"Now choose, we don't have a whole day you know."

Hyejin rolled her eyes at the impatient Elenor. The first choice wasn't too bad. Returning back to her world was what she wished for at the start. She missed her family, her friends, the food, technology and so much more.

Although she won't be having any memories, it was the world she was born in.

She clenched her fists tightly before releasing them, "..I have made my decision."

"Good, tell me."

Hyejin hesitated before finally opening her mouth, "...I'll take the first choice."

Elenor furrowed her brows, "And why is that?"

"I miss my family. I have been waiting for the day I can finally go back to my world. Even when I told myself it's fine to live as you in another world, I still wished to go back and now I finally can." Hyejin answered.

Elenor kept quiet for a split second before questioning her once more, "So you want to return back to your world? Even if someone you care about is still waiting for you?"

Hyejin sucked in a sharp breath, clearly knowing who she was talking about. Memories of her and Alec flashed through her mind.

Their first meeting, picnic in a secret garden they had found by accident, him saving her from drowning, their first kiss and the last time she saw him before she fell unconscious. Every memory she cherished with him played out in her head.

"...Alec.." she softly muttered, her brown eyes gazing down to her feet.

"Do you still stick with your first decision?" Elenor asked, clearly amused by how easy Hyejin was to be pursued.

Hyejin closed her eyes shut tightly, curling her fists up in a ball before taking in a deep breath.

"..Yes. I want to go back to my own world." Hyejin answered with resolution.

She may love Alec but after seeing how her family was after she had died, she couldn't bear it. She missed them. She was homesick. She just wanted to go home to them.

Elenor couldn't help but let out a small snicker before nodding. "It's your decision, I have nothing to say.

A small circle of light lit up under Hyejin's feet, startling her surprise. She stared at it before looking back at Elenor who had a dull expression on her face.

Elenor noticed her looking and raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you looking at?"

Hyejin wanted to ask what would happen to her body in the world. Will it finally be lifeless like it was supposed to be in the first place? She wanted to ask but knew it was selfish of her to question about it when she was the one who made the decision of returning back to her own world, leaving that body with no soul, allowing it to die and rot away.

"..Nevermind. Goodbye, Elenor." Hyejin muttered, sending her a smile before the light consumed her entirely.

Elenor scoffed, shaking her head. "What a stupid woman."

-

A loud alarm buzzed throughout the apartment complex. A hand slowly came out of the blanket, grabbing hold of the alarm before slamming it shut.

Minutes passed before the body under the blankets moved, emerging out. Short brown messy hair stuck out in different locations.

Hyejin stared at her alarm clock before groaning, falling face flat onto her pillow.

"God damn it..I have work today." she muttered to herself, slowly getting up from her single size bed.

Dragging her feet, she washed herself and got dressed into her work clothes. She put on some light makeup before checking her watch. Her eyes widened in horror as she realised if she didn't leave now, she would be late for work.

Clumsily, she put on her high heels and rushed down her apartment complex into the car park where her car was at. She hurriedly got into the car and drove to her workplace, nearly getting scolded by the manager of her department.

"Safe..!" she cheered to herself, placing her work bag onto her chair.

Her coworker looked over at her and chuckled, "This is almost the third time you were nearly late."

Hyejin grinned at them, showing a peace sign, "Nearly late but never truly late."

She chatted with her coworker a bit longer before starting her work. The area she worked in wasn't quiet but not noisy enough that she would lose concentration on her work. By the time, night fell, Hyejin was finally able to clock out from work.

She stretched her limbs, cracking her knuckles before turning to one of her coworkers who was also about to leave like her.

"Hey wanna go out and grab a drink?" she asked with a smile.

Her coworker shot her a sheepish smile, bowing slightly, "I can't today, my boyfriend is bringing me to a fancy restaurant for our anniversary."

Hyejin shook her head, "It's fine, have fun with your boyfriend and happy anniversary!"

"Thank you, see you tomorrow!" her coworker waved goodbye before leaving the office building.

Hyejin heaved out a sigh before leaving the building as well.

"Guess I'll be heading home instead."

Hyejin drove back to her apartment and headed to the bathroom, taking a hot shower.

"Phew, that was really healing! Hot baths are the best!" she exclaimed as she wiped down her hair in the towel.

She pushed her glasses up to avoid them from falling off her nose and headed straight to her fridge, grabbing a can of beer.

"Beer~ Beer~ Delicious beer~" she hummed to herself before pausing her movements.

"...Strange I feel like I have done this before.." she frowned to herself but shrugged it off, thinking it was nothing.

She took out a microwavable dish for her dinner before sitting down in front of her television, watching some random shows as she ate.

After she finished eating and cleaned up her mess, she grabbed another can of beer before sitting down in front of her laptop.

"Hm...I should start thinking of the plot for the second book."

