In Our Dreams

He knew he was dreaming when he looked into the mirror and it wasn’t his reflection looking back at him. He mentally sighed as ‘his’ body moved of its own accord, brushing the long hair that definitely didn’t belong to him. That’s how this world works. Your dreams aren’t your own. Your dreams are fragments of memories, but not your own. They’re the memories of your soulmate. Sometimes you get glimpses of their recent memories, like this one of his soulmate getting ready. Or sometimes it can be their memories from the past. The other person can’t decide what their soulmate sees, nor do they know what memories are passed on to their other half.

The memories are played out in the others dreams exactly as it happened, through the eyes of the soulmate. Jihoon could do nothing as his soulmate went downstairs, ensuring to be quiet enough that her drunkard of a father didn’t wake up. She was lucky this time. He didn’t wake up as she slipped out of the door. The dream went hazy, and the scene changed.

This was an old memory.

One he had seen a million times in his dreams. It was of a picnic in a park. His soulmate must have only been around ten years old at the time. Her mother was still alive in this memory. This was close to the time when she lost her mother. When her memories changed from the warm, loving family scene he saw now to the darker memories of her adult life.

His eyes opened slowly as his alarm screamed at him to wake up. He groaned and slapped the annoying machine, effectively silencing it. He rolled onto his back and covered his eyes with his arm. On the days when he woke up after one of her better memories he always felt a little better. On the days when he had to relieve her memories of her mother’s death or one of the beatings at the hand of her father… that was a different story.

He grumbled as his phone rang from his bedside. The screen flashed up with a photo of his friend, Daehyun, who was also his business partner. “What?” he grumbled, knowing that his grumpy morning attitude wouldn’t affect Daehyun in the slightest. “Hey, did I wake you?”

“No, but why are you calling at the butt crack of dawn?” he grumbled as he forced himself out of bed, making a beeline for the kitchen so that he could make himself a cup of coffee. “Just wanted to remind you that Jungkook rescheduled his session to this afternoon.” Jihoon grunted to show that he had remembered. Daehyun chuckled at the older man. “Remember, three o’clock. Don’t be late.” Jihoon grumbled an agreement before hanging up, not having the patience to deal with anyone until he had had his morning coffee. While he waited he thought about his dreams from the night before. “I wonder what she’s up to?” he wondered aloud as he gazed out of his kitchen window.

Halfway across the world, Jung Hyori sighed as she packed up her life. She looked around her childhood room, tears threatening to fall. Her father’s business had failed thanks to his drinking problem, and they were now being forced out of their home. Not only that, but her dad was shipping them both back to Korea. She had faint memories of Korea, but had spent almost all of her life in America. But now, without any say in the matter, she was going to be moving halfway across the world, back to her father’s family so that they could look after them.

She threw some things into a box, feeling frustrated. “I can’t believe I need to leave all this behind…” she looked around the room, her eyes settling on the doorframe. She walked up to it and ran her fingers down the wood which had been marked with her height every year on her birthday until her tenth birthday. Her father had never bothered to continue to measure her height after her mum died. He didn’t do much of anything after she died. Except drink. She sighed loudly and swiped at the treacherous tears on her face. “Don’t cry Hyori.” She told herself as she packed more of her things away, slowly stripping the room of its memories.