I was staring out the window towards the empty fields that surrounded the area. I was tired from waking up so early but the sleeping beauty next to me made me feel energized and excited for this trip.

The bus came to a halt and the noise from all the other kids in the bus became louder as the excitement grew for what is to come. Luckily the girl woke up when she heard the other kids exiting the bus. I was relieved that I didn’t have to go through the trouble of trying to wake her up (she could literally sleep through a tornado), but I was disappointed that her head left my shoulder.

“Are we here Tae?”

“Yea it seems so.”

We all exited the bus and waited for the teacher to come back. My “sleeping beauty” looked like she was about to fall over from being woken up so suddenly. I was ready to catch her if she did suddenly fall over, but she seemed to have enough strength to keep herself up.

“Kids quiet down! I have instructions to give out.” The students were quieting down slowly but it seemed like some were not listening. “Come on! We need to go over stuff before lunch!” The mention of food seemed very attractive to those who were talking because silence quickly followed the word ‘lunch.’

“Okay we are going to split into teams of 2 guys and 2 girls. You need to get your tents up and build a fire. We are all going to cook our own meal. If you get your tents up and fire going, you can come over here to get the supplies to make your food. The sooner you finish the sooner you eat!”

The groups formed relatively fast. Naturally I headed over to my best friend Jessica aka the ‘sleeping beauty’ to be one of my partners. She had a few guy friends, Donghae and Siwon, so they joined us too.

Our group appeared to be moving in sync with every task we were given. The guys set up the tents as the girls…well mostly it was me, gathered the fire wood. Jessica just grabbed twigs nearby the tents. Tent up. Fire set up. Next is food!

This camping trip was fun and our chores were fairly easy. The teachers let us have lots of free time to enjoy the time outdoors. I know the next day we will have a full schedule to learn about nature and stuff, but it is nice to finally get away from the city and enjoy what this earth has to offer. I must have been enjoying myself too much because nighttime crept up on me fast.

The guys and girls went into their respected tent. Sleeping in the same tent as Jessica…all I can say is everything was perfect. Even though she was my best friend I knew I was developing feelings for the girl, but I had thought it over many times to just keep those thoughts to myself. Although camping is fun, I always have trouble sleeping on the hard ground so I thought I should take a quick walk in the woods. Not far, but I needed to get out of the tent and get some fresh air.

I carefully ped the tent trying to not make as much noise as possible for fear of waking Jessica up (although I don’t think anything would wake her) and slipped out of the tent. The brisk air hit my face and I felt a sense of freedom. I didn’t walk far, just down the path a little ways. I loved the wilderness and the darkness was peaceful. Suddenly out of nowhere I was knocked unconscious.

I woke up and my eyesight took a while to return to normal…my vision was fuzzy but I knew I was not in the woods anymore. As everything became clearer, I saw well, it is hard to describe, but it seemed like a rich child owned a mansion. It was a huge mansion that I was in, but there were oversized toys surrounding the walls of the hallways. What weird place am I in?

I don’t know why I was brought here or who brought me here, but I have a feeling that this was not a good predicament that I was in. I decided that it was better to find a way out of this place before something really bad happened, but I was too late.

“Want to play a game?” Speakers overhead came out a muffled voice of a man. I felt like I ended up in the movie of Saw…but that movie was fake, right? Although I was becoming a bit panic stricken, I continued to walk down the hallway and an arm pulled me into a room.

A man maybe around 40 years old who looked like a butler was covering my mouth as if to cover a

scream I should have yelled, but I was more curious to what was going on than to let the fear get to me.

“Don’t be started I want to help, but there isn’t much time. He will see that you are missing soon.”

“What do you mean? What is going on?”

“No time to explain but here,” the man pushed a small device in my hand. Kind of looked like a small TV remote. “This will allow you to control most of the electronics here in the mansion. Please use this to escape. I don’t want you to end up like me.”

