ONLY YOU [ 제성크 ]ᴇɴ⁃

45: hallucination

"Who is he?"

"Sunghoon. He is my best friend." Aera replied calmly while Caesoo was adoring Sunghoon and Jay in silence. Aera took a glance at both of them and sighed when the moment when they were proposing to her crossed her mind. Since both of them were always staying with her and caring about her, she felt bad and guilty to reject the proposal. To Aera, both of them were just a best friend and a sibling. She didn't find them more than that. Aera decided to hold the decision first and answered their proposal when she was ready to get married.

"Sunghoon, delete it now," Aera said and changed her position when Sunghoon took a picture and video of her secretly. He was just laughing at her and showing it to Jay.

"He was using a funny filter, "Jay spoke up and laughed along with Sunghoon.

Aera took a deep breath and ignored them when her manager was coming into the cafe. Aera took a glance at the door and realized when she saw a guy was watching her from
far. She can't recognize his face because he was wearing a cap and a mask, and it upset her as she was curious about him.

Aera approached Caesoo,
"I think I have a stalker."

"It was the same person."

Caesoo looked at the guy too,
"What if he is one of your friends?"

"I don't think he is a bad guy. Go to him and ask him."Caesoo said to Aera and slowly pushed Aera away.

"What if he is holding a dangerous thing-"

"Don't worry. I will watch you from far."

Aera finally nodded and went towards the door. She took a step out from the cafe and made an eye-contact with the guy. She took a step to cross the street, but she stopped when he was avoiding her.

He fixed the cap and mask, putting his hand on the pocket, and walked away.

"Wait," Aera called him, and he stopped.

"Do we know each other? I realized that you were -"

He ignored her and walked away, but Aera didn't want to give up, curious to know who he was.

"Hey, I want to talk to you!"He stopped and watched her who was crossing the street.

He quickly ran towards Aera when a car was driving towards her. He held her hand and put her in his embrace, hugging her tightly while Aera was gasping for breath as she was startled by the sudden action. At the same time, Jay, Sunghoon, and Caesoo walked out of the cafe and ran towards Aera.

Aera didn't break the hug, still in his comfortable embrace. What surprised her the most is the guy was still hugging her tightly as if he didn't want to let go of her forever.

"I'm glad that I'm still protecting you." He said making Aera surprised.

"Why is it so hard to protect yourself, stupid?"

"Why did you need to make me worried about you?"
He said in a whispering tone.

"This touch. This voice."Aera mumbled to herself. She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. She reached her hand to his mask, tried to take it off.

"Jake, is this you?"

"I'm not dreaming, right?"

Her eyes became teary when he tucked her in his embrace again. She cried and hugged him back, but at the same time, she felt really weak and dizzy, causing her to lose her balance.

Aera took a glance at Sunghoon and realized that Sunghoon was surprised to see Jake.

"Aera, are you okay?" Jay asked Aera anxiously.