CHAPTER 11: UNREAL REALITY

I used to love holidays and free days. Those days can be very happy, fun and relaxing, if they’re spent with family or close friends. Especially during the spring – spring break was one of my favourite holidays. Only, in this year, this world, my short holiday felt like weeks and eternal silence. It was Sunday anyway, Sundays are always silent and peaceful. But since it was a holiday for everyone else too, I was all alone. On days like these I finally got to understand how lonely I, in fact, was in this world. There were only three people I could even imagine bothering – Sunhwa, Seungcheol and Wonwoo. But today, Sunhwa had left to see her family in the morning and I had texted Wonwoo earlier, asking what was his plan for the day. I hadn’t received an answer.

So be it Seungcheol then. The gap between me and the older boy had gotten smaller again. There had been two days of awkwardness and silence so I had been a bit surprised as the boy appeared at the door of the room of Sunhwa and I and asked if I was free today.

And so, I found myself in Seungcheol’s flying car, up in the air, heading towards the city centre. We hadn’t quite agreed on what we would do, yet, so the main topic of our conversation only had to do with that.

“What did you do on holidays when you were in your time?” Seungcheol asked.

I thought about it for a second. “I spent time with my friends. Noraebang, eating, sauna. Stuff like that.”

“You had friends?” Seungcheol asked jokingly, with a huge grin on his face.

I snorted. “Yes, and certainly more than I do here!”

Seungcheol chuckled and I glanced at the boy. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining but his clothing style had changed lately – a step to the older style. Almost like he was trying to match my “old school” style from 2016. Today he was wearing black trousers and a white dress shirt. He must’ve gotten a bit annoyed by the fact Wonwoo dressed in clothes of my time, in his jealousy. His actions bothered me a little bit. I had never been in a situation like this, he had confessed to me despite knowing that I loved Wonwoo – what should I do in the situation when he continues acting the same even though he knows he’ll be rejected the second he tries to be something more than a friend?

“Alright then”, the boy said, breaking my thoughts. “Let’s go to an amusement park.”

I felt myself gulping. I was fine with amusement parks, but as I had mentioned, flying was a bit of a no-no for me. I had gotten used to the flying cars because their movements were stable and the height was only about a meter. But even a thought of a fast roller-coaster made me insides twitch.

“Yeah, okay”, I still replied. “Just let’s not go to the scariest rides.”

After an another half-an-hour ride we found ourselves at the gates of Wolmi Theme Park. I was a bit surprised the park was even there anymore – it was the same amusement park my family had been visiting since I was younger. Of course, it was reconstructed and renewed, just as shiny as the rest of the city, but it was still the same park.

“By the way, Dami”, Seungcheol said as we walked around before deciding where to go. “There is something I need to tell you.”

I stopped and frowned a little bit in confusion as the boy gently grabbed my arm and pulled me aside to a bit more quiet site. Judging from the way the boy glanced around us and spoke in a quiet, low tone, what he was about to say was… not for everyone’s ears.

“This is something I heard from my dad”, the boy started. “He said there is a group of idiots roaming around Seoul, saying they’re going to catch every single drifter they can find. I don’t know how that could be possible because no drifter announces their ability in the streets. But still, I’m a bit worried. So please promise to me that you’ll stay safe.”

I blinked once, twice, as I listened to the boy’s words in shock. So I, and the other drifters in the city, had practically become prey for hunters? Horrible. This world was getting scarier and scarier each day. I sighed as I looked Seungcheol in the eye. “Of course I’ll stay safe.”

“And”, the boy stopped me as I was about to turn left to return to the site we where earlier. “I know this sounds stupid but… staying away from the Wonwoo guy would probably be good too. Only for now. You said he might be a drifter too. Then it’d just create new trouble.”

I sighed. In a way, the boy had a point. But I still couldn’t agree to the words and couldn’t promise such a thing. Instead, I pulled Seungcheol away with me and we started our tour around the amusement park and its’ rides.

