The Boundaries We May Never Cross || a seventeen fanfiction

Chapter Four

December 7th

It was four in the morning when Jihan woke with a start. She gasped and heaved, trying to calm herself from the horrible nightmare she'd just escaped. Her limbs were numb, and her heart felt as though it was going to explode.

She pounded her fist against her chest repeatedly, hoping to ease the unceasing pain. 

Her cheeks felt wet, and her shirt was drenched. She had been crying.

She allowed herself to release the contents that were built up in her heart. Maybe that way, she'd finally feel lighter.

She recalled her dream. She was drowning in a deep, dark ocean and couldn't move. She couldn't breathe either as she sank deeper and deeper until the surface's light no longer reached her. 

When she was about to lose consciousness, she opened her eyes to be in her room, laid on her bed, but she still couldn't move. It felt very eerie, and it was colder than it usually was. She was awake, but her body was not.

In the corner of the room, she saw a child who looked very much like her in her younger days. She was even holding Jihan's favorite book when she was young. Cinderella.

The closer the child got, the more she couldn't breathe. It was suffocation all over again. And when the child got close enough for Jihan to really look at her face, she smiled.

And that's when Jihan woke, gasping for air.

She was above water, but she still felt like she was drowning. She hoped the walls of her room were thick enough to contain the sounds of her helpless wailing.

Her shaky, icy hands reached for her phone on the nightstand beside her bed. She didn't know who to call, really, the moment she opened her contacts, she went blank.

Was there even anyone she could call?

Was anybody willing to witness her being in such a fragile state? 

She then realized, she just woke up from one nightmare to another. Only, this time, there's no escaping.

She spent the rest of the night silently drowning, releasing soft whimpers as her tears drenched her yellow pillow.

-

"Your sister is not up yet?" Their mother asked Jihoon, eyeing Jihan's empty seat on the dining table. "It's ten o'clock"

"Maybe she was studying late again," Chan suggested. "Jihan's a hard worker"

"Be a dear and call her, Jihoon"

"Why me?" Jihoon asked, placing his utensils down. "Let the girl sleep," he muttered.

"We haven't had a meal together in so long. Go on now, wake her"

Though in protest, Jihoon stood and started making his way up the stairs. Jihan never woke up late. In fact, she always woke up first.

When he arrived outside her door that had a huge sign that read 'Anti-Jihoon Seokmin Chan Zone', he gripped onto the knob. Twisting it, he slowly pushed the door open. 

A wave of confusion washed over him when he saw that Jihan was not in bed. She was in the corner of her dark room, curled up like a ball. She hugged her knees and had her face planted above them.

"Oi," he called.

She looked up, but didn't have the energy to say anything. She only raised a brow.