This has been made based on the same idea as my other Cheol pov fic "Dream". Except this on'es Miae.
Really grateful to my proofreaders for this T^T
Characters: Hwang Miae, Kim Cheol, Miae's Mom (Lee Jinok), Miae's Dad (Hwang Jeongnam) (mentioned), Lee Yunhui (minor appearance), No Jihye (minor appearance), Gong Jiseon (minor appearance)
Tags: Angst but Wholesome by the end, Hurt/Comfort
Miae could hear her mom talk on the telephone outside her room. She was calling school to inform them that Miae wouldn't be attending school today because she was sick. Miae moved around in her covers as it was too warm but it also felt very chilly if she moved them off herself.
Miae heard her mom finish the call and come into the room, and she opened her mouth "Seriously Hwang Miae! Why didn't you take an umbrella along? The weather forecast had said that it would be raining. If you had taken your umbrella, then you wouldn't be sick like this! You are missing school because of this…" her mom scolded her for the umpteenth time. Miae grumbled in annoyance at her mom's words. Miae had stayed back to play games at the arcade with Johan against Honggyu for too long and had to run to the bus stop in the rain, tripping on the way. In the end, she missed her bus and had to wait for the next one, drenched from running and tripping in the rain. By the time she reached home, she felt feverish, which had worsened to her current state this morning.
Her mom kept up her nagging, full of annoyance and disgruntlement, but Miae could catch the worry in her voice. This was not unfamiliar to her, as she would fall sick very often when she was younger and each time her parents would worry for her. This was the first time in years that she had fallen so sick, so her dad became so nervous that he left for work a little later than usual and her mom became absolutely fretful and fussy. Miae would always be upset with her mom for how hard she was on her, but the sight before her made her feel conflicted.
Miae decided to close her eyes and try to go back to sleep. She could hear her mom move around as she fell asleep.
The next time she opened her eyes, she saw that the house seemed empty. Miae got up to check and found a note from her mom on the table with porridge for lunch. It said that she had left for some errands. She checked the clock and the view outside her window to confirm that it was afternoon now.
Miae ate as much porridge as she felt like eating and went to bed again. She looked at the clock again, 'Oh, school's about to end. I wonder what the others are doing.' This made Miae think of her friends. Perhaps, because of how she was remembering the past earlier, she remembered how she met her current friends. Then her many other friends, how many of them moved away, and how she tried to stay in touch but lost that over time.
Next, Miae remembered how she met Cheol when she was 10 years old. 'Yeah, even that lasted only a few days. When I was leaving he didn't even come to say goodbye.' her thoughts went quiet, and she felt a tug in her heart.
Miae tried to brush it off. 'I am getting too sentimental. There's no need to think like that, he's here now. We have become so close too!' She remembered how he had agreed to become friends with her after so many attempts, and his soccer match which felt more like a revenge soccer match for her sake. Miae was filled with glee. Then she remembered how he put restrictions and rules on how friendly she's allowed to be with him, how he still keeps a distance. Miae remembered Sunjeong's words of how he wants to return to the countryside. Miae froze. 'How strange, why am I thinking of all this? My fever must be getting to my head too much…'
Miae curled up under her covers, not caring for how hot she felt anymore. She remembered the night before during the academy, when she was talking to Cheol during breaktime and jokingly suggested that he should take her home on his bike since there were chances it would rain. In reaction, Cheol looked horrified and immediately said no, adding that she should go home earlier on the bus. Right after the academy ended, he rushed home on his bike. Upset at this, Miae stayed back longer than intended, playing at the arcade and getting wet in the rain and missing her bus and now being so sick. 'If Cheol had waited for me-' she stopped, shaking her head. 'No no, that does not bother me. What bothers me is…why did he have to react like that…' Miae felt herself growing sleepy again. She remembered the Cheol from 1998 who would only ignore her or glare at her as she succumbed to sleep.
Suddenly, Miae felt herself being shaken by someone. "Hwang Miae! We came here to study, not to sleep. Wake up!" A voice spoke in exasperation. Irritated that her slumber was ruined when she was sick, Miae got up and yelled at the voice "What is it? I am sick, why do you have to wake me up like that!"
Miae finally looked at who it was that she was yelling at - it was Yunhui, with Jihye and Jiseon beside her who were indicating to Miae not to be loud. Miae then realized that she wasn't at home but at the library… Wearing winter clothes?
"Seriously, Miae what are you doing? Are you really sick?" Yunhui said in a hushed voice, putting her hand on Miae's forehead to check, and then announced "No, you aren't sick. Seems like you dreamt weird and are now imagining stuff-"
Miae immediately stood up, noticing how energetic she felt as if she wasn't feeling sluggish moments ago. She then looked at the books that were open on the table. They were workbooks, but did not look like the ones she was using now, yet still familiar because they were from… 2nd year? Miae immediately felt her bangs. Yes they felt different from how she had them. She then frantically asked Yunhui "What's the date today?"
