Luna sobbed, her voice breaking with the weight of her grief.
Jae's thoughts became a blur, each breath a battle to stay awake. He could feel the life slipping from him, but he fought it with everything he had.
"I'm sorry, LuLu. I failed to keep my promise. I hope you can forgive me."
His voice was faint, barely a whisper, but filled with the regret of a promise he couldn't keep.
As his strength continued to slip away, Jae reached out for Luna's hand, desperate to hold onto her, to stay connected for as long as possible.
But as his mind began to cloud, a strange, unsettling feeling of déjà vu washed over him.
"Something is wrong. I've been here before... This exact situation," he thought, his thoughts scattering in a chaotic swirl.
"It's like I'm reliving it. But why? Why does everything feel so familiar? The pain, the firefly, Luna's cries—they all seem like memories from somewhere else.
Am I losing my mind? Or is this...
I think our parents will arrive soon, heartbroken. I see my photo at my funeral. What is going on?
Why does this feel so familiar? I can't dare to leave her."
His mind raced, desperate for answers, but his body betrayed him, growing weaker with each passing second. His heart pounded, the pain in his chest intensifying as he struggled to stay conscious.
"Is this how I lose you?
LuLu, don't cry… please. It breaks my heart seeing you like this.
"I failed you in this life, but if—if there's another life… I would spend every moment of it with you. I swear, I would never let you go.
Please… please! I wish—God, I don't want to die, not yet...
I want to see her smile, I want to see her being happy...
I wish this was just a dream."
His voice cracked, desperation spilling from him like a wound too deep to heal.
But the silence that followed was far too real.
But despite his frantic plea, his body could no longer respond. His thoughts spiraled, fragments of memories and emotions colliding in a chaotic blur. He had no more energy to make sense of it all. Slowly, his eyelids began to flutter closed, darkness swallowing him whole.
The last sound Jae heard was Luna's desperate cry, her voice breaking through the darkness:
"He can't be gone… not like this… Somebody, please help him!"
And then, as if the world itself had stopped, he took his final breath. The noise, the pain, the chaos—all of it faded away, leaving only silence.
In that moment, Jae's world went completely still, as if time itself had come to a halt.
****
The next morning, Jae woke up with a sudden, frightened gasp, his heart racing in his chest. He quickly shot up from the bed, sweat clinging to his skin as he stumbled to the water bottle on his nightstand. He drank quickly, trying to steady his breathing.
When he felt his pulse slow, he hurriedly went to the window and stared outside, the quiet morning air helping to calm his frayed nerves.
"Thank God, it was all just a dream," he thought, feeling the weight of relief wash over him.
He stood there for a moment, trying to shake off the lingering fear, before heading downstairs. Mrs. Lee glanced up from her work as Jae entered, still in his pajamas.
"Why aren't you ready yet? Aren't you going to be late for school?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at her son.
"Mom, today is Sunday. Why would I go to school?" Jae replied, sinking onto the sofa and flipping on the television.
His mother chuckled, shaking her head. "What are you talking about? Are you still half asleep? Today is Saturday."
Jae blinked, confused. He had just seen the date and day on the TV—it was indeed Saturday. His mind raced as he turned on his phone, double-checking. The date was the same, confirming it was Saturday. But the nagging confusion wouldn't leave him. What was going on? He couldn't make sense of it.
Before he could fully process his thoughts or come up with an explanation, his mother urged him to get up.
"Go upstairs and get ready quickly. Luna might be waiting for you."
Jae's mind was still spinning with confusion, but he forced himself to move. He went upstairs and started getting ready for the school. As the warm water from the shower cascaded over him, he tried to piece together the dream he'd had.
Every detail felt vivid, but something about it told him that something was wrong. His heart pounded as a sense of unease gripped him. He was certain that something terrible was about to happen.
After he got ready, he rushed out of the house, running as fast as he could toward Luna's place. His breath came in short gasps, urgency pushing him forward.
When he arrived, he found Mr. Kim sitting at the dining table, enjoying breakfast, while Mrs. Kim tried to wake Luna up, as usual. Luna, being the sleepyhead she always was, resisting getting out of bed. But despite the routine nature of the scene, there was something unsettling about it, a strange weight in the air.
Jae stood frozen for a moment, watching the familiar sight before him. It felt so oddly familiar, almost like a scene he had seen before, and then the words from his dream echoed in his mind: "I think our parents will arrive soon, heartbroken."
