Our Summer || NCT DREAM

Chapter 12. Destiny

When Mark woke up, he had a soft but happy smile on his lips.

He greeted me good morning, calling me "Lisbeth."

But I was neither happy nor Lisbeth.

I am Moon Haneul, not Elizabeth.

And he immediately knew it.

"Wait..." Mark said. "You're not—you're not Lisbeth."

I guess it was the lack of smile I had, or maybe the expression on my face.

But I didn't waste any time.

"No, I'm not."

His face darkened.

"Who are you and what did you do to her?"

"It doesn't matter, Mark. You and I have to go back to our dimension, to our timelines."

I tried to test him, tried to see if he will deny knowing anything about the device.

But his expression already gave him away.

"No, I'm not going back there."

What?

Bewildered, I then stood up and hurriedly looked for the prototype device.

"What are you doing?"

I searched the whole room: desks, drawers, cabinets, shelves, nooks and corners—practically everywhere, going through stuff like a hungry scavenger on a hunt.

When I couldn't find it, I stood up and glared at Mark, who was still on the bed.

"Give me the device, Mark."

"I don't like your tone, whoever you are." Mark glowered back. "Leave, or else—"

"Or else what?" I cut him, my tone sharp.

He was taken aback a little bit, and his expression showed a bit of melancholy. Like he was remembering something.

Whatever it was, I didn't care.

"My world has turned upside down. My friends are missing, and I am all alone in a place that I don't belong—all because of you."

I clenched my fists, the other device on my right hand.

"So give me the device, Mark, and let's go home."

When I said those words, his eyes watered immediately. His demeanor changed from provoked to that of sorrow.

"I... I can't." He said, voice small and frail.

"I can't go back there... Elizabeth is... she's..."

For a moment, I could feel his pain.

It was the same as Donghyuck's and Seoyeon's from 2025, back in our dimension.

It was the same, yet much more powerful.

For a moment, I knew just why Mark was here the whole time. He didn't even have to tell me.

I looked around the room. It was slightly different, but I remembered clearly whose room it was.

Minhyung's.

This was Minhyung's room in the future, in my time and dimension.

But in this dimension, it was Mark's.

I then thought, maybe in the past, this was also Mark's room before it was Minhyung's.

After all, I was in an identical dimension. And it was 2019 in here.