the end of summer (unnideul)
Title: The end of summer
Fandom and pairing: D-Unit, Ram/Zin
Prompt: Quote
Warnings: N/A
Summary: AU; Wooram wakes up with a girlfriend she's never met.
Summer is over and
we part, like eyelids,
like clams opening.
- Robert Haas, Basho: A Departure
Wooram's face hit the table's surface with a thunk that resonated throughout the entire library. Eyes turned in alarm, followed by a few snickers and Wooram groaned quietly to herself.
"I've heard of this new thing people do to avoid that," Yujin muttered over her Chemistry book. "It's called sleep. Are you familiar with the concept?"
Raising her own book in front of her face to block out Yujin's subtly smug smirk, Wooram replied coolly, "'Fraid not. Will I find it in my Law textbooks? Because at the moment my life kind of revolves around them."
Yujin clicked her tongue and set her book down, eyes wandering to the clock on the wall beside them. "It's nearly three a.m. Are you staying much longer? I have work in the morning but I don't want-"
"Just go," Wooram grunted, waving off Yujin's concerns. Unlike Yujin, Wooram didn't have anything to do in the morning beyond her impending exam. She also didn't have a cute girlfriend waiting for her, a fact which shouldn't have frustrated her as much as her lack of job, but it did. There wasn't much motivation to go home when all she'd be returning to was a cluttered room, a pile of textbooks and a cold, hard dorm bed. "My dorm's not too far from here, but it also wouldn't be the first time I spent the night in the library." Judging by the way she scrunched up her nose, Yujin didn't appreciate the humor. "Really," Wooram added, more kindly this time. "I'll be fine. Go home or you'll end up spilling soup on a customer again."
Yujin rolled her eyes and crammed her books into her bag. "Text me when you're home?"
"Yes, mom," Wooram grumbled and returned to her book, hiding the way she watched Yujin leave the building. With one last regretful look at the clock, she sighed and resumed jotting down notes in her notebook.
The next morning found Wooram leaving the library at a run, her face a mess of spiral imprints from where her face had rested on her notebook all night, her mind a mess a jumbled up copyright laws. The exam wasn't until the afternoon and it was still the morning, but she still needed to shower, meet Yujin for lunch and get another hour of review in before then.
When she reached her dorm building she swiped her card in front of the security scanner and frowned when the device beeped and flashed in angry red. She tried a few more times and huffed. The system was on the fritz again, or maybe she'd kept her card in her wallet too long and the device wasn't working. By then a small group of girls had gathered behind her, and she had no choice but to let them go ahead, thanking them when they held the door open for her. Climbing the stairs took her last vestiges of energy and she collapsed against the wall opposite her door. Fishing through her pockets, she felt eyes on her and found a few of the girls down the hall watching her in obvious confusion.
Her friendly wave went unreturned but she didn't have time to contemplate how rude neighbors could be. The more pressing issue was that her key, which she had never once misplaced, had disappeared from her key ring altogether. She was so distracted she didn't noticed the door to her dorm room opening in front of her, from the inside.
"Can I help you?"
Wooram looked up in alarm. In the doorway- her doorway- was a girl, probably about Wooram's age. "Why are you in my room?" Wooram mumbled, too shocked to even be angry.
The girl frowned. "Excuse me?" Her voice was loud enough to draw out a few more of the neighbors.
"This is my room," Wooram continued. She looked around at the other girls for support, but they were staring at her in much the same way as the girl in the doorway, like she was absolutely insane.
The girl took a step back and folded her arms. "I think you need to leave. This isn't funny."
Wooram was about to argue, but as the unfamiliar girl moved away, Wooram was able to look further into the room in question. A perfectly organized dresser, a flower print bedspread, photos of people Wooram had never seen on the walls. Her mouth hung open in stunned silence and the girl rolled her eyes as she returned to her room and closed the door.
"What do you mean, someone's in your dorm?" Yujin's voice was muffled with sleep but her exasperated tone came through clear. "You haven't lived in a dorm since freshman year."
Seated on a bench a safe distance away from her dorm building, Wooram found it impossible to drop her stunned expression even if her eyes were starting to hurt. "Then where the hell do I live?"
The question was supposed to be rhetorical, but Yujin, at her sarcastic best, rattled off an address. Wooram vaguely recognized the street name as one in Yujin's apartment complex, but that didn't explain anything. "Did you really spend the night in the library again? Soojin's probably worried sick."
Wooram almost didn't want to ask, but she found herself replying, "Soo... jin?"
"Yeah, you know, your girlfriend? The one you keep blowing off in lieu of studying?"
Yujin was still nagging when the phone clattered to the ground.
For a best friend, Wooram didn't think Yujin was being very supportive. Not when Yujin was pacing around her apartment and giving Wooram a stern lecture on why she should be a better girlfriend to a person she'd never even met. Yujin met Wooram's obvious bafflement with offended annoyance.
"I went to all that trouble to bring you two together, and now you're claiming you don't even know her?" Yujin sighed and sank down onto the ottoman across from Wooram. "If you two are having issues, that's fine, and I'd be happy to help, but this is seriously messed up."
Wooram couldn't count the number of times she'd been in this exact spot, curled up on Yujin's couch with a cup of tea and Yujin's decorative blanket over her legs. Usually Yujin was far better equipped to figure out the often stupidly complex issues in Wooram's life, and Yujin's apartment was a safe haven from the rest of the world. Today everything seemed to get more and more confusing the moment Wooram stepped through the door.
"But I don't have a girlfriend," Wooram insisted. Her head was spinning in confusion and her sleep deprivation wasn't helping. "I don't know anyone named Soojin and I'm certainly not living with anyone! We were just talking about this yesterday, remember?"
This time it was Yujin's face that glazed over in confusion. "Yesterday we met up to study and you were going on and on about how perfect Soojin was. It was kind of disgusting."
"That's impossible!" The tea in her cup was cold by now and tasted stale on Wooram's tongue. Sure, she'd had extremely strange experiences after pulling an all-nighter before, but she'd never forgotten something so completely, let alone something as important as a damn live-in girlfriend.
Yujin shook her head and rose. Wooram knew that expression; as patient as she was, even Yujin had her limits. "Whatever's going on between you two, you need to work it out yourselves." Two minutes later Wooram found herself staring at Yujin's door, the cup in her hand replaced with her keys and an uncomfortable rumbling in her stomach.
From the outside, the apartment looked like any other. As Wooram had expected, it was a few streets away but in the same complex as Yujin's, on the second floor with a small balcony where Wooram could see a few potted plants in bloom. Not something she'd ever had if she lived on her own, that much was certain. For a long time Wooram stood outside and tried to catch sight of something, someone, moving around in the windows beyond the small balcony, but all was still. Maybe no one was home. The thought was a small spark of hope, enough to motivate Wooram to check out the place. Apparently she was living there, after all.
