okay?” Sakura added.

“Eung. I can’t wait to see you.”

“Well, I should let you get some sleep.” Sakura said, even though she didn’t want to let Chaeyeon go.

“Okay, don’t stay up too late either, alright?”

“Eung. I’ll go to sleep soon too. Goodnight, Chaeyeon-ah.”

“Sweet dreams, Saku-chan.”

The two lingered in silence for a moment before Sakura heard Chaeyeon end the call.

I love you, Chaeyeon-ah.

•~•

“Ugh, I’m so tired.” Sakura said out loud as she slowly dragged herself up the stairs to her apartment. 

Everyday has been rough lately, but today was especially grueling since she didn’t get a break at all and the meeting with her professor on her thesis went on a lot longer than she thought it would. Before they knew it, the sky was already dark.

“Well, at least after this weekend, I’ll be free and then, I can see Chaeyeon more.” Sakura said, staying optimistic. 

Sakura finally reached her apartment. She pulled out her keys and stuck it in the door, turning the knob and opening the door. As she entered her apartment and was in the process of taking her shoes off, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. In the distance towards her bedroom, she saw a dim flickering light. 

Did I accidentally leave something on? 

Sakura thought to herself as she slowly became cautious. She was hesitant to go in further, but what was she going to do? There was no one she could ask. People will just laugh at her if it turned out to be something dumb, and she didn’t want to bother the land lord so late in the night. Sakura took a deep breath in before proceeding slowly towards the light, cautious of her surroundings. As her mind was preoccupied with what was ahead of her, the door closed behind her. Just like a horror movie, Sakura suddenly heard some shuffling right as the door closed and out of nowhere, a figure rushed out from the corner at her like some kind of zombie. Sakura fell back into a corner, covering her eyes as her back hit the door while she let out a bloodcurdling scream. She braced herself, but then there was nothing. It was dead silent for a moment as she took a peek through a small opening between her feet. She saw a pair of feet standing close to her and then suddenly, she heard an explosion of laughter. Just by the laughter itself, Sakura knew exactly who it was.

“CHAEYEON-AH!!!” Sakura yelled, annoyed as she looked up at her still laughing girlfriend with tears in her eyes. 

“How could you? I was really scared.” Sakura added, wiping tears from her eyes.

“I-I’m so-sorry.” Chaeyeon said in between breaths as she tried to calm herself from her laughing fit. 

“I just wanted to get back at you for scaring me last time. I didn’t know you were going to be this scared though.” Chaeyeon added as she helped Sakura back up on her feet.

“Who wouldn’t be as terrified as I am if they had something rush at them in the dark. Plus you were moving really weird. You really looked like the zombies from Train to Busan.” 

“Really?” Chaeyeon asked with a slight smirk on her face.

“Eung!” Sakura replied.

“Heehee. Thanks. I’ve been practicing.” 

Sakura became even more annoyed that Chaeyeon seemed to be enjoying her suffering. 

“What are you even doing here? I thought we weren’t going to meet until after this weekend.”

“We were, but then I heard from Hyewon that you were done early and was free. Plus, I ended up being able to free up my schedule this weekend too. Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“NO.” Sakura replied, still bitter over the stunt Chaeyeon just pulled.

“Awe, come on. Don’t be like Saku-chan. I said I was sorry.” Chaeyeon said with a