I was fine for the first few. They weren’t too wild for me, and we stopped to play games and try on animal headbands in between. At some point I could feel the warning pounding in the back of my head but I drank some water and wished it would pass soon. It turned out to be a mistake.

“Are you trying to punish me or something? Take revenge?” I stuttered as Seungcheol pulled me towards the Viking. It didn’t look too bad but I knew the moment I’d step in it, I’d be dead. And that happened. I was forced into the ride despite my objections. Soon I found myself sitting next to Seungcheol, who was having the time of his life. I felt my hands already squeezing the safety bar so powerfully it might’ve broken if I squeezed a bit more. And then the ride started.

I wasn’t the type to scream on rides, so I didn’t this time either. I just closed my eyes, squeezed the bar as hard as I could and tried to keep my calm. I seemed like me squeezing the bar triggered my headache again and soon I felt like someone was hammering my head with a hammer. After a short ride that had actually felt like hours, I stepped out, dizzy, clinging onto Seungcheol, my knees shaking and my head aching. Only now the boy seemed to realize I wasn’t over reacting.

“Are you alright?” he asked, eyes widened.

“I’d like to sit”, I managed to reply as I was concentrating on keeping my feet straight.

“There’s a bench”, the boy stated and helped me sit down. He looked at me for a second before continuing. “Do you think ice cream would make you feel better?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe. You’re the medical student, you should know.”

The boy let out an apologetic chuckle. “Alright, wait for a second.”

He left me sitting on the bench alone and I closed my eyes for a while. I knew he didn’t cause this on purpose – he was just too excited himself, to actually realize I wasn’t just joking when I told him to not force me on the ride. I waited for a moment and soon the boy returned with two cones of ice cream, strawberry for me and vanilla for him.

“Thank you”, I said as I took the cone from him and took a taste. “Mm, this is good.”

I started to feel better as I got to just sit and eat, and soon I felt pretty much the same I usually did. I could sense Seungcheol was feeling a bit ashamed and apologetic of what happened to me so I sighed and snapped my fingers in front of his face.

“Hey”, I said. “Don’t sulk.”

He flashed me a small smile. “Sorry. You have said it before, that flying is not your thing. I guess this was pretty close to flying.”

I chuckled and nodded. “Yeah. But it’s alright. I feel okay now.”

“That’s good”, the boy said, smiling at me widely. “But let’s take it easier from now on.”

As Seungcheol had promised, we took it easy for the rest of the day. After eating and playing funny games, we decided to finally return home. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the dizziness earlier, but this time even the flying car somehow made me feel uncomfortable. I had my eyes shut closed for most of the ride – Seungcheol probably thought I was sleeping since he didn’t even try to start a conversation at any point. Only the silent vrooming of the car could be heard.

The silence got me thinking a lot. It hadn’t bothered me that much earlier, but now that I was silent and had a lot of time to think, the boy’s earlier words started haunting me. People who wanted to hunt down drifters? How did these people even know of our existence? And even more so, how would they find out the identities of the drifters of Seoul? My thought wandered back to Wonwoo and I quickly picked my phone from my pocket. He still hadn’t replied to my text from earlier. I noticed myself frowning.

“Are you awake?” Seungcheol asked, noticing my movements.

“Yeah”, I replied quickly. “I have to make a call.”

“Let me guess. Wonwoo”, the boy sighed.

I glanced at the boy but didn’t react in any way, just pressed call and nervously waited. I was kind of worried. I hadn’t been able to reach Wonwoo the whole day. Usually he was pretty meticulous with everything – and he made it sure he was replying to texts or emails on time. As the phone kept on calling yet nobody picked up, I was starting to get nervous. Had something happened? I put the phone back to my pocket and turned to look at Seungcheol.

“Drop me off before going home.”

“What? Are you going to see him?”