Hyejin took a big gulp of her beer, cracking her knuckles before she began to type everything out she had in mind.

Her eyes fell onto a name as she slowly read through what she had written.

"Alec..." she unconsciously muttered his name out before she realised what she had just said.

"That's weird, why am I suddenly so attached to that name?" she laughed to herself but she could feel her heart slightly throbbing against her chest.

"I think that's enough writing for today." Hyejin sighed, saving her work before turning her laptop off.

She was able to head to sleep when she smelled something burning. She furrowed her brows.

"Did I forget to turn off something?" she questioned herself before noticing smoke coming into her apartment from outside.

Hyejin gasped before hurriedly opening the windows to her apartment.

"Don't panic, don't panic. Everything will be fine!" She tried to stay positive.

Afraid that the smoke might cause her to faint, she laid low on the floor, trying her best not to consume so much smoke. Hyejin remembered to quickly grab her wallet, phone and her laptop which wasn't the smartest idea but for some reason, she felt like she had to take it with her.

Then she heard loud sirens coming from outside so she hurriedly looked out her window to see firefighters arriving.

"Help!!" Hyejin shouted, trying her best to catch their attention.

"Miss! Please jump down from your window!" the firefighters instructed.

Hyejin didn't want to do it but when she heard the door to her apartment falling down loudly, she quickly jumped down, closing her eyes shut as she was too afraid. Thankfully her fall was cushioned by something soft underneath her.

"Are you alright?" one of them asked her as they helped her stand up.

Hyejin opened her eyes and nodded, bowing at them as thanks for saving her. She turned back to her apartment which was now burning down.

She sighed as she watched the apartment she had paid quite a high price for, slowly burn into a crisp.

"Do you have anywhere to go miss?" the same firefighter that had helped her get up, questioned.

Hyejin turned to him and nodded, "Ah yes, I'll be heading to my parent's house. Thank you for your concern."

They nodded, "You're welcome miss, just doing my job."

Hyejin bowed once more before calling her parents on the phone, explaining everything that just happened. Immediately, her parents drove to where she was, bringing her back to their place.

"Thankfully you didn't get hurt, Hyejin." her mum said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Hyejin chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, luckily I was still awake when the fire happened."

After chatting a bit more with her parents, she looked down at her laptop she had tightly held on to while she got out of the apartment.

The same name popped up in her mind again. She shook her head. Why was she so attached to this random name she had come up with for this side character she made for her book? Before this she just liked how the name looked but now every time she thinks of the name, she feels like she was missing something but she didn't know what.

'I'm probably just too tired.' Hyejin tried to reason with herself.

Once she reached her parent's house, she headed to her old room she used to stay in and immediately went to bed, not wanting to think furthermore.

Hyejin then took a few days off after explaining her situation to her manager and boss. She received a few messages from her coworkers, telling her that they were glad that she was safe.

Hyejin spent some time with her parents before heading out to find a new apartment to stay in. She spent the whole day looking around, checking out different apartments which caught her eye.

Luckily she was able to find one which wasn't too far from her workplace and her parent's house so she could easily drop by once in a while. The apartment was as good as her previous one so she signed a contract with the owner of the apartment complex and placed a deposit for the apartment.

By the time she was finished with all the documents for the new apartment, the sun was already setting so she decided to have dinner outside. As she walked around, finding a place to eat, she felt an eerie feeling behind her but whenever she looked behind her, there was nobody.

Hyejin raised her guard up and hurriedly went inside a restaurant and ordered something that sounded good. After finishing her dinner, she stayed inside the restaurant until she felt safer to leave. She paid for her food and left the restaurant.

Hyejin took in a deep breath before the previous feeling returned back. Her eyes darted around but there was nobody. She chewed on her bottom lip nervously before taking her phone out, dialling her parents' number.

"Dad? It's me Hyejin. Could you fetch me from this restaurant? I'll send the location to you." Hyejin hurriedly said once the call was picked up.

"Alright but it will take me a while to reach since your mum and I aren't at home right now." her dad said.

"Yes it's alright but please be quick." Hyejin then ended the call.

She wished she had her car with her but she decided to use public transport for today.

"Ah...I should have driven instead.." she murmured to herself.

She was about to head to a place that was better lit than the restaurant she was standing in front of but then someone grabbed her arm from the back, dragging her into a dark quiet alley.

Hyejin tried to scream for help but her mouth was covered by a hand. She could feel herself shaking in fear until she couldn't even fight back.

"I finally found you." she heard a low voice whisper into her ear giving her shivers down her spine.

She cautiously looked at the person who had dragged her into a dark alley. Black hair which was styled back with black coloured eyes staring straight at her.

"Who...who are you?" Hyejin carefully asked, never dropping her guard.

He laughed at her, shaking his head. Hyejin frowned in confusion, "Why are you laughing? I'm serious, who are you?"

