Archive of Our Own ^beta

Nayeon can't breathe. She wants to breathe but she can't. Why can't she breathe? Why does it seem like an elephant's foot was pushing her downwards on her chest when in fact she's just floating.

In water.

Water. Why was she in water? Why wasn't she on land? Not to mention it was dark and murky—barely able to see a thing except the faint outlines of...Nayeon doesn’t know.

Nayeon flails her short limbs as much as she can despite the pressure and the cramped space weighing her down, limiting her movements like a brutal oppressor.

She wants to get out. She wants to breathe. She wants to see light. And yet she's anywhere but those three.

Her head feels like they were squeezed on both sides and the constant ringing in her ears doesn't help at all - in fact, it aggravates her more, it hurts her more, it scares her more.

Nayeon was now barely breathing, even worse than a few seconds before. She tries to inhale more through her button nose but it seems that it was a bad idea since the headache throbs louder and she was starting to lose consciousness.

But she felt someone grabbing her forearm—hard, tight, painfully telling Nayeon that they won't let go—then was pulled upwards, her small body slowly pushing itself up and it gets a little easier to breathe for Nayeon.

The last thing she saw in the blur of the water was a shadow of something big, sinking fast to the pits of the water, carrying things with them that will never see the light again.

Nayeon gasps when her tiny head is above the water, quickly taking in the oxygen that she severely lacks.

The hand that securely and painfully grips on Nayeon's forearm never let’s go, but instead, they pull Nayeon into a bear-crushing hug as they float in the middle of somewhere.

The last thing Nayeon hears is a cry of anguish with the empty blue skies lamenting with them.

And the sound of Nayeon's heart breaking .

-|-

Eight-year-old Nayeon wakes up with wide eyes and cold sweat sticking to her skin—a disgusting feeling to wake up with, Nayeon remarks.

Before she can even think about the bizarre dream she had, someone shouts on the floor below hers. "Yah, Im Nayeon!"

It was her mother shouting; since her father has a croaky voice, making him sound like an old man at best if he shouts—or tries to—and that her little sister was basically a baby of three, unable to form coherent sentences and her shouts are basically sharp shrilly wails whenever she's hungry or dirties her diapers.

"You should be ready by now Nayeon-ah or I'll drag you down myself."

With that statement, she looks at her digital clock at her bedside table and gasps, the strip of red lights reflecting 8:49 AM —suggesting that Nayeon woke up past her usual time.

Nayeon literally jumps from her bed and quickly walks to her closet, changing into comfortable clothes and brushes her slightly tousled hair into a presentable style. When she was done with checking herself up in front of her full body mirror, she quickly grabbed her bag that was packed with extra clothes and essentials then ran downstairs.

"Are you ready kiddo?" Nayeon's father greets her first as he ruffles Nayeon's hair. So much for brushing.

"Let's go now," her mother says while carrying Seoyeon, Nayeon's baby sister, and went outside of the house.

As Nayeon's father double checks if the doors were locked before they leave the house, Nayeon's mother asks Nayeon to put her things in the back of the car.

"You got everything ready?"

"Yes mom."

"Extra clothes?"

"Yes."

"Your toothbrush."

"Yeah."

"Water bottle?"

"Yeah."

"Underw—”

"I have everything already, mom." Nayeon rolls her eyes as she puts her bag in the car, clearly annoyed by her mother's incessant questions even if she means well.

Nayeon's mother gives one last look to Nayeon's bag with the other camping equipment they brought—eyeing it as if her eyes suddenly got an x-ray vision and she can see the contents inside it—and settles with a nod of affirmation then closes the trunk.

After Nayeon's mother had settled Seoyeon into the baby car seat, Nayeon gets into the car beside her sister followed shortly by her mother and father in the front.

It was a sunless Saturday morning, blue skies stretching on the horizon as far as one’s eyes can see—perfect weather for the Im’s favorite weekly outing, camping.

The radio was blasting some SES songs—courtesy to Nayeon’s mother who was a big fan of them—while her father and Nayeon nods and hums along to it, including baby Seoyeon who gargles and giggles with them.

As Nayeon observes the scenery before her through the window like some sort of protagonist in a movie, she can’t help but think about the dream she had this earlier morning. It all felt…too real. Like she was there, experiencing it, with the feelings of hopelessness and fear and panic and—and heart-shattering grief that could kill her if it was personified.

But that’s far from how Nayeon feels today, at the very least. She’s happy, elated, and thrilled even—having a family outing as relaxing as camping out in the woods, that is safe actually. But the more she thinks about it, the more those nasty feelings bother her to the point it must have shown on her face, making her parents worried as they turn to look at her.

“You alright there buddy?” her father asks with worried eyes as Nayeon looks at him through the rearview mirror. “You’ve been silent for a while and it seems like you’re not in the mood for today.”

“We can just skip going to the camping site for today if you don’t feel well honey,” Nayeon’s mother suggests. Even her little sister was concerned about her older sister’s unusual silence despite the little facial muscles she has right now.

Somewhere deep in Nayeon says, Yes! Let’s cancel the camping today and go back to the house where it’s safe , but that would be weird for Nayeon, wouldn’t it? Why would she cancel for a dream she just had—a dream that was so blurry that Nayeon couldn’t make sense of it if she tries hard to decipher it. But it’s real! The voice in her would say. But at the end of the day, at the end for Nayeon, it was just a dream to her and nothing more .

“Aww, c’mon, it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been quiet,” Nayeon says with a big toothy grin on her face, showing off her bunny-like smile that Nayeon knows her parents would give in to her demands once she shows it to them. “Besides, I like camping, especially with my family every week. So let’s go camping today!” Nayeon ends her sentence with a fist pumping up in the air, making Nayeon’s father and sister let out a hearty laugh while her mother rolls her eyes with an amused smile on her face.

“Okay, let’s,” Nayeon’s father says as he puts more pressure on the gas pedal, determined to arrive in their destination as fast as he can.

They were now out of the city in Seoul and quickly approaching one of the rural provinces where the Im’s held their weekly camping activities. Despite it being a Saturday morning where people usually go out of their houses and enjoy their recreational time with themselves, only the Im’s family car was seen driving in the desolate road.

They were now in a long bridge, a few meters above the murky waters of an enormous river and what locals call it a bottomless pit because of the unusual deepness that can rival an ocean.

Nayeon was staring at its surface, the feelings of hopelessness and fear bubbling back in the pits of her stomach. Then something flashes in her mind—drowning, crying, screaming—and before Nayeon knew it, she was breathing hard, all the oxygen in her body getting out as fast as it can when Nayeon opens her mouth to breathe more in but fails.

Her mother was looking at her, ready to pounce from her seat to Nayeon’s with a worried expression in her face as Nayeon panics.

Before Nayeon can say anything, before Nayeon’s mother moves to her side as she swiftly unlocks her seatbelt, before Nayeon’s father ask another question on what’s wrong; one of the front tires hits an unseen sharp object, releasing a loud thundering boom as air quickly gets out and the car was swerving dangerously to the railings.

“What the—”

Nayeon’s father was trying to take control of the car again, steering fast to its opposite direction from where it was headed, but alas, it was all too late as the car drives past the railings, the few of the debris going down with them, the hood of the car crashing down first to the waters.

The car was sinking down fast, faster, fastest—with them. Nayeon sees her baby sister crying, wailing, moving her arms up and about, overwhelming fear overtaking her small body. She sees her parents panicking, opening their windows as fast as they can while her father tries to unlock his seatbelt—but ultimately fails as his shaking hands are moving far erratically than his senses. And Nayeon just sits there, both mind and body stopped functioning as the dread—the dread she has been seeing for a while now in her dreams—had now turned into reality.

The car was now fully submerged and Nayeon’s flight or fight response finally kicked in. She flails her arms and legs around her, thumping hard on her window, hopefully breaking it but the pressure in water was far too much, far much stronger than Nayeon or any human for that matter. She looks at her sister beside her, still securely strapped in her seat and tiny bubbles coming out from her mouth. Nayeon tries to unlock it but it didn’t. She pushes the buttons at the corners and pulls but it was useless.

