-

Amid the lively pub music and flashing lights, a thick tension hung in the air as all eyes were glued to the spinning roulette wheel. The metallic ball clattered around before finally landing in the black pocket with the number 20. A murmur of awe spread through the small crowd, and Alexa’s rival, wearing a self-satisfied grin, immediately stepped forward.

With a smug look, he slid Alexa's most prized possession, a Patek Philippe watch worth more than a small fortune, onto his wrist. He flexed it right in front of Alexa’s face, patting his shoulder with exaggerated condescension.

“I win the bet this time,” he declared, his voice dripping with triumph.

Alexa, ever composed, responded with a smile so sincere it almost seemed out of place. When the crowd dispersed, leaving the gambling table behind, he calmly made his way to the bar, his rival’s gloating long forgotten.

“Martini, please,” Alexa ordered, flashing a seductive smile at the bartender, who couldn’t help but blush slightly.

Within moments, a glass of martini was slid across the counter toward him. Alexa took a delicate sip, the bittersweet flavor sending a shiver down his spine. The warmth of the liquor was a welcome burn, and he savored it, taking another sip with a contented smile.

Just as he was beginning to enjoy the quiet moment, someone plopped down on the barstool next to him.

“A patient should be resting, not gambling away his life savings,” a familiar, rude voice chimed in.

Alexa didn’t even have to look to know who it was. “Let me guess—Mom sent you?” he replied, clearly annoyed.

“Actually, no. I decided to check on you when your mom mentioned you’d been out all day,” she said, casually sipping her own drink.

Alexa rolled his eyes. “So, what’s your point?”

Without warning, she smacked the back of his head with a beautifully wrapped gift box. Alexa rubbed his head, more surprised than hurt.

“I’m here to stop you from spiraling out of control. I heard you just bet and lost that favorite watch your mom bought you for your birthday. I get it—you’re upset. But this isn’t the way to deal with it,” she said, her voice laced with genuine concern.

Alexa went silent. She was right, of course. Losing the watch wasn’t just a loss of a material item; it was symbolic of something deeper. But even in his sadness, he didn’t need to throw caution to the wind just because of his diagnosis.

She softened slightly. “Look, just do whatever makes you happy. I don’t care. Just don’t go knocking up random girls, or your mom and girlfriend will kill you before the illness does,” she added with a laugh, breaking the tension.

Alexa couldn’t help but laugh along with her. The awkward moment was quickly dissolved, and the two friends found themselves joking like old times.

“Well, what about that gift? Is it for me?” Alexa asked, pointing at the now slightly dented box.

“No, it’s for your unborn kids. Of course it’s for you, idiot. Who else would I give it to?” she replied, feigning annoyance.

Alexa took the gift and set it in front of him, grinning as he opened it. They both laughed at the absurdity of the situation, the earlier tension long forgotten. The night ended with the two of them laughing and teasing each other, as they always did.

NOVEL

Alexa sat on the cold bathroom floor, the shower's relentless stream of water cascading over his trembling frame. His phone, precariously balanced on his knees, displayed the barrage of cruel comments from his university’s confession page. The words seemed to blur and twist into monstrous shapes, each one a dagger plunging deeper into his heart.

**[Loveless: Shameless faggots. Two-faced son of a bitch.]**

**[My Money Talk: Is he insane? What was he thinking, that senior would like him?]**

**[Ice Prince: What an @$$π0/€. He's a stalker. Report him to the police.]**

**[Bunny: I can't imagine a nerd having fantasies about a senior. God, it's disgusting 🤮🤮]**

**[User12345: +1 uekkr🖕]**

**[%©®: +1 get out of the uni... disgusting 🤢]**

The screen’s harsh light reflected the cruel reality of his shattered dreams. His crush on his senior, once a secret source of joy, had become a public spectacle of humiliation. Alexa had harbored these feelings since high school, and his admiration had driven him to follow his senior to Blue Horizons Institute.

