He saw them again. The girl with yellow blonde hair, wearing a pair of spectacles, pulled the brunette boy’s hand towards a place full of arcades. She pointed at the air hockey machine, and then seemingly talked to the boy for a moment before he eventually nodded his head. She pulled him there again and soon enough, they were concentrated into their game.

And then he woke up.

It had been the third time Jaehyun dreamed of the couple. First time was a blur, but he thought he saw them on a bicycle together. Second time, he remembered they were just running around, the girl behind the boy. And then today, during his nap, he saw them again in the arcade.

He remembered this dream started since more than a month ago. He did not understand why he kept dreaming of the same people over and over again, moreover he actually never saw them in real life, but he remembered their faces. Also, whenever he dreamed about them, he always had this gut feeling, although he didn’t know what it was supposed to be.

In the end, it was all a dream, he thought. Just like every dream, he tried to dismiss it and thought it would be great to grab some coffee, because he really needed it at that moment.

Taeil never had any memories of his childhood. If anything, the family he lived with right now was not even his real family. He had been adopted since young because supposedly his real family died in a fire, and the trauma from the incident played a part on his own memory loss, but he never bothered with it. He loved his family now, and they treated him as if he was really born into their family. His parents were also the ones who encouraged him to pursue his engineering degree in Hanyang University, even though that meant he had to leave them for Seoul. But his parents were willing to pay for it, and also gave him allowance every month.

Even with his parents’ full support, he was not the type who took it for granted. If anything, he wanted to pay back what they had done for him, and that was partly the reason why he took a part-time job in the café located next to his university buildings.

His job as the barista slash cashier in the café didn’t give him that high of a payment, but he was content with it. The payment was enough for him to buy himself meal for a week. Also, he had been studying hard to gain scholarship. Soon enough, he could tell his parents not to send him allowance for the next month.

While he was not busy tending to customers in the café, he sometimes studied there as well. He had his book laid on his lap, and whenever customers came, he put his bookmark on the last page he read and served them first. His life basically consisted of studying and working, and he never thought of doing anything else.

One day, a couple came to the café hand-in-hand. In reflex, Taeil put away his book and stood up to serve them.

As he laid his eyes on the girl, he suddenly saw something else in his vision.

A little girl was whispering something to a little boy. He realized that little boy was him, although he couldn’t figure out who the girl was.

And as soon as it came, it went away just as quick.

“Hey? Are you listening?”

The boy waved his hand in front of Taeil, and thankfully, he snapped out, while turning his eyes towards the boy.

“Yes?”

“I said we want to order.”

“Oh!” Taeil looked flustered as he frantically looked for his little note and pen. Once he found it, he realized his hands were shaking.

“One iced Americano and one strawberry smoothie for her.”

“Hey! I want to drink coffee too!” The girl protested.

“No, coffee is not good for your health.”

“But you drink one!”

“Shh, you know you can’t drink it right now,” the boy put a finger on her lips, and then turned towards Taeil again. “Please.”

“Uh, okay, one iced Americano and one strawberry smoothie, coming right up.”

Taeil also realized his voice was shaking as well. As he turned his back towards the couple to ready the drinks, he started wondering what was it that he saw before, and why in the world was he feeling something weird in his guts.

Jaehyun stood outside the café, feeling dumbstruck at what he was seeing.

The couple who had been appearing in his dream was there on one of the tables, in the middle of enjoying their drinks and also talking and laughing with each other.

As if she realized that someone had been staring at them, the girl looked outside at where Jaehyun stood. He was quick to avert his gaze somewhere else, and decided to just leave the place. He could get his fix of caffeine for another day.

But what was bugging his mind now was why they were there. He never met them in real life before this, so why now? Why after the third dream? And why did he have to dream about them? Everything right now felt so spooky to him, and he felt like he wanted to stay in his bed for a few days, away from the eerie feeling creeping on his back.

Taeil was waiting for the subway to bring him back home, still wondering about what he saw that day when he saw that girl. At first it felt disturbing, but now he was curious. His gut feeling was telling him that the girl he saw today had something to do with his forgotten past, but his logical mind thought he was reaching too far of a conclusion. If anything, he hoped to meet the girl again.

The subway finally arrived, and when he got in, it was an unusual sight to see it empty of passengers, especially at this hour when everyone must be going back from their work. Only a teenage boy was seen sitting on one end of passenger seat, his gaze fixed on the window in front of him. Taeil decided to sit at the other end.

He dared to take a look at the other boy, who seemed to be particularly focused on something outside the window. The boy eventually felt his gaze as he turned to Taeil, and again, another vision filled in.

He saw syringes and also people in lab coats. Were they scientists? He saw them on desks, and each of them had syringes attached to an IV.

And then it’s gone.

The other boy looked at him weirdly, which prompted Taeil to immediately break their eye contact, and instead he turned to look at his own lap.

He saw something again today, but what was that? It felt like the same thing he saw when he looked at that girl, although at the same time it was different. The one he saw just now made him anxious and also suffocating.

He decided to close his eyes. He had seen too much strange things for today.