Doubler || NCT || Completed

5

Loud voices echoed in Yujin's ears as she tried to hide in the corner of the a small, dimly lit room. She couldn't pinpoint where the voices came from or what they were saying but she knew that they wanted to hurt her.

With her head hidden in her hands, Yujin remained in her corner, hoping that she could die before they got to her. There was no way out and no one could help her, and that dread pushed her down, draining her. She was frozen by the hot and cold fear when the voices got closer and louder, until they were yelling at her, so close that their voices hurt her head.

She knew that soon they would reach for her and touch her and she was so scared of that, that it made her feel like she was losing her mind.

Her heartbeat was frantic, quickening even more when she could feel warm breath on her face.

Yujin screamed in panic, her eyes flew open and she sat up on her bed before she could even understand that it had been a nightmare. She was sweating and shaking furiously, her breathing uneven.

"It's not real", Yujin whispered with a hoarse voice, trying to calm herself down. It didn't help, her body wasn't listening to her words. "It's not real", she repeated and hugged herself, rocking from side to side like her therapist had taught her years ago. Her lungs were heavy like they weren't working properly, forcing her to inhale and exhale in an increasing pace.

A soft whine scared Yujin half to death and she yelped, ready to go into hiding before she realised that the doubler had jumped to her bed and was looking at her. It was difficult to see his face so Yujin turned on the bedside lamp with trembling fingers. She tried to hold her breath forcefully for a couple of seconds to calm her body down, but ended up panting even harder. The dog tilted his head slightly, his ears droopy, as if he was feeling bad for her.

Yujin remembered the warm breath that had pulled her from the nightmare.

"Did you... wake... me up?" she asked between her hasty inhales. The doubler tilted his head to the other side and then lowered it on her shoulder, leaning closer to her. Yujin sat quietly for a second, surprised, but wrapped her arms around the big dog hesitantly, pulling him closer.

"I'm okay", she muttered out loud against his fur, even though she was still shaking. "I'm sorry if I woke you up."

She could feel the dog's steady breathing against her and without even noticing it, her own breathing started to calm down as well.

"I don't get nightmares that often nowadays. This one was probably because of how eventful today was, maybe it triggered something from my memory", Yujin felt the need to explain herself. The dog remained quiet against her, keeping his head on her shoulder.

After some time, Yujin felt like she could breathe on her own, and let go of the dog to grab a glass of water she had on her bedside table. After downing the room temperature water as if it was the best thing in the world, she put the glass back down and tried to smile at the dog reassuringly.

"We should go back to sleep now", she told him. "Tomorrow's going to be a big day, if we're going to change you back to human, so we need as much rest as possible."

Yujin was expecting for the dog to jump off from the bed and go back to Taeil's bedroom, which she had appointed for him earlier in the evening. Instead of doing so, the dog stretched his front legs forward before lying down on her bed, making it seem like it was the most natural thing in the world. Yujin stared at him, amazed by his nonchalant attitude.

"I didn't say that you can sleep here", she pointed out. "Taeil oppa's bed is as big as mine, you should sleep there."

The dog whined in response, looking at her pointedly.