Seolli's a quiet classmate Kim Taehyung always noticed but never had the courage to approach. Fate leads them to the same college and Taehyung tells himself things will be different. He'll take the steps to reach her heart. All she has to do is stay...
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March 17 Wednesday Year 1
I'm having a strange dream.
One where I'm back in high school.
"Seolli!"
Whipping around, I see a most cherished person running toward me. Like before, her backpack is falling off her shoulders, the main zipper undone.
I reach out to catch her. Closing my eyes, I feel the warmth that left me years ago.
"Eunha..." my voice wavers. I blink several times with the expectation that my eyes were playing tricks on me. Then again, it's a dream come true.
Eunha pulls away and rests her hands on her knees as she catches her breath. I fix her up and check to see if she dropped anything behind her.
As the bell rings, everyone is in a frenzy to get to class. Lockers are slamming, shoes are squeaking, people are screaming for others to walk faster. Exactly as it was back in the day.
Someone bumps into Eunha and she yelps, turning with determination to stop the person in their tracks. "Hey! Unless your feet are on backwards, apologize!"
The brunette throws an arm behind his neck and leans close to her. "Apologize? Who? To who?"
"You and me." She points between them.
"Oh," he chuckles, looking at his friends around him.
That's when I notice Taehyung among them. Standing tall with his hands in his pockets. He looks almost the same, except his hair is cut a little shorter. He raises his eyebrows and stares curiously at his friend and Eunha.
"... Are you suggesting something between us? Are you disguising this as a confession?"
His friends all oooooh as they grow excited.
Eunha turns bright red and smacks his arm. "Ugghh! I'm so DONE with you."
Grabbing my arm, she drags me away. "Come on, Seoll. We'll get detention if we receive one more tardy slip."
I stumble after her, looking back once more to catch Taehyung turning his head to look at me too.
I know that dreams are creations of our brain, but this felt nostalgic. Almost as if this is what happened... when our eyes first met.
The dream fades and I'm now in a classroom.
The teacher is writing down names on the board, along with a book title. I search for mine but don't find it.
Oh, I remember this. I forgot the book I was going to annotate at home because my father unexpectedly visited.
"Seolli, do you have yours?"
"I... um...."
I'm nervous all over again. I hated to disappoint my teacher. I almost never forgot my materials.
The teacher sighs and tells me to see him before instructing everyone else to start reading. He then curls his finger and calls me to his desk.
"You'll just go to the library and pick something out there. I can't have you doing nothing for the hour."
I keep my head down.
Someone steps up next to me at the desk. "Teacher, sorry to interrupt. I guess I left mine at home too."
The teacher shakes his head and hands us both hall passes. "Be back in 10 minutes."
Lifting up my head, I see that it's Taehyung. Was it really Taehyung that day too?
I was so nervous and disappointed that I don't think I lifted my head up once to notice.
I can now, though. And I notice...
As we walk down the hall to the library, he's just a step behind.
As I browse through the books, he's leaning on the table behind me.
As I pick out a book, he takes the copy next to it.
And as I step up to check out, he waits for me despite already being checked out.
Was this really how it was back then?
This time the dream keeps changing, and Taehyung is in all of them. These, I remember. They're each time he's ever spoken to me.
The time he asked to borrow a pencil, an eraser, paper, bandaid...
Why am I dreaming about it now?
"Seolli, you're warm."
I open my eyes and find my mother looking down at me as she gently presses her hand to my forehead.
I turn my head to look out the window, the sun greeting me back.
"Are you stressed already? You're temperature is just a little higher than normal."
She mumbles that she'll stay home as well, getting up to head out my room.
I feel my forehead and agree that it's warm. Not hot enough like a fever meaning I was stressed. But why?
I think back to yesterday and swallow hard.
Maybe it's because I couldn't find a seat right away...
Or maybe it's because...
I roll over and close my eyes again. Wishing that this time, my dreams could be a little kinder.
