Hi, my beloved readers! As promised, here's the first part of Charlie's time travel journey. I lost the original plot and forgot a lot of the events from when I wrote it for the first time a few years ago. But rest assured, this one will be better than the lost one (maybe it was meant to be). 

I want to apologize for not finishing the whole story in one chapter, as I feel like it would be too rushed, or otherwise too long.

Thank you for your patience and for bearing with me all this time. I reread some of BC's original chapters some days ago and cringed so hard. But then again some parts of the story were meant to be cringy *~* 

Hopefully you guys will like this one. And don't forget to vote if you like this chapter and leave a comment down below to tell me what you think. Also, feel free to give me suggestions about what detail/event/idea you'd like to know more or read about from the original book. (e.g. Charlie's first(?) time, some supernatural stuff, Charlie/Frayne's family, alternate universes, etc).

Thank you. Enjoy <3

P.S. While you're waiting for the second part, you might want to check out my currently ongoing book called 'Andy's Biggest Secret' *-*

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Special Chapter: Time Travel: 4 Years into The Past

I'm a fairy.

But not just any fairy. Not the one you randomly see on Disney movies hanging about flowers and giving out weird sparkly pixie dust thingy humans find, oddly, magical.

There is nothing magical about it, although it does make crying toddlers shut up as soon as they see it. I'll admit that it is one magic I have yet to learn.

You must've wondered what I do then. I do have superpowers—a useful lot of them, in fact. My magic—no, sorcery—is way beyond human's comprehension and is much superior to that of Disney movies' fairies.

I can read minds. That is one of them. And not just any mind; human's minds.

We, fairies, do a lot of research and experiment on humans to be able to advance and learn new powers. Should the experimentation succeed, the specimen will be released and will later recover with no memory of our encounter. One of our biggest obstacles is probably how to entice them to become a volunteer; that's why we don't choose intelligent humans. Rather, we like to pick out the biggest of fools among their diverse types because they are usually less demanding and easier to collaborate with.

Today is a big day for me and the other ambitious fairies. It is the time of the fairy year where I can go up at least two levels if I successfully perform an advanced sorcery and submit a report of it. The determinant will be Our Majesty.

I'm currently on my way to Earth to see if there is a young, good-looking airhead susceptible to be my test subject.

Oh, by the way, I forgot to introduce myself. My bad.

My name is Zuzu, and I'm going to be your guide in this fun experience.

***

(Charlie's POV)

What is this fleeting feeling?

Since the fifth period, I had a feeling that something was about to happen to me. But that was probably just me being excited.

I would be going on a date with Frayne. Our first date after we were boyfriends again. I couldn't stop thinking about it all day. I had prepared an outfit to wear two nights before. Looking horrendous on a second first-date would be unforgivable. We'd end up looking like an incredible combo of beauty and the beast, gay version. Good enough if people could guess I was Frayne's boyfriend. It could be that they just assumed I was an ugly friend of his.

Never mind. Some people actually thought I was good looking. Some people like . . . my brother. And my mom. And even Frayne himself. Oh yeah, baby!

It was the last period of the day. As soon as the bell rang, the students scattered out of the classroom and filled the hallway with loud chatters. I scurried past everyone and ran out of the school building with all my might. Otherwise, the detention teacher would possess my whole fucking freedom before I escaped. Out of my way, people!

I had no single second to waste staying back at school receiving punishments for not doing my math homework three times in a row. I mean, I didn't do it on purpose! I, absolutely, genuinely forgot that I had one! Well, I did play a Wii game or ten with William last night . . . Still, it wasn't that I abandoned it on purpose!

That was why I got detention. Today. Supposedly.

My heart raced when I almost slipped and kissed the soily, wet road from running away. Today's long-lasting downpour had reduced to a light drizzle but the idea of running with full speed didn't pose a worse risk than the fact that I'd be tardy otherwise. I couldn't wait to meet my eye-candy sweetheart, Frayne Callen. He was probably more than halfway through the journey to our meeting spot.

