Chapter 14 -

So, the two weeks weren't that bad. Eliam was the same as ever. He kept insisting on coming with me, and sometimes I would give in. It was really embarrassing how he kept teasing me…

Anyway, that's not important! Haha! School has become less boring now, with everyone starting to treat me as a regular friend. I'm fine with that. My reputation has been slowly rebuilding, and people are finally starting to approach me.

And also, tomorrow is the day when my fate is decided! This is basically the only chance I can think of. Despite this event being insignificant from my point of view back then, I later realized that this is where Daehyun also fell for him and where Jaehwa became even more obsessive.

Speaking of Jaehwa, I promised him that I'd surely make Eliam fall in love through this. I had spoken to him previously, and I was happy to plan this out.

He would stay in Cabin 3; I'd be in Cabin 2, just in case things get out of hand and I need to tell Jaehwa what to do.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Jaehwa asked cautiously, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Y-yes! For sure. School trips are really important for building bonds nowadays!" I responded nervously. "And this will get me out of the deal, right?"

"Sure, if it works. I'm warning you though, if it doesn't work and you fail to make Eliam fall for me…" He stepped closer, observing me strangely. "Hmm… Then I guess it wouldn't be as bad as I thought. Just don't fail at your job." He smirked happily, walking towards the door and leaving me confused.

"Hey, and also, if you treat Eliam badly, then I'm breaking your deal no matter what! You better use your good charms rather than be a forceful red flag!" I yelled at him before he reached for the door.

Jaehwa turned to me and smiled convincingly. "Don't worry about that. He'll be fine with me." He then left, closing the door with a clack.

"Did I doom Eliam? Gosh… I don't know what's going to happen. I'm just so anxious about him…" I mumbled to myself, covering my face with my hands. I wondered if I was hurting Eliam by doing this. But that's why I would watch everything from afar. I don't want Eliam to be hurt by anyone. I just want him to fall in love with Jaehwa already, and for Jaehwa to become the green flag he was near the end of the manhwa. Minimum damage, maximum impact, was my plan.

Could I really trust Jaehwa to do this? Or am I too easy to trick? He seemed to be telling the truth to me.

Well, that takes us to now. The day before the trip. I had packed my stuff already, and by tomorrow morning, we would be leaving by high-speed rail, along with the whole grade.

I couldn't sleep. I was nervous and excited. I was excited about the trip. It's always fun to go somewhere new after being contained in this area for a while. But I was also nervous—nervous that if I failed, then I would have to come up with another way to steer the plot to its original course, which would be hard because I haven't thought of another damn way. I could never think outside the box or be smart when faced with situations like this.

Agh, I don't know anything. I overuse that word a lot these days.

I thought of something before I slept. I would really, really like to have a boyfriend or girlfriend, doesn't matter. I considered my chances with Eliam. I swear I haven't fallen in love yet, but I just thought about it. That's all. That would never happen; Eliam's standards wouldn't go as low as to date me at all, and plus, there are the complications of my original world.

I sighed. If only he could exist with me in my world. Then maybe I'd at least try, even if I know for a fact he has no interest in someone like myself.

No point thinking about the impossible. All I can think of right now is going to sleep so that I won't be exhausted in the morning.

Goodnight.

I woke up groggy at 4 a.m. Way too early. I suddenly felt a familiar sensation. It was as if I had transmigrated all over again. The same exact thing happened: I woke up early from the excitement of a trip. Only this time, my best friends weren't waiting for me at school, waving with that stupid bag of snacks. Sam wasn't there to annoy me, and Chanelle and Mari weren't there to talk about dumb romance stories.

I sighed, reminded of my original life that had been snatched away from me. The only thing I looked forward to was Eliam's company, at least. He's about the most positive thing that has come out of this world. Daehyun and Jaehwa are close seconds, but I still feel a twinge of terror whenever I stray into their negative moods.

Whatever. It's not like I'm dying anyway. It just sucks that I have to go through this.

I reached for the door and opened it. Eliam was waiting in front of me somehow.

