Dreaming /#FebruaryJamFestival/

25. Is it the Dreaming?

Kwang noticed that the person calling him for the past week finally left a message. He had assumed it was Jin, given the intermittent calls from Nila that he had also ignored, but she hadn't left a message before. Kwang looked at his watch. He had enough time to listen to it before he needed to scrub in for his next surgery.

His first instinct was to scoff at her message. Locks of Love? How cliche! But the thought of that day in October softened his heart. It was one of his favorite memories as well. Kwang put the phone back on the table next to the scrub station and began cleaning his hands for surgery. His schedule that day had been packed, and it had already been a couple of hours since she called. Possibly, she had given up on him already. Kwang shrugged. He had another surgery anyway, and it would be a couple of hours before he would even finish. There was no way she would wait that long.

Three hours later, Kwang walked out into the dark evening sky and wondered again if Jin was waiting for him still. He chose to walk home. Kwang needed to cool his head and think. As he walked, he began to feel the light drops of rain on his head. Surely she would give up now.

The rain continued, and Kwang pulled an umbrella out of his bag. Jin never remembered to carry an umbrella. What if she was still at Namsan Park? Would she be waiting in the rain?

Kwang's heart tugged at him until he finally hailed a cab. He texted Hae-il to meet him at the Millenium hotel in the cab. He would just hear her out then send Jin home. It wouldn't take too long.

He paid the cab driver and bought a round-trip ticket for the cable car. He only bought one. He didn't want to be stuck with two tickets if she wasn't there. Kwang doubted he would return to Namsan for a while. The rain pattered on the windows as he rode up to the tower. The rain had steadily increased in strength. If Jin were standing in it now, she would be drenched.

The lone figure looking out over the city of Seoul in the pouring rain without an umbrella had to be Jin. Kwang couldn't see her perfectly through the water, but his heart knew. Suddenly, his plans dropped by the wayside, and he ran over to her to prevent water from continuing its destruction. He stood behind her with his heart pounding while first, she looked up at the umbrella above her, then turned to the man holding it. Her face was a mess and beautiful at the same time. Kwang couldn't tell if she had been crying, but her eyes were red and puffy, as was her nose. But the joy in her eyes outweighed all of that; it lit up her entire face.

Kwang almost dropped the umbrella when she suddenly pushed up onto her toes and kissed him. He held firm to the umbrella and pulled her closer to him with his free hand. He could feel the water leaking through his jacket and didn't care once he felt her arms encircle his neck. Jin was in his arms again.

Fear spiked through his body when he felt her push away until he saw her sneezing. Damn, her meds made her more likely to get sick. Why was she standing in the rain? Carefully, he removed his coat without losing his grip of the umbrella he'd placed over her, even though it meant he began getting drenched himself. He put the coat around her shoulders and pulled her towards the exit. He cursed himself for not buying her a ticket earlier.

Finally, in the cable car, Jin leaned heavily against him. He texted Hae-il to meet them near the cable car exit instead and ushered her quickly into the car as soon as he found it.

"We are headed to the Shilla. Can you put it in?"

"Which one?" Hae-il asked.

"The Shilla Hotel Seoul, on the other side of the park," Jin offered. Hae-il nodded and punched in the address to his phone before starting the short drive to the hotel.

"I'm going to bring her upstairs," Kwang told Hae-il. "We didn't get a chance to talk, so I don't know how long I'll be."

"How about I head home, and you text me if you need me to pick you up? I'll let you know if I'm available," Hae-il answered with a knowing smile.