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Jungwon was starting to get used to his dreams.

They repeated for multiple nights then in a few days, he's dreaming of another memory. And fate would only show herself but refuse to talk to him. The order of the memories he was seeing was all messed up, there was no chronological order. On the first dream, everything in the reality was almost destroyed, and on the fourth it was as if there has never been an apocalypse.

"What are you even trying to show me, fate?" He asked the sky but he didn't get any reply just as he expected.

He was tailing behind Jihee as she wandered around, looking at people's fates, looking for something interesting to do. He wasn't walking on his own, it was as if there was a force making his legs move and he was very sure it wasn't him. The reality was clearly another version of dystopia, there were danger in every dark corners, the sky was almost cloudy, showing how polluted it is and poverty clearly was experienced by most of the population.

Jungwon could already tell what Jihee meant when she said his reality was too simple and peaceful, this was a reality he never wished to live at.

Then a scream echoed in his ears, he glanced to where the voice was and although he wanted to see what it was, he couldn't go there on his own. Fortunately, Jihee began to move to that direction and his legs that was accordingly moving on its own, followed her.

They reached a dark alley where right at the ground he sees the familiar man from his earlier dreams, a stab wound in his chest and he swore it pierced right through his heart but Jihee seemed to have a knowledge of the human anatomy either that or she just has xray vision.

"It almost pierced your heart luckily it missed, I can still heal you." Jihee kneeled to the guy's eye level to help her. "Your world is horrible." She mutters, placing her hand on his chest a bright light appearing from her palms.

"W-What are you doing?!" He tried to squirm but he was in too much pain. She looked at him as if she was scaring him not to move. "A-Are you some kind of angel?"

She snorts. "Can you please just stay still? You're not the first person I healed today." She tells him and after a minute or so, she managed to close his wound. "Now for your memori- h-hey!"

He grabbed her wrist before she could even touch his forehead. "Who are you?"

"A stranger." She answered. He raised his eyebrow, unable to understand her answer. "Let go of my wrist before I open that wound of yours again."

He slowly lets go of her wrist, growing intimidated by her. "I'm Ren."

Her lips curved upward in amusement. "I have no name to tell you."

Jungwon only stood by the side, witnessing how the two met after being curious for so long. So that's how she saved him. He thought.

He expected to see more but he felt like he was going to wake up any time now. He looked around trying to search for fate because she always seemed to appear when he's on the verge of waking up. Fortunately, he found her. She was standing right in front of him, both Jihee and Ren were no longer in that scene. He wanted to speak with her, ask her a bunch of questions but she just never respond.

"Why?" He asked, attempting once more.

"Give up on her while the truth has not surfaced."

"I can't."

Then he woke up.

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"Jungwon!" His mother engulfed him in a hug as soon as he opened the door to his grandmother's house. "Oh I missed you so much!"

"O-Ouch mom. Suffocating me." He said the moment the hug got a little too tight for him. She finally lets him go only to hug him again.

"Let go of our son, love. You're going to kill him." His father pulled her away from him.

She giggled. "Oh sorry, I am just so excited to see you again! You're all grown up now! Your cheeks used to be so chubby before we left." She pouts, pinching his cheeks.

"O-Ow mom! You're physically hurting me right now." He said but his mother giggled.

He looked at his parents and noticed they look way better than before they left. His parents had always looked great, but they were glowing this time. He wondered which country they got it from, probably somewhere in the Mediterranean.

Closing the door behind him, his grandmother appeared peaking from the kitchen. "You didn't bring Jihee?" She frowned.

His eyes widened when his grandmother mentioned Jihee's name. He gazes at his parents and they both were shocked and confused when a girl's name came up. He was trying to push that conversation to later but it seems he would have to talk about it now since she already came up not even five minutes since he got home.

"That's a girl's name right?" His father asked. "Who is this Jihee?"

"She's my—"

"Girlfriend?! Love, Jungwon's already dating! I told you we should've gone home two months ago." She looked at her husband who was surprised because the blame was suddenly pointed to him.

"You're the one who wanted to go to-- You know what? Let's just support our son because he's finally in a relationship even though he didn't tell his parents." There was a hint of bitterness to his voice which was masked very well with his sweet words.

Jungwon sighed. His parents were beginning to sulk but luckily he managed to slip past them and onto the gifts they had bought for him through the entirety of their trip. There were a bunch of souvenirs ranging from countries in Asia to countries in Europe. It just all of a sudden hit him how rich his parents were, he always forget about that because they never seem to make a big deal out of it plus he isn't living a luxurious life himself.

"Is she pretty?" His mother's voice suddenly appeared behind him and he jumped out of surprise. "I'm just curious!" She says when he looked at her. He laughed and shook his head, refusing to give her an answer as a way to tease. "Come on, give me something."

"You and dad seemed to have spent so much in your trip." He dodged the question, earning a glare from his mother.

"Just your mother. You know how she is." His father butts in their conversation.

"Where am I going to spend my money if not in my only son who never told me he's dating someone and isn't giving me any details?" She pinched Jungwon's right cheek but a little harder than earlier.

"You'll meet her tomorrow! Can you please let go of my cheek now?" He asked, which was pretty close to begging because of how much his cheeks was hurting.