But the fantasy had crumbled spectacularly. His senior had not only rejected him but had done so in a way that ensured maximum exposure and ridicule. Now, Alexa was the laughingstock of the entire university. He had become a target for the bullies, who relished every moment of his suffering. They threw rubbish and stale milk at him, their laughter echoing in his mind even now.

His tears mingled with the shower’s spray, hot shame and cold water merging as one. He clutched his phone tighter, scrolling through the relentless stream of venom. Each comment was a fresh wound, each “like” a twist of the knife.

Alexa’s heart ached with a pain he could scarcely endure. The dream that had once guided him now lay in ruins, and he felt utterly alone in the world, drowning in a sea of cruelty.

With a shaky hand he slashed his wirsts. At that moment he couldn't fell the pain because there are nothing that more painful than his heart.

" Vincelo Valentine the moment I looked at you I fall for you. I naver asked for the best from but you gives me the worst. Ha ha ha ..." Alexa laughing and crying like a maniac. His wounded wrists keep on bleeding and staining the bathroom floor red.

The colder he felt the lighter his breath until he could not felt anything.

REALITY

"Tch! Are you cursing me?" Alexa muttered, flinging the novel across the room in frustration. He had read that wretched chapter over ten times, each read-through igniting his irritation further. It had been a week since Kate, the brain-dead fujo girl, had handed him the book, her eyes sparkling with mischief. She’d probably thought it was hilarious that a character shared his name. But this Alexa in the novel was nothing more than tragic cannon fodder, existing solely to complicate the main lead's life.

The cliched plot drove him mad. It revolved around a red-flagged male lead meeting a traumatized male protagonist. Because of Alexa's character in the story, the main lead became homophobic until he met the abused, tormented main character. The title "Still in Love" was as predictable as the plot. As the main characters struggled to understand each other, countless problems arose. The antagonist, who was Alexa's best friend in the story, continually tried to sabotage their relationship, driven by a twisted desire for revenge after Alexa’s death.

Sighing heavily, Alexa slumped back into his chair. "Why did she think this would help?" he mused aloud. His mind wandered back to his own life, where he was also tormented by unrequited love and relentless bullying. The parallels between fiction and reality felt suffocating.

Kate’s well-meaning but misguided gift had only highlighted the bleakness of his own situation. He couldn’t escape the feeling that he was living out a similarly tragic narrative. How much longer could he endure being the target of everyone’s scorn and derision? As the days dragged on, Alexa knew he needed to find a way to reclaim his story, to break free from the cycle of misery that seemed to trap him in both fiction and reality.

Text Exchange

**[Idiot: How's the novel? Is it good?]**

**[You: Yeah, thanks for your curse. I might die like the character, then you'll know it.]**

**[Idiot: Come on, bro, I just wanted to cheer you up. You've changed a lot since you got sick. You're colder now, I miss your silly self.]**

**[You: Don't cover your mistake by making me emotional. That's not acceptable. 😤]**

**[Idiot: Sorry, bro. I just think that character is really like you when you were chasing after your girlfriend before. If I hadn't been there, you would have ended up like that Alexa.]**

**[You: Haha. It's okay. Anyway, bro, are you free? Let's meet at six. The usual place.]**

**[Idiot: Okay 😘]**

Alexa smiled widely after texting his best friend. He got up from his bed, feeling a bit lighter. He took his clothes off and stepped into the bathroom. Slipping into the warm water of the bathtub, he began to sing softly, letting the soothing heat melt away his worries. It was a rare moment of relaxation, a brief escape from the harshness of reality.

After twenty minutes, Alexa finally got out of the bathtub. He grabbed a towel and began to rub himself dry. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his head, like his skull was splitting in two. His vision blurred and darkened as he clutched his head with both hands. The pain was unbearable, and his legs buckled under him. He collapsed onto the cold bathroom floor, unable to move, his illness attacking him with a vengeance. His breaths came in shallow gasps as he fought against the waves of agony, desperately hoping for the pain to subside.

"Mom!" Alexa's voice broke through the haze of pain and confusion, his cry as desperate as it was weak. His vision dimmed as darkness began to close in around him. "Mom, please..."