As soon as I arrived at my house a few miles away from school, a tired grunt escaped my trembling, blue lips. I climbed up the stairs feeling cold, weary, sticky, tired, dirty, and tormented. I went to the bathroom to have a quick shower.

Getting out of the shower cubicle too rashly turned out to be the most idiotic move ever. For the gazillionth time today, my feet lost their balance and I slipped, hitting my head on the floor. I was instantly out cold.

***

My head was hurting . . .

Rubbing my poor temples, I slowly got up from the floor to check my condition in the mirror. My hazy eyes shot wide open when what stared back at me wasn't only my own reflection.

"AARGHRAARAWR!!!" . . . don't judge me. I was shooketh.

"That's the most awful shout I've ever heard in my life!" The small creature inside the mirror, whose physique resembled that of a human being but fun-sized, and with glowing wings, criticized my graceless vocal utterance, palms over her ears. Her hair was silky white and her eyes, a magnificent blue.

"Am I dreaming or am I dead?" I blurted out senselessly. With squinting eyes, I checked my reflection behind the creature to check if there was any crack in my head or . . .

"Get dressed. You're naked, sweetie," the weird creature prudently replied.

My hands jerked down on reflex to cover my precious junk. No one or creature had the right to see it, except for Frayne and, err . . . my brother William.

"Unsee it!" I demanded the impossible. My voice squeaked and cracked.

The creature placed her hands on her hips and sighed. "I wish I can, but I'm uninterested in your body part, so don't worry." Gasp, that hurt my feeling. "As you can see, I'm not from this world. I'm a fairy." With her magical little hand, she pointed at my direction, instantly dressing me up with a plain white shirt and black skinny jeans.

The miraculously manufactured fabric on my skin was a real matter, solid mass. My heart was racing with astonishment. "That was so cool. Do you have other magic tricks? Can you give me more free clothes?"

"I can't give you—"

"Can I customize?" I cut her accidentally, still referring to the clothes. "Um, uh, sorry, go on."

Clearing her throat, the creature introduced herself, "My name is Zuzu. Let me get straight to the point 'cause to be honest, I don't have much leisure time." ME NEITHER! "Charlie, have you ever wondered about traveling back in time?" After seeing what she was capable of, I wasn't surprised that she knew my name. Hopefully, she couldn't read my dirty mind he . . he .. he.

"Yes! I think everybody has!" I replied enthusiastically, "Don't tell me you can bring me back in time!?"

Zuzu nodded. A proud smile overtook her composure. "If you're given the chance today, will you do it?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

All of a sudden, nature reminded me of my date with Frayne through the embarrassing grumbles of my empty stomach. We were supposed to eat at his favorite steak joint, and I had been feeling peckish since the last period. As much as I wanted to go with Zuzu, I didn't want to miss my date with Frayne.

Out of nowhere, Zuzu explained, "When you travel back in time, the time in your present world will pause."

"Count me in!" I decided within a second. Glad that I didn't have to choose and could do both; the time travel and the date! Yay! Come to think of it, did she just read my mind?

"Yes, my dear, I can read your mind and whatever dirty thought you have. You can't hide your thoughts from me." Zuzu winked at the same time that I gawked. Better be careful about what I had in mind from now on!! She could have other secret powers that I didn't know of and turn me into a sheep if I offended her. Whoops, better not think about this one as well.

Zuzu gave me a dolly smile. She was really pretty . . . I'd better mentally compliment her to get on her good side. "I heard your intention, Charlie. Now, close your eyes." I did as she instructed me to. It lasted about 3 seconds before I got bored and peeked. "Close your eyes if you don't want to end up in Hitler's era and killed." Her sweet voice sugarcoated the extent of the threat. I drew a convulsive, frightened breath, and my eyes closed again for the second time. This time I could feel my body entering a trance-like state. It was oddly calming.

"Now think of someone . . . an important person in your lif—no, not Taylor Swift!" Ugh! What's wrong with wanting to meet a famous celebrity? "Someone that holds a close meaning to you, that you've met in your life so far," Zuzu started to sound slightly irritated, making me nervous. "Someone like your . . . best friend . . . ? girlf—boyfriend? Yes, that one will do. Stay focused and don't let other thoughts drift in." Needless to say, I thought of Frayne. I would gladly daydream about him every minute.

