In the midst of his desperation, something small and delicate landed gently on his shoulder. Jae looked up, startled, to find a firefly resting there, its soft glow piercing the darkness around him. The air seemed to shift, carrying a familiar, sweet fragrance that tugged at his senses.
Slowly, he turned, and to his surprise, more fireflies appeared, their tiny lights flickering like whispers in the stillness. They surrounded him, their soft glow illuminating the vast, endless beach in a quiet, ethereal dance of light.
The sight was more beautiful and surreal than he could have imagined—a moment of peace amid the chaos.
Amidst those tiny-teeny creatures, Jae's eyes found Luna.
The moment he saw Luna, everything else faded into the background. The flickering fireflies, the rhythmic crash of waves, even the heaviness in his chest—all of it disappeared, leaving only her.
"Luna..." he whispered, afraid that if he spoke too loudly, she would disappear.
She approached him, dressed in a flowing white frock, her presence almost ethereal. She reached out, her hand warm, and as their fingers intertwined, they stood together in silence, gazing out at the endless ocean stretching before them.
In that moment, a rush of memories flooded his mind—every word she had spoken, every detail she had shared about her dream. It all came rushing back in vivid clarity.
The scene unfolding before him was exactly as Luna had described—the beach, the fireflies, the way everything felt. It was all the same.
His heart skipped a beat as realization struck him like a thunderclap. For a brief moment, he couldn't bring himself to believe it, his mind struggling to accept the impossible.
"This isn't my dream...
it's LuLu's dream...
and I'm inside her dream..."
Jae paused, overwhelmed by the weight of the realization, his mind reeling with disbelief.
Was this really happening? Could it be that simple?
Then, as if the pieces of a puzzle had clicked into place, everything suddenly made sense. The reason his world had reset, why everything had shifted so rapidly, was because Luna was asleep, lost in her dream.
When she woke, his world would freeze, only to come back to life once she drifted back into sleep.
A cold chill ran through him as he remembered the wish he'd made with his final breath:
"I wish it were just a dream."
And now, it seemed, that wish had become his reality.
He had died that day, but his wish had come true in a way no one could have ever imagined. The accidents, the pain, the confusion—they weren't real. They were merely part of the endless cycle within Luna's dream, replaying over and over again.
And now, here they were, reliving the same dream she had before the accident. From this point forward, his existence would be tethered to the rhythm of her dreams, trapped in the ebb and flow of her unconscious mind.
Though the situation felt impossible to accept, a strange comfort washed over Jae. He realized that, somehow, she hadn't been harmed—she was safe.
His world might have been fractured and confusing, but in this moment, he found solace in the fact that she was unharmed and untouched by the tragedy that had once seemed inevitable.
He was still grappling with the absurdity of it all, trying to make sense of the impossible reality he was trapped in. But then, a thought struck him like a spark of light cutting through the darkness.
"Wait... she remembers all of her dreams. That means I can communicate with her. I can tell her that I'm here, that I'm still alive."
With that glimmer of hope, he turned to Luna, standing beside him, and reached out, desperately trying to make her hear him.
"LuLu, listen to me," he said softly, his voice filled with a quiet urgency.
"All of this is just a dream, and I'm stuck here inside your dream. Don't be sad, don't cry. I'll figure out a way to make this right."
His words hung in the air, heavy with hope—the hope that somehow, she could hear him, that he could bridge the gap between their worlds, even if it seemed impossible.
Frustration surged within him as he repeated the words over and over, each plea more desperate than the last, but it was as if Luna couldn't hear him. His voice felt hollow, weightless, as if he were invisible, just a fleeting echo lost in the vast, endless expanse of her dream.
"She can't hear me! What should I do?" Jae thought, panic clawed in his chest. His mind spun with hopelessness, the realization that he was powerless in this strange, distorted reality.
"There has to be a way... There has to be!" he urged himself.
He couldn't give up—not when he knew that Luna needed to wake up. She was the key to break this cycle, to set everything right.
But little did he know, how could he reach her when she had forgotten everything about him? Forgotten her dreams, forgotten him... Forgotten the very connection that once bound them together?
Jae closed his eyes, trying to steady his racing thoughts. In the silence, he clung to a single wish, an answer, a way to break through the barrier that kept them apart.
Yet all he could feel was the weight of the impossible situation, leaving him with nothing but a desperate hope that somehow, somewhere, there was a way out.
***
Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.
The phone kept ringing incessantly—clearly, Nina was calling again.
"Hello…" Luna finally answered after several missed attempts.
"What's taking you so long to pick up?" Nina shouted, her voice laced with frustration.
"I was in the shower. What's wrong? You sound really stressed."
"You forgot, didn't you?" Nina exclaimed, urgency creeping into her tone. "You promised you'd come with me to the airport today! It's already 8 o'clock—I want to welcome him!"
"Airport? Did I?" Luna mumbled, still wrapped in her bathrobe. She paused, sliding her dresses into the closet, trying to piece together the forgotten promise.
"Okay, okay, don't worry. Where are you now?" Luna asked.
"I'm stuck in traffic!" Nina huffed, her voice thick with frustration.
"I went to drop off The Stormy Seascape at Mrs. Harwell's personally this morning, just like your father asked. Then I got caught up dealing with some issues at the gallery.
