The moment the word left her lips, Arden’s eyes softened.
Not in a smug way — not like someone who had won.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTy8rOQVZnU
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGooltzYSxl
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtlB4fK1Y3
Elowyn moved through the side stairwell, her footsteps echoing too loudly.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSXrlKL41R
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgQ8t4bHyl
But when he looked at her, it was just Arden again.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiF3GOFyKGb
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzBYUdERcC1
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdrf5wC2ie
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsNTffN8nY
She didn’t know how to answer, so her mind grasped for distraction.
The cultural fair — last weekend.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuKDwsaU6V2
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDGmWAhqzo
“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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwpeGv0ONkW
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?20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbz8DVsv2QK
It did feel like a scene.
The mysterious boy.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsmirezyqR
The flickering lights.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVELkmZ9sQi
The secret no one else could see.
But unlike a K-drama, there was no soft filter.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6nfKZHSO7Y
No guarantee of a happy ending.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8d0yg8TYcx
Just Arden.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv493PlPxvx
Just her.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJzEQWrATH
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXr0htBssoT
But there was something else in his eyes now.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfQ2287PAt
Not danger exactly.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINkUEv5jaX
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.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUrp6SMPep
And for a single breath, she saw something shift behind it.
A shadow.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNT8PLeL3Z5
A version of her.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mmk7TWRd8
Of him.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7b84lqq98u
Watching.
And still...
Elowyn nodded.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Show me.”
Somewhere deep inside, a truth stirred — fragile, flickering, half-formed.
ns216.73.216.206da2What if the version of reality she craved… was the one quietly unraveling her?
