Ahyeong heaved a sigh of relief when she finally sighted the entrance of the auditorium. Just a little more she thought as she dragged her feet towards it.

She was sure Chunghee will eat her alive if she was even a minute late as the ceremony held so much importance to him plus she herself was finally going to meet her blind crush. As much as she wanted to deny the fact, about how much she fancies the man even though not having the privilege of encountering him even once but the stories about him were enough for the strange feelings to bloom inside her.

One can say she fantasize too much thanks to her indulgence in romantic comics that whenever she met or heard about someone who was even a bit closer to her ideals of perfect boyfriend she would just create scenarios inside her head specially reserved for all romantic ideas until she got bored of it and dismissed it later as if they never existed in the first place.

This was how it was and she didn’t minded though but with Do Kyungsoo, it was different, like she barely knew him but she had for long time created scenarios about how they are going to meet and how she is going to act. It was all planned inside her head and she was sure it will stay that way till she meets him but currently she can feel the thrill which was there last week was nowhere right now.

What could have happened? Well dreams about her so called husband and a potential lover happened. It’s just a dream with zero chances of ever coming true. She halted in her steps, panting heavily. It’s over anyways and just like her every second fantasy she should just forget about it too because what will she get by clinging on them other than pain. Well, pain has become a constant feeling now.

There was a point where she was overwhelmed with those dreams and now when they have stopped she can only feel emptiness. Is it a breakup or divorce? Ahyeong snorted at the thought. ‘Attachment’ was what she would call it and it was always a hard task for her to let go off people. She hated losing people, more like feared it and even if they were unknown to them, it wasn’t easy.

“Why are you not getting inside?” Someone spoke from behind making Ahyeong to look towards the person. She tilted her head in confusion as she tried to recognize the person in front of her. She was sure she knew this person but she was not so good when it came to recognize people around her. It even took her took 4 meetings in total to finally recognize Chunghee. She was thankful that Hyoson was her roommate otherwise it would have been a disaster since the girl hates it when someone doesn’t recognize her and then ignore her.

“Dr…..” She trailed to buy some time.

“It’s Yang Heejin, Chunghee’s girlfriend.” Ahyeong’s jaw dropped at the answer and she bowed in embarrassment and the person in front of her giggled in amusement.

“Am I that forgettable Sunbae? I thought I was finally able to impress you last time when you called me cute but seems like I couldn’t.” The woman pouted while linking her arms with Ahyeong as she dragged her inside the auditorium. The horror in Ahyeong’s face was hilarious as she was still absorbing the shock.

“N-No It’s just…”

“I was just pulling your leg.” Heejin smiled while cooing, “Plus you are so cute when you get flustered.” Ahyeong awkwardly laughed at her before sternly looking at her.

“Yah, what are you doing with my girlfriend?” Chunghee spoke as soon as he spotted the two women almost clinging into each other, “and get that hand of yours off her.”

Ahyeong rolled her eyes before pulling the woman closer by her waist who gasped in surprise while her face tinted with pink. “What will you do if I refuse?” She challenged. In no time he almost ran towards before grabbing his girlfriend’s waist and pulling towards him. She only smirked at him before hopping towards Hyoson who was sleeping in her seat.

Ahyeong didn’t know why Chunghee even saw her as a threat, it’s not like she was snatching away his girlfriend or maybe he was afraid that she might disclose his very-very dark secret to his current girlfriend. She wanted to laugh out loud if not for her surrounding but still chuckled with her head down.

“You are here.” Hyoson sleepily mumbled before clinging into her arm. What’s with people clinging onto her? She shook her head before directing her gaze at the main stage. “Chunghee has done a good job.” She said proudly while taking in the decoration. It was simple but one can see the efforts behind it. The stage was covered in orange balloons, which happened to be the theme colour of the hospital but what caught her attention was the guitar and a mic stand.

“Is someone going to perform today?” Ahyeong asked her sleeping friend who only hummed in agreement. She smiled at the thought while her mind drifted towards that certain dream where her ‘potential lover’ sang a song, Boyfriend acoustic version by Justin Bieber. This was what made her conclude that maybe he had feelings for her but before she could learn more, it stopped. She pouted her lips at the memory.