"Oh, you're already awake so early?" he asked.

"Well, yeah. Is it me, or have you gotten taller?" I genuinely asked. Was I tripping, or did I get shorter? Has he always looked taller than me, or is this a mental thing?

He ruffled my hair, smiling at me. "It's just you. I'll prepare your favorite meal for you. How does that sound?"

I nodded, saying "Mm" to represent my very strong approval, practically begging him through my eyes.

"Haha! Sure then." He laughed, putting a hand on my waist.

God, I feel fine until the moment he touches me in any way. Maybe I really did fall in love. Well, probably not. Falling in love is like, grand, right? When it starts driving you crazy? Am I going crazy? —No. I feel normal. I'm not sure what even is 'love'. Now I get why so many stories and songs feature that line. And just because I accidentally did it with a drunken Eliam, doesn't mean that he would love me back anyway. I should just get ready for the day and not waste time standing stupidly.

I had gotten used to eating breakfast with Eliam. I always happily observed whenever I ate what he had made for me, which had made me a pro at trying to eat as neatly as possible to avoid embarrassing myself.

Eliam leaned in to part my bangs covering my face, sparking a flushed look across my face.

"You looked excited last night. Falling asleep like that," he lowered his tone.

"I was! I mean, finally, somewhere new. I've researched the place and all on maps! There are mountains, and we'll finally sleep in cabins and tents... and..." I said excitedly before stammering at the end, realizing I sounded way too enthusiastic.

He laughed softly. "Right, got it. Do you really like traveling?"

"Who doesn't? Of course!" I replied.

"I don't, but if you're that excited, then I should bring you along with me when I travel abroad."

"Really?! Oh, sorry." I raised my voice, then awkwardly continued eating. "You mean you go abroad?"

"Mhm." He said, elegantly taking a bite of the food.

I continued eating again.

That was strange. In the original story, Eliam never went abroad. This trip was, in fact, the first time he had ever exited the country since he was 2, despite being born in another country. The more I'm finding out things that stray away from the original plot, the more I feel uneasy about everything. It just tells me that there are more unknowns for me to find out in the future, meaning my knowledge of the story would eventually be useless.

I entered the white, long shuttle bus that was going to bring our class to the airport. I had never been on a school trip that actually flew us on a plane, so this was interesting. But being left with seemingly no best friends, it seemed less exciting than a normal school trip in my own school. I thought about Eliam, but I couldn't contact him that much for this trip; that was the plan anyway.

I told Eliam to go first on the bus before me because I wanted to quickly eat food nearby 10 minutes earlier. I purposely left out which seat I was going to take so that Eliam would sit with Jaehwa, and they could hopefully bond just a little on this 20-minute journey. It's not much, but it should be a small start.

Of course, that left me with no one, but it's fine.

I sat in an empty row, sinking into the cushions. The buses were nicer than any of the buses I had been on for a school trip, but I still felt empty. Well, I had my earphones and music, so that filled up half of my emptiness to an extent.

I plugged in my earphones, blasting music to ignore the loud students around me, laughing and having fun with their friend groups. If only I could be that way right now. I looked out the window, leaning my back against the gold-colored chair. I sighed, watching the green trees whisk by in the foggy morning, the winds being particularly strong in this place. Huh.

I was listening to one of my favorite songs. This song was one that didn't exist in this world. I had to get it from an SD card that I kept in my other phone that I brought along with me into this world. Unfortunately, that phone, my original phone, didn't work at all the moment I transmigrated here, but the SD card somehow worked on this Leon's phone, including all the music and media, whether they existed or not in this universe. So that was really convenient, especially just in case I was stuck here forever; I had photos and memories to look back on.

I was nearly asleep when I was disrupted. Someone had taken my left earphone and put it in their own ear. I expected Eliam; perhaps he had found me sitting alone in the empty row. Well, that wouldn't help with his and Jaehwa's relationship, but it wasn't a big deal.

I turned to the person. It was Jaehwa, smiling with that same gaze that told me he was going to annoy me.