The car arrives on their street and neither of them can stop smiling, their hands firmly clasped. Lila's eyes shoot to Kyung, she pauses momentarily and then reaches for the door handle.
"Thanks for getting me."
A small smile.
What do I say, Kyung panics.
"Sure thing." He blurts, though it comes off as nonchalant. Kyung would slap himself if it wouldn't make him feel even more like an idiot. The door clicks open.
"Wait!"
The outburst has Lila, and the driver, jolting in surprise. She looks bewildered as he reaches over and slams her door shut, and Kyung doesn't blame her.
"Wait a second." He repeats, calmer, undoing his seatbelt and practically leaping out of the car.
God, what the fuck do I say? Kyung agonises during the brisk jog to the other side of the vehicle. He swings the door open.
"Li?"
"Yeah?" Lila answers with anticipation as she jumps out. It's silent except for the door shutting and her bag shuffling from one hand to the other. Lila stares at Baek Kyung expectantly.
"Don't forget today...please." He ends softly, vulnerably.
Baek Kyung realises he's scared. He's terrified that he'll wake up and it's suddenly tomorrow, or hear that awful page turn and it turns out that none of this will be real.
His imploring eyes make Lila's heart stutter. She reads between the lines.
" I won't." She pauses. "I like you, Kyung. God knows why but I really, really like you."
He fights the smile on his face out of habit yet it breaks through into a beautiful beam.
"You really, really like me?" He repeats back, attempting to tease her but it pops out of his mouth far too giddy.
Lila rolls her eyes lightly, stepping slightly towards him.
"I'm guessing you really, really like me too. Don't see those teeth too often."
He realises he's still smiling, so wide that his jaw begins to ache. Kyung clears his throat, scratching the back of his neck in a desperate attempt to get rid of the flush creeping over his body.
"Let's play tennis tomorrow. My house at nine."
She raises an eyebrow at his sudden adamance but nods all the same.
"Okay. Goodnight then?"
"It's practically morning. On a school day as well." Baek Kyung mockingly disproves, shaking his head.
He's buying time. He doesn't want her to go yet.
"Don't act like you'll go anyway." She retorts.
"Don't act like you won't skip with me."
"I promised Dohwa that I wouldn't skip. So no."
He scowls. "You're making promises with Dohwa now? Where are my promises?"
"I can do a lot more than promises for you, frownface." Lila winks. Kyung's eyes bulge. She bites her lip in amusement. "Good night, Kyung."
"Should I walk you to your door?"
Lila gives him a withering look. "Shit. You really, really do like me."
"I do." Kyung grins.
"I can survive a good twenty metres to the front door." She calls over her shoulder.
"I'm standing here until you get in safe." He crosses his arms stubbornly.
"You do that." Lila's voice echoes down the street.
"Text me when you're inside. I won't be able to see after you go through the gate." He tacts on, amused from imagining Lila's disbelieving scoff.
Her figure shrinks into a small wave. Kyung collapses on the hood of the car.
"Holy sh-"
Hijack!
Her father storms through her bedroom door, yanking her curtains open. Stage Lila gasps and sits up at the sudden and uncharacteristic intrusion, clutching her head at the flooding light. He laughs cruelly, flinging something on the foot of her bed.
"The hangover is temporary but this!" He furiously gestures at a magazine.
Stage Lila simply stares at it. Real Lila can barely breathe, she's never seen her father this angry.
Drinking, Dancing and Dolce Vita: Min Industries Underage Daughter Strikes Again
As if Min Won Shik can sense his real daughter's fear, his eyes and voice soften.
"This is forever. This is another stain on our family name."
It's worse. Disappointment. Hurt. Betrayal. Lila can recall it all too well, but this time it's not just prewritten memories. She has to live with this. Her father's unshed eyes, Park Jaehwa's subtle fury, and Haru's worried state looms in the doorway.
Nothing in this world is real but the pain is visceral.
This is the chaos which her character wanted but it's hitting them both like a freight train.
"Dad," Her voice cracks, "I-"
"Don't call me that right now. I don't know who I'm looking at but it's surely not the little girl I raised."
Both Lila's inhale sharply. Haru's eyes bulge.
"Uncle," He hurries to the older man and latches an arm around his shoulder, "come on. Don't say things you don't mean when you're angry-"
"Haru, let the adults handle this." Park Jaehwa's chilling voice permeates the room and straight down Lila's spine. The woman turns to her fiancé. "Won Shik, I think it's best if Lila and I talk, woman to woman."
"Please. Someone needs to get through to her. I thought-" Lila's lip trembles as her father's voice cracks, "I thought we had overcome this."
"I know, honey. I want what's best for this family too. Let me speak to her."
Won Shik nods, then accepts Haru's physical support, who begins to lead him out of the room with a reluctant look, eyes darting from Jaehwa to Lila.
Lila closes her eyes with dread.
"Please don't leave." She can't stop herself from defying the Stage. She hears the door close, the air escapes her lungs, mouth falls dry.
This is when it all started.
Sick, twisted deja vu. Lila trembles as Stage Her forces their eyes open.
"I-"
Thwack.
The sting, the reeling in shock, her copper mouth, those were all fresh, so new, for Stage Lila as her mouth is screwed shut in pain but her eyes say it all in the mirror. Lila wants to laugh bitterly at her and tell her that this is just the beginning. Secret Lila knew nothing.
