A girl flinched when she heard the sound of the clock reverberating throughout the whole room. She didn’t want to say it out but reality was always shoving it up her face and she was honestly getting sick of it. She let out a sigh that she had unknowingly kept and stood up, her chair falling. She looked back at the chair but turned away soon, ignoring it. She made her way to the bed and instantly covered , trying to muffle her sobs that would always appear but it didn’t this time.

She shook her head and sat next to her bed, staring at the figure lying on top of the bed. She slowly raised her hand and softly placed in on the figure’s face, brushing aside a strand of his hair. She soon stood up and went to the covered window. She slightly pushed it aside, watching the scene outside. She could see a few enforcers patrolling the place and she moved back, the blind following her to close the window.

A lot of things had changed since the since the dark incidents and people were in disarray until the government managed to find solution to the everlasting war. A solution that came in the form of daily doses of a drug. A drug that she helped to create and regretted almost instantly, that is if she herself didn’t take the drug until recently. A lot about this scene reminded her of something and she chuckled when she realized what it was.

~

The sound of the clock ticking rang throughout the room. A girl looked at the clock before turning her gaze towards a man peacefully sleeping on the bed. She hesitantly made her way to the bed and sat next to him. The guy stirred in his sleep, slowly blinking before smiling softly once greeted by his girlfriend’s face.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be doing your research right now?”

The girl shook her head and kept staring at the latter. The guy flinched when a single drop of tear landed on his cheek. He abruptly sat up and wiped the girl’s tears.

“Hey, hey…what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” “Had a bad dream when I dozed off just now”

The latter chuckled and hugged the girl, slowly rocking them side to side.

“It’s just a dream. Since when were you so affected by it?”

The girl pouted and hit the latter at his shoulder. “Ow!” “Not funny okay…”

 “Okay, I’m sorry. I should be more serious, but then it’ll be so boring” the latter whined.

“Why?” the girl looked at her boyfriend. “If we’re both the same, then our life won’t be interesting”

“I don’t quite understand” “Aish, you’re a scientist but you don’t understand this simple statement?” he joked and the girl glared at him.

“Let’s use chemistry as an example. When you mix two same chemical, you won’t get any reaction. But, when you mix two different chemicals you’ll get some kind of reaction. Reactions are divided into two types; positive and negative. So, think of us as some kind of positive chemical reaction”

The girl stared at him. “Your choices of words are weird, but I can grasp it”

The latter smiled at her, lied down and pulled her next to him. “Now, sleep here if you don’t want any nightmares”

“That’s preposterous…” she mumbled. “Tsskk…can you not correct everything I say” he jokingly said.

“But, I don’t…”

~

She looked at the bottle located at the side table, almost teasing her to take it. Well, it was true. If she takes it, she will be released from all these hurtful feelings. Unconsciously her hand reached for the bottle and she managed to stop it just before it grabbed the bottle towards her. She sighed and grabbed it anyway but instead of opening it she went to the fireplace and dropped it into the fire. She watched as the tantalizing fire the bottle, melting it and hopefully its content too.

~

The girl sighed and looked around, trying to hold back her irrational anger. She wasn’t supposed to feel it anyway. Anger is irrational and it won’t provide any benefits. She took out her phone and glanced at the screen, mumbling how absurd it was for the latter to not inform her if he is coming. She sighed once again and dialed a number.

“Hello,” a voice greeted and she instantly checked her watch, mentally cursing that her supposed appointment seems suddenly wanting to come late.

“Hello, Jiyong. How is the research coming on? I’m sorry I haven’t entered the lab for a while”. The person on the other line chuckled and she felt relieved that her partner wasn’t mad at her.

“Aye, it’s okay. You deserve a break too you know?”

The girl chuckled and hugged herself. “Still, I feel bad for leaving all the work to you.”

“You know it’s alright. Besides, aren’t you supposed to meet…”

“Boo!” a voice exclaimed next to her and she instinctively flinched. “Awe man, what was that? I was expecting a scream or at least a yelp from you,” he complained.

“Who is that?” the voice on the phone asked and she was instantly reminded of her previous conversation.

“Oh, I’m sorry. No it was nothing. It was just some random male trying to surprise someone in my vicinity,” she replied while glaring at the said male, earning a scoff from him.

“I need to go now. I’ll be in the lab soon,” she said before hanging up her phone.

The male bitterly smiled and scoffed at her. “Seriously? Just some random guy, huh?”

“Jongdae, that was really immature of you. I was talking to my lab partner,” she calmly explained earning Jongdae’s eye roll.

“I wish you would show more emotion and stop taking those damn pills of yours”. The female raised an eyebrow and lightly shoved the latter.

“You are really one extraordinary person,” she sarcastically said and left him. The male watched her in disbelief and followed her. He sneakily shoved his hand inside his pocket and smirked behind her. He took the object out and instantaneously wrapped his other arm around her, stopping the female.

He chuckled when he saw the surprised face on her. His arm that was wrapped around her sweetly pushed her long hair over her shoulder and stood in front of her. He unclasped the object he slipped out of his pocket and clasp it around her neck. He then took a few steps back and smiled when he saw the jewel pendant glimmering above her pink blouse. He actually detested her wearing pink as it made her look paler but, she was still pretty otherwise. The accessories however made her less pale and rosier, making him more satisfied.

