DAYTIME STAR
chapter nine - shattered timelines.

"HEY! THAT'S NOT A NOSE. That's an outlet." Baek In-Hyuk said to Sun-Jae who is not giving him any attention. In-Hyuk smirked as he looked at his nose.

"It's a 220-volt outlet."

"Ah! What, stop bothering me." Sun-Jae said to In-Hyuk and planned to hit him with his umbrella. Finally he got his umbrella from Im Sol.

"I thought there's nothing wrong with you two? Then why are you two coming together to school?"

"Just got my umbrella." Sun-Jae said, earning a smirk from In-Hyuk.

"Ah I remember her, she has a crush on Tae-Sung. She gave him chocolate. That's why she is familiar." Sun-Jae didn't pay any attention and just nodded his head on the way to their gym.

"WHAT WAS THAT AGAIN?" Su-Jin asked with his dazed expression. Im Sol with the same expression on her face. They both look at each other.

"That was not my intention!" Su-Jin rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Like he does not understand why the hell this Im Sol did that.

"I will explain why." Im Sol said and looked at Su-Jin and briefly said the reason why she did that.

"I get it but that's not the solution, you should do that." Su-Jin said while nodding his head, Sol sighed while bumping her hands on her head.

They both sighed as they walked to the top, but Sol stopped when she saw the banner. It was a swimming competition banner and remembers something from the future.

This is the competition that ended Sun-jae's swimming career. He spoke about it in a TV interview. She makes it her mission to stop him from participating in the swimming competition.

"Hey Sol, why did you stop?" Su-Jin asked his friend because she suddenly stopped looking at the bulletin board. He looked at it.

"Oh Swimming Competition." He said while clutching on his bag. He smiled and looked at Sol who was still not talking to him. He began to worry.

"Hey, Earth to Sol?" he said while waving his hand in front of her. Sol suddenly shook her head and looked at Su-Jin.

"Ah sorry, I just remembered something. Let's go!"

"SUN-JAE THERE'S SOMETHING I need to tell you." Im Sol said to Sun-Jae, some of his teammates started teasing Sun-Jae but Sun-Jae ignored Im Sol.

As they are already inside the gymnasiums, Sol still follows him. Sun-Jae turned, his brow furrowing in confusion as he caught sight of Im Sol. "What is it?" he asked, his voice gruff.

Im Sol took a deep breath, her fingers fumbling with her phone as she tried to find the right words. "There's something I need to tell you," she began.

"You can't participate in the competition this time." when she said that, Sun-Jae looked at her in confusion.

"Why not?" he asked.

"If you do!" she gulped and then continued.

"You'll get injured again. You won't be able to swim again. So.....you can't enter the competition.." But when she opened her mouth to continue speaking, time seemed to freeze around them, the sounds of the gymnasium fading into silence.

Im Sol's eyes widened in alarm, her fingers tightening around her phone.

But when she finished her sentences, all around her unfreeze again. Sun-Jae looked at her waiting for what she was going to say.

"Why not?" Sun-Jae asked again.

Sol shook her head and looked at him with confusion, "Didn't you hear what I said?"

"What did you say?"

"I said, you'll hurt your shoulder, and this will be your last." Just like before, time seemed to freeze around them, the sounds of the gymnasium fading into silence again.

And then all around her unfreeze again.

'What is this? A Superpower?' Sol's thoughts.

"If you're not going to say anything, I'll get going." She began to panic when Sun-Jae said that she immediately took her phone.

"Sun-Jae, take a look at this. Wait a second." she said and started typing and put her phone in front of Sun-Jae.

'If you enter a swimming competition, your athletic career will be over.' This is the text she typed in her phone.

"Take a look at this." but as the same events earlier, time freezes. She is the only person who can move and who can talk. It somehow prevented her from talking.

And in a matter of seconds all the text that she types on her phone disappears and the time unfreezes again.

"What am I supposed to look at?" when Sun-Jae said that, Im Sol looked at her phone and all her texts that she typed disappeared. Her eyes widened in shock.

'I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS.' Im Sol said to herself. In the end she believes that she cannot say the future events to everyone. If she tries to say one event that may happen in the future.

Just like earlier, all the people around her will freeze and turn black.

She just sighed and looked around.

The playground was bathed in a soft, golden glow from the streetlamps that lined the perimeter. The swings creaked gently in the cool night breeze, their chains casting long shadows on the ground below.

Im Sol sat on one of the swings, her feet dragging through the sand as she gazed up at the night sky. The stars twinkled brightly, like a million tiny diamonds scattered across a velvet canvas. She sighed, feeling a sense of peace wash over her.

As she closed her eyes, a memory came flooding back – the videos of Sun-Jae's face as having an interview.

Suddenly, something cold and wet touched her cheek, startling her out of her reverie. Im Sol jumped up, her body tensing into a fighting stance, ready to unleash her best Kung Fu Panda moves.

"Su-Jin?!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise as she recognized the boy standing before her, a banana milk carton in his outstretched hand.

Su-Jin looked at her with a puzzled expression, his own strawberry-flavored juice clutched in his other hand. "What are you doing out here so late?" he asked, his voice soft and curious.

Im Sol sighed, her shoulders slumping as she sat back down on the swing. "Just thinking," she murmured, taking the banana milk from Su-Jin's hand and poking the straw through the foil top.

Su-Jin nodded, settling himself onto the swing next to her. "Thinking, huh?" he said, taking a sip of his juice. "What's on your mind?"

Im Sol shrugged, her gaze drifting back up to the stars. "Nothing" she said.

Su-Jin chuckled, his own eyes following hers up to the heavens."Hmmm," he hummed, his hummed sound confronting. Im Sol think that Su-Jin really has a nice voice.

'Is he really an Idol in the future!?'

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, the only sound the gentle creaking of the swings and the distant hum of traffic. Im Sol took another sip of her milk, savoring the sweet, creamy flavor.

"So, what about you?" she asked, turning to look at Su-Jin. "What brings you out here at this hour?"

Su-Jin shrugged, a sheepish grin spreading across his face. "Couldn't sleep," he admitted, his fingers tapping a rhythm on the side of his juice box.

"Figured a little fresh air might help."

Im Sol nodded, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Well, you're certainly in good company," she said, her voice warm and friendly.

"Actually..." Im Sol muttered.

"Hmmm.." a chibi Su-Jin appears beside Im Sol, she immediately dies from his cuteness.

'Ah! He looks so cute while sipping on his drink.'

'What if I also said what I should have said to Sun-Jae? He might help me? But what if time freezes again?' Sol sighed thinking of that. She is so stressed right now, Su-Jin notices this and chuckles.

"Well Obama became the president of the United States." As expected, all around her froze again even Su-Jin, she sighed and waited to unfreeze the time.

"Well what?" Su-Jin curiously asked.

'I'm just going to tell him, even though he will not get my words..'

"About the swimming competition."

"Hmm what about that? Will you watch or something, or your friend is joining the competition?"

"No it's not that, Sun-Jae will get injured." she sighed knowing that the time will freeze, she looked at Su-Jin who looked at her with his widened eyes.

"He will what?"

'Huh?'