CHAPTER 9: CLOSER

Considering the way I drifted off at night, waking up the next morning felt somewhat different. I was curled up, wrapped in a big, comfortable blanket, and the bed felt heavenly soft beneath me. I was awake, but I didn’t want to open my eyes yet – I felt so comfortable. I felt the beams of sunlight dancing on my skin and teasing my closed eyelids. It felt warm. Was it finally spring? I liked spring.

As I rolled over to my other side, I was slowly starting to come into my senses properly. The first thing I realized was that the bed was a lot wider and softer than my own. It also had multiple pillows, whereas I only had one. Where was I? I opened my eyes and they widened right away. This wasn’t the room Sunhwa and I shared. I stared around me, confused. Then the memories from last night hit me. I had come to find Wonwoo. And I had passed out.

At first I was shocked, but soon I realized I actually felt very good. Thanks to me passing out, I had been able to sleep well after a long time of insomnia. My eyes wandered to the nightstand to find a clock – glancing at the small device almost got me shouting. It was already 11am. I hadn’t returned home and I was away from the house, even though I’d been supposed to start working hours ago.

Suddenly I heard footsteps getting closer to the room and quickly laid down, pulling the blanket over me again. I pretended to sleep. I wasn’t fully aware of the reason, I just knew I didn’t want to face Wonwoo right away. Yesterday’s argument was still fresh in my memory. We had kind of ended the argument but I was pretty sure we’d both feel a bit awkward about it. My thoughts wondered back to the night. Wonwoo had stated that he was a heir of an bookstore chain. Very fitting, in a way, but considering he never talked about it and that he lived in an abandoned building… also very odd.

The footsteps I had heard, disappeared, and I couldn’t hear anything apart from the birdsong that wafted into the house - there must’ve been an open window somewhere. For a while I lied down, not moving, barely even breathing. Then I moved the blanket a little bit to glance at the door to make sure the boy had actually just passed the room. The shock was big as the first thing I saw, just inches away from my face, was Wonwoo’s face. The boy had walked beside the bed, squatted down and was now staring at my face – the thoughtful expression quickly changed to surprise as he realized I was awake.

“Good morning”, the boy said, rising his eyebrows slightly.

“Morning…” I managed to blurt out, until the intimacy finally got to me and I felt the urge to move further away from the boy. I quickly sat up and tried to rush up from the bed, onto my feet, but just as my right feet touched the ground, I lost my balance. The next thing I saw was Wonwoo quickly but calmly placing his hands on my waist to prevent me from falling down. For a fraction of a second we stared into each other’s eyes and I could swear I saw an amused gleam in the boy’s dark, narrow eyes.

“I think we have a lot to talk about”, the boy stated.

I blinked and looked away from his face. “Right.”

He let go of my waist and I put my feet down properly, making sure I wouldn’t fall again. I felt a bit embarrassed by my stumbling and looked down, only to notice the reason for my fall. I was wearing pyjama pants that, for sure, weren’t my own. The legs of the pants were too long for me, long enough for me to trip on them. My eyes narrowed at first, then slowly enlarging as I realized I was wearing Wonwoo’s clothes, and raised my eyes to stare at the boy in disbelief.

“Don’t tell me it was you who changed my clothes”, I said quietly.

“It was me”, he replied right away, with an expressionless face. “The dress would’ve been quite uncomfortable to sleep in.”

I felt blood rushing into my face, making me feel extremely hot. I was absolutely sure my face had by now gotten that beautifully embarrassing, rosy red colour. I looked away from the boy again. This was new level of embarrassing. I didn’t even remember what underwear I was wearing but I knew it mustn’t been anything too covering since I had to wear a dress without any lines showing. And Wonwoo had undressed and dressed me again.

“What, are you embarrassed?” Wonwoo asked, tilting his head. There was no mockery in his voice nor face, yet I still felt super ashamed. “You said we’ve dated for three years. I don’t think you’re supposed to be embarrassed.”

