the summer of 1993 ── dohwa baek - Chapter 5: Chapter 5

"I've been having weird dreams lately."
Ra-im squinted her eyes at the tall boy, suspicion overpowering her senses.
"...And why are you telling me this?"
"Who else am I supposed to tell?" Dohwa lifted his head up from the table, his golden strands falling askew. "At least pretend to care for ten minutes."
She simply nodded and continued reading the book in her hands, treating Dohwa's irritation as mere white noise.
"Where were you? Ah, yes. Being unable to sleep. Go on."
"It's like a neverending dream — nightmare — which becomes more and more detailed every night. At first, I could only see it, and then I could hear the people in it, and then the surroundings grew clearer, and then I could feel ev—"
Ra-im adjusted her position and shifted her weight to face her 'friend'.
"Who exactly is this nightmare about?"
"Just some girl."
"Just some girl." She repeated, rolling her eyes. "Who else if not Su-ae? My bad for even asking."
She had become more transparent around Dohwa, especially after he had stopped acting along with her 'kind and benevolent' act. Maybe it was for the better, because she knew incredibly well that she would've been having a really hard time suppressing her true emotions otherwise.
"Not Su-ae. Another girl. A... friend? All we do is talk, honestly."
"That's a friend then."
"It's complicated to explain, but you get the gist. I don't know what she looks like, or where she lives. In the dream, however, I can see her, and her voice sounds exactly like on the phone. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? This is some paranormal shit!"
"Mhm. Paranormal indeed. How about you get yourself a glass of juice first?"
Dohwa groaned softly and dipped his face in his hands. "What am I supposed to do? If I tell that girl about my dreams, she'll think I'm some freak!"
"You are a freak. You dream about her every night."
"You're making me feel worse, Ra-im."
Ra-im stuck her tongue out. "As I should. Now, if you'd excuse me. I've got more important things to do."
He didn't stop her. Once she was out of his sight, he let his fingers tug at the roots of his hair, visibly frustrated. He just couldn't answer the question that had been assaulting his mind for days...
Why did Y/N keep dying in that nightmare?
Every single time, she'd go to the telephone booth, wait for someone to pick up her call, and then walk out dejected once they didn't. Then a car would hit her, and Dohwa would be wide awake, recalling the incidents while breaking a cold sweat. This had become a recurring pattern for him.
"This is creeping me out..."
He wanted to call her, just to make sure that she was alright. But he couldn't. God, when was this girl going to get herself a personal phone? She was sixteen!
With a sigh, he got up on his feet, attempting to look for a distraction.
That was when he ran into Eunhyeok's wide chest.
Lord, as if his life couldn't get any worse.
"...Hi."
"He's the reason why I can't drink soda right now."
Y/N stared at the pathetic excuse of money on her palm. Just a bunch of coins, half of which she'd be using to call Dohwa. If only she never agreed to his demand, she'd be able to happily chug down a can right now.
She grumbled to herself, aggressively punching the numbers she had remembered by heart.
A couple of rings permeated through the air, making her wonder if he actually won't pick up today. That would've been a relief.
But alas, she wasn't so fortunate, for the beep greeted her ears soon after.
"Wow, miss Y/N. Punctual as always."
"I should start charging you for talking to me. 50 won per second."
"Get over it. Nobody wants to hear your voice."
"I'll hang up on the count of three. One—"
"I'm sorry!" Dohwa spluttered out hurriedly, then cleared his throat. "Uh, I mean. Whatever. Just listen to me, will you?"
Y/N hummed absent-mindedly. Her thoughts were preoccupied with a million other things— including the fact that her summer break was just around the corner.
"First of all... how are you?"
Now, that caught her by surprise.
"Oh my... so you do care about me, loverboy. I'm flattered."
"Sounds like you've been well." He scoffed.
"I have. My cat has been very affectionate with me lately, my mom didn't almost murder me on sight when she looked at my grades this time, and I'm going to the beach with my friends. Life is truly worth living."
"That's the bare minimum."
"Shut it, rich bastard."
Dohwa coughed on the other end. "Are you forgetting that I work three jobs—"
"Blah blah blah. You have your own cellphone, and you're an idol trainee. End of conversation."
"...I can't deny that. Well, keeping that aside, have you been having any... nightmares these days?"
