Meet Me When I'm Asleep

Prologue

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If I'm going to ask you, What is a typical love story?

Is it one where a girl meets a boy out in the park on a rainy Sunday, having no choice but to stand under his umbrella to keep herself from getting sick? And then he looks deeply into her eyes, notices how beautiful they are, and then magically falls in-love?

Or is it one where a boy and a girl are introduced by a couple of friends, eventually develop a deep friendship which leads to the anticipated feeling of love that neither of them could even understand?

I didn't really experience any of those the normal way one should.

You could say mine had a bit of mystery that no human being could comprehend, a pinch of trouble that no story could avoid, a sprinkle of hurdles that had me trapped between reality and reverie, a whole lot of love, and a myriad of feelings that flowed from the depth of our hearts to the very last second of each adrenaline rush we would feel after every adventure.

I'm Jennie Kim, and honestly, I'm just your ordinary twenty-year-old girl.

What's extremely extraordinary about my life, rather, is the unfathomable journey I experienced with the enthralling girl that I laid my eyes on the moment I drifted off to sleep.

It was beyond crazy if you compare it to my real life.

Not that my life sucks or anything. It's just really... uneventful. It lacked the kind of drive that you would only get from someone who would push you to be passionate about your own life.

I'd spare everyone the lackluster aspects of my so-called reality, but then I like looking back from time to time just to see how different my life was before.

I would wake up at seven am sharp everyday, and then I make coffee and prepare breakfast for my boyfriend, Jongin, whom I've been living with for a year now, and me, my days usually just go by like some sort of routine that I just got used to doing.

I work as an assistant to our Project Manager, but I barely got to go to any of the events. I'm just usually stuck in the office doing boring paper work. If you're wondering why I already have a legit job at the young age of twenty, well that's because I only got to finish two years in college. However, Kai's uncle owns this small PR company that I work for so I was able to get myself a decent job that would pay the bills.

Upon arriving home from work, I prepare dinner. A lot of times Jongin does the cooking at night, but when he's out late at work, I end up doing it. That has pretty much been my routine every single day since I started working.

Jongin, on the other hand, co-owns a small coffee shop with his best friend, Taemin, and most of the time you will find him there at Taemin's tattoo shop, eyes buried in the skin of whoever he's torturing with needles, as I would call it. They don't really have enough money to hire extra artists, so they do the designs themselves as well.

Jongin was my high-school sweetheart. I really loved him a lot, though, despite the lack of excitement in our relationship, He was my first everything. First major crush, first date, first kiss on the cheek, first kiss on the lips, first make-out, and of course, the guy I lost my virginity to. It's safe to say I've only slept with one boy my entire life, and that meant a lot to me.

Even though we've been a couple for a long time, I feel like there's so much about each other that we haven't discovered yet. He's usually always lost in his own world of Painting. If not designing tattoos on paper or on people, he's in his studio painting. He would sometimes sell his paintings on the side, sometimes he gets lucky with sales, and sometimes he doesn't.

But I couldn't blame him, really. I sort of had my own world too, except I wasn't as productive as my boyfriend - not even close. I would usually just drift into space, and daydream my life away. I would always think about how my life would have been if I had finished college, or if I took a different course, or if I had a different job.

My life was full of what-ifs, but I never really did anything about it. I never really had much faith in myself or at least tried to discover what else I could do. I guess I just really settled for what I had - which was pretty boring if you ask me.

Today was just like any other Sunday for us. We woke up late, had some brunch, and then watched some Netflix movies together. We never really went out that much as a couple, except when there's a special occasion, or if someone's just in the mood for good food or a good new movie. Our neighbors probably thought all we did was bang each other at home since we would rarely go out, but that was far from it.

Of course we'd fool around from time to time, but then most of the time it was just cuddling or talking about how our day was.

"Earth to Jennie?" said Jongin, waving his hands wildly in front of me. "Are you daydreaming again?"

I blinked twice and shook my head, "Just thinking to myself."

"Okay, well dinner's ready," he said, pointing to the table.

The first few seconds of our dinner was quiet. It was always like that. Then someone would just suddenly speak.

In this case, it was Jongin.

"I got an offer to do an exhibit next week at Seoul," he said, chewing on his celery.

My eyes popped out in surprise, "Really? Who offered?"

"One of our tattoo customers," he answered. "He really liked my work, and he also some of the paintings I had in the shop. He said my style was very ideal for his new gallery."

I held my hand out across the table and squeezed his hand, "That is amazing. I'm so proud of you babe."

"Thanks," he smiled, squeezing my hand back. "It's a big stepping stone to getting name known out there."

"Well, a lot of people really know your shop already," I pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. But I share that one with Taemin. It's also nice to have your own thing. To be really known for something that you do," explained Jongin. "They know my shop, but they don't really know the artist behind it."

I nodded while chewing, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm really excited for you anyway. I should be your guest of honor, ok?"

"Of course you will be," he winked.

We spent the rest of the night talking about his plans for the exhibit, until I realized that it was already twelve mid-night, and I still had work the next day.

After brushing my teeth and changing into my nighties, I wrapped my arms around Jongin's waist and kissed his cheek. "I'll go to bed now, okay?"

Jongin leaned closer to kiss me on the lips, and then turned back to his painting he was working on. "I'll just do a couple of finishing touches, and then I'll follow you."

"Alright," I nodded while yawning.

I slid under the comforter and set my alarm for the next day. Strangely, I felt extra sleepy today unlike most nights. I thought it was just because of the tiring day I had at work today, or the cup of coffee that I forgot to drink.

Little did I know that this unexpected drowsiness was going to carry me into a deep sleep that was going to change my life forever.