the voice echoed softly, almost accusing."But why do I still feel like two people inside the same body?"37Please respect copyright.PENANAZw7rerHbNY
The silence that followed was thick, stretched between timelines. Zhang Huan-An—no, Yu Yong-An—stood before the mirror, unsure who exactly was speaking. Himself? A remnant? Or the ghost of a choice never made?37Please respect copyright.PENANAhGEjJneF67
"I remember your memories," he whispered, fingertips brushing against the cold glass."But they don't belong to me. Not really."37Please respect copyright.PENANA0bgpeEd2Ar
From within, a reply surfaced—not spoken aloud, but felt like an echo threading through his veins.37Please respect copyright.PENANAZjmY4bsz1m
"Then whose life did you live during those 281 days?"37Please respect copyright.PENANA327ukWkjIs
He didn't answer.37Please respect copyright.PENANAbwL3TAsNr3
His reflection stared back at him—not quite right. The posture was his, the scars too. But the eyes? The eyes held a weight he had never known until that dreamlike season where time broke apart and remade itself.37Please respect copyright.PENANANQnTh5gO6R
"Do you remember the rooftop? The rain?"the voice inside pressed."That was my fear. My ending. And now it's become yours."37Please respect copyright.PENANAc9tN1w558f
He turned away. The room behind him was dim, dust suspended in unmoving air. Nothing had shifted since he woke—yet everything had changed.37Please respect copyright.PENANASgcxziPhAu
"They said integration would bring peace," he muttered."But this… this feels like exile. I can't go back. I can't move forward."37Please respect copyright.PENANAqNKOZPU5YK
"Then choose."37Please respect copyright.PENANAF3ZfKeOP0R
The whisper again. No longer from within—but from just behind. He didn't turn. He knew nothing would be there. And yet—37Please respect copyright.PENANADLuSroWJcI
"Choose who you want to remain."37Please respect copyright.PENANAaEIr0C7djT
He clenched his fists. The names—Zhang Huan-An, Yu Yong-An—lay heavy on his chest like layered truths. Too real to discard. Too overlapping to claim.37Please respect copyright.PENANA4JS5YJ6Ko2
"What if I don't want to be either?"he asked the air, voice hoarse.37Please respect copyright.PENANAlN0ccDMYci
"Then become what only you can be—""The memory that survives the collapse."37Please respect copyright.PENANAdtXr1zF2SD
The mirror cracked.37Please respect copyright.PENANAG3cCImXJM1
Not from pressure, not from sound.37Please respect copyright.PENANAEkW3XdQwZt
From time.37Please respect copyright.PENANAt7mzrg9EFT
And as the fracture split his reflection in two, he realized:37Please respect copyright.PENANAkYIQ8jcQte
They had never truly been separate.And now, they could never truly merge.They would simply continue—37Please respect copyright.PENANA6w6tbdyrbC
Layered.37Please respect copyright.PENANAkArKBiPK1V
Fragmented.37Please respect copyright.PENANA2JAK35iCPO
Echoing.37Please respect copyright.PENANAfcA8G61M8J
"Reflections That Do Not Return"37Please respect copyright.PENANAXvxvD5UqJS
When the mirror shattered, time fractured with it.37Please respect copyright.PENANAXgz2Ehw0Kf
The cracks radiated outward like webbing, each fissure revealing a version of himself—some younger, others older, some cold and unfeeling, others brimming with unshed tears.37Please respect copyright.PENANAfT5PaqnT42
"Are these… all me?"37Please respect copyright.PENANANROGV6qLFy
His voice wavered in the still air, unsure whether he was questioning the mirror—or the fractured soul it reflected.37Please respect copyright.PENANAUNEaejCR7T
A shard broke loose, falling to the floor with a soft chime. Yet the reflection it cast wasn't of the room he stood in—it was of time:Friday's dusk. Tuesday's echo. The moment the cross appeared. The final turn of her silhouette.37Please respect copyright.PENANAyuqi6EykQZ
"You're not choosing an identity,"said a voice—feminine, calm, not quite Yang An-Ting, not quite Li An-Qing, but holding the gentleness of both."You're choosing which version of yourself will survive."37Please respect copyright.PENANAAAv3kDoJbS
He gazed down at the scattered fragments.Each one led to a future that could never return to the beginning.37Please respect copyright.PENANABPUVC1ltUF
"And if I choose nothing?" he asked, barely audible.37Please respect copyright.PENANAjTgpWTfwe2
