Dreams

"Where are we going? What's with the so early surprise?"

"Just wait okay? You'll see things later."

With her eyes covered with soft silk hanky, he guided her smoothly into a dim place and helped her settled on a seat. He signaled someone outside with thumbs up and then she felt the whole place swing a little. "What's happening?" She inquired, sounding a bit concern.

She felt someone tap her shoulders before her blindfold fell on her lap and lights went on. Her eyes made some adjustments to her surroundings and it went all wide with the vision in front of her. She's inside of a cable car which was hanging suspended in the air showing her the breathtaking view of a very familiar place, just the right at the time when the sun came out from the edge of the mountain's peak.

This place. She though.

The whole cable car was transformed into a simple and elegant space with baby pink curtains hanging from the center ceiling with its ends falling at the glass windows and some trailing crystal strings looped around the fabrics, sumptuous rows of food were place on top of the table across her, a pair of champagne glass was at the center with a bottle of Perrier-Jouet Belle Champagne and a bouquet of red roses beside it. And to add with the view was one dashing man standing across widely grinning at her.

"You...?"

"Not my idea, but definitely my effort."

"It's really pretty."

"Daebak!” He exclaimed, feeling so proud of himself. “I was so worried that you'll be nagging me about this."

She burst a bubble of laugh and shook her head. Her attention went back to him and noticed the instant shift of his expression from smug to uneasiness and anxiety. "Yah! Why are you just standing there? Aren't we having this course yet?"

"Yeah... Yes! The food it is. But... But I, I still have something... to tell you." He stuttered.

How would you describe what he felt? It was nerve-rocking, overly anxious and definitely unsure. Why? Because he absolutely had no idea on what would be the end of this. A single word from her would either make his world great or doomed.

"Well then tell me. What is it?"

"Will... I... because... uhm..." He started rather uncomfortable.

"Yah! What's wrong with you? What's with the stuttering?"

"This is not easy! You just don't know how anxious I am about this whole thing."

"I'm waiting... Now, spit it out already... You're making me nervous."

"Aish! Can't you see I'm proposing to you?!"

"What did you say?"

"You're marrying me, Geum Jandi! Get it?"

“Ow? Sure… wait. What?”

…

It's been three days since she came, but she didn't even know why she had agreed to stay and be a prisoner in a big mansion with an impatient man and a battalion of men in black surrounding the whole place. Why did she even agree to her friends that she’d be safe if she'd stay with him, where in fact every day that she spent with the man seated across her would be another day of disaster? She couldn't even make herself utter words the way she wanted, because she’s afraid that the 'thing' he did to her before might get a repeat.

How could this man act normal in front of her after what he did? Everything was vivid and would always replay in her mind whenever she closed her eyes. She was undoubtedly violated, yet she couldn't get angry to the man who also saved her life.

The thought of going back to New York and be with her parents isn't also good choice for her. They might end up forcing her to marry earlier if they get bored. So, better be where she is than somewhere else where she could possibly be hurt. At least she got a lot of chance to be with her friends and forget all her burden. The only thing she would deal with was someone named, Song Woobin.

"Yah! Aren't you going to eat anything?" She shook her head which made Woobin confused. 

What's wrong with her?

For a few days of being with Jaekyung since Sweden, he noticed that she’d been suspiciously quiet when at his house, but loud when at the lounge. She wouldn't talk or even glance at him when he’s around. He had once caught her chatting with the maids and would escape away if she would see him. She would spent her whole afternoon watching movies at the recreation area, dragging some of his men to watch with her, yet, would back away when he tried approaching her. Woobin became a little concern of her, since she was acting too different and weird. He ended up pulling her with him this morning, towards the dining room for breakfast.

"Will you open your mouth and speak to me? Are you sick or something?" He stood up and reached for her forehead, but Jaekyung bent backward making Woobin miss reaching her.

"Yah!" He caught her left arm and pulled her in, a bit closer, and he lifted his left hand back to her forehead again.

She doesn't have fever. Is she...?

Woobin went out from his spot and walk towards her. The gulp Jaekyung made was obviously seen by him and it gave him the confirmation he had thought of. Her eyes widened in surprise, and much to her horror, Woobin brought his face near hers. All of a sudden, she did not even know why, but her heart went off beat.

