Wish (JJ Project)

Dream

Jaebum's eyes snapped open, like they were about to jump out of their sockets. He was gasping for breath, his heart seemed like it was being crumpled. He felt sweat beaded on his temples, streaming down to his hair. His eyes watered from the pain, though he didn't know the source, and he rubbed it away harshly.

He didn't even know who the boy was, yet he already appeared in his dreams four times since the start of this month, and woke him up the same way. There was always the same face he couldn't match with any name he remembered, staring up at him from where the boy was lying limp. His hair was sticking on his forehead, glued by sweat and blood. A wide stain of red darkened the grey asphalt where his head lied, with traces of the white snowflakes sprinkled all around. Like the stranger, Jaebum didn't move, he couldn't. He was trapped by the other's gaze, lost in the labyrinth of meanings he couldn't decipher. The moment that seemed to have been frozen in time except for the falling snow was broken by the movement of the boy's pale lips, slowly trembling to open. Jaebum could barely catch on the faint sound that was muttered out of his mouth, but strangely he understood clearly what he was saying.

He was calling his name. And that was when Jaebum woke up.

He had only dismissed it as a mere nightmare the first time it happened, but when it continued to appear he couldn't thought that way anymore. Was it a scene from a movie he watched? No, he couldn't recall watching a movie with that scene and that actor. Or was he seeing the future of someone? But why was he seeing the future of someone he didn't even know? Or maybe, as Jaebum had hoped from the deepest of his heart that it was just a passing dream without any meaning, though it faded the more that dream appeared.

He was baffled and feeling grim. No one would feel nothing after seeing the scene of someone's possible death moment, especially something that tragic, over and over again. It was more likely that the boy was involved in a traffic accident, seeing how he was lying in the middle of the road. And he was calling his name.

Again, why? Why was he calling his name? Did Jaebum actually know the boy? Maybe he actually made acquaintance with him somewhere and forgot him? Or is he someone he knew when he was a kid that had changed through the years he didn't recognize him anymore? But somehow he felt that the possibilities for those reasons were nearly zero. He was really sure he had never seen the boy before.

His frantic train of thought was broken when there was a force pressuring his chest. He smiled when a pair of blue eyes entered his sight, his hand moved to brush the owner's silky fur as she meowed. "What, are you already hungry, Nora? This early?"

Nora meowed louder. Jaebum chuckled, his nightmare forgotten for a while. "Alright, alright. Let me get myself out of bed first."

He set his feet on the floor, stretching his body. The dream always left him feeling tired despite the sleep he had. He walked to the shelf where he stored Nora's food. He poured it in her bowl and squatted down to put it in front of her, watching fondly as she purred when he stroked her head. A peaceful morning, if not for the way he was woken up. He sighed before standing up and preparing to take a shower.

--

Jaebum barely made it to the class before the professor came, thanks to him having to look for the left pair of his shoes that was hidden by Nora right when he was about to go. He quickly sat and dropped his head on the desk, trying to catch his breath. He could hear Mark's failed attempt to stifle his laugh from beside him. He looked at his friend with a frown.

"Always delighted to see someone's misery, aren't you?"

"Why? It's interesting," Mark said, contrasted to the innocent smile that was hanging on his face. Yeah, what did you expect from someone who spent his time watching shows where people was pranking others? Jaebum just managed to let out a dry laugh filled with sarcasm before his professor greeted the class.