1-Universe

"I'll search the universe until I can find you again."

Universe is on loop on my playlist again. For some reasons, since it came out last December, I couldn't stop listening to it. When I wake up, in the bathroom, in the car, in class, back home, and just before I sleep. It speaks to me. It speaks to me like there's something I ought to do. But what?

***

She walked on the snow-covered path, earphones plugged in her ears. After adjusting the volume to full, she replaced her phone inside her dark jacket, along with her freezing hands. It was Sunday, winter break. She's a senior now. Just one more year before she starts working full time at the Italian restaurant she's been part-timing at for the past nine months. Or four because four months' worth of memories are all she has right now. The rest are a complete blank.

"How about college?" Her teacher asked her once.

"College is only for smart and rich students, miss," she thought with a small smile, "And I'm neither."

Whatever she did with her life left her with nothing and put her a few years behind education.

The café she always goes to was unexpectedly closed that day so she was forced to walk a few more blocks to the next one. Today was exceptionally cold and as she walked further, she grew more regretful for not bringing her brown scarf.

"Aigoo."

A man in full snow outfit looked at Scarlet disapprovingly, clicking his tongue as he walked closer to her. His eyes disappeared in two lines when he smiled, like a cartoon character. Immediately, her frozen cheeks stretched out a full smile which instantly warmed her.

"Are you stalking me?" She said with hand gestures while taking off her earphones.

"Depends on how you define stalking," Sehun answered while removing his red scarf off of him.

"Stalking is when you mysteriously appear everywhere I go, especially when I need something," she coyly smiled as the young lad gently covered her neck with the thick cloth.

"Sounds like a hero to me but, okay," he lowered himself a little to see her face to face, "A stalker then."

Sehun pulled her closer to him as they walked down the road together, talking about random things until they reached a café around the corner. There were a few people inside, mostly in couples and a few who sat on their own, either watching the snow outside or browsing through their phone. While she waited for him to get the same coffee she's had for the past four months, she replaced one earphone piece in her ear.

I'll search the universe...

"And this latte is for a beautiful woman named Scarlet."

A smile instantly appeared on her face as he approached her with two coffees in his hands.

Sehun.

She woke up one day in his burnt arms, trying hard to remember what had happened before that. Or what had happened in her entire life before that.

The only memory she had then was Sehun's beautiful face, smiling through the smoke and fire around them. She could still remember how burnt flesh smelled like... seeing his arm scorched to the deepest layers of his skin while she escaped the fire unscathed except for her broken vocal chords, probably because of the amount of smoke she inhaled.

Sehun kissed her cheek and sat next to her. She has been living with him for a long time; that was what he told her. He also said he was her boyfriend and they were about to get married before the fire and the reason why she didn't remember anything was because of the emotional trauma she got from the accident.

"What are you listening to?" Sehun asked and took the other piece in his ear.

"Do you believe in parallel dimensions?" She looked at him intently for his response.

"No."

Sehun sighed and smiled at her. He tucked a few strands of hair behind and ear in a tender way and pulled her closer to him. Her face must have burned by just that. She believes him. She can feel in her heart that she ought to believe him.

"What are you thinking about, Scarlet?"

She her phone and showed a photo of them in formal clothes, smiling brightly in a beautiful garden. Sehun looked at it and took it from her hand. He let go of her and rested his back on the chair while pulling her to rest her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, this was my sister's wedding... and the day I formally asked you to marry me."

She felt his hand on the side of her head and his lips on the other, placing a loving kiss on her temple. She touched his face on the picture and a part of her ached for not remembering that day. She closed her eyes in hopes of summoning at least how she felt like.

But then a sudden flash of a familiar face made her open her eyes again as the song reached its peak.

Sehun looked at her with worry. Recently, she's been awake in the middle of the night... sobbing... reaching for something that she couldn't even tell what. Recently, she's been seeing a face... and the face was not of Sehun or anyone she knew.

While Sehun was out today, she tried to draw that face that has been appearing in her dreams. She started with his sharp eyes, skipping the color because she couldn't see it clearly. And then she proceeded to his full lips. She erased some lines a few times until the shape became eerily similar.

When they got home later that night, she secretly took the drawing and looked at it again. She touched the pair of lips on it and then some bits and pieces of a scene or so started to appear. Her head hurt seeing all of them but she tried to let them all in. But it started to become too much to bear. Something hot trickled from her nose and wiped it but then her own blood covered her fingers. She hurriedly hid the sketch and ran to the bathroom to clean herself. She returned to the bed and wrapped her arms around Sehun's waist.

"Scarlet..." Sehun said softly while touching the corner of her lips with his.

She faced him and returned his kiss with a full one. Her heart was beating fast and she knew it was for him. She was dead scared of whoever that person was in her visions but she believed in Sehun's promise to protect her. Sehun is her whole life and even though she doesn't remember much about him, there is love in her heart so strong that it can only belong to a person who loves her more.

"I love you," Sehun whispered as he proceeded to kiss her neck.