Y/N furrowed her brows. "Huh? I mean, I did have one three days ago. I was getting chased down by an eagle mascot. Why do you ask?"
"Did you die in it, by any chance?"
"What the hell? No! What are you trying to imply?"
He cursed under his breath, which was evidently audible to the girl. "Um, nothing! Just worried about you, that's all. Please check both sides before crossing the road, okay?"
"Okay...? You're scaring me."
"Sorry. I swear I'm not up to something— I'm genuinely worried."
"Wow. Thanks for worrying. I've been doing perfectly fine." She said, still pretty confused at the entire ordeal. "Anyway. Any new updates on your one-sided love and your mortal enemy aka your crush's boyfriend?"
"Ugh. Don't even bring that bastard up." He grunted.
"So something spicey had happened... I'm all ears!"
There was a few seconds of silence that extended between the two in which Dohwa was contemplating whether or not he should be honest about the encounter he had with Eunhyeok. In the end, he muttered a 'fuck it', and it was enough of a sign for Y/N to brace herself for yet another mind-blowing story.
"I ran into him today. Accidentally, mind you. He was being all prickly about it. Y'know, his sass has been over the roof lately! He asked me to apologise, and guess what I did?"
"Punched him in the face?"
"Exac— wait. How do you know?"
"I can read you like a magazine, pretty boy." She said, amused.
"Of course you do, grandma. Can you read Eunhyeok too? Because I'd really love for you to guess what he did to me."
"Punched you back?"
"Yes! He dared to punch me, Y/N!" Dohwa spat, "I've got a black eye! How am I going to explain this to my manager? Can you see the amount of stress I'm under?"
Y/N chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. So many hardships on my tender flower who merely wants to look pretty and attract butterflies. I support you wholeheartedly."
"Hah... you're the only one who understands me in this cruel world."
"Aren't we going a bit too fast? We need to be friends first so we can fall in lo—"
"—Anddd I'm annoyed again. Great job. Thanks."
"My pleasure."
"You're such a piece of work. How do you manage to be so unbearable?"
She heeded his question quite seriously. "For starters, you have to be dealing with someone incredibly unbearable too. In my case, it's you. My irritating traits just come out pouring like a thunderstorm as soon as I hear your voice."
"Can you stop roasting me every five seconds? You're supposed to sympathise with me."
Y/N snorted. "Sympathise with you because you can't take a punch?"
"You... you are a sick individual!"
She could almost imagine him pointing his finger at her, glowering with pure, unfiltered rage; just like a four-year-old kid confronting his friend who broke his crayon.
"I'm getting a headache. You're testing me today."
"When am I not testing you?"
"When you're playing your part of a human diary. I love it when you're quiet. When you shut up. Such sweet moments of bliss."
"How terrible. This human diary has a tongue and vocal cords, much to your dismay. She's going to bake you alive because it's funny to get you all worked up."
He gasped. "This is funny to you? My pain... is funny to you? How cruel."
"And here you go, speaking like a Victorian maiden."
"Shut up, grandma."
"Is that all you have against me? A pathetic nickname?" Y/N tsked. "You need to work on your personality more if you want to be liked by your fans after your debut."
"Who needs that when I have you, my number one supporter."
She let out a peal of laughter. "True. If the world was throwing eggs at you, I'd catch them and make you 50 omelettes. I've been told I'm a decent cook."
"Sweet. I hope you don't expect any... remuneration for your this."
"Wait— is this worker exploitation? Oh I'm going to get you sued, mister Dohwa."
"Uh-huh. But no matter what roads you drive down, they'll all lead back to me. You see, I'm actually the centre of this universe."
"You're the sun, and we're all just planets revolving around you. Very real."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
Without even realising it, Y/N found herself smiling. The twinkle on her visage was vibrant enough to be noticed from afar. She never admitted it— but she was a little bit glad to have connected with Dohwa, even if it wasn't intentional.
Yes, she still despised having to spend her money to call him. However, by the end of it all... it was nice. She always felt a lot lighter after talking to him. It was almost like he was the human diary because of the way how therapeutic a conversation with him was.
What could she term this?
Two strangers unloading their burdens on each other? Two strangers finding solace in each other's voices? Two strangers basking in the warmth of laughter?
Two strangers pretending to treat the other as their sun?