Chapter One

It was Saturday, a day of both fast and slow progress of time boxed in metallic walls and neon lights, the sound effects of spell casted and sword clashings, it was a good time to be in a digital world. Colors flashing reflected on a boy’s face, on his eyes saying that he won’t slow down with the way his fingers punched the keyboard letters, or the way he maneuvered his illuminated mouse.

Jiwoo sighed audibly, brooding that she may be noticed by the boy stuck with his digital character now fighting off enemies with its magical skills; she finally left his side and passed by rows of alike individuals stupefied in front of their flashing screens like her boyfriend, unable to tell them apart. Jiwoo entered the adjacent arcade room.

There were a lot of loud arcade booths with the same loud mouths playing it. She had frequently stayed here whenever her boyfriend’s unflinching in his games, she probably had played all the games. Jiwoo’s eyes lit up, concaved on one corner was the virtual reality game that she never got tired of playing, her surroundings was replaced by the digital map of saber beat, she chose Loona’s Hi High to play with. 

The beats went high and higher, the way she liked it, she had done this over and over again, she had even managed to put the original choreography with her saber’s movements, she giggled, replacing her frustration over her boyfriend’s stupid face. She was lost in time, the blocks heading her way fast, in different pairs and ways, the wall features that she must evade guided her where to go, the virtual map rushing forward instead of the blocks. There were only colors bright red and blue from the black backdrop, rushing at her like cars when a flowing white appeared with eyes hanging above it. Jiwoo screamed, slashed it with her saber sword and took out her virtual reality headset. Her heart raced against her chest.

‘What the hell’ She thought, dumbfounded, in a split of second she thought how crazy it was, and how real it was. Did the game just glitch at her? But why was a pair of eyes still vivid in her head?

Jiwoo’s boyfriend arrived just as she ghastly turned around, holding two cones of ice cream. She smiled seeing it, trying hard to clear her head with it “Wooyoung…ohh….is this your way of sorry? That’s so sweet!” she squealed, snatching the cone fast

“We..well yeah… yeah I’m sorry…”

Eyes on the soft dairy, Jiwoo forced a grin at her boyfriend.

“Shall we go?” She asked.

Jiwoo turned her gaze outside when she had ran out of story to tell her boyfriend, and it’s not like he could keep it anyway, he was driving and he could only nod. It was almost midnight and a few people lingered outside. The street light stretched in glowing red and orange, amidst it, Jiwoo suddenly caught eyes with a person standing by the sidewalk in plain white cotton dress, she held on it as the car drove past. She let go of her breath that she realized she was holding in.

A shiver ran down her spine. 

“You okay babe?”

“Ye-yes…I’m...I’m good” She wasn’t, it brought her back to the arcade earlier, strange but Jiwoo doesn't want to dwell much on it anymore and hold onto her boyfriend's arm instead.

"Your hand is cold...are you sure you're fine?" 

Jiwoo just gave him the biggest smile that had managed to save her from countless times of situations she doesn't want to linger on and was glad that Wooyoung didn't push it anymore.

They pulled out in front of their residence and her father’s car simultaneously just parked on their lot and was now standing idly by it. Her father stared passed their car’s windshield and straight to her eyes. She gave Wooyoung a peck before leaving his car, hoping that peck erased the frown on his face. He drove ahead as soon as Jiwoo shut the passenger’s door close.

“Inside” His father said as cold as the midnight air.

But Jiwoo doesn’t want to confront, no, not with his father, he could scream at her when there is a chance where she doesn’t have anywhere to go, but she has a bedroom, it has a door and a lock, so even before her father could say anything, Jiwoo shut her door close to any open conversations. She threw herself on her bed, her father usually doesn't pester her, both have learned how to just focus on each other's business. Time will just take care of it, she thought.

It was now Monday with the familiar smell of coffee lingering in the air, Jiwoo hadn't left her room since Saturday night and just watched movies all day and ate pizza, but now with school, she has to finally face her father again, she needed to drink some water and ease her parched throat and maybe eat that amazing egg and bacon she was just sniffing. Just as she expected though, her father was on the table, sitting at the head chair, reading the morning newspaper like the typical suburban father that he is.