Yunhui looked at her confused, with the rest of their friends looking at each other, then answered "It's November XXth, what else?"
"The year?" Miae asked, now grabbing Yunhui's collar.
"Calm down?! It's 1998, why are you asking all of this?" She said while trying to get Miae's hands off her collar. "You must be stressing on the exams too much with how much your mom keeps saying she'll ground you. You know what? Let's call it a day now, we did study a lot. Let's go back home quickly and rest." Declared Yunhui, with Jiseon and Jihye agreed. Miae only stood there in shock, trying to process everything she had heard.
Miae put on her green jacket and orange scarf and went along with her friends until they parted ways to return to their respective homes. Miae kept walking blankly until she felt the cold winter wind chill her up. This felt very different from the chills she felt from throwing off her blanket this morning from being sick. Miae slowly broke into hysterical laughter. She tried to calm herself down as she thought 'Yeah, this is a very realistic dream alright. No way I just went back to 1998, that's simply not possible!' Miae kept laughing, as if this was all really funny.
But eventually her laughter died out and she was left agonizing again. 'No no no - How could this be happening! How did I come back in the past? That too during exam period! Does this mean I have to study all of that all over again?!' Miae felt her soul leave as she remembered all the notes she had to study.
Miae was pretty close to her house, but because she was so deep in her thoughts, she didn't notice that there was another person in front of her with his bike. Miae bumped right into him with an "Aaack!" and looked up to see who it was. The enormous stature that was wearing a blue cap and a grey jacket - it was unmistakably Kim Cheol. He was looking down at her in such a manner that his cap covered his eyes.
Miae regained her composure and exclaimed immediately "Oh, Cheol-ah!" But before she could continue, she received a cold dark glare from him. He looked at her as if she was an annoyance and had unnecessarily bothered him. Miae let out a quiet "Ah…" as she remembered her situation again. Cheol turned away quietly and walked off with his bike. Miae had greeted him as she usually did out of habit. They weren't really close during this time.
She looked at his back that was becoming more distant with every passing second. This used to be a very common sight, of course she was going to see this since she had gone back to the past. But she felt that tugging sensation in her heart again. Was it because she was still feeling sentimental from all those thoughts she had before she had fallen asleep and woken up here? Miae did not know, but she let these feelings fill her completely as she frowned and clenched her hands into fists and yelled "HEY YOU!"
Hearing Miae suddenly yell made Cheol jolt to a stop and he turned around to look at Miae bemused. He was glaring at her again, but seeing how mad Miae looked his look of annoyance disappeared.
Miae yelled again "YOU STUPID JERK! DO YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT ALL THE TIME? JUST WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU? THE LAST TIME WE SAW EACH OTHER WAS WHEN WE WERE 10! WHAT DOES ANYTHING THAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED SINCE THEN HAVE TO DO WITH NOW?!" Miae finally stopped and gasped for breath. She had yelled all of that in almost one breath. She then looked at Cheol who only looked at her dumbstruck. This only made her even more mad and she stormed off while banging all doors that came in her path. Cheol watched her exit even more confused, but his stiff posture eventually relaxed and he looked down as if in deep thought before he left.
At Miae's home, her mom scolded her for yelling and banging around so much. Miae quietly received it all and went to her room and sat with her books. As she tried to study, she recollected her interaction with Cheol and started to regret it. 'What have I done!' Was all the teenager could think of. She had her head down on her table as she thought of how she shouldn't have burst out at Cheol like that because that would make befriending him harder than before.
But actually, she couldn't tell what would work. How had she done it last time? Oh yeah, ending up in the same class, ending up in the same academy, crossing paths so often that they saw each other every day every week. That was only after her 3rd year began. What will she do now, wait for that time to come? She looked at the calendar to see how long that would be, but that only depressed her further and she faced down on her table again.
'What do I do? I miss the Cheol I knew.' Miae remembered the times she spent with him, how he helped her when she would be clumsy, when she was about to fall so many times, the times she talked to him (one-sidedly) with him only quietly listening the whole time. The moments when he gave her that look of his, as if he was unimpressed by her and found her annoying, but his actions in those moments said otherwise. Miae sighed louder.
Right then Miae heard the door open, so she sat straight up and started acting like she was studying, as her mom walked in. Her mom looked at her suspiciously for sometime before asking her "Miae, could you buy some things from the store? I didn't notice that we were short on these. Be quick, I have to prepare dinner and you need to get back to studying."
"Oh, alright mom!" Miae got up from her chair and immediately left, relieved to be able to get out of studying, even if for just a moment. She got to the store and was almost done when she bumped into Cheol again.
