Caribbean Dreams

caribbean dreams.

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The next morning, true to my word, I had pushed Kai all the way to his edge of the bed, so that one long leg was hanging over the side of the mattress. His other leg was tangled in between mine, though, and one of his arms was slung over my waist. He appeared to be the clingier of us two, though, because my arms were wrapped around each other and held to my chest, which was pressed against Kai’s side.

I yawned and got up in bed, extricating myself from his embrace. Oddly enough, even though I hadn’t shared a bed with anyone in many years, I had gotten one of the best nights of sleep in a long time.

Kai groaned at the loss of warmth from his side and turned over in bed, almost dumping himself onto the ground. Panicking, I caught his arm and held onto it with all of my strength, which wasn’t enough to keep him from sliding off the bed an inch more with every passing second.

“Hey, wake up,” I said loudly, trying to wake him up. Unfortunately, he seemed like a heavy sleeper. Finally, exasperated, I added, “For the record, this is not my fault.”

I let go of his arm and he crashed to the ground with a thud.

“Ow!” he yelped as he hit the ground. “What’s going on?”

His rude awakening had left him disoriented. “You fell off the bed,” I told him casually, stepping off the bed on my side and heading for the closet.

“Isabelle.” Kai cleared his throat.

I pivoted. “What?”

“Your...um…” He gestured at his shoulder.

I glanced at my shoulder, where the thin strap of my pajamas was sliding down my shoulder and threatening to reveal the top half of my body. I felt my cheeks flush as I pulled the strap back up to its rightful place. “Hence why I don’t have sleepovers!” I called over my shoulder as I went to go brush my teeth.

…

A hired car came to pick us up at around 11 in the morning to take us to the airport. We had found suitcases already packed sitting by the door the previous night, and upon further examination found that they were full of clothes for tropical weather. I searched through mine thoroughly to ensure that everything I needed was included, and was pleased to find that it was. But then again, I supposed that I was the one who had packed the suitcase.

The ride to the airport was relatively uneventful. I spent it exploring the emails and documents I found on my phone -- as an informational packet we found in the apartment told me, I was head of oncological research and development at my father’s company, and my phone was full of reports of drug development and bureaucratic red tape.

Kai seemed to think I was angry with him, because as we were waiting to board our plane, he said to me, “Hey, I’m sorry about this morning. I really didn’t mean anything…” I

laughed. “You mean with my lingerie strap? I was just kidding! Take it easy -- I think we’re well-suited as partners.”

Just as I was finishing that thought, I heard a loud commotion coming from a gate near ours.

“You are full of it! I can’t believe you would have the nerve--”

“Excuse me, but I wasn’t the one who forgot the tickets. You were!”

I craned my head to look at the source of the familiar voices.

“Is that Taemin and Naeun?” I asked, squinting.

Kai was looking too. “I believe you’re right. I should go get their contact information later so we can stay in touch when we get back from the Caribbean.”

I put my hand on his arm. “Don’t go now. You might get caught in the crossfire.”

“Is this a war zone, now?” he asked, laughing.

“Well, be glad that someone is worse off than us,” I pointed out. “This simulation only has room for so many successful couples.”

Kai frowned, but he stayed put and waited until Naeun stormed off to the bathroom before going to talk to Taemin.

…

I got sleepy on the long flight, and despite the fact that our first-class seats were extremely spacious, I fell asleep with my head on Kai’s shoulder, my arms crossed over my chest for warmth.

When I woke up, Kai was watching a movie on the screen in front of him. I couldn’t tell what it was, and I was still a bit groggy.

“How much longer until landing?” I asked.

“About an hour,” he replied, pausing the movie. “I actually need to work on something before we land though.”

“Aren’t you going to finish your movie?”

“Spiderman? I’ve seen it a million times. All you need to know is that with great power comes great responsibility.” He shut off the screen and slid his laptop out of its case.

“What’s your job again?” I asked, calling for a flight attendant to bring me a glass of water.

“I’m a freelance choreographer,” he replied. He pulled up something confusing on his screen, something with a lot of scribbles and annotations.

“Wait a minute. So I’m the one making the real money in this relationship?” I pretended to be affronted, but by that point he was used to my sense of humor and didn’t even blink.

“You’re the breadwinner and I’m your trophy husband,” he teased.

By that time the flight attendant had arrived. “What can I get for you?”

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. “How old are we?” I asked Kai.

“We’re both twenty-five,” he answered, his eyes not leaving his laptop’s screen.

“I’ll have a glass of champagne, then,” I told the flight attendant.

I could tell that Kai was grinning even from his side profile.

…

When our plane landed, it was almost night. The humidity in the air was offset by a warm breeze that blew around us, lifting my hair off my shoulders momentarily as we waited for our driver (who had been waiting with a sign that read Mr. and Mrs. Kim Jongin) to pull up to the airport with the car.

“I don’t recall agreeing to take your name,” I joked as we waited, my hand resting lightly on my suitcase.

“I’m sure we can change it at the town hall when we get back.” Kai’s voice was distracted; he was checking emails on his phone.

“Who said I wanted to change it back?”

Kai didn’t seem to hear me, because the next thing I knew the car had pulled up and he was talking to me about snorkeling as we climbed into our seats.

Our hotel was the tallest of the several clustered on the beach, the resort portion sprawling away from the road to the beachfront behind thetaller hotel building. The air conditioning blasted us full force as we walked in the door, as if we still lived in a pre-industrial age during which refrigeration was a sign of wealth.

“You know what’s weird?” Kai asked me suddenly as we went up the elevator, our luggage in hand. “I was working on that choreography before we entered the simulation, just for fun. Now it’s completely integrated into the simulation -- I have a client and everything for it. It’s like it’s only ever existed in the simulation.”

“It’s just your subconscious integrating your thoughts into the simulation. It’s like a dream,” I said casually.

He didn’t mention it again, and we retired to bed for the night so jet lag wouldn’t catch up to us the next day.

With the lights turned off and the crisp sheets wrapped over my shoulders, the world was dark and formless before my eyes. I could almost imagine that the simulation never existed, that I had only closed my eyes for a moment on the subway from school to home, that my life was actually mine and not something concocted out of an administrator’s imagination.

Then Kai turned over in his sleep and I couldn’t forget where we were at that moment, trapped inside a microcosm not of our own choosing. As I listened to his even breathing next to me, I thought of the two weeks we would spend in the Caribbean before returning to our lives and careers in Seoul.

That night, I dreamt of chains and ropes binding me where I lay. They constricted me more tightly the more I thrashed in their hold, and a mask over my nose and mouth expelled foul-tasting gas into my face, causing my struggles to eventually cease as I fell unconscious once more.

author's notes.

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Sort of a transitional chapter. There are more exciting things to come, hopefully. Please don't forget to comment/subscribe if you enjoyed!