blue birthday - yang jungwon.

III. AUGUST 25TH, 2020.

You open your eyes, and you find yourself seated at your desk in your 10th grade classroom. The date on the whiteboard reads August 25th, 2020.

This must be a dream, you think. You see Sunoo talking to Intak, moving his arms around animatedly to really emphasise everything he's saying. Hikaru seems to be cramming to finish her homework - the teachers would often say that her handwriting was messy and illegible due to her finishing most projects five minutes before the due date.

You grab the stack of papers off your desk to shove them into your backpack, but then you feel a piercing pain on your finger. You bring your finger up to take a look, and you sigh. A paper cut... and it seems to be kind of deep.

"Yikes, paper cut." Intak says, and you nod. "Do you want a bandaid?"

"No, it's okay, Intak. I've got one," you say, gesturing to your backpack. But before you can reach into the backpack to grab a bandaid, a pair of arms wrap around you. "Hi!"

You recognise this voice.

You turn your head to look at who it is, and you meet eyes with none other than Yang Jungwon.

The boy who you saw pass away five years ago has his arms wrapped around you. You blink rapidly in shock, your eyebrows furrowed as you turn around look at him in disbelief. He looks at you with the widest grin on his face, the little dimple that you so love peeking out. "Hi," he says, and you don't say a word.

"(Name)? You there?"

You press your lips together in a thin line to stop yourself from letting out a sob. Jungwon's face falls when he sees your eyes brim with tears, and he cups your face with his hands, his eyes gazing into yours. His hands are warm. "Jungwon?" you breathe out, and he nods.

"Yeah, (Name). It's me! You're crying... what's wrong?"

You can't believe this. Yang Jungwon is standing right in front of you - the very boy who you saw pass away with your own two eyes. There are so many words you want to say to him. You want to tell him everything that's happened in your life since his passing, you want to tell him about how Maeumi's doing, and most importantly, you want to tell him that you love him.

You've told him it before, but after the accident, you've realised that life is fragile. You don't know when you'll ever see Jungwon again, so you want him to know.

"I think I'm dreaming." you murmur, and Jungwon looks at you, confused. "What do you mean, (Name)?" he asks, and you shake your head. Everything feels real. Too real, in fact.

"Nothing." you say. "I just... missed you."

A smile makes its way onto Jungwon's lips. "Hey, you saw me yesterday." he chuckles. "I'm dreaming, aren't I?" you say out loud to yourself, and Jungwon gives you a weird look.

It's strange, but you've never dreamt of Jungwon ever since the accident.

"You're acting strange today, (Name)." Jungwon chuckles, and you smile. You wrap your arms around Jungwon in a hug, and you don't miss the way that his cheeks flush with a light shade of pink. "I think I'm acting pretty normal," you hum.

In this moment, even if it's just temporary, you feel like you're on top of the world. You decide to ignore the fact that you'll have to wake up sometime soon, since this is all just a dream.

But right now, you're in Yang Jungwon's arms, and this is the first time since the accident where you've ever felt this happy.

"Get a room, lovebirds!" you hear Hikaru groan, and you glare at her. "Oh, so you finally built up the courage to ask (Name) out? Good job, Jungwon!" you hear Youngeun say, giving Jungwon a pat on the shoulder.

August 25, 2020 - Yang Jungwon has not confessed to you yet. He confessed to you on September 15th. You look at Jungwon, and his eyes are darting frantically across the room.

"Uh, he hasn't asked me out yet, actually." you say, and Youngeun's eyes widen. "Oh... shit." Youngeun realises that she just exposed Jungwon's crush on you, and she slowly backs away from where you and Jungwon are. "I was never here." she says, and you raise an eyebrow.

"I can still see you."

You hear her voice as she disappears down the hallway. "Well, not anymore!"

You focus your attention back onto Jungwon, and you notice how his cheeks are flushed bright red. "So... about Youngeun - please ignore her," he says, and you let out a soft chuckle.

"Jungwon, do you... like me?" you blurt out, and you hear his breath hitch.

The answer is yes. He knows it, you know it as well.

"Yeah - yeah, I do. I like you." he stammers out, and you grin.

"That's good, because I like you too." you say, planting a kiss on Jungwon's cheek, and if it's even possible, his face flushes an even brighter red than before. "You... like me too?" Jungwon asks, disbelief lacing his tone.

"Yeah, I've liked you since... fourth grade?" you say, and Jungwon's lips part to form an O shape. You remember saying these exact words to him under the cherry blossom tree. You suppose that in your dream, you had confessed earlier (thanks to Youngeun.)

The smell of cherry blossoms isn't wafting through the air and there's no beautiful scenery behind you during this confession. Instead you're in a packed classroom, books strewn across the floor. But you honestly wish that this was the real confession instead. You don't know why, but this moment feels... special.

It's okay if it's a dream, you tell yourself. At least you got to see Jungwon again.

You suddenly hear a piercing noise in your ear. "Ow," you say, and you can feel your vision getting blurry. You must be waking up, you think.

"Hey, Jungwon?"

"Mhm?"

"I love you."