By the mean time, Chunghee’s girlfriend settled beside her with Chunghee giving her stink eyes and mouthing a warning before climbing the stage. Ahyeong in turn put her hands on Heejin shoulder to provoke him but the said man was already looking somewhere else, so she took her hands off the girl who was now blushing furiously while looking away from Ahyeong. Strange she thought

As much as she wanted to act interested in this whole ceremony, it was boring the hell out of her. Most of the guests have arrived; the Chairman, the Director and HoDs of every department but still no traces of the golden boy for whom this whole set up was for. With everyone sharing their anecdote about the genius Neurosurgeon, her adrenaline rushed in excitement. How much of a great person was he that he had everyone captured in his little finger including her?

After the Chairman’s address, finally came the moment she didn’t knew she anticipated so much until now. Her face was hurting with the big smile she adorned which only seemed to dissipate at the revelation, her eyes widened in recognition. She couldn’t believe her eyes at what she was seeing as the man happened to look at her as if he recognized her before bowing towards the audience.

Ahyeong clutched Hyoson hands before looking at her who looked at her all confused.

“It’s him.” She spoke inaudibly as her voice decided to not come out of and her face glowed like Christmas light.

“Him?” She blinked her eyes in confusion before looking towards the man then her as something clicked inside him, “Oh~, you are right. It’s him, Do Kyungsoo. He looks so handsome right. I bet even healthy patients will now line up at his door. Don’t you think so?” Hyoson smiled while shaking her head.

“N-No not him- well not like that.” Ahyeong almost pulled her hair out. She glanced towards Heejin to find her indulged in the speech before leaning towards Hyoson ears, who was scratching her head in confusion. “He’s the potential lover from my dream.” She spilled every word slowly. It took time for Hyoson to finally digest Ahyeong words.

“It’s him.” Hyoson yelled loudly gaining everyone’s attention including ‘him’. Ahyeong almost wanted to disappear but she acted nonchalant like she didn’t even know the person next to her while the person started to look for the culprit behind her as if she wasn’t the one who was behind it.

Either it was a pure coincidence that nobody knew who screamed out of nowhere or maybe they were too lucky that the people were more into the guest’s speech to even acknowledge the ruckus.

When everyone looked towards the front, Ahyeong caught her potential lover’s gaze on her as if trying to read her mind before diverting his gaze towards the other audience to continue whatever he was speaking. Even his voice sounds the same. She still can’t believe what she was seeing and tried to pinch her arms for the nth time. She tried to focus on his words which for some reasons, seems to be muted. She now focused on his every feature, from his hair to his chin. His hairstyle was still the same as it was in the dream, neatly combed parted on the side and pushed back perfectly while a single strand of hair left behind to settle in his wide forehead; his same big cute eyes and thick brows, his perfect nose and those full cheeks and plump lips that were pouting every now and then whenever he spoke. He was cute as always even if had dressed in formal suit with small checkered, khaki colored waistcoat and pants, a white shirt and a dark maroon tie.

The daze Ahyeong was in broke by the sudden sound of clapping. Is it over already? She looked at the stage as her pot- Dr. Do was now seated in a chair while the other was occupied by a tall and masculine person, who seems to be tuning his guitar. She once again made an eye contact with him and this time his lips adorned one of his charming smile and Ahyeong unconsciously smiled back at him. There was acknowledgement in his eyes as if he knew her. Ahyeong gasped as she covered her now opened mouth and the man’s smile widened as he slightly nodded his head before looking at the person sitting next to him. What if-

“Do you also think what I am thinking?” Hyoson whispered in her ears. Ahyeong nodded her head and Hyoson’s smile widened almost on the verge of bursting into laughter.

“I can’t believe it. Does that mean he also happened to dream about you like you did?” Hyoson asked unable to hide her curiosity as well the gaining the attention of the person sitting next to Ahyeong.

“What dream?” Heejin asked. .

“Oh- oh our Ahyeongie had a bad dream today and she’s really-really scared right now.” Hyoson came up with the excuse while Ahyeong tried not laugh at her friend’s cute language.