Sure enough, while the key to her dorm had mysteriously disappeared, a new key had reappeared in its place. There wasn't anything unusual about the key itself, which was why she'd failed to notice it at all earlier. The front door was as generic as they came and Wooram could find no more reason to hesitate there than she had outside. The lock clicked open easily and as the door swung open, Wooram found a pair of coal-lined eyes staring at her from within.
Her stomach flipped. The girl was directly across from the door, seated in a comfortable looking chair near the opposite wall. The walls were painted a calming green, the couch and chair were in complementing shades of blue. The black of the girl's outfit was a splotch of ink in the center of a colorful painting. As Wooram returned the girl's stare, she saw no more recognition in the stranger's expression than there must have been in her own.
"Soojin?" Wooram took a tentative step forward. This place was supposed to be hers, too.
The girl swallowed. "Do I know you?" Soojin's eyes flickered to the side and Wooram followed. One wall was a collage of pictures tacked up at random. Some were familiar, Yujin's face beamed out of numerous shots, but the vast majority were of Wooram. Wooram and this girl. Soojin. Her eyes fell on one where they were seated on what could only have been Yujin's couch. Wooram's arm was slung over Soojin's shoulder as she leaned in to kiss Soojin's cheek. In the picture, Soojin was grinning so hard her eyes had all but disappeared in her dark makeup. Wooram sneaked a glance at the Soojin before her and had a hard time imagining her smiling at all.
The girl seemed just as relieved as Wooram when she shook her head. While Soojin shifted in her chair, Wooram took a seat on the couch. Now and then her eyes drifted back to the photos, but she tried to focus on the person in front of her. Soojin wasn't looking at anything in particular. Her eyes tended to rest on her shoes, beaten up black chucks with dingy laces, but strayed to the furniture as if afraid it was going to jump out and bite her.
"What the hell," Wooram half sighed. Soojin glanced up but it was clearly easier for her to look away. Wooram returned the glance and remained, aware that she was only making Soojin more uncomfortable but unable to take her eyes off the girl once she started. "This isn't possible. I mean, last night I was studying, and now-? I didn't do anything that-" She mussed her own hair in frustration. "Do you-?"
"I didn't do this," Soojin snapped. Color rose on her cheeks and she added, "Sorry, this is too weird."
"This had to have happened sometime last night, right? What were you doing?" The question was too demanding. This wasn't a damn inquisition, Wooram told herself. Soojin was as much a victim as Wooram. "Where are you from? We should go check out your place in case..." There the thought ended. In case what? Wooram had returned to what she thought was her home and found someone else there.
Soojin stretched her legs- long legs, not model-long, but longer than Wooram's anyway. "I already did." Her eyes dropped again and she pulled her sweater closer around her. "I called, anyway. The guy was super irked that I was calling to ask if he lived in his own apartment." There was a pause, and Wooram noted a wave of emotion that passed across Soojin's features. "I called my job, too, and apparently the place doesn't exist. I called my friends, and they don't remember me." Tears filled Soojin's eyes as they locked onto Wooram's. "The only time I've ever seen this school is in passing, and suddenly I'm enrolled here, living here. With you. It's like someone dropped me into the middle of your life and erased mine."
Wooram opened her mouth to reply, but there was nothing she could say to that.
That night Yujin invited them over for a movie. The look on Soojin's face when Wooram accepted a little too quickly was downright pained, but between spending an awkward evening with others and spending it alone, just the two of them, Wooram was glad to go with the former. Yujin and Seungmi greeted them at the door with enthusiasm but it took all of Wooram's energy to force a smile. Soojin visibly withdrew from them and planted herself in the corner of the couch. Wooram was terribly disappointed when even Seungmi addressed them both as if this was how they'd always been, though she'd known deep down she shouldn't have expected any different.
As the movie started Yujin shoved Wooram over on the couch until she was crammed against Soojin's side. The poor girl gaped and tried to move away, but between the four of them there was no space. Wooram mouthed an apology and shot Yujin a look. Her friend retorted with a pleased smile as if saying you're welcome, and Wooram couldn't remember a time she'd wanted to hit Yujin this badly.
If Wooram had believed spending time with others would help the situation, she'd been very wrong. Returning to the apartment- their apartment- took forever because neither of them were familiar with how to get there, much less in the dark. When they finally arrived, they had to search out light switches, rediscovered the contents of their fridge, exchanged terrified glances when they found a queen size bed waiting in the bedroom.
"I'll sleep on the couch," Wooram offered immediately. She grabbed a pillow from the bed and rifled through the closet until she found an extra blanket. Soojin didn't reply until Wooram was halfway out the door.
A hand grabbed Wooram's sleeve. "It's a big bed," Soojin mumbled. "We can stay on our own sides just fine."
The bed was surprisingly comfortable and just as roomy as it looked, but Wooram still found herself lying awake for hours, forcing herself to remain absolutely still, curled up on her side facing away from Soojin.
Aside from her living situation, Wooram didn't notice many changes in her routine. The next morning she woke up at the same time, got ready and took off out the door. The apartment complex was across the street from the main part of campus, so she could still walk to class. It took about a week for her to adjust to returning to the apartment, and even that she didn't find too difficult. Having someone there was the biggest shock, and yet she couldn't say she minded that either. Soojin was just as messy as Wooram and soon their things were littered everywhere, mingling comfortably together. Soojin was a better cook than Wooram but most of the time they got carry out or ate at Yujin's. It was just as Soojin had said; something had dropped Soojin into Wooram's life, but neither of them could have expected she'd fit as well as she did.
For Soojin, every day was a struggle.
The first morning Soojin tore through every drawer until she found an old print out of her schedule. She was late to every class. Now she was an art student, taking mid-level painting courses though she claimed to have never held a brush in her life. People approached her whom she'd never met before as if they were friends. Yujin and Seungmi displayed knowledge of Soojin's tastes in everything from food to movies to clothing, giving her little gifts and hugging her even when Soojin tried to shy away. All Wooram could do was watch helplessly from the sidelines and try not to make anything worse. On the nights they spent alone in the apartment, Wooram tried to be kind and Soojin showed uneasy appreciation. Whenever Wooram found herself thinking how easy it would be for them to be friends, her eyes fell on that collage of photos and her heart leaped into her throat. The possibility for what they could be, for what this reality said they were, was too present for them to be close. No matter how tempting it was at times for Wooram to try.
"I'm sorry," Wooram groaned over dinner. The apology was sudden, blurted out in the middle of Soojin telling a story about class. Even with the uncomfortable pressure of their presumed relationship, they couldn't help but get comfortable enough to talk, and they talked a lot. Wooram shared the details of her life, and Soojin tried to rationalize them with her new one. Soojin never said a word about her life before she was 'dropped'- that was what they came to call it, when they were brave enough to talk about it- and Wooram never asked. Soojin cocked her head, her cheeks full of chicken and rice. Wooram flushed and tried to laugh it off. "I feel sometimes like I did this to you. Nothing's changed for me, but you-" She broke off and bit her lip.