"It because of the kiss, isn't it? You're acting like this because of that kiss." She heard him say, sounding so sure and confident.

Jaekyung's temper reached its heights; however no matter how she wanted to push him away or slap his face, she just remained frozen in her seat. Glaring was the only things she could give, but she had killed him many times in her head. How dare he? She thought and to her surprise, Woobin smiled at her and shuffled her hair before saying, "I'm sorry for what I did. I promise not to do that again. I was just all revved up that time. I'm sorry." She heard him say with full seriousness and honesty before he left her and went straight to the kitchen.

What's wrong with me? He asked after he almost drowned himself on the sink. Suddenly, Woobin was confused.

…

"What kind of warning? It's not a tree that she can climb so don't even bother?"

"Soul mate? That's why I say women can't make it."

"...have you met your lifetime match?"

"...because I'd regret losing someone like that for the rest of my life."

An early visit was something new to him, never did he wake up so early just to visit someone, yet this day was differently special and so as the person he’s visiting. All the things that he was doing, all the emotions he was feeling and all that's currently happening to him was new, and it wasn’t what he had plan to have. The whole event just went to him in random; still, he’s also ready and happy to accept it.

He pressed the code of the safety lock and eased himself in. His eyes roamed around the house searching for someone he expected to be either at the living room or the kitchen, but nobody was there. He went straight to her bedroom and raised his hand to knock and he noticed that the door was in ajar. Slowly, he pushed it open and saw 'that’ someone, sprawled and asleep looking like she's being swallowed by the king sized bed. Yi Jeong just let out a sigh and smiled at the view across him.

Papers and photos were scattered around her and down at the floor, he bent low and one by one picked them up. "She forgot to keep everything before sleeping. Ai Gaeul-yang", he uttered silently.

Checking and filing the papers, Yi Jeong noticed that the photos were actually his photos with the gang and with her. Those were the photos they got from all the vacation they've been before. Is she trying to...?

“Haven't you past the age of crying in the middle of the street? ...women, you know... sometimes think they look pretty when they cry..."

The person who has my heart and won't return it is this person right here..."

"... please stop making me suffer and come to me."

"Why?" Yi Jeong heard her mumbled and instantly placed the papers on her working table and went near her. She was sporting a confused expression and furrowed brows and still in her deep sleeps. "Yah! What's with you, Gaeul-yang?" He uttered inwardly. Pulling the seat near her bed he settled himself comfortably watching her still sleeping.

"Turned upside down, stepped on, cut over and over again… needs to withstand 1,300 degrees of heat"

"If it still can't be yours…you need to completely give it up"

"In order to become strong… find what truly belongs to you, there will be a process you must overcome"

"Saranghae! I'm telling you that I love you. I'm in love with you... Please always remember that."

"Gaeul-yang?"

He stooped towards her, gently shaking her shoulders. For a second he became worried about her when she twitched, mumbling something incoherent. Yi Jeong thought that she might be having nightmares, so he abruptly woke her up.

Gaeul stirred a little and bolted up in a prompt. She then felt something touched her lips, her eyes went so round when she caught Yi Jeong looking straight at her also sporting a surprised face and then pulled out from him in a flash when she realized that they just kissed. She noticed Yi Jeong’s change of expression before he flashed a heart melting smile, which caused her to blush immensely.

Seeing her blush after the accident kiss made Yi Jeong held his laughter and just smiled at her instead. His bumpkin still wasn’t used to things like that and he find her too adorable for it.

"Too short", he uttered and bent down to give her a soft kiss. "Good morning!" He smiled at her sheepishly.

"Sunbae? Were you here for long already?" Gaeul asked making a slit eyes and pushing her lower lip out.

But then, she saw Yi Jeong, still looking down her lips. Yi Jeong lowered down again and kissed her shortly.

"Sunbae!" She exclaimed and covered his face with both of her hands. She was all red and embarrassed of his display of affection for her. For a bumpkin like her, Yi Jeong's acts were a little too much to handle and that’s because her heart was already swelling so much and it's still early in the morning.

