How to Stop Being Delulu - Chp-3 She Said Yes

The moment the word left her lips, Arden’s eyes softened.

Not in a smug way — not like someone who had won.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1lLSxaKnXR
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.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpIL69k2Tn
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.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVH3dnMgYP0
Elowyn moved through the side stairwell, her footsteps echoing too loudly.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXJQZu9vf4
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.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojEVP9eJ1U
But when he looked at her, it was just Arden again.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZnfVizOSiw
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.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECpbZW0tAc
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.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4gSZyzRs7
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.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4UQHOdKggq
She didn’t know how to answer, so her mind grasped for distraction.

The cultural fair — last weekend.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljMML4XpWQ
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.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOgZOnu6Ts
“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.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbQ3s9I3rm
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?557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYPm3PcoBN
It did feel like a scene.

The mysterious boy.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Vy9kQN54W
The flickering lights.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTzgRH2r7n
The secret no one else could see.

But unlike a K-drama, there was no soft filter.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegOfZnbZxm
No guarantee of a happy ending.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4ecrn7PgR
Just Arden.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RiX1UjQb4
Just her.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ARy0gnV4X
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.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6trz7Pr6J
But there was something else in his eyes now.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWROfzDXCG
Not danger exactly.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCWDjneiCK
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.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFaP0It8yzh
And for a single breath, she saw something shift behind it.

A shadow.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ15bMrDR1qT
A version of her.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1VqMqBALt
Of him.557Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMO0RyQp7G
Watching.

And still...

Elowyn nodded.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Show me.”

Somewhere deep inside, a truth stirred — fragile, flickering, half-formed.