 The girl touched the pendant and looked at Jongdae. “What is this?”

The male chuckled and shook his head. “Aren’t you a scientist? Does a scientist not know what a necklace is?” he teased and the girl frowned, clearly displeased with his tease.

“I don’t literally mean it like that. I meant what is this for? What is the occasion?” she explained.

The male shrugged and slung his arm over her shoulder. “It’s just a present. Something that I have meaning to give to you for a while”. The female softly smiled and leaned towards Jongdae while the male tightened his hold on her. “I love it,” she whispered, thinking the male won’t hear it but, he did and softly smiled at her.

~

“Come on…come on! There must be something that I could do” the girl groaned, searching through the papers scattered across the table. She took a glance at her sleeping boyfriend and let out a sigh.

She’s been brainstorming for days now, maybe months trying to solve this ‘riddle’. The sound of the ticking clock somehow made her more impatient. The sound was like trying to warn her or remind her of the consequences if she’s too late. “Damn…” she mumbled.

She glanced at her necklace, loosely hanging on her neck. She slowly held it and watched as the white jewel reflects the light, making it look colorful. The necklace was a precious present from her boyfriend and it will always be treasured, more than her other research.

If she could turn back the time, she’ll always try to find him again. No doubt, then it hit her. “Of course!” she exclaimed. Why didn’t she think of this earlier? This process might solve the problem.

“If destiny is against me, then I’ll go against it too”

~

“Hey, Jongdae,” the female called and the latter hummed in response. “What is destiny?”

Jongdae glanced at his girlfriend and smiled, placing the book he was reading down. “What’s with the sudden interest in destiny?”

The girl shrugged and pointed towards the book that she was reading which was bought by her boyfriend. The male went towards her and looked at the word that was neatly printed on a certain page she was reading.

“Destiny is something that was predetermined by the god before you were even born. Most of the time, destiny is related to the incidence surrounding you and who you would be with or simply said, your love. How you would meet him? When will you meet him? Who it is? It’s very amazing if you carefully think about it” he explained, hugging her as he sat next to her on the bed.

She nodded and looked at him. Thinking if this was the work of destiny. Meeting him, being intrigued of him, being courted by him and then falling in love with him. Jongdae smiled when he could catch what the female could be possibly thinking of.

“That impossible though. People act differently and different outcomes come from each decision. There’s no way it is already predetermined. Things happen because of the choices we made. Like how I am still with you because I relented with your constant action of pestering me and also because you kept pestering me,” she objected, trying to use their situation to point out her argument.

Jongdae chuckled, and tried tickling her but she pushed him away and glared at him. “You do know I won’t feel ticklish yet, you’re still doing it”.

“I wish you do. You should stop eating those pills; they’re against the human nature in the first place. Anyways, destiny is still an objective thing. There are always two outcomes based on your choice. If you do this, this happens but if you do something else, the other thing happens. But, usually it leads to the same outcome”.

The female nodded and leaned his head on his shoulder. “I guess that means either way I would still end up with you, falling in love with you”. The male nodded and placed his head over hers.

“By the way, I already stopped eating those drugs”.

~

She studied the blueprint; trying to find any mistakes. It has to be perfect so it won’t give any bad side-effect. She knew building this was impossible but, love was already an impossible thing for her. It was something even the greatest scientist can never comprehend.

She was lucky to have found him…for him to found her. “Loosen up. A scientist doesn’t have to be so uptight”. Those were the first words ever that her boyfriend said to her. She was surprised by the sudden comment and truthfully she found the guy weird.

When the guy started to chat more with her and even invited her to hang out with him, it felt great to step out into his worlds. “Hang out…” she scoffed. The word was so foreign for her at first but, eventually she understood it. When she recalled all those happenings between them, she felt stupid. How could she not even know those? Man…was she so deprived.

It had been exactly 1 day 2 hours and 35 minutes since she first created the blueprint. She needs to act fast or…she doesn’t even want to think about it. She has to finish them by tomorrow and no procrastinating. That word is a word that she would like to delete permanently from her dictionary. It wasn’t tolerable in her society.

~

“Yes!” a voice yelled, annoying the female that was doing her work. She huffed and waited until it was quiet again and continued with her research but was soon interrupted by his boyfriend’s constant annoying yells and shouts. She slammed down her pen onto the table and stood up, stomping herself to Jongdae.

“Jongdae, can you please be silent. I’m currently doing my research,” she pointed out and her boyfriend sheepishly smiled, feeling sorry for interrupting her. He knew it was important for her to have her silence while she was doing her research but, he forgot as he was so immersed in his game.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to be more quiet”.

~

The sound of the clock ticking echoed throughout her now quiet apartment. She doesn’t even try to deny the fact that she misses the noisy atmosphere that was caused by hers truly even though she would always claim otherwise towards him. Her gaze unknowingly strayed from the blueprint that she had finally finalized towards her boyfriend. A serene smile crept onto her face that he always claimed to be too pale for his liking but still he never loved her less.

The thought of his smile greeting her for the rest of her life motivated her to complete her contraption. She needed it to complete, she has too. It’s a need now, no longer a want like she used to have before meeting him.

With the specific thought in her mind she looked back at her blueprint and smiled the brightest smile she ever had in the past three days when her sight landed on the completed machine. She had done it; she’ll be okay now…he’ll be okay.