Summer Night's Dream
Episode 20 - The Truth

A few days later. Seoul International School's.

"Who are you chatting with?"

"Nobody,"

"really? Or are you just keeping it a secret from me?"

"No,"

"Then tell me who, then,"

"Not an important person,"

"Goodoo. Then there's no harm if you tell me,"

"But..."

"You don't want to?"

"It's not.but...Ugh.okay.ke! I'll tell you, but not now,"

"What's? Why?"

"You'll know later, but not now, too,"

"Why?"

"Um...because I'm too lazy to explain?"

"Really's? That's your excuse?"

Chul Goo snorted bitterly as Nara did not answer her last question. The girl just looked blankly towards the middle of the still empty sports arena.

They will return to do presentations at school, but have to wait until the first hour lesson ends. So this is where they, in the sports arena that also became the hall of this school, waited. The rest of Nara's friends were busy arranging their presentations, while Nara herself sat in the audience with Chul Goo interrogating her.

"That person is the same one who went with you last week huh?" Chul Goo gets closer, docked to Nara, trying to re-dig the girl's secret. Nara sighed. Chul Goo will not give up. "Come on, tell me. I was very curious," this time Chul Goo nudged Nara's shoulder with her shoulder, pleading.

Lazily Nara pushed Chul Goo's broad shoulders. "Stop. You're really acting like a girl right now,"

"Yes, I behave like a girl. I'll stop if you tell me" Chul Goo demanded. He was really curious about that 'someone. In the past few days, Nara has been busy with her phone, exchanging messages, often smiling and chuckling to herself while looking at her phone. Not to mention, sometimes he did not join when his housemates were gathering and chatting in the living room, only to lock himself in the room, do whatever, do not do anything, or say you want to go out to buy something.

Chul Goo knows Nara has no boyfriend in Indonesia and whenever she asks who Nara is exchanging messages with, she always answers Zaza, her best friend. But Chul Goo was not consumed by the lie. It couldn't be just Zaza if he always looked at Nara's eyes sparkling with joy and excitement as he looked at his phone. Like a girl in love.

Until finally yesterday, Chul Goo accidentally saw the name of the contact of someone who sent the message with Nara, and written JH. As she wanted to check further, Nara came and took her phone. That's why he died curious, wanting to know who JH was. But he also can't tell Nara that he saw the message.

'Who is JH? How and where did they meet? Did Nara know the man long before he came to Korea? What's their relationship? Did he just discuss with the frontal about JH oppa?' chul Goo thought to himself.

"Alright, I'll tell you," Nara finally resigned despite still sounding hesitant. He finally gave up because he was tired of hearing Chul Goo's whining since last night.

Chul Goo threw his fist in the air as it felt winning Nara finally gave up and was about to reveal her secret. At last. He brought his head closer so that his ears could hear more clearly.

"You know I'm a big fan of Ji-Ho, right?" Nara started with those words. Chul Goo nodded quickly in order to instantly hear the core of the story. It's not in the mood for a stale base.

Nara took a deep breath before continuing. "So, I met him last week. From then on he always sent me messages and we became close, "he finished his explanation briefly.

Chul Goo winked repeatedly after hearing Nara's explanation. "Oh, really?" then he rolled his eyeballs. "Then my girlfriend is Taylor Swift. We've been dating since last year when I was vacationing in L. A. and met him there" she said in a faint voice.

Nara groaned in frustration. He knew Chul Goo's response would not be much different from Juno's. "Just think about it all you want then," Nara muttered in annoyance as she stood up to leave the ring.

"Wait...What the hell? He serious?" Chul Goo was fixated with a gaping mouth and eyes flickering back in disbelief.

X-X-X

Later that night, Nara, who was just about to pull the blanket over her bed-ridden body, gasped in shock when she heard the sound of laughter blaring from the living room. The sound of laughter was believed to come from Juno, Wang, Gabriel, Anne, and Chul Goo. When Nara was about to enter the room, they were still watching a movie in the living room. At first Nara also joins them, but when Juno comes and brings a can of beer and a few bottles of soju, she decides to go in the room and sleep instead of seeing them drunk.

