#o.v

You woke up to the sound of your alarm blaring. Groaning you sat up and slammed your hand against the button to shut it off and quickly recoiled it when you felt the pain. ‘I better not get a bruise from turning off a stupid alarm.’

The day was just like any other, everyone went to school at the same time and left at the same time only to return home and work at the same time. The government was very strict about schedules, believing that people were most productive when following the same schedule and that left no room for errors. These restrictions were also put in many other aspects of your life, especially your emotional one.

According to many scientists and officials, emotions held society back from doing their best meaning that every newborn child had a chip put in their head to moniter and regulate these “despicable feelings.”

You on the other hand didn’t like the restrictions and learned ways to deceive the chip while still doing everything else you were told to. 

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         You finished your work early and decided to enjoy the sun by spending your evening in the park. The little kids were walking around quietly discussing their days while parents enjoyed their time together sitting on park benches, leaving you with no where to sit.

You sighed and decided to walk around the neighborhood instead when you spotted a familiar face. You were about to call out to him when you stopped, ‘Who is he?’

You knew you had seen him before, but you didn’t recognize him and you couldn’t pinpoint where you had seen him.

Your eyes trailed the features of his face when you noticed the dark hair color, the blue tinge wasn’t obvious but it was unique considering everyone else only had brown, black, or blonde. 

He seemed to feel the holes in the side of his head as he turned and made eye contact with you. Your heart raced, but you refused to look away and instead walked over to him.

He looked at you suspiciously but smiled politely when you walked up to him. “Hi!” You inwardly cringed as you realized you didn’t even know what to say.

“Hi?” He chuckled seeing your flustered state. 

“So how did you get the blue hair?” From the look on his face, you realized what you said and how loudly you mentioned it. The two of you glanced around before facing each other again. 

“Wanna say that louder for the OffGov to hear?” You quietly apologised thinking maybe you shouldn’t have talked to him.

After a moment, he finally sighed, “From the fact that you noticed and asked me rather than telling the OffGov, I assume you know?”

You looked at him confused, ‘Maybe I missed something?’ You tried to think about everything you had learned and recent events you heard, but nothing came to mind.

“Okay, so you just always walk up to strangers and ask them about their hair?” His sarcastic tone made you relax and a smile crept on your face.

“All the time.” You lifted your hand and he gladly shook it. 

“I didn’t catch your name?” He quirked an eyebrow and you quickly fumbled with your words, nearly forgetting what your name was.

“Y/N, and yours?” 

“Sang Chan, I came here waiting for a friend but I guess I found another.” He smiled at you and seemed as if he was about to say something else when someone walked up.

The new guy seemed to be his missing friend and had the same caution Sang Chan did. “Who’s your friend? I thought we were going to go hangout?”

You awkwardly stood there, not wanting to leave before learning what your dream was about but also catching onto the friends displeasure of your presence.

“Oh yeah, uh well...” Sang Chan looked at you unsure of what to do, he turned to his friend who quickly caught on to what he was thinking.

“Oh no! We’re not going to! All of us have to agree and you don’t even know her!” He tried to stay quiet, but his voice still came out aggressively catching the attention of a few people in the park.

“Well, we’re meeting up with them anyway? Maybe it’ll be good for us.” He flashed his mischevious smile that you saw in your dream while reasoning with his friend.

“What are we debating again, I think I got lost somewhere in this?” The two of them looked at you, glanced at each other, and back at you.

“We can’t say what’s going on, it’s either yes or no. You also won’t be able to tell anyone else about this.” Despite the whines from his friend, Sang Chan gave you the option.

You remembered your dream, you had been standing in an alley with him about to go through a door when you woke up. ‘There is no way, it’ll be the same thing...”

“How are you supposed to trust me?” His friend gave him a pointed look, hoping Sang Chan would think reasonably. 

Instead he smiled, “Should we be worried when you’re asking that? Who would ask the stranger they just met, about trusting them?”

“Well I say yes then.” 

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           You had been walking with them for several minutes now, none of you had talked since leaving the park.

Sang Chan explained that his friends name was Hyunwook and that he was always protective of their group of friends. Meaning even if everyone else was okay with it, it’d still take a while before he trusted you.

Finally, both of them stopped in the middle of the empty street. “Gotta move fast, don’t want OffGov to see us.”

Before you could say anything, Sang Chan and Hyunwook ran across the street, hopped a fence, and landed in the alley way. You looked around, feeling the adrenaline and anxiety kicking in before sprinting after them.

You could hear the cameras buzzing as they turned to focus on you, this wasn’t one of the Common Grounds, you shouldn’t be back here. 

It was clean with little to block the pathway and few doors led to the alley, ‘As per the regulations’.

You flinched as a hand snapped in front of your face and a laugh filled your ears, “Am I losing you already?” Sang Chan laughed at your expression.

“Everyone always freezes coming down here for the first time.” You nodded and was about to look around more until he caught your attention again.

“C’mon, don’t want to be late.” Seeming to not need a response he quickly continued down the alley and made a sharp turn to the left. You followed after him, the idea of being left alone in the alley sending chills down your spine.

He was standing in front of a door, nothing seemed odd about it, it was just like all the other ones you’ve seen but his mischevious smile told you it was more than what was showing.