Don't ever touch the Line of Division.

A slap of mud scraped against the young boy's white sneakers as he dribbled the soccer ball with his feet. He swept his brown bangs to the side, and stared into his opponent's eyes. The warm, brown look turned cold, as if he was challenging the enemy with a staring contest.

"You can't score the ball from there, Jonghyun," the short boy, Kikwang, said. "It's impossible."

Jonghyun eyed at Kikwang and shook his head. "Just watch me. It'll be a breeze."

Suddenly, he kicked the ball between Kikwang's feet and ran around him. He managed catch the ball with his toes, roll it towards him, and kicked it into the goal post. When the soccer ball threw itself into the post, Jonghyun howled with excitement and ran in circles around his friend.

"I won!" he cheered, kicking his feet in the air. "I proved you wrong! Now you owe me a cheeseburger and have to do my homework for a whole month."

Kikwang scowled and scratched the back of his head. "Fine, fine. But I won't do your homework today. I have to go to the library."

Jonghyun stared at his friend with a clueless expression after he had stopped jumping around. "The... library?"

"You know, that old place down at the corner of the street? The place where you read books and--"

"I know what the library is," Jonghyun interrupted. "I'm just want to know why you're going there."

Kikwang pressed his lips together, then grinned. "Okay, so you know how our library is special? It has the energy to split time into the past and the future? Well, from the Past, I saw this really cute girl and I think she's totally into me!"

Jonghyun scoffed. "Go ahead, fantasize about your weird love-life. If she's from the Past, then there's no way that you two could have anything in common. I bet you that this soccer ball wasn't even invented back at her time."

"You're just jealous because you don't have a girlfriend. I'll introduce you to my girlfriend if you come with me," Kikwang offered. Jonghyun accepted his offer, and together the boys jogged to the library.

Although the library had two doors, the right door was blocked with two large wooden planks that had an "X" mark. The building was made out of wood that was beginning to deteriorate from its long age. Spider webs hung around the corners of the windows, bringing out the gloomy atmosphere that went along with the gray sky. Jonghyun stared at the building with amusement, and followed Kikwang into the building. In there, exactly half of the room seemed worn down, while the other half seemed new. Jonghyun stared at the right side, which hardly had any dusts or faded colors.

"Kikwang, can I ask you about the library here--" When Jonghyun turned around, his friend had already disappeared. He frowned, knowing that it would take him ages to find Kikwang again. Jonghyun exhaled loudly, and took a seat in front of a table, which was divided into the Past and the Future. In front of him, there was a young girl (a few years younger than him) who sat still, flipping the pages of the book she was reading. She was wearing a thin, white clothing with a long, plain skirt that almost covered her shoes. Bored, Jonghyun decided to talk to her in order to keep himself accompanied.

"'Sup," Jonghyun greeted her, nodding his head. The girl's twinkling eyes slowly rolled up, then back down. Not liking being ignored, he cleared his throat and rested his elbow on the table. "Um, I mean... Hey! What's your name?"

The girl's eyes never left the book. She flipped a page, and opened her lips to answer him.

"My name is Lee Jieun, daughter of a rich merchant who goes around the world to sell his goods," Jieun said, introducing herself. Jonghyun nodded his head, then his lips.

"Lee Jieun? Pretty name. My name is Kim Jonghyun, the amazing boy from, well, your future!" he cheered enthusiastically. He reached over to touch the pale figure until she raised her head and gave him a sharp look.

"Don't. Don't touch the Line of Division," she warned him with an odd tone. Jonghyun frowned. The tips of his fingers were just about to touch the line that had separated time from coming together.

"Why not? I just want to see what book you're reading..."

"Do you not know? Touch my time, then you die."

Jonghyun blinked his eyes. "O-Oh... S-Sorry? My bad..." He withdrew his hand, and sat back down. "So... What are you reading?"

"Romeo and Juliet, a play written by Shakespeare, translated by my friend's dear cousin."

"Ah, the book that doesn't make sense. It's such a boring story. I haven't read it yet, but I used the internet to research it and understand the story. I suggest you drop down the book. It's pretty boring and makes no sense," Jonghyun suggested. Jieun's gentle, brown eyes finally met his.

"The... 'internet'?" she repeated, confused.

Oh yeah, she's from the Past. "Um, yeah. It's this new technology we have in the Future. You'll figure it all out sooner or later."

Jieun forced a smile. "Hopefully I'll be able to live during your time."

"You definitely should! Our time is so much better! Except for school. School is such a drag," Jonghyun complained, heaving a sigh and rolling his eyes. The lady giggled lightly, causing Jonghyun's heart to skip a beat. She covered her pink, smooth lips with her tiny fist, trying to keep herself from smiling. He didn't know why, but Jonghyun himself began to smile along with her. When the clock chimed loudly, Jieun gasped, widened her eyes, and turned around to read the time. She quickly grabbed her book and jumped out of her seat.

"Oh my, the time!" she exclaimed. "I must go!"

"Wait!" Jonghyun interrupted her, getting up. "Will you be here tomorrow"?

Why am I asking her such a stupid question, he wondered to himself. However, he automatically took back his retort when he saw her nod her head. She took off, not bidding a "goodbye" to the older friend, knowing that she was going to meet him tomorrow anyway.