I had so many questions. Who was he? What was going on? What does he mean by ending up like him? However, he didn’t leave time for questions and he pushed me back into the hallway. I turned to look for the man again but the door locked behind me.

I looked at the device in my hand but I didn’t know how to use this to escape. I walked a little further down the hallway and saw a giant teddy bear. It was so fluffy! All of a sudden the bear came to life and grabbed me and rotated to the other side of the wall. What the hell is this place!?

The bear released me and I looked around but looking didn’t last long because the floor dropped beneath me and I landed in a pool of teddy bears. I swear this place is weird.

The voice returned, “Want to play a game?”

I decided to respond, “Fine! I want to play!”

“Find the bear with the missing eye to open the door.”

There must have been thousands of bears in here. All of them looked the same to me! I was looking for a few minutes but no luck. I remembered that the weird butler guy gave me this interesting device. He didn’t exactly tell me how to use the device so I resorted to pushing random buttons. One of them seemed to be an alarm. The alarm was faint but I knew it was going off outside. I pressed another button and a door opened opposite to the side of the room I was located. Maybe this butler was a good guy? I really could care less if that door led to my freedom.

I swam my way out of the room with teddy bears and went out the door. The alarm I heard earlier was blaring now. I must be closer to outside! But it looked like I was in a retro living room, but the glass windows showed I was so close to escaping this place! I looked out the windows and I was indeed in the woods still. I was overjoyed I wasn’t abducted and sent to some far off land. But door! Where is the door to my freedom!? I looked at the device and decided to press another button. I didn’t see anything happening so I pressed another one and I looked out the window to see a bunch of kids rushing the mansion. They were the students I was on the camping trip with. How did they find me? I didn’t know a button had the power to summon my classmates? I was so confused what was happening.

Suddenly a door flew open and the light from outside blinded me. I saw a familiar figure then face enter the door, Jessica!

“Come on, we need to escape!” She grabbed my hand and we rushed out of the building. Guards started to follow us and the only thing that was separating us from freedom was a gate. I grabbed Jessica by the waist and hoisted her over and I quickly followed. I looked back and saw the other kids quickly follow us into the woods. I have never seen Jessica run so much before but the warmth of her hand leading me gave me a sense of security.

“Taengoo wake up! Wake up!” I looked up to Jessica and wondered what was going on. Woods? I wasn’t in the woods anymore. Took me a while to remember the familiar place was Jessica’s room. I turned over and my face smacked into a teddy bear. Jessica is so funny and still sleeps with bears on her bed. I couldn’t remember why I was on her bed, but I did remember I came over to work on a project with Jessica.

“Seriously Taengoo are you going to roll around my bed all night or are you going to get up?”

I finally released myself from the daze I was in, “Why am I in your bed?”

“Were you that tired after work?”

“Work?” I started to remember that it was Saturday and I worked a full shift at Cabela's (hunting, fishing, and sporting goods store). May sound weird that I work at store where mostly men shop but retail is retail and I get to work with my dad since he is one of the branch managers. “I must have if I fell asleep. Why did you wake me?”

“You can’t just sleep here. Don’t you have to go home? Your parents will be worried.”

“What time is it?”

“10pm.”

“10! How long have I been out?!”

Jessica smiled at me panicking, “Only one hour. I even finished up our project while you were asleep. I also deserve compensation for carrying you to my bed since you were in the way.” I am usually good at hiding my emotions but Jessica could read me like a book and saw the guilt overcoming me. “Aww Taengoo you are so cute!” She grabbed my cheeks and had me look her in her eyes, “It was no big deal! What are friends for?”

I smiled and Jessica let go of my face. “You are the best!” I leaned over and hugged Jessica. She pulled me closer and wrapped me into a tighter embrace. We stayed there for a while until she started to back out of the hug. It was a really good hug. After that dream, I felt like it was a long awaited embrace that I wasn’t sure if I would feel again.