I couldn’t not hear the disappointed tone in his voice and sighed. “Yes.”

“Didn’t I tell you to stay safe? And look at you now, rushing out to him. What if something has happened to him? You’re going to get in trouble too”, the boy said, his voice getting lower and deeper with every word. He seemed to be close to losing his temper, which triggered me a little bit. He had never lost his cool around me. Right now I could feel his “rich spoiled guy” vibes again. He wanted me to do exactly as I was told and when I didn’t want to, he started to get angry.

“That’s exactly why I need to go to him”, I said, trying to keep calm. “Everything might be fine. But what if something is wrong?”

The boy had to slow the car down a little bit to prevent an accident. He was clearly starting to lose it. “Dami, if you think that I’m trying to keep you two apart… well, you’re right.”

I let out a sigh. I looked out of the window. We were still moving, but not very fast. Also, as the speed wasn’t that fast anymore, the car was also a bit closer to the ground. It would be easy for me to open the door and just jump off.

“Don’t think about it. You’re my property.”

My eyes widened in disgust. “Am I a slave to you? This is freaking 2156!”

With one last glare to the boy I opened the door and took a deep breath before jumping. It was just a mere metre but it felt like a lot for someone like me. As my feet hit the ground I felt slight pain but managed to get on my feet and glance behind my shoulder before taking off.

“Min Dami! Come back!”

Seungcheol’s voice rang in my head for a while as I ran forward, disappearing behind a corner. I felt my heart beating like crazy and I was out of breath. I had just jumped out of a moving, flying, car. Someone might’ve thought that I had gone crazy. But I knew I hadn’t. I was just worried of someone I didn’t want to lose. Wonwoo was, no doubt, my weak spot. I was almost desperate of him – it was still so unreal to me that I had actually found him. Besides, Seungcheol’s behaviour had become kind of threatening. There had been a bit weird moments earlier too, but this time he had gone too far, calling me his property and trying to force me to stay. It was scary how such a usually kind and sweet boy could change so quickly. I tried to empty my head as I ran faster, this time passing the bookstore by instinct. I was pretty sure Wonwoo would be at home, if he was to be found.

I ran until the houses disappeared and the asphalt turned into sand. As the abandoned library appeared in front of me, I finally stopped running and took a deep breath. There was no light in the windows of the 3rd floor, but I didn’t want to get too worried without a reason, so I tried to calm myself down before going in and running up the stairs. Even the lovely scent of old books of the library didn’t help to calm me down enough, so as I arrived in the 3rd floor, I was still out of breath. The whole floor was dark. Maybe Wonwoo wasn’t here after all.

Then I bumped into someone in the dark and let out a muffled scream. Soon enough I did understand that the person dressed all in black was more than familiar – I had bumped into Wonwoo’s chest. He was alright.

“Dami!” the boy’s low voice embraced me. “What’s wrong?”

“Why didn’t you contact me?” I asked, still out of breath, staring up at the boy’s eyes in the dark. “I called you, texted you. I was worried.”

Wonwoo gently grabbed my shoulders and leaned closer to look me in the eyes. “Dami, calm down. I’m completely fine but you don’t seem so well.”

The boy’s gentle touch and words slowly calmed me down. I just stood there, his hands still on my shoulders, staring at the boy. “I thought something had happened to you. Why didn’t you reply to me?”

He looked a little confused for a second as he brought his hand to his trousers’ pocket just to realize there was nothing in there. “I must’ve left my phone somewhere. Probably downstairs in the library. I couldn’t hear anything. But tell me, why were you so worried?”

“I was – “, I started, but felt a wave of dizziness passing by, leaving me speechless for a second. Wonwoo seemed to notice this and he reacted quickly, helping me to sit on the sofa. I tried to continue explaining but the boy told me to be quiet and said he’d make me some tea to make me feel better.

