Purple Paradise

Chapter 1: Scam?

It was raining lightly. I checked the time. 8:28. Two minutes left.

One hour ago, I was in a psychic's store. I was very positive that that half-crazy psychic lady was trying to scam me when she said she could grant me a wish and it would only cost 28 bucks.

But guess who was a dummy? Yes, read the last syllable of that question. I foolishly believed her because she said she could let me experience what it is like to be in a relationship with Jeongin. And you already know, I jumped right i.n.to her trap. But I started to wonder maybe she did have some sort of magic powers, or how else would she know that I was a huge simp for Jeongin who played as I.N. in Pink Paradise, a show that I became obsessed with after watching the first episode?

After I finally gave her 28 bucks, she gave me a necklace which was an ancient amulet from Egypt according to her, although I could still see the faded letters that said ''made in U.S.A.''

''This amulet will allow you to enter a reality that I have created. This reality will be parallel to the world that we live in and similar to the reality in Purple Paradise... ''She was explaining it to me.

''Pink Paradise,'' I corrected her.

''Yes, whatever that is called. Anyways, you will become Jeongin's best friend, just as the main character of Purple Paradise being I.N.'s best friend. And you already know how the plot goes, so have fun!'' She placed the necklace on my neck. I was too lazy to correct her so I just simply nodded. She poured a cup of tea that smelled similar to chamomile but not quite the same and handed it over to me, ''Here you go. Drink it.''

I drank the tea. It was tasteless but I felt like whoever made that tea had done a terrible job filtering it since there were a lot of tiny tea debris remaining in the cup. As soon as I finished the tea, I started to hear people calling my name in Jeongin's voices. They got louder and louder until I eventually fainted.

Waking up, I was sitting under a parasol outside of a poorly furnished cafe. I looked around. The surroundings gave me a familiar yet strange feeling. The street was empty and the lights were low. I guess people all went home because of the rain. I was certain that I got scammed by that witch and got tossed onto the street until I started to recognize every detail of the place where I was at. The parasol, the cafe, the souvenir store across the street. Everything looked exactly like the one in Pink Paradise. It was raining. Some of the rain were blown onto my face but fortunately the parasol blocked most of it. I looked at myself. I was in a light beige lace dress and some matchy beige-colored high heels. ''Oh I remembered this dress,'' I whispered, ''Isn't this dress the one that Jinnie (main character of Pink Paradise) wear in the first episode?''

To be or not to be scammed, that is the question. Just as I was pondering whether or not I got scammed, I remembered an important thing. During the first episode of Pink Paradise, Jinnie was dumped by their ex boyfriend and was crying in the rain until their best friend I.N. arrived. ''Umm, am I supposed to be in the rain now?'' I asked myself. Although the parasol could not completely shield me from the rain, this was better than nothing.

I checked the time. 8:28. Two minutes left before Jeongin comes. Of course, that was under the premise that the psychic did not lie to me, but I liked to give people the benefits of doubt, just as that one time I saved a stray cat and named him Lee Know but he ended up biting me and I ended up in the hospital where I shared photos of him with my fellow patients.

I decided to stand in the rain for two minutes. It was not like I would get a cold for those two minutes. As soon as I stepped into the rain, I saw a black car coming in my direction. I was excited and anxious at the same time. But it was too late when I realized that the car did not belong to Jeongin and the mud splashed all over my dress. For some reason -- probably because of Jinnie's character setting as a composed and kind-hearted person -- I could not scream or curse at that driver.