Within seconds, my head was filled with traces of Frayne in my life; all the good and bad times. Warm, moving particles enveloped my body in a circular motion. The sense of my skin was decreasing, gradually fusing with the air, and I felt as light as a feather . . . until I landed square on my butt on a rough surface. What an anticlimactic ending.

"Ouch! What was that?" I doubled over, rubbing my butt to ease the sharp pain.

My curious eyes fluttered open and saw Zuzu cringing from my bad fall. "Whoopsie!"

Below me was an uneven asphalt. We were now in the same dimension, somewhere out there, hopefully still on Earth. My bathroom disappeared, as if it didn't exist in the first place. The magical experience sent a tingling chill down my hurting spine. I sent Zuzu, who was flying about my eye level, a perplexed look. "I'm still learning how to fly someone back in time. It wasn't the smoothest landing and I apologize for that."

"It's ok, Zu." I made a cute nickname for her, on which she deeply mused, albeit remarked nothing. I found it cute. "Where am I?" I asked, and revised, "And more importantly, when is this?" The breezy evening felt nostalgic, as if I'd been here sometime in the past. Dim lights adorned the quiet streets. The familiar smell of fresh, unpolluted air . . . could this be Frayne's hometown?

"This is where your important person will appear exactly four years ago from your present time. I suppose you haven't met him then?"

"You're right, I haven't. You seem to know everything about me." I paused. Suddenly, I was reminded of a naughty event that I went through with Frayne when I visited his hometown. It happened in a clubhouse owned by a relative of his or something. My face burned from thinking how Zuzu must have known about it.

"I won't know if you don't think about it," mumbled Zuzu, almost inaudibly. Noted. "Ok, I'm going to explain to you how it works, what you're able and unable to do, the do's and the don'ts. Ready?"

"Yes, Sir!" I saluted.

"Okay. First of all, here's a list of the things you need to know." Words materialized in mid-air with a small gesture that Zuzu made. Spooky!

I made sure to read properly.

1. Only you can see the fairy.

2. You have exactly 72 hours to explore the past world.

3. History wouldn't change. Everything will revert to how it initially transpired once you return to the present time.

4. Your metabolic system is paused; you won't feel hunger and thirst.

5. You'll return to your present time after 72 hours and regain consciousness where you left off unless you're killed in this world.

The last point made me shudder in fright. "What will happen if I'm killed here?" I dared myself to ask, although unsure if I was ready to hear the answer. I couldn't stand scary stuff.

"To be honest, I don't know. I haven't reached that level of wisdom and sorcery," Zuzu admitted nervously. "Try not to get killed as much as you can, alright?"

"Oh, boy. This trip didn't come without a risk," I muttered to myself. Hopefully I didn't offend Zuzu. Me and my blabbermouth.

"And for the do's and don'ts; you're free to do anything within human capabilities, interact with people and objects. The only person you can't interact with is your past self. Your form in this world will become invisible near the presence of your past self, within a certain radius of him. But you can watch your past self's activities. Some of my colleague's specimens—ahem, human partners—ended up watching themselves when the location of their important person overlapped with their past selves."

"Damn, I didn't think of that!" I uttered in slight disappointment that the idea of visiting myself didn't come to me.

However, it didn't last long, not more than a few seconds.

"The don'ts are, don't kill or get ki—"

My concentration scattered everywhere when I started to hear footsteps. It became louder and clearer, indicating that a person was heading toward where I stood. A surge of paranoia grew inside me, alongside a massively increasing heartbeat, afraid of getting killed by a serial killer on the loose—blame my overactive imagination.

"Who is that!? Can you tell me??" I asked Zuzu frantically and tried to fruitlessly hide behind tiny Zuzu, who was also invisible in people's eyes, just to emphasize how much of a vain attempt it was.