I felt my cheeks burning so bad I almost thought they’d be on flames soon. Yes, me and the dream version of Wonwoo had dated for three years, and during those years we had made progress as normal couples do. There wasn’t much to be embarrassed about with him. Anyhow, this boy was him, but without the memories of dating me. And so, this was completely different and something I very much had the right to be embarrassed about. I let out a loud sigh and collapsed onto the bed, rolling onto my stomach and covering myself with the blanket.

I heard Wonwoo snort. “I’ll go make some breakfast.”

As he walked out of the bedroom, I rolled around the bed, hitting the mattress and kicking the air with my feet. I really hadn’t expected something like this to happen. We were arguing last night and I thought all the progress I had made with the boy had gone to waste. I knew he had let me sleep in his bed and that he was making me breakfast, just out of courtesy. He didn’t share the memories and the feelings with me, but I, at the same time, felt ashamed and relieved. Ashamed of him having to change my clothes, but relieved of the fact our relationship seemed to still be the same.

After a while we were sitting in the open concept kitchen of the house. Wonwoo had seemed to think my fainting was because of low blood sugar or something similar, because the breakfast was quite greasy and filling. Eggs, bacon, toast. Not the most healthy breakfast I could’ve been eating, but it was more than fine for me, and I ate with a good appetite. After all, I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon – Seungcheol and I had never made it to the buffet during the ball.

“Can I ask you some questions?” Wonwoo asked as we were finishing the food.

I nodded. “Like the ones on your notebook?”

He snorted again. “You’re a bit too curious, you know. You shouldn’t read others’ things.”

“The notebook was open, I just happened to see”, I stated. “But sure, ask your questions.”

The boy looked at me for a while before starting. I felt like the silence was weird and raised my eyes to look at the boy too. There was a serious, ruminative expression on his face, that somehow highlighted his sharp, fox-like features. How strange this was. Staring at my beloved boyfriend’s face, without it actually being him.

“Alright”, he sighed. “Since when did you have your ability?”

“Since I was a child”, I explained. “But it wasn’t this strong. Back then I just saw people in my dreams and later met them in real life. I was so shocked when I woke up in this world.”

“What is 2016 like?”

“People are the same. Everything is a bit simpler, cars don’t fly, there is nature even in the city.”

“Why did you faint?”

I stopped before answering. I blinked and looked at the boy. At this point his expression had become a bit more curious, worried even. I let out an amused sound that was a mixture between a chuckle and a sigh.

“It was your fault”, I said, crossing my arms.

Wonwoo’s eyes grew larger. “What?”

I couldn’t hold back a chuckle, looking as the always so calm and serious boy got startled.

“I saw you every night during the last three years. But not even once after I arrived in this world. I haven’t been dreaming, I haven’t been able to sleep. I guess dreams are the key to drifters’ sleep. And since I haven’t been sleeping, I’ve felt dizzy often”, I explained, getting a bit immersed in my thoughts. I glanced at Wonwoo who looked troubled.

“That’s not good”, he stated, a wrinkle forming between his eyebrows. “Is there anything we can do for that?”

I shook my head. “As far as I know, no.”

Wonwoo sighed and leaned back in his chair. He crossed his arms against his chest and continued looking troubled. A silence fell upon us once again, this time it wasn’t awkward but gloomy. Like both of us were trying to figure out the situation and the solution to it. I bit my lip. Dr. Choi had promised he would help me learn to use my ability, but at least for now, he had seemed too busy to even think about it. I was positive he’d help me soon though, since my condition had been worsening.

“What about that guy?” Wonwoo’s low voice broke my thoughts.

I raised my glance to the boy. “Hm?”

“The guy you’re going around with. Who is he and what’s your relationship?”

“Ah, Seungcheol”, I nodded. “As I said yesterday, he’s my employer’s son. He’s been showing me around and helping me a lot. I’m so lucky his father took me in.”

I wasn’t intending on telling the boy about Dr. Choi being a drifter as well, or the fact he knew of my ability. This would be enough information for now. As much as I wanted to trust Wonwoo, he wasn’t completely the same person I knew.

