In Your Dreams (A DahMo Fanfic)

18: Wrong bed

"I'll just go ahead and say this," Sana starts. "You look like complete shit. Good morning," she continues with a sweet smile, placing her breakfast beside mine. "Let me guess...lovers' quarrel?"

Sana just a little off the mark. Lately, Dahyun has been acting strange. By that I mean her moods switch as easy as flickering light bulb, or very evident lack of concentration. She even stood me up on one of our dates. Something's really amiss, but she wouldn't tell me why. Like before, she's only more consistent in the dream world.

"It's nothing, we're just going through a small bump." That's right—it's just a small bump. Maybe Dahyun's just stressed.

Mr. Kang saunters to our area, his gaze directed at me. "Ms. Hirai, can I speak to you for a moment?"

***

He lights up a cigarette and takes a few puffs. Despite the serious demeanor, his sighs indicate exasperation.

"Sunbaenim, is there anything I can help you with?" I take a short pause, because this is the first time that we actually conversed one-on-one. "Shouldn't you be talking to Ms. Park?"

After blowing the smoke into the horizon, he says, "Everyone knows your fondness of Ms. Kim. That's why I wanted to discuss this with you first."

Wow, we're that obvious? I'm pretty sure I've done my best to appear objective every time we're at the office, but okay. "What about her?"

Mr. Kang takes another puff--a long one at that. Along with the smoke from his mouth, he utters, "I'll cut right to the chase: I want to consider letting her go."

My insides drop upon hearing his words, as if the pavement wants to pull me down. "Why? What made you say that?" I'm trying my best to not lash out at this toad in front of me right now. I keep thinking that his statement hinges on bias.

"Hmm, let's see: I always have to drill the instructions in her head, she's hardly present during discussions; it's like her mind's always somewhere else. I tried discussing these with her, but it's not doing anything. In short, my experience with her has been nothing short of abysmal," he explains, killing the cigarette butt in the bin.

Is this how parents feel when they find out their child has been performing poorly in school? Every time I ask Dahyun about her experience here, she'd always say everything's peachy. My mouth reflexively opens, but no words come out.

Mr. Kang, puts a hand on my shoulder as he walks by me. "If you don't believe me, you could ask the rest of her teammates...who keep covering up her mistakes."

I take a deep breath, straightening my back before facing him. "That won't be necessary, sunbaenim. Please let me talk to her first. After all...it's my job."

***

Dahyun has been pestering me about this gelato place in Seogyo-dong for months, so I finally gave in. Maybe this is the perfect time to ask what's going on with her.

"You don't like yours?" she asks, while gobbling up her Dark Chocolate gelato. I just shake my head and continue watching her gorge hers. She stops and meets my gaze. "Is there something on my face?"

"Nothing. I just want to look at you." I would prefer the delivery to be sweet, but I'm sure she has no inkling of what I already know.

Her face lights up after another bite, and moves the bowl in my direction. "You should—"

"—Dahyunie," I interrupt her. "Is there something you're not telling me? I mean, is there something I should know?"

She curls her lips inward, and looks aimlessly. "I don't think so...why?"

"It's just that your boss talked to me earlier—"

Dahyun drops her spoon into the bowl. "Great. Now what did that geezer tell you?" I look around to check if any other customers are staring at us, since the clang of the spoon was startling.

As I recount the story to her, she repeatedly scoffs and huffs, shaking her head from time to time. "Look, yeobo, I just want to make sure you're alright," I assure her, trying to extend my hand to reach hers.

She crosses her arms and smirks. No, it's not the one she kept on doing way back when we first met—this is more like condescending. "Can you please stop hovering over me, especially my work? We do pretty different things, okay?" I expected her to be somewhat defensive, but this? As she glares at me, my sights zone in on the lower part of her face—lips trembling, jaw clenching...it's like she wants to punch me right now.

"Great. You just had to ruin the gelato for me," she adds, covering her face with her shaking hand. Is she this angry at me? All I did was show concern! Dahyun clicks her tongue and clasps her unsteady hand with the other. "Sorry. I'm just under a lot of stress right now," she clarifies with a sigh.

"It's...okay. Please, just talk to me when you need to. Okay?" I reach out to help still her hand.

***

A cold, sharp surface on the side of my neck jolts me awake. Dahyun immediately presses her hand on my shoulder, preventing me from getting up.

"Shh, you don't want to make any sudden movements. This one's pretty sharp," she says, holding out a pair of embroidery scissors in front of me. What the fuck?!

"Yeobo...what are you doing?"

She holds the scissors against my throat. "I just want to know...who the hell are you and what are you doing in my bed?"