There was a hard squeeze on Nayeon’s temples both at opposite ends, making Nayeon nauseous and at the same time not able to concentrate on the task she was doing, and the constant ringing in her ears didn’t help even a bit. She tries everything to save her sister—pulling, tearing it apart, even punching the strap—but it was all useless.

Nayeon was starting to lose consciousness, the colorful little dots appearing from nowhere had slowly made their way in her peripherals and Nayeon knows she’ll be out soon. But when she sees her little sister’s eyes closing, no tiny bubbles coming out from her tiny mouth, Nayeon tries anything at this point. Until someone grabs Nayeon on her forearm tightly, pulling her away from Seoyeon.

They went through one of the open windows—her mother’s side to be exact—and when Nayeon takes one last look to her father who was trying his best to live with the last of his strength, still strapped down to the car, he gives one last smile to Nayeon before the car sinks down further to the dark pits of the river and as Nayeon and her mother rises up to the surface.

When their heads were finally out of the water, the daughter and mother duo sharply took in the oxygen that they lacked, hugging each other closely in the abyss of the river.

Her mother pulls her closer into a hug—a hug that crushes Nayeon’s fragile bones, a hug that tells Nayeon that she won’t ever let go of her, a hug that reminds Nayeon that she was the only one left for her mother just as how her mother was the only one left for Nayeon—and sinks her face at the crook of her daughter’s neck, crying her heart out with what she lost today.

Nayeon’s heart breaks , a glass shattering into a million pieces that scatters and sprawls all over the floor, the sharp edges all deformed into their own ways that can never be put back again. She hugs back her mother but with all the comfort and secureness of her mother’s body surrounding her—she feels anything but that. Then there was this sense of worthlessness that had gradually appeared ever since this morning but had amplified its way into something humongous, something that Nayeon can’t even avoid—and it hurts just to see it.

She wants to cry but she can’t. How can she cry when the guilt pushes her other feelings down? When it suffocates her more than she was down below in the waters. When it hurts more when she sees the images of her father and her sister sinking down to the car. So Nayeon settles to berating herself, telling herself how useless she is, when all of this could’ve been prevented just by believing in that stupid dream she had. But it was all too late. Everything was too late. And Nayeon just had to bear with it as she lived.

-|-

The dream she had next happens after a few weeks after her family’s funeral when one of her classmates, Jeongyeon, fell down the stairs and sprained her ankle badly, making her put a cast on it for months.

At first, when Nayeon woke up to it, her initial thought was that it was just a dream, right? But no matter how much she tells herself that it was just a dream, the memory of her father and sister sinking down fast into the darkness flashes right before her eyes, painfully remembering that yes, it is—and it will turn to reality soon .

Nayeon waits by the stairs and she hazily remembers where Jeongyeon was supposed to trip and fall. And when she did finally appear—carrying books that towers over her head (god, is this the reason why she fell?), barely being able to see what’s in front of her, Nayeon steps in the nick of time before one of Jeonyeon’s feet lands a step below her.

Nayeon offers Jeongyeon her assistance while the latter looks at her skeptically. But Jeongyeon was tired of doubting when the pile of books in her arms makes Jeongyeon lose much of her strength—so she offers Nayeon half of her pile while the girl in question readily takes it. And as they walked down the stairs to the faculty room, Nayeon carefully watching each of Jeongyeon’s footsteps rather than her own, they safely made it to the floor which made Nayeon breathe out a sigh of relief.

Ever since then, a sense of accomplishment and relief washes over Nayeon when she sees one of her dreams and successfully saves the people in question. In fact, she even found a pattern about it. That (1) the dreams shows someone—whether their voice or a faint outline of themselves—that Nayeon knows or at least had talked to, (2) then an “accident” happens that can leave the person in question harmed although it varies, and (3) that her dreams are very hazy at best, so what Nayeon remember most are her feelings, a faint outline of her surroundings and that person.

Nayeon tries her best to save them, or at least prevent the worst from happening—and she did, all of them.

Except the first one.

Some days it gets better, the burden in her shoulders lessening as she saves more and more people based on her dreams, sometimes feeling proud about it. And some days it’s worse, two pairs of dead eyes haunting her wherever she goes, whenever she saves someone, asking Nayeon with their ghostly faces, why didn’t you save us? And Nayeon just cries herself to sleep most of the time until she’s too tired to think again, whether it may be of happy memories or her insecurities talking to her.

And her mother—her lovely and beautiful mother who was the only family she has left—was never the same again. She still laughs, she still makes jokes, still nags when Nayeon doesn’t do something right, does everything for Nayeon with her motherly love—but is now tinged with sadness in everything she does, blinks, and breathes.

As Nayeon watches her mother’s sleeping figure in the dead of the night, all hunched alone on the mattress, she mutters a soft cry of I’m sorry ; I love you ; I should have saved them when I had the chance, mother . Nayeon wanted to tell her about her ability but she can’t, not when she’s afraid that her mother would abandon her if she knows that she could have saved them but didn’t in the end. So Nayeon just retreats back to her room and prays that the things she’s doing is enough to offer her a peace of mind, even a tiny bit, before the dead haunt her again.

-|-

Nayeon was walking in the streets she was familiar with—she recognizes it was near to her campus but can’t exactly pinpoint where.

As she was walking, she stopped at a crosswalk when their signal turned red. There weren’t many people in the streets except for Nayeon and a few others passing by. The streets were almost empty, save for a few cars crossing in and about to where they are headed.

And that’s when Nayeon heard it—soft laughter from a woman much farther ahead of Nayeon, standing at the edge of the pavement. She was chatting with someone at the end of her call—and although Nayeon can’t see the stranger’s face because of her back—she could tell she was smiling widely, pure happiness and amusement planted in her lips.

When the signal turns green, the girl in front of Nayeon looks to her left even though the signal for them turned red and that there were no cars. And in that short moment, Nayeon sees her side profile—a perfect slope of her nose, gums peeking out as she smiles so brightly that can rival the sun’s, eyes twinkling to crescents, and a few moles scattered on her face, making a constellation of sorts.

She was such a pretty girl—no, a beautiful girl that made Nayeon momentarily forget how to breathe. She was dumbstruck by the unknown girl that she can’t help but stare at her retreating figure, just watching her move farther away from Nayeon.

Until a cargo truck appears at the corner of Nayeon’s peripheral vision, speeding alarmingly fast in a straight line. And its speed doesn’t stutter, instead, it accelerates further and further and further and then it suddenly swerves, the cargo hitting straight to the girl in the crosswalks—her body practically flying in midair and landed harshly on the asphalt ground, the sound of bones breaking ominously with a puddle of blood appearing from the limp body.

The truck was turned upside down with its windows shattered, the driver’s arm seen from Nayeon’s view. She sees the few onlookers pulling out their phones—some taking pictures at the gruesome sight before them while others dialed the emergency hotline—while the drivers from the few cars that had stopped approaches the unforgiving site before them. And the last thing that Nayeon sees are those same eyes that had twinkled a few moments ago that had now dulled as death uses its scythe to take the young woman’s life away.

-|-

Nayeon wakes up with a gasp and wide eyes, frightened at the dream she had seen. She sits upright in her bed, letting her shallow breaths and erratic heart turn to its normal state. She feels cold sweat trickling down on her skin—a feeling she knows all too well and hates.

As Nayeon enters her university campus and goes to her first class, she thinks of the unknown girl she never had never met before in her dreams. She was confused because as far as she knows, Nayeon’s dreams revolve around people she knows—but not this girl whose smile was so innocent and lovely that it can rival a cherub’s existence. Not to mention, the dream was seen so vividly and so real , as if Nayeon was actually there herself, and that it wasn’t the usual haziness of those dreams she had before.

Nayeon thinks it’s a glitch in her system—is that even possible? Anyways, she thinks it is. Maybe this dream suddenly turned 4k in resolution and would go back to its usual 240p after this one. But what about the unknown girl she had never met before? The girl Nayeon doesn’t even know her name, her basic information, and only her beautiful face with that gorgeous smile. But at the end of the day, no matter whether she knows them or not, even if it was just a glitch or fate was telling her that it was something much more even though it was highly impossible—Nayeon will save her, and she will do everything what it takes to prevent the worst from happening.