He pulled her hands from his face and raised his left brows at her. "Yes! I guess I was so early coming here that you're still in your dreamland. Tell me. Where you having a nightmare a while ago? Because you face was like this." He scrunched his face and pouted at her seemingly imitating her expression a while ago.

Gaeul cracked up with what he did with his face and hit his shoulder. "Yah! Sunbae, stop that! I wasn't having a nightmare. It was... I don't know what kind of dream is that... everything is blurry… and all I can notice are voices." Gaeul offered to him.

He sat beside her and curled his knees together. "How many times did it happen to you?"

"A lot already, I've been having such random dreams ever since I woke up from my coma, but lately it comes more frequent. I don't know, but it seems too familiar to me... I mean the things I heard from that dream... it sounded familiar."

"Maybe it came from your lo..."

The clock on the wall pulled Gaeul's attention and then she just exclaimed something, surprising Yi Jeong. "Ah! Today is my check-up schedule..." She hopped out of her bed and went straight to her closet and took new sets of towel. Gaeul dashed to the bathroom and was about to open its door when she realize Yi Jeong was still seated on her bed. "Sunbae, will you wait for me outside? I will be out in few minutes. I’ve got to go to my check up early, okay?" And there he saw her went in.

"How did she do it in seconds? Impossible!" He stood up from his spot and arranged the pillows and linens properly; subsequently her phone rang catching Yi Jeong's attention. He whipped his head towards the sound and his eyes landed on Gaeul's phone safely placed on top of her bedside table. Yi Jeong's eyes went into slit when he saw the contact picture flashing on her phone screen indicating the caller. Apparently, it was his best friend Yoon Jiho grinning widely with a fish hanging from a fishing rod while having Gaeul beside him smiling brightly with a peace sign. Take note they were posed too close to each other. Almost reluctant to get the phone, Yi Jeong swiped it to green line and placed it on his ear.

"Did you happen to wake up late again, Chu Gaeul?" He heard Jiho speak on the other line with a tone of a statement than an inquiry.

"Jiho-ya, it’s me..."

"Oh Yi Jeong, will you send her here when she's ready? It's her monthly check-up so I need her here. Let her eat something before leaving because she tends to scape meals every time she gets late. Thanks! See you later." Then Jiho hang up on him. He wasn't able to say anything and there he hang up already. He noted the way Jiho had spoken to him was like he was expecting him to be with her at the patio and like it was just something normal and mundane. But then knowing Jiho, Yi Jeong just brushed his thoughts off and focused his attention back to the contact picture he noted a while ago. Yi Jeong held Gaeul's phone pressed several touch stones, then removed Jiho's contact picture before changing it to stoic looking emoticon -_- he found on Gaeul's phone gallery.

"My contact number doesn't have my picture but he got his?" He ranted and went out of her room.

Later after some minutes of waiting for Gaeul, he heard footsteps coming from the stairs coming near the kitchen area and it sounded like it's in a hurry.

"Omo omo omo! Umha! Kyaaaa!" Gaeul yelled from the stairs making Yi Jeong dashed in a swift and reached her in a second.

"Yah! Gaeul-yang, what happen?" His heart almost jumped out his cage and the rush of adrenaline went to him like a storm. She was grabbing the railings sighing for comfort.

"That was close." She uttered breathlessly.

Yi Jeong was then holding both her arms and guiding her down for the remaining steps. "Don't run in a hurry when you're at the stairs! Are you a toddler?!" He's not angry, but absolutely worried about what could happen to her and he couldn't control his voice not to reach a notch higher. Gaeul looked at him with a sorry face. She didn't know how he did it, but Yi Jeong almost fly to reach her spot and held her protectively in seconds. Yi Jeong stared at her with concern written all over his face and his grip on her shoulders were sure enough very tight. "Sunbae, I'm sorry." She whispered to him.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay Sunbae, nothing to be worry about."

"Good. Better not do that again or I'll demolish that stairs if it happens again."

"What? Sunbae, the stairs did nothing wrong… it was my fault. You know?"

"I know that, but do you expect me to hurt you instead of the stairs? Come on let's eat first before we leave."

"You're coming with me?"

"Well of course. You have problems on that young Miss?" He asked her sounding irritated onto why she would be questioning him about accompanying her.

