The Wise Monkey's POV:

Seonghwa wakes up from his dream, sitting up to have a moment to collect his thoughts. The dream was kinda nonsensical, still critical enough to have his heart beating fast and force him to replay the scenes to help remembering later on. 

"You look like you had some nightmare," Hongjoong who's sitting on his own bed says startling the older.

"Oh, you were here," Seonghwa says. 

"Yeah, I just arrived some minutes ago. Didn't feel like sleeping yet."

Seonghwa nods and proceeds to stare at his lap.

"Want to talk about it?" Hongjoong offers.

The other looks up and then fixes his gaze on the lap again as he begins speaking.

"The dream was weird, I-I mean most dreams are but this was a bit unexpected and it was both kinda realistic looking but not at the same time, i-it was weird."

"Dreams tend to be weird like you said. But why is it bothering? What was in it?"

"I saw Ahn Soojin in it..."

"That was the unexpected, bothering part?"

Seonghwa doesn't reply but Hongjoong understands.

"So, what happened in it?"

"She wasn't Choi Daisy, she was Soojin. She even said as she approached me, 'Soojin's here'. But, she looked like how Daisy looked, just with the clothes that looked like a costume from a period drama. It was a realistic kind of a dream."

Hongjoong's pupils dilate slightly. "Realistic? Like Jongho's—"

"No, not one of those, thankfully. It was a realistic 'dream'. It just did not have any of those nonsensical pink skies or flying cats or random scene changes. The environment looked normal. A vast area of land covered with grass, the sound of birds and stuff. She was the only person in sight, she was standing very close to me."

"And here's the strange parts," he continues. "There was a very unusual height difference between us, I was way too tall and was looking down to see her face, she was angling her neck to face me. And she was calling me Hwaseong. Not by my actual name, not with any honorifics, just a 'Hwaseong'. It was as if I was younger than her or something."

"Just seems like a regular dream to me that doesn't make sense," Hongjoong finally gives his opinion.

"No, there was something off about it. It was very weird." Seonghwa's face suddenly falls remembering something and Hongjoong notices.

"Is there more? Why are you this upset? I can understand that you probably didn't want to dream about her, but it's just a dream."

"Dreams say something. You don't dream about things you don't think about in day-to-day life," Seonghwa says. "I don't think about her much. I-I mean, at least I try to...T-That's why it's bad to dream about something that you're trying to avoid thinking about. On top of that..." He takes a pause.

"On top of that what?" Hongjoong asks.

"The dream didn't end there. Suddenly the scenario changed. Soojin changed and instead of her, m-my....no... She was there."

OHHH. Makes sense.

Hongjoong immediately goes to sit on Seonghwa's bed beside him.

"And she looked disappointed," Seonghwa gloomily continues. "I-I am a bad person, Joong-ah..."

Hongjoong rubs his roommates back comfortingly. "You're really not, Seonghwa-yah. It's not your fault. Stop still thinking like that, okay?"

"Okay?" Hongjoong asks again, using his stern voice on him.

Seonghwa meekly nods as Hongjoong holds him in a hug.

.

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Soojin's POV:

I was sent on a grocery trip this Sunday evening for some special snacks and ingredients. Eomma's orders. Ms Hong, our old neighbour who left for the U.S, visited us and was willing to stay for snacks and even come along to the restaurant later. Yeah, the restaurant's opening a little late today. 

Ms Hong, who insisted that I and Youngie called her imo, is still as sweet as I vaguely remember. Couldn't talk to her much when the older ladies busied themselves catching up in privacy, besides, eomma basically kicked me out to buy all these stuff minutes after she arrived.

And because of that, I am now totting bags of sodas, meat, vegetables, sweets and snacks and whatnot. I take the last turn and I already see the gate of my house. Instead of being relieved that my walk finally is coming to an end, I hurriedly increase my pace as I see an unfamiliar guy lurking around my house. Doesn't look like just another mailman or salesperson or anyone of that sort, hence why I am impatient to find out. And then I see Youngie approaching him. 

"By any chance, are you Ms Ahn?" I hear him ask her. I can't see his face as his back is towards me. I'm at an audible distance but he doesn't realize. Youngie subtly glances at me, however.

"Yes?" she says.

"Ohh, I'm thankful," he says. He has a nice, velvety voice. I can already tell he's a hot prince type just from his backside, dressing and his voice alone. "I can now recognize that it's you, even though it's been a long time, Ahn Soojin. You look younger than I expected. Remember me?"

Oh, is it... 

Youngie chuckles. "Wow, you recognize me? Well, I am young and pretty, there's no denying that."

