Chapter 3: Sleep

"Get some rest."

The words were gentle off her tongue. The soothing accent lulled him to relax. He dropped his tense shoulders, his jaw unclenched itself, and his eyes drooped down with a heavy blink. The weight of the endless nights was starting to poison its effects on him. He slipped, a moment of losing focus, a blink, and his head dropped.

He was lucky she was there to catch him.

"I've got you."

Tae-Joon tried to get up. A hazy blur washed over his vision. This time, two firm hands gripped him by the shoulders. He already knew what he would see. But like watching the sunrise, to see it firsthand only made it so much more real and beautiful.

So he looked up.

He looked up to find those beautiful, blue eyes bound to him. They were soft. They were soft, and accompanied by her smile, he melted in them. All the barriers and facades he had built crumbled by her sincerity.

His body sagged, and his weight shifted, further leaning against her support. He tried to grab a hold of himself. Tae-Joon never realized how tired he could be. How long has it been since he last rested?

Days. Months. Maybe years.

You can always sleep every night. But what would you give for the luxury of rest?

He tried to push himself away from her.

"No," she said. She held him, refusing his attempts to stand and be self-sufficient. "You need to sleep. You're exhausted!"

"I'm alright," he mumbled. "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

He hated the idea of sleep. Even before the incident, Tae-Joon thought sleep was a waste of time and a failure of biology. Why would you need to sacrifice a third of your life to be in a state of comatose? He couldn't stand the idea of being… still. No time to think. No time to live. Where was the purpose in that?

And now, after all those years of being alone, scared of being caught with a crime he didn't commit, sleep meant he had to stop. Stop his anger and be overwhelmed with the sadness of losing his life and his family. Late at night, it meant that he had to be Tae-Joon instead of Crypto.

"Don't be ridiculous!"

She hooked her arm around his. Even with the separation from his long-sleeved shirt and her nightgown, the contact against her body made him crave for more. They were sitting in his bed, leaning against the wall. Natalie clutched his pillow that bled the colors blue and red in the pattern of the Taegukgi. There was a soft hum from the PC fan. The glow from his monitors, trails of light green, gave a certain night atmosphere.

Natalie leaned her head against his shoulders. He flinched, before settling himself back down and trying his best to stay loose. Still.

"When I was a kid," she started to say. "There would be times when Papa and I stood up late working on the Ring. And even if he were never a huge fan of cooking, he would make snacks for us to have together."

He grunted. Late night work as a computer engineer meant another cup of instant ramen for him. It meant servitude. Each hour he stayed up was a statement. I own you, the Syndicate wanted to say. Your life, all hours of it, belong to me.

And what they own, is what they took.

Natalie continued her nostalgia. "Galettes. Macrons. Even Chocolate éclair. Papa always had a sweet tooth." She smiled. And Tae-Joon could see the pain the nostalgia brought. He understood. The cherishing memories had a price: you'll never get to have them again.

There was silence between them. Maybe it was a contemplative one. But it was cut short because he responded, "My sister would always bring back choco-pie. She loved those stupid snacks, and we would each have one at exactly 12:01."

Her head perked up. There was a traceable smile from her that warmed him. It seemed unfair for her to be sad alone. After all, misery loves company.

"Why 12:01?"

"She said it's to make a statement." There was a mist of nostalgia that encircled him. It was intoxicating. A blissful pain. "That because it's a new day, we stop working and eat the snack to choose for ourselves. But honestly, I think it's just an excuse."

She laughed, leaning her weight further into his body. They were almost a mesh of flesh lumped together now. He could feel her warmth. How her hand traced against his right arm. How her head was perfectly nestled into the nook of his shoulders.

Cuddling. That's what Mila would have told him.

"Tell me more," she said in an excited whisper. There was a youthful innocence to her that was so endearing to him. He laughed.

"There's really nothing much," he said, shaking his head. But in his mind, there was a rapid examination through all his memories, both short-term and long. The good memories are seen with sadness or the bad ones with amusement.

Which ones were worth sharing? Which ones were worth exploring and knowing together?

"It doesn't matter," she said, further nuzzling her head. Her blonde hair tickled against the skin of his neck. "I don't need a movie. Just something when you were a child. Anything. Just let me know your story."

"Okay," he said, uncertain. It's been ages since he last talked to someone, much less about him. He blinked, taking a deep breath. "Okay, I think I can do that."

Her eyes widened in anticipation, and he marveled at the sparkles in them.

"I… I used to live in Angel City with my sister. Our favorite time would be the morning when the Syndicate wasn't enforcing the work hour effective until 8. We would wake up early just to see the sunrise and watch how it would shine over the skyline. It was hard you know? We would… sleep late because of work. So, a lot of times, it would just be us being hazy and groggy, bumping through streetlights to a special place we found that gives a good view of the city. One time, we had to go through a winter storm."

He smiled. The memories were real. For so long, he did his best to forget. Because they came heavy. But when it was too heavy for himself, a look at Natalie and he knew, he wasn't alone.

"I spent two weeks just coughing and sneezing." He smiled as she laughed in sympathy. "But we had to do it. Everyday. Because it meant we were making a choice. Together. When you saw the sunrise, peaking just above the skyscraper," his eyes were drifting into a memory- a vision so vivid, he forgets how much it meant to him then, "that… that you felt some warmth. That life was going to be okay. It's a new day for you to face. And it was something I had to do again and again.

희망.

I needed the sunrise every day to remember that there will always be light."

The hum of his computer made a soft lullaby. It was a bit harsh, but he didn't mind. They stood still, and Tae-Joon wondered if he could have told his story better, more precisely. Was it too messy?

She spoke, "You should write a book."

He blushed. "You're teasing me."

"I'm serious!" She hugged him tighter. "It was beautiful!"

They were cocooned together, sheltered against the night. He didn't want to sleep- not yet. Her hand traced down, searching for its partner. He could feel her fingers hungrily grab whatever it was in its path to feel full. So he slipped his hand in her path. Their fingers interlocked with one another, and it was complete.

He squeezed her hand, just to make sure it was there. "Thank you… thank you for listening."

She squeezed back. "I'm always here."

How long has it been since he felt safe?

On paper, nothing changed. He was still on the run, a wanted man. And yet, everything felt different. The world was a mess- there was no doubt about it. And yet, he was able to find peace in this bed with her.

He leaned on Natalie. His head, resting against hers, tickled from the strays of her hair. "It feels like a lot is happening. Like… like, sometimes, it's just you and me against the world."

She giggled and kissed his cheeks. "Then I still like our odds."

운명. There was a thing he believed in: destiny. Perhaps it was a hokey, supernatural mysticism that he was supposed to be too smart to believe in. But to believe in that meant to find the strength to accept the world as it is, and yet the agency to change it for the better. It meant he mattered, that there was something about him that was worth caring about.

And when it came to Tae-Joon and Natalie, the legends of the world, it meant they mattered. Together.

"Sleep," she said.

And just like a charm, he felt his eyes heavy. There was a soft lullaby over their head that protected him from the nightmares and scary thoughts. He was warm. He was safe. He was protected.

He was with her.

"Sleep well," Natalie said. She kissed his forehead. A soft charm before he said goodbye to the night. Morning would come, along with the sun. "My sleeping beauty."

Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Please leave a review (it's so helpful with the writing process so please and thank you!)

Stay tuned for the next story I'm working on... where it'll cover the Apex game itself!

Spoiler alert: Crypto, Mirage, and Wattson are in a team, and they must learn how to work together in order to win.