"You forgot about me so fast. Hyejin." he spoke, his tone cold.

He took one step forward towards her. Hyejin took one step back. She glared at him, "How do you know me? Who are you!?"

"Do you know how long I have been waiting for you? Searching for you? I have never once forgotten about you yet you easily forgot about me,"

As he spoke, he continued taking one step forward while she took one step back.

"You threw me away. Broke our promise. Don't you feel any remorse? How evil of you, Hyejin. You told me you would never leave me yet you still did. Never once caring about me." he laughed but she could feel the pain and sarcasm in his laugh.

"Don't come closer to me!" she yelled but he ignored her words.

"Why should I listen to you? Your words are all lies. You lied to me. Everything you said was all lies."

Hyejin couldn't take another step back once she felt the wall up against her back. She held her fists up.

"Take another step and I will kill you."

The black-haired man laughed once more, finding all her words funny. His dead eyes looked at her, "You can't."

"Yes I can." she retorted.

"But if you do, you will never know who I am."

"...Who cares? I don't need to know someone like you."

"Haha! You really don't know who I am?"

"No."

He ran his fingers through his hair, an annoyed look plastered on his face. "..You are truly.."

Seeing this as an opportunity, Hyejin swung her fist quickly about to hit his face but her fist was stopped by his hand. He held her hands tightly, pulling her in closer to him.

"Let go of me!" she yelled about, to use her leg to kick him but her attacks were immediately blocked by him.

"It's me, Alec." he whispered into her ear in a deadly low voice.

Hyejin froze on the spot.

"Alec..?"

Alec nodded, "That's right."

"But you...how are you-"

Alec leaned in, his breath mixing with hers. Hyejin widened her eyes in surprise and quickly dodged him.

"What are you doing!?"

"Bringing you back with me. I won't let you escape from me." he answered, holding Hyejin's wrist with one hand as he took a rope out of his pocket.

"No!" Hyejin tried to get out of his hold but he was way stronger than her making her unable to free herself.

Alec ignored her protest and tied her wrists up with the rope. Hyejin stared at him, her pupils dilating as fear continued building up inside her.

"My apologies but I need to put you down on the floor." he said before typing her ankles up.

Fear bubbled up more and more. Hyejin darted her eyes around, "Someone! Help me!! Someone, please help!!"

"No matter how much you scream, it's no use. This area is far from every eye." Alec shook his head, clearly not pleased by how much she was struggling.

"Why..." Hyejin asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

Alec blinked before tilting his head, "Why? Isn't it obvious?" his tone was flat as he spoke.

He slowly carried her up, holding her chin up with one hand. "It's because I love you."

"...This isn't love.." she answered back, her lips quivering.

Alec chuckled, "This wouldn't have happened if you didn't break our promise. If you hadn't left me, this wouldn't have happened. Everything you said to me was all lies but it's okay. No matter how much you lie, I will always love you."

He leaned in, pressing a small kiss on her forehead, "Since you already forgot, I'll tell you over and over until you will never forget. You will never forget about me ever again."

Hyejin couldn't let her voice out as terror was filled up to the brim. Tears rolled down her cheeks as her breathing slowly became unsteady.

"Are you that happy to see me?" Alec softly asked, slowly wiping the tears away with a smile.

He caressed her cheek ever so softly but instead of feeling reassured, Hyejin felt even more scared. She didn't know what he was going to do to her. She couldn't even run away.

"Don't worry, I will protect and love you. Nobody will get in our way," he mumbled, a smile plastered on his face, his pupils dilated.

"Please...let me go.." Hyejin cried out.

"Let you go?"

He let out a low cackle, finding her words amusing. He curled his lip upwards on one side, "That's a ridiculous wish, don't you think so? I let you go before this and due to my carelessness, you have slipped out of my grasp and forgotten about me. I will not make the same mistake again."

Hyejin whimpered and shook her head. Alec clicked his tongue before using the side of his hand, chopping the back of her neck causing her to faint.

"Please forgive me for doing this the hard way but you have let me no other choice." he muttered, running his fingers through her hair.

He leaned down, kissing the strands of hair. "We'll finally be together once again. This time, you can't run away from me."

Alec carefully carried her in his arms, walking deeper into the dark alley. The two figures never to been seen ever again.

---

surprise! never thought i would be back on this book again but i decided to post the alternate ending for this book~! it used to be on my discord but i'm planning on deleting the server as i want to make it better before opening it to the public once more, so sorry about that to those who joined the server 🥺🥺

and i would like to say thank you for 900k reads on this book! it is so mind-boggling that there are so many people reading/ read this book, i am truly happy and thankful to everyone!!!

if i ever get 1 million reads i might actually die from shock 😭

also~ do let me know your thoughts about this alt ending, i read every single comment !!