Dreamcatcher Imagines - Oneshots | (Girl x Girl)

🐱 Would You Mind? - Handong

Now that my mind was at ease with my relentless worries no longer clouding my senses, I noticed music playing in the background. The song was slow: its gentle, swaying electric guitar riff matching the vibe of this dark, lonely bar and its vocalist singing in such a way that told only of heartbreak.

For all that I know
You needed someone else
To help you forget the reason
You fell for me at all
In this hell of a season

"I'll take whatever she's having," a feminine voice spoke to my left, a bit strained. Ignoring the stinging in my chest from the frighteningly relatable lyrics, I swiveled my bar stool to glance over at the new arrival.

The freshly smeared mascara under the pink-haired woman's eyes stood out against her admittedly beautiful appearance. Her features were—for lack of a better word—perfect, and her expensive looking outfit told a similar story. One might've described her as a princess, but the ghost of tears on her cheeks made her out to be more of a damsel in distress. Though the only help she seemed to be seeking was simply what a strong glass of alcohol could provide.

My glance had soon turned into a full-on stare as the woman completely captivated my attention. I couldn't help but wonder if she was in the same situation as me. Her gaze suddenly met mine and I nearly averted my own to avoid being caught staring, but it was too late for that. Either way, once we locked eyes, I didn't want to look away. There was this strange pull I felt towards her, like we were two opposite ends of a magnet, destined to crash into each other. It confused me and I wondered for a second if I knew her and maybe my mind was subconsciously urging me to talk to her, to get closer to her. But I was sure I had never seen her before.

She seemed to be caught in a daze too, though maybe just because she found my behavior odd. Our weird staring contest was only broken up when the bartender placed a glass identical to mine down in front of her and started pouring from the same bottle she used earlier. The pink-haired woman thanked her with a tight-lipped smile before picking up the glass gracefully and taking a small swig without even flinching.

"Needed an escape too, huh?" the words slipped past her lips so smoothly and elegantly that I almost doubted they even came from her. Just a moment ago, she sounded seconds away from having (another) breakdown, yet here she was, all proper and composed, now having wiped the mascara from her face entirely. Her words didn't help with my confusion either. What could she have possibly needed an escape from?

She glanced back at me again and I realized I hadn't answered her question. "Yeah, something like that," I smiled sadly at her before looking back down at the nearly untouched drink between my hands. An escape? Is that what this was? I mean, I did get on a plane to fly halfway across the globe after I found my wife in bed with a man and, considering I did absolutely no planning or critical thinking whatsoever before making that decision, I guess an escape is exactly what this was. I just needed to be anywhere but there and anywhere just so happened to be Seoul, South Korea by luck of the first available international flight out of the U.S. It's a good thing I happened to study Korean in college.

"I'm Handong, by the way." A pale, outstretched hand appeared in my peripheral. I turned again to face her. Handong. That didn't sound like a Korean name.

Reaching out to shake her hand, I opened my mouth to reply. Just before I was able to get any words out, my fingertips grazed her skin, igniting a spark in my chest that soon engulfed my entire body. Images of memories flashed through my mind like earlier, except, this time they weren't mine: a strict king, an empathetic queen, an argument, a single tear, a wedding dress, a man in a suit, one cold, emotionless kiss, and the worst feeling she had ever felt in her life.

Now I felt it. Now I knew. All of it. All of her.

As we sat there, an insurmountable wave of emotions rushed over us. Every heartbreak, every celebration, every injury, every milestone, every good day, every bad day that she had ever lived, I too now experienced it. Only she had nearly thirty years to process it, while I had a mere millisecond. It was excruciating and euphoric, terrifying and exciting, depressing and exhilarating. It was everything amazing and everything horrible all at once. And the only thing either of us could possibly do with ourselves in that moment was crash into each other.

Like the red thread of fate binding our souls together, Handong pulled me in and wrapped her arms around me tightly in a desperate attempt to find comfort, to share in our agony. It didn't feel wrong or unnatural, because, in that moment, we were no longer strangers. The tears came uncontrollably as our hearts ached for one another, already doing everything in their power to heal each other just by being so close. We now knew each other better than anyone else in the entire universe. From the very beginning, we had been connected, and every lifetime following we were destined to find each other again.

Now I realized, it wasn't a random coincidence that my plane happened to be flying to South Korea nor that I ended up in this exact hotel. And neither was the fact that Handong somehow found her way here, consequently causing our worlds to collide, literally and figuratively. And something in me knew, as I heard the final lyrics of the song, that the timing of this meeting wasn't a coincidence either.

So if I spend the night
In the gaze of strange eyes
Would you mind?
Oh, tell me, would you mind?

- CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THIS IS ONE OF DREAMCATCHER'S BEST ALBUMS??? I still can't get over it. They keep topping themselves. Like I think Propose might actually be my favorite Dreamcatcher song of all time...