His chest tightened. It couldn't be... Could it?
Jae shouted from the table, his voice a bit too loud as he tried to ease the situation, "Let her sleep more, Aunt Jin," he said with a dismissive wave. "She doesn't like studying anyway. Might as well let her spend the rest of her life painting those messy lines."
He gave a playful smile and added, "I'll just tell her homeroom teacher she's still asleep. I'm leaving now. Bye, LuLu!"
At the sound of his voice, Luna stirred and quickly jumped out of bed, rushing to get ready. Mr. Kim chuckled, shaking his head. "You sure know how to handle her," he said, amused by the ease with which Jae had made her move.
That was when the chilling realization hit Jae. Everything was happening exactly as it had in his dream the night before. He sat there, frozen for a moment, his mind racing. He could already predict what would happen next. Luna would come downstairs in a hurry, trying to skip her breakfast, running late for school.
He thought about letting it go, chalking it up to his overactive imagination. After all, Luna had always been a sleepyhead, running late for school every day without fail.
The firefly dream, the déjà vu—it could all be coincidence. Maybe he was just overthinking everything.
But even as the thought crossed his mind, that nagging sense of unease wouldn't leave him. Something inside him urged him not to ignore it, to stay alert. He had a strange feeling that this time, it was different.
Will it really happen?
To his surprise, Luna rushed downstairs, putting on her shoes. That was when Mrs. Kim said, "Eat your breakfast before you leave."
"Mom, I'm already late! Jae, come on—let's go! You're making us late!" Luna exclaimed, glancing impatiently at him.
His gut told him not to ignore it. He had to play along, just as he had in his dream, to be absolutely certain. So, he followed her, saying nothing as they climbed onto the bicycle and started riding.
The conversation between them unfolded exactly as he had predicted. Luna, still groggy from waking up late, telling about her dream, and they bickered in that familiar, playful way. It was as though he was watching a replay of his dream, but this time, he was inside it.
When they reached school and parted ways to go to their classes, Jae couldn't shake the discomfort settling deep in his chest. The rest of the day was a blur of confusion and unease. In every lesson, he tried to focus, but it was impossible.
His thoughts kept wandering back to the dream, to the familiar yet haunting déjà vu. He couldn't concentrate on a single word the teachers said, nor could he make sense of what was happening around him.
He wanted to believe that it was all just a coincidence—maybe his mind was playing tricks on him—but at the same time, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to happen. Something that would change everything.
Jae couldn't shake the growing unease in his chest, and the only way to truly test if his fear was justified was to see it for himself. During the last period, he made a quick decision to skip class and ran to the secluded field where the fireflies often appeared.
To his shock, the rain began to pour down, exactly as it had in his dream. A chill ran down his spine, and a sense of dread settled over him. He couldn't wait any longer. The nightmare felt too real. He hopped on his bike, pedaling furiously, desperate to reach Luna before anything could happen.
But just like before, the path was slick with rain, and in his haste, he lost control of the bike, crashing hard onto the ground. His body ached, but there was no time to stop. Pain was nothing compared to what he feared would happen to Luna.
Ignoring the sting of the fall, he pushed himself to his feet and ran as fast as he could toward the school. His heart raced with every step. When he finally reached the street near the school, he saw her. Luna was walking ahead, unaware of the danger looming over her.
"Luna!" he shouted, his voice filled with panic.
This time, he didn't want to argue with her. He didn't want to tease or joke. He just needed to get her out of harm's way. Without thinking twice, he grabbed her hand, his grip firm, and pulled her toward him as he started running. The urgency of the situation flooded his every action. He couldn't let it happen again.
Jae's heart pounded in his chest as he ran, dragging Luna along with him, desperate to get her out of the way. But in the blink of an eye, it was too late. The car came barreling down the street, too fast, too close.
Before he could react, the impact happened. Everything went in slow motion as Jae instinctively pushed Luna out of harm's way, but the car still grazed him. The force of the collision sent him sprawling to the ground, his body aching, and his mind reeling.
As the world around him blurred, he realized the horrifying truth: everything he had dreamed had come to life, right down to the smallest detail. The fireflies, the rain, the accident—it was all happening exactly as it had in his dream.
"I shouldn't have gone to the field"
Jae muttered, his voice shaky and filled with regret. He could barely keep his eyes open, the pain overwhelming him.
The sense of déjà vu had been right. He had tried to change it, but it was inevitable. And now, the terrifying reality of his dream had come true.