I watched as the boy walked to the kitchen and boiled the water, picking some tea leaves from the cupboard. It was kind of surprising for me. I had always thought of him as a coffee person, he liked his coffee very sweet. I guess there really was a lot about him that I didn’t know. I knew a lot about him personality wise, and we had talked a lot – hell, all we had done for the last 3 years was talk. But I had never actually seen him live. Of course I couldn’t know everything.

As the boy prepared the tea and some crackers for me, I started to feel better. I got up from the sofa by myself and walked into the kitchen, sitting at the table before Wonwoo would bring a tray to the living room. I smiled at him as I saw the boy raising his eyebrows at me, like he was trying to tell me I told you to stay where you are.

“Here”, he said and placed the tea and the crackers in front of me.

“Thank you”, I thanked the boy, taking a big mouthful of the tea. “I was dizzy again…”

“So you really suffer from this every day?” Wonwoo asked, sitting next to me.

I sighed and nodded. “So far, yes. I wish I could spend even one day without having any symptoms.”

The boy replied with his own sigh. “Could you tell me why you were so worried earlier?”

“Oh, that”, I remembered, taking another sip of the tea and turning to look at the boy. “Seungcheol told me something scary. That there is a group of hunters in Seoul, and they have sworn to hunt down every drifter in here. Well, we don’t know for sure whether you are one, but I was still worried that something had happened to you.”

I noticed Wonwoo’s brows getting closer to each other and a deep wrinkle forming between them. “And you ran here all by yourself despite that? You’re the drifter. You’re the one they want to hunt.”

I looked down. Of course I knew that. I had just gotten so startled I needed to rush here. “I had to escape from him anyway…” I mumbled under my breath.

The boy’s attention was again fully on me. “Escape? Why?” he asked with a serious expression.

I looked at him. I didn’t necessarily want to tell him. “It’s nothing, Seungcheol was just stressed.”

Wonwoo looked at me with a doubting expression for a second but let it be. I ate the crackers, sharing them with the boy, and finished my tea quickly. I felt very comfortable now that I was with Wonwoo. Comfortable enough to realize there were still no lights on in the house. It had gotten so dark it was hard to see each other without squinting. I chuckled and got up from the table.

“Thank you for the tea”, I said and took a step towards the wall with the light switches on it. I was about to put the lights on but the first step I took was clumsy, probably caused by the earlier exhaustion, and I was about to lose my balance once again. Letting out a silent curse, I managed to get back on my feet by myself but Wonwoo was faster than me to reach the light switch. As the room got filled with light, Wonwoo stood in front of me, arms crossed against his chest.

“I think you need some fresh air.”

The boy led me down the stairs, to the first floor, and to the doors at the back of the large space. He glanced at me before placing his hands on the floor knobs and pushing them open. As the dark, heavy doors disappeared from my sight and a view opened before my eyes, I let out a breathy gasp seeing a beautiful meadow in front of us.

A beautiful, green meadow that was blooming with the spring’s first flowers. And the dark evening sky must’ve been on my side since there were no clouds at all, so the bright moon and the stars lightened the meadow beautifully. Framing the meadow, there grew some maples that were slowly having their first leaves. Our meadow. The meadow of my dreams. Here I had been meeting Wonwoo for the last three years. As I stared at the view in front of me, I noticed my eyes getting teary. It actually existed. And to think it existed in the middle of a futuristic city.

“Dami, are you feeling dizzy again?” Wonwoo’s voice interrupted my thoughts. But I wasn’t angry.

“Wonwoo”, I called the boy’s name, turning to look at him, eyes sparkling and smiling. “This is the meadow of my dreams. This is the place where I first met you, and where I’ve been meeting you for the last three years. I’ve been here in my dreams.”

Wonwoo stared back at me with wide eyes but overall, a serious expression. “That’s… surprising, I guess.”

I chuckled. For once I had managed to catch him off-guard. “I want to ask you something.”

