The moment the word left her lips, Arden’s eyes softened.
Not in a smug way — not like someone who had won.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR4Czwo8LGv
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEscVw0V9L7
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGg33hmARS
Elowyn moved through the side stairwell, her footsteps echoing too loudly.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjlzKCEXQA
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuM69JZ4C8
But when he looked at her, it was just Arden again.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfweUIdIWUm
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCplThKwBPZ
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eub2Zk2oB
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWgURh2Fdv
She didn’t know how to answer, so her mind grasped for distraction.
The cultural fair — last weekend.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxmMs02Ytp
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXatZUo0fBi
“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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQbY7rmqYU
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?40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Wc6eISlQq
It did feel like a scene.
The mysterious boy.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3CTyT2HQb
The flickering lights.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkDaxc8Ejs
The secret no one else could see.
But unlike a K-drama, there was no soft filter.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5Dn1z9PoB
No guarantee of a happy ending.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtnosR4sMZ
Just Arden.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPA9CYUq157
Just her.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTDy02yv4p
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXE5n4CDRLl
But there was something else in his eyes now.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfRcbhIrfr
Not danger exactly.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIkNIYiUA9
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLIYZoananm
And for a single breath, she saw something shift behind it.
A shadow.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcD8f4n0b9i
A version of her.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtrQeTCPV0
Of him.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNs1cbSwibu
Watching.
And still...
Elowyn nodded.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Show me.”
Somewhere deep inside, a truth stirred — fragile, flickering, half-formed.
ns216.73.216.238da2What if the version of reality she craved… was the one quietly unraveling her?