The next day, Jonghyun wasn't dressed in his usually baggy jeans or large t-shirt. Instead, he was wearing a light-green polo shirt and a pair of nice tan jeans. He even combed his usually messy hair and swept it to his right, occasionally flipping his bangs and checking his appearance in the mirror. Not only that, but he was even carrying a copy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, eager to have at least one topic to share with the bookworm. He took a deep breath, then stepped into the library.

As always, the room was divided into two separate sections. However, this time the library was less crowded on the Future side, and more crowded in the Past section. Jonghyun's eyes searched for the woman who he had met yesterday, and caught her sitting down at the same seat, reading the same book at the same pace. He cleared his throat, straightened his shirt, and swiftly walked by all the shelves and tables he had to pass by. Once he arrived at the center of the room, he took a seat and waited for Jieun to notice him.

She eventually looked up, and gasped in surprise. "Oh, it's you! Your name was..."

"Kim Jonghyun," Jonghyun informed her, feeling a bit dejected. "I remember your name, though. Yours was Lee Jieun."

Jieun faked a laugh. "Oh, oops. My bad. I apologize for my rudeness. I'm afraid that I was in a rush yesterday, and your name slipped out from my mind!"

"Mm, figures," he responded, unimpressed with her excuse. He slowly opened the book to the first page, wondering where he should start reading the play. He slightly groaned when he saw the long and complicated text. "Do you really read this, or are you just skimming or something?"

"I'm reading it," Jieun replied. "I'm on Act Two, Scene One. I haven't made much progress from yesterday. I was, unfortunately, punished by someone I love for coming home late with valuable information about this Line of Division."

"Is that why there's so many people at your side today?" Jonghyun asked.

Jieun nodded her head. "Yes! We don't know about your side, but we're all trying to figure out the purpose of this division. Why did it allow two different dimensions encounter each other? We cannot touch each other, we cannot exist in each other's time, and we cannot do anything but have a discussion. Would you like to see something interesting?"

Jonghyun nodded his head. Jieun smiled, and pulled out a wooden toy with a messy string between the red disks. Thinking that it was a yo-yo, Jonghyun continued to watch in silence. Then, Jieun slid the yo-yo through the division, careful on making sure that her fingers did not touch the life-threatening line. Jonghyun's eyes widened when he saw that on his side of time, the yo-yo's red color had faded and the strings were too loose to be played with.

"When objects from our time go to your time, it exists in an old, worn-out form," Jieun explained. "But when an object from your time comes to ours..."

She motioned Jonghyun to put something through the division. Jonghyun stared at his expensive, golden watch, and took it off. As instructed, he pushed his watch towards Jieun and pressed it against the Line of Divison. Once he did so, his eyes widened again, impressed to see that half of his watch (which was on the other side) had disappeared. Jieun grinned and placed her hand over where Jonghyun's watch should've been if it was able to go through her time.

"...the object disappears in our time, like it never existed," she whispered. She withdrew her yo-yo and Jonghyun took back his watch. The two objects returned to its complete and original form, and Jonghyun couldn't help but awe at the strange wall. 

"That's amazing," Jonghyun breathed. "Jieun, you're like, a genius!"

She began to blush. "S-Stop it. I'm not that great..."

"No, I mean it! I sincerely do!" Jonghyun exclaimed. Suddenly, he felt his cheeks grow hot in embarrassment. His heart began to race and pound against his chest, begging to hop out and disappear from his life. He nervously glanced at Jieun, whose cheeks were pink and faint. Jonghyun cleared his throat loudly, and gently hugged his copy of the play against his chest, savoring the new feeling that blossomed in his heart.

He, for sure, was in love with the girl from the Past.

For a week, the two began to meet each other through the wall that mirrored time. They had a small chat about the Line of Division, read a few pages of the play (Jonghyun struggled a lot as he read the book), and shared new or old information about their time. However, on one particular day, Jonghyun noticed that Jieun was acting odd. She looked pale and bony, as if she wasn't eating much. Not only that, but he slowly began to realize that she was gripping on a neatly folded handkerchief in her skinny hands. He desired to embrace her in his arms, and give her warmth and color to her white skin. However, knowing how strict Jieun was when it came to passing the Line of Division, he kept quiet.

"So, Jieun," Jonghyun said slowly. "Have you been eating well?"

"I had soup and rice for breakfast, and for lunch I ate some fruits," Jieun told him. "Why?"

"You just look a bit skinny. Try eating more, okay?" he told her.

Jieun gave him a weak smile. "That's very kind of you to worry over me, Jonghyun, but I'm fine. I've been eating well. Recently, I've gotten someone to look over me and help me whenever I feel dizzy."

"Are you sick?"

She kept quiet for a moment. "I'm... getting better."

"You don't seem so sure about that."

"Don't worry, Jonghyun. Like I said, I got someone to watch over me."

"Who? Your mother? Father?"

At that very moment, a young man who seemed to be around Jieun's age walked up to her with a book in his hand. Instead of holding the same book as Jieun was holding, he had a large, thick book that seemed to be about a complicated subject. Suddenly, Jieun began to cough. She put o