It was already lunch time and for the first time in a while, she craves to eat something that isn’t found in their cafeteria. Luckily, the students were free to exit the university grounds as they please and can go back whenever they want to, so Nayeon nonchalantly walks her way outside.

She remembers about a restaurant that had recently opened much farther from the campus—a Japanese one to be exact—and her stomach grumbles in response, and as a slave to her desires especially about food, she follows her guts.

As Nayeon walks mindlessly towards her destination for minutes, her brain suddenly registers her surroundings—a scenery she knows far too well not because of muscle memory but what her mind had recently shown to her—her dream.

Nayeon stops in her tracks as the sudden realization hits her, hard. It was the same scenery back in her dream—few people walking by and those same few cars driving on the road. Then Nayeon looks to her front— and oh my god —it was the same beautiful girl she had vividly remembered back in her dream, but this time, she was real, she was there right in front of Nayeon.

Nayeon was once again dumbstruck by her beauty, her soles firmly planted to where she was standing, admiring the stranger’s back even though it was nothing but just a back .

Then Nayeon remembers; the speeding truck, the girl’s body flying into midair, and her soulless eyes gazing straight at Nayeon’s alive ones. Before Nayeon knew it, she was already behind her, a few centimeters away before she could actually touch her.

Nayeon was thinking, hard, on how should this be prevented, on how could she save the girl without making a ruckus. But as the signal turned green for the pedestrians, the girl was ready to bolt from her place, making Nayeon and just grab her by her waist without thinking.

“What the hell! Hey!” the girl shouts, practically almost screaming at the stranger’s hands on her body and thrashed a little bit, making Nayeon almost let her slip out of her grasp.

The girl takes a sharp turn to the stranger holding her, a glare clearly evident from her pretty face. Nayeon thinks that as the girl turns her back towards Nayeon’s, she can’t help but see the sight in slow motion, accentuating every feature in her face so splendidly and beautifully by her starstruck eyes.

“Let go of me!” the girl demands, pulling away from Nayeon as far as her strength can—but fails to do so.

Nayeon, mentally shaking her head to remove the spell cast on her—or what her mind casts upon her—wills herself to look straight in the girl’s twinkling eyes and prays that she sounds convincing enough for the girl to believe her. “Y-you’re gonna die!” Well that was everything but that.

“What?” The girl looks at her incredulously as if Nayeon had grown two heads instead of one.

“I-I mean,” Nayeon stutters—again—and forces her reddened cheeks—whether out of embarrassment or something else—to return to its normal color so that she can restore a bit of her dignity. “ Please , just believe me when I say you shouldn’t cross on that sidewalk, not yet anyways.”

“What do you mean, ‘not yet anyways?’” The girl says, her voice now raised high in an intimidating falsetto. “Who are you to tell me on what I should and shouldn’t do, pervert?”

Nayeon scoffs at the girl’s remark. Pervert? Please, she’s anything but that. She did this girl a favor—although Nayeon is fully aware that the girl doesn’t know and that she doesn’t need to know—so the least she could do is comply with Nayeon's wishes. “I’m saving your life, dear stranger.”

“That’s a poor excuse, pervert.”

“Hey, for your info—”

Nayeon stops mid sentence as she sees the same cargo truck driving approaching recklessly fast to the crosswalk, then swerves suddenly, making the truck lean to its weight dangerously and tumbles upside down, now past the crosswalk and stops after it skidded a few moments.

The girl whips her head fast to the sight before her, hearing the sharp thunder of the truck falling down and the loud reverberations that were felt in the ground that even the tiny pebbles danced along to the rough movements of the truck.

The girl gapes at the scene before her, jaw slack and was horrified. The girl then follows where the truck must have come from and puts her hand over her mouth when she realizes that the crosswalk where she was supposed to cross over had skidded marks in the road.

If she had been standing, if she had continued to walk, she would have been d—.

“Oh my god.” The girl lets out a shaky breath, having narrowly escaped from death’s grasp.

Then the girl remembers Nayeon and her words, her warnings—although she doesn’t sound convincing enough, and crazy if she honestly answers—and how she saved the girl from death’s grasp.

But…how? That was purely coincidental unless someone tries to kill the girl and stages it to be an accident. But as far as the girl remembers, she wasn’t a daughter from a rich CEO or did anything remotely bad that would make people hold grudges against her—not that she classifies herself as a good person but she’d like to think she did better than bad. So, how does that girl know? How does she know she would get killed in that moment and had saved her from it?

When the girl looks back to the pervert who had grabbed her all of a sudden—she was gone. The girl scans her surroundings, in between the onlookers who were pulling out their phones, or between the drivers getting out of their cars, trying to find that certain girl who was quite attractive even though her pervert levels far surpasses her beauty. And when she sees no pervert girl in the streets, she was left there, standing in the middle of the mess, asking herself—

“What the hell just happened?”

-|-

Nayeon was eating at the cafeteria all by herself, tray empty except for the leftovers littered all over, and her drink already half empty. She was scrolling through her social media, liking posts and pictures without a second thought in the speed of light. Until Nayeon sees a shadow of a person sitting across her without a second thought.

Nayeon looks up from her phone and chokes in air when she realizes that the person sitting across her was the same person whom she had met a few weeks before—the one who saved a beautiful girl from being hit by a truck.

“So,” the girl across her starts, analyzing Nayeon in front of her with a tight-lipped smile. “Your name’s Im Nayeon, huh?”

When Nayeon was finally done with her embarrassing coughing fits, she clears her throat loudly, coolly drinks her strawberry juice, then looks at the girl with a relaxed expression despite her eyes shaking on what the hell is going on?

“Yes. And your name is?”

“Myoui Mina,” the girl says and extends her hand to Nayeon.

Nayeon takes it and shakes her hands with her, mentally taking note of how Mina’s hand is so soft under her touch.

Well, a pretty name for a pretty girl.

When Nayeon retracts her hand back, she sees Mina’s cheeks turned red and (not so) subtly fans herself, wondering what happened that made her blush that hard. And when Mina looks back at Nayeon shyly, it hits her. Did she just—just say her thoughts out loud?! Now it was Nayeon’s turn to blush her cheeks—although it was a different reason than the girl across her. Nayeon mentally punches herself for being this tactless and buries herself six feet under the ground, not minding never seeing the light ever again.

“So, um,” Mina starts to speak, still visibly flustered at the sudden compliment but at least she’s trying to act normal about it unlike the girl in front of her. “You’re a political science major huh?”

Nayeon faintly nods. “Yeah. You?”

“Dance.”

“I see…”

Well this was…painfully awkward. Nayeon wants to bury herself deeper into the ground now, waiting for it to finally swallow her whole along with her shame and embarrassment. Nayeon was a smooth talker—at most times—but when the pretty girl, Mina, talks to her with that soft voice, she can’t help but be flustered by it, acting like a high school girl she had a crush on—which was not by the way, according to Nayeon.

Mina sighs exasperatedly in her seat, tired of her being an awkward girl that never gets her point straight unless she has an assertive friend with her. But this time, she was alone. So Mina figures she should just finish this right there and now to get this over with.

“I’m not really good at making small conversations so let’s just get to the point,” says Mina with all her seriousness, all the blushing and shy eyes gone as she is determined to finish this—and to know as to why Nayeon knows about that accident that happened a few weeks ago.

Nayeon kept mum, already guessing as to why Mina was here and approached her first.

“The ‘accident’ that happened a few weeks ago,” Mina says as she air quotes the word accident, then continues on. “How did you know about it?”

Nayeon lowered her gaze, deliberating whether she should tell her or not. The thought never crossed her mind that she should tell somebody about her ability—well, except her mother of course—and that’s just mostly because everything was fine when she was alone, saving people from the worst without ever needing someone to help her. She also thinks that if there is the off chance she wanted to tell someone about her ability, no one would believe her, which wastes both of her time and saliva for someone who doesn’t listen to her in the first place. So there really was no need for others to know about Nayeon’s ability.

