A year had passed. She thought 365 days would be enough to forget about him. But she was wrong. Her mind was like a broken record player, and Yoongi was the only record that would play. She saw him everywhere he went—but he was gone within a blink of her eye. She was simply incomplete without him, but she had learned to cope with it. It wasn’t easy living with a hole in place of her heart, but she had no choice to continue on. She couldn’t, however, no matter how hard she tried, bring herself to hate him. It was foolish to continue loving someone after they had let you go, but Chaerin was a fool. She still loved Yoongi.

Today was the last day of packing for the move. Jieun and Chaerin had decided to move into an apartment complex that was closer to the university. Chaerin stepped down the stairs carefully, her arms overflowing with boxes. She placed them into the back of Jieun’s car and went back inside. She had one more box to bring before she was done.

She blew the dust off of the black box and removed its lid. It was a box of her mother’s keepsakes. She produced a bundle of pictures and a small diary. She set the diary aside and sat down on the wooden floor of her room, looking through the photographs. The very first one was a picture of her mother cradling her in her arms. She smiled and moved onto the next photo. She couldn’t help but laugh at how funny they looked. They sported a funky pair of retro sunglasses as they posed together side by side, with their arms spread, reenacting a famous scene from her favorite childhood show. She continued to look through the photos until she came to a strange photo she had never seen before. Her mother was posing next to a young man who held a banquet of flowers. It seemed to be his graduation. Chaerin rubbed her eyes and looked at the photo in disbelief. A shiver trailed up her spine as the room began to spin in circles. It was Min Yoongi.

She bolted down the stairs and grabbed her laptop. The sound of her heart beating in her ears was louder than thunder. She sank to the floor of the empty room and managed to turn the laptop on. She opened the browser and went to the search engine. Her fingers trembled as she typed in his name and the university he had graduated from. went dry as she clicked on the very first news article.

It was a news article about a stabbing incident. There had been two causalities. She began to sob as she continued to read the article. Min Yoongi had died at the age of twenty four, in an attempt to protect her and her little brother. She had been the only survivor. He had protected her until the very end.

She clutched the photo against her chest and continued to cry. Everything was beginning to make sense. She now understood why he had always dressed in black. Why he had refused to hold her hand and kiss her. Why he had always seemed so distant, yet so close at the same time. Why he had… always seemed so sad behind his smile.

Yoongi was not alive.

 She was finally beginning to recover her lost memories, one by one.  

“Yoongi oppa… It was you. I-It was you all along.”

--

And before she realized what she was doing, she was running. She ran and ran until she came to his house. She pounded on the door desperately as she stifled a sob. Then she realized that there was a worn out sign planted in the ground. The house had been deserted for the past ten years. She sank to her knees as she continued to weakly pound against the door, begging between sobs. She wasn’t scared anymore. She just wanted to see him.

--

She retraced her steps to the night he had walked her to the bus stop. The memory was crystal clear in her mind now. He had always been by her side, since the day he had died. Protecting her. That night had been no different; he had intercepted her fate.

She stopped in her tracks and lifted her hand into the air. A raindrop gingerly landed on her palm. She had forgotten an umbrella. By the time she had reached the bus stop, it was deserted. She was drenched from the sudden downpour. She sat down on the empty bench and gave in to the relentless onslaught of tears.

She had always wondered why there seemed to be sadness embedded in everything he did. She had wondered what had caused the unbearable sorrow that was forever present in his eyes. She had wondered why he seemed so heartbreakingly sad even when he smiled and laughed. And now that she understood, she realized. How lonely he must have been.

She would wait for him. No matter how long it took.

--

“Hoseok?” There was a soft knock on the door.

“Come in,” Hoseok murmured.

The brown haired boy drifted in, harboring a troubled expression. Jungkook was like a little brother to all of the grim reapers, save the fact that he wasn’t one of them. He was simply a wandering soul.

“Where did Yoongi go?” Jungkook inquired, his voice stained with concern.

Hoseok didn’t answer.

“Is he coming back? He didn’t even say goodbye to us.”              

“He went to strike a deal with the devil.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened with fear and bewilderment. He gulped.

“The devil? Why?”

“He wanted to save a life. He knew what the deities had in store for him.” Hoseok sighed heavily.

Jungkook bowed his head sorrowfully.

“He shouldn’t have broken so many rules… They aren’t supposed to know about what happens after death.”

“He shouldn’t have,” Hoseok agreed. “But he did, and there’s no way to revert to the past. Yoongi’s a fool… He’s too selfless. It’s truly a shame he became a reaper... The boy never deserved it.”

“What happens if he succeeds with the deal?”

Hoseok faced Jungkook with a grave countenance. “The devil makes deals with no one, Jungkook.”