16 Once Upon a Time

Jamie stared at the plain wooden door in front of her. There was a sign saying; "Mira's Room" with a penguin in it. Thats right, she's in front of Mira's room.

Surprisingly, Mira's mother is quite enthusiastic to see someone new visiting Mira. Apparently, Jenny is the only friend of Mira who likes to go to their house.

Jamie snorted inside. She wanted to say, "Madam, that friend has been bullying your daughter for a long time." but held herself back. She doesn't want Mira's mother to be distressed on her first visit.

She knocked. "Mira? Its me, Jamie. Can you open the door?"

Nobody answered but after a minute, the door opened.

"Wow. You look bad Mira. What happened to you?" Jamie rudely asked her while blinking.

Mira only sighed. She didn't even have enough energy to roll her eyes on Jamie. She only opened the door and let Jamie in.

"What are you doing here." She asked after going back to her bed.

Jamie looked around her room before answering. "You've been absent for days. I was worried. Heck, even Kang Jun is worried."

A muffled answer came a few seconds later. "Sorry."

Jamie sighed again. She sat down on Mira's bed. "Seriously though, what's wrong? Did something happen? Im not even kidding when I said you look bad."

".... I dont know." Mira felt her eyes getting hotter. She doesn't know how to explain things. How can she explain to her friend that she went back in time and is determined to prevent the future where she is a total failure?

She was drowning in memories. She thought she's prepared herself already. She thought she at least planned what to do at the start, but seeing Eugine is like being rammed by a wrecking ball; All of her plans and resolution shattered the moment she saw him.

She still love him. She hate to admit it but she does.

Jamie looked at her helplessly. She scooted near her and patted her back. Thats when Mira realized that she's started crying. Why is it so hard to forget and let go?

Jamie no longer asked her what's wrong. She just sat there in silence while patting her back.

After awhile, Mira finally managed to calm down. Both her and Jamie is currently lying on her bed. It was silent, but it was the comfortable kind.

Silence reigned the room until Mira spoke. Her voice was slightly scratchy because of crying. "Do you want to hear a story?"

Jamie looked at her friend's face. "Go on. I'm listening."

It took a moment before Mira spoke again.

"Once Upon a time... ". she started while laughing bitterly.

"There was a girl. A very normal girl. She was average, so average that she was remembered and loved by no one except by her own family. Then a prince came. The prince was very beautiful and perfect that the average girl fell in love with him. Hard."

Jamie scoffed. "What's this? Cinderella? Thats so cliche. And what? They lived happily ever after?"

She was supposed to add more complaint before she remembered that she was supposed to make Mira feel better. She smiled apologetically and motioned Mira to continue while mouthing "sorry" to her. Mira glared at her before continuing.

"..lived happily ever after? No. They didn't. Because the prince never fell in love with the average girl. It was supposed to be a fairytale, but the prince never fell. The average girl realized that she is not the heroine in the story."

"But you see, the average girl really loves the prince and wanted him to be hers. So she chased after him and did everything she could to make him notice her. And it worked, almost. You see, the Queen liked the average girl, and the prince loved his mother dearly. For her, the prince married the average girl."

Mira got lost in memories while telling the story. She continued. "The girl thought that everything would be fine after they got married. But how wrong she was. She realized that the prince could never love her, and that knowledge killed her everyday. But she could live with that. She was willing to live with that. She loved and gave her whole heart to the prince, never realizing that there was none left for herself."

Mira stopped. She could feel her eyes getting hotter again.

"That was stupid, but it's not the girl's fault you know." Jamie said. "The human heart is uncontrollable. If humans can control their heart, no one would be suffering and hurting. But we cant do that right? You cant control feelings because you're just a human. In the end, we're all slaves of our nature."

"Really?" Mira asked.

Jamie nodded. "That's what I think anyway, so? What happened? Is that the end?"

"The end? No." Mira stared at her room's ceiling that is covered by glow in dark stars. "There were princesses who did not like that the prince married the average girl. So they did everything they can to remove the average girl in that position. Because of their schemes, the average girl was kicked out of the castle and was exiled. Everyone the average girl thought she could trust, betrayed her for their own interest. In the end, the girl killed herself by jumping off the cliff."

"..." Jamie waited for more but Mira stopped talking. She abruptly sat up and shook Mira. "That was it?!"

"Why? Do you think there was a continuation?"

"That cant be the end! Where's the justice for the girl?" Jamie asked.

Mira laughed. Justice? "When the girl opened her eyes, she found herself back in the past. On the time before she met the prince. She swore that she will not let the same thing happen again. But then, she met the prince again... What do you think?"

"She was given a second chance then." Jamie answered. "Since she was given a chance, she should live her life and should stop worrying about things. As for that prince, let her see how things would go. She's not stupid enough to chase the prince again right? Who knows, maybe this time, the prince will fall in love with her."

"Fall in love with her?" Mira could no longer stop herself. She laughed so hard that her sides hurt from laughing too much.

Jamie looked at her incredulously. "Seriously, this girl. Is what I said funny?! Come here! Come here and stop laughing. Also, tell me who is the author of that stupid story! I told you to stop laughing!"

Mira finally stopped laughing. She was grinning though and felt much better.

"Fall in love? As if." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Jamie was right, she should stop worrying.

"Jamie?" She asked.

"What?"

"Thanks."

Jamie only laughed in return.