Wonwoo sat down on the grass, letting out a sigh and looking up in the sky. I followed him, sitting next to him and following his eyes. “Why have you started being so nice to me?”

The boy seemed a little bit surprised by my question. He tilted his head while looking at the stars. “At first I just thought of you as a stalker. But then you came talking about your ability and hardships. I was intrigued and wanted to know more. And then I just ended up getting friendly in the progress.”

I turned to look at him. The light of the moon and stars made him look even more handsome than he usually looked. The light highlighted his beautiful, fox-like features and drew out his sharp eyes. His raven black hair was messy in a half-cute, half-y way and like most of the time, he was dressed in all black which made him look even thinner than he was. It was unbelievable to think that I was on this meadow with this young man. Just like in my dreams.

“What were you talking about earlier? About escaping Seungcheol?” Wonwoo asked after a while.

I sighed. “He was acting weird. The day started nicely, we went to an amusement park – “

“Amusement park? Sounds like a date. Dream Wonwoo would be jealous”, Wonwoo stated, snorting at me. He looked amused for a second before his expression returned to serious again. “But… don’t you hate flying and speedy rides the most?”

“Right, he would be so jealous”, I chuckled back at him. “Yeah, I got a bit dizzy – wait. How do you know that?”

Wonwoo blinked once, twice. Right. He didn’t seem to know it himself either. But that was for sure something that he knew in my dreams. This just made me believe it even more – that he was a drifter who just couldn’t remember.

“Anyway, so you escaped from him there?” he continued, brushing the topic off.

“No”, I shook my head. “I escaped from him when we were returning home. I jumped off a flying car.”

Wonwoo’s eyes widened. “Why? What did he do?”

I sighed. “He spoke to me in a bad manner. Like I was his slave.”

Wonwoo let out a frustrated groan. “And you ran away knowing there are hunters after you?”

“Yes…” I admitted, looking away for a second before turning to him again. “And I was worried about you.”

“Well, I think I’m more worried about you”, Wonwoo stated, flashing me a mischievous smile.

The boy sighed and with the same smile on his lips, continued to stare at the sky again. The stars were twinkling beautifully and the moon just crowned everything. It was completely silent. Even the sounds of the big city behind us couldn’t reach the meadow, that’s how distant it was from the other buildings. I couldn’t stop staring at the beautiful boy next to me. At first sight he might’ve looked cold. He might’ve seemed cold in every way at first. He was usually very serious and his low voice and sharp features just enhanced that illusion. But seeing him like this, cold was the opposite of what he was like. I loved how his nose scrunched when he smiled and how his eyes just became thin lines.

Wonwoo sensed me staring at him and turned to look at me, raising his other eyebrow and tilting his head a little bit, like he was expecting me to ask him something. My eyes wandered from his sharp eyes to his nose and his lips. I stared at him for a while before I noticed myself slowly leaning closer to him. It was like I was under a spell or something. I only understood my actions when I was close enough to effortlessly kiss him. Wonwoo was staring at me, looking a bit confused. His expression made me snap out of it and I quickly turned away.

What did I think I was doing? This wasn’t Wonwoo. Not the Wonwoo I wanted. It was just someone with the same face, name, personality, hobbies, friends, home… it was my Wonwoo. I felt my eyes tearing up again. I didn’t even realize I was being touched until Wonwoo pulled me close, one hand on my shoulder, one behind my head. I only got to see the strong gaze in his eyes for a second, before he quickly tilted his head and pressed our lips together. I wasn’t exactly sure, not even close to it, but I might’ve heard the boy slightly groaning into the kiss which just made it realer for me. My eyes spread wide open from the surprise.

The way he held me, how soft his lips felt, how our lips moved together so naturally, like with a hidden yearning and passion. It was too perfect to be true.

I felt the tears that had formed in my eyes earlier fall down my cheeks. Exactly. Was this even true? Was I trapped inside a dream again? If I was, I really wished it would last forever.