Our Summer || NCT DREAM

Chapter 7. That Alternate Universe

I didn't know what was more embarrassing: Haechan continuing to make a fool of himself in the court or that one boy in the audience that shouted "Get out of the court!"

It didn't take long before he actually did get out, getting benched by the coach.

I felt bad for him when the coach told him off about not playing well. I couldn't blame the coach, though. He doesn't know that that's not the real Lee Donghyuck.

After that, Haechan hurriedly glanced at me, then motioned towards the entrance doors.

I took that as my cue to leave.

"Excuse me, guys. I'll just go to the restroom."

Renjun and Seoyeon didn't mind me much, too engrossed in the game.

I walked towards the exit, waiting for Haechan to sneak past the coach.

We finally met outside the noisy court, doors closing behind us.

There was no one outside, and with the loud cheers of the students, we figured no one would hear us.

"Haechan!"

I hugged him so tight, I almost cried.

"Haneul!" He hugged back just as tightly, but then let go. "You won't believe what I just went through at that other school!"

"Me too! I literally transferred to this body mid-diving into the pool! I almost drowned!"

"What? Are you okay?" He examined my head, sighing in relief after. But then his eyes widened in awe. "Whoa..."

"What?" I asked, brows furrowed.

"Your eyes, they're green!" He exclaimed. "You look exactly like Elizabeth, you know, in Minhyung's pictures of his great grandfather. But with greener eyes."

"My name is Elizabeth here. And this guy who looks like Rui but his name is Renjun, he said that Minhyung is Mark here."

"I know! I keep hearing the others call him Mark. So we must be back in our dimension, right? Even my name is the same as my double in 2025!"

"Uh, we are back in 2018, Mark and Elizabeth's timeline, just before she died." I replied, but my tone wasn't as hopeful as his demeanor. "However, this isn't our dimension."

"What do you mean?"

I showed him the new writings inside the watch.

"It's just my theory, but I think I-D means Identical Dimension, and two must mean it's the second dimension that's similar to ours but not exactly the same."

"So this isn't our dimension? We're not back in the past?"

"Well—we're in the past, just not in our dimensio—"

Just then, the doors opened, revealing the person we didn't expect to see.

"Haneul? Haechan?"

Minhyung?

Frozen, Haechan and I stared at Mark by the doors.

Mark, who called our real names, had a shocked expression.

"Minhyung? Is that you?" Haechan asked, gulping.

I, on the other hand, was too speechless to utter a word.

Is this real? Is Minhyung really in this dimension? Did we really find him, finally?

"I... I don't know what I'm doing here... Everything was white and hazy at first, and the next second, I saw you guys leaving the gym." He said.