One slap, one simple slap and all the memories which Lila tried so hard to suppress were hurtling towards her like a tornado. Screaming at her.
It was the beginning, now it is the beginning.
"You stupid bitch." Jaehwa spits lowly. "I worked so hard for this. You won't ruin this for me."
Stage Lila clutches her cheek in shock. "R-ruin what?"
"My empire." Jaehwa seethes. "I have a plan for you and you will not ruin it."
Hijack!
"Your neck is looking a lot better." The doctor smiles.
Stage Lila smiles. "I sure hope so. I'm itching to start playing tennis again."
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, missy." The woman chuckles. "No tennis for at least two more weeks."
"Seriously?" The real and Stage Lila groan.
She remembers Baek Kyung asking to play tonight. Or was it tomorrow night? The timelines of stages made it hard to remember.
"Seriously. To be honest, it's a miracle that you came away with just whiplash." The doctor remarks.
"What do you mean?" Lila frowns
"It was a really bad crash. All the emergency depts said it."
"Like the type of crash people die in?" Stage Lila scoffs.
"Yes." The doctor says deadpan. "Like I said, a total miracle."
✎✎✎✎✎✎✎
"Something's not right about our engagement, Joo."
Namjoo and Lila sit at an unusual spot, some random place in the hospital, without their usual snacks.
He snorts, gesturing between the two of them. "No shit."
Lila rolls her eyes lightly. "Yeah, well aside from the complete mismatch and lack of feelings, your mother seems determined for me to be your wife. Regardless of my massive clubbing scandal. She sent me flowers, with a message saying it will all pass."
Lila shudders at her memories of that stage.
Namjoo hums in agreement. "It is very unlike mother. But then again...she'll take anything over Juda."
"Charming," Lila remarks dryly, before shrugging. "So there's nothing else to it then? She's not got some scheme she's plotting behind everyone's back?"
"Well if it's behind my back then how am I to know?"
Lila scours him slowly. "Is it just me...or are you becoming less dumb?"
"And you seem to be going the other way." Namjoo chirps, rapping his fist against her forehead like it's hollow wood. "Thanks for wasting my time, princess. I've got to go. Juda's here with her grandma."
"Nice to see you too," Lila calls over her shoulder sarcastically as he strolls away.
✎✎✎✎✎✎✎
Geum Jinmi could never shake the dull, aching feeling in his chest whenever he thought about his past lives.
Guilt. Assiduous guilt.
For Jinmi, Trumpet Creeper was an alternate hell he wished and wished to forget. Certain memories played on his mind all of the time. The ones he regretted the most.
"Lady Bonhwa, it is by the draw of ill fate that Soo Yang has been reassigned to Prince Kyung's palace. An outbreak of illness has led to a shortage of courtiers there. I must not resist this arrangement as I fear there are already rumours of our romance floating around royal circles."
Bonhwa blinked at him in a manner which screamed get on with it.
"You shall go with her and protect her, with your life."
Bonhwa nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty."
How he wished he never uttered those words when their two bodies lay dead on the floor.
Maybe that's why he went berserk that morning.
Kyung was restless. He hadn't seen Lila since that night they'd confessed to each other and even though the Stages made timekeeping impossible, it felt like weeks. His time had been polluted by Stages with Eun Dan Oh and every time he had a free minute in the shadow he couldn't find her.
Perhaps that's why he decided to ask Kim Soo Yang about the girl's whereabouts. He noticed that the two girls were amicable, they sometimes hung out at lunch and smiled at each other in the hallways.
"Hey. Have you seen Min Lila around today?"
Soo Yang look flustered, to say the least, maybe even scared. Baek Kyung thought that was a little strange. His reputation must precede him.
"What?" She flounders.
"Aren't you two close?" He questions. "I thought you might know if she's in school today."
"I've got no idea. Can't you call her or something?" The girl trails off awkwardly.
"Never mind. Sorry to bother you." He begins to turn to leave.
"You and Lila," Soo Yang blurts, "are you just friends?"
Baek Kyung frowns. "What's it to you?"
"Me? Just wondering." She shrugs.
"Really? It looks like you wanted to say something." He comments flatly.
"N-"
"Baek Kyung!"
The next thing he knows, the squid specialist is storming towards them and practically dragging him outside.
"Don't mess with her." Jinmichae spits, shoving him slightly into the wall.
"I didn't mess with her." Kyung manages a civil tone, despite wanting to punch the chef's lights out.
Why was he being so hostile? All Kyung wanted to know was where Lila was.
"Don't mess with us in this world." The blonde's teeth are gritted.
"Us in this world?" Kyung repeats, dumbfounded.
"Just pretend you don't know her. Don't ever talk to her again."
"She's Lila's friend." Kyung oddly feels the need to defend himself. "I just asked her where Lila was. She's not even aware-"
"You killed her." Jinmi seethes, grabbing Kyung's collar. "Because of you, she died twice."
"She died twice?" Kyung repeats Jinmi's words, finding them completely nonsensical. How would he have killed Soo Yang? And twice at that. His character was too busy chasing after a girl with a heart condition.
"It's so convenient that you don't remember. You killed her and took her self-awareness, and then you killed her again when she just returned."
Suddenly, it clicks for Baek Kyung. He's talking about the world before this one. Kyung pales.
Surely not. I couldn't have killed someone.
Jinmi scoffs, eyes narrowed on him.
"It's convenient that you don't remember killing Lila too."
status: edited.