“Sunbaenim, are you okay?” Heejin put her hands on Ahyeong forehead and the female gulped down everything that seems to choke with guilt for lying to the woman next to her but she can’t tell her about it after being warned about the possible consequences it might bring.

“I am just tired.” It wasn’t a lie because she was tired after all the drama that unfolded in her life; she was tired both physically and mentally.

Before the other woman could speak anything else the strumming of guitar strings drew their attention towards it.

“It’s a song I sang a lot while serving in the UN peacekeeping mission and it kind of helped me go through my difficult times so I hope you all like it.” Dr. Do smiled while the guitarist took his cue to start their song.

***************************************************************************

“So you are saying my Do Kyungsoo is the second man from your dreams?” A bewildered Chunghee paced back and forth trying to absorb the sudden revelation. He halted in his steps when the other two people agreed to it.

“And I assume he knows me too.” Ahyeong added.

“You know it’s impossible, there is a zero chance for you to even meet him. Like you were born and brought up in Busan while he grew up in Seoul and from what I remember you came to Seoul for the first time when you entered Yonsei University and at that time he was in US so it’s nearly impossible that he saw you.” Chunghee said in one breath while both the women facepalmed in disappointment.

“Why are you reacting like I said something wrong?”

“Because you are, like we all know we haven’t met in real life and I met him only through my dreams so don’t you think he might have seen me in his dreams too.” Ahyeong explained.

“But didn’t the shaman say they don’t exist in real.” He questioned.

“Well I must say she didn’t accept it but she didn’t deny it either. You know she was kind of vague about it but I think she gave away when she said I shouldn’t search for them like why would one search for someone who don’t exist which I obviously didn’t because one of them himself came to me and one thing is weird that we were bound to meet, dream or no dream doesn’t matter because his arrival was decided before I even started dreaming so what might have triggered his appearance in my dream. This is my theory so far but it can only be confirmed through the shaman.”

“I think she’s right, that shaman was being secretive for no reason and it seemed like there was much more to this dream thing that she wasn’t telling us about and his sudden appearance raises a lot of questions to be honest.” Hyoson chimed in. Chunghee nodded his head in understanding.

“So now what, I know we are not supposed to talk about this dream thing with anyone even ourselves but the way it is unfolding I don’t think we can even shut up about it for a while. Kyungsoo Sunbaenim who apparently happens to be her friend/lover from her dreams is already here and there is a chance that the husband will appear too.”

“I am- I don’t know what to say honestly, it’s crazy. Call me delusional but I kind of had this hunch that they might be real well I don’t know how but I still did even after confronting the shaman and after what happened today she has to give us answers to it.” Ahyeong threw her head on her chair while contemplating her options about calling her or meeting her.

“I just feel so angry at her like why the hell she even put a spell on you if she was not going to resolve it.” Hyoson shot her hands up in exasperation.

Ahyeong looked out of the window as she questioned herself. Why wasn’t she angry at the shaman when that’s the most reasonable reaction one could have. She tried to look at every single possibility that might have led the shaman to take that step and when the shaman put that spell on her, she was almost wasted and might have done it against her best judgement. Even though she was being hideous, Ahyeong was able to see the confusion in her when she learned about the actual dreams so she wanted to give benefit of doubt to the shaman when she said she was clueless about the exact spell she put on her and it’s not like she haven’t tried to resolve it.

“Well she did try to resolve it with minimal explanation in the form of potion but I chose to not drink it.” She looked towards her other friends who looked extremely tired and could fall asleep any moment. It was a hectic day for them and it was already past 11 but here they are trying to solve a riddle they wished never ever occurred in the first place. The initial excitement has somehow turned into a headache now because they don’t know, what was coming in the future.

“This is Dr. Do Kyungsoo, the well known genius Neurosurgeon in Korea.” Chunghee awkwardly introduced the person who was looking intently at Ahyeong while she tried to act unaffected by it well she don’t think she is doing a great job at that because her eyes were mostly on Chunghee, too scared to even look at Kyungsoo and give away her façade. So much for planning a whole scenario about how to act when they meet. Finally gathering every bit of courage in her she looked at he said person to introduce herself.

