The moment the word left her lips, Arden’s eyes softened.
Not in a smug way — not like someone who had won.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOc361ioFf
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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUdZeDvwKw
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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pqRoqTt5F
Elowyn moved through the side stairwell, her footsteps echoing too loudly.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqLg7VJByW
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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiORXDdIPc
But when he looked at her, it was just Arden again.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzEpgRGFF2
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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFDtq37mHGl
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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPVVBiQ17c
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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxH49LLKTyQ
She didn’t know how to answer, so her mind grasped for distraction.
The cultural fair — last weekend.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PClYP4ULN
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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBgQY3zNCj
“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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqjJBVgzxE
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?11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAOgo7osmO
It did feel like a scene.
The mysterious boy.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5c4Rg6oMKq
The flickering lights.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghqigmdVbw
The secret no one else could see.
But unlike a K-drama, there was no soft filter.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5QO8iAYBM
No guarantee of a happy ending.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwIp59cgsd
Just Arden.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡumKcOSu5Zv
Just her.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAhopTCkzt
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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiATjv5Bny
But there was something else in his eyes now.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcb7od12MmQ
Not danger exactly.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDfGefci50
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.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgO1hmY7r1
And for a single breath, she saw something shift behind it.
A shadow.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBRK7gZ9lN
A version of her.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qhaiQPlsQ
Of him.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKi9Lf2GGM
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?
