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                  "How do you know about strangers?"

That was the first thing Jihee asked after stepping foot inside the old lady's home. It was a cozy cabin, obviously made for her alone. Then again it was understandable, she didn't have to worry about accommodating a guest not when she lives inside a remote forest probably filled with venomous snakes.

The old lady sat in front of her, crossing her legs in the process as if she was telling Jihee that she wasn't intimidated by her presence. "There was once a woman who appeared from a bright light resembling a door in the forest. It just so happens it was near my cabin. She immediately caught me staring."

"A girl? What did she look like?"

"Brown hair, golden eyes like yours, a little taller, and that's probably all I could remember. It was nineteen years ago after all." The old woman explained to her how she looked like but none of those features rang a bell for Jihee. "Now what do you mean when you say fate sent you here?"

Jihee sat straight, preparing to explain everything in the simplest way possible. "I asked fate about my friend who's immune to magic which is unusual because your reality was written to have no magic. She couldn't answer me but she told me that a clue lies in your cabin."

"But now that I know there was a stranger here before me, I think that's part of the reason." She explained.

The old lady nods. "I see. I am a ninety year old--"

"You're ninety?" Jihee couldn't help but cut her off after hearing the old woman's age. She looked somewhere in her seventies, there was no way someone as young looking as her was that old.

She laughed. "Yes I am ninety and I was just about to explain to you why I still look young despite my age." She paused for a while to fix her posture. "In exchange for hiding the stranger's real identity, she casted a slow aging spell on me."

"Maybe it's the same situation with your friend. Maybe that stranger casted a protection spell on him."

But that didn't make sense for Jihee. Why would the stranger cast it in the first place? How can a stranger's spell continue to take effect until now? Traces of their magic should be gone the moment they leave. Then a sudden realization hit her. A thought that she was wondering why she didn't think of earlier.

"If her magic still continues to take effect then that means...."

"She never left."

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"Jihee!" Sunoo happily calls his friend the moment Jihee and Jungwon stepped foot inside the campus. "It's been so long!" He was about to hug her but Jungwon extended his hand in front of her, making sure Sunoo wasn't going to step another foot near her.

Sunoo glared at his friend who looked away, avoiding both Sunoo and Jihee's gaze. "I wasn't going to hug her! I was just spreading my arms. Stop being so jealous." He says in an annoyed manner.

Jungwon's eyes widened. "What do you mean jealous? I was just making sure the two of you won't fall in case you tackle her in a hug." He says ever so quickly that sounded more of an excuse for Sunoo. 

She scoffed. "Yeah why would he be jealous when he spent the whole summer with Byeol?" She said which made Jungwon turn his head immediately to her. 

"What do you mean by--" 

Her eyes then lit up, as if she had remembered something she's been trying to recall since earlier. "I'm going to look for Jay, bye! See you at lunch, Sun!"

J-Jay?!

"Oooh what did you do?" Sunoo asked, smiling teasingly.

"Nothing! We were fine yesterday and earlier in the morning!" Jungwon frowned, watching as Jihee stride in the hallway, walking further and further away from him. "I barely even talked while we were walking?"

Sunoo wanted to laugh because judging on the expression Jungwon wore, he was not liking the sudden change of behavior. "What if she's jealous of Byeol since you did spend the summer with her?" Sunoo said, helping his friend out.

Why would Jihee be jealous of Byeol? It seemed so unlike her and plus she had no reason to be jealous. It's not like she liked him back. Yeah definitely not like that.

Then as he was walking with Sunoo, he finally caught sight of where Jihee headed to when she walked away from him. And to his surprise, she wasn't kidding when she said she was going to look for Jay because there she was, speaking to him as she handed him the paper bag she's been carefully taking care of since earlier. He didn't expect that gift to be for Jay but then he should've expected it, she did have this crush on him.

"Won!" He didn't look to his back despite knowing it was Byeol calling his name. "Won?" Her voice was a little louder this time, signifying she was a lot closer than earlier.

Byeol looked to where he was staring at and her smile immediately drops. "So she's back." The tone on her voice stole both Sunoo and Jungwon's attention.

"What do you mean by that tone?" Sunoo asked.

Byeol shook her head. "O-Oh I was just startled." She nervously says, stuttering a little at the beginning. 

Jungwon wanted to ask the same thing because the tone on her voice... well it wasn't necessarily the nicest tone she's used. But giving her the benefit of the doubt, he now smiled at her asking at the same time why she was calling him earlier.

Jihee struts to where Jay was, clutching the paper bag on her right hand. To be frank, she has known he spent the entire summer with Byeol because of his grandmother who for some reason told her everything that happened to him. Not that he did anything wrong, that simple fact just pissed her in some way (even though she was in no place to complain considering she left).

Deep into her thoughts, she was about to miss Jay if he hadn't called her over. "Jihee, you're back." He smiled attractively.

"Jay, hi!" She smiles back. "Here's the rare book you were asking for. Had to be careful on the way here because it's so fragile." She hands over the paper bag she's been carrying since earlier.

"Thanks Jihee. I never expected you to actually buy me one when I told you." He said, chuckling a little. "But seriously I appreciate you buying me this. It must've cost you a fortune."

She shook her head. "It's fine! The least I could do for a friend." Jay must've noticed something different about her because he was quick to ask if she was okay. "I'm just so pissed, I don't even know why." She answered, wondering why she was so honest with him. Probably his good looking face.

He raised his eyebrows. "Are you on your period?" She scoffed, shaking her head in the process. "So... You're just pissed?" He didn't know if he should laugh because there was no way a person would just be pissed. "Is it because of Jungwon?"

As if he hit a nerve, she just started speaking about how pissed she was with him to Jay without even realizing that she was rambling to Jay. But the latter didn't mind, not when her rants involved his best friend and quite possibly his future love life. She only stopped when she saw Jay couldn't remove the smile from his face.

"Oh..." She stopped, looking away to bury her face into her palms embarrassingly. "You could've stopped me!"

He laughed. "Why would I? Not when you couldn't stop talking about just how jealous you are of Byeol." He said in the middle of laughter which she did not like at all.

"Hah, you got me at jealous." She crossed her arms, laughing also. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you're judging me?" She said, glaring at him.

"Well it's because you're denying something so obvious." He explained.

She let's out a breath of disbelief. She wondered why their only conclusion to everything was her actually liking Jungwon. Was that the only possibility? Couldn't she just be short-tempered? Even fate came up with the same conclusion. She was sure that there was some other reason to everything.

After all, he's just a friend.

Frowning at what Jay said, she excused herself and headed to class. Jay, on the other hand, was in someway satisfied with himself because he at least got her thinking about her feelings for Jungwon.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE :

think of it as fate being the author nd strangers are characters of the book but instead of the author writing what happens with their life, strangers write their own life/destiny.  ^__^