She wanted to tell him she loves him, too. But her voice hasn't returned yet since the accident. Something that even the doctors couldn't explain why. She was supposed to have it back a couple of weeks after the fire. But instead of spoken words, she ran her hands on his muscled back, feeling the perfect bumps and spaces all over him.

She tried so hard to warm him up. To return the kindness, the care, and the love that he selflessly gave her. She did her best. But something always seemed to cause her to fall short.

When she was sure he was fast asleep, she got out of bed quietly. She looked back at Sehun and watched his chest rise up and down peacefully. She silently said an apology to him and went back to her drawing in the other room.

She took a pencil and started darkening the outline of a face... carefully chiseling the sharp jaw and the slightly cleft chin. She drew in breath as his cheeks came to life on the paper and his hair seemed to move as waves and waves of lines added to its fullness.

The finished drawing stared back at her like it came out of her dream. She ran her hand on his face and felt the flashes again. This time, they were as gentle as the breeze coming in through the small crack in the window. The longer she touched it, the more scenes flashed until one of them lingered.

He was saying something. As if calling after her.

She took the drawing and sat on the couch. She touched it again and closed her eyes. This time, she welcomed the vision in full alert. There, she saw the man... from head to toe. He was wearing dark clothes; a black leather jacket and shirt and tight pants. His hair was the same tousled one that she drew. He ran his hand through its strands, taking her breath away.

"Ruby." He stood before her and just when he was about to touch her face, she opened her eyes.

She was slightly shocked to see herself in the mirror across from the couch but later on stared at it like it was going to show her something more. She put the sketch down and walked over to the mirror slowly. It looked a bit darker on the other side but she blamed it on the darkness of that night.

As she stared into the reflection of her chocolate eyes, she caught them move. She gasped and took a step back, fear raising the hairs all over her body. She wanted to run away but remained standing there, watching her reflection on the suddenly alive mirror in front of her. She was terrified but her curiosity got the better of her.

All of a sudden, she saw her head move very quickly in the mirror even when she didn't. She let out a silent scream of terror and became more rigid from where she was standing. And then, she saw herself smirk in the mirror. As if it was thinking of something naughty. And then her reflection leaped out of the mirror onto her. She fell on her back and shut her eyes. She braced herself for an assault but it didn't come.

She cautiously opened her eyes but there was nothing. Her whole body terribly shook and she struggled to get back up on her feet. She fell once and when she tried to stand again, a pair of hands caught her.

Sehun has woken up.

When she turned to face him, she was shocked to see a different face. He held her tighter and kissed her lips hurriedly to silence her, not knowing that she couldn't speak at all. She tried to break free but as his lips spent a longer time on her, she felt a kind of connection she's never felt before.

It was a feeling right at the pit of her stomach, slowly working its way to her brain... opening a part that has seemingly been closed for a while. When he pulled back, something snapped in her. One single word.

Kai.

Scarlet's mouth hung open and suddenly, floods of memories came rushing into her that she had to hold her head to keep it together. She crouched on the floor as blood started gushing out of her nose again. She remembered Kai but the memories are still too vague, too senseless to even know who he was.

"Scarlet are you-" Sehun appeared at the door and looked at Scarlet and then Kai.

He blinked and swallowed hard before he walked cautiously to her. But then Kai rushed to him and punched him on the gut, making Sehun fall on the floor. The former kicked him more, making the latter curl in pain.

Her whole being moved on reflex and scrambled to Sehun and protected him from Kai.

"Get away from him Ruby! He's dangerous." Kai said, trying to pull her away from him.

But she hugged Sehun tight and looked back at Kai with anger.

I am not Ruby.

She had no time to think of who Ruby or Kai was because right now, Kai was the man hurting her man. Kai's face was that of furiousness and hurt as he watched Scarlet look at him at if he was a predator.

"Ruby... don't you remember me? I'm Kai... I'm your-"

"Stop. I don't wanna hear it." She wanted to but Sehun is more important to her now.

"What happened to her? What did you do to her you little-" Kai walked to Sehun again but Scarlet put herself between them.

Kai looked at her and almost begged her to remember him.

"Don't you feel me? Doesn't your soul miss me? Tell me... Does he ever satisfy that heavy feeling in your chest?"

Kai was right. But she can never admit that to Sehun.

"His Scarlet died years ago... You are my Ruby.. You are my own..."

She looked at Sehun but his eyes looked blank, his face ashen. She sighed and turned to Kai who was holding out his hand to her. In that brief moment of silence, she let everything overwhelm her senses.

Do you believe in parallel dimensions?

Because they say there are infinite copies of us out there.

Why did I lose my voice?

Because one can only live fully functional in his own universe.

How did Kai find me?

Because there was something that the universe can't stop.

And it was the same force that pushed Sehun into a worm hole, to another world. It was a force of nature that was gifted to humans to act as some kind of a super power. It was love.

As she was caught in the middle of Sehun's beat body and Kai's outstretched arm, it suddenly dawned upon her. That she cannot live in two dimensions and ought to choose one. But where?

When the force of love is in both universes...

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a/n: Please don't forget to leave a comment and upvote! Requests are accepted in the Wattpad Version of this book:) Thank you so much for reading! Love lots~