Nara shook her head as the sound of laughter re-echoed, this time longer than before. Maybe he should put up earphones so that his sleep is not disturbed by the sound of laughter, he thought. Just as his hand was about to move grabbing his earphone in the nightstand drawer, his phone rang indicating a call was coming in. Nara also switched to grab her phone which she put on the nightstand.

He was stunned when he saw the name on the screen. JH? Ji-ho's? What's he calling these nights? Nara's daydream stops as the fifth ring returns her to the conscious. He answered the call before it rang any longer.

"Hello?"

"Nara, have you received my shipment?" ask the voice at the end of the phone without a stale ado.

Nara frowned confusedly. "What shipment?" he kicked the blanket covering his legs and got up from a sleeping position.

"Wait a minute, yeah," Nara got up down the bed and walked out to open the door. While passing through the living room, Wang who saw Nara walking towards the door immediately commented, "That's a guest for you huh? Who's coming at this hour?"

Nara sniffed her shoulders and replied to Wang. "Eitherway. I'm not sure either,"

Then he continued to step towards the front door and saw Chul Goo already standing in front of the open door. His hand held a thin rectangular parcel about 15 x 5 centimeters in size. Nara further frowned in surprise.

"This is for you" Chul Goo said as he looked up and realized Nara was walking towards him. "From Lee Ji An's. Who's she?"

"That's my mother's name, I sent in her name to avoid violating the privacy of the sender's services," Ji-Ho said from across the phone that was still connected, could again hear the voice around Nara.

"Well..." Nara replies while nodding in understanding even though Ji-Ho can't actually see the movement of her head.

Then Nara snatched the parcel from Chul Goo's hand while saying 'thank you' without a sound, just mouth movements, then turned quickly and half ran towards her room back.

Meanwhile, Chul Goo was just glued to see Nara's agility. Still half conscious he looked alternately at Nara's back which moved quickly away from him and her hand which was no longer holding the parcel. Afterwards he clucked resentfully at his own brain which gave rise to a name of a person who might be the actual sender of the parcel.

Inside her room, Nara sits cross-legged beside the bed with her right shoulder raised holding the phone against her ear and both hands move skinning the parcel wrapping from Ji-Ho. "What's this parcel?"

"You're opening it. Just wait until you see it. It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you right now" Ji-Ho chuckled across the phone, making Nara smile on her lips. Ah, it was very desirable that he saw Ji-Ho's laughter in person. For a few days they had not met, already a few days he had not seen Ji-Ho with his eyes directly, not seen the laughter directly.

The parcel wrapper was opened perfectly and now it is plastered with a box like a wallet box. Nara lifted the lid of the box and saw in it a scrap of paper that looked like a ticket. The writing on the paper was all written in hangeul 'and all he could capture were the numbers that indicated the date and the hour. 14-7-2018? This saturday? At 16:00?

"That's a campus festival concert ticket. I'll be filling out the show there for about 15 minutes, 5 songs. You came to watch me. The concert this Saturday is at 4pm in Hankook's university hall. Maybe after that we can go eat or take a walk before I go to my next schedule," Ji-Ho finally spoke up after only silence spread from across the phone. 80% he was sure Nara had seen the contents of the parcel from him.

The pensive Nara grew even more pensive when she heard Ji-Ho's explanation. Correct guess. This is a concert ticket. If he comes to the concert, the crowd...

"Nara?" ji-ho's voice returns Nara to the conscious. Nara blinked before finally clearing her throat to control her voice that would tell lies.

"Sorry Ji-Ho, it seems like this Saturday I can't" elak Nara said with a contrived excuse. Saturday and supposed to be Sunday should be the empty day, no activity associated with the program and actually they are off.

"Oh yeah? Don't you guys have no weekend activities?" guess Ji-Ho in a surprised tone. And the guess is right. Or not really a guess. Nara has told Ji-Ho before, and she remembers him.