The agitation on Zuzu's face was visible, despite her effort to stay calm. "Uhh, I don't know. Most probably your important person as he's supposed to cross path with you any minute now."

Glancing around, I found no place to hide. My legs were rooted to the ground from the bewilderment my mental state was in. What do I do now? I shook my head. Ugh, stop being a coward, Charlie!

As the mysterious person drew near, I strangely couldn't keep my eyes off his face that was shadowed by the darkness. He was getting closer and I could safely assume that it was really him. My heart dropped to the ground when the blue-eyed teenager stopped in his tracks right in front of me.

It was none other than the one and only Frayne Callen; my beloved boyfriend, four years younger.

I wasn't used to seeing Frayne smaller than me. Our heights didn't differ much, but I was definitely taller. Just to be clear, I was about 5'9 and young Frayne was roughly two inches shorter than me; the present one was two inches taller than me. With remnants of baby fat on his spotless face, his jaw didn't appear as sharp and masculine as adult Frayne. His lips were as red and luscious as ever. And his pair of deep eyes . . . 

It should be a sin how he looked absolutely stunning, but cute at the same time.

My eyes couldn't seem to get enough of him. The uncomfortable look on his face was a cue that I'd been staring longer than what was appropriate.

"Um . . . Frayne?" With a racing heart, I nervously called out to him. "Hi."

The look on his face twisted defensively. "Who are you? And what do you want from me?"

I was taken aback by his reaction despite expecting it. Young Frayne didn't even know I existed, let alone knowing that I was his future boyfriend, casually traveling back in time to see him, lusting over him. Ugh, that sounded so wrong. He was a year younger than me in this current world. In reality, I wouldn't go for younger guys.

"Oooooh, so he's the one," teased Zuzu, at which I reverted with a subtle scoff to refrain from acting out of the ordinary. Even though I suspected that I already did.

"If you have nothing to say, I'm leaving. Move aside." Our shoulders brushed roughly as Frayne walked past me, causing me to stumble. How hostile! Frayne once told me about his past, how he was such an antagonist and so on, but I could hardly imagine it, until I experienced his cold attitude firsthand.

Hold on. Currently, Frayne was fourteen years old, a ninth grader. Had he met Jessica, his deceased ex, then? The thought that I would potentially meet my mortal enemy—ahem—rival in love made me freeze. It had slipped my mind when I first chose Frayne as my important person. He was so in love with her. I had no place in his past life . . .

Despite my cluttered thought, my arm moved by its own and aggressively grabbed Frayne's shoulder. "Wait!" I demanded. "I came from the future! I'm your . . . uh . . . best friend! Yes, I'm your best friend from the future!" Of freaking course he would believe me.

Frayne brushed off my hand from his shoulder and looked at me like I was nuts. Maybe I am. "Are you sane?" he hissed. My chest stung from his word. "Now, scram!"

Blocking his way, I grabbed his wrist in a vice-like grip. "I have no place to go. Please, help me," I begged him with teary eyes, starting to feel helpless and overly emotional from being rejected by my boyfriend's past self.

"Let go!" He yanked his hand from my clutch and ran away from me, leaving me with silent tears rolling down both sides of my face. I must have looked so pitiful and therefore moved Zuzu's little heart that she felt the need to pat my back with a huge magical hand.

"Let's call it a day, Charlie. I'll build an invisible tent for you to sleep tonight. It will have a bed, shower, wardrobe, et cetera, to cater your needs." Somewhat consoled by Zuzu's kindness, I bit my lower lip to try to stop the tears from falling. "The tent will be guarded by my power so you can take a peaceful rest."

"Thanks, Zu. You're the best." I gave her a weak smile.

"Let's enroll yourself to Frayne's school tomorrow. I can use my sorcery to manipulate people's minds. You'll be introduced as a new student."

Hearing her, I instantly reverted to my enthusiastic self. "Whoa, for real?" Could Zuzu possibly manipulate Frayne's mind to make him believe that I was his boyfriend?

