It was well into the afternoon already, I had overslept but now I had to get to work. I was budgeting for the following months and it was doing my head in.

As I grabbed my latest bank statement, my gaze fell upon the snake on the cover of the book Miri had given me. At first, I thought Imugis were dragons because that's what my brain associated giant lizards with. Through reading the book, I had found out they were in fact proto-dragons. Basically, a giant serpent like creature that could later become a dragon either by capturing a mythical orb that descended from heaven or by living for a thousand years.

I was enjoying the book more than I thought I would, partially due to the little notes Miri left in it. Most of them felt bizarre and absurd to me. Such as "Are there mating rituals for Imugi?", "Research when the latest Imugi was born" and "Imugi children".

Reading through her notes, it felt like she believed these mythical creatures were real, which was concerning.

I focused on the spreadsheet in front of me, now was not the time to focus on someone else's mental health.

I worked diligently on it for a few hours. Then I finally closed my laptop and sighed, it seemed that I could take up to a year to rest and look for something I truly wanted to do.

I'd have to treat Dali soon as a gift for hammering into me the importance of budgeting and saving. It was thanks to him that I could afford to take a breather now.

Doing math had exhausted me so instead of doing something productive like cooking or other housework, I slid back into bed with my book.

When I woke up from that impromptu nap, I was in the strangest mood as I had come out of the strangest dream.

The dream that I've had since I was a child had morphed. The melodious laugh, the deep feminine voice, I could see who they belonged to now.

They belonged to her, Miri.

As she softly laughed at me, I gazed at her in the dream as I had gazed at her in real life, like an idiot.

She had pulled me to her and whispered in my ear, a name I hadn't recognized but that felt familiar. Her hot breath brushed against my ear, making me blush.

When she pulled back, she slowly started transforming into an Imugi. I should have been scared but I wasn't, instead I stood in awe of her appearance. She was towering over me, the turquoise Imugi, yet I didn't feel scared.

Her scales glistened and her eyes shimmered as if she was from another world. Then came that melodious laugh again and with it, she said "Gwenchana Yeobo?"

I shouldn't have been able to understand what she meant let alone picture the words in my mind. Yet, I could, I knew exactly what she meant and I nodded to reassure her.

She smiled at me, a serpentine smile that should have struck fear in my heart. Yet again, I found myself smiling at her like a fool in love, one hand caressing her beautiful scales.

Just then, a little girl came running towards us, smiling and screaming "Appa! Umma!"

Without even thinking about it, I got on my knees and opened my arms so she could nestle into them.

Just as I hugging the little girl, I heard Miri say from behind me "I can't wait for us to meet again. What will it be this time? Who will you be?"

Then I woke up, feeling strangely choked up. I wanted to cry as if I had lost something precious to me.

I got out of bed, all these emotions were making me hungry. I opened my bedroom door to head to the kitchen.
There I was confronted with a sight so absurd, I thought I was dreaming still.

I closed the door back up and pinched myself.

It hurt. Maybe now I was more awake ?

I opened the door again and was confronted with the same sight. I closed the door back and smashed my head against it.

That ought to wake me up.

Just as I was reaching for the doorknob again, my door swung open nearly hitting me in the process.

There stood a beautiful intruder. Or maybe it was a hallucination? Maybe after years of solitude, I was starting to lose it after finally meeting a woman I was into.

The mulberry haired beauty looked at me quizzically, her head tilted to the side like an owl.

Then she started unbuttoning her blouse and I turned around at the speed of light.
What the fuck was wrong with my mind ?

She tapped my shoulder and her hand felt warm. Were hallucinations supposed to feel so warm and real?

I really didn't know as this was my first.
As I pondered over this, it seemed she had gotten impatient as she spun me around.

Thankfully, she was still dressed, it seemed. Her blouse was lightly unbuttoned revealing a gold necklace, in the shape of the mark I'd had since birth.
Before I could utter a word, she pinched my cheek hard, then nonchalantly she said, "Now can you stop believing I'm not real? You always do this, I swear Yeobo. It's cute but troublesome. Does your soul not learn from this ? Come, let's cook and talk.

Then she went to the kitchen.

Yeobo? She had called me that in the dream too..