Time stops for no one. However there is one exception, his saviour.

Time existed in a physical form. He was the motherboard, the epitome that time revolved around. Without him, time too would not exist. Or maybe it would, but no one would know how to control it.

Time sighed, how many millenniums passed since he took a break? A holiday? As much as it would make him happy to rest for only a second, it could never happen. How could he rest when the lifestyle of the entire human population depended on him? No. Not just the human population but the Universe and the depths of space relied on his very presence.

Time was invisible to the human eye. Sometimes he would find it fun to hide in watches just to see how humans treated this element. From his observations, no one really noticed the importance of it. No one really stopped and thought: ‘What if time didn’t exist?’ 

Time stopped his profound thoughts and wondered into an antique store. A variety of old clocks hung around the walls, the place appeared almost magical. He felt at ease, this reminded him of the past. Time only moved forward, but memories, they travelled in the opposite direction. What a scary thought. How memories had the ability to take you back in time spiritually.

He noticed a tugging feeling. Something was pulling him to one of the objects in the antique store. Without even having to guess, it was probably a clock of some form. Soon, Time was transported to a gold pocket watch from the 16^th century. He realised it had stopped working. It wasn’t until he was inside had the watch activated its gears to turn and its arrow hands to move.

“This thing is useless!” An angry male’s voice sounded from outside. A rough hand grabbed onto the watch, Time felt his body rising. Was this person going to throw him across the room? He was in shock. He needed to get out of there immediately. Otherwise he would hold the same fate as his shell, shattered… broken.

He willed to leave but he was stuck. He remained trapped within the watch. It didn’t want him to leave, it didn’t want to be another broken antique.

“No you can’t do that!” A female’s voice cried.

The feeling of weightlessness disappeared and a warm hand replaced it. The female must’ve taken the watch away from the male and held it dearly in her hands.

“How can you go and break something you’re going to hand in!” She said in disbelief.

“It doesn’t even work anyway. They wouldn’t want it.” The male reasoned, trying to convince her to see his side.

The female opened her hands and looked at the watch. Her eyes traced the movements of the second hand and she smiled.

“What are you talking about? Look!” She exclaimed and placed the watch in front of the male’s face.

The male’s pupils dilated when he saw the watch. He grabbed it away from the girl and placed it near his ear, hearing every ticking second. Time heard him gulp. He had another bad feeling.

“Looking at this makes me sick!”

Without notice the man took the watch and ran out the store. Time felt the feeling of weightlessness once again. This time, the female was not close enough to stop him. The male’s arm muscles did their job, and with a strong forward lunge, the watch was projected into the air. Its gold coating reflecting the sunlight as it flew, causing it to shimmer as it travelled a parabolic path above the cars beneath it.

Time could not escape. Gravity was accelerating him faster towards the gravel ground and his fear was quickly becoming a reality. The fear of being broken… and for Time, that was the meaning of death.

“Heads!” Someone had shouted.

A girl turned around and saw the golden watch targeting her face. She reacted without hesitation and raised her arm to catch the falling antique. Time felt a sharp halt in his movements and was thankful that 16^th century pocket watches were designed with a chain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be preserving the life in the watch or more over his own. The girl had barely caught it. The golden chain hooked around her delicate hands, securing the watch itself from hitting the floor.

She didn’t look relieved that she had caught it. Instead her emotions told Time that she felt completely empty. Her eyes were puffy from tears and her hands were slightly unsteady. Something or maybe someone had hurt her, scarred her. Time could sense she had longed for a resolution to her troubles.  She placed the pocket watch onto a nearby café table and left it there for a lucky stranger to pick up the valuable piece.

Time had found himself thankful to the sad girl and wanted to ease her pain. It seemed the watch had finally released its hold on him. It didn’t need him inside anymore and could continue its role without further assistance. He left it and returned to his physical form. Of course, no one could see that.

Time followed the girl back to her home. It wasn’t big but it was enough for her to live by. It would’ve been very cosy if it wasn’t for the scrunched up papers scattered on the floor, the stack of empty tissue boxes lying on the couch and 2-minute noodle cups decorating the kitchen bench. What happened to her? Time thought.

She made her way to her room and slumped down onto her bed. All energy drained from her body.

“Why?” she softly mumbled. “Why Daehyun? I don’t understand.”

Time stood over her with sympathy in his eyes. Daehyun must’ve been someone very important to her. A lover perhaps?

He looked around the room and noticed a picture of her standing next to a handsome male. His arm wrapped around her shoulder and the sunlight highlighted the couple’s smiles. Time assumed it was the guy she was crying over. She looked so happy in the photo, a total contrast of her current state. There was a badge on her table and Time walked over to take a look at who she was.

She must’ve had the same badge for quite some time now as the black print had started to fade. He read her details quietly to himself.

“Jun Hyosung. Photographer.”

After knowing her name, he heard her mutter something.

He walked closer to her so he could make sense of the sounds he was hearing.

“If only…” Hyosung said. She sat up on her bed, eyes still swollen. “If only I could go back to December… and start all over again…” her voice was strained as she trailed off the last word. The thought of December must’ve brought back a rush of memories.

Time had wanted to thank her for saving him. She wanted to go back to the past and that was something Time was capable of doing. He smiled. He could tell she really wanted to go back and guessed it had something to do with Daehyun. If that was what she wanted, it was what he was going to give her. He didn’t know which December it was but that was easily figured out when he found her diary resting on her nightstand. He flipped through the pages and found the entry he was looking for:

1^st December

Today I met Daehyun again. I enjoyed working with him yesterday but today, that enjoyment felt like something different. He asked for my name and I gladly told him.

Time read further along the entry and stopped when he reached the last sentence. He re-read it over and over again in his head.

I want to see him again…

Time smiled, he was going to grant her wish. Give her the resolution she wanted, the chance… to go back to December.

Author's Notes

Yay first chapter!! Thank you so much for reading <3 

So to clear things up, the character 'Time' is played by none other than Suju's Eunhyuk ^^