Nightmares

Episode 1.2

He lives alone in his house and had asked me to stay with him. So I brought some of my stuff there and started living with him, though I sometimes go back to my dorm apartment. He has a father only who lives abroad. His mother died after giving him birth. It's what his dad told him but he doesn't believe it.

There's a room in his house, filled with paintings. A lot of paintings. Dark and gothic sketches. He says they come in his dreams. Some of them are me and they're not dark. This makes me fall in love with him even more.

I make myself comfortable on his couch in the living room and turn on the TV. He goes into his art room to put back his stuff and art materials. I get a little worried when he doesn't come back for a while. I go to check on him, he was staring at his painting of that man he made today. Sometimes it feels so creepy here like all those portraits are directly gaping at me.

I go and rest my head on his shoulder from behind and wrap my arms around his belly. "What are you doing?" I ask

He gasps a little at my sudden presence. He is easily frightened by small things. So I try to get more careful around him, but he still gets startled. He doesn't answer my question, rather, he turns around, and hugs me. It's so unusual of him to show any sort of affection. So I hugged him back, and he gets relaxed in my arms.

His stomach does a growl. "Hungry?" I ask. He nods. It's the thing with him. You have to ask if he's hungry or sleepy or wants something. He never says it himself. And the unique thing is, it always turns out that he actually needed it. I take him outside. "Wanna eat anything special today?"

"It's fine,"

We go out for dinner, to my favorite place. I ordered bulgogi. His eyes lit up, seeing the sizzling dish in front of us. I know he likes it. Well, who doesn't like bulgogi? I talk to him about his day. And he tells me everything. His voice is so soft, so I just hear him, not paying much attention to whether a girl slipped on falling paint on the floor or a boy making a blue banana, and the whole class laughing at him.

We come back to his house after dinner. He was happy with the meal I could say that. We settle on the couch together. "Let's watch a movie," I say

"Ok"

"Which one?"

"Anything you like,"

"Then, let's watch horror," I say smirking. He hesitates. I know he doesn't like any horrific thing. "Just kidding,"

I put on something funny, and cuddle him close. He doesn't resist as always. But I think he likes to stay close to me too. We laughed together whenever a joke was cracked. His tinkling, melodious giggles, I like it.

All of a sudden, his eyes went to something near the kitchen, and his laughs fade. I frown at him at what he was seeing. But there was just us on the couch and the noise of tv. He shuts his eyes and hides his face in my chest, scared of something. I stroke his hair. "What happened, baby?" I ask softly. He shakes his head. This has happened sometimes before too. He always trails off gazing at something in his house, then gets scared. I ask him what's wrong and he just shakes his head every time.

"Wanna go to bed?" I ask

"Yes," He says.

I switch off the TV, and pick him up like a koala bear, he rests his head on my shoulder, then I climb the stairs to his bedroom. I tuck him in bed gently before turning off the lights and shifting myself under the covers beside him. He moves closer to me. He's afraid. Of something or maybe someone. So I hug him to my chest.

I know he's gonna have a bad dream tonight.

•