But as she looks at Mina’s gaze—eyes shining bright with intense curiosity—Nayeon can’t help but give in, reasoning out that at the end of the day, they’re just strangers who barely knew each other, and it wouldn’t matter to Nayeon—and to Mina perhaps—if Mina believes her or not.

“Let’s go outside,” Nayeon says as she picks up her tray and returns it, Mina closely following behind her soundlessly.

They were now walking beside each other with a respectable distance between them. Nayeon was observing their quaint buildings, wondering that if these buildings could talk, what story would they share first to its current occupants. While Mina, on the other hand, patiently waits for Nayeon to answer, not minding how long it would take as long as she can answer it before her first class in the afternoon starts—which is far from now.

“I can see the future,” Nayeon says, stops in her tracks, and looks at Mina’s unreadable brown orbs. “I can see the future through my dreams.”

When Nayeon was met with nothing but Mina’s silence, Nayeon figures that Mina didn’t believe her and decided to walk off, although admittedly, she wishes she could have believed her. But nonetheless, they were strangers at the end of the day so who cares?

Yet Nayeon didn’t walk for long enough when she felt someone’s soft hands tugging at her wrists gently, asking Nayeon to look back. And when she did, Nayeon was stupefied by Mina—eyes so warm and bright, shining with child-like curiosity with a stupid grin on her face, her gums showing so brazenly—like a nerd who found out that aliens are real and wants to know more about them to satisfy their geeky fantasies—and maybe she is one, Nayeon thinks.

“So you can see the future?!” Mina asks, exclaims even, with all the giddiness and excitement dripping out of her tone and sentences like a dam with a crack wide enough to make a temporary waterfall out of it. Nayeon tries her best to hold back her smile, but fails in the end anyways as Mina’s happiness was just contagious and she can’t help but be happy too, not about her abilities but mainly about the excited girl in front of her.

“How far can you see? Can you see as far as days, weeks or maybe even years !? That would be incredible if you can see the future in years—or maybe even after a millennium ! Girl, you’d be the ‘Oracle’ in our generation you know, you can even earn big loads of money from it. But then again you don’t have to be one—I mean, there are scammers right, so you just need to sound convincing. But can you see random people’s futures too, like mine, or maybe anything and everything wherever your mind wanders to? Wait, wait! What situations do you usually see in the future? Is it like the mundane things were out of nowhere you’ve seen someone poop—oh how disgusting is that—or like, as dangerous as mine? Oh my god! Can you predict the lottery numbers!? You can, can you!? But wait, if you did win at least once, then you’d dress something fancy or at least own a luxurious brand. No offense but you don’t look like—”

Then Nayeon boisterously laughs out loud, one that makes her clutching hard at her stomach like her life depended on it and her entire body shaking to her laughter.

The other few students who were mindlessly doing their own business looks at the source of the sudden noise and sees Nayeon now on the ground, still laughing as if it was her last with a tomato face and Mina, covering hers, too embarrassed on how she just outs herself as a nerd that way—and oh so shamelessly at that—with her ears burning bright red and maybe her entire face too, if she wasn’t covering it.

After a few minutes of Nayeon still laughing and Mina still hiding behind her hands, too embarrassed by the earlier behavior she displayed, Nayeon finally collects herself and stands upright, looking at Mina with a very amused expression on her face.

“I honestly lost it when you talked about the lottery so forgive me for not remembering your questions.”

Mina groans at Nayeon’s statement and even though she could not see her face right now, she can bet all of her savings in her bank account that she was still smirking at Mina’s enthusiasm . Really, Mina, out of the reverse uno cards she can get, she literally picked the worst one and the most embarrassing at that. The gods must really love her for it.

“But if it answers your questions—one, I only dream about the people I know; two, I can only see the bad things that will happen next to them; and three, no—I can’t see the lottery numbers.” Nayeon finishes off with her signature bunny smile, highly amused to the conversation she had with this stranger.

Mina slowly reveals her face—at least the half of it anyways—and shyly looks up to Nayeon who was expectantly waiting for her response, and with Nayeon’s kind and patient eyes, Mina can’t help but ask one more question to her.

“When did you know about your ability?”

Nayeon’s bright smile wavers half a second but it was all enough for Mina to know that it didn’t end with a happy ending just like the one she has now.

“It was a long time ago,” Nayeon says, still smiling ever so brightly, but its warmth mellowed out by that drop of sadness.

“Anyways,” Nayeon speaks, shifting her weight to her other foot and smiles, this time more appreciatively and sincere. “It was nice knowing you, Mina-ssi.”

Mina returns back Nayeon’s smile. “It was nice knowing you too, Nayeon-ssi. And don’t worry about your secret, it’s safe with me.”

Nayeon lets out another loud laugh at that.

-|-

Ever since their second meeting—Nayeon and Mina would coincidentally meet each other in the campus grounds, exchanging smiles and polite bows, and if the both of them have the time, they would go together to the cafeteria and grab a few snacks and drinks for themselves, idly chatting about their grades, terror teachers, and even Nayeon’s dreams. And when Mina notices Nayeon’s rare times of aversiveness, she quickly changes into a topic they’re both comfortable in, making Nayeon’s heart melt a little at how Mina considerate is.

But when Nayeon dreams again—this time involving one of her closest friends, Jihyo—Nayeon was determined to save her friend from getting toppled under humongous bookshelves in the library.

But what Nayeon doesn’t account for was that Mina was there with Jihyo, studying together side by side, reviewing on the topics that came out in their exam.

As Nayeon approaches them to their table, Jihyo looks up from her book and stares at Nayeon with an incredulous look in her face, words visibly plastered on her face saying, `` Im Nayeon—the infamous troublemaker—in the library? In what alternate universe am I living in?

Nayeon ignores her friend’s quizzical look and proceeds to greet them with a warm smile. “Hello, Jihyo-yah.” Then she looks at the person beside her who looks up with the sound of Nayeon’s voice. “Mina~” she sing songs.

Jihyo looks between them for a moment with a frown on her face and settles her gaze on Mina’s.

“You know this girl?”

Nayeon scoffs at her friend’s remark and settles to take a seat across from Mina, not caring whether she is invited in or not.

“Somehow,” Mina says with the corner of her lips tugging upwards, then glances at the girl across her with a knowing smile that Nayeon quickly returns back.

“What the hell.”

“Come on, Ji. I’m not that bad of a person. In fact, I’m going to be a good person by shutting myself up and you guys do your own thing.”

“Nayeon-unnie, may I remind you that wherever you go, you either cause trouble or trouble comes to you. So even if you are here, just sitting and being pretty, I bet on nine soju bottles that something bad is going to happen soon.”

“It’s not my fault that I’m too pretty that even the abstract concept of trouble took a liking to me,” Nayeon says with an exaggerated pout.

“This woman,” Jihyo sighs as she rubs her temples, already knowing that a headache will come soon.

Mina, on the other hand, who had watched their bickering in the sides with an amused expression, lets out a soft giggle then gently taps on Jihyo’s arm.

“Let’s just leave her alone for now, yeah? We need an exam to cram for.”

With the word ‘exam’ coming out from Mina’s mouth, Jihyo releases a tired groan and settles to burying herself with books again.

Mina looks at Nayeon with a questioning look but Nayeon dismisses it with a small shake of her head, telling Mina that she would tell her later when they’re both alone which Mina understood.

After half an hour of Mina and Jihyo studying with Nayeon playing some kind of game in her phone to quickly pass time, Jihyo stands up from her seat and announces that she’d get a book and may take a while and adds that Mina should watch over Nayeon before she embarks on her quest she set out for herself.

“Did you have a dream, Nayeon-unnie?” Mina asks once Jihyo was out of earshot.

Nayeon sits up straight from her seat and leans in closer to Mina, making Mina lean in too.

“Yeah, I saw Jihyo being buried under the bookshelves and all.”

Mina grimaces at the thought of it, being buried under heavy shelves that weighs a lot more than a normal person.

