Chapter 3: A Misunderstanding/Uh, That Tree

The second wind hit Jaejoong’s face and jerked him back to real life, he nearly collapsed from the adrenaline rush. Jaejoong held on to the wall, trying to find balance in his dizzying vision. He took a few deep breaths as he stared at the ground. People passed by, and cars honked, as if they didn’t realise a man from his own dreams was real.

Jaejoong had speculated numerous times, and part of him hoped it was real. But the realist in him always squashed that idea. The fantasy mocked him. He played out so many situations where he met Yunho, but none of them started out by delivering papers to the business across the street.

Soon his vision cleared and Jaejoong looked up. The city was as busy as ever, carrying on their normals lives. How would they react to meeting someone they met in a dream?

Disbelief. Maybe a little happiness. That kind of things only happens in movies and books.

Jaejoong chuckled at the reality right before his eyes.

He figured that Yunho would take a while, so he managed to take a bus back to his apartment and grab his sketchbook and pencil before heading to park he told Yunho. Since it was near June, the park was nearly empty. A old fitness couples, and looked like a few moms lounging together. It was that time where the weather was warm, but with a cool breeze every now and then.

Jaejoong wanted to find the nearest bench and collapse, but didn’t want to sleep just yet. If he slept, there would be no Yunho in his dreams, however desperately he wanted it to be, since the other was still awake. if he drew, he would be able to stay awake.

Jaejoong found himself a lonesome bench, far from other people, and looked around for a drawing subject. He spotting a lone tree. He did the same gesture he did since he started painting again. Since Yunho lifted him from his dry spell.  “Snapshot.”

 It wasn’t like a dream, where he could freeze the entire world’s time to take a snapshot. The wind constantly moved the branches of the tree, making it nearly impossible for Jaejoong to draw a proper picture. To add to that, the wind repeatedly slapped across his face, blowing his hair into his eyes and lifting up his pages.

Jaejoong had to keep fixing his hair and resorted to keeping both arms firmly pressed on both edges, which restricted his drawing. It was a vicious cycle where he would lift his hand to fix his hair,and  the wind would then attack his paper. Jaejoong sighed, slamming his sketchbook shut..

“Having trouble?”

The uplifting voice startled him to drop his pencil and his sketchbook fell in a way that bent the papers Jaejoong groaned as he leaned down to pick it up, except familiar hands came into his vision and picked up his items before he did. Yunho had come after all. 

“O-oh. Hello!” Jaejoong voice failed him, and instead of the manly voice he wanted, it came out as high-pitched and squeaky. Yunho laughed, and sat beside him.

“What’re you drawing?” He leaned close to Jaejoong, and his breath hitched, nervous about Yunho’s proximity.

“Uh, that tree.” Jaejoong pointed across from him, and Yunho's eyes followed. Jaejoong repressed the urge to look at him. If he gave into it now, he would never be able to stop.

Yunho nodded before tearing his eyes away and looking back at the sketch. “Ah. It’s good.”

Jaejoong mumbled a thanks before attempting to go back to his drawing, but his shaking hands prevented him from making the steady lines he needed. Jaejoong sighed, not meaning for it to come out so loudly, and closed it.

The two sat like that for a while, sitting close to each other and staring at the tree in the distance. It wasn’t at all how Jaejoong imagined it, or how their dreams went. The heat beating against their necks specifically made it worse, and Jaejoong began fanning himself. 

“So. What did you want to talk about?” Yunho interrupted their silence, awkward showing in his voice from the entire situation.

“Oh. Dreams. I—” Jaejoong glanced over, only, to see that look again. Yunho’s look that always sent his entire body into a train wreck. He couldn't keep staring, or else he would just forget what he was talking about. Jaejoong forced himself to look away--anything but him--and think. “I dreamt about you. For a month."

Jaejoong chose the ground to stare at. "I don’t know if you remember, but we went to so many places after we colored our city. Paris, LA, Prague, London, and I just…” Yunho nodded, absorbing it all. That was a bad sign.

If Yunho knew about it, or even like it if he didn’t remember, he would have been asking about the trips, or asking about other dreams, maybe the even city. Something. Anything. Instead all that came from him was silence.

“I—I can show you! I painted each one of them after I woke up!” Jaejoong got up, and tugged on Yunho’s sleeve. The touchiness from himself was dripping into the real world. Dream Jaejoong always felt the need to touch him. Either by simply tapping Yunho’s shoulder, or holding his hand to drag him someplace. Yunho only nodded, following him in silence.