Her plate of breakfast was already served on the table for her, weird she thought, her father never really showed any kind of nice gesture to make it up to her or anything. Jiwoo sat in front of it, she ate silently, as peacefully as she could as the newspaper cover his father’s face. Jiwoo was halfway done when she realized there was also something else beside her plate. It was an envelope. She didn’t want to catch any attention or deliberately ask for it so she just went as dead silent to open it.

“Yangsan?” Jiwoo shot her own feet with her loud voice and turned towards her father.

In a whip, her father put his newspaper down, gaze automatically glaring at his daughter “Your mother’s birth home…you’ll be staying and going to school there now”

“What? I can’t”

“There’s nothing you kids can’t do now though, isn’t it?”

“I-I’m still attending school here…it’s not even vacation yet…you’re making this hard for me” Jiwoo can feel the tears threatening to leave her eyes. The white envelope on her hands, her damning reality, she won't accept it.She couldn’t even imagine exchanging hello with her mother yet, how could she live with her? How could her father be this harsh on her? Does he really not care anymore? 

His father’s eyes were dead behind his specks. Jiwoo had gotten used of the lack of emotion, unnoticeable to non-existence, but his gaze now felt cold as a motherless winter holiday “You need a new environment, you’re growing up hard headed, indulgent and irresponsible”

“And sending away your kid is responsible?” Jiwoo quivered, she was so mad.

“Don’t talk to me in third person Jiwoo, do you think that makes you sound right and logical? I’m sending you to your mother, behave so I have the reason to bring you back here and graduate in the school of your choice. I’ll send you your monthly allowance, learn how to appropriate it”

"No! I hate you!" 

Jiwoo threw herself on her big soft bed, her plushies shooting up as she did so. She took one of it, pulling a rabbit plushie close to her chest and digging her chin to it, seeking consolation from its softness. She was beyond sad, she felt as though insignificant, she called on Alexa to play her default brooding song whenever she sulks.

Time, hidden by a mysterious secret

Every minute, every second

I want to narrow the distance between us

We will be aligned now

Jiwoo sobbed and laid helplessly on its melody and closed her eyes while wondering how her friends would look for her in their school knowing she didn’t attend any classes for today. Her father is as hard headed as his stone like heart, there is no way he will change his mind, she figured on how to say goodbye to her friends. She could ask Gyuri to send her to the airport. And about Wooyoung, their relationship was just beginning to blossom, they had not really learned much of each other yet, and she fears that being in a long distance won’t help their current relationship. It’s gone too soon before she could process it. Jiwoo sent the two of them a text in regards to everything first then went to posting in her social wall, her troublesome classmates sneaking on using phones reacted to it first. Individuals she hadn’t interacted before showed their sadness for her, for the very least Jiwoo felt better and continued scrolling on her phone, until her eyes closed on her.

A glare from the radiance of the morning sun passing through her window that was exposing the flying dust hit Jiwoo’s face, catching her attention, she placed her phone down and stared outside her window. The different colored roof of their neighbor’s house, and the way some of it are fading, the different height of the house, the trees that loom over them, the fallen leave on the roofs somehow looked uniquely enthralling, had it always looked like that? She can’t really remember.

Their doorbell rang, it went three times before Jiwoo could pull her weight up from her bed, she wasn’t expecting anything or anyone today, and her father never invited anyone.

“A package for Ms. Kim Jiwoo”

Jiwoo went to open the door, the parcel box was immediately handed to her and was asked to sign, however there wasn’t a name where it came from, only it said that it came from Yangsan, it was in a shape of a medium sized book, and true enough, when she opened it curiously on her bed, a leather bounded book was revealed with ‘The Flower Kingdom’ engraved on its cover. On the very first leave, it says: ‘Property of Gowon’ and under it is the word ‘Yangsan’

To her amusement, it was actually a diary with accounts of several people, but the writer designated them with aliases. However, the place, as she had guessed is its real name and wondered interestingly hard, if it is the same place where she is ought to be exiled to.

Jiwoo fell asleep with the diary under her arms after reading it all day, and the next moment she had it with her again was when she was already on the plane where she would be carried to where it was written, a bouquet of flowers given to her by her best friend Gyuri was accompanying it in her arms.

I have nothing much to say but that I hope this chapter piqued your interest to subscribe and anticipate the next chapter. ohhh and the Wooyoung here is Ateez's, not 2PM's Wooyoung.