I walked out of the bathroom with a damp hair, a phone on my right hand and my dirty clothes on the left. I placed the clothes on the bin just outside my door and bid my goodnight to my sister who had just passed me right this second. And the second I entered my room, my phone begun to ring and since no one would call me but him, I picked it up.

“Missed me already?” I greeted, laughed when he laughed. I sat on my bed and opened my laptop. “What did you do to my best friend? Where is he?”

Another laugh.

“Go to sleep.”

“I can’t.”

“And why?”

“I can’t stop thinking about my gig next month.”

“You still have 4 weeks left. Why don’t you just worry about your gig the day before?”

“You’re no fun. But seriously. What if people don’t like me? What if I throw up?”

“Your way of thinking never ceases to amaze me. You’ll be fine, and besides you’re not a Barden Bella so you wouldn’t throw up. Okay? And besides, even if they don’t like you, I’ll still be here. You know I’ll cheer you on.”

“Us against the world?”

“Us against the world.” I repeated, smiling at my wall. I then heard a sound coming from my laptop and saw Yijeong’s name. Maybe it’s about the concert again. “Okay, I got to go. Love you. Good luck!”

“No, don’t go. I need you!”

I laugh. “Sleep already! You’ll do great. I promise. Goodnight!”

I turned my phone off without waiting for his response and played some music and wrote my response to Yijeong.

 

Me: How many times do I have to tell that I’m not going?

Y: C’mon, it’ll be fun! Free food, free drinks, a lot of hot guyssss.

 

I ignored him.

 

---

 

I’m walking.

I’m walking towards somewhere that looks like a music festival. Coachella?

Do they have Coachella here in Korea?

I look down at what I’m wearing and realized that maybe there is a Coachella in Korea. Or a music festival with the theme Coachella on it.

Man, I’m being redundant.

“It’s this way.” I hear a man’s voice near my right ear and when I saw who it was, I was again, dumbfounded. Who is this man? He’s different from the guy from my dream before, and he is definitely not my best friend even though they are both equally handsome.

“Where are we?” I ask, my eyes falling on our intertwined hands. 

“Music Festival, remember? I begged you for months to come with me to this festival.” He laughs. “Remember the time when we were watching the basketball game and I asked you using those big TVs they got? Your face was priceless! If I could have the money to do that again, I would and –“

I tuned him out after that. I stared at the band that was playing then at the people swaying and singing with the music. I turn my head to the place I was standing before scratched my head.

“Hey, are you listening?”

I turn to the man beside me.

“You okay?”

I nod.

“What happened?” His voice sounded confused.

What should I tell him?

“If you don’t want to go, then we can go home. I know this isn’t your thing and you’d rather read a book, but I just wanted you to experience this because they only come once a year.”

He’s sweet.

I shake my head and smile at him. “Don’t worry, I’m just not used to these things so it’s kinda a culture shock.”

He laughs then and pulls me nearer. “I’ll be here every step of the way, don’t worry.”

“Kai!” We heard a man scream and this man in front of me smiled and waved at him. “You came! I thought you were gonna bail on me again.”

Kai?

Kai laughs and pulls me behind him. Am I a secret friend? “How could I? This festival happens only once a year. And I want to experience it before I move to America.”

“Dude, even if you miss this, that wouldn’t matter! Coachella happens in America. You know that, right?”

“Really? I think I may have missed that information.”

“Whatever, anyway, the others are partying right now and I’m going to meet Chanyeol’s new girl.”

Chan - Yeol?

“He got a new girl?”

“And he’s whipped. Totally whipped. She’s the only thing he could talk about.”

“But what happened with Dara?”

“Dude, they broke up 4 months ago. And Chanyeol may have cried for that girl for leaving him, but now he’s fine. Great even. Why don’t you come with me? We can both see how amazing this girl is.”

He was silent for the time being while the man in front of him stared. We waited for a few minutes more before Kai moved to the side, finally deciding to show me and all I could do was smile at this man in front of me now.

“You…” He stops, his face changing into something unpleasant as he stares back at Kai. “Why did you bring her here? Why are you guys even together?! If your father found out about this, I don’t what he’ll do to her when you’re gone.”

“He won’t know because no one’s gonna tell him. Okay? Please, just give this time for me and her. This will be the last time I’m going to be with her and you know that.”

He glares at me as he eyes me from head to toe and nods. “Fine, I won’t say anything.” He moves closer to him and whispered something I couldn’t hear.

They both nod their head and went their separate ways. Kai looked at me, hugs me and pulls me towards the venue. We partied among the crowds, having fun and singing along with the music. This is a scene that I only see in movies, and I never expected to experience it in my dream. I wish this was reality, but my reality . Okay, except for my best friend.

We were still partying when Kai pulled me out of the crowd and laughed when he saw how messy I am. Or how messy we both are. I laugh alongside him. I don’t know why, but he’s smile is so infectious. He could light anyone’s face right now and let them feel like everything is going to be okay, even if it doesn’t turn that way.

 “Want something to eat? There’s a booth over there by the bungalow.”

“Yeah,”

“Any special requests?”

I pretend to think before I smile at him. “Surprise me.”

He laughs.

“But don’t bring me any beer! I hate beer. Never liked them. Ever.”

He laughs once more.

“Of course I wouldn’t. Tequila or vodka?”

“Again, surprise me.”

He mocks salutes before heading towards the booth. I stay where I am, looking at this event, looking at how beautiful this is. If this is where Yijeong is going to force me to go on Saturday, I might just change my mind and go.

The man playing in front changed his music into a love song, and a lot of people move to either eat, chat with their friends or dance with their partner. I swayed with the music, feeling the song, feeling the voice of the main vocalist.

And as I sway by myself, arms found its way around my waist and a body was pressed against my back, I glance at who this man is and saw that he was the same that I was with earlier.

Wanting to move away, but couldn’t, I stayed wrapped around his arms and just concentrated on the song playing. The song was almost over when he suddenly turned me around and placed a kiss on my forehead.

“You’re so amazing,” He says, looking straight in my eyes.

I just stood there staring.

“I wish this would last.” He continues. “But you know how my father is. He doesn’t want this relationship. He wants me with someone smarter.”

“let me guess, prettier too?” Where did that come from?

He smiles and nods.  “I just wish this would last longer than anything in the world. You’re the only one for me, you know that right?”

I nod.

“I have this crazy idea.”

I raise an eyebrow.

Whoever this girl he’s in love with, I feel sorry for her.

“Why don’t we run away?”

I look at him, dumbfounded. How could he ask this girl to run away with him? Didn’t it cross his mind that this girl may not be as crazy as he is, and think about the consequences instead? And besides, after hearing from his friend about his father, who I’m supposing is some CEO of a big company or a lawyer of a really big firm, I think they wouldn’t last a week, a day maybe, but they’d still be found.

And they’ll both get hurt.

“Hey,” I hear him as he shakes my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

How should I respond? There’s no sign of what this girl’s personality is. I could say yes, and see how it plays out. I could say no, and see him hurt for the meantime I was here and comfort him.

But knowing that I wouldn’t be there to see the end of this dream, I just stare at him.

And then we heard a high-pitched piercing scream.