I. Dreams

I Don't Want to Wake Up and Know a Love That is Not You
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The giant city burned, and somewhere in the chaos Winter heard a child crying. The noise made her wheel around. There, across the street, stood a womanㅡMinjeong. Her eyes were the pale gray of morning. She could pick out the color even through the smoke.

Minjeong stood still only for a moment, eyes on the roiling sky, the collapsing rooftops. Her chest was heaving. Her mouth was moving but no sound was coming out. At first it just looked like she was screaming, and then Winter realized she was saying something, a single word, over and over again, her lips forming the same shapes. A name.

Jimin?

A silhouette appeared in the smoke. Like a specter: first a shadow, then a body. A woman, emerging from smoke that looked like a wall of dark ocean, a massive, unstoppable wave. She was covered in pale ash and her head was bowed. Winter could see only a shock of wild hair.

Then she straightened up, and Winter stared. Because she knew this girl. It was Jimin. Caked with ash, blood all over her face, but it was Jimin.

Wasn’t it?

No, Winter realized, as the girl drew closer. No, this person was not exactly like Jimin. Her hair was longer. She was taller. There was something about the shape of her face that wasn’t quite right. She was Jimin—but, stars and skies, she is an older version of Jimin—

Minjeong wailed and Winter wrenched her eyes away from Jimin.

“Jimin.” Minjeong took a step toward, they were barely ten feet away from each other now, eyes locked on each other’s faces, and then Jimin grabbed Minjeong's hands.

“Minjeong, take this. I have to go back for the Queen. But take this.” Jimin handed her a red jewel, slightly bigger than a coin, glimmering like a giant star, only as deep red as blood.

“No, Jimin,” she said, holding the shining, stone in her hands. “Stay with me, stay—”

But the girl had gone again, back into the flames of the burning village, and Minjeong, cried out “Jimin!” and then an explosion in the distance, and—

***

"Winter, wake up! We have  class in 30 minutes! YAH! Wake up or I'll hit you with another pillow!" Ningning said while pulling Winter from her bed, pillows scattered on the floor. She jolted out from her sleep still feeling the explosion from her dream. Her hair disheveled and a line of drool is noticeable in her face. One leg of her pajama is rolled up to her knee. "You will not believe me, Ning! I was in the middle of a bloody war andㅡ"

"Yeah, you will be once your Professor drops you from class. You can tell me about it over lunch," said Ningning while trying to push Winter to the bathroom. "But first you need to wash up, fast! The bus will be leaving in 10 minutes." Winter hurriedly disappeared in the bathroom to wash her hair and did her morning routine. With only ten minutes to prepare left her no room to choose her clothes. A simple plaid shirt and a pair of jeans will do for now. It's not like she has anything other than her hoodies. She put on her worn sneakers her mom bought on her first day in college.

"Winter, you have three more minutes before the bus leave! We need two minutes to walk to the bus stop! Ditch the makeup." Ningning was yelling her lungs out in the living room while presumably drinking her tomato juice. Having to live with Ningning for a year now gave Winter an instant alarm clock. The girl was never late with her constant reminders. Winter checked her things before leaving her room. She guess she'll fix her bed later when she comes back home.

She and Ningning have been friends since diapers, only born a year apart. Ningning even started school early just so they can come to school together. So when Winter decided (no, not decided; forced) to publish her drawings as a webtoon, Ningning had taken over the directorial role, being the one majoring in film. She'll instruct Winter to draw her dreams while she tries to fit which comes before and which comes after. So she was not surprised to see that someone from her dream looks exactly like Ningning. She was glad that even in her past life (or so she believe it's hers) they're thick as thieves. 

"You know, you're dreaming of the past so much that you're having a hard time waking up in the present," Ningning said, already outside. 

"Don't be so dramatic. My alarm was about to set off in 30 seconds. And besides, I was having a dream. You know those dreams are what's paying for our rent," Winter said as a matter-of-factly. Walking two step at a time to catch up with Ningning.