“We know him.” Hyoson fake smiled at him while her friends held their breath anxiously and the man seemed amused. “Well we had this huge ceremony organized just to welcome this Sunbaenim and this disciple of yours speaks a lot about you all the time that we know about you inside out.” She explained.

“Is that so?” He laughed before looking at Chunghee, “Don’t you think it was unfair to me? You told your friends about me but you never spoke about them even once.” He added teasingly while his lip molded in a pout.

“I-I did.” Chunghee tried to explain himself while the two females shot him with glare.

“I am kidding. He did tell me about you two.” An amused Kyungsoo intervened before Chunghee could face the wrath of his friends. “You are Jeong Hyoson and you are Shin Ahyeong.” He pointed towards the respective females in his soft voice. Just exactly how he used to speak in her dreams. “Chunghee used to send pictures of him and you two and talked about how good friends you were to him. I want to thank you two for taking care of my little brother” He added as he patted Chunghee’s head who was now blushing getting all his idol’s attention and Ahyeong craved for some.

“Can you pat my hair too oppa?” Ahyeong murmured her thoughts out loud as everyone looked at her direction, shock and surprise evident on their face- two were shocked and one was surprised. Ahyeong gasped and was about to apologize but Kyungsoo decided to have other plans.

“Should oppa pat your hair too?” He extended his hand towards the flushed girl, waiting for her answer but the shock in her face was too cute for the man to resist and he ended up patting her head and rustling her hair a little bit. At that moment Ahyeong couldn’t help but thank heavens for washing her hair last night. Her ‘slip of tongue’ long forgotten and she can’t help but think about how good his hands feel on her hair.

***************************************************************************

Another week passed by without notice. Ahyeong really wanted to meet the shaman to intimate her about the recent events but she was ducked down by her responsibilities as a doctor so she opted for a phone conversation. Well, just like the first time, she was shocked and asked her not to pry into it which successfully angered Hyoson who was present there for moral support and she kind of gave an earful to the woman. Well an angry Hyoson was a painful sight and her words hit like bullets and Ahyeong at that moment was thankful that she never encountered one.

The shaman finally admitted that, she put a concoction of different spells in her hazy mind and she was ashamed to admit the mistake. Call it a pride or anything; she was horrified about it when she learned what she did. When they came to her last time she just wanted to hide it as much as she can without giving away her mistake but well fate seems like to have other plans and just like her spell her plan failed too. She apologized and said that her intentions weren’t bad because she really wanted Ahyeong to get over her negativity and this was the only way she came up with in her drunken state which was one of the key factors behind such actions. If it wasn’t for it she wouldn’t even have came across her much more put that spell on her. She told them that the spell has already been lifted but it can only be erased with the help of that potion. She was still unsure about why she dreamt about this two people when she haven’t even met him, so overall they came to a conclusion that they will work together to solve the riddle without hiding anything.

About Do Kyungsoo, she met him often. Sometimes it’s the elevator, sometimes it’s the canteen and sometimes she don’t know and it was inevitable for her to not become friends with him. He was a gentleman to say at least and her admiration for him grew stronger. At the same time she was scared what if this part of her dream comes true and she actually cheats on him. Shaking her head at the assumed possibility she focused on other beautiful aspect of their friendship.

She can’t say she was really close to him on a personal level because he was reserved but was generous enough to let her call him oppa and give his occasional head pats. She doesn’t know much about him in general but she didn’t mind. They will reach that level someday but for now their friendship is still in the confinement of this hospital.

Taking a sigh she looked around her the place she so dearly called home. She still has lot of cleaning to do which was pending as she was barely here for the whole week. Sometimes she crashed at Hyoson’s place or sometimes at Sihyun’s due to that incident. Now that she thinks about it, she hasn’t heard anything regarding it from her parents. It was quite strange but as long as her parents don’t bother her too much and it was good thing that they haven’t booked another blind date for her because she was exhausted with everything right now and she wants to rest but first she has to clean her apartment.

