Chapter 3

Pursuit of Parallel Happiness

I was blinded by a sudden bright light that flashed across the room.

 

Everything happened in a split second and before I could process what was actually happening, I have landed on the ground with a loud thud.

 

“MMMGHJMHM..” I tried hard to suppress an outright curse as I instinctively reach out my right hand to the side for support.

 

Something soft was within my reach and I used it to push myself up as my eyes slowly recover from the blinding light.

 

 

Once my eyes were accustomed to the current lighting, I realized the soft support was actually a bed, sitting right next to where I have landed.

 

The hell. Can’t I land there?

 

I scowled as I rubbed my posterior to relive the pain from the unexpected fall.

 

Wait. The bed looked familiar. Isn’t this… my old room?!

 

Pink bedsheets. Pink everything. It was definitely my old room before I moved out for a taste of independence when I entered university.

 

Did I just teleport? Or time travelled? Oh no wait, the pocket watch!

 

I looked at the pocket watch in disbelief as I pondered the possibilities of travelling through dimensions. My mind was in a state of confusion as I tried to understand what was going on. Brows furrowed, I turned around with my eyes still on the pink contraption, only to sense someone staring at me.

 

As I looked up, I found myself frozen in the spot as the girl in front of me let out a short shriek.

 

“Yah! Don’t do that!” I burst out as I raised my hands to cover my poor ears.

 

Her eyes widen as she placed both her hands on in shock.

 

“You… Who… How… Oh my god… What…” she stuttered incoherently as she looked at me, eyes still widen.

 

I took a deep breath as I glanced at the confused girl.

 

Wow. She is an exact replica of me. Except younger.

 

I pushed all the overwhelming feelings I had at that moment out of my head and oddly, the first thing that came out of my mouth was, “What year is it?”

 

-

 

“200…6.” she replied as she composed herself. “Are you from the future?”

 

“Oh. No, at least I don’t think so.” I said as I took a glance at the pocket watch.

 

“Then, who…” she trailed off and looked like she wasn’t sure how to phrase the question.

 

“Well, I think I am from an alternate universe.” I shrugged as I wasn’t clear about the situation myself either.

 

“Oh.”

 

There was a long period of silence as we both tried to figure out the bizarre situation we were in. I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with strangely, myself, as we sat on the two ends of our bed. We took quick glances at each other but no one knew what to say.

 

Being the older one, I thought I should try to start a conversation somehow.

 

“Hi, myself. Erm.  I am 23 this year, currently studying business administration at Seoul National University.” I said as I awkwardly reached out my right hand. 

 

She looked at my outstretched hand for a moment before hesitantly shook my hand.

 

“Hi, I am 16 this year and will be starting my first day of high school tomorrow. Speaking of which, I should be sleeping now if you don’t mind and perhaps we can talk tomorrow after school? Oh, and erm, you can sleep here with me.”

 

Despite being the same person, we were awfully polite to each other and not to mention, awkward. Honestly, ‘same’ is an incorrect word to describe us. We may look exactly the same but we are still separate individuals, just like long lost twins.

 

I nodded in response as I lied down on the queen sized bed.

 

Wait, first day of high school?!She has not even meet Taeyeon yet?! What am I doing here then??

 

AAAGGHHH!!

 

I shook my head as I pushed my thoughts from my mind and let the fatigue overtake my conscious mind.

 

Anything can wait till tomorrow.

 

-

 

By the time I woke up next morning, my younger replica had already gone to school and I momentarily thought it was all a dream until I realized I was still in my old room and that there was a post-it note stuck on my forehead.

 

“Looks like that girl has gotten comfortable with me.” I muttered to no one as I read the scribbling on the note.

 

Off to school.

Back at 2pm.

What’s mine is yours.

Help yourself!

 

Surprisingly, I could still fit into my “old” clothing though it was a little tight at *ahem* some parts.  

 

I stealthily made my way around the house, tiptoeing and peeping over the walls, only to find that no one else was home.  Everything in the house looked the same – the position of the couch, the TV etc. The only difference I could see was that the living room and the master bedroom were painted beige instead of the default white in colour.

 

Seeing that I have a couple more hours to spare, I decided to check out the mysterious store to see what more I can find out about that pink device. Pocketing some of the spare changes left on the table, I went to the bus stop down the street from my house.

 

Hmm, the bus numbers are different.

 

I looked around me and found myself alone at the bus stop.

 

Wait, there’s someone behind the advertisement boards.

 

A girl, all wrapped up with sunglasses and scarf, was crouching behind the boards as if she was hiding from someone. I would have stay away from her but there was no one else I could ask. Besides, she seemed harmless and I doubt she would do anything to me in broad daylight.

 

“Hi, sorry to bother you but do you know which bus goes to the mall?” I asked politely.

 

“Towanteeooofff.” she replied me through her scarf, head down.

 

“I am sorry, which number did you say it was?” I asked again, as her scarf muffled whatever she said.

 

She took a deep breath, pulled down her scarf for a split second and shouted, “Twenty-four!”

 

We were both a little taken aback by her sudden outburst and before I could regain myself, she had run off without a word.

 

Weird.

 

Luckily, the public transport system worked pretty much the same as my dimension. The bus ride was uneventful if not boring, as the streets were nonetheless the same. In fact, the sky was still blue, the Korean currency was still in Wons and there were no flying spaceships around. Honestly, I was really looking out for flying spaceships.

 

Who knows what you can find in an alternate universe?

 

The trip was futile as I found myself standing in front of a bookstore. Who was I kidding?  I didn’t even know if there will be an exact same store 7 years down the road at a different dimension. Dejected, I took a seat at one of the benches in the mall and started examining the pink pocket watch, a little bit more meticulously this time.

 

Other than its ironic incapability to tell time and it was pink in colour, there was nothing abnormal about the pocket watch.

 

How long do I have to stay here? I wondered.

 

It took me long enough to figure out and accept my feelings for Taeyeon while she hasn’t even met Taeyeon yet!

 

I let out a deep sigh as I looked at the hour hand of the watch.

 

Perhaps I should just turn the hour hand back to 9 and head back to my dimension.

 

I immediately decided against it. I didn’t travel all the way across universes to be a coward. My cowardice had cost me enough. If I had the guts to confess earlier, we probably would not have arranged to meet at that dreadful place on that fateful day and perhaps, just perhaps, she would still be alive.

 

Right. That’s what I am going to do. Get the other Tiffany to realize her feelings as quickly as possible, whack some sense into her if needed, and help them get together!

 

Armed with my new found resolution, I jumped off the bench and head back home.

 

Tiffany Hwang, we have some work to do.

 

-

 

A/N:

I always wondered what it will be like to meet myself. Awkward silence.

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HolyCrab
From now onwards, its gonna be crazy updates till completion. =DDD

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16 streak #1
Chapter 41: Love the table! That sums up everything! Thanks for posting this chapter!
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Chapter 40: Yes! I love happy endings! I enjoyed this story very much! Really, better late than never reading this!
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Chapter 37: Yep, that was 2014...
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Chapter 36: Ah, this chapter... 🥲
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Chapter 34: Next!
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Chapter 32: What the?! 🤯
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Chapter 28: Cute!
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Chapter 25: Not rushed for me, I like the flow of the story. 😉
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Chapter 23: I knew it! I thought I was confused! 😁
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Chapter 18: I love jessica! 😁