; fly as if I’m dreaming

“Christmas is great, but Halloween is my all-time favorite.” Alex, one of the Curator at the Boston Museum of Fine Art told the person. She loved spending time in coffee shops during her work breaks, chatting with others, since much of her time was filled with isolation because of her work. It was nice to have a two sided conversation instead of a one sided conversation she normally had to help past the time as she preserved artwork.

“Is it weird to say that I like Christmas because of the colors?” Clara asked, frowning slightly. The truth was that she really didn’t like any of them. Halloween was meaningless and Christmas didn’t make sense, when her family was away from her. She hadn’t seen them for so long. There was only an empty apartment waiting for her to home, every single day, especially during Christmas. Clara had a cup of hot cocoa between her hands, wanting to keep herself warm. She was actually on a break from work, even if she knew she couldn’t stay in there for too long. It had only been a short break.

“Christ,” Eunhye muttered, “You must have a fucking huge family.” The words, as usual,  rushed out with no regard for how they would be received. “I’ve really got nothing to do. It’s not a big deal.” She looked at the slightly full parking lot, “Which car’s yours? Or do you want me to help you with these and then, I don’t know, we can get the others together. I’m Eunhye by the way. What’s your name again?” Falling into step with the other woman, she grinned brightly, holding her hands out, “I promise I won’t steal anything either.”

“Oh no no no.” There was no awkwardness behind her voice, even if Clara had said the three negative words almost at the same time and really quickly, not leaving many time for her to breath. Realizing that she could take this action as impolite, the young woman let out a quiet laugh before she explained. “These presents are for an orphanage.” She explained to her, letting the lie fall from her lips easily. “But thank you so much for helping. I really appreciate it because it saves me time.” At her question, Clara tried to point at the car without letting the presents fall on the floor. “That one over there, but the door is closed. So maybe you can carry three of these and then we come to get the others?” She suggested, believing this was actually the best idea. Clara’s smile matched the other, when she introduced herself. “My name is Clara and I trust you. Here.“ She said, holding her arms out for her to get some of the presents. “Once again, thank you so much!”

Jonah hopped happily from foot to foot, rubbing his hands together. To passbyers, it would be hard to tell if he was acting like this because he was cold or if he were excited, “Haven’t had a decent meal in two weeks and just made arrangements with the folks. I won’t need to eat for another six months after Christmas.”

Was the man dancing? That was the first thought that crossed Clara’s mind as she watched him with an amusing expression on her face. She enjoyed singing and dancing on public places too, so she certainly wasn’t going to comment his odd behavior. She was on her lunch break and she still had half an hour before going back. Zachary hadn’t called her, so the young woman figured she could stay for a bit longer. “So you are waiting for Christmas to eat until you roll?” She joked.

“So what do you think of this one?” Charlie asked, sliding the test drink towards the other person, “Not bad, huh?”

Clara took the glass from the table, taking a sip from it carefully. “Oh. It’s yummy.” She confirmed with a nod, feeling the sweet taste of the drink. It was sweet, but not too sweet. Her taste buds were surely a fan of this. “What did you use for this?”

“It’s no problem, really,” Eunhye told her, thinking of her own small package in her bag and silently comparing it to the woman’s obvious armful. Jealousy sprung up, hot and familiar, but Eunhye was good at pushing that down. “I was behind you and figured it’d be easier to catch up instead of anything else.” She shrugged, “Looks like you’ve got a lot of stuff there. D’you want some help? I don’t have anything to do.” It was true, at least for the next few hours. She didn’t have an appointment until the afternoon and there was no way in hell she was going into work early if given the opportunity to spend more time with such a pretty girl.

“I’m very grateful.” Clara said as soon as she mentioned she had seen the present falling and had decided to get it. Otherwise, one of her siblings was going to ‘murder’ her for this. During Christmas and because she was training with CIA, she used to only send six presents for her family. However, Baek Clara doesn’t have family. She only has a controlling step-father. That was her story and the ‘reason’ why she moved to Boston. But Choi Nayeon had four siblings, a step-father and a mother. That was why she had to think of an excuse to send the presents. That was when Nayeon had the brilliant idea of claiming that she was helping an orphanage. She obviously couldn’t buy only six presents and instead, she started to buy eighteen presents. They were cheap, but they wrapped in different packages. Her four siblings were obviously very happy with this. Nayeon only had six of those presents in her arms and when she offered some help, the young CIA tech smiled widely. “Help would be awesome.” She admitted to her with a soft laugh. “I still have twelve presents in my car and I need to bring them inside. Are you sure you don’t mind helping me?”

“Is that a song?” He asked confused. He wasn’t good with melodies and often changed the lyrics to all songs, so it was hard for him to recognize any. “I did. It was wet, and I need it, and I was here thinking, how do I dry it? I thought about the hair dryer but wouldn’t that take too long? So the microwave was the best next option and now it’s burning and… humid. What do I do?”