For a few minutes Soojin appeared lost in thought. She chewed her food slowly and took a sip from her glass. "Even if you did," she began carefully, like she was closely analyzing every word, "it's okay." Her eyes met Wooram's across the table and Wooram's mouth went dry. "I don't really mind... being here in this world or whatever it is. At first it was scary, you know, but now that I'm used to it, I really like it." A smile lit up her face and Wooram couldn't remember that last time she'd seen anything so beautiful. "I could never have imagined going to school before, and now I'm going. And I'm painting. It felt so weird at first, familiar and yet really weird, and I'm good at it. I didn't believe anyone when they told me I was good, but now I see it, too."
Now Soojin was blushing, but the words kept coming like she couldn't stop. "And I like Yujin and Seungmi. They're nothing like my old friends, but that's a good thing, too. They're warm, you know? Really, really warm. And then there's you-" Wooram blinked in surprise as Soojin's mouth snapped closed. Her eyes slid to the side just as they had the first time they met. "The day I woke up here, I saw all of those photos and thought 'That can't possibly be me.' I looked so happy, we looked so happy. I believed this was all one huge lie because no one could ever be that damn happy."
Sighing, Soojin smiled a little. "But I am happy. I like living in your world."
Wooram's mouth hung open and she made a startled choking sound when Soojin just stared, obviously waiting for some kind of reply. As she was still fighting her brain for the right words, a sharp ringing made both of them jump and Wooram practically leaped from the table to grab the phone off its hook. "I both love you and hate you right now," Wooram breathed when Yujin's cheerful voice greeted her.
"Does that mean I can expect you two in ten minutes with beer?"
"You have the best ideas." Yujin was still laughing when Wooram hung up.
After her third bottle Wooram's face was flushed and she was pleasantly incapable of following the conversation. She pressed the cold bottle against her cheek and rotated her head so that she could stare at the wall. Such a calm, friendly wall. A wall with the perfect life, free of complications. Something warm and drunk pressed against Wooram's side and she tried to pretend she didn't know it was Soojin, who was get steadily drunker thanks to Yujin's encouragement.
Wooram rotated her head again and glared at her best friend. If Yujin noticed, she and her single bottle didn't care. Seungmi was almost as drunk as Soojin and sprawled across Yujin's lap where they were on the couch. Soojin and Wooram had taken over the floor in front of the low table where bottle after bottle was lined up. There were so many just trying to imagine the number made Wooram dizzy and she returned to the wall. Maybe the wall could be her new best friend.
"Are you okay?" a quiet voice asked. Wooram felt warm breath on her neck and she turned to find Soojin's face far too close for comfort. She raised her bottle to her lips and finished off the remaining liquid. It wasn't nearly enough to stop the warm feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Better than you," she muttered in reply. Soojin giggled and set her drink down. She rose on shaky legs and it took Wooram a very long time to deduce that it was time to go. She managed her own less than graceful rise and ended up stumbling into Soojin. Soft, thin arms wrapped around Wooram's waist and she tried not to groan. "Careful, unnie."
It was Soojin's "unnie," mumbled low and quiet against Wooram's ear, that did it. That single word was all she could hear as they stumbled their way home. It filled her muddled brain and raised gooseflesh on her arms until suddenly she was back in their apartment and she had Soojin pinned against the wall. Soojin was panting, her breath warm against Wooram's lips. Wooram's eyebrows knotted in a brief moment of doubt before Soojin whispered, "It's okay," and they were kissing. Wooram couldn't remember the last time she'd kissed anyone but she was pretty sure it hadn't been like this. Soojin's lips were soft and parted eagerly to allow Wooram's tongue inside. She tasted like beer and faintly of the strawberry lip balm Soojin always wore. The way Soojin's lips moved was new and yet eerily familiar, like this wasn't a real first time, maybe the first time in months. Wooram hardly noticed as Soojin's arms wrapped around her again and led her out of the living room, into the bedroom and gently pushed her onto the bed. Wooram's hands slid up the back of Soojin's shirt as Soojin climbed on top of her.
The weeks turned into months, and their mentions of the 'drop' grew less and less frequent. They took more pictures until they eventually replaced the original, unfamiliar collage. Wooram no longer slept huddled to one side, but stretched out in the middle in Soojin's arms, their legs wound together beneath the sheets. There were no more awkward conversations and no more apologies. The nights of getting to know each other were replaced with nights of quiet laughter and louder gasps. Now they took the time to cook together, took any excuse to not leave the apartment once they were there. Wooram would try to cook stir fry and end up burning everything because Soojin would sneak her hands beneath Wooram's shirt and squeeze her breasts. The food tasted terrible but everything else about that night was perfect.
Eventually Soojin met Wooram's parents. Their daughter's preference in partners had never been a secret, and Soojin's happy smiles and slightly awkward laugh won them over in no time. Soon Soojin was spending every holiday with Wooram's family, and Wooram wouldn't have had it any other way. Now and then a nagging thought distracted her from their happiness, but she pushed it away. Soojin never once revealed her past, never mentioned any parents, never talked about anything that had occurred prior to her 'drop.' Soojin seemed perfectly happy to pretend like this had always been their life, and Wooram was happy as long as Soojin was happy.
Except that Wooram knew that it couldn't be that easy.
Wooram was, as always, studying in the library. The clock read quarter past two in the morning, which translated in Wooram's mind to 'fifteen more minutes until I pass out on my books again.' She sorted through the electronic book catalog and groaned when the book she needed was on the other side of the library. Grabbing her cell phone, she trudged up the stairs and through the aisles. The book was a massive volume of ancient foreign transaction legislature and by the time she reached the end of the aisle, her arms were exhausted. She whined and hauled the thing to the next aisle, hoping for a chair or something, and instead found a door. She puzzled at the door for a few seconds before she realized that, no, this door did not belong here.
It was a plain door painted black, but the paint was faded and chipping in spots. Scrawled across the paint in some kind of marker was, 'KEEP OUT,' in uneven, emotional lettering. For a second Wooram thought her head was pounding, and then she noticed the faint sounds of bass echoing from inside the door. The giant book in her arms fell to the flood as she gripped the doorknob and turned.
The room inside was messy. Clothes, all in various shades of dark grey and black, were flung around at random. There was a small desk painted with the same chipping black as the door, and a laptop's screen glowed in the near darkness. Music was coming from somewhere in the room. A mattress took up most of the space, and a person perched on the edge, head cradled in her hands.
"Soojin?"
The person looked up. Soojin's smile greeted her but there was something wrong with it. "I was wondering when you'd find this place."
Wooram's tired mind couldn't understand the words. Just hours ago Soojin had been at home, settling in for a night of mindless reality television. Soojin had never once stepped foot in the library. "This place?" Wooram asked weakly. She looked around and tried to reason out how any of this could be in the library, but no luck.
"We'll call this place a rip. A tiny tear in this fabricated reality." Something in Wooram's face belied her sudden understanding, because Soojin's smile grew sad. "Nothing out there is real, Wooram."
