I was a perfectly ordinary high school girl.

I lived with my parents in a house that felt just the right size — not too big, not too small — and my life, by every measure I could think of, was almost perfect. No storms on the horizon. No cracks in the walls. Just the quiet, golden hum of a life that hadn't yet learned what trouble tasted like.

But nothing stays perfect forever. That's not cynicism — that's just the way the universe works.

On my eighteenth birthday, we threw a party at my house.

I invited the people who mattered most: Crystal, Rony, Yang, Johan, and Ali. Five friends who had threaded themselves so deeply into my life that I could no longer imagine it without them. The night was loud and warm and exactly everything I'd hoped for. We laughed until our stomachs hurt, ate until we couldn't move, and stayed up so late that by the time the last song faded, none of them had the energy to go home.

So they stayed.

We sprawled out across the big dining room floor, blankets pulled over us like a fortress of limbs and laughter.

"Guys," I said softly, staring up at the ceiling, "thank you so much for coming."

"We're always here for you," Ali said simply. "You know that."

"I really am lucky," I whispered, "to have friends like you all."

"We're lucky too," Crystal murmured, her voice already drowsy at the edges. "Don't forget that."

We exchanged sleepy smiles in the dim light, pulled each other into brief, warm hugs, and then — one by one — let sleep take us.

Some hours later.

My name was called like honey poured through the dark.

I jolted awake, heart stumbling before my eyes had even fully opened. Yang was crouched beside me, already dressed, his expression caught somewhere between amusement and urgency.

"Get up, sleepyhead," he said, his voice low but firm. "Or we're going to be late."

I pulled my blanket tighter and groaned. "Five more minutes."

"No."

"Yang—"

"I will leave you behind."

That got me. My eyes snapped open.

"What — no, don't you dare—"

"The others already left." He stood, crossing his arms. "They're probably already at school. So move, or I walk out that door."

I squinted at him, deploying my most pitiful puppy eyes. He stared back, unmoved, then sighed so heavily it seemed to come from somewhere deep in his soul.

"You're insufferable," he muttered. "You have ten minutes."

I was ready in nine.

It took us another ten minutes to reach school, half-jogging the whole way, and we arrived breathless and flushed just as the bell screamed through the hallways.

I spotted the staircase ahead. Yang's classroom was on the second floor; mine was on the first. This was where we split.

"Go!" I spun around and pointed dramatically at the stairs. "You can do it, Yang! Don't be late! Go, my boy, go!"

He turned scarlet. The blush started at his ears and swept all the way down his neck, and I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.

I had known for a long time that Yang liked me — not just as a friend, but as something more. And if I was being honest with myself — truly, quietly honest — I felt the same way. Had felt it for years, actually, tucked somewhere in my chest like a secret I wasn't brave enough to say out loud.

But we were good, Yang and I. Solid. Built from years of shared lunches and whispered jokes and the kind of trust you don't risk breaking unless you're absolutely sure. So neither of us had ever said anything.

Not yet.

I filed that thought away and bolted for my classroom.

I arrived at the door winded, my heartbeat hammering loudly enough that I was almost convinced my teacher could hear it.

I knocked.

"Teacher, may I come in? I'm sorry — I'm a little late."

A pause. Then: "Yes. Come in. Don't let it happen again."

"Yes, teacher. Thank you."

I slipped inside and dropped into the empty seat beside Crystal, exhaling slowly.

She looked at me sideways, a small smile already forming. "I honestly thought you and Yang weren't going to make it."

I pouted. "That's your fault, you know. Why didn't you wake me up?"

Her smile widened — the dangerous kind, the one that meant she'd been saving something. "Well," she said lightly, "I didn't want to disturb you. Not when you looked so peaceful." She tilted her head, eyes glinting. "Sleeping in Yang's arms."

The heat hit my face like a wave.

"Crystal—!"

I said it too loudly. Heads turned. The entire classroom swiveled toward me, including the teacher, whose eyebrows had climbed nearly to his hairline.

"Is something wrong?"

I froze. "No — no, nothing. I'm completely fine, sir."

"Then why the outburst?"

"I... I thought I saw a bug." I winced internally even as I said it. "But there wasn't one. I'm sorry."