Wonwoo let out a sigh. “Such trouble of mind.”

I watched as the boy got up and started cleaning up the table by himself despite my offer to help him. For a while it almost looked like a lazy weekend morning shared by a couple. Which it could have been. A sad smile spread onto my face. Maybe someday.

After Wonwoo was ready cleaning up, we found each other sitting on a leather sofa, both immersed in our own thoughts, having problems to solve. With narrow eyes I looked at Wonwoo. I was sure this all had something to do with him. He was the only person I had seen in my dreams multiple times. Everyone else I had only seen once, and found them in the reality quick enough. For Wonwoo… it took me three years and a time travel.

“Wonwoo”, I called his name silently. I continued as the boy raided his eyes and looked at me. “Have your dreams ever come true? Or if not, has there been something else weird about your dreams?”

The boy looked at me for a while, clearly thinking hard. I noticed myself really anticipating the answer and so, felt a little disappointed as the boy shook his head. “Nothing like that. I don’t tend to remember my dreams very well.”

Well, clearly not.

“I… I believe you are a drifter as well”, I stated, nodding at myself. “I don’t know what it is, but there is something different about my dreams with you. Maybe your ability just hasn’t woken up yet.”

Wonwoo shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe. I don’t know, obviously.”

Our conversation got cut off by a ringing I recognized immediately. It was my phone. A bit hesitantly I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already nearing midday and I was still here. My working hours had started 5 hours ago. The person calling must’ve been either an angry Dr. Choi or his even angrier son. Gulping, I got up from the sofa and quickly went to the bedroom, to the nightstand Wonwoo had placed the small device on.

“Hello…” I greeted the caller silently.

“Where in the world have you been?” Seungcheol’s raspy morning voice rang through my ear. “I heard you didn’t return home for the night.”

Oh. I had actually thought about it a little bit, wondered why he hadn’t started calling me last night already, but I realized he had been in a quite unstable condition yesterday. He had probably gotten drunk and then passed out, not worrying about me. The raspy tone in his voice was just supporting this theory.

“I’m sorry”, I replied quickly. “I’m not far from home, I’ll come there soon.”

“No”, he stated. “Stay where you are. Tell me the address, I’m coming to get you.”

I blinked and glanced behind me, at Wonwoo who was still sitting on the leather sofa. He wouldn’t probably like it if Seungcheol came here, finding out about is secret home. So I thought for a second before talking again. “I’m literally at the old bookstore in our neighbourhood. I can walk.”

“I’ll pick you up in 20 minutes.”

And so, the call was over. I sighed and put the phone down. I had 20 minutes to leave this house and walk to the bookstore. I returned to Wonwoo, scratching my neck.

“I have to go”, I said. “Seungcheol will take me home.”

“Was he angry?” the boy asked, rising his eyebrows.

“No… just worried”, I replied and shrugged my shoulders, getting a snort out of Wonwoo.

I returned to the bedroom and glanced at the dress I had worn yesterday – it was neatly positioned on a hanger. For a second I thought, whether I’d change back into the dress or just leave the house in Wonwoo’s clothes. I decided to go for the second option and just rolled the legs of the pants a little bit before grabbing the dress and heading to the stairs that led down from the part of the old library that was still in use as Wonwoo’s home.

“Well”, I started, glancing at Wonwoo who got up from the sofa and walked to me to say goodbye. “I’m going now. I think we’ll meet in the bookstore later.”

The boy nodded. “Goodbye.”

I flashed him a tiny smile and turned around, making my way down the stairs.

“You looked gorgeous in that dress, Dami.”

I stopped like there was an invisible wall in front of me, and my eyes grew wide. Had I heard right? I slowly turned around to stare at Wonwoo, who was leaning against a wall with a small smile on his face. I blinked as I stared at him with a confused expression on my face.

“I believe that’s something the dream Wonwoo would have said.”

