A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

Teach Me to Dream

Jisoo rubbed her thumb over the side of her cup and ignored the way the heat of the coffee gently burnt her palms. The sting of the heat was kind of comforting. Across from her Jinyoung was sitting quietly, patiently, waiting for her to speak.

"I'm sorry you had to come all the way out here," she said softly, her voice still low and breathy from crying.

"It's fine," Jinyoung said. "Tell me what's wrong."

Jisoo took a deep breath and shut her eyes for a minute. Her mind was reeling with the memory of Dara looming over her as she screamed. Her heart still had tremors from the moment. But she opened her mouth and decided to begin as slowly as she could and ease into it.

"I wrote a short story for the upcoming issue's feature," Jisoo said.

"You did?" Jinyoung said, leaning forward a bit. "That's... great."

Jisoo nodded.

"I was supposed to submit it to Dara, she's my supervisor," Jisoo said, pausing to drink from her cup. "But I knew she said that new girls aren't supposed to write features, so I thought if I sent it straight Julie, I might actually have a chance of being published."

The cafe they were sitting in was playing soft, acoustic music and the lighting was dim. Jinyoung was looking down at Jisoo's hands as she spoke, watching wordlessly as she ran her thumb over the knuckles of her other hand in a comforting gesture. He resisted the urge to reach out and let his own hand take over the task.

"She must have liked it since she included it in the mock-up," Jisoo continued, furrowing her brows as she tried to keep her emotions in check.

"But Dara got the copy just now," she said, her voice breaking again. She wiped at a stray tear. "And she just—exploded at me, I don't know. She accused me of going behind her back and trying to take her job when I really just wanted a chance to show her I could be trusted with bigger responsibilities—"

"Hey. Shh, calm down—"

"Instead of just calling printers and fetching coffee and reading through submissions," Jisoo said. "I was just trying to help."

"I know you were."

Willpower giving out, Jinyoung reached across the table and touched Jisoo's knuckles softly, hesitantly with his fingers. Jisoo looked down at their almost-touching hands and swallowed. She slowly took her hand from the cup and turned her wrist until the backs of her fingers were leaning into the curve of his palm.

His hand was warm. Not as warm as the coffee in her cup, but it was soft and warm and felt worlds better.

"You were right," Jisoo whispered.

"About what?"

"Maybe Embrace isn't where I'm meant to be," Jisoo said, her eyes gleaming with the tears-strained lashes. "I don't belong there. It's nothing like I thought it was going to be."

It was disheartening.

"All my life, I've read Embrace and imagined being counted as one of their writers," Jisoo said. She dreamed of joining the ranks of acclaimed novelists who'd got their start by working at Embrace.

"But since I started there," she continued. "All I've done is monitor Dara's inbox and sit in on meetings."

Though, of course, she was grateful. If she wanted to get anywhere, she had to start somewhere. But still, Jisoo wanted... more.

In her dreams, she pictured herself in the many years ahead living somewhere far and remote. Perhaps in a cabin on a mountain, where she'd be alone except for a dog maybe, where she'd have her books and a comfortable chair and a window with a view of a wide meadow, where she could write peacefully.