"Hehehehe... Ouch—what the fuck!"
"Stop laughing so weirdly in public. People might think you're crazy or something."
"If you stop hitting me on the head, I won't be."
"Haha, very funny. Now, are you going to eat the meal you ordered, or should I eat it for you?"
The person who had been letting out the odd laughter immediately hunched over her meal, shielding it as if it were a priceless treasure.
"Stay away from my food!"
Her friend rolled her eyes at the childish display, unimpressed.
"Then hurry up and eat. Lunch break is almost over."
"Yeah, yeah, alright."
Waving dismissively, she finally started eating properly.
"By the way, Luna..." She paused mid-bite, dragging out the words.
"What, Lena?" Luna, who had been friends with Lena since their college days, gave her a questioning look.
"I was wondering—"
"You're going to ask me another hypothetical scenario from those writing prompts you're obsessed with lately, aren't you?"
"Mrs. Sherlock Holmes, you really do know everything!" Lena clutched her chest dramatically, pretending to be in awe of Luna's deduction skills.
Luna let out a helpless sigh. "Just spit it out."
She liked to think of herself as a calm person—or at least, she tried to be. But sometimes, she questioned how she even became friends with someone as loud and dramatic as Lena. Maybe they balanced each other out, filling in what the other lacked. Life worked in strange ways.
"Ahem... okay, here's the scenario: 'When you were seven, you had a fake wedding by the swings with a kid you met at the park. You never saw your childhood "spouse" again after that day. But now, twenty years later, you receive a letter summoning you to a foreign land—where your childhood wedding to the heir to the throne is considered valid.'"
Silence followed.
Lena drummed her fingers on the table expectantly. "And...?"
"And what?" Luna raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean 'and what'? Come on, what would you do in that situation? Would you go and meet your childhood 'spouse'? Oh my, how romantic!"
Lena clasped her hands together with a dreamy expression, smiling sweetly.
Luna grimaced.
"Taking a child's play seriously? They must be sick. I'd tell them to piss off. Who knows if they're just a bunch of lunatics from an asylum?"
"LUNA!"
Lena groaned dramatically.
Luna averted her gaze slightly, feeling a twinge of guilt.
Ugh... but she didn't say anything wrong! Lena asked for her opinion, and she gave it. However, Luna knew better than to say that out loud, or else Lena would cause an even bigger scene, attracting unwanted attention in the restaurant. That would be annoying.
"Alright, here's another one. Think carefully and give me a great reaction this time."
Lena scrolled through her phone, stopping at another writing prompt. Clearing her throat, she read aloud:
**"Your door is kicked down (literally) as the hero bursts in, volunteering you for a quest to save the world, claiming you are the chosen one from an ancient prophecy. But then, your window is smashed in as the Dark Lord enters, declaring that you are destined to destroy the world—according to the same prophecy."**
She finished reading and looked at Luna expectantly.
Luna felt a slight headache forming as she stared at Lena's hopeful expression.
She could, of course, spin some elaborate tale, coming up with an adventurous or dramatic response. But...
Leaving aside the nonsense about prophecies, there was only one thing on her mind:
"I'd grab both the Hero and the Dark Lord by the ear and yell, 'You fucking morons! Don't you know how to knock? I just got my door repaired a few days ago! Do you have any idea how much that cost me?' Then I'd twist the Hero's ear hard before turning to the Dark Lord and snapping, 'And you! Do you know how expensive windows are? What are you, a dog? Even dogs don't smash through windows—they use the door!' Then, I'd make them pay for the damages."
Luna folded her arms, looking completely composed, as if she had just given the most logical answer.
They stared at each other in silence.
Lena was the first to break.
"I can't with you, Luna!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "You care more about your door and window than the fate of the world?! What about the prophecy? Which side would you choose? Who would you trust? Wouldn't you at least try to verify the prophecy's truth? Don't tell me you didn't even think about any of that?!"
Luna cleared her throat.
Honestly, she had just recently spent a good chunk of her paycheck fixing her constantly creaking door. The thought of it being destroyed again by some random idiot spouting nonsense about fate and destiny was enough to make her liver ache.
Haa...
And now people were staring because Lena was being too loud again.
Luna could have just made up some dramatic response to appease her, but that wasn't her style.
She had built her personality after much effort, and she liked the way she was. Her outlook, principles, and values might change in the future as she gained new experiences, but she didn't want to compromise who she was. Not for anything.
"Well... I did think about the prophecy," she admitted. "I was going to say, 'Screw your prophecy. I can barely take responsibility for myself, so your saving-the-world or destroying-the-world nonsense can go to hell.' Then, I'd kick both of them out."
"Oh my god... Ughhh..." Lena dragged a hand down her face. "You have absolutely no novel-worthy romance in you."
"And yet, you keep asking me these questions, even though you know that better than anyone else."
"I know..." Lena groaned, stomping her foot in frustration. "I don't even know why I keep asking you!"
Luna glanced at her watch and stood up. "Lunch break is over. Let's get back to work."
With a defeated sigh, Lena trudged after her.
They had lunch at the restaurant across from their office almost every day. It was routine—one of the few small pleasures in their corporate slave lives.
As they waited at the crosswalk for the signal to turn green, Lena walked slightly ahead of Luna, still sulking.
Being a corporate drone sucked.
Then—
Screech. BANG!
It happened too fast.
One moment, everything was normal. The next, chaos unfolded in the blink of an eye.
Lena felt a sudden force shove her from behind, sending her sprawling onto the pavement.
Dazed and irritated, she turned, ready to snap at whoever had pushed her—
Only to freeze in horror.
A car sped past, missing her by mere inches.
And Luna—
Luna lay on the ground, unmoving.
Blood pooled beneath her, staining the asphalt. Her wide eyes stared blankly at the sky.
For what felt like an eternity, Lena remained frozen, her brain refusing to process what she was seeing.
Then, a raw, heart-wrenching scream tore from her throat.
---