I blinked again, once and twice. He had gotten me excited for a while. Slowly I let the surprised expression wither away from my face and a slightly sad smile curved my lips upwards. “Thank you.”

And then I really left, walked down two sets of the stairs and quickly headed towards the bookstore. I’d have to be there on time, otherwise Seungcheol would get suspicious of me. Hurrying to the location worked and I got to stand there for full two minutes before Seungcheol’s car landed in front of the bookstore. The driver’s door opened and he rushed out of the car to stand by me and stare at my clothes in shock. He grabbed my shoulders, gently enough to not hurt me, and stared into my eyes with a worried expression.

“Why are you wearing this?” he asked.

“I didn’t want to go around wearing the dress”, I explained quickly.

“Wait… did you spend the night with him?” Seunghceol’s voice suddenly got a bit higher.

“Calm down”, I said, putting my hand over his, which was positioned on my shoulder. “Nothing happened. He let me sleep in his place because I fainted.”

“Fainted?” Seuncheol repeated. His voice was back to normal, his eyes were slightly enlarged, and he dropped his hands to his sides. “Are you alright?”

“I feel great now”, I stated, nodding at the boy. “Let’s just go home.”

Seungcheol opened the door for me and soon we were flying in the air, on our way home. For my luck, Seungcheol said his father had been so tired he had slept at his office in the hospital, so he wouldn’t know about me being away for the night. Realizing Seungcheol really wasn’t angry at me and that he wouldn’t tell about this to his father, I felt happy about having a friend like him again.

As we arrived home, Seungcheol told me to quickly change my clothes and start working like nothing had happened. I did as I was told and soon I was working with the other maids again. They had mainly left me alone lately, but me being away since yesterday seemed to create a new reason to glare at me again. I tried my best to not care about them and to stick with Sunhwa, who was curious of what had happened. I just promised to tell her later and continued working hard for the almost six hours I had missed.

When Dr. Choi finally arrived home from work, I walked straight to him.

“Excuse me?” I asked him carefully.

“Hm?” the man mumbled while reading some document. I had to wait for a second for him to actually notice me. “Oh, Dami. What is it?”

I walked into his office and closed the door behind me. “You said that the insomnia would affect my health soon and it did already. I fainted last night.”

The doctor’s attention was suddenly all on me. He got up from his chair and walked up to me, touching my forehead. “How are you feeling right now? Dizziness? Headache?”

I smiled at him. “I’m feeling completely fine right now. Thanks to the fainting, I actually got some sleep last night.”

The doctor backed away from me, letting out a deep sigh. “That’s a relief.”

I couldn’t help but to notice that even though his actions and words were relieved, he had a frown on his face, a deep wrinkle between his eyebrows. He was definitely troubled by something.

“I think you should rest for today. Eat some fruits and relax. I’ll give you some vitamins. If your condition worsens, I’ll take you to the hospital.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Choi.”

I wasn’t exactly happy about the fact I had to be off work for the rest of the day. I was feeling good, the best I had felt since arriving in this world. But the man was a doctor, a good one at that, so I trusted his words and did as I was told to. I picked a couple of tangerines and a banana from the kitchen and sneaked into the room of Sunhwa and I. As I was peeling a tangerine, I felt worry growing at the back of my head. What is my condition worsened, like Dr. Choi said? I wanted to stay healthy, live happily and learn to use my ability. I hadn’t had time to think about my parents a lot lately, but now that I was completely still, I started to feel sad. I really wanted to learn the secrets of my ability. In a way, I wanted to return home. But then, I had also grown attached to this place and the people in it. My heart was being ripped into two and I really didn’t know what I should do. I didn’t seem to be able to live a healthy life here, and health was the most important thing for me. That was something I couldn’t sacrifice, even for Wonwoo.

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Oh my God.

I'm so sorry I haven't updated lately... Now I'm back and active and hopefully will be able to do some regular updates again. I'm currently studying for my university application exams, which are in May, and I really want to get in so understand me please ^^

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