Jisoo asked her before breakfast.
He hadn't planned to.
He'd spent the whole night staring at the ceiling, listening to her breathe on the couch. Somewhere around dawn, the question stopped being a thought and became something he couldn't hold in anymore.
Sooyeon was sitting cross-legged under the blanket, scrolling through the old phone.
"You're up early."
"Sooyeon."
"That's me."
"What's happening to you?"
Her thumb stopped.
Just for a second.
"What do you mean?"
"Your hand. Yesterday at breakfast. And last night."
"Last night?"
"I saw it."
She looked at him.
Then she smiled.
"Are you asking if I'm dying?"
The word dropped into the room like a plate.
"I'm asking what's happening."
"That's a very dramatic question for someone who hasn't had coffee."
"Sooyeon."
"I'm tired, Jisoo. I'm sleeping on a couch in a world that isn't mine. Maybe that's what tired looks like."
"That's not what tired looks like."
"Then what does it look like?"
He opened his mouth.
He couldn't say it.
Because saying it out loud felt like agreeing to it.
Sooyeon watched him struggle. Her smile didn't move.
"See?" she said softly. "Nothing."
She folded the blanket, stood up, and went to put the kettle on.
Her hands stayed inside the sleeves of his hoodie the entire time.
[At School]
She was waiting outside the school gate.
Jisoo saw her from the top of the steps and stopped so suddenly that Hoon walked into his back.
"Dude."
"Sorry."
She was leaning against the wall across the street, hands in her pockets. Wearing the dark blue blazer. The one from her world.
Something small hung from the zipper pull, catching the light. A little half-circle of metal with a jagged edge, like it had been snapped off something.
She waved.
Jisoo's stomach dropped.
"Who's that?" Minjae asked, squinting.
"Nobody. My cousin."
"You have a cousin?"
"She's visiting. I have to go."
"Since when—"
"Bye!"
He crossed the street so fast a cyclist shouted at him.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed, pulling her around the corner.
"Picking you up."
"I told you not to come near the school."
"I'm not near it. I'm across the street from it."
"That's the same thing!"
"It's not. There's a street."
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
She looked way too pleased with herself.
"Also," she added, "your last class ends at 3:40 on Wednesdays. You came out at 3:44."
Jisoo stared at her.
"How do you know my schedule?"
"It's taped inside your desk drawer."
"You went through my desk?"
"I was bored."
He was about to argue.
Then he noticed her eyes.
She wasn't looking at him.
She was looking past his shoulder, at the school gate. At every girl in a navy uniform walking out of it. One by one. Carefully.
Like she was checking name tags.
"Is she still inside?" she asked.
"Who?"
"You know who."
His chest tightened.
"I don't know. Probably. Why?"
"No reason."
It was the worst lie she'd ever told.
[At Home]
She didn't say much on the walk home.
That was the strange part.
No teasing. No stealing his snack. No complaining about how slow he walked.
She just stayed half a step closer than usual. And every few minutes, she glanced up at him.
Like she was checking he was still there.
When they got back, she dropped onto the couch and held out her hand.
"Phone."
"Which one?"
"Yours."
"Why?"
"Because I want it."
He should have said no.
He knew he should have said no.
He handed it over.
She scrolled in silence. Past the group chat. Past Minjae's memes. Down to one name near the top.
He didn't have to look to know which one.
She read the last message twice.
"She puts a period after everything," Sooyeon said.
"What?"
"Her texts. Every sentence ends properly." She almost laughed. "I never did that. I used to trail off. Like I was waiting for you to finish it for me."
She handed the phone back.
Her fingers brushed his.
Warm. Solid.
Still there.
"You like her," she said.
"Sooyeon."
"It's okay. I'm not mad."
She looked a little mad.
But under it, there was something else. Something that looked a lot more like fear.
"Can I ask you something?" she said.
"Okay."
"If you had to choose. Not for real. Just pretend." She was staring at her knees now. "If it was her or me. Who would you choose?"
The apartment went very quiet.
Jisoo thought about the girl who crossed out half his paragraphs without apologizing.