"Then you'll remain trapped here—in this fracture—until the next cycle calls you back."37Please respect copyright.PENANAFTgvxr2wCo
Silence again.37Please respect copyright.PENANABSQoYXzrrP
And then, softly, he said:37Please respect copyright.PENANAlrWAzpsItR
"I don't want to wake again—Not if waking means forgetting her."37Please respect copyright.PENANATs5P47jVIo
The mirror flickered.37Please respect copyright.PENANAu0YjgaNm0e
A memory surfaced, replaying on its own:"You won't remember what I said. But you'll remember that it turned dark… and I didn't leave."37Please respect copyright.PENANAWk3WXnasZs
It was her voice—Li An-Qing.37Please respect copyright.PENANAbAF06zxCxo
It was the eternity hidden within Friday.37Please respect copyright.PENANA8kbiT47t3e
No more ticking clocks.No more voices.Only the sound of breath—and something deeper, like the echo of his own heartbeat splintering through time.37Please respect copyright.PENANAu3UuWJjV2y
A crack ran across the floor, slow but certain, as if time itself was fracturing.One wrong step—and he would fall into a past that no longer wanted him.37Please respect copyright.PENANA7WRlkSaxCb
He knelt, picking up the fallen shard.In its surface, memory stirred—not his, but sharp enough to cut.37Please respect copyright.PENANAgfcHbRAx06
"He said he'd come back… He promised me."37Please respect copyright.PENANAXx4FjWTW3z
It was Yang An-Ting's voice—young, certain, heartbreakingly full of hope.37Please respect copyright.PENANAqPukX9uO2O
Another fragment reflected Li An-Qing, standing at the edge of an abandoned railway.A timestamp flickered in her eyes:2025.2.19 // 28:0137Please respect copyright.PENANAAWVi8dQH7m
She whispered,37Please respect copyright.PENANAx9sohwFdd1
"Memory isn't for forgetting. It's for choosing."37Please respect copyright.PENANAqRjGkFGsZh
Something inside him pulled—gently at first, then with force.A sorrowful gravity.37Please respect copyright.PENANAVH117O1LgT
The kind that lived in her voice,in her silence,in every name lost to time.37Please respect copyright.PENANAi0FjedDZM7
"Then how do I choose?" he asked—not to the mirror, but to everything.37Please respect copyright.PENANAMWiHNKnicv
"Choice," the voice answered from beyond the glass,"isn't an answer. It's a cost."37Please respect copyright.PENANAOCoCuqMpfo
He opened his eyes.The fracture was pushing him toward a precipice—an end written long ago but never read aloud.37Please respect copyright.PENANA3V4aEGXptq
"You've remembered too much," the voice murmured,"and forgotten more than you know.So now, only one question remains—Who will you stay for?"37Please respect copyright.PENANAVmMGICHsRr
37Please respect copyright.PENANA1ymDMlm2CW
"You've always remembered,"Yang An-Ting's voice was gentle, but unwavering."You just didn't want to admit it."37Please respect copyright.PENANA2Q7MCJ1roH
"And you've never let go,"Li An-Qing's voice followed, soft and clear, like light after rain."Because deep down, you knew—it wasn't yours to end."37Please respect copyright.PENANAsDvQei2rJz
He stood between the mirror and the rift,Behind him, the remnants of the past.Before him, an exit with no name.37Please respect copyright.PENANAZtYuXYAYUu
"If I can't be him, and I can't remain only myself… then what's left?"37Please respect copyright.PENANAUAIAAycNLz
"Memory,"they said together.37Please respect copyright.PENANA8ks9PcVQQs
Not a name.Not an identity.But something heavier—something that could pierce through time itself.37Please respect copyright.PENANAKstXkMGMMn
If names could be forgotten, then let them fade.If identities could collapse, then stop defining them.37Please respect copyright.PENANAUGHStm2SxA
"You don't need a name,"Yang An-Ting whispered."You've already remembered us.""You just need to keep walking,"Li An-Qing followed,"Not for anyone. Not even for yourself."37Please respect copyright.PENANAal0IPc4lkR
The rift began to close—not as an end, but as a quiet reconfiguration.The shattered timelines wove into each other, forming a new path—one that required no right or wrong, no labels, no return.37Please respect copyright.PENANAxk99hkESm6
It was the third route.37Please respect copyright.PENANAU9k5hZF6IX
Not back.Not in circles.But—37Please respect copyright.PENANApG2lRR1Mtp
Toward a future unnamed.