Her Nightmares

It has been 2 months since they last met at the hospital garden. For that duration, Ho Young has been stuck with tons of work. He's gone on 3 business trips. Inevitably, each trip took one week max. On the other hand, Ji Won focused most of her time on getting better. She started learning Pilates to replace the physical therapy that her physical therapist recommended after they finished the course treatment.

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That day since they exchanged contact details with each other, they didn't miss a day without chatting or having phone calls whenever they both have free time. Be it a local or most of the times an international call, they always make sure to keep in contact. Just like old friends would, they talk for hours every single day until one of them falls asleep. There were also instances when the call is still ongoing until the next day and one will greet the other "good morning" and the other says "goodnight".

But today is different. Ji Won's phone has been silent the entire day. She is aware that Ho Young is already in the country yet he is not even replying to her message. This totally dampened Ji Won's mood the entire day. Her usual perfect executions in her Pilates class is no where near perfect. During lunch and dinner, she didn't eat much and only picked on her food. She never initiated a conversation like she usually does with her assistant and manager and would only replied with either a nod or a shake of her head. Her focus is mainly on her phone.

It's already midnight and her phone remained quiet. "*Sigh*" With a heavy heart, she stood up from the sofa and made her way to her queen sized bed. Lying down, she reminded herself that he was just too busy and it's not his obligation to reply to her every texts and calls. She's just a friend and not her girlfriend. She furrowed her brows at her thoughts. Her heart starts to beat fast as she repeatedly murmured. "Girlfriend...."

Closing her eyes, she tries to calm her erratically beating heart. She took deep breaths in the process. And eventually, she fell asleep.

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She woke with a serious headache. She feels some sticky liquid at her scalp and forehead. When she tried to touch her head, she realized that she can't move at all. Both of her hands are tied behind her back. Her feet tied tightly as well. Her head is covered with a black cloth.

She struggled a bit and raise her head. She tried to look around through the thick black cloth covering her head. She assumes that it was night time since she can't see even a bit of light through the thick cloth. With her hands behind her back, she felt some grass, bushes and the wet soil beneath her.

Everything then shifted and she suddenly found herself standing at the middle of a dense forest, wearing her night gown. In front of her is a scene from the past that she wishes to forget.

Seeing her younger self lying on the ground, bleeding and hurting from all the beatings she received, did not affect her. What made her present self shake in anguish and guilt was the little girl being debauched by three rebels right in front of her younger and present self.

Ji Won's younger self was crying and shouting while she tries to get up. "STOP!! No!! Dirty Bastards!!! S-STOP!!!!"

Hearing her own voice shouting helplessly, she dropped on her knees. Her whole body shaking violently. She closed her eyes as tightly as she could and covered her ears to block the scene as well as her shouts, the cries of the little girl and the evil laughs of the monsters. Her efforts being futile, she started to wail and shouts at the top of her lungs. "STOP!! NO!!! NOOOO!!!!"

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"NOOOO!!!!"

She woke up shouting. Her whole body drenched in sweat. Her face covered with her own tears. She continued to cry until her eyes became so swollen that she gets a hard time opening them.

It's been two months since this nightmares stopped. Her parents let her stay alone at her own condo due to the fact that she's been sleeping regularly for two months without a need of sleeping pills. But now, they're back to hunt her.