The moment the word left her lips, Arden’s eyes softened.
Not in a smug way — not like someone who had won.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YY6eX4QlA
It was gentler than that — like relief tinged with something unspoken. Maybe fear.
“Meet me after final period,” he said, brushing a hand through his hair. “The old library wing. No one uses it anymore.”
There was a quiet certainty in his voice, like he already knew she’d say yes.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn2Wal31BDQ
Maybe that’s what unsettled her most — not his confidence, but how natural it felt to follow him.
By the time the last bell rang, the school had slipped into that strange, in-between silence.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspnITcH7la
Elowyn moved through the side stairwell, her footsteps echoing too loudly.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTssOzbEVna
Her heart thudded in odd, glitchy rhythms — fast, then slow. Like it wasn’t sure which world it belonged to.
He was waiting.
Leaning against the wall like time passed differently around him. Like he was part of something bigger, older.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHeOvOVDJj
But when he looked at her, it was just Arden again.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSei1ss3aMM
Eyes warm. Smile small. Hands in his pockets.
“I want to show you something,” he said.
And this time, she followed.
The room felt forgotten — dust swirling like memories in the slanted light.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR11jq95AKH
A projector hummed in the corner, looping a broken school presentation that flickered like a dream half-remembered.
But it wasn’t the projector that caught her eye.
It was the wall. Or rather... the part that shouldn’t exist at all.
A glitch. A shimmer. Like someone had sliced reality and stitched it back — badly.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXB455n36IY
Behind it, the desks warped. The shadows pulsed. A silent crack that felt alive.
She stared.
“What is this?” she whispered, stepping back.
“I don’t know,” Arden said. “But it’s been… appearing more. In dreams. In real places. And you…”
He turned to her, voice softer now. “You’re always near it.”
That last sentence landed somewhere strange in her chest. A flutter. A warning.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnid6pV3p2H
She didn’t know how to answer, so her mind grasped for distraction.
The cultural fair — last weekend.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4YWCYp3MF
That woman at the origami table, folding paper with calm hands and unreadable eyes.
“If you could live anywhere?” she’d asked, smile tilted.
And Elowyn, full fangirl reflex, had said, “South Korea.”
The woman had simply smiled — kindly, but with something sharp underneath.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFagFKcRMZT
“It’s not like K-dramas,” she’d said softly. “There’s no soundtrack whenyourheart breaks. No lines to follow when you’re trying to heal.”
Elowyn had laughed, a little too brightly — like she wasn’t still half-waiting for the slow-motion close-up and a perfect OST to swell in the background.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6a3ozHCg5
But now, standing here with Arden and the glitching wall, the woman’s words returned like truth wrapped in soft disappointment.
Now she was in a dusty room, with a glitching wall and a boy who felt like a story she hadn’t meant to write — and that woman’s words echoed like a prophecy.
Because this moment?13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡek0DXZMVsf
It did feel like a scene.
The mysterious boy.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0yscXyy1n
The flickering lights.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gEH6wYfe9
The secret no one else could see.
But unlike a K-drama, there was no soft filter.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuq36YexEXt
No guarantee of a happy ending.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhu1czOPqci
Just Arden.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqRf8xSq8P
Just her.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GukwgIIYy
It felt like a tear in the world — one they didn’t know how to mend.
He stepped closer, careful, like he was approaching something fragile.
“I don’t know what this is yet,” he said. “But I think… we’re already inside it. The glitches. The warnings. The notes. Maybe they’re not about me exactly.”
He paused, gaze flicking toward the shimmer.
“Maybe they’re about the version of me I haven’t become yet.”
A chill slid down her spine. The idea of versions. Of futures. Of selves.
She looked at him — really looked.
He was warm. Familiar.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvtx7rapb7
But there was something else in his eyes now.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXB9HCmZ81H
Not danger exactly.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRySTRcLRff
But possibility — like he hadn’t yet decided who he was going to be.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
She hesitated.
The projector buzzed louder. The glitch shimmered.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqfTybghBR
And for a single breath, she saw something shift behind it.
A shadow.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOi8ie9avm
A version of her.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjX4GQ6MpOH
Of him.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVR0fc4MfHp
Watching.
And still...
Elowyn nodded.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Show me.”
Somewhere deep inside, a truth stirred — fragile, flickering, half-formed.
ns216.73.216.79da2What if the version of reality she craved… was the one quietly unraveling her?