"Arasso! Arasso! I was just concern if you still have office work to do or a pottery project." She said as she left him and headed straight to the dining area.

…

"Hi!"

"Oh? Good morning Dr. Yoon! Just wait here and I'll go get Dr..."

"Wait! I'm here for you. Gu Junpyo is inviting you on his evening party on Wednesday. He wanted to thank you for your big help at his charity fair."

"Really? But... I..."

"I'm sorry but you can't say no to him and Jandi also insisted for you. Don't worry I'll you throughout the whole event. I'll talk to you at lunch and discuss it. See you!"

Minsoe wasn't able to respond properly to his news and there Jiho already left her standing at her spot baffled.

"Evening party? Gu Junpyo? Did he mean F4? High class party? Ottokhae!?"

…

"Miss Chu, here is the new evaluation test result we had previously took."

Dr. Han placed her chart on top of his table as Gaeul shifted her seat to face the doctor properly while Yi Jeong was seated beside her securely holding her hand or rather her securing him because Yi Jeong was obviously anxious. She's been through similar situations for a lot of times already and this one was something natural to her. She had told Dr. Han about the dream she frequently have and he told her that it's a good sign of improvement. But then Gaeul couldn't help but get a little anxious about this check up; her intuition was telling her that there would be a different outcome this time.

"Gaeul-ssi I'm sorry, but I'm afraid things won't get back anytime soon. Because it might not just be Lacunar, your evaluation had some progresses yet the cause of your current memory loss is due to multiple cases. We have reached three years of monitoring and your standing is quite impressive. The only problem we have is why you haven't got your memories back for such a long time now. We are lead to another conclusion that it might be caused by post-traumatic amnesia that is retrograde in origin with some psychological influence. Gaeul-ssi, your case is quiet rare I can say. But your recovery is quite impressive and aspiring. You passed all evaluation tests and there wasn’t any problem detected so far, and to add to that you never reported any case of forgetfulness and lapses. Though your vision remained as is, you could still experience blurring, haziness or blackouts. Better continue the suggested therapy we've been having and tell me if those dreams you have increases in frequency and if it became vivid." Dr. Han offered and saw her nod in understanding. She felt Yi Jeong's hold to her become relaxed and his cold hands went warm now. Gaeul looked back at him and smiled slightly.

After her check-up, they went to Jiho's office and chat for a while before Yi Jeong decided to leave and head back to the patio with her. He glanced at her side. Gaeul was just quiet and was staring blankly outside the windshield. Her thoughts were consuming her bit by bit. Before, hearing such similar news from her doctor would always be fine for her. Gaeul got used on hearing the same things over again. Although there were good news and some progress, she couldn't help but be upset that after three years of therapy and being a good patient, her past memories were nowhere near to return. And to add to that, she was feeling frustrated about not remembering anything in her past and also about Yi Jeong.

There were so many things that she wanted to remember - her daily life, the people she met before, the friends she got that she had forgotten already. A lot. In short she wanted to remember the whole lifetime she had missed because of her amnesia.

"We'll make up for everything you missed, Gaeul-yang. Trust me." Gaeul caught Yi Jeong uttered before she whipped her head to him.

He was staring straight to the road keeping up with his driving, though his attention was all on her. "I don't mind you not remembering anything about my past, but I know it's very important to you to remember everything about yours. I won't promise you that they will return; still I'll just be here no matter what happen. You've done this much for a long time now and you're doing really great. Just be patient, Gaeul-yang." He offered her assurance and hope while he held her hand tight for a moment.

"Thank you!" She uttered and smiled at him sweetly. Gaeul couldn’t be more thankful having Yi Jeong with her.

"I guess you're now in the mood for my surprise?"

"What surprise?"

"Nah… You'll know soon but to make it up for the teaser… How about an ice cream?"

"Ahhhh… Spit it now!” She whined. “I really wanted to know, Sunbae." She pouted.

"It won't work for me now, Gaeul-yang, maybe a little more effort." He said sounding suggestive.

"Aish! You wish!" Yi Jeong chuckled out loud because he knew what's running in her mind now.

"Bumpkin!"

"Stop it, Sunbae! I want my ice cream!"