Soojin, or rather this person who looked like her, pointed to the chair in front of the desk and Wooram slumped into it. "If this isn't real," she replied slowly, "then what is it?"
"It's a world Soojin has created for herself, deep inside her mind. A place where she can live the kind of life she's always wanted, with you."
Wooram groaned. "So you're not Soojin?"
The figment smiled. "I'm a part of Soojin."
"Because that makes so much more sense."
Soojin, or whatever she was, shrugged.
"Have you always been hiding up here?"
This Soojin rose to her feet as if she were going to approach Wooram, then stopped. She cocked her head in a way that was too like Soojin and started to pace the room. "Not always. This place is where Soojin's new world is at its weakest, so I was able to show you all of this only because you came here."
"But why the in world would you show me this?" Wooram already knew the answer. Because she was living a lie. Because it couldn't go on forever.
Soojin was silent a moment and the question went unanswered. "This has to end."
"Why?" Wooram asked. Her voice was so quiet she barely heard the word herself.
A shadow fell across the floor and Wooram looked up to find Soojin staring down at her. Where Soojin's eyes should have been warm, these were cold. The dark irises were absolutely empty of emotion, of memory, of anything. "Every day Soojin forgets more of who she used to be. She's given herself over to this place because she's happy here, but if she lets herself absorb into it completely she will no longer be herself. She'll be this world's Soojin, the one made to fit your life."
For a moment Wooram thought she was fainting, and then she realized the room was getting darker. The image of Soojin was falling away, the entire room disappearing until all that was left was Wooram and blackness.
"This is a first."
Wooram grumbled and shifted uncomfortably. Something was digging into her ribs and both of her legs were asleep. She opened her eyes to find Yujin staring down at her. She blinked and looked around, the walls of shelved books familiar and one very large book jammed beneath where she was sprawled on the library floor.
"Before you say anything," Yujin said, crouching down, "I've already called Soojin so she knows you're alive."
"Thanks," Wooram replied hoarsely. With Yujin's help she got to her feet and dusted off her clothes. She looked behind her and jumped when she found herself in front of a door. Just a normal, hardwood door like any other in the library. "I really don't feel well." Her stomach roiled and her face felt too hot.
Yujin sighed and took Wooram by the arm. "Let's get you home where your cute little girlfriend can nurse you back to health, shall we?"
At Yujin's teasing smile, Wooram managed a shaky chuckle. At the moment the last place she wanted to be was that apartment.
"No." Soojin sat in the same chair Wooram had found her in the day they'd met. The similarity made Wooram's chest ache and she almost wanted to mention it, but it seemed these days Soojin wanted to talk about anything but the day they met. Whenever Wooram mentioned the 'drop' or any of that awkward beginning, Soojin would smile in a vague, confused way and change the subject. Maybe that fake Soojin was right; was Soojin forgetting everything in order to conform to this world?
Wooram sat on the floor and rested her head against Soojin's legs. "But what if it's true? What if this isn't real?"
Soojin shifted to sink down on the floor beside Wooram. Her eyes were wide and a little angry and Wooram wanted to kiss her so badly she couldn't see straight. "How can this not be real? Everything is perfect, unnie. It has to be real." The pure desperation in the words decided for Wooram. She held Soojin gently by the arms.
"Then tell me, right now, how did we meet?"
For a few seconds Soojin's eyebrows furrowed and her mouth hung open. Then she mumbled, "We took Biology 101 together, remember? We both failed the midterm because we made out in the middle of studying and Yujin unnie-"
"Soojin, no." Tears blurred Wooram's vision and she pulled Soojin closer. Soojin's arms were shaking when they clang to Wooram's shirt. "You woke up in this apartment with no idea where you were. When I walked in you looked half ready to bolt, and back then I don't think I would have minded. Everyone told us we were dating and we'd never met before." In Wooram's arms, Soojin started crying. "You never told me about who you were before this, but you can't give it up. I love you, and I don't want you to change and forget everything."
Soojin pulled away and rubbed at her eyes. "But this place is better, right? Aren't you happy?"
"Of course I'm happy, but me being happy isn't worth losing you, the you I fell for." Wooram wiped away some of the tears but they just kept coming. Oddly enough, she shed none of her own. Somehow this felt right even through all the pain. It felt like they were having the most honest conversation they'd had in months. "This isn't real. We have to go back."
"How do we do that?"
Wooram pulled Soojin close again so that they were sitting side by side against the chair. She pointed to the couch. "Start small. That couch doesn't exist. Now you just have to believe that."
"Believe it?" Soojin took a deep breath and stared at the couch. Wooram stared, too, just as hard though she knew she couldn't do anything by doing so. She felt Soojin tense and tensed up in turn. She didn't dare blink as a second passed, then two. It was just long enough for her heart to give an awkward thump, a hint of hope that maybe all of that nonsense had been a dream. And then, in the third second, the couch vanished.
Soojin choked back a sob and Soojin held her close, trying to ignore the way her heart was racing.
The next day both of them skipped their classes and spent all day in bed. They cooked all of the ramyun that remained in their pantry and made it last the day so they didn't have to step one foot outside the apartment. In the morning it was easy to hold each other, kiss, make love when they felt like it. As the afternoon passed Soojin's tears returned and all Wooram could do was hold and rock her like a baby. The two of them walked around the apartment together, touching everything, trying to commit this place to memory. Neither of them mentioned that they might forget everything the second this place disappeared. It was better that way.
When dinnertime rolled around they joined Yujin and Seungmi for the usual dinner and a movie. The delicious food was tasteless on Wooram's tongue. Throughout the movie she spent more time watching Soojin's face than looking at the screen. The curve of her nose, the gentle slope of her cheek, the way her eyelashes moved when she blinked; every detail felt so much more important now.
At the end of the night Yujin pulled Wooram to the side as Seungmi and Soojin chatted in the corner. "What's up with you two? You look like someone's got cancer or something."
Wooram laughed and shook her head. "Just an off day. Thanks for having us over, Yujin."
Yujin frowned and gave Wooram's arm a squeeze. "I'm always here to talk, okay?"
"I know," Wooram replied. As the door closed behind them, Wooram took Soojin's hand and they slowly made their way home.
In bed, Wooram wrapped her arms around Soojin from behind and rested her chin on Soojin's shoulder. "Are you ready?"
Soojin laughed quietly. "Hell no."
"Good, me neither." Wooram bent and kissed Soojin's shoulder. Soojin cracked a smile and turned until she could kiss Wooram properly. When Soojin pulled away Wooram ran a tongue over her lips, held Soojin a little tighter.
"Promise me something, unnie," Soojin said after taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes and Wooram swore she could hear the world outside breaking down, everything vanishing into nothingness. "When we're back, you have to find me."
The walls of the room evaporated and Wooram gasped, squeezing Soojin as the furniture too faded away. "I promise," she whispered.
The world went dark and Wooram's arms were empty.