Both of them froze at the sight of the other. Cheol just stood there stiff and staring and Miae felt like she was sweating so hard that she would lose all the water in her body. She broke the awkward silence with an "Excuse me!" and moved past him to check out for her items. During the checkout, Miae internally screamed in frustration from the embarrassment of seeing him like this again, especially after her outburst from earlier.
Once she was done, Miae beamed in relief and made her way out. When she got to the door, she stopped to steal a peek around the store to see if Cheol was still in the store. However she couldn't spot him, and so, she walked out. 'Yeah, it's not like we would run into each other again.' Miae tried to console herself, but she couldn't help but keep feeling dejected.
Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice call out her name "Hwang Miae!" Miae stopped and looked back to see that it was indeed Cheol. He was looking at her awkwardly, some guilt visible.
Miae was surprised by this sudden development. She asked, "What is it?"
Cheol scratched the back of his neck, the same way she was used to seeing him do when he would be nervous and awkward. Then, while not meeting her eyes, he said "I am… sorry."
Miae's eyes widened. Cheol continued. "For ignoring you and glaring at you like that. I did do it intentionally, but I never meant to hurt you with that. I… won't do that anymore." He said the last line with his eyes meeting Miae's eyes.
She could see how sorry he felt. Her outburst wasn't in vain. Her words had gotten to him. The tugging she felt from earlier eased down, and Miae felt herself become emotional. This was what she had been wanting this whole time.
She ran to Cheol and wrapped him (or his waist and stomach) in a hug. The sudden actions had obviously taken him aback as Miae felt his body tense up and heard him let out a "Hey, what the-" But he stopped. Miae felt Cheol's body relax. She then felt his hands wrap around her (her head), returning the hug. Miae felt tears leaving her eyes, as she began to cry into him. She felt Cheol pet her head. Miae kept crying until she felt herself become calmer, and she closed her eyes.
Miae opened her eyes to see that she was back in her room - but in her bed this time. She then looked at her clothes and recognised them as the ones she was wearing when she was sleeping from being sick. She then looked outside the window to see the night sky, then looked at the calendar in her room - it was indeed 1999, she was back!
Miae felt relieved at first, but then remembered everything she had gone through 'Was all of that a dream?' Miae felt weird, since she had seen things go different from how they had in her own past - the outburst and Cheol's apology and their hug. The hug. Miae felt herself heat up and wondered if she was still sick.
Just then, Miae heard her mom outside her room. "Miae, Cheol is here!"
This made Miae recover from her strange feelings. 'What, Cheol? Why right now?!' Miae jumped out of bed, not sure about how to face him after that dream of hers. But she wasn't given any time as he walked right in. 'This crazy guy!'
Cheol looked at her unimpressed before saying "What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Looking at his expression and hearing his words calm down Miae. Cheol sighed. "Looks like you are doing better now. You should be careful next time." Cheol said, with a hint of concern in his voice. Miae noticed at this moment that he was looking at her remorsefully.
He then continued while handing out some sheets to her, "Here… I got you the notes and homework from the school and the academy." Miae accepted them speechlessly and Cheol proceeded to explain everything that had been covered and what had to be done. Miae stared at Cheol, which Cheol ignored to keep explaining to her.
Miae felt her heart become warmer and she let out a giggle. Cheol finally stopped ignoring her actions and looked at her annoyed, "Hey, what are you doing? Focus on this!", but Miae still kept laughing.
Yeah, that apology from the dream was what she wanted from Cheol, however, she was happy to be back with the Cheol in front of her. Miae slowly stopped laughing, with only a soft smile left behind. She whispered, "You really are so dear to me…"
It felt as if time had stopped. Miae realized what she had just said. She looked at Cheol to see his reaction. He looked shocked. She did whisper those words, but it seems like they were still loud enough for Cheol. Miae felt her face grow heated once more.
On Cheol's side, he was confused by Miae's behaviour and even more confused at what he thought he had heard Miae say. He couldn't hear her properly, but was sure he had heard "dear". He was about to ask further, until he saw how red Miae had become. Cheol became worried and was raising his hand to check her temperature "Wait, are you still sick? Your face is so re-"
"YEAH I NEED TO REST! THANKS FOR THE NOTES AND EVERYTHING, BYE NOW!" yelled Miae and pushed Cheol out of her room and shut the door with a loud bang, confusing Cheol even more. On the other side of the door, Miae screamed into her pillow. This was going to be a long night.
So, I had been thinking of how so many liked the Cheol version. What if there was one for Miae too? I did think a future scenario like Cheol's would be good, but I wanted to give this a try. And I think this has been a huge question for a while now, and Miae's clearly still bothered by this. I have no clue how close to canon this will ever get, but oh well, one can dream ; )