“Wait, isn’t she getting a book now?” Mina asks.

The both of them quickly stood up from their seats and went to find Jihyo, walking from one bookshelf to the other, critically scanning every nook and corner where their friend might be in.

“I didn’t know you had a reputation,” Mina says as she quickly scanned through the General Section.

“Well, I wasn’t really lowkey in saving people,” Nayeon says as she looks across from Mina’s view, eyeing the Literature Section.

As the both of them looked together for Jihyo side by side, almost covering most of the area in their gigantic library, they finally found her with the psychology books, quickly flipping pages with the book she got, searching for information that may help her in her studies.

But just as the both of them steps forward to their clueless friend, something snaps in the air followed by the low rumble of shelves creaking louder and louder by the second, approaching to where Jihyo was standing.

Mina and Nayeon quickly go to Jihyo’s side, both forcefully pulling her to them with panic expressions and fear in their eyes, and before it was almost too late, Jihyo was saved from a hair’s breadth away from being buried under a ton of books and shelves.

The few people who had heard about the commotion gathered around Nayeon, Mina, Jihyo, and the shelves of books lying down on the floor with a hundred of books scattered over it. All were murmuring with shocked faces, whispering to each other on what just happened—with Nayeon, Mina, and Jihyo was still stunned by how close it was—until the librarian came in and shooed all of the students away.

Just as the trio leaves the library since Jihyo wants to call it a day—having almost gotten injured and possibly not taking the exam the day after—Jihyo glances between Nayeon and Mina, and this time, she settle’s to Nayeon’s eyes.

“I don’t know how you did it but thanks for saving me, unnie,” Jihyo says full of sincerity despite the quizzical look in her eyes, then looks at the person across her. “You too, Mina.”

Mina just smiles while Nayeon, on the other hand, crosses her arms and shrugs her shoulders.

“What do you mean ‘saving’ you? We were just in the area, that’s all.”

“Riiight.”

“It’s true,” Mina interjects, still with that half-amused and half-polite smile with hers. “I was also looking for a book with Nayeon-unnie until we saw you, and you know, the rest was history.”

Jihyo softens her gaze to the both of them, finally taking the bait of Mina’s on-the-spot story, then sighs, all the stress and tension in her body released. “Well thank you anyways.”

“That’s what friends are for,” Nayeon says as she winks—although it looks more like she got something in her eye rather than a wink.

Jihyo rolls her eyes yet again before she leaves with a big wave of her hand and a grin on her face, Nayeon and Mina returning it with smiles too.

“So I guess this is where we part ways?” Mina asks, fingers nervously interlacing each other.

“Yeah. So um, see you again sometime?” Nayeon says as she scratches the back of her head with her hand, not sure on what she should be doing in this situation exactly.

“Yeah, sure.” Mina smiles—that same smile that made Nayeon’s heart flutter the moment she laid her eyes on it and had never left her mind since, although she doesn’t like to admit it.

Just as Mina turns on her heels, walking her way towards her apartment, Nayeon calls back to her with her name—softly, but Mina was able to hear it anyways—and stops in her tracks midway to take one last look at Nayeon.

“Yeah?”

“You know,” Nayeon drawls out with a bashful smile on her lips despite the confident tone of her voice. “We’d make a great pair together. You and me.”

Mina quirks her eyebrows and smiles, already guessing on where this is going.

“What are you suggesting, Nayeon-unnie?”

“That I wouldn’t mind a partner in crime,” Nayeon nonchalantly says, although her feet making small patterns on the ground and her fingers twiddling behind her back says otherwise.

Mina giggles like the soft bells found on Christmas Eve, with the mistletoes hanging above the walls, and the specks of snow gracefully landing on the floor—but despite the coldness during Christmas Eve, Nayeon’s heart was the complete opposite of that.

“Sure, just call me whenever you need me, unnie. I’ll be there with you.” And with that Mina walks away from Nayeon with a skip in her steps, grinning from ear to ear with a fuzzy feeling in her chest.

Nayeon would coo at the adorable sight of Mina happily skipping if it wasn’t for the fact that Nayeon’s heart was leaping right out from her chest and her stomach doing somersaults and tricks with the butterflies and all that makes Nayeon red in the tip of her ears.

Nayeon thinks she’s dying.

She’s dying because of Myoui Mina.

-|-

After that incident with Jihyo, Nayeon and Mina have gotten so close that they were almost inseparable if it wasn’t with their class schedules and the time they go home together. Nayeon learns that Mina was living alone in her apartment, and that she transferred here in Seoul from Japan just to experience new things—which her parents were readily to support. Mina also learns a lot of things from Nayeon—that she was a baby in a woman’s body, whining for minutes until she gets what she wants which she usually does, and that since Nayeon wasn’t particularly good at lying since her face gives it away, it was easier for Mina to tell what Nayeon likes and doesn’t like and what kind of dreams she was comfortable speaking with.

It was surprising for Nayeon how Mina easily fits into her life just as how she fits into hers. They were just strangers a few months ago, but now, it felt like they’ve known each other for years like some old friends. But they weren’t just friends , were they? No, they were something much more, something that encompasses adoration, affection, and the deep fondness shared between them. It was something much deeper than an ocean’s depth, stronger than a bear’s strength, and Nayeon feels that this feeling she has right now lasts far longer than an infinity. And despite it all, Nayeon wasn’t scared of it, in fact, she embraces all of those feelings when she’s with Mina—whether to help her or just to hang out.

But what scares Nayeon aren’t the feelings she has right now, but wanting more of what they have. Maybe it’s all on her side, that she’s the only one experiencing these one-sided feelings she has for this friend. Maybe Nayeon should be content with what she has now or else if she asks more, takes more, then there was nothing for her anymore sooner or later.

But these thoughts stop one day when Sana, one of Mina’s friends, approaches Nayeon out of nowhere and says, “You and Mina have gotten really close huh?”

Nayeon looks up from her phone and stares right at Sana’s eyes with a knowing smile plastered on her face. “Mina’s nice. She helps me with stuff and people say I’m a great company so.”

Then Sana smiles wider, eyes now glinting and leans in closer to Nayeon. “Yeah, Mina’s nice, and you’re a great company too, Nayeon-unnie. But I think we both know what my question means.”

“No, I don’t.”

Sana leans back and lets out a shrill laugh, amused by Nayeon’s stubbornness. “Anyways, I’m glad Mina met you. I hope you take care of her well, Nayeon-unnie.” With that, Sana leaves and hops to her next class, leaving the stunned Nayeon alone once again.

Later that day, when the sun begins to set and the last classes of the day are finished, Nayeon waits outside of the school’s dance studio, patiently waiting for a girl with gummy smiles and a constellation on her face.

When the students began to file out carrying their duffel bags with them, it didn’t take long for Mina to come out of the room, scanning the crowd looking for a certain girl, and when she finally found her, she approaches Nayeon with her a gummy smile that exactly matches Nayeon’s bunny smile.

“Nayeonnie!” Mina greets her.

“Minaring,” Nayeon says back.

Then the both of them interlaces their fingers together, filling in the gaps so effortlessly and smoothly, like they were each other’s missing puzzle piece that had found its lifelong partner.

They were making small talk; Nayeon asking how was her day and vice versa, Mina asking if there were any dreams she had recently, and them finishing out each other’s thoughts and sentences as if it was the most normal thing between two people.

Then they stop at the interaction, one path leading to Nayeon’s and the opposite leading to Mina’s. They share a look with so much adoration and tenderness between them, holding their gazes for as long as time can let them, until someone breaks it first and starts to say their goodbye.

“See you tomorrow, Nayeonnie,” Mina says as she gives one last wave to Nayeon before heading out to her apartment.

“Bye, Minaring!” Nayeon yells out, giggles a little when Mina waves yet again with her back turned, and continues to walk.

-|-

It was raining hard, so hard that each droplet landing on the hood of the car were little thunders to her ears.

Everything was a blur—from the steering wheel she tightly grips, from the metal hand gear left untouched, and the small red arrow line that approaches 60. It was even much worse when she looked to the front, nothing but raindrops and the darkness merging together as one, the headlights of the car and its windshields not enough to make out the scene in front of her.

