"I can explain what truly happened to you, Thivi," the Tome Omnicent said.
Everything froze.
Frans, who was driving, slammed the brakes without thinking. Everyone lurched forward as the car screeched to a halt in the middle of the empty mountain road.
"THE BOOK CAN TALK?!" Frans yelled, twisting around with eyes wide like he'd just seen a ghost hitchhiking.
The Tome Omnicent glowed faintly, as if completely unbothered by the chaos it had just caused.
Its voice returned, smooth, elegant. "First of all, last night, when you were kissing Kaivan, "
"NOOOOOOO!" Raphael, Zinnia, Frans, and Radit screamed in perfect unison. Their faces were frantic, like a group of students caught cheating on a national exam.
Radit lunged toward Kaivan, trying to snatch away the sinful book. Frans nearly yanked the handbrake again, Raphael rose halfway from his seat like he was about to perform an exorcism, and Zinnia clutched a plastic emergency bag as though she planned to seal the accursed object inside forever.
They all knew: if Thivi learned she hadn't kissed Kaivan, but Yusra, under the influence of the Tome Omnidream, her mind would fall straight off the cliff of reality.
But the Tome Omnicent continued calmly, as if savoring the drama. "And then, your body was touched by, "
WHAM! Kaivan slapped the book shut with brutal force. The sound echoed like someone slamming a refrigerator door at three in the morning.
Silence. Total silence.
Thivi blinked innocently. "Huh? Tome Omnicent was trying to tell me something? Its voice is so cute, like a narrator."
Felicia, who had been staring out the window the whole time, let out a long breath. Morning air brushed her tired face. The sky was slowly brightening; sunlight pierced through the gaps between the trees, dancing across the glass. Birds chirped brightly outside, blissfully unaware that the world inside the car had nearly imploded.
Amid the turmoil, Felicia found a strange sense of peace. "What a beautiful morning," she whispered.
Behind her, Kaivan stared into the void. Completely still. Barely blinking. Radit hugged his knees, surrendering himself to the absurdity of life. Raphael leaned his head against the window, eyes glassy as he watched the pale sky. And Zinnia shredded tissue after tissue, as though counting down the seconds until total emotional collapse.
The car began moving again. Slowly. Quietly.
From afar, the mountains caught the touch of morning light, wrapping the world in a thin veil of mist.
After a long, heavy silence, they finally arrived at the villa. Noon light rested gently on the old building, giving it a soft, almost illusory glow. Shadows of the trees swayed along the walls, carried by the whisper of the wind.
But beneath that serene landscape, a storm still raged quietly within each of their hearts.
Thivi stepped inside first. Her footsteps were slow and uneven, as though she'd lost her sense of balance. Her eyes stared forward, blank and unfocused. Each breath came heavily, like something dense and painful sat in her chest, refusing to be voiced.
There was a wound inside her too deep to name.
"My first kiss... was stolen by some old man..." she whispered.
Her voice was barely louder than the breeze. But anyone close enough would feel the chill of those words.
Raphael stopped a few steps behind her. His eyes settled on her back, darkened by guilt, confusion, and something he couldn't shape into words. He wanted to speak, but his throat refused to cooperate.
Frans stood not far from her. He let out a slow breath, his left hand clenched tight, as if holding back something ready to explode. He didn't speak, but his expression alone said he was carrying an anger with no place to go.
Thivi whispered again, "I'm dirty… grabbed… touched…" Her voice was faint, yet heavy, as though she was trying to let go of something but didn't know who could receive it.
From a distance, Kaivan watched everything. He stood still, as if his body refused to move. A quiet regret pressed against his chest. He understood now, Thivi's words weren't complaints. They were fragments of something deeply broken inside her.
The illusion from the Tome Omnidream, what he thought was a dream, had only been a deception. And it was Yusra who shaped it.
Those memories… didn't belong to them. And that truth was collapsing onto Thivi. Kaivan realized he too was part of that shadow.
Thivi continued walking, leaving them all frozen at the villa's entrance. Her steps were slow, dragging, as though she no longer knew where to place her feet.
Inside the villa, chaos still lingered. Scattered belongings, overturned chairs, and pieces of shattered glass shimmered on the wooden floor, catching the sunlight filtering through a cracked window.
Ethan, tidying up the living room, turned toward Kaivan, who looked restless.