"Have you ever thought about what life would be like if we lived in the parallel universe?”

“The parallel universe?”

“Y’know, the universe which contains our unrealistic dreams inside of it as a reality, where the opposite of all the decisions we make in the real world are carried out? It seems like it would be a really interesting world to live in but, unfortunately, it also seems like it’s impossible to ever get there."

A mental connection is rare in this day and age but, voila, Junhui and Mingming have one, and a strong one at that. They’ve been roommates since their first meeting 2 years ago, which was incidentally their first day of university. Mingming had learnt a lot about Junhui since then, and Junhui about Mingming.

Junhui, once you get to know him properly, is a fantasy man. He wants to live in his dreams, in another world, in a place where you can do whatever you want to do and say whatever you want to say, and good things will happen to you and to those around you. It’s a little bit selfish, and it’s a little bit selfless – a proper balance, half and half, just like Junhui likes his coffee. He likes his memories, though, and wishes that there was a jar he could store them in and pull a random one out every time he was feeling upset. In the parallel universe he wanted to be in, there was no ‘upset’. There was only happiness. Not the ‘contentment’ which everyone in the real world talked about, but true happiness.   

“Ming, do you think we’ll ever be able to watch our memories over and over again?”

Mingming, once you get to know him properly, is much more of a realist than Junhui. He knows that the parallel universe Junhui always speaks of probably doesn’t really exist. And, without Junhui, the probably part of that line probably wouldn’t exist. Mingming thinks about his actions carefully before he takes them because he knows that his life could be affected by even the littlest things, while Junhui hardly thinks at all because he thinks about the other universe, and how lovely it must be.

"Memories aren’t really memories. They’re just the new version built off how much you remember from your last memory of the incident."

The irony of Mingming and Junhui being so close was that they were both psychology majors, yet had thoughts that differ as much as Antarctica and Texas. Junhui takes what Mingming said into consideration and wonders if anyone really knows if that’s true. How can those scientists know it’s accurate without having a test that can show your memories? There has to be one somewhere!

Junhui sighs. “I know.” His life wasn’t of the greatest state in current times—every morning he spilled coffee on his shirt which he had bleached only the day before because of the same reason, every midday he realised that he didn’t have enough money to buy anything for lunch, and every night he tossed and turned until he became too exhausted to keep his eyes open because he had a terrible time falling asleep. But it—somehow—was okay.

Sometimes, Mingming helped him with the washing. Most of the time, Mingming helped Junhui pay for his lunch. And almost always, Mingming switched from his own bed to Junhui’s and his hair until he calmed down and fell asleep, crawling back to his own bed when it was morning (although he wasn’t sure if Junhui knew this, yet.)

“Ming, do you think this will ever end?” Junhui didn’t have to mention what he was talking about; Mingming already knew.

"I would tell you that it’ll get better or that there are worse things in the world but the fact is that it only hurts because it matters; it’s important to you, isn’t it? Your life? Everything you encounter is a challenge, a test… tailored just for you."

Junhui guesses he’s right, but still decides he’s going to buy all his friends dream dictionaries for Christmas because he believes that it will help them understand what’s happening in their parallel universe.

“…Just like I am,” Mingming continues.

                “What?”

                “Nothing, don’t worry. Anyway, if you could—hypothetically, of course—only keep a certain amount of memories to watch—say, 50? 100?—which ones would you keep?”

Junhui doesn’t hesitate before answering.

“Every one that has you in it, starting from the first time we met.”

“I’d keep the ones with you in it too, Junhui,” Mingming smiles, lying next to Junhui in his bed as he had every night, since the first time they met.

Junhui cherishes the moment--he knows that what Mingming just said is special, because Mingming is a realist; he doesn’t believe in those kinds of things.

That night, for the first time that Junhui knows it, Mingming his hair until he falls asleep, and he doesn’t crawl back to his own bed when it’s morning.