Winter didn't met Karina after that day, they were both busy with their own coursework and studying for the exams. She was tempted to prick her finger and use Karina's necklace again but she stopped because it might be interfering with her dreams. She hasn't dreamed anything after she met Karina and discovering the ring, which made her anxious since she hasn't experience not dreaming for five days consecutively. The longest was two days when she got flu in middle school. 

Giselle is hanging out with Ningning in their living room, celebrating their perfect score for their project. Winter came out of her room and occupied the recliner which prompted the two to pause their movie.

"I take that as the review not doing good?" Ningning started.

"I'm studying just fine. It's my dreams I'm thinking about, I haven't had dreams for the past few days," she confessed. Giselle put down the bowl of ice cream in the coffee table before shifting her position to focus on her.

"Isn't that a normal occurence? You didn't dream last time too, right?" Giselle said. 

"That was different. I was stressed and I refused to dream, it happens sometimes. But it has been five days and I'm not even stressed."

"You're stressed now," Ningning said.

"I think it has something to do with Karina and her necklace" Winter rebutted.

"Her necklace? What has that got to do with your dream?"

Winter told them about the memory keeper, the memories, Karina's obliviousness of the missing necklace, the perfume she received and the girl's calmness when she confessed that she's Mindeongie. 

"You think she knows anything, Gi?"

"I'm not sure, she never mentions anything to me. All I know is she just came to me one day last year that she liked this webtoon, which is Phoenix Blood. I don't understand her dedication to it at first until after I read it myself. The necklace tho, I've seen her holding it a few times before but she rarely wear it since it looked very old. I think it was a family heirloom or something from Karina's mom. I'm not sure," Giselle shared.

"It does make me think about what she told you when you were drunk. Though I'm not sure what she's referring to since you said that she saw you in the library before that. Is Karina the one that names her products?" Ningning asked, question directed to the girl beside her.

"As far as I know, yes. She just gave me the names and descriptions every time she has something new and I designed it based from that."

"Now the three of us is stressed over this," said Ningning, letting herself fall on the sofa.

***

They decided to use the necklace together as Ningning and Giselle wants to see inside Winter's dreams. She was hesitant at first because there is no certainty as to how they can be pulled out from the memory. Last time Karina shuffled and made some noise that made Winter lose focus. Giselle suggested they put a five minute timer regardless if the time will pass or not. 

They gathered inside her's room, a bobby pin ready to prick their fingers.

"I still don't feel good about this. Last time I did this I was shot by an arrow twice and it felt like I was burning from the inside out."

"Stop with the over exaggeration. You were fine and there's three of us going in, it's now or never," Giselle poke her finger first before passing the pin to Ningning then to her. She held out the necklace for the two to see, the stone with a tiny, tickling pulse. They closed their eyes and took a calming breath. Together they pressed their fingers to the red in the center of the ring to the red gemstone.

With their next breathㅡ

Winter breathed out and tasted dust; she breathed in and tasted sunlight, summer air, something lush and green. 

She realized her eyes were closed, and she opened them.

She was in a forest, and she wasn’t alone. Giselle and Ningning were there with her. It was barely past noon, even though the sun had been setting outside their aparment windows moments earlier. Butter-colored sunlight streamed down through the foliage, creating a dappled pattern of shadow and gold across Ningning’s face.

“Is this real?” Giselle breathed.

“Yes, I think so. Or . . . it was. It’s memory now, it’s—”

“Jimin?”

They whipped around in unison, searching for the source of the voice. A moment later they found it: a rustle in the undergrowth, and then a young woman stepped out of the trees and into the clearing. She was barefoot and beautiful, her skin the same color as Winter’s, her blonde hair loose and tangled around her shoulders. Her dress was strange. Old-fashioned, like the clothes in old paintings.

“Jimin?” Minjeong called out softly. “Jimin, are you here yet?”

There was a pause in which the only sounds came from the chattering birds above their heads, Minjeong catching her breath. The forest seemed to swallow all other sound. Minjeong didn’t even glance at them, even though the four of them were less than ten paces apart. She couldn’t see them.

There was a scuffling noise, a muffled curse, and then a woman stumbled out from behind a tree. She was as young and beautiful as Minjeong, hourglass body, pale skin, and red wine hair. The moment she reached Minjeong, she tugged her into her body, arms curling around her. She snorted and half shoved at her and then melted, nudging her face into her chest. Winter felt suddenly uncomfortable. She didn’t want Ningning and Giselle to see this, she spoke about Jimin and Minjeong's relationship to them yet she still feel like they were witnessing something they shouldn’t. Something too intimate, too personal.

“What did you need to tell m