You thought it was the hours of staying up late and your caffeine intake. You thought it was the overtime in your late night shifts that your manager forced you to do. Maybe you were just mentally ill and caught psychosis, so you became delusional.

Unfortunately, the methods you tried were in vain. Sleep pills? Sleep gummies? Melatonin? Limit alcohol and nicotine? You never drank or smoked anyway. How virtuous. Besides your sleeping schedule, of course.

But no, it wasn’t just you. Not in your dreams.

You haven’t had dreams in a long time. When you close your eyes in the somber night, it’s just a long darkness in your vision before the sound of your ringtone wakes you up. Yet nights have been restless because of one man that keeps showing up in your dreams.

“Who am I?”

The man repeats your question.

“I’m Chan. You’ve met me before.”

”In my dreams?”

“Not only here, sweetheart.”

You feel like stumbling on the flat ground beneath your feet. This was too confusing. You could spiral. But he wouldn’t allow you to, let alone do so, anyway.

He’s not the man of your dreams, just the man in your dreams.

The role he plays? It was unknown. He’s not stuck in your mind. He doesn’t control your dreams. He can’t even if he wanted to. But there was definitely something unique about him that no one could stick up for, if anyone could find it.

Either way, he wouldn’t want you to see his true side. For now, all you’ll ever see in your sleep is his beautiful face. Captivating eyes you couldn’t look away from. Those dimples that form around his lips when he smiles. He wasn’t evil but he wasn’t innocent, either.

”Are you real?” The words you’ve been longing to say finally escape your mouth.

“Of course I am,” Chan answers smoothly. “You think I’m your delusion? Your nightmare?” His lip curls into a grin.

“Don’t worry. I’m very much real.”

He assures you this, because you did meet him. You’ve seen him before.

But where? And when?