???? ???? ???? (EN- REVERSE HAREM)

The train jolted slightly as it pulled out of Dumdum station, the familiar hum of wheels against the tracks filling the space. I sat by the window, but for once, my eyes weren't on the passing scenery. I wasn't watching the blur of trees and buildings or the way the golden sunlight spilled onto the tracks. No. My gaze was fixed on the white bandage wrapped gently around my forearm. First it was just a bandaid then another but in the end, Jay wrapped the white cloth around my arm to keep it safe so that I don't get hurt in the crowded places.

My fingers ghosted over it lightly, and I had to bite my lip to stop the squeal bubbling in my chest.

Enhypen bandaged this.

Enhypen. Bandaged. My. Arm.

I wanted to scream. But I was on a local train in Kolkata, surrounded by strangers with tired eyes, bags filled with groceries, schoolbags on laps, and the scent of midday sweat lingering in the warm air. I couldn't exactly fangirl the way I wanted to. Not outwardly, at least.

So I sat there, my heart thudding like a drum, while my mind played a highlight reel of the last few hours over and over again like some fever dream.

Just this morning, I was one of them—just another girl on the train, nodding my head to "Polaroid Love" or "Go Big or Go Home" through my AirPods, gazing out the window and imagining elaborate, cinematic K-drama scenarios. Sometimes I'd imagine one of the boys sitting across from me, glancing up every now and then, our fingers brushing accidentally as the train turned. Other days, I pictured bumping into one of them on the street and not realizing who they were until it was too late.

Those fake little daydreams I used to keep tucked into my imagination like comfort candy—they were nothing compared to this.

I shifted slightly, my fingers still grazing the edge of the bandage. The one he wrapped. I remembered how careful Sunghoon and then Jay was—how his fingers trembled slightly as he fixed it, how he wouldn't quite meet my eyes. The same like when Jungwon had dragged me into an alley. As if I would have discovered my pictures in that camera. Oh, he was worried for their pictures. It doesn't have any of my pictures. why would it be? Stupid me.

The air inside the train felt too warm suddenly, and I pulled my hem of the top near the collarbone a bit, eyes darting to the people around me. Nobody had a clue. To them, I was just another girl in a westernized cloth with messy hair and a flushed face from the sun. But inside me? There was a volcano erupting.

Because today, I lived one of those dreams.

I met them. All of them. Enhypen. In the flesh.

We were in the Indian Museum together. I remember the way they looked at the exhibits, how they spoke to each other in soft Korean, and how Ni-ki wandered off a bit like he always does in their content. I saw Sunoo beam at a statue, Sunghoon fix his cap nervously whenever someone passed too close, and Heeseung mutter something to Jay that made both of them nodding while Jake was curiously reading a description on the board and explaining it to Jungwon.

Then, the restaurant. I remembered sitting there, trying to eat like a normal human being while my insides were melting into pure goo. They were so normal, so real, but also so them. And they talked to me. They listened to me. I laughed with them. I ate with them. I made them laugh. It wasn't a fancall. It wasn't a video. It wasn't a dream.

It was real.

I leaned my head against the train window, staring at my own reflection on the blank phone screen. My cheeks were flushed, my lips curved into a soft smile I couldn't even fight anymore. I looked so ordinary, and yet my entire world had just changed in the span of a day.