Then he thought about the girl in front of him. The one who burned his eggs. The one who whispered I'm glad you're here in the dark.
He couldn't make either memory disappear just because she'd asked him to choose.
"I don't know," he said.
Sooyeon nodded slowly.
"Okay."
She didn't sound hurt.
That was what scared him.
He made ramen for dinner.
He still wouldn't let her near the stove.
The TV was on in the background, some evening news he wasn't listening to.
"—and astronomers say this year's meteor shower will peak next Thursday night, with clear skies expected across Seoul. The best viewing will be after midnight—"
He noticed it in the reflection of the window above the sink.
Sooyeon had gone completely still.
"Next Thursday," she murmured.
"Do you want to watch it?"
"No."
Too fast.
Then, quieter:
"Not really."
Her thumb tightened around the edge of the blanket.
Jisoo glanced at her, but she was already looking at the TV.
He let it go.
He set the bowls on the coffee table and sat beside her. She picked hers up with both hands, the way she always did.
Then he saw it.
Her left hand.
The edges of her fingers were going soft. He could see the blue pattern on the bowl through them. The rim. The steam.
He didn't look away.
This time, he didn't pretend.
"Sooyeon."
"Eat your noodles."
"Sooyeon."
She looked at him.
Then she looked down.
The bowl was floating above a hand that wasn't completely a hand.
She didn't hide it.
She didn't tuck it into her sleeve. She didn't make a joke.
She just sat there and watched it.
Then slowly, the color came back. Then the weight. Then her skin.
She put the bowl down carefully and pressed both palms against her knees.
"I'm disappearing," she said.
He almost didn't hear it.
"Since when?"
"I don't know. A while." Her voice cracked. She fixed it. "I thought I was just tired at first. Then my phone started acting weird. Then my hands."
"Why is it happening?"
"I don't know, Jisoo." She laughed, but it came out wrong. "I made a wish and woke up here. Nobody gave me a manual."
He wanted to reach for her.
But he didn't know if his hand would go through.
And he was too scared to find out.
"Does it hurt?" he asked.
"No." She thought about it. "It feels like forgetting something. And not being able to remember what."
He swallowed.
"You look like a photo someone left in the sun."
She smiled at that.
"That's kind of poetic."
"It's not a compliment."
"I know."
They sat there while the noodles went cold.
Then she said, very carefully:
"I think it's because of her."
"What?"
"The other me."
"That doesn't—"
"Think about it." She leaned forward, talking faster now. "There's only room for one Sooyeon in this world. She belongs here. I don't."
"You can't know that."
"I can feel it."
"It started before—"
He stopped.
He didn't actually know when it started.
"Sooyeon, you can't blame her for this."
"I'm not blaming her."
"It sounds like you are."
"I'm saying it makes sense."
Her knuckles had turned white around her knees.
Solid. Ordinary.
He wanted to tell her she was wrong.
He wanted to tell her it wasn't anyone's fault, least of all a girl who didn't even know this was happening.
But when he looked at her face, he knew nothing he said would reach her tonight.
So he said the only thing he had.
"I'm not going anywhere."
She laughed.
It broke in the middle.
"That's my line," she whispered.
She leaned against him, forehead on his shoulder.
He sat very still and let her.
He could feel her shaking.
He could feel her.
For now.
[That Night]
She fell asleep before he did.
That almost never happened.
He stayed at the edge of the couch with the lights off, her head heavy against his arm. The old phone rested on the cushion beside her, one corner of the screen still cracked from the day he dropped it on the subway stairs.
He was almost asleep when his own phone buzzed on the table.
The light cut through the dark.
Sooyeon (class)
Are you awake? I found a better source for the outline. Tell me tomorrow.
He reached for it automatically.
Then froze.
Sooyeon's eyes were open.
She hadn't moved. She hadn't lifted her head. She was still lying against his arm, her breathing slow and even, like she was asleep.
But she was looking at the screen.
The glow reflected in her eyes. Small. White. Steady.
She read the name once.
Then she kept watching until the screen timed out and went black.
She didn't say anything.
She just stared at the dark where the light had been.
Like it was a door someone had just closed.