Now I'm stuck. This is all your fault! You have to compensate me for this!" she added, the frustration in her voice unmistakable.
"What compensation? You want the VP position in the company? Too bad! Not sure my father would agree with that chicken brain of yours," Luna teased, a playful smirk on her face as she pulled a dress from the closet.
"How about I keep you as my secretary for life instead? I can even notarize the contract for you if you want," she added, her tone lighthearted.
Although Luna joked, she never saw Nina as just a secretary. In fact, she treated her like a younger sister, her closest confidant, and her best friend.
"LULU!!!..." a loud shout erupted from the other end of the call, so deafening it felt like her ears might burst.
Luna winced, holding the phone away from her ear, but she couldn't help but laugh at Nina's dramatic reaction.
"Okay, okay! My ears are about to burst!" Luna exclaimed, switching the phone to speaker and continuing to get dressed. "Did you check the flight status?"
"I did. It says 'on time.' I think he hasn't come out yet; my messages are still undelivered," Nina replied, her tone a mix of frustration and impatience.
"It's okay. He's not a kid; he can wait. He won't get lost in the crowd. Stop exaggerating," Luna teased, rolling her eyes as she slipped into her outfit.
"LuLu, I don't want to be late. I want to see him as soon as possible," Nina said earnestly, her voice softening with genuine excitement.
She continued, "LuLu, do me a favor. It only takes 30 minutes to get to the airport from your place. Can you go first and pick him up? I'll come straight to your place."
"What makes you think I'd allow a stranger into my place?" Luna replied, raising an eyebrow as she slipped on her shoes.
"LuLu, please, I'm begging you. I'll do anything you ask—just do this one favor for me. And also, he's not a stranger to you," Nina pleaded, her voice full of desperation.
Luna paused, smirking as she grabbed her car keys from the table. "Oh, that's interesting. Anything, you say?"
Her playful tone hung in the air as she slid the keys into her pocket, ready to go, but enjoying the moment of teasing Nina.
"Deal? I'll tell you what I need once I pick him up," Luna said with a smirk, leading the way to the parking area.
As she got into the car and was about to start the engine, Nina's voice came through the phone again. "It seems his flight just landed. He'll be out in 10 or 20 minutes. Can you make it in time?"
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Luna replied, the engine roaring to life as she slammed the gear into drive.
Though Luna typically didn't care about much, she had an odd habit of driving recklessly. It was a skill she'd honed over the years, not out of necessity, but because she had trained herself to get used to the constant honking she heard in her sleep.
The chaotic rhythm of the traffic in her dreams had made her immune to the stress of it, and she drove with an unsettling confidence.
Luna was certain she'd arrive before Nina's brother even stepped out. She had a well-earned reputation for racking up speeding tickets, and Nina was always the one left to clean up the after math.
Luna was a blend of strength and vulnerability—concealing her pain from the world while silently suffering on her own. There was a time when she had someone to share everything with, but now, she had no one. Nina, however, knew about Luna's struggles and was always there, offering support in the quietest ways.
"By the way, how should I recognize him?" Luna asked over the speakerphone, her voice steady, even as she pushed the car to its limits.
"Hello!!!" came the voice from the other end.
"Nina, can you hear me?" Luna asked, trying to cut through the static.
"Hello..." came the same response again, the crackling static louder in the background.
"What the hell just happened?" Luna muttered under her breath.
Beep beep— the call cut off abruptly.
Luna tried dialing Nina again, muttering to herself, "I saw him 10 years ago; it's fine, I'll recognize him. He can't have changed that much, right?"
But the call wouldn't go through.
Suddenly, a loud thunderclap echoed through the sky, followed by a flash of lightning, and then, without warning, the rain began pouring down.
"A huge storm hitting the city tonight," the car radio blared, warning of the sudden bad weather.
"What's going on? Why is it raining all of a sudden? Can they ever get the weather right?" Luna muttered, her grip tightening on the steering wheel as the storm intensified.
"This guy is certainly making quite the entrance to the country," she muttered, feeling a wave of nervousness as the rain battered her car. Still, she pushed the accelerator, determined to keep going.
Finally, she reached the airport. She parked the car and tried to get out, but her hand trembled as she reached for the door. Her blood pressure seemed to plummet, and it felt as though she was struggling to breathe—like a panic attack was setting in.
Her chest tightened, and the air felt thick around her. She took shallow breaths, trying to calm herself, but it only seemed to worsen the panic.
She had to get out of the car, had to move, but her body refused to cooperate. The weight of everything—the pressure, the fear, the uncertainty—crashed down on her all at once.
"I can do this," she whispered to herself.
Slowly, inch by inch, she managed to push the door open and step out, her legs shaking beneath her.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she got out. The rain hit her hard, soaking her white dress. She took one step after another, holding onto the car for support.
With every shaky breath, she felt weaker, her body fighting against her. Her steps became slower, more unsteady, as the darkness crept in at the edges of her vision.
The pounding of the rain was the only sound she could hear, yet it felt distant, muffled by the rush of her own heartbeat.
And then, everything went dark. She collapsed, her body crumpling to the ground, the rain continuing to pour down around her.