1. Inspired by an episode of The 4400.
2. Crossposted to AO3.
3. Ask me questions/make requests/prompt me!
Fandom and pairing: D-Unit, Ram/Zin
Prompt: Quote
Warnings: N/A
Summary: AU; Wooram wakes up with a girlfriend she's never met.
Summer is over and
we part, like eyelids,
like clams opening.
- Robert Haas, Basho: A Departure
Wooram's face hit the table's surface with a thunk that resonated throughout the entire library. Eyes turned in alarm, followed by a few snickers and Wooram groaned quietly to herself.
"I've heard of this new thing people do to avoid that," Yujin muttered over her Chemistry book. "It's called sleep. Are you familiar with the concept?"
Raising her own book in front of her face to block out Yujin's subtly smug smirk, Wooram replied coolly, "'Fraid not. Will I find it in my Law textbooks? Because at the moment my life kind of revolves around them."
Yujin clicked her tongue and set her book down, eyes wandering to the clock on the wall beside them. "It's nearly three a.m. Are you staying much longer? I have work in the morning but I don't want-"
"Just go," Wooram grunted, waving off Yujin's concerns. Unlike Yujin, Wooram didn't have anything to do in the morning beyond her impending exam. She also didn't have a cute girlfriend waiting for her, a fact which shouldn't have frustrated her as much as her lack of job, but it did. There wasn't much motivation to go home when all she'd be returning to was a cluttered room, a pile of textbooks and a cold, hard dorm bed. "My dorm's not too far from here, but it also wouldn't be the first time I spent the night in the library." Judging by the way she scrunched up her nose, Yujin didn't appreciate the humor. "Really," Wooram added, more kindly this time. "I'll be fine. Go home or you'll end up spilling soup on a customer again."
Yujin rolled her eyes and crammed her books into her bag. "Text me when you're home?"
"Yes, mom," Wooram grumbled and returned to her book, hiding the way she watched Yujin leave the building. With one last regretful look at the clock, she sighed and resumed jotting down notes in her notebook.
The next morning found Wooram leaving the library at a run, her face a mess of spiral imprints from where her face had rested on her notebook all night, her mind a mess a jumbled up copyright laws. The exam wasn't until the afternoon and it was still the morning, but she still needed to shower, meet Yujin for lunch and get another hour of review in before then.
When she reached her dorm building she swiped her card in front of the security scanner and frowned when the device beeped and flashed in angry red. She tried a few more times and huffed. The system was on the fritz again, or maybe she'd kept her card in her wallet too long and the device wasn't working. By then a small group of girls had gathered behind her, and she had no choice but to let them go ahead, thanking them when they held the door open for her. Climbing the stairs took her last vestiges of energy and she collapsed against the wall opposite her door. Fishing through her pockets, she felt eyes on her and found a few of the girls down the hall watching her in obvious confusion.
Her friendly wave went unreturned but she didn't have time to contemplate how rude neighbors could be. The more pressing issue was that her key, which she had never once misplaced, had disappeared from her key ring altogether. She was so distracted she didn't noticed the door to her dorm room opening in front of her, from the inside.
"Can I help you?"
Wooram looked up in alarm. In the doorway- her doorway- was a girl, probably about Wooram's age. "Why are you in my room?" Wooram mumbled, too shocked to even be angry.
The girl frowned. "Excuse me?" Her voice was loud enough to draw out a few more of the neighbors.
"This is my room," Wooram continued. She looked around at the other girls for support, but they were staring at her in much the same way as the girl in the doorway, like she was absolutely insane.
The girl took a step back and folded her arms. "I think you need to leave. This isn't funny."
Wooram was about to argue, but as the unfamiliar girl moved away, Wooram was able to look further into the room in question. A perfectly organized dresser, a flower print bedspread, photos of people Wooram had never seen on the walls. Her mouth hung open in stunned silence and the girl rolled her eyes as she returned to her room and closed the door.
"What do you mean, someone's in your dorm?" Yujin's voice was muffled with sleep but her exasperated tone came through clear. "You haven't lived in a dorm since freshman year."
Seated on a bench a safe distance away from her dorm building, Wooram found it impossible to drop her stunned expression even if her eyes were starting to hurt. "Then where the hell do I live?"
The question was supposed to be rhetorical, but Yujin, at her sarcastic best, rattled off an address. Wooram vaguely recognized the street name as one in Yujin's apartment complex, but that didn't explain anything. "Did you really spend the night in the library again? Soojin's probably worried sick."
Wooram almost didn't want to ask, but she found herself replying, "Soo... jin?"
"Yeah, you know, your girlfriend? The one you keep blowing off in lieu of studying?"
Yujin was still nagging when the phone clattered to the ground.
For a best friend, Wooram didn't think Yujin was being very supportive. Not when Yujin was pacing around her apartment and giving Wooram a stern lecture on why she should be a better girlfriend to a person she'd never even met. Yujin met Wooram's obvious bafflement with offended annoyance.
"I went to all that trouble to bring you two together, and now you're claiming you don't even know her?" Yujin sighed and sank down onto the ottoman across from Wooram. "If you two are having issues, that's fine, and I'd be happy to help, but this is seriously messed up."
Wooram couldn't count the number of times she'd been in this exact spot, curled up on Yujin's couch with a cup of tea and Yujin's decorative blanket over her legs. Usually Yujin was far better equipped to figure out the often stupidly complex issues in Wooram's life, and Yujin's apartment was a safe haven from the rest of the world. Today everything seemed to get more and more confusing the moment Wooram stepped through the door.
"But I don't have a girlfriend," Wooram insisted. Her head was spinning in confusion and her sleep deprivation wasn't helping. "I don't know anyone named Soojin and I'm certainly not living with anyone! We were just talking about this yesterday, remember?"
This time it was Yujin's face that glazed over in confusion. "Yesterday we met up to study and you were going on and on about how perfect Soojin was. It was kind of disgusting."
"That's impossible!" The tea in her cup was cold by now and tasted stale on Wooram's tongue. Sure, she'd had extremely strange experiences after pulling an all-nighter before, but she'd never forgotten something so completely, let alone something as important as a damn live-in girlfriend.
Yujin shook her head and rose. Wooram knew that expression; as patient as she was, even Yujin had her limits. "Whatever's going on between you two, you need to work it out yourselves." Two minutes later Wooram found herself staring at Yujin's door, the cup in her hand replaced with her keys and an uncomfortable rumbling in her stomach.
From the outside, the apartment looked like any other. As Wooram had expected, it was a few streets away but in the same complex as Yujin's, on the second floor with a small balcony where Wooram could see a few potted plants in bloom. Not something she'd ever had if she lived on her own, that much was certain. For a long time Wooram stood outside and tried to catch sight of something, someone, moving around in the windows beyond the small balcony, but all was still. Maybe no one was home. The thought was a small spark of hope, enough to motivate Wooram to check out the place. Apparently she was living there, after all.
