Fifth
This I Promise You -hands of time-
"You know her good enough, don't you?" Hoshi taps the wooden table with his fingers. "If I were you, I would try to go back before I met her and started all over again... as ordinary person."
Junhyung doesn't say anything. He is deep in his thought, thinking about Hoshi's suggestion. Since he doesn't lose his memory about Misa, he still knows perfectly everything about Misa.
He can meet her not as Yong Junhyung, the main rapper of BEAST. He can meet her as Yong Junhyung, the man who is going to fall in love with her.
Everything will start all over again.
Junhyung takes the gold pocket watch and holds it tight. Hoshi smirks and whispers, "You better take this last chance wisely, Yong Junhyung. Whatever you do, you can't redo it anymore."
"I know...," Junhyung stares at his own hand, holding his breath. He then closes his eyes, trying to focus at the moment when BEAST agreed to perform at the event where he met Misa for the first time.
He wants to find Misa by himself. Their first encounter is not as the project officer and an idol; they are going to meet just as friends. He doesn't want to risk any unwanted changes in present time.
For seconds Junhyung closes his eyes, hoping that everything will work well for this last time.
"So, Junhyung," Doojoon's voice echoes, "what do you think?"
Junhyung opens his eyes and sees his groupmates are sitting, looking at him with anticipation. He remembers they are discussing about which event they will take for their performance.
Other than the event where Misa worked as project officer, there were three events at three different universities.
"I'm leaving first," Junhyung immediately stands up, afraid that thirty minutes will be wasted if he stays too long. "I'll go back as soon as possible."
"Eh? W-Wait! Junhyung!" Yoseob calls him but Junhyung storms out from the apartment, heading to Misa's apartment. He takes the taxi and rushes to her apartment.
Once he arrives, he takes the elevator, heading to her room. Junhyung raises his hand to knock the door but he hesitates for seconds; what is he going to say to Misa when she opens the door?
Fate?
He scoffs, thinking that he is too ridiculous to make that kind of reason. For now he just wants to meet Misa long before the others meet her; so he can make sure that they know each other better.
Junhyung knocks the door slowly and waits for the respond. No one opens the door for him. He knocks once again but still no respond.
He checks the watch and finds that he only has fifteen minutes left. He finally takes the risky way by calling her phone since he remembers perfectly her number.
Misa doesn't pick the phone and now he is starting to be panic.
This is not what he planned for.
He keeps hitting the 'call' button while he runs to her university. He doesn't have an idea where she is right now and his judgement is clouded by panic already.
He reaches the university and he finds Misa and her friends are standing not to far from him. They are discussing about the event they will prepare for.
Junhyung catches his breath for seconds before turning his way to Misa. A smile forms on his lips, glad to know that he made it in time.
When he is only metres away from her, he loses his strength all of a sudden. Darkness surrounds him and he knows his time is up.
"N-No!" Junhyung shouts with obvious panic. When the darkness disappears, he finds himself is standing alone on an empty road.
No antique bookstore. No Hoshi. No gold pocket watch.
Yes, the pocket watch has disappeared somewhere. Junhyung looks around and realizes that he has returned to the present once again.
His ringtone phone snaps his back to his senses.
"Junhyung, where are you?" Doojoon blurts out when he picks the phone. "Where did you buy our breakfast? We're hungry!"
"Doojoon...," Junhyung's mind is blank all of a sudden. "Is Misa there?"
"Misa?" Doojoon replies with confusion. "Who is Misa?"
His heart sinks immediately. Not only he doesn't have Misa back, now even his groupmates don't know who Misa is.
"I'll be back later," Junhyung murmurs and turns off his phone. He rushes to Misa's apartment to find her.
He doesn't even care what Misa will say when they meet now but he wants to make sure that they can have a new start once again. He used all his chances and now he needs to face the present due to the changes he made.
His steps stop when he walks pass two of Misa's friends which he recognizes from their introduction as officers for the event. They are wearing black from head to toe and crying really hard.
Moments later, some boys join them and comfort them, telling them that they need to help the preparation for the funeral.
"Funeral...?" Junhyung murmurs and then follows them behind. They walk to a cemetery where crowd is gathering around a coffin.
For his surprise, he finds Misa's parents are standing next to the coffin. Though he never met them before, Misa showed the picture of them to Junhyung.
"Misa... if only we...," her mother sobs uncontrollably and then her husband hugs her. "If only we let her stay longer..."
Junhyung clenches his fists as he freezes on his stand. He doesn't want to believe that he just heard Misa's name as if she is the one who is being buried.
"She is dead, Yong Junhyung."
Junhyung turns around to see Hoshi, standing with his black suit and black hat. He still has his mysterious smile as his eyes are looking at the coffin.
"After the event where BEAST was supposed to be the guest, she was going to live with her parents. She was dilemma but then since she didn't have any reason to stay here, she took the flight to meet her parents. She had a fight with her mother three days ago and she decided to take a flight back to Seoul. Unfortunately the plane had accident that day and she lost her life right away," Hoshi explains to Junhyung calmly.
"You are, ah, you were the reason for her to stay in Seoul... if you two met each other. The last attempt you made gave different result than what you've planned. Your groupmates picked different event and you never met each other in the end. You never met Choi Misa, Junhyung. Never," Hoshi ends his explanation.
"No...," Junhyung steps backwards with disbelief look. "You're lying... It's not real... It's not real!"
"Believe what you see," Hoshi shrugs his shoulders. "I told you, every change you do has its own consequence."
"This is not what I wanted!" Junhyung hisses with anger; he is angry with everything. "I just want to have better relationship with Misa! That's all I want."
"Better relationship?" Hoshi grins wider as the sky turns darker, the sign that rain is going to fall. "You're just being greedy, Yong Junhyung."
Junhyung flinches a little because of the sudden words. Hoshi chuckles with amusement, "Your first attempt was good enough but you're being too greedy so you take the second chance. When things turned out worse, you grabbed the third chance. Your plan was ruined and you took the fourth chance."
"You are nothing but a greedy creature," Hoshi states with satisfaction. "Human is interesting. You never get enough with what you have. Instead of thinking about what you need, you just want to have what you want."
Junhyung falls on his knees as tears roll down on his cheeks. He is the one who caused everything turned out this way.
"You know Misa is indeed another interesting human," Hoshi takes out the gold pocket watch from his own pocket. "She refused the chance I offered to her to turn back the time and change everything."
Junhyung looks up and focuses his hearing. Hoshi knows he is listening so he continues again, "I offered her the chance before I met you but she immediately refused my offer politely."
"Changing the past means I regret my decision," Hoshi's voice turns into Misa's voice. "I never regretted that I met Junhyung Oppa. I will never change my past."
"She said so," Hoshi takes off his black hat and gazes at the sky. "Ah, it's going to rain soon."
Junhyung loses his words. As much as he wants to blame Hoshi for making his life this way, he knows that he is right.
He is being greedy; he was not satisfied enough that he took all chances he had while Misa didn't even bother to use one chance to have better future with him.
"I...," Junhyung starts to cry when the rain falls down, hitting the earth. "How can I fulfill my promises now, Misa?"
He is all alone now.
Hoshi has disappeared to nowhere.
Misa is not alive anymore.
Junhyung clutches his shirt with aching heart, "My heart is what I promised to you. What should my heart do now?"
Junhyung knows there is nothing he can do now.
Nothing he can change.
Nothing.
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