Then something white flashes quick before her, dangerously close to the car—a human, she thinks—and instinctively swerves the car to avoid the collision.

But it was raining hard, the drops of water from the sky smoothens more the asphalt ground, making the tires lose control and the wheel rendered useless.

Boom. Crash. And the sound of glasses shattering were the last things that were echoed by the dark of the night, quickly drowned out by the loud barrage of drops of water colliding with everything under it.

And in the dead of the night, with nothing but darkness masking the wreckage of its sight, she says in her last breath, her last penitence in this world before she joins the others soon.

“I’m sorry, Nayeon-ah.”

-|-

“—yeonnie? Nayeon-unnie? Nayeon?”

“Huh, what?”

Nayeon was spacing out at one of the school’s benches as she was waiting for Mina for her last class, but hasn’t realized that its been long done now and that Mina was standing across her for quite some time.

“Nayeonnie, is there something wrong?” Mina asks, worry evident in her tone and face.

“Ah, Minaring, you’re here already,” Nayeon says and quickly stands up from her seat, ready to bolt off from the campus. “Let’s go home now.”

Then Nayeon quickly changes into a new conversation into something much more fun, something that doesn’t revolve about her dreams, especially about the one she recently had.

But Mina was perceptive, especially about the people she cares about, and Nayeon happens to be in her priority list. So when Mina notices that Nayeon’s smiles didn’t reach her eyes, her actions a little bit stiff and rigid unlike her usual free movements, eyes scattered to anywhere and everywhere as long as it doesn’t meet Mina’s because she knows as well that Mina can read her like an open book—Mina knows that there’s something bothering Nayeon.

Nayeon was never the type to be bothered by people, Mina observes. She talks about a lot of things that interests her, and if there’s something she doesn’t like, she puts on a disgusted face then that’s it. Nayeon even talks Mina about her dreams freely, like how she feels when she sees them, how she finds solutions to each and every one of them no matter how ridiculously stupid or ridiculous dangerous it may be as long as she gets to save the person in question—except for her first.

Mina never pries to what Nayeon’s first dream was; she just goes along to whatever Nayeon’s conversation leads her to. Mina wasn’t interested, in fact, she is interested even till now but learns that she shouldn’t push the older girl’s buttons or else she retracts from everyone around her. But with the way Nayeon was acting right now—forcing herself to be happy when clearly she’s not—Mina takes a deep breath and hopes that her good intentions can get to Nayeon’s thick skull.

“Nayeon-unnie,” Mina says and stops in her tracks, Nayeon follows shortly after and looks back at Mina with uneasiness in her eyes.

“Did you dream, unnie?”

“What, no, I did—”

“Nayeon-unnie,” Mina says, pleads , for Nayeon to open up to her even if it’s a little bit.

“Tell me what’s wrong. I’ll be here for you as always, you know that unnie,”

“I—” Then the images of the car sinking, dragging with it her father and her sister, with the addition of her mother all alone in the dark of the night with the dented car, flashes right through her eyes, and the feeling of her being all alone in this world scares her so much without a family to lean to overwhelms Nayeon that she had already started crying.

Mina was already in front of her, wiping her tears off with her thumb, telling her soothing words that eases the pain in Nayeon’s heart, even a little. As the both of them stood together in front of the building, the melancholic rays of the setting sun, Mina cups Nayeon’s face, firmly planting her soft hands on her tender cheeks, telling her that she won’t ever let Nayeon go—not now, not ever.

“I’m sorry,” Nayeon says first in between her sobs, clutching Mina’s waist for support.

Mina creases her eyebrows and frowns, upset by the fact that why would Nayeon apologize when there was nothing to apologize for. So she comforts her by caressing her cheeks ever so tenderly even if Nayeon had no more tears to shed.

“I’m here, Nayeon-unnie, I’m here.”

Then Nayeon lays her head on Mina’s shoulder, too tired to even lift it from all the mental exhaustion she’s been facing ever since she got the dream.

“My first d-dream,” Nayeon starts, voice cracking with vulnerability that Mina wishes she could protect the older girl from harm. “Was when my family went camping. I didn’t believe it at first,” Nayeon scoffs, disappointment and regret seeping into her words. “But in the end, it didn’t happen, and I couldn’t save them. So it was only me and my mother left.”

Then Nayeon lifts up her head, uses the last of her strength just to look at Mina’s eyes of concern and sympathy, and cries out between her sobs. “And the dream I recently had was about my m-mother, Mina. I’m scared.”

Mina pulls Nayeon into a tight embrace as Nayeon cries her heart out to the family she has left. Her heart breaks for the girl in front of her so she rubs soothing patterns on Nayeon’s back, comforting her with her touch.

After a few moments of them embracing each other, Nayeon breaks the hug first and plants a soft kiss on Mina’s cheek which left her mind melt into goo for a moment.

“Thank you,” Nayeon speaks with all the sincerity and gratitude for this girl who had been with her ever since the day they met. “For everything.”

Mina smiles, all fuzzy and warm, and it took all of Nayeon’s self-restraint not to kiss her then and there. “No problem. I’ll be here with you, okay?”

Nayeon meekly nods and interlaces their fingers, walking hand in hand towards the exit of the campus.

After a few moments of comfortable silence between them—Nayeon’s gaze stuck in the front but occasionally glances Mina to her side, while Mina whose gaze was stuck on the dark gray of the cumulonimbus clouds—Mina breaks the silence first.

“About your dream.” Mina looks at Nayeon, observing her reactions if she should go further or not. But when she sees Nayeon’s puffy eyes look at her expectantly, she takes that as a sign to ask further. “What happened to your mother?”

Nayeon’s eyes lowered to her footsteps letting her dark thoughts swirl again in the depths of her mind; but there was this tight grip on her hand that keeps her grounded, so Nayeon focuses that touch more than the ghostly voices whispering in her head. “It was raining and she was driving. She saw something, lost control, then crashed, alone.”

“Wouldn’t that mean it would happen soon?”

“What?”

Nayeon looks up to Mina who points up to the sky. And when Nayeon sees the heavy dark clouds hovering above them, bringing with them the water that can even wash the life away, Nayeon feels her bones being crushed into cold waves, panic and fear both drowning her down.

“Hey,” Mina says as she taps on Nayeon’s cheeks. When Nayeon snaps out from her reverie, she sees Mina with a worried expression on her face.

“If it helps,” Mina says. “I could come with you, like, in y-your house.”

“Huh, why?” Nayeon asks, taken aback by Mina’s sudden suggestion.

“You saw your mom driving right?” Mina asks in which Nayeon nods.

“So what if I appear and come to your house, you know, to introduce me as your friend, and we’d have a long chat that would make sure your mother isn’t going to leave the house anytime soon?”

Nayeon ponders about Mina’s suggestion and thinks that it’s actually…not that bad.

When Nayeon’s silence drags long enough, far too Mina’s liking, Nayeon finally speaks with a smile on her lips. “Sure. That sounds a good idea.”

“Really? So your mom won’t wonder why I would suddenly be there?”

“I mean, it's been a long time since I’ve invited a few friends over, but it’s all good in the end.”

Now both of them were standing in front of Nayeon’s house; Mina’s heart beating far too fast and loud while Nayeon’s was in a steady slow beat. Luckily, they arrived on time before the rain started pouring down and drenched everything under them.

Nayeon turns the knob and enters the house, shortly followed by Mina’s nervous steps.

“Mom, I’m home! And I brought a friend over,”

And as if on signal, Nayeon’s mother appears from the kitchen with a warm smile to greet the unexpected guest her daughter brought.

“Hello, I’m Myoui Mina, Nayeon’s friend,” Mina formally introduces herself and bows which made Nayeon’s mother laugh out loud while Nayeon smiles, very much entertained by Mina’s frigid introduction.

“Oh dear, you don’t have to do that. Come here and sit, dinner’s ready.”