Sure enough, while the key to her dorm had mysteriously disappeared, a new key had reappeared in its place. There wasn't anything unusual about the key itself, which was why she'd failed to notice it at all earlier. The front door was as generic as they came and Wooram could find no more reason to hesitate there than she had outside. The lock clicked open easily and as the door swung open, Wooram found a pair of coal-lined eyes staring at her from within.
Her stomach flipped. The girl was directly across from the door, seated in a comfortable looking chair near the opposite wall. The walls were painted a calming green, the couch and chair were in complementing shades of blue. The black of the girl's outfit was a splotch of ink in the center of a colorful painting. As Wooram returned the girl's stare, she saw no more recognition in the stranger's expression than there must have been in her own.
"Soojin?" Wooram took a tentative step forward. This place was supposed to be hers, too.
The girl swallowed. "Do I know you?" Soojin's eyes flickered to the side and Wooram followed. One wall was a collage of pictures tacked up at random. Some were familiar, Yujin's face beamed out of numerous shots, but the vast majority were of Wooram. Wooram and this girl. Soojin. Her eyes fell on one where they were seated on what could only have been Yujin's couch. Wooram's arm was slung over Soojin's shoulder as she leaned in to kiss Soojin's cheek. In the picture, Soojin was grinning so hard her eyes had all but disappeared in her dark makeup. Wooram sneaked a glance at the Soojin before her and had a hard time imagining her smiling at all.
The girl seemed just as relieved as Wooram when she shook her head. While Soojin shifted in her chair, Wooram took a seat on the couch. Now and then her eyes drifted back to the photos, but she tried to focus on the person in front of her. Soojin wasn't looking at anything in particular. Her eyes tended to rest on her shoes, beaten up black chucks with dingy laces, but strayed to the furniture as if afraid it was going to jump out and bite her.
"What the hell," Wooram half sighed. Soojin glanced up but it was clearly easier for her to look away. Wooram returned the glance and remained, aware that she was only making Soojin more uncomfortable but unable to take her eyes off the girl once she started. "This isn't possible. I mean, last night I was studying, and now-? I didn't do anything that-" She mussed her own hair in frustration. "Do you-?"
"I didn't do this," Soojin snapped. Color rose on her cheeks and she added, "Sorry, this is too weird."
"This had to have happened sometime last night, right? What were you doing?" The question was too demanding. This wasn't a damn inquisition, Wooram told herself. Soojin was as much a victim as Wooram. "Where are you from? We should go check out your place in case..." There the thought ended. In case what? Wooram had returned to what she thought was her home and found someone else there.
Soojin stretched her legs- long legs, not model-long, but longer than Wooram's anyway. "I already did." Her eyes dropped again and she pulled her sweater closer around her. "I called, anyway. The guy was super irked that I was calling to ask if he lived in his own apartment." There was a pause, and Wooram noted a wave of emotion that passed across Soojin's features. "I called my job, too, and apparently the place doesn't exist. I called my friends, and they don't remember me." Tears filled Soojin's eyes as they locked onto Wooram's. "The only time I've ever seen this school is in passing, and suddenly I'm enrolled here, living here. With you. It's like someone dropped me into the middle of your life and erased mine."
Wooram opened her mouth to reply, but there was nothing she could say to that.
That night Yujin invited them over for a movie. The look on Soojin's face when Wooram accepted a little too quickly was downright pained, but between spending an awkward evening with others and spending it alone, just the two of them, Wooram was glad to go with the former. Yujin and Seungmi greeted them at the door with enthusiasm but it took all of Wooram's energy to force a smile. Soojin visibly withdrew from them and planted herself in the corner of the couch. Wooram was terribly disappointed when even Seungmi addressed them both as if this was how they'd always been, though she'd known deep down she shouldn't have expected any different.
As the movie started Yujin shoved Wooram over on the couch until she was crammed against Soojin's side. The poor girl gaped and tried to move away, but between the four of them there was no space. Wooram mouthed an apology and shot Yujin a look. Her friend retorted with a pleased smile as if saying you're welcome, and Wooram couldn't remember a time she'd wanted to hit Yujin this badly.
If Wooram had believed spending time with others would help the situation, she'd been very wrong. Returning to the apartment- their apartment- took forever because neither of them were familiar with how to get there, much less in the dark. When they finally arrived, they had to search out light switches, rediscovered the contents of their fridge, exchanged terrified glances when they found a queen size bed waiting in the bedroom.
"I'll sleep on the couch," Wooram offered immediately. She grabbed a pillow from the bed and rifled through the closet until she found an extra blanket. Soojin didn't reply until Wooram was halfway out the door.
A hand grabbed Wooram's sleeve. "It's a big bed," Soojin mumbled. "We can stay on our own sides just fine."
The bed was surprisingly comfortable and just as roomy as it looked, but Wooram still found herself lying awake for hours, forcing herself to remain absolutely still, curled up on her side facing away from Soojin.
Aside from her living situation, Wooram didn't notice many changes in her routine. The next morning she woke up at the same time, got ready and took off out the door. The apartment complex was across the street from the main part of campus, so she could still walk to class. It took about a week for her to adjust to returning to the apartment, and even that she didn't find too difficult. Having someone there was the biggest shock, and yet she couldn't say she minded that either. Soojin was just as messy as Wooram and soon their things were littered everywhere, mingling comfortably together. Soojin was a better cook than Wooram but most of the time they got carry out or ate at Yujin's. It was just as Soojin had said; something had dropped Soojin into Wooram's life, but neither of them could have expected she'd fit as well as she did.
For Soojin, every day was a struggle.
The first morning Soojin tore through every drawer until she found an old print out of her schedule. She was late to every class. Now she was an art student, taking mid-level painting courses though she claimed to have never held a brush in her life. People approached her whom she'd never met before as if they were friends. Yujin and Seungmi displayed knowledge of Soojin's tastes in everything from food to movies to clothing, giving her little gifts and hugging her even when Soojin tried to shy away. All Wooram could do was watch helplessly from the sidelines and try not to make anything worse. On the nights they spent alone in the apartment, Wooram tried to be kind and Soojin showed uneasy appreciation. Whenever Wooram found herself thinking how easy it would be for them to be friends, her eyes fell on that collage of photos and her heart leaped into her throat. The possibility for what they could be, for what this reality said they were, was too present for them to be close. No matter how tempting it was at times for Wooram to try.
"I'm sorry," Wooram groaned over dinner. The apology was sudden, blurted out in the middle of Soojin telling a story about class. Even with the uncomfortable pressure of their presumed relationship, they couldn't help but get comfortable enough to talk, and they talked a lot. Wooram shared the details of her life, and Soojin tried to rationalize them with her new one. Soojin never said a word about her life before she was 'dropped'- that was what they came to call it, when they were brave enough to talk about it- and Wooram never asked. Soojin cocked her head, her cheeks full of chicken and rice. Wooram flushed and tried to laugh it off. "I feel sometimes like I did this to you. Nothing's changed for me, but you-" She broke off and bit her lip.