Nara stuttered back. His brain was spinning hard trying to find a reasonable reason. "I promised to accompany Lisa shopping. Yeah, I'm going to accompany Lisa on a shopping spree this Saturday, Lisa's a friend of my program," she repeated her reasoning twice, trying to emphasize and sound convincing.

Finally there is a sigh of disappointment from Ji-Ho's lips across the phone. "Dearly enough. Then I should schedule another date,"

Ji-Ho's absolutely disappointed tone makes Nara feel guilty. But how else, he can't tell Ji-Ho the real reason. Even though he really wants to meet again with his idol, let alone see him perform on stage that he has seen only from the screen television, mobile phone or laptop. If only it were not during a concert, when people would be very much gathered, when the music thumped loudly, and when the crowd surrounded it. Nara sighed softly and said, "I'm sorry,"

"It's okay," now Ji-Ho tries to make her voice as cheerful as possible so that Nara doesn't feel guilty. "We can arrange a date at a later time. Ah, I have to go now, it's time I left for the photo shoot. I'll call you back later,"

"All right, happy work. Don't forget what I said about eating and sleeping,"

Nara's message makes Ji-Ho chuckle again. "Yes, I ate before calling you, and I'll try to sleep during the car ride. Then good night, good dream, or may you dream of me,"

Nara gave a lip holding back her smile. "Yes, good night,"

"I miss you," Ji-Ho takes the time to mention those words before finally completely disconnecting the phone and leaving Nara glued to her place. Though he was still not moving, but his heart was working fast like he was running fast. His hand raised holding his heated cheek. Ah, maybe just because of the phone that was attached earlier, he thought trying to shift the reality of his true heart.

Long enough Nara was glued until two knocks from behind the door leaf resuscitated her. He immediately got up and walked towards the door of his room, turned the golden knob, and pulled the door open. From behind it is seen Chul Goo who is standing waiting with both hands inserted into his pants pocket. "Ji-Ho's Gift?" shoot him fast with curious raised eyebrows.

Nara did not answer. He turned to leave Chul Goo in front of the open door and then stepped lazily tidying the parcel that had been opened. Feeling unconcerned, Chul Goo decided to walk in and push the door slowly behind him. "So you're not kidding me when you say the person you mean is Ji-Ho?" chul Goo asked with his back that was now leaning on the door.

Nara rolled her eyes at Chul Goo's question. He was already sitting on his bedside with his body facing Chul Goo and both hands folded in front of his chest after clearing his hunchback. "I'm not kidding,"

"Tell me" said Chul Goo. And this time Nara did not refuse. Finally he tells the man before him everything, from the time he first met Ji-Ho, to their date in Sokcho. In fact he also does not miss the sudden confession Ji-Ho who said like.

Of course Chul Goo was surprised to hear all that. He did not stop saying 'What?!' in English and Korean alternately on the sidelines of Nara's story. His forehead did not stop wrinkling, and his wrinkles became deeper as he reached the end of the story. Some time he did not respond and just dissolved and his own mind until he finally spoke up by saying slowly, "What if suddenly his other fans know and suddenly you become the center of attention? You should think about your panic attack,"

Nara took a deep breath before responding to her friend's words earlier. "Chul Goo-ya, let me remind you a few things. First, I'm not officially dating her. Second, I still don't know what kind of relationship we have. And again, I'm sure he'll never let our relationship break down,"

"Stay, do you think his fans will be silent to see you approaching their idol? And how can you be so sure?"

Nara did not respond immediately. But after a few seconds of silence, he sniffed his shoulders, "Once, but I believe he won't be that careless and scandalous. After all he could have denied it and said we were just casual acquaintances. We have nothing to do yet," Nara's tone sounded confident, the same as her expression.

It made Chul Goo finally resigned and could only sigh deeply. "Alright, but if he hurts you, you should call me right away. Or if you feel like there's a suspicious person following you, call me too. Or if all of a sudden there's a fan who knows, call me, I'll help you shut her mouth,"

Nara smiled and nodded her head. "All right, I get it,"

x-x-x