"I can only manipulate humans' minds, not feelings. Frayne will still act like a stranger to you even if I do that. He would believe, but feel nothing. And don't you want to work around things yourself? Maybe you can figure out a thing or two, and make him fall for you. After all, it was your choice to visit his past."

Sulking, I replied, "I regret it now." Zuzu gave me a magical slap. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"You haven't been here for an hour. How can you regret so soon? Be stronger, Charlie! I know you can do it."

Yes, Zuzu's right. Be stronger, Charlie!

And with that, Zuzu built a huge tent out of nothing with her powerful magic, despite being so tiny—never judge a book by its cover, guys. The tent expanded and stretched in the cold air, standing tall and mighty like a circus tent but with a glowing white color. It had a minimalist design, with simple but warm interior. Zuzu elaborated that people were unable to see the tent at all from the outside. Passerby would walk through it like it was thin air.

My eyes must have gleamed with awe. This was by far the best thing that had happened to me in this time travel journey. The invisible magical tent. Yay.

***

I woke up to the sound of my phone's alarm that was set at 7 in the morning. For some reason, I instantly woke up, unlike when I was sleeping in my own bed. Could be due to my restlessness, but it had successfully prevented me from oversleeping.

As Zuzu had explained previously, I felt neither hungry nor thirsty, but I could still taste food, and eat and drink if I wanted, without ever feeling full. Not having a penny with me, buying food and eating whatever I wanted without getting fat wouldn't be feasible, as much as I wanted to do it.

Fast forward to two hours later, at nine in the morning, I was standing in front of everyone in the class, including Frayne, introduced as a new student in my boyfriend's junior high school by the homeroom teacher. Already a senior high student and older in real life, I felt unreasonably proud. Knowing what went on in my mind, Zuzu smirked at me and nudged a strand of my hair.

"Hi. I'm Charlie Haynes. Pleased to meet you guys. Hope we can get along well," I gave a template greeting speech, not wanting to appear conspicuous and stray from my purpose. My gaze instantly landed on Frayne, and he had a disoriented look on his perfect features as he saw me. I didn't take it as a good sign.

I sat down on the only empty seat two rows away from my sweetheart. Throughout the lessons, I couldn't refrain from stealing glances at Frayne. At times, he was focusing on the study. Some other times, he looked bored and played with his stationery.

During one last lesson before the first break, a happenstance that united Frayne and I occurred. It was math, my most favorite subject in the world, quotation marks in the air. Frayne was called upon by the teacher. He was chosen to solve an equation. What bad luck. It was freaking algebra! I swear William had taught me something similar some time ago, but the numbers on the white board was equivalent to scribbles to me. I watched closely as Frayne hesitantly took the marker from the teacher. I thought he was good. He was smart in the present time. Turned out he was just studying diligently. Hard work will pay off, they say.

My eyes caught a glimpse of his hand quivering while he struggled to solve the equation. I was watching in amusement. Seeing him not capable of doing something was a fresh sight. He was imperfect, but it made me love him even more. Thinking that I was free to get lost in my own silly reverie was a wrong move. The teacher caught me off guard when she called me out to help Frayne with the equation, since he was taking forever.

"M-me!?" I flinched in surprise as my name was mentioned, making a few students laugh. I glanced at Zuzu who was giggling flippantly. It must be her doing!

Getting up from my seat, I nervously walked to the front of the class and stood next to Frayne, facing the white board. I didn't dare to start a conversation after what had happened yesterday.

For the first time since I arrived, he initiated the talk. On top of that, he talked normally, without the tone of animosity in his voice. He said, "Hey, um, can you do it?"

"Uh . . . no." I shrugged. Damn. If only I paid more attention in class, I'd be able to save him. He'd think of me as his prince charming. Ugh, what a waste of a good opportunity. I blamed my stupid brain for this.

Delusion aside, Zuzu piped up from across the classroom, "Charlie, I thought you were proud of being a tenth grader? Why can't you solve a junior high level of math equation?" My ears burned from Zuzu's shade. Shut up, shut up, I chanted internally, hoping my message was telepathically conveyed.