The man looks slightly taken aback but smiles and nods awkwardly. I can see his side profile. 

"Fun aside, sir," Youngie says. "You do not recognize me."

When he looks at her confused, she continues, "You got it wrong, I'm not Ahn Soojin." She then glances at me again. I'm now right behind the man. He then turns behind suddenly, making me jump back with all those darn bags.

"It's amusing that you know my unnie, and you said it has been a long time? It's funny because she doesn't have many friends and I've never heard of you," my sister says. 

She really can't connect the dots, can she?

The man immediately bows as soon as he sees me and I do the same. And then, we finally look at each other, his eyes widening at the same speed as mine.

"Oh, you..." he points at me. "We've met before. You were outside my restaurant looking for employees under the previous owner. Isn't that you?" He says in his accented linguistic knowledge. 

Surely, it's that same gorgeous gentlemanly guy whom I met that day and knew was the owner of the restaurant Daisy once owned. 

"Ahh.." I awkwardly nod. "Are you Ms Hong's son?"

"Ohh," he says suddenly realizing. "You are Ahn Soojin then? What a coincidence!" He turns to Youngie. "This must be the younger Ms Ahn then. Sorry, I mistook you."

"So you are Hong Jisoo oppa?" she says. "Sorry, I couldn't recognize you."

"Don't be, it's alright. I wouldn't expect you to, you were still a baby when I was last here," he says and gives a gentle smile.

"Come on in, Joshua-ssi, your mother's already inside," I say and lead the way.

"Oh?...Oh..." He slowly follows us. 

"Joshua?" Youngie asks.

"His English name. He used to prefer that name even when he was here in Korea. I'm assuming it's still that way?" I look at him expectedly.

"Yeah, I'd prefer if you both call me Joshua. I'm glad you remember, Soojin," he says.

I just nod. It's awkward. I don't do well with new people, and I don't do well catching up with people I know from ages ago. I don't know what category he fits in.

.

.

.

I must say, I did not expect this reunion to turn not so uncomfortable. It was actually pleasant and kinda fun. The three of us chatted for over an hour, stuffing snacks and drinks. My childhood neighbour's son cultured into a nice, humble, funny and social gentleman. 

Unlike me, he didn't have any starting trouble. He and Sooyoung clicked into a conversation very fast, and I didn't feel bored listening to the social ones keep going on since the talk was about me during childhood. He was already filling in my sister about our history that the baby her then missed out on and I didn't have any trouble joining the talk speaking about my side of the histories and whatever he left to mention.

Joshua Hong, who I now surprisingly call Joshua oppa as I used to(he had insisted to call him just Joshua —so American of him— and I find it odder than using oppa; well he is four years older than me). He was brought up in America all his life, by his maternal grandparents until he was 11(he only used to visit Korea during vacations) and then he got to live with his mother as she left behind Korea after divorce and went to America for good. I was his only friend when he used to visit during vacations. We used to play a lot, I still don't know how we managed to talk, I remember him struggling to speak even the bare Korean he knew.

We three are now on our way to the restaurant. He seems to be especially interested in seeing us work and managing it. He owns a restaurant himself, that's why I guess.

"You alright? The walk bothering you yet?" I ask him.

"It's alright. It was a good idea to walk, I can make myself familiarize all these streets and roads," he says.

"We're almost there. I hope you don't get too underwhelmed seeing it. You're a 4-star fancy Italian restaurant's owner after all."

"Oh no, I'd never. I've been there before, I don't just completely remember it. I liked the food there, I do remember that." He smiles reassuringly. He has a beautiful smile. Everything he does is gorgeous. Damn, he'd have made a good supermodel.

"Speaking of your restaurant," Sooyoung says. "Are you passionate about this field like my unnie too, oppa? How did you decide you suddenly wanted to open a restaurant here?"

"That's right. You're American. You even stopped visiting Korea years ago. Why'd you decide you wanted to start a business here?" I curiously ask.

He suddenly seems low-spirited, very very subtly. That or I'm just imagining it. 

But then he sighs, assuring my thoughts. "Honestly, I'd still be back home if it wasn't for my mom. She decided one day that she wanted to move to Korea and spend the rest of her life here. And I'm the only family she has, she didn't want to have me live far away from her. I wouldn't want to stay away from mom too, she's the only one I have. But that place was my home. It was a very hard decision. I'm both happy and unhappy right now, happy that my mom is still near me and sad that I lost my home."

Sooyoung pouts. "That's so sad, oppa. I'm sorry you had to face that. I can't imagine leaving this place and moving to somewhere else permanently. Many people don't care about things like these, but I guess we both are the type that hates staying away from home, I can understand."

