A Voice and A Nightmare

"We have arrived, Mr. Wang," Mr. Shin announced as they pulled up to the flat. 

Lucas thanked Mr. Shin for bringing him home and stepped out. He was the only one in the lonely flat today since Ezekiel and Rex decided to pay Mr. Ming a visit to his office.

It was evident from Rex's face that he wasn't happy about what was reported back to him after he learned of Mr. Ming's unusual aversion to using celebrities in marketing stunts.

After letting out a heavy sigh, Lucas flopped onto his bed, letting out a groan into the bedsheet.

"What a day, my goodness. It was just my first day as an apprentice, but here I am, already feeling how tiring this will be."

Lucas sighed again before sitting up in the middle of the bed. He then reached for his bag and grabbed his phone.

As he scrolled through his feed on EmBook, the young man hoped to catch up on the latest trends and scandals the world had to offer.

"What the hell? Where are the news and the scandals with the dramas?"

He muttered before continuing to scroll until he got bored and eventually gave up and proceeded to change clothes after taking the night bath.

After a few moments of deafening silence, punctuated only by his incredible singing in the bathroom, Lucas emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hair.

He grabbed his phone from the bed and headed to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

As he was busy rummaging through the fridge, his phone rang. He looked up at the counter and closed the fridge's door before grabbing his phone.

After taking a look at the caller ID, he was startled and frowned upon seeing that it was an unrecognizable number.

He hesitantly pressed the green button and answered the call on speaker.

"Hello?"

A low grumble could be heard from the other end of the line. Lucas tried again, greeting the other line again in a bit more uncertain voice.

"Hello, may I know who this is?"

Instead of a reply, a soft and low chuckle was heard as an answer.

Lucas felt shivers creeping in around his neck and he abruptly ended the call. He stared at his phone still like a statue, not knowing what to do next.

"What the fuck was that?"

He muttered and folded both of his arms around him before tightening his grip for comfort.

After taking a deep breath, he grabbed his phone from the counter and bolted straight to his room.

Once he was inside, he locked the door and hid under his blanket, trying to shake off the lingering fear.

The ID of the number from just now had been labeled as "Unknown", and the voice didn't match anyone he was acquainted with.

After a bit of whimpering and trembling, Lucas finally drifted off to sleep. In his dream, he found himself sitting on a chair in a familiar room, a glass of wine beside him.

The glass was filled with red wine and was almost half full.

Across him sat his older brother and beside his older brother and sister, both dressed in formal attires, as if attending either a funeral or a wedding party.

But by the way, it was all set up— drinks, flowers and some nuts and other snacks, it looked like they were attending a funeral.

Just as he was about to call them and ask them how they were, he saw Rex in his peripheral vision, the CEO was bowing to someone, his eyes swollen as if he had been crying for days.

Lucas approached him curiously, slowly walking in his direction. His eyes were still curious and full of questions, but he abruptly stopped when Rex looked his way.

Lucas smiled, but Rex did not. He silently mouthed a name that was all too familiar to Lucas, causing the latter to flinch and feel a hint of pain in his heart.

Though he wasn't expecting much, a part of him was hoping that with all of that teasing, mocking and staring, it would be his name the CEO would say.

Nevertheless, Lucas glanced in the direction of the woman, who was now in Rex's embrace. He could hear Rex sobbing in her arms, yet he felt powerless to do anything.

At last, Lucas looked.

He gazed at the image that everyone was mourning over.

He stared at the photograph that seemed to be smiling back at him, a glint of happiness in its eyes, while in the background, his father wept loudly, pleading for forgiveness to anyone who could hear him.

Lucas was frozen in place, unable to move. It was him.

He stared blankly at his very own picture, framed in a large portrait surrounded by white and yellow flowers.

Dizziness overcame him as the weight of everything that was happening around him sank in, and that was when he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. 

He turned around, but the man's face was unclear.

A sly grin spread across the stranger's face as he made his way towards his father. 

Lucas's vision started to blur as he noticed the man was carrying a weapon, pointing it at his father.

Like any other kid, Lucas lunged towards his father, and then everything in his vision turned black.

"Father!"

Lucas screamed, jolting awake from his nightmare, sweat pouring from his forehead. He looked around his room and was shocked to see Rex sitting beside him with a concerned expression on his face.

"What—."

Lucas cleared his dry throat, swallowing the lump in it as he tried to steady himself and calm his aching head.

"What are you doing here?"

Rex wiped the sweat from his forehead, his fingers gently tracing down Lucas's face as he slowly wiped away the tear stains on the young man's face.

"Whatever it was in your dream, you can tell me. I am here. You're not alone."

His voice was soft and velvety, filling Lucas with a sense of comfort and assurance that everything would be alright.

His heart started to ache and words seemed to be stuck in his mouth, unable to speak up.

Rex stared at his soul without prejudice and Lucas loved it. He had never considered falling for the CEO, unlike so many others before him.

But this time, it was different.

He felt as if some sort of invisible force was pulling him towards Rex's orbit, as if he was meant for him; that he was supposed to be the person comforting him, not the woman from his dreams.

Lucas looked at Rex with a gentle expression before breaking into a smile. The joy he felt was so overwhelming that he instinctively pulled Rex towards him and held him into a tight embrace.

He had never felt more secure in his life. 

'Maybe this is what love really is like.'