He stared at me for a long, excruciating moment. "Right. Sit down. One more disruption and you're out of my classroom."

"Understood. Sorry."

I lowered myself into my seat, cheeks still burning. Beside me, Crystal was practically vibrating with suppressed laughter, her smile wide and unrepentant.

One day, I thought, narrowing my eyes at her. One day, I will embarrass you right back. And it will be glorious.

I nodded to myself firmly, sealing the promise.

Now. Where were we?

Oh — right. The hallway. I'd been thinking about something before all of that happened. I can't remember what it was.

My memory has always been terrible. And honestly? It's only gotten worse. A lot of things have gotten worse, after everything that happened.

I know, I know — you're curious. You want to know what the "complicated things" are. What changed. What cracked the perfect little life I'd described so carefully just moments ago.

Relax. I'll tell you everything. Every detail, every moment, every piece of the story that broke me open and put me back together wrong.

Just stay with me.

Little by little.

…To be continued.

Author's Note — Hey, everyone! This is my very first time writing, and I'm genuinely so grateful you're here. I hope this story makes you feel something. If I stumble along the way, please be patient with me — I promise I'm giving it everything I've got. Thank you, truly, for the support. It means more than you know.

So, where were we?

Right. The hallway. I remember now.

I was saying that Yang and I — we both felt something. Something neither of us had ever been brave enough to name out loud. But I made a decision. A quiet, terrifying, final kind of decision.

I can't keep letting this go. I have to tell him. Before it's too late.

I pulled out my phone and typed before I could talk myself out of it.

"Yang, I have something important to tell you. Can we meet alone today — after school?"

My thumb hovered over the send button for exactly three seconds. Then I pressed it.

His reply came a few minutes later.

"Sure. Where?"

"The rooftop."

"Okay. I'll be there. I actually have something important to tell you too."

I stared at those words until they blurred.

He has something important to tell me.

My imagination immediately spiraled — wild, wonderful, terrifying scenarios blooming one after another like—

"HEY."

I nearly dropped my phone.

Crystal's voice cut through my thoughts like a thunderclap, and I whipped around to find her standing right beside me, arms crossed, one eyebrow arched so high it had practically disappeared into her hairline.

"Are you even alive right now?" she demanded. "I've called your name four times. Four."

I blinked at her. "I was just... thinking."

"Thinking." She tilted her head slowly. "About something?" A pause, deliberate as a chess move. "Or someone?"

I pressed my hand flat against my forehead and exhaled through my nose. "Crystal. I am begging you—"

"I'm just stating facts," she said, all innocence, that familiar teasing glint alive in her eyes. "I know someone who cannot go five minutes without thinking about a certain person whose name starts with Y—"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." I cutted her in the middle .

"You always say that."

And she was right — she was never going to stop. If I'm honest, if our roles were reversed, I wouldn't stop either. That's just what we were. Less friends, more sisters forged from years of shared secrets and shameless teasing. Blood-bound, I used to think.

Used to, just like a myth.

After school, Crystal and I walked out together and found the others clustered near the front gate — Rony leaning against the wall like he owned it, Ali checking his phone, Johan already mentally halfway home.

I reached over and lightly smacked Rony's shoulder. "Hey. How was your day?"

He turned around and immediately pulled me into a hug. "It was fine," he said, completely straight-faced. "But now it's amazing."

I laughed despite myself. "That's our Rony." That was Rony in a nutshell — a little messy, a shameless flirt, but underneath all of it, a heart made entirely of gold.

"Hey — I'm a good boy," he said, pressing a hand to his chest with exaggerated dignity. "Everyone knows this."

"Everyone knows exactly what kind of boy you are."

He sighed dramatically. "No respect. Absolutely none."

Ali barely looked up from his phone. "Same as always for me. Slow, boring, painfully academic. You know what I actually want to do? Beach. Party. Anything that isn't a classroom."

That was Ali — wild and restless and completely, unapologetically himself. The kind of person who treated adventure like a basic human right.

Johan cleared his throat. "We should head home. Homework isn't going to do itself."

"Johan," I said, "do you ever think about anything that isn't school?"

He considered this with complete and genuine seriousness, the way he considered everything. "No," he said. "Not really."