"Man, I thought you were one of those tall nerdy kids who study in their free time haha." His laugh was so gorgeous that it paralyzed me, leaving a mad blush across my face. It almost required me to beg Zuzu to stop the time to regain my composure. My expression went fully uncontrollable.

And also, he thought that I was tall? To be fair, I was a year older than him at this point, although I was slightly above average in my class back in high school. I took his compliment to heart, nonetheless. He managed to stroke my ego and I let it get to my head, making it HUGE.

"You know what," I tried to distract him while hoping whatever weird things transpiring in my mind didn't show on my face, "Let's just stay here and talk until the bell rings. Neither of us can solve it anyway."

Frayne made a toothy smile. His appealing lips area always caught my attention. Wish I could kiss him right then and there. "Right after this is break anywa—"

"Are you two chit-chatting in front of the teacher?" The teacher's stern voice made me jump, causing Frayne to burst into laughter. It was pretty embarrassing at my end . . . "Out of the class, you two!"

"C'mon, let's go," Frayne uttered cheerfully as he took the lead, this time he was the one holding my hand—my forearm, to be more specific. I wasn't that delusional yet.

Before the classroom door closed behind us, I could quite clearly make out that we became the teacher's objects of scorn. Not that I cared. I wasn't a real student here after all.

"That was fun," admitted Frayne. It was?? For the first time, our gazes properly met. I could be reading too much into it, but for a few seconds, I saw that Frayne was attracted to me . . . uh, my face perhaps?

"He thinks that you're handsome," said Zuzu who suddenly materialized before me. "I can read minds, remember? Not just yours."

"He thinks I'm handsome?" I accidentally repeated after Zuzu, of which I would shamefully regret if it wasn't for Frayne whose cheeks turned bright red upon hearing my slip up.

"Uh, w-what? I just thought that your eye color was cool. That's all," he blurted out incoherently. He was so nervous that he didn't realize the pronoun didn't match up. My eye color was cool? New compliment from Frayne successfully noted. Would mentally look back to craze about the list later when I was alone. In the meantime, all I thought about was to act cool in front of this young, massively attractive teenager in front of me. My main goal would be to know his younger self better and make him like me, at least platonically.

Flying around Frayne, Zuzu was busy admiring him, or studying his body language, whatever. I couldn't read her mind like she could read mine. She shot me an offensive glare when I mentally accused her of being fascinated by Frayne, and wanting to keep him for herself. 

She spilled, "The inside of his head is a turmoil. He was panicking and struggled to search for a decent excuse." I swear if I could bring Zuzu back to the present time to assist me for the rest of my life, I'd be gratef— "Stop your wishful thinking and focus on Frayne!" Zuzu instructed.

"Anyway," Frayne piped up again to break the—what to him must have been—silence between us, "Um, this might come across weird but, yesterday when I was on my way home from practice, I was approached by a guy about our age." I gulped, knowing where this conversation was heading. "He kinda resembles you a lot, but I'm not sure because it was pretty dark already. Could it be you?"

"Kinda resembles you a lot?" Zuzu raised a brow. "'Kinda' and 'a lot' are antonyms."

For a split second, I was thinking of playing dumb, remembering how mortifying my actions were to Frayne yesterday. I went psycho on him like a stalker, which in a way, I was. But I couldn't lie in his face. I mean, look at that face. Eventually I came clean, although with some twists, "Yes, it was me. I just moved here recently and was still in denial that I had to leave my friends behind. I went out for a bit of fresh air and decided to mess with the first random person I met, which happens to be you. Sorry."

"But how did you know my name?" Damn this guy sharp.

Looking at his innocent young face made me want to tease him a little bit, no matter how perceptive and serious he was. I didn't have the capacity to pull this off on present Frayne since I would be the baby then. And I thought, why not? Smirking, I playfully made things up just to see his reaction, "Who doesn't know you, Fraynie? You're the most handsome boy in town everybody goes weak in the knees whenever they see you. The neighbors, funky grandmas, and supermarket clerks, all swoon over you." Including me.