For a few minutes Soojin appeared lost in thought. She chewed her food slowly and took a sip from her glass. "Even if you did," she began carefully, like she was closely analyzing every word, "it's okay." Her eyes met Wooram's across the table and Wooram's mouth went dry. "I don't really mind... being here in this world or whatever it is. At first it was scary, you know, but now that I'm used to it, I really like it." A smile lit up her face and Wooram couldn't remember that last time she'd seen anything so beautiful. "I could never have imagined going to school before, and now I'm going. And I'm painting. It felt so weird at first, familiar and yet really weird, and I'm good at it. I didn't believe anyone when they told me I was good, but now I see it, too."
Now Soojin was blushing, but the words kept coming like she couldn't stop. "And I like Yujin and Seungmi. They're nothing like my old friends, but that's a good thing, too. They're warm, you know? Really, really warm. And then there's you-" Wooram blinked in surprise as Soojin's mouth snapped closed. Her eyes slid to the side just as they had the first time they met. "The day I woke up here, I saw all of those photos and thought 'That can't possibly be me.' I looked so happy, we looked so happy. I believed this was all one huge lie because no one could ever be that damn happy."
Sighing, Soojin smiled a little. "But I am happy. I like living in your world."
Wooram's mouth hung open and she made a startled choking sound when Soojin just stared, obviously waiting for some kind of reply. As she was still fighting her brain for the right words, a sharp ringing made both of them jump and Wooram practically leaped from the table to grab the phone off its hook. "I both love you and hate you right now," Wooram breathed when Yujin's cheerful voice greeted her.
"Does that mean I can expect you two in ten minutes with beer?"
"You have the best ideas." Yujin was still laughing when Wooram hung up.
After her third bottle Wooram's face was flushed and she was pleasantly incapable of following the conversation. She pressed the cold bottle against her cheek and rotated her head so that she could stare at the wall. Such a calm, friendly wall. A wall with the perfect life, free of complications. Something warm and drunk pressed against Wooram's side and she tried to pretend she didn't know it was Soojin, who was get steadily drunker thanks to Yujin's encouragement.
Wooram rotated her head again and glared at her best friend. If Yujin noticed, she and her single bottle didn't care. Seungmi was almost as drunk as Soojin and sprawled across Yujin's lap where they were on the couch. Soojin and Wooram had taken over the floor in front of the low table where bottle after bottle was lined up. There were so many just trying to imagine the number made Wooram dizzy and she returned to the wall. Maybe the wall could be her new best friend.
"Are you okay?" a quiet voice asked. Wooram felt warm breath on her neck and she turned to find Soojin's face far too close for comfort. She raised her bottle to her lips and finished off the remaining liquid. It wasn't nearly enough to stop the warm feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Better than you," she muttered in reply. Soojin giggled and set her drink down. She rose on shaky legs and it took Wooram a very long time to deduce that it was time to go. She managed her own less than graceful rise and ended up stumbling into Soojin. Soft, thin arms wrapped around Wooram's waist and she tried not to groan. "Careful, unnie."
It was Soojin's "unnie," mumbled low and quiet against Wooram's ear, that did it. That single word was all she could hear as they stumbled their way home. It filled her muddled brain and raised gooseflesh on her arms until suddenly she was back in their apartment and she had Soojin pinned against the wall. Soojin was panting, her breath warm against Wooram's lips. Wooram's eyebrows knotted in a brief moment of doubt before Soojin whispered, "It's okay," and they were kissing. Wooram couldn't remember the last time she'd kissed anyone but she was pretty sure it hadn't been like this. Soojin's lips were soft and parted eagerly to allow Wooram's tongue inside. She tasted like beer and faintly of the strawberry lip balm Soojin always wore. The way Soojin's lips moved was new and yet eerily familiar, like this wasn't a real first time, maybe the first time in months. Wooram hardly noticed as Soojin's arms wrapped around her again and led her out of the living room, into the bedroom and gently pushed her onto the bed. Wooram's hands slid up the back of Soojin's shirt as Soojin climbed on top of her.
The weeks turned into months, and their mentions of the 'drop' grew less and less frequent. They took more pictures until they eventually replaced the original, unfamiliar collage. Wooram no longer slept huddled to one side, but stretched out in the middle in Soojin's arms, their legs wound together beneath the sheets. There were no more awkward conversations and no more apologies. The nights of getting to know each other were replaced with nights of quiet laughter and louder gasps. Now they took the time to cook together, took any excuse to not leave the apartment once they were there. Wooram would try to cook stir fry and end up burning everything because Soojin would sneak her hands beneath Wooram's shirt and squeeze her breasts. The food tasted terrible but everything else about that night was perfect.
Eventually Soojin met Wooram's parents. Their daughter's preference in partners had never been a secret, and Soojin's happy smiles and slightly awkward laugh won them over in no time. Soon Soojin was spending every holiday with Wooram's family, and Wooram wouldn't have had it any other way. Now and then a nagging thought distracted her from their happiness, but she pushed it away. Soojin never once revealed her past, never mentioned any parents, never talked about anything that had occurred prior to her 'drop.' Soojin seemed perfectly happy to pretend like this had always been their life, and Wooram was happy as long as Soojin was happy.
Except that Wooram knew that it couldn't be that easy.
Wooram was, as always, studying in the library. The clock read quarter past two in the morning, which translated in Wooram's mind to 'fifteen more minutes until I pass out on my books again.' She sorted through the electronic book catalog and groaned when the book she needed was on the other side of the library. Grabbing her cell phone, she trudged up the stairs and through the aisles. The book was a massive volume of ancient foreign transaction legislature and by the time she reached the end of the aisle, her arms were exhausted. She whined and hauled the thing to the next aisle, hoping for a chair or something, and instead found a door. She puzzled at the door for a few seconds before she realized that, no, this door did not belong here.
It was a plain door painted black, but the paint was faded and chipping in spots. Scrawled across the paint in some kind of marker was, 'KEEP OUT,' in uneven, emotional lettering. For a second Wooram thought her head was pounding, and then she noticed the faint sounds of bass echoing from inside the door. The giant book in her arms fell to the flood as she gripped the doorknob and turned.
The room inside was messy. Clothes, all in various shades of dark grey and black, were flung around at random. There was a small desk painted with the same chipping black as the door, and a laptop's screen glowed in the near darkness. Music was coming from somewhere in the room. A mattress took up most of the space, and a person perched on the edge, head cradled in her hands.
"Soojin?"
The person looked up. Soojin's smile greeted her but there was something wrong with it. "I was wondering when you'd find this place."
Wooram's tired mind couldn't understand the words. Just hours ago Soojin had been at home, settling in for a night of mindless reality television. Soojin had never once stepped foot in the library. "This place?" Wooram asked weakly. She looked around and tried to reason out how any of this could be in the library, but no luck.
"We'll call this place a rip. A tiny tear in this fabricated reality." Something in Wooram's face belied her sudden understanding, because Soojin's smile grew sad. "Nothing out there is real, Wooram."
