The moment the word left her lips, Arden’s eyes softened.
Not in a smug way — not like someone who had won.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHU19JgPbf
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDczO4twwJB
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPWDqLljEk
Elowyn moved through the side stairwell, her footsteps echoing too loudly.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvCN1elUvC
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm5JoVN3Jao
But when he looked at her, it was just Arden again.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpP633radbK
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozJ5m5EvzH
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1DtoiGjIN
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmtqPVfghv
She didn’t know how to answer, so her mind grasped for distraction.
The cultural fair — last weekend.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcHTBmzrGq
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5WQQCWPcK
“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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZk9iG4QwP
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?17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6tx5dY8la
It did feel like a scene.
The mysterious boy.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GmHzc5ZNa
The flickering lights.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEaSJWo9eI
The secret no one else could see.
But unlike a K-drama, there was no soft filter.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZq0OejO4J5
No guarantee of a happy ending.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JQQCwcZaN
Just Arden.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37bDomO16J
Just her.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYr7l66icnd
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK3Xch0us8K
But there was something else in his eyes now.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡileFsvJy9D
Not danger exactly.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxbseOXzDMn
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.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLwwlvQM60
And for a single breath, she saw something shift behind it.
A shadow.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKsOQcTIx8
A version of her.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ849pBFGafK
Of him.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUAzu3pqOA
Watching.
And still...
Elowyn nodded.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Show me.”
Somewhere deep inside, a truth stirred — fragile, flickering, half-formed.
ns216.73.216.123da2What if the version of reality she craved… was the one quietly unraveling her?