"I know. I checked the most recent chapter, it already has 90,000 reads. Your webtoon is getting more and more popular," said Ningning, punching her bus card twice to pay for both of them.

"Yeah well, it's meant to be that way. More readers, more chances of finding her," she said before choosing a spot at the back near the window. She can't afford to have anyone overhear their conversation.

"About that Queendom, have you figured it out already? When it happened? Where it happened?," asked Ningning looking genuinely curious, tomato juice in one had and her phone on the other.

"No, I haven't yet. I think I need to read later books. Maybe it's not published on the internet yet. But I saw a flag. I think it'll narrow down the search a bit. I'm planning to go through the remaining books at the university library this weekend." 

"Then I'll come with you. Think of it as my contribution for this month's rent." 

***

Winter has been having these dreams since she was eleven. In the beginning, she thought it was just a random dream, a result of watching too much action movies. But as she grow up she started to notice the connections. She didn't think of piecing it out together until a certain girl made an appearance. Unlike the other people in her dreams, this girl's face was the only one that appeared clear to Winter even after waking up. So she started drawing everything that she could remember. It was not her intention to make it a webtoon at first, but after telling Ningning about it, her best friend convinced her that maybe the girl exists and dreaming about it too. The thought of having to see her in real life enticed her but Ningning doesn't need to know that.

When Winter was choosing her major in college, her dreams started to change course for the first time. Gone are the days for learning table etiquette and formal dances. She's training to wield a sword and use a bow and arrow. She wasn't surprised at all by this. She knew this day would come. She had bits of dreams that included combat training when she was fourteen but she was not sure where it fits. She and Ningning have been going through different libraries since then. The girl first came to her aid when she turned eighteen in her dreams. It was a celebration of her coming of age. The girl has long hair colored in deep red wine, long slender neck, is tall, lean, and muscular for her age, undeniably smart-looking and beautiful. It was the girl's eyes that caught her off-guard, it reminds her of a feline cat, fierce and sharp. But there was a certain aura around her that Winter can't point out even from a distance. She guessed that that was the first time they met because the girl introduced herself as Jimin of House Yu.

 

 

***

 

Everyone was already seated when Winter came into her class. The room is painted in white with gray accents, size big enough to hold fifty students at most. A projector can be seen hanging in the ceiling, and a lonely podium rests in the far left at the front. She managed to arrive on time despite all the lazing she did in front of her locker. Truth be told, Winter doesn't need to attend this lecture to pass this course thanks to the advanced studies she's been doing in her dreams. Years of medieval math and mental calculation put her up to par with the greatest mathematicians to date, not that people needed to know. Something as simple as Algebra can't shake her.

A minute later, their Professor came in with a bunch of students trailing behind her. One of them looked familiar to Winter. Too familiar for her not to notice. Saying she was shocked was an understatement. Other than Ningning, she hasn't met anyone from her dreams. If she remembers it correctly, the girl's name is Yujin. She's one of the best archers in the Queendom, youngest of her batch too. She's wearing a blue stripped sweater tucked inside her jeans, a complete opposite of the archer's tunic she use to wear.

"This can't be," Winter thought. "But what is s

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everydaykarina
Slow updates but will continue the story. Hang in there, friends!

Comments

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kasterian 0 points #1
Chapter 21: will this ever have an update?? 🥹
stillintoyu
172 streak #2
Chapter 1: this looks interesting
foreverwendy
#3
Chapter 21: Thank you for still updating this! <3
shiro11 #4
Omg! An ud 😳😳😳
Viola_Ella #5
Chapter 21: thank you for update! I'll definitely reread again from the start
Kannakobayashi09 #6
Ud na ☹️
Jiminez #7
🥺
love45 #8
Chapter 20: Hoping for an update soon^^
leaguepro #9
♥️
Isaactang1 #10
Story is good but I wish there were more moments of them dating in real life coz besides them having a common past they don’t really have a lot of chemistry and that moment where I think wow they really are meant to be