The pub was alive with laughter, music, and the clinking of glasses. Ren, flushed from success and maybe a little from too many celebratory drinks stumbled slightly as he tried to navigate the crowded room.
"Ren! Careful!" Bom shouted, grabbing his shoulder.
"I'm fine! Totally fine!" Ren insisted, waving him off with a grin that was just a little unsteady. Anurak shook his head, muttering something about "irresponsible chaos" under his breath.
After one last cheer with their friends, Ren decided it was time to head back to his room. The warm, dim lights of the pub blurred around him as he staggered up the steps of the campus dormitory.
"I just need a nap," he mumbled to himself, fumbling for his key. "A tiny, harmless nap."
But his balance betrayed him. One misstep, one slight wobble—and suddenly the world twisted. The familiar weight of the ground disappeared, replaced by a vertigo that made his stomach flip.
"Oh no… not now," Ren whispered, clutching at his chest as the familiar, uncanny pull began.
The room around him blurred, shadows stretching and folding like liquid. His legs gave way under him, and before he could even process it, he was somewhere else entirely.
---
Harit sat at his desk in his Bangkok apartment, reviewing family documents for the upcoming business trip. The city lights shimmered outside the window. His phone buzzed with reminders, but he ignored them, absorbed in planning the next week's meetings.
And then—
A sudden shimmer in the corner of the room. A soundless ripple that made him freeze.
Before he could react, a figure appeared in the middle of his bedroom.
"Wha—what…?" Harit stammered, his chair scraping against the hardwood floor. His eyes widened as he recognized the person standing there.
Ren. Completely upright, flushed, and disheveled from what looked like both travel and misadventure.
"Harit…" Ren's voice wavered, a mixture of desperation and weariness. "Do you… do you know how I saved you?"
Harit blinked, dumbfounded. "Ren? What… how… why are you—"
Ren's knees buckled suddenly, his hands clutching his chest. "I… I can't… hold on…"
Before Harit could reach him, the air shimmered again, and Ren collapsed into nothingness.
Harit staggered back, chest pounding. "No… no, that wasn't real. I'm imagining this. I must be imagining this…"
He rubbed his eyes, shaking his head, trying to convince himself that the figure that had just appeared and vanished in his room was a hallucination.
---
Minutes later, Harit's curiosity overcame his disbelief. He pulled up the CCTV feed from the hallway outside his apartment. The grainy footage flickered to life, and there it was:
A faint shimmer, a ripple through the air—and then Ren, stumbling slightly before vanishing entirely in front of the camera. Harit leaned closer, disbelief melting into awe.
"No… that… that's impossible," he whispered, heart racing. "Ren… you actually—"
A slow smile crept onto Harit's face despite the shock. "Ren… I'm coming to you."
---
The next morning, Harit replayed the events in his mind while sitting at the airport, waiting for his flight back home. Every thought of Ren made his pulse quicken.
Jun, checking his own phone nearby, noticed Harit's distant gaze. "Something on your mind?" he asked casually, though his tone carried just a hint of suspicion.
Harit shook his head lightly. "Nothing… just… thinking."
Jun narrowed his eyes but didn't push. Something in Harit's expression told him it wasn't a lie it was deeper than that.
---
Back on campus, Ren awoke in his own room, head spinning and a dull ache in his chest. The drinks, combined with an uncontrolled jump, had taken a toll. Bom hovered by his bedside.
"Ren! You disappeared for a solid five minutes there! I thought—" Bom's voice faltered, concern clear.
Ren groaned. "I… I think I went somewhere else. Bangkok?"
Anurak, standing nearby, raised an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me your power just… relocated you across the world?"
Ren flopped back against the bed. "Apparently. And I… I think I scared Harit. I didn't mean to. I just… couldn't stop myself."
Bom shook his head, laughing nervously. "Of course. Only you, Ren. Only you would accidentally teleport halfway across the world after celebrating a project submission."
Ren cracked a weak smile. "Yeah… only me."
---
Meanwhile, Harit couldn't focus on anything else. That glimpse of Ren so vulnerable yet determined played over and over in his mind.
"He actually… came for me," Harit whispered softly, more to himself than anyone else. "Ren… I need to see him. I have to know he's okay."
He checked his phone for flights, already imagining what he would say, how he would even begin to explain what had happened.
And in his heart, a spark of something unspoken ignited. The pull he had felt for years the inexplicable connection now had proof: Ren would go to unimaginable lengths, even risking himself just to reach him.
Harit exhaled, a mixture of awe, relief, and anticipation. "Ren… I'm coming to you."
---
Ren, now fully awake and sober, sat on the edge of his bed, still dizzy but smiling faintly. He leaned against the wall, letting out a soft laugh.
"Of course… it had to be Bangkok," he muttered. "Of course it had to be Harit."
Bom nudged him gently. "You're insane, you know that? But… maybe this is exactly the kind of chaos you were born for."
Ren chuckled softly, thinking of Harit, of the surprise, the disbelief, the tiny spark of recognition in his eyes. "Yeah… maybe it is."
And somewhere, across the world, Harit booked his ticket, heart racing, determination set. The distance between them wasn't nearly enough to stop what was already beginning.
---