It was too soon for Ahyeong to be in her cloud9 as her parents decided to give her a call. In spite she wore a worn out navy blue blouse and flared dark grey pants while her hair arranged in a low pony with zero makeup because tonight she doesn’t want to go through the same predicament she did last time with the excuse of seducing the other party. Equipping herself with a bottle of pepper spray and a scalpel for self defense she once again looked at herself in the mirror and for some reasons she found herself beautiful tonight. Smiling she decided to get going.

Throughout the ride there were multiple questions that made a round inside her brain. Why her parents didn’t mention anything about that Cha Minhyeon? And unlike in the past why she wasn’t given any information about who she was meeting tonight or was she even meeting anyone? But they asked her to dress prettily which she didn’t.

She was the first one to reach the venue and her parents arrived just a couple of minute after her while she waited for them in the lobby, after which they got in their reserved private dining area together. Other than basic greetings her parents kept mum for the whole time not even commenting on her dressing style and that was wrecking Ahyeong’s every single nerve. They were yet to order anything which kind of made her sure that they are waiting for someone. Her curiosity flared because her parents were being too secretive as if a single slip might cost them dollar or maybe it will.

Her patience was not tested for long as the door opened and inside came a couple. She wasn’t able to recognize the old man who seems to be in the same age group as her father but she can’t say the same about the woman who happens to be the chairman of the hospital she works in, Chairman Kang Hwa Jin. On the other hand her parents stood up in order to greet the people who just entered.

“Mr. Byun it’s been a long.” Her father who barely smiled in his whole lifetime cracked a genuine smile like he just won a lottery. On the other hand her mother poked her sides to greet the guests. Ahyeong joined her parents to greet everyone.

After they sat down, the older people once again indulged in their small talk about business and stuffs. Ahyeong had enough knowledge about what they were talking about but wasn’t really interested enough to entertain it.

“Dr. Shin I wasn’t aware that you were the heir of Pristine Groups.” Chairman Kang questioned. Ahyeong still can’t grasp the fact that she is sitting across the Chairman of Mugunghwa Medical centre, it’s not like she haven’t met her during her term in that hospital. It’s just unreal to have her, this close with her sweetly talking to her. She has always been nice to people rendering Ahyeong to have a mother like her in her next life.

“I-I…” Before she can answer her mother who sat beside her decided to cut in. “She’s really humble about her background.” At that the Chairman only nodded her head and continued her conversation with her mother. Food and drinks were ordered and her parent’s conversation kept going and it was a really awkward situation for Ahyeong. As much as she wanted to escape this place she couldn’t. Why was she even here if everyone was going to ignore her like she didn’t exist?

When Ahyeong was about to take a take a deep breath, the door opened once again and her breath got stolen.

Cookie Clip:

Kyungsoo sighed for the nth time, he wasn’t really a fan of such kind of events but seems like other people didn’t have the same thoughts. As the Chairman was singing praises about him he just wanted to hide somewhere because he can’t take compliments well especially if it’s from people he is close with. He tried to take a peek at the audience and while doing so a familiar face caught his eyes. ‘She is still the same’ he thought.

The next time he looked at her, it felt like she recognized him but he wasn’t sure. Another time, she was unreadable and once again when he caught her looking at him it was confirmed that she finally recognized him. ‘Took her longer than he expected’ and he smiled at the thought.

A Sneak Peek inside the Author’s Story Diary:

They have come, finally. While rereading, I realized many of you will think that why everyone is so scared about this dream thing, it’s not like its hurting anyone. Well, black magic is dangerous and Chunghee is afraid that maybe it can backfire on Ahyeong badly because he is little superstitious despite his medical background. On the other hand Hyoson is concerned about Ahyeong’s well being because this dream thing has kind of deteriorated her health and being a roommate for 7 years with her has giver her insight about how Ahyeong’s mind work.

I wanted to add more conversation between Kyungsoo and Ahyeong but I just wanted to end this chapter ASAP but from next chapter we will have more of their interaction. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

I was suposed to reread it but it is actually boring when you read your own story so bear with any mistakes that I have made.