I smacked the piece of paper onto my desk table and slumped back deeper into my chair. My parents are going to kill me. 

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” A voice and the screech of a chair sounded from behind me. Even though I was annoyed at the moment, his voice made the corners of my lips curl into a smile. I dramatically sighed, turned around, and leaned on the desk behind me as I pouted to my best friend. 

His eyes scaled my features as he took in my expression. He frowned, “What’s wrong, princess?” 

I huffed and batted my lashes. “Jung Jaehyun. Runaway with me.”

He chuckled and ran a hand through his dark hair before reaching over to flick me on the forehead. It didn’t hurt but being the dramatic person I was, I jutted out my lower lip further and muttered an ow. Jae-hyun leaned forward and proceeded to cup my face with both of his large hands.

He smirked the dimples that I adore showing. “How many times do I have to tell you? Never run away from your problems,” he scolded. He dropped his hands from my face, averting his attention to his backpack. “What’s wrong?” 

I scrunched my face. “I failed my chemistry test!” I confessed. I watched in horror as Jaehyun threw his head back and laughed. “Yah! Why are you laughing? My parents will kill me, or worse, they’ll stop funding my idol lessons.”

My parents have always been supportive of my dreams of becoming an idol. Growing up, I was always told that I was superstar material, either be it because of my looks or musical skills. My mother often jokes that I came out of the womb singing, rather than crying. My older sister claims that I could dance even before I could walk properly. And my father, a proud Englishman, says his daughters’ exotic and mixed beauty brings Aphrodite to shame. 

However, when it came to education, much to my disliking they refused to send me to a school for arts. As professors, they both valued traditional education, and that was the education their children would get. Nevertheless, they happily funded all my singing, dancing, and musical instrument lessons, with only one condition. I must pass all my classes. 

Jae-hyun dropped his backpack beside his seat and leaned back against his chair. He struggled to suppress his laughter as he saw how horrified I looked. “I’m sorry it’s just that...Kim Aera, I told you so!”

I jumped up from my seat and looked at him incredulously. I crossed my arms and glared at him. “Told me what!” 

“Princess, you spend all your time training. You occasionally do your homework, never study, and skip all your tutoring sessions. Hell when was the last time you touched your textbooks.” He scolded me, but his tone was light and he playfully wagged a finger at me. “Do you even know what we’re learning about in class?” 

I scowled at him and stuck my tongue out at him. How childish of me, yes. But just as always, he was right. I was currently a junior in high school and a third-year individual trainee. I spent all my time at the studio. School just wasn’t a priority to me. School bored me and didn’t seem necessary in helping me pursue my dreams as an idol. To be frank, I absolutely hated school. All the tests, grades, high school drama, mean girls, boys who can’t keep it in their pants, and so on. I only attended school because I loved and respected my parents, thus l listened to them. I also loved Jaehyun and I didn’t have it in my heart to let him suffer alone through the hell hole disguised as high-school. 

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and I plopped back down into my seat. I was absorbed in my personal thoughts and quietly watched people flood into the classroom. A couple of the girls gave me dirty looks, but I was used to it. Oh, the power of jealousy. On the other hand, a couple of guys threw me flirty smiles and I brushed them off with a weak smile. 

Whilst going through all the possible reactions my parents could have to my recent failure, I felt someone poke me from behind and I jumped. “Homework,” Jaehyun uttered.

My breathing stopped. “Homework…What homework?” I screeched loudly, receiving a few nasty looks from my girl classmates in return. I hastily whipped my head around the room and watched in horror as my classmates began pulling out papers from their backpacks and folders. I couldn’t have forgotten to do my homework again. And of course, it just had to be chemistry homework. My grade average is going to hell. 

I turned to Jaehyun, but before I could open my mouth to and whine, he dangled a folder in front of my face before he aggressively shoved it to me. I rubbed my face with one hand and shot him a glare, grabbing the folder from his hands.

Jaehyun smirked at me, once again displaying his dimples and a cheeky smile. “You’re welcome,” he sang. 

I furrowed my brows at him in confusion as I flipped the folder open. To my utter surprise, I saw the completed homework worksheets. “You didn’t…Oh! You did! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I squealed. Without thinking, I leaned over and plastered a big kiss on his cheek. I tilted my head up only to see that his smile has widened and I squeaked out a sorry. I marveled over the completed worksheets and wow, he even did it in my handwriting.

“You Jung Jaehyun, are amazing. Amazing. I owe you. I’ll literally do anything for you,” I sighed.

He wiggled his eyebrows. “Anything?”

“Anything. Just name it.”

Jaehyun placed his head in his hands and leaned towards me, smirking. “Just don’t forget me when you’re famous, ok?”

I agreed wholeheartedly and playfully swatted at him, walking away to turn in the homework he completed for me. 

How could I ever forget him? 

“Ma’am, can you hear me?” A voice calls out.

I’m lying down and I feel my body move and shake as if I’m being pushed. Everything hurts. So much, that I can’t lift a finger or even open my eyes. 

It hurts, make it stop.

“Ma’am! Doctor, she isn’t responding,” another voice calls out. 

“Prep for surgery! Move it!” yells another.

I feel my body shake again, and there are more voices bustling around me. The voices start to die down and I hear a piercing ringing sound in my ears.

It hurts. Please make it stop.

The pain is now unbearable and I feel lightheaded. Every muscle in my body aches and every nerve feels like it’s on fire. But just when I feel like I’m about to give up and succumb to the pain, I hear another voice. It stands out, and it’s a familiar voice. A man’s voice. He calls out my name and I can hear the pain in his voice. I feel a tear involuntarily slide down my cheek.

“Kim Aera! Aera! Please save her. Doctor, please,” he begs. His voice is laced with sadness and urgency. 

Who is he?

His pleading voice eventually fades into the background, along with everything else. The pain suddenly stops and I feel numb. Then I see a light. The light. It’s so bright that I find myself longing for it. 

The spotlight. I-

Thud. Thud. THUD.

“RISE AND SHINE!” a voice bellows.

I gasp and sit up immediately. My heart feels like it’s racing at a mile per minute and my brain feels like it’s been in a blender. I’m gasping for air and choking on it simultaneously. Frantically, I claw at my chest and force myself to breathe. 

Inhale. Exhale. Good. Breathe.

The remnants of the nightmare still linger in my mind and I mentally grasp at it before it slips away. But my heart is pounding and my head is spinning, and I feel drained. Empty. Incomplete. Like there’s something missing.

Nightmares have plagued me since the day I woke up from my accident. That being around 5 years ago now. I don’t remember the accident. In fact, I don’t remember anything at all. 

All I remember is waking up in the hospital surrounded by unfamiliar faces. I was told by my doctor that I was in a car accident. Much to my frustration, I couldn’t recall anything. Hell, I couldn’t remember my name. The accident took my life. It wiped me of my memory and took every piece of it. I was a blank slate. Because of that, my life is now split into two parts. Before the accident and after. 

Thud. Thud. THUD. 

I immediately snap out of my inner thoughts and the sound of rapid knocking on my dorm room door greets me. The knocking doesn’t stop, it only increases in speed and volume. I groan, massaging my heart and pulling myself together. 

“Come in!” I yell at the direction of my door. The moment the words fly out of my m