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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8kiHF8MVEU
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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHS2HP52aVV
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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIarTLduKE
Elowyn moved through the side stairwell, her footsteps echoing too loudly.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtWohcDSnT
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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRgQ7g66jI
But when he looked at her, it was just Arden again.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAbTnDdgAl
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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtPvrYdzSJ
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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5L6RK5I0bK
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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFw7bKkOUC8
She didn’t know how to answer, so her mind grasped for distraction.

The cultural fair — last weekend.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyGGK9Zz0x
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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtD6aQHTOu0
“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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmLL0jnFwG
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?500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdStGRK6na2
It did feel like a scene.

The mysterious boy.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnH6pFEjumt
The flickering lights.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBqyYje6YM
The secret no one else could see.

But unlike a K-drama, there was no soft filter.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2egGzkVAnq
No guarantee of a happy ending.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0UgVox8ya8
Just Arden.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡukvAMWepnq
Just her.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxbFLsmc3O
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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsFPAfTLw7
But there was something else in his eyes now.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbxME9ehF4
Not danger exactly.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcmG5LyWS2
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.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIpn5bse8p
And for a single breath, she saw something shift behind it.

A shadow.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMlIytW8aR
A version of her.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67tHj5r0k5
Of him.500Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73oOuepMbf
Watching.

And still...

Elowyn nodded.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Show me.”

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