“Yeah.” Clara nodded, letting out a quiet laugh. “But nevermind.” Because the song wasn’t important. She was the type of person who enjoyed singing random songs, but she was already used of people being confused with her because of this terrible habit of hers. Staring at the shirt, she took is a challenge to help him. Taking a cloth from her backpack, it didn’t take long for her to use it as a way for the shirt to not continue burning. “It’s not burning anymore, but—“ She paused slightly to pick up the shirt with both of her hands. “—are you sure you still want to use this shirt?”

Rosie was thankful for the change of topic…”I’m the middle one of five. People claim that means I have an attitude problem, but I’m the only one of my siblings who has never been arrested so-” She shrugged a slight flush of color giving way to the fact that she felt she had said too much. “I’m Rosie. It wouldn’t be to weird if I gave you my ipod and had you download some your wonderful taste on to it?”

Clara didn’t seem to be much bothered the information Rosalyn had added into her sentence and perhaps it was because a lot of her friends had been arrested, including Ki-Young somehow. She obviously didn’t voice out her own thoughts as she nodded her head slowly. “I’m the oldest one of five too.” She revealed to her with a smile. “We are all different in personality and nationality too.” But even so different, they always got along so well. At her request, she smiled widely. “It wouldn’t be weird. I always bring my laptop with me, so instead I can save one of my folders into your ipod? Through itunes may be easier.” She said, pulling her apple laptop from her backpack.

A sincere smile pushed dimples into Rosie’s cheeks while she watched in admiration while Clare found simple joys in things like music, and take away. Rosie always felt too out of control when she did such things. “I wish I could just go home and lounge like that…I’m too much of a control freak. I mean I even cook dinner every night. Can you imagine how pain staking it is to cook for one?” She asked a light hearted laugh passing her lips and betraying her true emotions. Being alone had never been her goal. However, neither had giving up her career. “Any way, you have great taste in music…I’m Rosie.”

Clara certainly couldn’t imagine how tough it was feeling the need to cook every single day, only for the sake of it. It seemed very painful to her, since take away had always been one of her life saviors. “I have a big family, but I’m living alone too. You’re my hero, because I could never cook to myself.” She said, not pushing the topic further, in case this was a painful one to her. “It’s nice to meet you.” She said, offering her a smile. “I’m Clara.”

“Uhm-” Twisting her bottom lip between her teeth Rosie furrowed her brow, “This really isn’t fair for a girl who spends endless hours in a lab…but I like it.” Poping her lips out, “Is that tune that song by Selena Gomez, about the dress in a mess? Honestly…” Rosie went on her hand flipped out for effect, “If someone left their clothes a mess on my floor I’d be inclined to go fold them.”

This was something Clara did very often. Her ipod was basically one of her best friend, among all the technological devices that she had with her. Singing randomly, even on the street, was something that was already part of her routine. Clara Baek was usually a pocketful of sunshine. She always had a smile on her lips and a melody in her voice. “Yes!” She squealed in happiness when the other woman finally guessed the right song. “It goes like, leave this dress a mess on the floor and still look good for you, good for you, uh-huh.” Clara sang with a laugh, only lowering the volume of the song, so she could still hear what the other woman was saying. She gasped slightly. “Seriously? I’d probably pick the dress up, but not fold them. I rarely fold my clothes, because I’m always so lazy. Oh my God, even washing my clothes sometimes is tough for me. When I get home from work, I only want to lay down on my couch and never get up. That is exactly why I prefer to order take away too, because I don’t have the strength to cook either. Not even pre-cooked food. It’s too much to me.” She rambled happily.

Zachary Lee couldn’t remember the last time that he had just gone ahead and taken a day off. A day that he hadn’t actually just been focused on work. Ever since Lucas died, he had completely given up on any and all fun in his life. And though he knew deep down that wasn’t what Lucas would have wanted, in that moment he couldn’t think of anything else. Kang Enterprises had taken everything from him. His future, his love, his family, everything. If they hadn’t framed him, then at least he would have been able to stay with his mother, make sure that she was okay. Instead she had been forced to be alone, with her only remaining son being sent to jail. So what was there to be happy about and what luxury did he have to enjoy his time. He couldn’t. Things were different for Nayeon so it made sense why she was able to just remain the same person that she had been before. But he couldn’t. “Sure. You pick whatever. Do you want something to drink?” He asked on his way to the kitchen.

Zachary Lee was monochrome, but Zachary Lee wasn’t only a role. No matter how lovely this sounded, this would be the biggest lie in the whole world, because Zachary Lee was also a big part of Kim Ki Young. How much of Kim Ki Young did ‘Zachary’ have in him? That was something Na Yeon had always wondered. The only evidence that showed her that he still had some Kim Ki Young in him was when he called her Na Yeon. It was only when they were alone, obviously. This had always given her some hope and maybe the old Kim Ki Young was still hidden inside of him. “Sure. Surprise me.” She said, shrugging one of her shoulders slightly as she sat down on the couch with a loud sound before she reached for the television remote. “Oh.” Remembering something, she turned around to rest her arms on the top of the back of couch and her chin on them. Her lips curved into a smile when Na Yeon remembered something. “어린애 아냐.” She sang it in Korean. It was a sentence she usually said when they were younger, but she had always said it in the negative, because at that time, Choi Na Yeon was only seventeen.