Mara truly deeply and madly does not want to agree what those seventy thousand words did to him.

  It was dawn, and he was only able to close his eyes on the first ray of sunshine, ironic but not funny.

  After a good morning sleep, Mara, quite disturbed, called Yen, who rarely received Mara-initiated calls, and was shocked to receive his call. "Hey, bud, you're finally dying," was the first sentence he uttered, neither hi nor hello.

  "Yeah, I guess I am dying. Tell me, are you pnning something for today?" Mara rolled his eyes after hearing Yen and then asked.

  "Oh? Hello, is this Yi Mara? The guy with a bored and rude look but quite funny? I think you picked up the wrong mobile, sir!" Yen rambled after hearing the reason Mara called him.

  "Son, this is your dad! How can a son not recognize your own sperm donor?"

  This teasing and ranting session continued for a while, when both ended the call after fixing a meeting point – the arcade.

  It was nothing new but quite filled with hustle and bustle.

  Some died inside games while others won in real life, flirting beside cw machines and betting counters.

  One can find all here. Maybe the ministers of all the factions can too join us and py games. Like pce a bet and then win it here. It better than pying with the innocent's life. Mara thought, again unknowingly drifting into the thoughts he did not miss.

  He was standing at the entrance, wearing a white tee and grey hip-hop pants with broad-frame gsses, and buzz-cut bck hair; he looked more like a rapper than a student. Umm, maybe only piercing and tattoos were the missing points.

  He then turned to call his other two nerd friends. Not after ten minutes, he saw Tianyeng walking towards the arcade with a sour face, but that face lit up when he saw him. "Mara, you're early. Trying to come to school this early too!" With an innocent smile on his face but spitting poison is a deadly combination, Mara swore.

  After Tianyeng, the always-a-second-to-te Yen too rushed towards them. "Mara's here early. My god, stop flexing, trying to come to school this early!" Hit by the same sword two times is what hurts more.

  After their usual round of insults, the three seventeen-year-old nerds walked into the arcade.

  They looked fashionable, but the problem was each of them dressed for a different season. Mara went towards the dark and cozy wear, but Tianyeng was wearing clothes like he is the top boyfriend material. Not leaving Yen behind, who was wearing clothes like he is going to walk on a fashion show.

  But these thoughts were never bound to hurt the three masterpieces.

  After a round of defeat and kill, the friends sat on the KFC stall after ordering and then continued with a cursed small talk.

  "Bastard, you were the one losing, but I just can't just prove it. This time it's my treat, I'll sew you! Just you wait!" Yen burst at Tianyeng before turning to Mara. "And you, tell me, are you on a secret mission? I mean, how come you, Mara the home sve, are out here with us? I can't believe my eyes!"

  Mara knew his next target was him, so he took a big gulp of the Coke on the table, moistened his throat, and voiced down a story. "Ah, leave that behind. Let's see, I'll just tell you a story before the order is ready, okay?" He asked Yen, the enthusiastic one for horror stories.

  Though Mara wanted to just share the novel name and recommend them for reading, but he knows that the good-for-nothing friends he has are not book readers like him. The book will remain seated on their reading list until eternity. So he decided to just transfer the trauma by narration.

  Knowing that Yen would agree and Tianyeng would not disagree, he made himself comfortable on the chair and started with the first volume narration filled with emotions.

  Whether the story was interesting or the narrator's way of presenting it was immacute, because even the waiter who brought their food was ready to sit and join them in for this session.

  An introvert is quite not good with words or talk, so Mara couldn't finish narrating the whole story and ended his narration on the third volume. "Arghh, these are the shots you read? This is what you mean by sleep sounds better?!? But at least tell me, did they die or live in the end? I swear on our friendship, do it, Mara! Vomit the endings!!"

  The waiter, who was ready to take her seat with them, too woke up after hearing Yen's outburst.

  While Yen, the extrovert, was ready to kill Mara and then the author of the book, Tianyeng was burning deep inside and was processing the novel details like it was some kind of secret code.

  "This is great! The novel is great! Tell me, did you ever think like our ancestors who made fire, invented the wheel, or the people who invented things are just people from the future? I mean, their souls just whish after a truck bang, they just may be from another timeline, fell into ours?" Uh-huh, this was Tianyeng mumbling his inner thoughts instead of thinking it in his conscious mind.

  " It is a circle like if this true and our ancestors where from the future - no wait let me cross check it our ancestors is also our descendants and.."

  The mumbling was quite loud to call it a mumble, but the content was absurd. So Mara, Yen, and the waiter looked at each other, and their eyes spitting, 'he is overwhelmed and is overthinking.'

  It took fifteen minutes for the boys to finish their lunch, after which Yen persuaded Mara to bring them to his home and continue with the novel. What can Mara say? Of course, not; he will not refuse this, not until his post-plot trauma goes away. Who does not want company? Is he sick to be alone now and think about some deep thoughts until he truly becomes sick? No! So he invited the duo in.

  "Take your shoes off, wear this, wash your hands." After a series of commands, Yen and Tianyeng were allowed to enter his bedroom, which was spotless and clean.

  "Guys, should I just keep my phone out? What about taking off the plug of the computer too?" This was Tianyeng, still under the after-effects of the first three volumes of the book Twin.

  "Umm, sure," while both Mara and Yen ughed awkwardly and agreed with his thoughts, because they can empathize with him and also because they don't want to empathize with the protagonist of the third volume, whose plot was all about the dark web, spying, and even privacy data.

  Nothing but hack.

  To be continued if life remains...