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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKCfmG5eRN
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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eYUd1WTbq
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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhvN0S14wk
Elowyn moved through the side stairwell, her footsteps echoing too loudly.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDfH6df1LX
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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgcHuPoFuFH
But when he looked at her, it was just Arden again.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AyBT0tt6Z
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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEcRtXS35v
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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPQFMZhqgZ
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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlIqX4oKZz
She didn’t know how to answer, so her mind grasped for distraction.

The cultural fair — last weekend.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeYPAZqigL
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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE3TMyiCsYi
“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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLJ8XnWOrlk
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?227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYMcTA3MNQ
It did feel like a scene.

The mysterious boy.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0i9mfzdTNb
The flickering lights.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBunu8zNClN
The secret no one else could see.

But unlike a K-drama, there was no soft filter.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCANir44Te
No guarantee of a happy ending.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAadSDMZHdw
Just Arden.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡourYW2u8Cb
Just her.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQdX8FQUd5
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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCiMLFBwA1
But there was something else in his eyes now.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2jqVQWwdY
Not danger exactly.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmNlZHA0wy9
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.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfGWwlGAN8
And for a single breath, she saw something shift behind it.

A shadow.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTZJwQvm4P
A version of her.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvisBmW6HGa
Of him.227Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAwWPqQewm
Watching.

And still...

Elowyn nodded.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Show me.”

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