"Thanks, Sooyoung," Joshua says. "I'm still homesick but it's getting better. I think it's the most better today, after meeting you all after so many years. The nostalgia is helping. And besides, I've reconnected with an old friend and made a new one now. It went 0 to 2 in a single day. I think I'll do alright."

"Oh wow, unnie got a new friend," she laughs.

Joshua chuckles. "Why do you keep teasing her like that?" he asks.

"Because this one has lived all her life here and still has 0 friends," she says and I glare at her, only to see her sticking her tongue out at me.

"Hey, stop teasing her for that," Joshua chuckles. "There's nothing wrong with being selective when choosing friends. For me, you guys are my friends already. I hope she considers me one too. I'd wait for it to go from 0 to 1 at your pace, Soojin," He gently nudges my arm playfully with his with a genuine, harmless smile, inducing one from me as well.

"I think it has already been from 0 to 1, isn't it, unnie? Once a friend, always a friend, right? Your only friend is back now," Youngie says.

"I guess," I shrug. "Maybe it's time I should stop being so selective. I have a feeling my eomma would force me to be your friend anyway. I'd have to be stuck with you either way." I laugh and he does too. There's no ounce of offence on his face. Someone who can appreciate my humour? Wow.

"Good, because my mom would force me for the same and ask you to befriend me as well. I guess there's no other way," he says and then cheekily smiles.

"Woah! Look at you two bonding!" Youngie exclaims. "It's a victory for my unnie. I think this calls for a soju party at the restaurant."

"You can't drink, girl!" "Aren't you underage?" Me and Joshua oppa say at the same time and we end up in waves of laughter and smiles.

I guess I kinda made a friend, after all.

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The Wise Monkey's POV:

I've been floating around in the street outside Ahn's restaurant as the three young ones have been lively chatting and working —Joshua helping the girls too— in there. I have been busy in thoughts. I've been floating around for a few minutes now, the equivalent of a human or someone with a massful body pacing around in thoughts and jitters.

When I first saw this young man, Joshua, back in Jamsil, I remember thinking he looked vaguely familiar. But that wasn't exclusive, I keep seeing many other humans multiple times when I follow around the girls or Ateez, so I brushed it off. And now after this coincidental reoccurrence in Soojin's and Joshua's meeting, especially after seeing them all talkative and friendly with each other, that feeling has been back. I feel like I have definitely seen them both being like that together many times before. And I'm finally and slowly having an idea of why I'm feeling like this.

And especially now, since I am decoding this, I am reminded of Seonghwa speaking about his dream from earlier. Confirming about Joshua would take me more energy, so why not figure out the curiosity about Seonghwa's dream first. I focus and use my magic to enter back in memories and enter the boy's dream. And I already see what he described to Hongjoong earlier. Vast, green land and Soojin approaching him. And already, I realize that I've seen this place before.

Ohh...

OHHH!!

I immediately transport back. My assumption was right. But now I desperately need to figure out the answers to more than one question.

I look up at the sky furiously first. There was no way any human would have such a dream unless on special occasions when either I or Fate himself would make it happen for superior reasons.

You foolish, incompetent lads! You have gone against the rules, it's a heavy breach! The only reason I can muster is that you did it to help me remind something. Isn't it right?

A delivery boy speeds past me and the words written on the delivery box on his bike jumble and rearranges to form letters and words from the language of my realm. 'Yes... We are sorry,' it read.

I recollect myself from getting too carried away. I am not done figuring it all out. 

Now, Joshua. If my assumption's right, I'd have to involve myself in a lot of thinking and figuring outs. 

I use much of my energy to go back in my memory lane and there it is, I see it, I see him, I see him with Soojin. My assumption was correct again.

This is it. I deliberately tried to ignore it and didn't think much of the reason why the Ateez members were destined to be around Soojin in this life as well.

And now that Joshua is here, sharing his rebirth era with Soojin as well, this definitely has to have another reason.

It's as if I'm realizing this fact the first time as I see this in a new light now.

These guys, along with Joshua, have all been characters from Soojin's past life.

And why were they destined to meet again?

A/N:

Guys, I LOVE Joshua. He's my ult bias wrecker in the whole of kpop. I WUV HIM.

(ഈ എഴുതിയത്‌ വായിക്കാൻ കഴിയുന്നവർ വോട്ടും കമന്റ്-ഉം അടിക്കുക.)

(जो लोग यह पढ़ सकते है, वो वोट और कमेंट करें।)