I shook my head, smiling — but even as I did, something in the back of my mind snagged on him the way it sometimes did. Johan was quiet in a way that felt deliberate. Mysterious in a way that didn't quite add up. There was always something about him that I could never put my finger on, some layer I hadn't managed to reach yet. It bothered me more than I liked to admit, which made a different sport for him in my heart. Like a book, the more I read the more I want to learn. Probably a seed before a beautiful tree ?

But that was a thought for another day.

"Okay — but I can't walk with you guys today. I have something I need to do."

Rony's eyes sharpened immediately. He pointed at me slowly. "Wait. First Yang says he has something to do after school, now you have something to do after school?"

"It's nothing."

"That's exactly what someone with something to hide would say."

"Rony."

He raised both hands in surrender. "Fine. Your life, your business. Bye."

"Bye, guys."

I watched them go, a small knot tightening in my chest. I hated keeping things from them. But this — this was mine. Just for a little while longer.

I'll tell them after, I thought. After everything changes.

The rooftop door was heavier than I remembered.

I pushed it open slowly, and there he was — Yang, already there, hands resting on the railing, looking out at the late afternoon sky. He turned when he heard my footsteps.

"Sorry I'm late," I said.

"You're not. I just got here."

I walked over and stood beside him. For a moment, neither of us spoke. The city stretched out below us, golden and unhurried, and the wind was soft enough to feel like a kindness.

"So," Yang said quietly. "What did you want to tell me?"

My heart knocked hard against my ribs. "You go first."

He nodded slowly, like he'd been expecting that. He turned to face the sky again, and something in his posture shifted — careful, almost braced.

"Okay," he said. "Don't be too surprised."

"Okay."

A beat of silence.

"I have a girlfriend." His voice was steady, calm. "We started dating about a week ago."

The world didn't end. That was the strange part. The sky stayed golden, the wind kept blowing, the city kept humming far below us — and I stood there, completely still, while something inside me quietly shattered into pieces too small to ever find again.

"I thought I would give her and dating a chance because i was confused about something , finally....."

I didn't hear what he said after that. The words reached my ears but dissolved before they could mean anything. All I could think about was how badly I wanted to disappear — to step sideways out of this moment, out of this rooftop, out of Yang's entire world — and never have to hold this feeling in my hands again.

But I didn't.

I breathed in. Slow and deep. And when I turned to look at him, I was smiling.

"Congratulations," I said. My voice only cracked a little. "I'll be cheering for you both."

Yang looked at me — really looked at me — and something unreadable crossed his face. Surprise, maybe. Or something worse.

I didn't wait to find out.

I turned and walked back toward the door, and then I was through it, and then I was running — down the stairs, through the corridor, out into the street — and I didn't stop. I didn't know how long I ran or how far. I wasn't thinking about direction. I was just trying to outrun the weight sitting in the center of my chest.

I never managed it.

When I finally came back to myself, I was standing in the middle of the road.

The headlights hit me first. Then the impact — sudden, total, a force that picked me up and threw me like I weighed nothing at all. The pain was immediate and everywhere and then, strangely, it wasn't. The road was cold against my cheek. Something warm spread slowly beneath me, dark and red against the asphalt.

Through the blur, I could make out a figure running toward me. Someone was calling my name.

"Alice!"

I didn't know who it was. I couldn't make sense of anything — the sounds, the shapes, the hands that may or may not have been reaching for me. My body felt impossibly light, like something essential was already leaving.

I closed my eyes.

And let it be.

…To be continued.

...*Tick tock tick tock*...

........................

...''Crack''...

A sudden sound made me awake from my deep sleep. I opened my eyes and was rubbing them . Then I looked around to see the watch . I saw it's midnight . And I looked at my friend's and they were sleeping peacefully. Of course they were exhausted after my birthday party . So seeing them sleeping was not a surprise. But someone wasn't there , Yang wasn't there. Then I heard a noise coming from the kitchen . I turned around towards the kitchen to see what happened and I saw Yang was in the kitchen . So I got up and went towards the kitchen for seeing what happened.

''Yang! What happened? What are you doing in the kitchen at midnight ? Why aren't you sleeping ?''

''Oh it's nothing. It's just , I had a nightmare which made me awake . And I got thirsty so I came to drink some water. But unfortunately a glass fall from my hand and got broke .''