He collapsed onto the cold bathroom floor, his body succumbing to the relentless agony. The world around him grew indistinct, swallowed by shadows. He could barely make out the echo of his mother’s frantic cries and his father's choked sobs. "Lexi, please wake up, dear. Don't leave Mama. Please, dear!" His mother's voice, filled with terror and sorrow, pierced through the fog of his senses.

As he was wheeled into the emergency room, the last vestiges of his strength ebbed away. His body felt leaden, drained of energy, and every movement seemed to drag him further into a void. He could no longer see, only hear the anguished sounds of his parents’ pleas and the frantic beeping of medical equipment.

"Ma, Pa..." he managed to whisper, his voice barely audible. "Lexi is tired. I want to sleep. Don’t cry, Ma. Lexi loves you."

With those final, heart-wrenching words, his heartbeat began to falter, each beat slower and weaker. His vision faded completely, darkness enveloping him. The edges of his consciousness blurred, and he surrendered to the encroaching darkness.

"Yeah... This is the end of me," he thought, a tear escaping the corner of his eye as his last breath slipped away. The world fell silent, and with it, the remnants of his pain and struggle.

----

A sudden jolt of pain brought Alexa back to consciousness, the blinding white light of the room searing into his eyes. He blinked, trying to focus, and was greeted by an opulent, unfamiliar setting—soft leather furnishings, golden accents, and a serene view through floor-to-ceiling windows. It was a private hospital ward far beyond anything he could have imagined.

"He's moving! Call the doctor! My son is moving!" A woman's excited voice cut through the fog of his confusion. The voice was sharp and unfamiliar, not the comforting timbre of his mother.

As he attempted to shift, a stabbing pain shot through his wrists, causing him to gasp. "Ouch!"

“Don’t move, let me help you.” A cold, commanding voice responded. A figure, whose tone was unmistakably familiar but distant, helped adjust his position. Alexa’s eyes met those of the caretaker, and his breath caught in his throat.

"Kate?" he whispered, his voice trembling.

The woman’s piercing gaze was laced with both authority and indifference. Suddenly, Alexa became acutely aware of his surroundings. The people in the room were all strangers, except for the woman who had addressed him. The woman who had been his mother in his last moments was far younger than he remembered. The man who resembled his father was impossibly handsome, and two unfamiliar girls observed from a distance.

“Thank God you’re awake,” the man who looked like his father said, his voice a mix of relief and irritation. “If you hadn’t, I would have beaten those bastards. Forget about that idiot next time.”

His words hit Alexa like a tidal wave. The realization dawned upon him with devastating clarity: he had died and somehow found himself transmigrated into the novel he had been reading. He was now in the body of Alexa Oliver, the tragic figure whose life had been a series of misfortunes.

The weight of his situation crashed down on him. The thought of his real parents and Kate grieving his death filled him with overwhelming sorrow. His eyes welled with tears as the ache in his chest grew unbearable.

The woman, who was now his “mother” in this new reality, pulled him into a tight embrace. “How could you say that? He’s still sick… He’s stressed. You’re so thoughtless!” Her voice was filled with genuine concern as she gently patted his back.

Her tender gestures, the warmth of her embrace, and the tears in her eyes made Alexa’s heart break anew. His real parents were gone, and the family around him was nothing but a reflection of a fictional world. The overwhelming emotional turmoil caused him to sob uncontrollably.

The man who looked like his father approached, his anger softened by remorse. He gently patted Alexa’s head and murmured apologies. The collective care and concern from these new figures of authority only deepened Alexa’s sense of loss. As he clung to the embrace of the woman now pretending to be his mother, he felt a profound ache for his real family.

The comforting gestures from these strangers contrasted sharply with his memories of his true parents, who had loved him deeply. The emotional conflict left him feeling adrift, caught between two worlds: the one he had lost and the one he now had to navigate—a world where he was both a character in a tragic story and a living, breathing individual trying to reconcile his past with his present.

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