And for a while, everything was perfectly ‘normal’. They saw each other almost every single day and went on dates like normal couples did. Chaerin treasured every memory that she made with him, as did he.

--

Like the time they had gone to a café for some ice cream and came back with two gallons worth due to a sale.  

Or the time they had spent the entire day making a birthday cake for Jieun, only for Chaerin to trip and let the cake slip to the ground with a loud splat.

The time they went to an amusement park, where Yoongi won three times in a row, winning the grand prize for her.  

The warm, nostalgic nights they spent together with a bowl of popcorn and a long list of movies to be watched and rewatched.

The timeless nights they spent texting each other well past 3 am.

That one hilarious time when Yoongi tried to learn an entire subject through Google to help her with her assignment.

That time where she lie in bed, sick to her stomach from the flu. Yoongi had stayed by her side the entire week, slowly nursing her back to health.

There had been sweet times and sour times. There had been times when she simply couldn’t understand his actions, times when she had cried herself to sleep. There had been times when Yoongi had wished to simply disappear into absolute oblivion. There had also been times when she laid awake through the late hours of the night, unable to sleep due to the butterflies in her stomach. There had been times when Yoongi felt, for the first time in years, alive. But most of all, those times had all been filled with love.

--

The pair sat beneath a sky-blue parasol outside of a café. Chaerin held her chocolate ice cream cone and giggled happily.

“Yoongi.”

He peeked at her from behind his own ice cream cone. “Hm?”

She pulled out a Polaroid camera from her purse and showed it to him. “I finally got it. I wanted the first and last photo to be of us,” she chattered excitedly as she showed off her camera from every possible angle.

He raised his eyebrows, impressed.

She raised the camera into the air and aimed the lens skillfully.

“Say Kimchi!”

“Kimchi,” Yoongi said with a laugh as he grinned his signature gummy smile.   

The camera made a cute noise and dispensed a thin film sheet. She blew on the photo and shook it.

“It takes a while to show—” She interrupted herself with a yelp as melted ice cream trailed down her fingers. She hurriedly placed the photo into her purse and reached for a napkin.  

--

“So it begins,” Taehyung mused.

“He really forgot he was dead,” Hoseok murmured sadly.

There was a pause.

“Say, do you think he’ll just erase her memory again?” Hoseok drawled, letting the question hang in the air.

“No. He can’t keep it a secret forever.”

--

When she finally got home, she pulled out her Polaroid camera and set it on the desk. Then she remembered the actual photo she took. She dug into her purse and produced the photo. She squinted at the photo and her lamp to get a better look.

As soon as she noticed it, she felt her body stiffen in shock. Her heart began to race as she looked at the photo over and over again. The colors were vivid—everything was perfect in essence—except for the fact that Yoongi, as a whole, was missing. It was as if she had taken the photo alone. There was no blur or bright light that could’ve possibly posed as an explanation. She realized her hands had begun to tremble as she tried to reason with herself. But there was nothing to reason with—Yoongi was not in the photo when he had clearly should have been.

She rapped her knuckles against Jieun’s door desperately. Jieun opened the door and greeted her with a yawn. She had been asleep.

“What’s wrong?” Jieun asked, gauging her frightened expression.

Chaerin showed her the photo.

“You woke me up at this hour to show me a selfie?” Jieun yawned again.

“Yoongi was supposed to be in this photo. But clearly, he’s not.” Her voice quivered, but her words were steady.

Jieun blinked and then giggled. “Are you okay? There’s nobody but you in that picture.”

“Exactly.” Chaerin was dead serious and Jieun knew it.

“Maybe he’s a ghost,” she offered.

“Ghosts aren’t real, Jieun.”

“How do you know? Calm down and think about it. There are two logical explanations. First being that your camera is totally useless and you need to get a refund. Second being that… there’s something up with your boyfriend.”

“Jieun—”

“Go get some sleep, Chaerin. You seem frazzled.”

She lie in her bed, her eyes boring into the ceiling as she tried to piece everything together. Perhaps there was a reason as to why he acted the way he did. Why he always seemed to see things that weren’t there. Why… he seemed to know her better than she knew herself. She batted the thoughts away. She told herself that everything would be okay in the morning. That the picture would be back to normal, and that she was just making things up. She told herself she was just intoxicated by the late hours of the night. So she closed her eyes and slept.

--

It was the same nightmare again. The nightmare she dreaded with every ounce of her being. Except for this time she saw the face of the man carrying her in his arms. It was a face she knew too well.

She awoke with a gasp, her skin enveloped in cold sweat. She switched the lights on and looked at the photo again. Nothing had changed. Goosebumps rose on her skin as she replayed the nightmare in her mind. There was no doubt about it… Yoongi had been the one who had saved her life. Perhaps her mind had been playing tricks on her again. But there was something about the scene engraved in her mind that just… seemed so right. It was as if she had finally uncovered the final puzzle piece. She gave a shaky sigh as she placed the photo down onto her desk. She was frightened. A teardrop fell onto the photo. And for some reason… she was immensely sad. It was as if she was forgetting something she couldn’t afford to forget.

Yoongi stood next to her in absolute silence, his lips pressed together into a grim line as he watched her cry. He could erase her memories and turn the photo to ashes at that exact moment if he wished, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He couldn’t force her to keep on living a lie. He had been foolish for thinking a human and the grim reaper could fall in love.

“Who are you?” she whispered as she fought back tears. There was an unexplainable pain in her chest—it felt as if her heart was splintering apart into pieces. The pain was unbearable.

Yoongi knew what he had to do. He would break her heart.

--

They met a week later. During the time that had elapsed, there had been nothing. No smiles, no late night visits, no messages. Yoongi had been cold and unreachable. They met in the café where they had met for their first hellos. And now they met to say their last goodbyes.

“Chaerin, we should part our ways.”

She lifted her gaze to face him. His words felt like knives against her skin. She stared at him wordlessly as she felt her eyes begin to burn with tears.  

“Why?” her voice was barely audible when she spoke.

“We were never meant to be together,” he said coldly. “We’re too different.”

She looked at his unwavering, deadly serious gaze before breaking into a bitter laugh.

“Why all of a sudden? You must have a reason.”

“I realized I went too far.”

“Too far?” she repeated numbly.

“With my joke.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“So what we had was never real.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

“Yeah.” Every word that trickled off of his tongue tasted like poison.

“I’m sorry, then.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry for wasting your time, Min Yoongi. I’m sorry for actually loving you. I thought you loved me too. I was foolish. I’m always a fool,” she said with a broken laugh.

Yoongi felt his heart plummet as she made an effort to wipe away her tears.    

“Go on. Leave.”

He rose from his chair with a somber nod and began to walk away.

“Bastard.”

He turned and faced her.

“You’re a bastard, Yoongi.”

“I know.”