''Oh so that sound was from that. Okay no worries. Let me give you a glass of water. But first let's clean the mess."

Yang nodded and said '' I will clean that .''

''What no. You don't have to do that . I am going to clean so relax.''

Yang thought for a second then again nodded. I smiled at him then clean the mess and gave him a glass of water.

'' Here you go .''

''Thank you.''

Yang drank the water and went to sleep again. I also drank a glass of water . But then I started to think about something and I started to spoke in my mind, ''Why I am feeling like I also had a nightmare? But I can't remember anything and my whole body hurts like hell. What the hell is happening and what hell I dreamed about. So frustrating. Okay whatever let's forget about that now . I should go and sleep too .''

And so I did. But at that time I didn't realize what I forgot. And forgetting about that dream was going to make the situation more complicated.

...........................

.........................

At the morning we got up early cuz Ali and Johan had something to do so they leave early. We were going to meet them at the school.

Then me , my mom , Crystal , Rony and Yang sat down for having breakfast together. But Yang was not eating anything.

''Yang ! What happened? Why are you not eating anything? Are you feeling unwell? Or do you not like the food I made? Tell me I will cook something else for you.'' My mom asked Yang with a worried look .

The rest of us exchanged glances, concern written all over our faces.

"Yang, if you don't like the food, just say so," I added.

"What ! No no , that's nothing like that . I really like this food . In fact I love the food. The food aunty made is really delicious . Also I am perfectly fine. So don't worry." Yang replied with a smile.

"But you haven't eaten a single bite," Mom said, still unconvinced.

"It's just I am still full from last night. The food you made last night was also amazing so I ate too much."

"Yes , aunty. Your cooking is amazing!" Rony said that with a cheerful voice.

"Ohh, don't flirt with your aunty, honey." Mom gave him a playful look. "You children knows that how much I love your uncle. And I know your uncle is gone abroad for one week for some work but I can't cheat him. So don't flirt with me."

I choked on my water.

"Cough cough."

"Alice ! Are you okay? Drink water slowly who is rushing you ?"

"Mom , you are rushing me. You are saying such embarrassing thing ."

"What do you mean ? Can't you see how amazing your mother is !" Mom gave me a proud look.

"Mom come on. Sigh."

Crystal then got up from her chair and threw her arms around my mom from behind. And said , "Yes our aunty is amazing. You just don't recognize how amazing aunty is. You are a foolish girl."

"Excuse me — foolish?!" I grabbed a knife from the counter. "Let's see who's the foolish one."

''Omg ! Aunty help, save me from this devil .''

... Haha ...

That's how we had our breakfast. It's always fun when we stay together. But when I looked at Yang I knew that Yang was hiding something behind his smile. And I got lost in my thoughts. I know Yang from childhood so I can tell when he is worried. And I also had a little, just little bit. Ummm,, actually I had a huge crush on Yang when we were child. And he was also my neighbor, my parents and his parents were really good friends too. So I always used to love spending time with him . We used to eat together , study together, even sleeping together. That's how close we were and I know him really well to the point that just by looking at him I can tell how he is feeling. And you guys don't miss understand me cuz now he is just my childhood good friend. I overcome those feelings . Cuz I thought that's the best thing to do for the sake of our friendship .

"Alice!!!"

I snapped back to reality. Rony was staring at me, eyes wide like a puppy's.

"Why do you look so startled? And why were you ignoring me?"

"I wasn't ignoring you. I was just thinking about something."

Out of nowhere, Crystal appeared behind me and dropped her hand on my shoulder, wearing that familiar teasing grin. "Oh? Were you thinking about something or someone special?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but stopped.

A strange feeling crept over me — like I had heard this exact conversation before. The words, the tone, Crystal's smirk. A sense of déjà vu so strong it made my head spin. But I couldn't place it. And the harder I tried to remember, the more my head began to throb. The pain built quickly, sharp and overwhelming, like a pressure behind my eyes that I couldn't push back. My vision blurred. My knees weakened, like my soul was leaving my body. It was a feeling I recognized — and yet, couldn't remember from where.

The world tilted, and slowly, my eyes fell shut on their own.

...To be continued...