It seems that Nayeon’s mother’s cooking skills were like a professional since Mina sang out praise after praise whenever she took a new bite from the dishes. While Nayeon’s mother makes small chatter with Mina and shares their thoughts on Korean cuisine, Nayeon can’t help but let out a small smile, the sight before she dearly misses—her mother talking freely without the sadness tainting her words.

After they were done cleaning the table—with the help of Nayeon and Mina although Nayeon’s mother profusely tells the latter she’s a guest but relents once Mina pouts —Nayeon’s mother grabs her car keys and makes her way towards the door.

“Where are you going, mom?” Nayeon asks with worry in her voice but Nayeon’s mother hadn’t realized it yet.

“I’m going to pick something from a friend. I’ll be back in a while.”

“Wait!”

Nayeon’s mother looks back to see Nayeon’s panicked face, not knowing what to do to keep her mother stay here in the house until the rain stops. Hey eyes quickly roam around her house, looking for something—anything—that can distract her for as long as possible. Good thing Mina was there, with her quick wit and brain, she interjects.

“I was wondering if you could show me Nayeon’s baby pictures, if you don’t mind.”

With that, Nayeon’s mother smiles and approaches the old photobooks where most of Nayeon’s pictures were left—long forgotten about the thing she had to pick up from her friend.

Nayeon’s mother told Mina stories about Nayeon—both the funny ones and the embarrassing ones—in each picture they come across to small Nayeon, which was basically everything. Nayeon inserts herself in her mother’s narratives when she thinks that it was far too embarrassing and she needs to save herself and her dignity, while Mina just laughs and giggles at the mother and daughter’s interactions.

The time shared between them drawled on from seconds to minutes to hours, all oblivious to the time until one of them points it out.

“Oh, it’s already 11 Mina-ssi,” Nayeon’s mother speaks as she eyes the wall clock. “It’s time for you to go to your house.”

But the rain hadn’t stopped falling down, each drop thundering on the surface. Nayeon needs to think, quick, on what she can do next to prevent her mom going outside with her car.

“She’ll be staying with me, mom,” Nayeon blurts out the first thought in her mind, not caring about the repercussions of her words in her desperate attempt to save her mom.

Mina looks at Nayeon with wide eyes, thinking what the hell, Im Nayeon? But quickly dismisses her thoughts and eases her rapid heart pounding wildly in her chest then musters a smile so sweet it can give diabetes to Nayeon’s mother.

“Yes, we’ll be having a sleepover.”

But Nayeon’s mother frowns. “Isn’t it a Friday tomorrow? The both of you still have classes right?”

“Yes mom, we’re well aware,” Nayeon answers first. “But my classes start at 10 so you don’t have to worry,”

But it seems like fate has other plans when Mina speaks, each word getting smaller and smaller until it was barely a whisper. “My class starts at 7.”

Nayeon’s smile froze, thinking why does dance class start so early ? and for the love of god, can Mina just lie for once?

“Well that settles it,” Nayeon’s mother says and grabs her keys, ready to drive Mina to her apartment. “I’m driving you to your house and I won’t take no for an answer.”

But Nayeon stood up from her seat and grabbed Mina’s hand, telling her mother that she won’t be going anywhere soon. “She can take a cab.”

“Nayeon-ah, is it really safe for a girl to be alone in the middle of the night? And that there’s a much safer alternative and it’s also free?”

Nayeon was ready to rebut her mother’s words or give out another reason until she felt Mina’s hands over hers, silently pleading with her to let her handle it. Then she looks at Nayeon’s mother with a determined expression, as if she was ready to go to war and fight for her country.

“Thank you for your offer, Ms. Im, and yes I’ll take it.”

Nayeon was ready to do anything at this point, even act like a child and bawl her eyes out then and there just to keep her mother safe from harm, until Mina leans into her ear and whispers. “I’ll be watching over your mother to keep her safe, Nayeonnie. So please, don’t worry.”

So Nayeon gives in with a heavy heart, offers one last hug to Mina and a kiss on her mother’s cheek that holds so many thoughts, so many regrets, and waves at them until the engine turns on and is now gliding its way to Mina’s house.

“Drive safe.”

-|-

The rain’s loud pitter patter on the car’s hood matched really well with the pulsing beat of Mina’s heart—erratic and wild.

The radio was off and the only sounds that can be heard were the loud rain drops on the surface and Nayeon’s mother sharing another story about young Nayeon who whines all day until she finally got a dress she wanted for a long time now.

Everything was a blur outside of the car, barely making out a thing or two when each drop was as fast as lightning, easily replacing drop after drop after drop.

“It’s been a long time since Nayeon laugh like that,” Ms. Im says with a fond smile on her face.

“Is it?” Mina asks, not sure what Nayeon’s mother meant. “Nayeon always laughs like that as far as I can remember.”

“She does laugh like that,” Nayeon’s mother answers. “But it feels much quieter and more restrained, well, until she met you.”

Mina kept mum, not knowing what to make out of it on what Ms. Im had said. But she gives Mina a subtle knowing smile, aware of the fact how important Mina is to Nayeon and Nayeon is to Mina by just watching their interactions a while ago.

Comfortable silence enters between them, one that makes Mina think that everything’s going to be alright; that Mina would safely arrive in her apartment just as how Nayeon’s mother would return back to Nayeon afterwards.

But Mina’s thoughts spoke too soon.

Something flashes right in front of the car in the shape of a human figure but is quickly gone, yet Nayeon’s mother automatically roughly swerves the car—and with the addition of the wet asphalt road—the car easily lost control and crashed straight into a wall with a huge dent and the hood destroyed.

And that night, two bodies were found in the wreckage instead of one.

-|-

Nayeon arrives at the hospital at exactly 5:10 AM with a heavy heart, tear stained cheeks, and bloodshot eyes from the lack of sleep and having cried for more than an eternity.

“You must be Ms. Im Nayeon, right?” a doctor approaches her and asks, clipboard on hand and the other with his pen.

Nayeon nods with the faintest of movement, her head too heavy from all the thoughts and words keeping her from breathing.

“For the most part, your mother and friend is alive,” the doctor starts, scribbling down something in his notes that Nayeon doesn’t care to understand. “Your friend, Ms. Myoui Mina, suffered a few cuts in her torso area due to the glass shattering on her side and had unfortunately blown its way there. Thankfully, the operation for removing those shards were a success and she’s now in a stabilized state, and most cuts were shallow so there is nothing to worry about. But,” the doctor adds, Nayeon’s stomach doing double flips in the ugliest and unprofessional way possible. “She dislocated her shoulder due to the impact. So she may or may not have therapy—it all depends if her shoulder can heal itself or not.”

Nayeon’s heart dropped to her stomach, all the ghosts in her head berating her and how Nayeon deserves less than she has now.

“Your mother, Ms. Im Yoona, on the other hand, has far worse conditions than Ms. Myoui,” the doctor says as he flips through another paper, one that holds the records for Nayeon’s mother. And as he stares at the results for a long time, Nayeon’s heart sinks little by little to the abyss.

“Her condition has stabilized but she’s stuck in a coma. She doesn’t have cuts in any part of her body but she has dislocated limbs, mostly on her knees, since she took most of the impact. There may be restrictions in her mobility, especially one that involves the use of her legs, but if she doesn’t strain it, then she’ll be mostly fine. I think that would be all, Ms. Im. Their room is in 115.” With that, the doctor takes his leave and enters another patient’s room.

Nayeon’s heart is heavy; heavier than the first time she entered the hospital and the heaviest she has felt all throughout her life, and she was sure if it was sinking, it would have landed where Nayeon’s late father and sister were in that river.

When she enters the room, Nayeon tries her best to hold back a sob.

Nayeon’s mother was covered in casts from her four limbs, hanging midair by the strong wires set by the nurses. Mina only had a cast on one of her arms, but there were a lot of cuts on her pale face and on her lips, the glistening red emphasized by the soft lights of the room.

Nayeon doesn’t understand this, she doesn’t understand any of this. Why should the people she cares about suffer and be harmed while Nayeon gets away with it scot free? Why can’t she just bear all of the pain the dreams show rather than Nayeon observing it all from her view. Why can’t she be Atlas who carries the world on her shoulders, if that’s all it takes to see the people she loves kept away from harm. Why does it have to be them, and not her? Why do they die, while she gets to live?

