Se-na stood frozen as Ra-ik's large, athletic heart thumped against her ribs.
Across the small alleyway by the storage shed, the fifteen-year-old Maeng Se-na leaned against the damp brick. She looked like a shadow of a person cold, untouchable, her eyes filled with a simmering resentment that made the adult Se-na flinch. The girl raised the cigarette to her lips, trying to look intimidating, but all the adult Se-na saw was a lonely kid trying to build a wall out of tobacco smoke.
Wait for it, Se-na thought, her pulse quickening. This is the part where he stops her. This is where Ra-ik swoops in and saves me from my own bad choices with some profound, life-changing wisdom.
She waited. Five seconds. Ten.
Nothing happened. The younger Se-na struck the lighter. The orange glow flickered.
What? Se-na panicked. He didn't want to stop me? Was it not intentional? What do you do, Do Ra-ik! Everywhere else you've been dragging me into messes, but now, when my lungs are literally at stake, you won't even budge!
She stood there, paralyzed, watching her past self, take a defiant puff. She realized with a jolt of horror that if she didn't act, the timeline or whatever twisted reality this was might just let her become a lifelong smoker.
How did you do it, Ra-ik? How did you stop her?!
Her hands began to move on their own, driven by a frantic, subconscious urge. She reached into the side pocket of Ra-ik's school bag, her fingers fumbling against crinkly plastic. Out it came: three bright red strawberry lollipops.
"Ugh, seriously?" she muttered, her deeper boyish voice sounding disgusted.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she broke into a sprint. Ra-ik's body was too fast, too powerful; she covered the distance in three strides, skidding to a halt right in front of the startled girl.
The younger Se-na jumped, the cigarette nearly falling from her lips. She looked up with eyes like jagged glass, ready to snap at whoever dared to interrupt her "untouchable" moment.
Se-na didn't wait for the glare. She dropped to one knee, her joints popping with the sudden movement. I have to do the laces. The laces were the key.
She grabbed the strings of Ra-ik's high-tops, but her hands were shaking. She shoved the three lollipops into the girl's smoke-scented hand.
"Can you hold these for a second?" she muttered, keeping her head down. "This damn double knot is a nightmare. I'll break my nose these days, I am sure."
As she fumbled with the laces, Se-na's blood turned to ice. She remembered this moment. She remembered the dark, jagged impulse she'd had seventeen years ago. She remembered looking at the curve of Ra-ik's neck and wanting to press the burning tip of the cigarette into his skin to stain the perfection that made her feel so small.
Oh god, Se-na thought, her fingers tangling in the shoelaces. I'm the neck now! I'm the one she wants to burn!
She could almost feel the heat of the cigarette hovering inches away from her skin. She was terrified. She knew exactly what was going through that girl's head because she was that girl. She knew the raw, human ugliness that was currently pulsing in the teenager's mind.
Say the line, Say the line! Se-na! Say it! before she actually does it!
"Don't you dare drop them!" Se-na barked, her voice cracking into a hilarious, high-pitched squeak that echoed off the bricks.
The teenager snapped her hand back up, looking flustered and furious. "I'm... I'm busy!" she snapped, gesturing wildly with the hand holding the candy, a trail of smoke curling around the bright strawberry wrappers.
Se-na didn't wait for another word. She stood up, did a quick, frantic little jump to test the laces which were actually tied in a horrifying, tangled mess and started running for her life.
"Hey! Your candy!" the younger Se-na yelled over her shoulder.
Se-na didn't turn back. She didn't want to see that dark look in her own eyes again.
"They're better for the lungs than that stick!" she shouted over her shoulder, the words feeling like a ridiculous script she was forced to read.
She sprinted until her lungs burned and the shed was a distant memory. She stopped under a cherry blossom tree, doubling over and clutching her knees as she gasped for air.
Lollipops? she thought, a hysterical bubble of laughter rising in her chest. That was it? That was his big heroic intervention? He was just worried about his shoelaces and his candy?
She stood up, Ra-ik's sturdy body still humming with the adrenaline of the game and the flight. She looked at her empty hands, then back toward the shed.
She had been thirty-two, a doctor, a woman of science and logic. And yet, she had just been bullied by her own fifteen-year-old self into giving up her candy and running away like a coward.
"Do Ra-ik," she whispered, shaking her head. "You absolute idiot. You weren't a hero. You were just a clumsy boy with a sweet tooth."
But as she walked away, she couldn't help the small, genuine smile that tugged at her lips. For the first time in either life, she felt like the shield of the cigarette had finally been broken not by a lecture, but by three crinkly red lollipops.
.
I work hard to keep this story going for everyone. If you find it interesting, kindly consider supporting this work with a cup of coffee. Every contribution helps me improve and grow 🤝
patreon accuscripterÂ