They took the bus, and during the entire ride, Jaejoong fidgeted. Bouncing his legs, playing with his nails, moving the zipper on his light jacket. How could he not? He was going to show him the paintings. The paintings that were in his apartment. The paintings that showed his view of the dreams. That warmth and protection Yunho always gave off in his dreams. He was going to see it all, and his craptastic apartment.

At last, they reached his apartment door. Jaejoong attempted at unlocking the door, but the keys fell from his jittery hands. Jaejoong’s sighed was shortly followed by a stifled laugh.  “Come on it. You can have seat over there while I bring them out.”

Jaejoong took his shoes off once he got the door open, and tossed his keys and jacket on the table. Yunho nodded, finding himself a seat on the sofa by the window. Jaejoong ran into his bedroom, tripping over some shoes he forgot to put away, and grabbed more recent half of the paintings.

“Here. This is only half of them.” Jaejoong placed the paintings on the table, and Yunho’s eyes widened at the sheer amount of only half of them. “Let me go get the rest.” He headed back in his bedroom. He came out a moment later, shoes now placed out of harm’s way, with the rest of the paintings. Practically a month’s worth of dreams, and each and every one had Yunho somehow painted in them.

Yunho had picked up each one, starting from the last one Jaejoong painted. His face was devoid of all emotion, until he came upon the first painting Jaejoong had painted. The city, with the sunrise lighting the city. The one that started everything. He stared at it longer than the others. The clock ticked by, and Jaejoong got more and more nervous. “Please say something.”

Yunho stared at it a moment longer and sighed, rubbing the corners of his eyes before looking at Jaejoong. The look Yunho gave him made his heart shatter before he even opened his mouth. “I don’t believe you.”

Jaejoong expected that, and he went into panicked overdrive  immediately. “Yunho, please if you just—”

“How do you know my name?”

Jaejoong paused, not expecting the dream amnesia to be this deep. His eyes started watering, surprising himself, and he had to force them back. “In our dreams. Our city. You told me at the laundromat. If you could just remem—” Jaejoong tried to take a step forward, but Yunho stood up, holding up his palms.

“No. No. I don’t know who you are, or how you found me, but I’m leaving.” Jaejoong watched as Yunho put his shoes back on in a hurry, and slam the door as he left. Jaejoong kicked the wall beside him and a jab of pain shot up his leg.

He messed up. He messed it all up, and now Yunho was gone. Again. Jaejoong stared at the paintings, as if they mocked him. He wanted to throw them out the window. Burn them. Have a rabid dog rip them to shreds. But he couldn’t.

Jaejoong decided then that the paintings were his money line. They held no sentimental value if Yunho didn’t remember any of their dreams together. He needed to sell them if he wanted to keep living in his dingy apartment, or maybe even get something better.

Over the week, Jaejoong went to the same office every day, and each day, Yunho wasn’t there. Each day he got more and more antsy, as Jaejoong still hadn’t dreamt about the other either. Something wasn’t right. Something must have happened. On Friday, he finally gathered enough courage to ask someone.

That someone turned out to be the man who took Yunho’s place as front desk receptionist. “Excuse me, but do you to know what happened to Yunho?”

The man in questioned looked for a moment, pondering at the ceiling. Then he nodded. “Yeah, I think he quit. He was in such a rush too.”

“When?”

“Ehhh, ‘bout a week ago?” Jaejoong swore his heart stopped that moment, and he clutched the edge of the desk to keep himself from falling. He really did lose him. Again.

“Do you know where he went?” Panic filled Jaejoong’s voice as he leaned in, nails scraping against the counter.

“Calm down. We don’t know, he just said he needed to get out of here, and that he needed his paycheck now. So we gave it to him and he left.” The man shrugged, not realising the man from Jaejoong’s dreams just left, after he had only been with him for a day.

 Jaejoong could have screamed out in frustration. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. To scream so loud that Yunho could hear him wherever he was. But he didn’t. Instead, Jaejoong just nodded and left, lazily shuffling his way back to his apartment. He could of taken the bus, but he didn’t have any bus fare at the time.

When Jaejoong finally wandered into his apartment, he sat and stared at his paintings. It was obvious that Yunho didn’t want to be in his life, or even his dreams. Why bother sticking to someone who doesn’t want you? A small sliver of hope left him thinking that it was just a misunderstanding. That Yunho was just scared of someone he never even met knew things his own friends didn’t.

Jaejoong pulled out his phone. “Junsu? Yeah, uh. Can I be your assistant or something? I need some money.”