The Alters. (Purinz)

Three

Chaewon woke up in the middle of the night, startled.

She hated switching places with other Alters because she never knew when she would regain control of her life. There were many times when she had lost entire days, or her worst moment: when she woke up to find that three weeks had passed since her last memory. Seeing the time on her phone, she saw that it was 3:07 AM the next day. She sighed with some relief; not much time had passed.

She turned and saw Yunjin sleeping, in her bed, a meter away from hers.

She remembered how sweet Yunjin had been, attentive, even when she had begged her to stay away; Yunjin only wanted to do her good, and she knew it. Despite hating to switch places, she had felt so good hugging her while the real world faded from her perception.

She smiled honestly.

She got out of bed without making much noise; she was a bit hungry and went to the kitchen. She found a note on the table.

<< Hello, Chaewon, or Michelle, I'm sure it will be one of you who reads this.

Pupu didn't want to eat much for dinner; this is in case you wake up hungry.

I hope you feel better. ♡ >>

She smiled like a fool, her cheeks turning red. She looked at the instant ramen pot and the small chocolate next to it, with a pair of chopsticks resting beside it.

- I'll have to thank her for this.

She boiled water and waited until it was boiling, prepared the ramen carefully, and soon she was eating while checking her phone.

She thought of checking her notes, a place where her Alters used to leave messages.

"The whiny one is outside; let her stay outside" - Michelle.

Chaewon rolled her eyes in annoyance; Michelle had been angry because she had to deal with Ssamu.

"She's nice" - Pupu.

She smiled. Pupu was very few words, and also very literally; she almost never wrote because she wasn't very communicative.

Normally, Pupu would just stay around, watching what she did from time to time, but she didn't do anything else. When she took control, it was usually when the situation was tense or very awkward, especially when it came to physical contact.

She was a sexual protector, but her role extended to other situations apart from sex, whenever someone had a bit too much contact with her, like when they hugged her but she didn't feel safe. She even showed up when the doctor had to touch her body to check her physical condition. She was a bit excessive.

She finished the ramen and threw the pot in the trash, along with the disposable chopsticks. She went to eat the chocolate and took a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

She felt silly because she kept thinking about Huh Yunjin. She really thought a lot about her, even when she lay down again and went back to sleep.

In the morning, she woke up quite a bit after Yunjin, and the younger girl was in the dining room reading a couple of photocopies and highlighting the most important parts. Her hair was damp from a recent bath.

- Good morning. - she murmured, with a small smile.

- Good morning, Chaewonie. Did you sleep well?

- Yes -she said, and started making herself some tea-. Thanks for the food.

- Oh, it's nothing -Yunjin said, smiling charmingly-. Actually, Pupu eats very little; I think it was only five spoonfuls of rice and she didn't want any more.