Prologue II

February, 2007

“Prettying up today, huh?” Thirteen-years-old Taejun was the first out of her four older brothers to greet her at the dining table. His crooked grin was plastered on his face like an irreversible mistake.

Out of spite, Taehwa threw the book in her hand at his face. Her father had gone to work early today so she didn’t have to hear him nag about her having to be a proper lady. Her mother had always been supportive of her being a modern and independent girl, so she chuckled and waved for her to join the table.

“You look great today, sweetie.” Mrs. Baek smiled with her dimples, a trait that she’d gotten after and was grateful for after she hit puberty and saw herself in a new light. It seemed like guys found it particularly attractive, too.

“I agree. But where are my sweets, sis?” Taewan (14-years-old) had always been the nicest out of the four, and he must’ve been feeling particularly teasing today.

“I even saw you baking several batches of cookies yesterday with Seya. How many guys are you going to give it to today anyways?” Taesung (13 years-old) crossed his arm and smirked. He was the more malicious and quick-witted of the siblings. Taejun might’ve gotten his second-degree annoying grin after her late grandfather, but Taesung had inherited the third-degree evil smirk from their dad when he’s especially foul-mouthed and vengeful.

Except that Taesung wore it everyday like a tattoo.

So there’s that.

“Probably more than you would ever get from any girls with that mouth of yours.” Taehwa cocked her head and snorted. Taesung glared at her for a few seconds before he shook his head and started on his breakfast.

Now there’s Taeho, the oldest sibling in the family (15-years-old). She would say that he got the most from dad, minus the foul-mouth and evil smirk. Most of the days he just looked like he was getting sacked in the balls. But like Taewan, and probably all of the other two in their rarer moments, she knew he was just as kind and soft-hearted.

But today probably wasn’t one of those days.

“Too much makeup. Your manicures are too bright. Why is your hair like that?”

Oh, and did she mention that he so very took the old-fashioned thinking after their father?

She rolled her eyes and loosely tied back her hair. She never really dressed up anyways, except that it was Valentine’s day and why couldn’t a girl be especially pretty for the boy she liked today?

Not that she had any guy in mind, of course.

How good are crushes when they only existed in another dimension, another realm of another time?

Dream guys. Hah.

“I left the cookies in your rooms. They weren’t for any boys. Annoying and obnoxious siblings, maybe.”

Except that she kept a batch of them in her bag.

But just in case... for what?

Just in case that the dreams she’s had for the recent years weren’t just dreams? That maybe there are parts of it that are true? Maybe... just maybe her siblings hadn’t actually driven her to the point of insanity that she started astral traveling to another time and another place, meeting better guys in her sleep?

Maybe she had been hoping all along, that somehow, what she had been seeing in her unconsciousness for the past years were real.

Even being crazy sounded less ridiculous than that.

The bell signaled the end of the day and no more than a millisecond has passed before her best friend lunged for her from the desk nearby.

“-----” Seya squealed, mashing her words into an alien language and then took a deep breath through her ‘o’-formed mouth.

“Hmm?” Taehwa uncapped her water bottle and started drinking.

“Jongin...Jongin...accepted...He...” She breathed a little harder, “We’re...we’re going on a date this weekend!”

She choke on her water and fisted lightly on her chest. “You gave the cookies and chocolates to who?” 

Seya blinked. “Jongin. Kim Jongin. An 8^th grader. Dankook Middle School’s most adorable guy? Plus he’s a senior, so that’s totally—”

“Ok. Alright. No. I mean, it’s not alright.” Someone’s going to rot himself to death after hearing this news. “I thought you were going to give it to Taesung?”

“Taesung? Why would I give it to Taesung?” Seya raised her eyebrows. “I mean, no offense or anything, but he’s rude. And a jerk. He ruined the cookies when I told him that I was going to give it to Jongin sunbae. Luckily I kept another batch in my locker.”

He probably did it out of jealousy, Taehwa shook her head and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“How about you?” Seya grinned. “I heard many of the guys were left disappointed when Dankook’s Princess showed up with nothing on Valentine’s day.” She playfully shoved her shoulder against her friend’s. “What happened to all those hard works from yesterday?”

Why is the world spinning? Taehwa grabbed her bag and tried to stand up. She couldn’t hear what Seya was talking about. All she could hear was the ringing in her ears and the distant noises of someone calling.

I’m not going crazy again... right?

“Hey!” Seya called, panicking.

“Hey!” Why is she hearing horses?

“Hey!” Why is the horse coming closer?

“Hey!” Taehwa jolted awake.

Am I having another dream?

“Hey, wake up!”

She whipped her head at the rich, masculine voice. Her eyes started tracing and wandering until they spotted a hint of Blue and Silver.

Blue and silver silk robe.

“Y-you!” She let go of something she was clutching and realized that it was her bag. My bag? This... isn’t this supposed to be a dream?

But she could careless about her bag or whether if she was going crazy. Right now all she could see was a familiar face. The boy with gentler eyes and long hair. He was still growing even taller since the last time she’d seen him, and that must’ve been months ago.

“It’s you again. Who are you?”

In the corner of her blurry vision, she saw his brother, watching the both of them. Why does he look so familiar? No. Both of them are so familiar...

But the world was already starting to get darker.

That was the last time she’d dreamt of them.

Six years passed by slowly and only dropped by on one lonely night to take away the memories of the two boys and her strange journeys.

Little did she know, Fate was going to give it back to her, and more... 

//

[ A/N: I should've put it together with the first prologue but I decided to make another chapter separately. The actual story will begin next chapter! :) ]