The Heartbeats

> 4:44 a.m.

Ji-Han woke up with a jolt.

He could hear a dull sound.

A heartbeat.

Slow. Rhythmic. Deep.

He stood up, his bare feet on the cold wooden floor.

Everything was… identical. The perfect apartment. The perfectly made bed. The smell of coffee, already there, though no one had made it.

But this heartbeat… he could feel it in his temples.

> BOOM… BOOM… BOOM…

He walked to the bathroom mirror.

His reflection was there. But behind it… there was something.

A white hallway. An electronic beep.

Another world, blurry, flickering like a poorly captured image.

— Do you feel it too? a voice said behind him.

Ji-Han flinched. Jae-In was there, leaning against the doorframe, shirtless, smiling.

— The heartbeat. The rhythm. It's bringing you back.

— Do you know what it is?

Jae-In stepped closer. Slowly.

— It's the world you want to run from.

Ji-Han clenched his fists.

— No. It's the real one. And you… you're just…

He stopped.

— I'm what, Ji-Han? Jae-In asked.

A dream? An invention? A sweet drug in your injured head?

Or maybe… the only place where you truly feel alive.

He reached out and placed his hand against Ji-Han's chest.

— Here, you don't hurt. Here, you're not afraid.

Here, you can come. Fall. Start over. Again and again.

Ji-Han closed his eyes.

He felt Jae-In's lips against his.

And yet, the heartbeat continued.

> BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

But this time… another sound came with it.

> "Jae-In? He's moving. Look. His finger…"

Ji-Han opened his eyes.

For a quarter of a second, he saw a hospital ceiling. The oxygen tube. Tears on someone's face.

Then it was gone.

Jae-In was looking at him now, with a different light in his eyes.

Not tenderness. Not passion.

Fear.

— You're leaving, he said.

Ji-Han stepped back.

— I think… I already am.

And the heartbeat sped up.