"W-what? Are you messing with me right now? Why do you say stuff like this? Are you . . . are you a homo?"

What's with that bold accusation that came out of nowhere?

If I remembered correctly, at this stage of his life, Frayne wasn't out of the closet yet. If this was how he hid it, his reaction kinda served an opposite purpose. I'd be surprised if no one had their suspicions before. But it could be from the fact that I was gay and had a gaydar—gay radar. The more he denied, the truer it was. I knew because I had been in his shoes before. On top of that, I had no intention of bringing sexuality into this. Not initially—but Charlie likes to spontaneously improvise!

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe? But what I do know is that you're—"

In a more defensive manner, he retorted, "I'm not gay!"

"—bi," I finished my sentence with a playful little grin.

Frayne's eyes widened and he froze over as if not believing his ears. His lips were slightly parted, but no word came out. My conscience couldn't bear it, instantly feeling guilty from how cornered and shocked he seemingly was. Did I just traumatize little Frayne?

Hastily, I cupped his face in between my hands and scrunched up his expression to lighten the mood. "I'm not going to tell anyone. And it's nothing to be ashamed of, Fraynie." I remembered Frayne telling me something similar, somewhere along the line of "there's nothing wrong with being gay" when I accidentally revealed my own cards before. In this current world, our positions were somewhat reversed.

He broke free from my grasp and took a defensive stance. Now he looked quite threatening. What if he wanted to fight me!? Should I run? Should I cry? "Why are you so sure that I'm bi when I'm not?"

Not wanting to corner him to admit it, I took a softer approach, "I'm gay," I confessed to him, twice. It wasn't as scary anymore since I knew for sure this time that he was bisexual. "Don't you want to have an LGBTQ+ friend to talk to? Because I do. It makes me feel better to share with someone who goes through a similar struggle." My own words touched me. I didn't know that I could be more mature than Frayne at a time like this.

"Fine," he gave in eventually, "I'm bi. You're the first one to know." He looked away as he spoke. "Don't ever tell anyone. Please." That was unexpectedly easier than I thought. My body cells must've clapped for me for raising some friendship points with Frayne. Moreover, I was the first one to know!

"I won't," I said, pulling him into a loose hug. He smelled nice, like a baby's scent, contrary to the present Frayne who emitted a raging pheromone that actually got me weak in the knees. No joke.

Everything developed so smoothly that I couldn't believe it was real. Even Zuzu was aww-ing in the background.

Oddly enough, our closeness didn't feel romantic at all.

The class was over soon and so was our punishment that felt more like a treat to me. We went to the cafeteria together to have our lunch break, although biologically, I didn't need one now. I was introduced to a bunch of his jock friends and felt a bit out of place. His demeanor made a 180-degree change with his friends around, as if he had an outward persona that he had mastered to pull off. It was strange watching his true personality went to hide inside his shell when I knew that deep inside, he was much more introverted than that. Too much spotlight that he had to endure when he couldn't care less. At least the present Frayne didn't.

I wondered if Jessica existed at all in this past world. She was nowhere to be found when I was convinced that I would be jealous and all as they ate together, flirting with each other.

Speak of the devil.

Frayne, who was busy joking loudly with his friends, suddenly wore a different expression on his face. It was probably the only genuine expression he had had ever since he put on the charade. The emotion behind it was as clear as day, and not because I was used to watching him, being with him, and spending time with him in the present world. He made that utterly familiar face sometimes when he was with me, whether knowingly or not. Only this time, his beautiful blue eyes didn't light up because of me.

I followed the direction of his attention and my chest stung with inevitable jealousy.

Long golden hair in a high ponytail, bright chocolaty-hazel eyes, and an angelic smile that charmed the hearts of the diverse crowd around her, who were naturally drawn to her universal appeal. I ticked all of the boxes; the description matched.

The one who could make young Frayne lose all sense of rationality.

It didn't take a genius to guess who it was.

The young lady was Jessica Leighton, Frayne's beloved ex-girlfriend, who sadly died in an accident three years ago from our present time.

************************* TO BE CONTINUED *************************