Soojin, or rather this person who looked like her, pointed to the chair in front of the desk and Wooram slumped into it. "If this isn't real," she replied slowly, "then what is it?"
"It's a world Soojin has created for herself, deep inside her mind. A place where she can live the kind of life she's always wanted, with you."
Wooram groaned. "So you're not Soojin?"
The figment smiled. "I'm a part of Soojin."
"Because that makes so much more sense."
Soojin, or whatever she was, shrugged.
"Have you always been hiding up here?"
This Soojin rose to her feet as if she were going to approach Wooram, then stopped. She cocked her head in a way that was too like Soojin and started to pace the room. "Not always. This place is where Soojin's new world is at its weakest, so I was able to show you all of this only because you came here."
"But why the in world would you show me this?" Wooram already knew the answer. Because she was living a lie. Because it couldn't go on forever.
Soojin was silent a moment and the question went unanswered. "This has to end."
"Why?" Wooram asked. Her voice was so quiet she barely heard the word herself.
A shadow fell across the floor and Wooram looked up to find Soojin staring down at her. Where Soojin's eyes should have been warm, these were cold. The dark irises were absolutely empty of emotion, of memory, of anything. "Every day Soojin forgets more of who she used to be. She's given herself over to this place because she's happy here, but if she lets herself absorb into it completely she will no longer be herself. She'll be this world's Soojin, the one made to fit your life."
For a moment Wooram thought she was fainting, and then she realized the room was getting darker. The image of Soojin was falling away, the entire room disappearing until all that was left was Wooram and blackness.
"This is a first."
Wooram grumbled and shifted uncomfortably. Something was digging into her ribs and both of her legs were asleep. She opened her eyes to find Yujin staring down at her. She blinked and looked around, the walls of shelved books familiar and one very large book jammed beneath where she was sprawled on the library floor.
"Before you say anything," Yujin said, crouching down, "I've already called Soojin so she knows you're alive."
"Thanks," Wooram replied hoarsely. With Yujin's help she got to her feet and dusted off her clothes. She looked behind her and jumped when she found herself in front of a door. Just a normal, hardwood door like any other in the library. "I really don't feel well." Her stomach roiled and her face felt too hot.
Yujin sighed and took Wooram by the arm. "Let's get you home where your cute little girlfriend can nurse you back to health, shall we?"
At Yujin's teasing smile, Wooram managed a shaky chuckle. At the moment the last place she wanted to be was that apartment.
"No." Soojin sat in the same chair Wooram had found her in the day they'd met. The similarity made Wooram's chest ache and she almost wanted to mention it, but it seemed these days Soojin wanted to talk about anything but the day they met. Whenever Wooram mentioned the 'drop' or any of that awkward beginning, Soojin would smile in a vague, confused way and change the subject. Maybe that fake Soojin was right; was Soojin forgetting everything in order to conform to this world?
Wooram sat on the floor and rested her head against Soojin's legs. "But what if it's true? What if this isn't real?"
Soojin shifted to sink down on the floor beside Wooram. Her eyes were wide and a little angry and Wooram wanted to kiss her so badly she couldn't see straight. "How can this not be real? Everything is perfect, unnie. It has to be real." The pure desperation in the words decided for Wooram. She held Soojin gently by the arms.
"Then tell me, right now, how did we meet?"
For a few seconds Soojin's eyebrows furrowed and her mouth hung open. Then she mumbled, "We took Biology 101 together, remember? We both failed the midterm because we made out in the middle of studying and Yujin unnie-"
"Soojin, no." Tears blurred Wooram's vision and she pulled Soojin closer. Soojin's arms were shaking when they clang to Wooram's shirt. "You woke up in this apartment with no idea where you were. When I walked in you looked half ready to bolt, and back then I don't think I would have minded. Everyone told us we were dating and we'd never met before." In Wooram's arms, Soojin started crying. "You never told me about who you were before this, but you can't give it up. I love you, and I don't want you to change and forget everything."
Soojin pulled away and rubbed at her eyes. "But this place is better, right? Aren't you happy?"
"Of course I'm happy, but me being happy isn't worth losing you, the you I fell for." Wooram wiped away some of the tears but they just kept coming. Oddly enough, she shed none of her own. Somehow this felt right even through all the pain. It felt like they were having the most honest conversation they'd had in months. "This isn't real. We have to go back."
"How do we do that?"
Wooram pulled Soojin close again so that they were sitting side by side against the chair. She pointed to the couch. "Start small. That couch doesn't exist. Now you just have to believe that."
"Believe it?" Soojin took a deep breath and stared at the couch. Wooram stared, too, just as hard though she knew she couldn't do anything by doing so. She felt Soojin tense and tensed up in turn. She didn't dare blink as a second passed, then two. It was just long enough for her heart to give an awkward thump, a hint of hope that maybe all of that nonsense had been a dream. And then, in the third second, the couch vanished.
Soojin choked back a sob and Soojin held her close, trying to ignore the way her heart was racing.
The next day both of them skipped their classes and spent all day in bed. They cooked all of the ramyun that remained in their pantry and made it last the day so they didn't have to step one foot outside the apartment. In the morning it was easy to hold each other, kiss, make love when they felt like it. As the afternoon passed Soojin's tears returned and all Wooram could do was hold and rock her like a baby. The two of them walked around the apartment together, touching everything, trying to commit this place to memory. Neither of them mentioned that they might forget everything the second this place disappeared. It was better that way.
When dinnertime rolled around they joined Yujin and Seungmi for the usual dinner and a movie. The delicious food was tasteless on Wooram's tongue. Throughout the movie she spent more time watching Soojin's face than looking at the screen. The curve of her nose, the gentle slope of her cheek, the way her eyelashes moved when she blinked; every detail felt so much more important now.
At the end of the night Yujin pulled Wooram to the side as Seungmi and Soojin chatted in the corner. "What's up with you two? You look like someone's got cancer or something."
Wooram laughed and shook her head. "Just an off day. Thanks for having us over, Yujin."
Yujin frowned and gave Wooram's arm a squeeze. "I'm always here to talk, okay?"
"I know," Wooram replied. As the door closed behind them, Wooram took Soojin's hand and they slowly made their way home.
In bed, Wooram wrapped her arms around Soojin from behind and rested her chin on Soojin's shoulder. "Are you ready?"
Soojin laughed quietly. "Hell no."
"Good, me neither." Wooram bent and kissed Soojin's shoulder. Soojin cracked a smile and turned until she could kiss Wooram properly. When Soojin pulled away Wooram ran a tongue over her lips, held Soojin a little tighter.
"Promise me something, unnie," Soojin said after taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes and Wooram swore she could hear the world outside breaking down, everything vanishing into nothingness. "When we're back, you have to find me."
The walls of the room evaporated and Wooram gasped, squeezing Soojin as the furniture too faded away. "I promise," she whispered.
The world went dark and Wooram's arms were empty.
1. Inspired by an episode of The 4400.
2. Crossposted to AO3.
3. Ask me questions/make requests/prompt me!