( please listen to the song above while reading. just please )
——— NOTE: everyone is literally sick in our country so i have free time to update since classes are suspended.

+ yall better give me ideas for my other book, i literally have no motivation in updating it cuz ion know what to write 😭

requested by @067_MyBeloved

(sorry if it took some time and it isn't how you would imagine it to be)

-

"Aren't we partners in crime? You know, I'll always get you out of trouble, Kang Sae-byeok, and that includes surviving this game."

You'd laugh at recalling your previous words, leaving a bitter taste on your tongue and a sour expression on your face.

How utterly stupid you must have been to believe such things. I never thought that the rules of these games would ever allow you even a semblance of fairness and prosperity.

They were designed for trickery and inevitable calamity, and you had been too blind to realize this until now, with two bags of marbles and an opponent with the image of freckles and eyes you adored.

"What a predicament we've gotten ourselves into, huh?" mused, seated beside the girl on stone steps secluded by a small wall.

The moment the rules were explained, there was silence, unlike previous times when you had played with the tips of her fingers and she had rested her head on your shoulder from exhaustion.

It was far from the comfortable solitude you were so used to sharing with her. You find a distaste for the feeling.
   
"Stop that," she muttered, equally frustrated at the concept.

She wouldn't stop staring into the void of space where she retreated into her thoughts, leaving you to fill the tension with whatever came to mind. You knew she wasn't trying to be harsh, she was simply upset that she too had fallen into the game master's trap.

You tilt your head at her, nudging her gently with your foot, "Stop what?"

Since the moment you entered this arena, she finally turned to look at you, and you hated the despair that clouded her gaze. She may not have very expressive facial reactions, but her eyes told you everything you needed to know.

"Acting like this is fine. That you don't know what this means."

"My dear Sae-byeok, despite how much it hurt to stretch your lips, ignoring your own troubles in the hopes of easing hers," you smiled gently, ignoring your own troubles in the hopes of easing hers, knowing full well what it all means. "I'm much smarter than you perceive me to be. I'm just trying to lighten the mood. "

A flash of anger dispersed the muddy gray before she quickly looked away, going back to burning desperate holes into the dirt that covered the path and digging the soles of her shoes of her feet within, "It's not working."

"It appears so," you sighed, twiddling your fingers as the tension rose again.

You didn't have the heart to start the game to decide your fates quite yet, wanting as much time with the individual whose leg was pressed against your own before time was up.

So much you still haven't done, opportunities gone to waste because of the choices leading up to this moment. She was seated along the sidewalk eating ice cream that was already melting off the stick, bleaching the strands of her hair because you knew how pleasant she'd appear with just a simple streak of color.

Would you ever get the chance to kiss her properly, until her breath was yours and so on?

Oh, how you wish the both of you could continue without the regrets that currently shackle your limbs.

"Sae-byeok, do you believe in different realities?" You inquired quietly.

She was always the one to listen to your sudden rambles and curiosity towards life, and the one to provide her own questions about the things that occurred and the reasons behind them.

It made your heart ache thinking about how this would be one of your last heartfelt conversations, something you used to look forward to each day.

She ceased her movements of wringing her hands, blinking once before peering up at you with confusion in her gaze, "Different realities?"

You hummed, allowing a smile to grace your lips, "I like to think... the universe has endless possibilities. We decide our own fates, but even just one change can alter and dictate the rest of your decisions from then on."

As you turned your body to face her, bumping your knees against her limbs and pulling her hands into your lap, She always let you play with her fingers whenever you felt the anxiousness wrap like chains around your lungs, feeling the white scars that were carved into the skin and the roughness of the callouses on her pads.

As you kept your gaze on the movements of your body, trying to keep the mood light and your voice steady,

"Imagine this: In a different reality, me and you would not have chosen each other as partners. We'd win this game and become rich in our lives with far more money than we needed." You laughed, recalling the charcoal-burned cookies that the girl in front of you had presented what seemed like years ago but was actually only a few months ago, your heart squeezing painfully inside your chest at recalling her confused look and downturned eyes.

Your light laughs in the form of fits and giggles carried through the night,

"Maybe then, I could tell you the things I couldn't before, at least in better circumstances. I could've said 'I love you, Sae-byeok' without knowing it'd be my last."

Her fingers tightened, enough so that it caused you to wince from the sudden pressure. You glanced up to meet her stare, seeing the trembling lips and the waver in her eyes, "Stop it. Is this some sick joke? "

You swallowed thickly, hating the expression on her face. "Have I ever lied to you?"

Hickory sharpens into daggers that cut through your facade and leave your irises to glisten with tears akin to her own, "No. You can't say that when-"

"When I've clearly lost, huh?" You laughed once more, quickly choking on the emotion lodged inside your throat,

"You've stolen my heart, Kang Sae-byeok. my breath, my attention, everything that is me. What's one game compared to all of that?"

It felt heavier inside your hands, holding the weight of what was to come, posed as cerulean glass rounded to smoothness.

You didn't dare look at her as Sae-byeok tossed the marble across the dirt, landing several meters away from the wall.

You would feel her hands shaking your body as your fingers stumbled and released the marble far from where her own lay, her frustrated cries ringing in your ears.

"Do it again. Please just throw it again. Please just..." Her voice cracked, betraying the composed state she was trying to keep herself in. She lowered her head, pressing her forehead against your chest, as her body shook from the silent cries that escaped her lips.

"I hope..." Your voice wobbled, and you cleared your throat while putting your hands around her frail fame and clutching her tightly against your chest as if it was the last time you'd be able to do so, "that all your dreams come true."

"Shut up," she croaked, trying to release herself from your embrace, "we're going again. you won't throw your life away for me-"

"I'd give you everything and more, Sae-byeok." Your soft whisper causes her frustration to cease, feeling the way you pulled back slightly to hold her face in the palm of your hands.

If it was possible, you'd believe that you currently held the whole world within your grasp. "Perhaps... in a different reality... I'll be able to hold you longer than they allow."

More tears ran down her cheeks, silent, which you wiped away gently with the pads of your thumb. Lean forward and press your lips against the corners of her eyes, one on the right and one on the left, before allowing yourself just one last smile for her memory, and hers only.

"Your dreams are beautiful, Sae-byeok. Keep nurturing them until they are in full bloom, just like those dandelions we saw a while back..."

You hushed your voice, trying to keep the tears from falling and the ache in your chest from seeing her turned back and the cold barrel of a gun pressed against your temple.

-

——— NOTE: Yall don't realize how hard it is to write this request.