•ILLUSIONAL REALITY•

"Emma! My baby, you're packing up already?" A voice, all excited, called out from behind. "You'll be making Megabucks out of your paintings someday, I'm telling you."

"Only if my parents understood," I said, sighing, and turning around to face Yerim. "That's never gonna happen. By the way, what's up?"

"Just roaming around to see people's progress with their pieces, and stopped by the Queen's corner." She said with a warm smile.

"Okay, that's an over statement,"I said, swapping away the unnecessary pieces of paper off my table. "I thought my pieces would molder away."

"Are you heading back home?" She asked, knitting her brows together, silently pleading to stick around with her till the end.

"Thought of showing up home to surprise mom and dad, and I'm a bit tired," I explained, and swung my bag by the shoulder, ready to leave. "Have a good one."

"Hey, I didn't even get to talk to you the entire time. How about a drink, and I'll go walk you to the exit," she offered.

"I've got to meet Miss Chou before leaving, and as you're insisting, okay, just a single shot." I replied as she scuttled along with me.

She kept complaining about the visitors asking random things she didn't know about, and how bad she wanted to be rich by earning out of her hobby, and hugged me a good bye as we reached the main exit.

It was cold outside, like the early approach of winter.

"Emerson, you're out so early. Two things happened: either you dumped your paintings or gave them away to kids for free." Taehyung said, stepping in front of me, almost covering my entire figure. "So, what happened?"

"Made new fans and got them all sold out to people with rich taste unlike yours." I said, throwing an irritated smile to discontinue with the conversation he was trying to create. "If you could excuse me now, I'd head back home and get a warm, soothing shower."

"Girls filthy like you even shower?" He asked, smirking at me.

"I'm not willing to cross my line of patience right now by talking nonsense with a namby-pamby person like you. Step out of my way, please."

"Okay, let me give you a ride then," he said, offering a hand out. He has always been pesky with me so it was only convenient for me to reject everything he ever offered.

I shoved his hand out of my way, and mumbled him a good bye as I walked to the footpath, looking down at my phone to call an Uber. There was none available because of the busy hour. I stepped out of the footpath, and on the road to cross over, and catch up on a taxi on the other side.

One step, two step, three step, four...

A car showed up from the right, and crashed on my legs, causing me to fall violently against the ground. I was seeing white all over, and then they shut upon pitch black.

The next thing I knew was the sound of some machine repeatedly beeping from underneath. Underneath me.

I felt pain shooting throughout my body, swooping away all my energy to even respond to it. I felt paralyzed? There was a smell of antiseptic that surrounded me, the kind you smell in hospitals. The place smelled of hospitals.

No.

•SWAP•

"Ah– what a bad dream!" I said, slamming my fist over the bed. I pushed the sheets aside and squeezed my eyes with the back of my hand to get a clearer view.

Morning, yes. It was just a dream.

I felt a bit dizzy, and my body smelled like antiseptics. Did I sleep walk?—I thought. And then I remembered drinking a bit with Yerim last night at the temporary bar they arranged that offered drinks before returning home.

Did you pass out because of a single shot? Maybe. But you are good at tolerating alcohol. I don't know.

I was on my pajamas. Everything seemed normal. Maybe I passed out, and Yerim dropped me by my apartment. I would've been at home with my family if I didn't pass out.

Huh, what a weird start of the day!

I hurried myself out of the bed, took a shower, gulped down a bit of peanut butter sandwich and a glass of juice. Swiping over my phone screen, I realized it was a weekend.

I decided to tidy up my closet, and clean the entire house. To my surprise, the closet looked cleaner than ever. Clothes were scattered all around yesterday. Even, my bedroom was clean except for the sheets I slept in. I stepped into the small reading room I had, and my books were all well organized within the small bookshelves I had against the wall.

I eyed the entire place. "I don't remember cleaning the apartment." I felt a shiver run down my body.

Mom must have been here when I was out or maybe she sent someone to clean it all for me. "Stop freaking yourself, Emerson!" I scolded.

So, what should I do now..

I threw myself up on the couch, and looked up at the ceiling, still processing everything. I got out of the building, argued a bit with Taehyung, rejected his carpool, and got crashed by a car. Got crashed by a car?

Well, no, I passed out right then, and got carpooled by Taehyung. So, it wasn't Yerim. It was Taehyung.

Everything felt a bit unusual. I had this habit of talking to myself like ever. Well, everyone does that, and so it's okay. I stayed there on the couch, lying on my back for a good amount of time, unmoving.

I felt like I was watching myself from somewhere. I felt like I was watching a movie of my life instead of living it. I felt vacant, useless, and alone.

After a while, I got up and decided to pay a visit to my mom. Looking outside, I saw the sky growing gloomy as the light started to fade away. It was dusk already.

Meaning: I spent my entire day staring at the ceiling. Pretty productive.

I switched the lights on in my entire apartment, and headed for the kitchen to prepare dinner only to find my cabinets fully empty followed by my fridge. They were all cleaned up and seemingly, the groceries were trashed. Why'd mom throw them away? They weren't even expired. At least, I don't remember keeping any expired materials in here.

I checked the door to see if she had left any message for me. None.

"She's gonna make me starve to death," I muttered as I took out clothes from the closet. I changed into a t-shirt, jeans, and a baggy jacket.

I decided to walk myself to the nearest grocery store. I grabbed everything I needed to pass the week, paid for them, and got my hands filled up with heavy bags.

While walking home, I glanced at the small park beside the footpath which was only steps away from my apartment building.

I noticed a guy sitting on a bench placed beside the swings, facing his back to me. The guys looked like Taehyung from the back. I knew it was him. The bench was placed in a corner from where you could almost get the view of the entire park. It was our mother's usual spot of gossiping with each other, and keeping an eye on us while we played when young.

My hands ached because of the weight of the bags, so I hurried home, dropping them off by the doorway. I hurried back into the park to thank him for last night, insecured that he might leave for the dinner already.

He was still there.

Stepping up close, I found him a bit leaned forward with his elbows on his thighs, resting his forehead within the palms, facing the ground. His body language showed that he was a bit off for something.

I let out a loud sigh to capture his attention, but he didn't move. So I sat beside him, bending a bit to his level, patting once on his shoulder, saying, "hey!"

He flinched a bit, looking up at me. His nose was as red as a tomato, better not to mention about the puffy eyes that looked back at me. It seemed like he spent hours crying today.

He didn't speak. He just stared, and blinked once or twice like he was surprised to see me. His gaze grew deeper, like, he was suspicious of something. Suspicious of my existence or maybe I was imagining things.

"Hellow?" I said, breaking the silence. His gaze shifted on the ground.

"How can I help you?" He cracked out, blankly.

"Just stopped by to ask, ‘what's up?’ So, what's up? What's all the blue about?" I said, trying not to sound lame.

"It doesn't matter," he said.

Something bad had happened, undoubtedly. He wasn't willing to continue with the conversation I was trying to build. "I don't know what you're going through, and I really am an ass at comforting people." I said, and touched the top of his hand that rested on his thigh. "They say, ‘Time heals everything.’ I don't believe it though. But I hope for you to have a better tomorrow." His eyes flickered to my hand, and looked up at me.

I left his hand, and cupped his cheeks lightly as I continued, "take it easy." His expression softened a bit, looking a little less lifeless than he was a minute ago. "You'll be okay."

"You can leave me alone now," he replied coldly. Okay, this guy would never go soft on me, no matter what. And even that thought pissed me off.

I couldn't blame him either. "Get home early, jerk," I muttered under my breath, and got up.

"One thing about life that we keep forgetting: life rules us." I blurted out, and left for home.