Before Nayeon knew it, she was already crying her heart out once again, and this time, no one was there to comfort her.

-|-

Mina wakes up with a migraine in her head. She tries to sit up but fails since there was no strength left in her arms, not to mention the cast that renders her other arm useless for the time being. She took in her surroundings and realized that she was in a hospital with all the white beds and sheets across her and the white walls that smelled of antiseptic and alcohol.

Then Mina turns beside her and sees Nayeon’s head resting at the edge of her bed, snoring softly with mouth open. Then Mina observes closely and sees the tear stained cheeks and dark circles under red eyes, a telltale sign that Nayeon cried again.

Mina was sorry that she couldn’t prevent it from happening. She was guilty that she was as useless as a rock when Nayeon entrusted to her to protect her mom—but she didn’t. Mina wants to mope and berate herself for how futile she was in protecting Nayeon’s mom, but as she sees Nayeon crying all alone by herself with no one to comfort and all left alone without a shoulder to lean to, Mina figures that she should comfort the older girl as much as she can. Even if Nayeon hates her for being incompetent, Mina is still willing to be that friend who would help Nayeon if she lets her.

Mina wakes Nayeon up and after a few moments, she blinks, letting her eyes adjust to her surroundings and letting her brain take in the information, and when she does, she looks at Mina with all the sorry and love that the world can give.

Nayeon pulls Mina into a tight embrace while Mina puts her free arm on Nayeon’s back and her injured arm between their bodies, awkwardly squished between them. Nayeon pulls out first then smiles at Mina, offering the last of her warmth to the girl in front of her.

“I’m sorry,” is what Nayeon says first, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes again. “I should have stopped the both of you. I should have tried harder and made you stay, I should have—”

“Nayeonnie,” Mina interjects, cupping Nayeon’s face with her free arm while Nayeon leans into her touch. “I should be the one who’s sorry. You told me to protect your mother and I didn’t.”

“It should have been me instead of you,” Nayeon says. “I should be the one taking it all instead of you.”

“Unnie, even if you were there, even if I wasn’t there, the same thing would have happened all over again,” Mina says. “So you shouldn’t blame yourself too much. It’s our shared responsibility. We’re partners in crime you know?”

Nayeon lets out a smile, one that she had allowed to show that day for the girl in front of her. Nayeon was staring at her so deeply, with so much of her affection that her heart has kept in lock ever since the day she met her and wonders, how could such an amazing woman enter in her life.

“How’s your mother?” Mina asks, eyeing the other occupant in the room who she thinks was Nayeon’s mother.

“For the most part, the doctor says she’s fine. Just that her mobility is limited so she can’t be as active as before.”

“Is that so?” Then Mina looks at Nayeon’s eyes, particularly the dark bags under her eyes then says, “You should go home unnie. I know you’ve been stuck here all day, watching over us but it’s time you take your well-deserved rest.”

“But—”

“I’ll be watching over your mother, Nayeonnie, and this time, I won’t break it, I promise.”

“But it's not about the pr—”

“Unnie. Rest. Please?”

And Nayeon easily gives in, too tired and putting up another argument that she’d sure to lose.

Every day, Nayeon visits the hospital in between her breaks and once class was over.

Some days, she brings along her friends, sometimes Mina’s friends, but ultimately, she comes to the room alone.

And after a few weeks of Mina being stuck in the hospital and that her shoulder had healed naturally—without the use of therapy—Mina was finally discharged but still joins in with Nayeon for their daily visits to her mother.

Another few weeks pass by until Nayeon’s mother opens her eyes, in a half-awake state before she closes her eyes yet again. Mina calls for a nearby nurse while Nayeon impatiently waits as she sits beside her mother, now watching her every muscle if it moves once again.

The doctor comes in, gives a brief check-up and tells Nayeon and Mina that they might wait a few more days until Nayeon’s mother is fully awake.

And so they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until Nayeon’s mother opens her eyes once again and this time, it remains open to pull her back in reality.

Nayeon then hugs her mother, all the stress and tension gone in an instant when her mother was alive, breathing, and was just there .

Nayeon’s mother then looks at Mina beside Nayeon then mutters an apology for her reckless driving while Mina on the other hand, with all her patience and kindness like a saint, just smiles and says she’s glad that she finally returned back home to Nayeon and that’s all what matters the most.

Mina signals to Nayeon that she should go soon, not planning to interrupt the mother and daughter duo with their time. But Nayeon wants Mina to stay, but with the way Mina’s eyes gleam to Nayeon’s, she gives in to her request and let’s go, giving one last hug for the day before she leaves.

-|-

Nayeon and Mina meet once again on the campus.

It was a routine for them that whenever they meet, they would have spontaneous trips to the cafeteria, grabbing food and drinks to their liking. So Nayeon says, “Wanna go to the cafeteria?” While Mina simply responds back with a smile on her face, “Sure.”

There was a comfortable silence between them, one that the both cherishes and misses so much. But not everything lasts forever, so someone had to eventually break in the silence.

“You remember about my dreams right? Like those conditions?”

“Yeah, I remember them. Why?”

“It’s because I only dream about people I know, and those dreams are really hazy to remember.”

“Yeah, you said that to me too.”

“But yours was different.”

Mina was then looking at Nayeon with an intense curious gaze, wondering in which direction is Nayeon leading the conversation on. “How so?” she asks.

Then Nayeon smiles, her bunny teeth showing and her gums peeking out. “I don’t know you at that time, but I can still see the dream as vividly as yesterday,”

Mina smiles, her heart now steadily thumping louder and louder until everything mutes around her, everything but Nayeon.

“I thought it’s kind of some glitch you know,” Nayeon continues with her full-blown smile still showing, still shining as bright as ever. “Like the one operating my dreams or kinda malfunctioned or something.”

Mina lets out a giggle, one that was dubious but also lets her consider that, hey, that’s also a possibility.

But Nayeon’s smile never stutters but instead, it grows wider and wider, each word coming out from her mouth oozing with confidence from god knows what. “But then I thought that for some random stranger I just saved, she matches well together with me,”

Mina was still smiling, but there was an uncertainty in her smile that maybe she’s dreaming, that maybe it's just Im Nayeon with her usual confident aura spouting whatever comes from her mind. But no, it isn’t. Not when Nayeon looks at Mina with a determined look on her face, telling her that she won’t let Mina go out from her life, if Mina just lets her.

“I think that,” Nayeon says and stops in her tracks, looking at Mina with an unreadable expression. “You’re more than just a stranger to me, Mina. That maybe you’re something much more than a friend to me.”

Then Nayeon lowers her gaze, her gaze now on Mina’s lip, and when Nayeon looks up to Mina’s eyes again, she sees her mirroring her own emotions—adoration, tenderness, yearning, love— love .

And that is all what it took for the both of them to finally close the gaps they had left.

The kiss starts agonizingly slow at first with their lips brushing against each other but Nayeon—being done with tiptoeing around their relationship—takes a bolder approach and sucks Mina’s lower lips, making Mina open her mouth a bit more, enough for Nayeon to get inside and explore more on Mina’s mouth.

When they both pulled out—both panting due to the lack of air—Nayeon was red all over her face while Mina was flustered.

Then Mina laughs—like those same twinkling bells everyone hears on happy occasions, but this time it was more real, more beautiful, and lovelier than all of those combined—and leans her head on Nayeon’s equally loud thumping chest.

“I love you,” Mina says first. Then looks up to Nayeon with all the love she has for her right now—and the love that will flourish more as they grow together side by side.

“I love you too,” Nayeon says, eyes now glassy because of the overwhelming feelings she has for this girl—no, soulmate —in front of her.

Then they kissed again, and this time, it wasn’t just a kiss that starts the beginning of their newfound relationship with each other, it wasn’t just a kiss that promises to love each other as much as they can and as how much the other lets them, but this time, it was also for Mina to tell Nayeon that she would always be there for her just as how much Nayeon would be there for Mina.

Forever.