Serendipity: The Amazing Journey Of A Soulmate

1. Traffic situation

I'm standing on the sidewalk, completely frozen as my eyes take in the scene that unfolds behind the huge window of the restaurant. A man sweetly caresses the cheek of the woman sitting next to him at the table while she gives him a wide smile showing her perfect teeth. They seem in love and they look good together. But why is the sight of them bothering me so much? He cups her cheek with his hand now and she leans in, savoring every touch. They look happy. Why can't I be happy for them?
I feel like I have seen this man before. Who is he?
Still stuck on the cold pavement, I grab my phone from the coat and dial a number. I know this number. Jonathan. My boyfriend.
I'm not sure I'm breathing as the man in the window picks up his phone and sends my call to voicemail.

"This can't be!" I think. I dial the number again and as I put it at my ear, I slowly whisper to myself "Please don't be you. Please don't be you. Please-"
But it is you. It's you, Jonathan. And you're dating another woman. Behind my back. My call is ignored once again and I'm standing frozen into place, tears silently streaming down my cheeks.
The people in the window disappear and they are suddenly in front of me. 

"I don't love you anymore" Jonathan spits while the woman beside him smiles like a snake. 

"No one loves a pathetic person like you. That's why everyone left you." His voice multiplies, echoing in my head while the laugh of the woman becomes louder and scary. There are now dozens of people screaming to me the same phrase: 

"That's why everyone left you." They keep screaming, their faces distorting to hideous monsters-

I wake up from my sleep, breathing fast, drenched in sweat and with my heart almost beating out of my chest. I look around confused. I'm in my room in the small apartment I own in Seoul. 

"Another nightmare" I murmur. This has been happening for a while now. The nightmares began a couple years ago, after I broke up with my boyfriend Jonathan. I'm not pitying myself, but the impact his actions had on me, given my already messed up past, took its toll. A breakup is never easy, but it is something you can get over and I proudly say I did. I'm not missing him or thinking about him. But I hate how he destroyed my confidence, my trust and my self esteem. I've been struggling for years to bring back my old self, to recover what he and others stole from me. I guess after every betrayal and every heartbreak, the scars are the ones that remain and sometimes they run so deep that you can never completely remove them.
Only the lucky ones are intact. The rest of us, we're just trying to survive with a crippled soul.
Personally, I think I'm doing a pretty good job at surviving. Even though I still have issues, nightmares come and go and I'm not ready yet to get romantically involved with anyone, everyday I'm learning to love myself and find new ways of feeding my imperfect soul. Books, music, photography, night walks in the park, even work.

Work!
I immediately exit my trance and I look at the clock on my nightstand. It shows 8:20 am. 

"Oh, shit! I'm late!" I yell to no one in particular. I was daydreaming again and now I'm late for work. I have to be in court in about 40 minutes and I'm late and it's traffic and... I'm so screwed. 

"Inna, why are you like this?" I speak to myself. 

I quickly get out of bed and jump into the shower. I try to mentally prepare for the new day and while washing away the foam under the hot water, I repeat like a mantra the facts of today's court case.

 "Male, 43 years old, 2 kids, financially struggling, only provider of the family, paralegal, accused of shoplifting, 3 witnesses, 4 statements, weak prosecution arguments."