Ivan open his eyes to see a familiar ceiling.
His eyes move around.
A familiar nightstand, a familiar bookshelf, a familiar wardrobe, a familiar room.
He remembers, that he was supposed to die. Yet why he's still alive?
He turn to take a look at his phone that are resting on the nightstand beside the bed.
06:38, January 09 20XX
Today is..... Ah....
"After... Meeting her..." He stare at the phone screen until it turn off by itself, showing his reflection.
Short black hair that reach his nape, sharp nose, long eyelashes, thin lips, define cheekbone, and sharp eyes.
People say he's handsome but for him, he looks the same as everyone.
He remember, today is the day after meeting the female protagonist from 'Love Me', Lilia.
A 3 days before his death.
".... Hah...." He sigh as he lay back down.
Lilia.... Is Ellia's twin sister.
Ellia.... Is... Someone that he thought a friend. But after he reject Lilia, Ellia.... Is angry and push him to the train platform when there's a train going through, causing him to die on the spot with mingling body parts.
"... Am I Teke-Teke or what."
He sat up on the bed for a moment to gather his thoughts.
"... I don't want to feel that again." He doesn't want to die again.
He need to change his fate. But how? His life is a words in a book and this world is a book itself.
Wait, at this time, Ivan usually wakes up and already ready to go to the school but now...
"...." He looks down at his hands for moment.
He doesn't feel any pull. He doesn't feel any string that control him. He...
"... Free?" Does this mean he's free from the control of the writer? Does this mean he can change his fate?
.....
Maybe he can?
But then again, he needs to change everyone too including the leads if he wants to change the book.
"Hah... I don't know anymore." He mess with his hair in frustration.
"... I should get ready for school." He said as he stands up and walk to the bathroom.
The moment he took a step, he sees himself in the mirror.
Now his appearance is more clear, and so is his black eyes, looking like a dead fish's eyes.
He stare at the mirror for a moment before turning around and enter the shower to clean himself. A habit he developed overtime, cleaning himself every morning.
After a shower, he step out and walk to his wardrobe and stand there for a few minutes.
"I don't want to go to school." "I want to stay at home." "I want to skip school." Many thoughts swirl in his mind as he think of things he never thought about before.
Maybe....
Just maybe....
The string that attached to him, to the book and to the author, is now cut off?
Is that why he can think of skipping school at this moment?
A character of a book shouldn't do things that are not meant to do. Yet here he is, standing here instead of getting ready for school, standing here and wasting his time unlike the usual him.
"...." He sigh as he push his hair back.
He decide to see it. He want to know if the string really cut off or not.
So instead of school uniform, he wear a casual outfit before he leave his bedroom.
The moment he step down the stairs, the moment everyone in his family looks at him with wide eyes, in shocked, in surprised.
I mean, if you see someone that always on time for school, is now looking casual instead, wouldn't you be surprise too?
Ivan didn't look at his family at all. He just walk pass them and leave the house without a spare glance at them.
He didn't stop after he step out. Instead, he keep walking until he reach a park.
He stand there for a moment before he enter the park, walking around the park aimlessly until the shops around the park start their business for the day.
For hours there, he didn't feel any pull. He didn't the need to go to school or anything like before.
Maybe...
No. Not maybe.
The pull, the string, is now gone.
He feels his heart lighten.