I don’t know why that dream had such a huge impact on me. I felt very insecure with the choices I have made with Jessica. What if I was in a situation where I was in danger, or even worse, Jessica was in danger? What if we could never see each other again and I couldn’t feel her hug or the touch of her hand? She would never know I love her so much…much more than she knows now. I am starting to feel like I will regret not telling her how I feel about her.

“Taengoo are you alright? You seem a bit lost?”

I looked back up at Jessica. I couldn’t believe she was still looking at me after the hug. I thought she would at least get off the bed or do something else. “I must still be tired.” I smiled to reassure Jessica that everything was okay. I was thinking stupid thoughts and my paranoia is just getting the better of me.

“Do you just want to stay the night if you are that tired? I don’t want you falling asleep behind the wheel.”

“Would your parents mind?”

“I don’t think they will notice. They are already in bed.”

I was happy to hear that I could spend more time with Jessica! For once falling asleep was the best thing my body has ever done for me. I wasn’t going to turn down the chance to have a sleepover with Jessica so I quickly called my parents to tell them I was going to spend the night.

After I got off the phone, I saw Jessica changed into an oversized T-shirt with short shorts.

“I brought you some pajamas Tae.” I grabbed the clothes she was handing me and went to the bathroom to change and get ready for bed.

We decided to sleep in Jessica’s bed after she pushed off all the stuffed animals from her bed so there was actually room for both of us. We spent hours talking about life and school. After that nap I wasn’t very tired but I saw Jessica wanted to sleep so we resorted to silence, but I was lost in the same thoughts I had before. Would I regret not telling Jessica how I feel about her? It was now or never to tell her. Maybe she would forget by the morning thinking it was a dream.

I turned over to my side and looked at the beautiful blond and whispered, “I love you Jessica.”

Jessica didn’t respond so I thought she was asleep and turned over with my back to her and closed my eyes to join her in dreamland. A few seconds after my eyes closed, a pair of arms encompassed my waist and Jessica’s sweet voice spoke gently in my ear, “I love you too.” I was wondering if was just because we were best friends that it was the love between friends that she was responding back. The love I was talking about was the romantic kind even if it could be taken as the one for friendship. Oh I wish I knew which love she was expressing to me.

Jessica took me by surprise and pulled me with her left arm so I was facing her. Her eyes were open and looking straight into mine. She was so perfect that I nearly lost my breath just getting lost in her eyes. I don’t know why she rolled me over if she just wanted to look at me. She is being a bit weird, but I did love looking at her.

“Taengoo…” She spoke!

“Mmm yea Jessica.”

“How much do you love me?” Jessica was asking the question I wanted an answer from her! What do I do? Do I tell the truth or do I continue to loving her in secret? Regret…regret…oh my conscience is taking over.

I smiled at Jessica, “I love you very much. I probably couldn’t go on without you in my life.”

She smiled, “Same here…”

I leaned in and kissed her. I know I shouldn’t have been so bold but my eyes were closed and I was waiting for her to move away. She will probably move away. I shouldn’t have listed to my heart.

It seemed like a lifetime that my lips were on hers. Time stopped and I didn’t want it to start again.

Jessica was not separating with my lips, but she started to respond back and I felt her cold hand press on my cheek. I was taken by surprise and opened my eyes to see hers closed. Am I dreaming? Oh please say I am not dreaming! Jessica released from the kiss because I was caught by surprised and wasn’t returning the kiss I initiated.

 “I love you too Taengoo.”

I had to know if that was just a spur of the moment thing or if she really wanted to kiss me. This time I was serious so I grabbed her waist and pulled her body closer as I touched her lips again. She must have been serious because she returned the kiss again but this time we were more aggressive the kiss turned into a small make-out session.

We pulled away and I saw that she was about to pass out from her tiredness. I pulled her into my arms and she snuggled closer to me as we both drifted off to sleep.

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AN:

Decided to make continuation from Jessica's persepective: I Wish You Would Dream to Be With Me