CHAPTER 21: PANIC AFTER PARADISE

I woke up at the sound of a clock’s second hand moving and clicking. One of the most annoying sounds in the world. It reminded me of school mornings, waking up a few minutes before the actual alarm and getting frustrated because I could’ve slept for a few more minutes. Too tired to actually open my eyes and to locate the source of the sound, I tried to imagine Wonwoo’s bedroom in my head and find the clock that way. At some point I could also hear a male voice speaking in the distance. Had Wonwoo already woken up? No. This wasn’t Wonwoo’s sound. Maybe Mingyu and Vernon had come to the library for a visit and noticed we were still sleeping so they didn’t bother to wake us up. I chuckled and decided to lie down a little bit more, despite the fact I was sure there was something bugging me at the back of my head. I yawned and rolled onto my back. As I was stretching my limbs, still eyes closed, it hit me. There was no analog clock in Wonwoo’s room.

My eyes spread wide open in a fraction of a second. The room was completely unfamiliar for me, it was relatively dark too, and the male sound I could hear didn’t belong to anyone I knew. I sat up on the bed, feeling an uncomfortable sting on my hand and glancing at it. I gasped in shock as I realized the back of my hand was connected to an IV drip. With wide eyes I looked around me in the dim room and realized it was for sure a hospital room.

“Is anybody there?” I cried out with a broken voice. “Where am I?”

In a matter of seconds the room’s door slid open and the first thing I saw was my mother’s face. At first she looked shocked, but then the expression changed into pure joy and happiness. She shouted at someone in the hallway and then rushed into the room, switching on the lights and running to the bed. She sat down quickly and grabbed me into a tight, loving hug.

“Oh, my dear daughter...” she whispered into my hair. “I was so worried.”

I could just stare in front of me in shock. What was going on? I noticed my father walking into the hospital room. His expression was extremely tired but he, as well, became brighter and joyful the moment he noticed me sitting in the embrace of my mother. He rushed towards us too.

“Dami, you’re awake!” he declared. “Thank God!”

As mother leaned back from the hug, still having her hands on my shoulders and eyeing at me lovingly, I couldn’t help but to shake my head in confusion.

“What happened?” were the only words I could get out of my mouth.

“You’ve been unconscious for two weeks”, mother stated. “Someone found you in the school’s bathroom, passed out. Oh dear, we’ve never been so worried.”

So it was certain I had returned to 2016. But two weeks? I had spent months in the future! I didn’t know how the time travelling actually worked. Maybe weeks in our time would mean months in some other time. I felt my head aching as I tried to think too hard. I frowned a little bit at the feeling.

“Lie down, honey”, mother said and helped me back down. “We’ll tell the doctor you’re awake.”

I just nodded at her. I was so very confused I didn’t know how to react. While in 2157 I had missed my parents, at least in the beginning, a lot. But as time went by, I learnt to live without them as I made new friends. Now that I had actually returned to 2016... I felt almost sad. This meant I’d only meet Wonwoo in my dreams now. Until I’d learn to actually time travel myself.

I remained in the confused, almost trance-like condition for minutes and answered the doctor’s questions with a monotone voice, like a robot. As the doctor conversed with my parents, I could only think of the fact I had probably disappeared from the other world. Wonwoo would wake up alone. Would he realize I had travelled back to my own time? Would he be worried?

Of course I was happy to see my parents again. As I slowly recovered from the shock, from the trance, I kept on hugging them and saying I missed them - even thought they didn’t really understand how I could’ve missed them when I was lying unconscious on the hospital’s bed.

The doctor suggested I’d stay for the night and go home tomorrow. I had just woken up from a long period of unconsciousness so there might be some symptoms. I, anyhow, knew that there would be no symptoms. It was all about the drifting. The only symptom I’d have would be yearning.

As I convinced my parents that I’d be fine by myself, they left me alone in the hospital room. As the doors closed and the lights were switched off, I felt more alone than I had ever felt. I couldn’t even contact Wonwoo in any way. I let out a sigh and grabbed my phone that mother had left on the night stand next to the bed. As soon as the screen was , I was about to drop the phone. I knew I had been in the year 2157 for months - I had thought about the year changing. But now that I was back here and I had heard that I had been out of it for two weeks, I finally realized it.

It wasn’t 2016 anymore. The date was 6^th of January, 2017. I felt my eyes slowly getting teary. I got up from the bed, feeling a bit clumsy, and walked to the window to look out. The view seemed so strange - no more flying cars, no more big, unique shaped and glassy buildings. It was the ordinary Seoul I had grown up in.

I’d begin the new year without Wonwoo, without my new friends, all alone.

I let the tears flow free. I was crying out loud, sobbing like a child. I didn’t care whether someone would hear me or not. I had a very good reason to be sad. Even if no one else could understand me. They’d say it was only a dream - while it really wasn’t. I brought my hand to my neck, to the place where the cut would’ve been. There was nothing there. Still sobbing, I walked to the small mirror that was hanging on the wall. At first glance, there really was nothing. But as I squinted my eyes and looked closer, I could actually see the outline of a healed scar. That hadn’t been there before I drifted to the future. I let one last tear fall onto my cheek. This would be the forever proof, forever memory of the fact that I actually spent months in the year 2157.

At some point I dozed off from all the crying. For my surprise, and also for my great relief, I found myself on the sunny meadow at the back of Wonwoo’s library. But I couldn’t see Wonwoo. I looked around me, confused. The meadow was actually different from the dreams I had before drifting to the future. Back then I could only see the meadow and the forest that surrounded it. Now I could see the library as well. And for my relief, Wonwoo was there. Opening the doors of the library and noticing me on the meadow.

His eyes widened as he saw me and I ran as fast as I could, to embrace him. I wrapped my hands around the boys neck and hugged him tightly. He was quick to wrap his arms around my waist and lift me off the ground to bring me closer.

“What happened?” he asked with a sad voice.

“I don’t know”, I whispered. “I returned. I woke up in my time.”

He let me down and softly caressed my cheek. He had a smile on his face but I could see the pain in his eyes. It made me feel so guilty I wanted to cry, but after all the crying I had done that night, there were no more tears to come.

“I’m so sorry”, I whispered and hugged me boy again. “I’m sorry I left you alone.”

I tightened the hug, like I was desperate to keep the boy as close as possible, wishing the dream would never end. I could hear Wonwoo quietly sniffing but trying to keep his voice normal. “Everything will be alright. As long as we have our dreams.”

Our dreams. The only thing nobody could ever take away from us.

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Hi again, and sadly for the last time for this story. This ends the story at least for now - I have actually had some thoughts of a sequel, but not yet. I've just recently "healed" from my writer's block and now finally enjoy writing again. I have a story with Astro under work, I'll start publishing it in a couple of weeks. You can expect a sequel for this story, there will probably be one some day as I have a lot of ideas.

Thank you, everyone, for reading, subscribing and commenting. Hearing feedback is always amazing and it makes my day so I'm very thankful ^^

But for now, bye, and see you in my next fic!