The moment the word left her lips, Arden’s eyes softened.
Not in a smug way — not like someone who had won.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1by3xV16hP
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yEwCyd7TJ
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyHQmV0nLl
Elowyn moved through the side stairwell, her footsteps echoing too loudly.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Ki38Sg4CL
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK446qb9ip1
But when he looked at her, it was just Arden again.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabS54JrcxV
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdncCbdSjbf
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyDqJKpCHI
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3uoQKRJQM
She didn’t know how to answer, so her mind grasped for distraction.
The cultural fair — last weekend.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatB4yN11yM
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pnMswhSHA
“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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3rjNBqnUy
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?33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8F5a1KJeJ
It did feel like a scene.
The mysterious boy.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagfID36FrZ
The flickering lights.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaja6GtVaqn
The secret no one else could see.
But unlike a K-drama, there was no soft filter.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDADxZseloo
No guarantee of a happy ending.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUyY6KLAJUk
Just Arden.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLtUAHBUdi
Just her.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJ5W338ywb
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVaClHr9Pt
But there was something else in his eyes now.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87DPUvqIR5
Not danger exactly.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnngxL1Rn3j
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJx4Icizp9c
And for a single breath, she saw something shift behind it.
A shadow.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwugOJ9rVOl
A version of her.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibrOl9yaU3
Of him.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTw9PEJyazn
Watching.
And still...
Elowyn nodded.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Show me.”
Somewhere deep inside, a truth stirred — fragile, flickering, half-formed.
ns216.73.216.254da2What if the version of reality she craved… was the one quietly unraveling her?