She cheered, letting go of his cheek in the process. "Oh that's wonderful! I can't wait!"

Rubbing his cheek, he gave his parents a frown but it seemed that only made him cuter in their eyes because his mother almost pinched his cheeks if not for his father quickly stopping her. Then her playful expression changed when she caught sight of the crystal attached to his bracelet.

"What crystal is that?" She asked.

"I-I don't know, this was just a gift." He answered.

She smiled. "It's pretty."

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                  Jihee crossed her arms as she stood outside of Jungwon's house as if she hasn't been there countless times already. Jungwon stood beside her, waiting for her to make a sound since she has not spoken since they got off the bus. She doesn't seem nervous but she also doesn't seem excited, she was just wearing her normal facial expression.

"Any rules?" She asked.

He tried to think of anything but nothing came to mind. "I'm sure there's nothing to be worried about."

Taking a sharp breath, she fixed her posture. "Alright, let's go in." But before she could reach for the doorknob, he held her wrist to stop her. "What's wrong?" She asked him.

"Are you nervous?"

"Pft no." He smirked which only irritated her. "Okay, fine. Your parents seem like great people and you have no idea just how much it would suck if they don't like me."

He laughed. "I told you there's nothing to be worried about. Dad is very kind and mom likes anybody I like. So are you ready?" He asked once more to make sure and before she could answer his question the door swung open, revealing his mother standing there with a smile.

Her gaze travels to Jihee and it stays with her for quite a while. She was examining the latter and Jungwon was having the hardest time discerning his expression. Still, his mother extends her hand to Jihee.

"His grandmother is right, you really are beautiful. Looks like my son inherited his father's taste in women." She said, grinning at Jihee.

Jihee chuckled. "I'm kind of angry with Jungwon for not telling me how beautiful you are."

His mother shot him a glare. "I'll disown him after today, come in! We prepared some snacks for the two of you."

"You didn't have to mom." Jungwon insisted as they sat at the couch, making themselves comfortable as if they haven't done sat there together multiple times.

"Don't be silly sweetheart. It will be rude not to accommodate Jihee!" She placed a plate at the coffee table and Jihee was quick to recognize it was churros.

After a minute or so, his father finally showed himself and like his mother, the moment he caught sight of Jihee his expression changes for a bit. There was a hint of surprise to his father's face as he stared at her, shifting Jungwon's gaze at the latter, her face remained the same as if she wasn't by any means confused by the various reactions she was getting from his parents.

"You must be Jihee, hi." He smiles kindly, extending his left hand which she gladly accepts, shaking it softly in the process. "We heard a lot about you."

"As have I." She smiled as well before sitting back next to Jungwon.

For a brief moment, Jungwon noticed something different about the three of them as they engaged into a conversation. His mother, although she was a ball of energy as always, seemed more meticulous with her words. His father maintained his calm demeanor but there was also something off by how he would constantly make casual glances to his wife. And Jihee, what made her different was the fact that she didn't seem bothered at all. If he could tell they were acting weird, he was sure Jihee would also be able to realize it.

"Where are you from, Jihee?" His mother asked and smiled almost in a challenging way.

Jihee's lips curved upward, not in any means affected by the challenge laid upon her. "Here but some relatives took me abroad when I became an orphan. Jungwon told me once about your love story, it seemed like a great story. The way you gave up everything for your husband."

She laughed. "You are the most fascinating girl. I'm starting to really like you." Jungwon raised his eyebrow because it felt like their sentence had no correlation at all.

"What's happening to the two of you?" Jungwon whispered to Jihee.

"Hm? We're getting to know each other." She whispered back.

How was that getting to know each other?

"Jungwon, can you go get your grandmother in Ms. Hong's house? We're going to order dinner, it's better if we all eat together." His father instructed him.

before he obeyed his parents, he looked first at Jihee to make sure if it was alright if she left for a short while. She smiled reassuringly and he took that as a sign that she could handle being left with his parents for a while.

"I'll be quick." He tells her and she chuckled.

"No need to rush. Go ahead, I'll continue my conversation with your parents." She assures him.

"We're not going to eat her Won, you don't need to rush." His mother crossed her arms.

"Alright then, I'll be back." He said, taking one final glance at Jihee before getting out of the house closing the door behind him.

He didn't want to be suspicious but he knew there was an ulterior motive to his parents kicking him out of the house for a short while.

"I've always thought the world was a small place, but I never would've imagined that I'll be able to say that about the library of realities." Jungwon's mother says the moment they heard the door close, fixing her posture in the process as she faced Jihee.

"What are the odds that an old stranger would meet the current one?"

Jihee's suspicions was suddenly confirmed.

She wasn't nervous about meeting them or being liked by them, she was nervous about the fact that the person she could be meeting just may be the old stranger that had chosen to reside on this reality. The same stranger that had casted the protection spell on Jungwon.

"We have a lot to talk about." Jihee tells her.

"I believe we do, dear. But we better make it fast, Jungwon can be quick if he chooses to be." She replies, looking at her husband briefly before back to Jihee. "Shall I ask the first question?"

"Go ahead." Jihee insisted.

"Do you plan on staying?"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE :

SURPRISE ! just kidding it's very obvious HAHA some of y'all already guessed it after all :>> updates are going to be slow because i'm swarmed with deadlines