🎐 | GL/WLW

Bada had just finished unpacking the last of her boxes in her new dorm room. It was late, the kind of silence where the hum of the mini fridge sounded too loud, and she was slouched against the bed frame scrolling through her phone.

Something small clinked near her desk. She frowned, leaning down to see a silver ring rolling across the wooden floor, stopping at her foot.

“What the hell—” she muttered. She didn’t remember owning any jewelry like this. The band was old, carved with delicate markings she didn’t recognize, like tiny waves etched around it.

Curiosity got the better of her. She slipped it onto her finger.

And that’s when it happened.

You appeared.

Not from the door, not from the window—you just appeared. A girl, standing right there in her dorm room, wearing clothes from another time, your eyes wide like you were both relieved and furious at once.

Bada froze. Her breath hitched, her body locked like her brain couldn’t process. “What the—who are you?!”

You let out a frustrated groan, running your hands through your hair. “Finally. Someone who can see me. Do you know how long it’s been?!”

Bada stumbled backward, nearly tripping over her laundry basket. “Nope. Nope. Not today. I must be tired. Stress. Hallucination. Yeah, that’s—”

She yanked the ring off.

And just like that, you were gone.

The silence crashed down heavy. Bada stood there panting, staring at the now empty space where you had been. Her fingers trembled around the ring.

On the other side, you screamed into the void that had been your existence for god knows how long. The only person who could see you—finally see you—had ripped the ring off like you were some cursed nightmare.

“Are you kidding me?!” you yelled into the nothingness, voice breaking. “I’m not a ghost! I’m not—I’m not here to hurt you! Why does everyone run?!”

But no one could hear you. No one, except her.

And now, she was too scared to even try again.

Bada barely slept that night. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw you—those sharp, frustrated eyes, the way you spoke like you knew her, like you’d been waiting for her. She tossed and turned until the sun peeked through her curtains, the silver ring sitting on her desk glinting accusingly.

By morning, she’d convinced herself it was just stress. A hallucination. Finals, rehearsals, moving—yeah, that made sense.

Still… she couldn’t ignore it.

Her hand hovered over the ring. She muttered under her breath, “This is so stupid.” But she slid it onto her finger anyway.

And there you were.

Standing in the middle of her dorm room again, arms crossed, glaring like you’d been waiting all night just to yell at her.

“Do you have any idea what it feels like to finally be seen after years of being trapped—only for you to just rip the ring off?!” you snapped, stepping closer.

Bada yelped, practically falling backward onto her bed. “Oh my god, you’re real. You’re actually—” She pointed a shaky finger at you. “No. Nope. You’re a ghost. A demon. Something. This isn’t real!”

Your eyes narrowed, and the annoyance in your voice came out sharp. “I’m not a ghost. I’m not dead. And I’m definitely not here to haunt you. I’ve been stuck in between for years, and you—” you jabbed a finger at her “—are the only one who can see me.”

Her heartbeat thudded in her chest. She tried to laugh it off, but her voice cracked. “That’s supposed to make me feel better?”

“You think I asked for this?!” you shouted, your voice raw now. “You think I like being invisible to the world, screaming into nothing while everyone lives their life except me? You’re the first—Bada, the first—and you’re acting like I’m some nightmare you can just ignore.”

The way you said her name made her freeze. She never told you that.

Her breath hitched, caught somewhere between fear and curiosity. “…How do you know my name?”

You looked at her with that same mix of anger and desperation, voice dropping softer. “Because I’ve been waiting for you.”