Aeri trips over her own feet as she races through the living room, pounding both fists feverishly against the locked bathroom door.

“Seunghoon!“ Panic surged through her entire being, feeling her voice tremble in as she cries out her brother’s name.

“Please! I need you to–”

“What the hell–” Seunghoon appears seconds after, beads of water freshly dripping from the wet strands of his hair.

“Why did you give me time?” Aeri demands, shoving her wrist right to his face.


“What are you on about?” He breathes out with a frown, confusion and worry clouded him at the distress in his sister’s face.

“I slept for five hours, Hoon.” She gulps and runs a shaky palm over her forehead, “I should have five hours less but–”

“Hey– hey calm down, alright?” Even with his hands over her shoulders, Aeri still quivered under his comforting hold. “Are you sure?”

Aeri looks at him in utter disbelief. Out of anyone else, he should know that she was meticulous when it comes to time. Seunghoon was quick to catch on and he takes her wrist to see what she had meant.

The two siblings were always on track with each other’s lifeline, and Seunghoon blinks at what he’s seeing unsure if his mind aren’t playing tricks on him. His fingers closed in easily around his sister’s smaller wrist, Aeri’s time seemed to have paused during her sleep last night. Resuming once again after waking up moments earlier.

“I woke up past my alarm, Hoon.” Her voice barely audible, Seunghoon looks at her hearing the hint of fear behind her tone. “I just– that has never happened before and–”

He hurries past her, long legs hopping over chairs and tables as he fumbles the locks on the windows and the main door. They were all locked, it didn’t make sense if someone were to break in and transfer time to Aeri. The thought was absurd, who would do such thing around here?

Yet it was the only thing that could explain all this.

“Hoon… What’s wrong with me?”

Seunghoon turns around to see Aeri still standing by the bathroom door, she looked so fragile all of a sudden, almost vulnerable. Completely different to her sure self, and it’s been a while this side of her came into view. She was scared and so was he.

“Don’t worry, yeah?” His legs felt heavy as he strides towards her, Aeri was in cold sweat and his throat tightens seeing her this way, “We’ll figure this out.”

//

“How long were you in for?”

The question caught him by surprise, Minho knew his new boss would question him eventually. But it’s been almost a month since he started working here and mentions of his service remained under the rug up until now.

“Pardon me, sir?” He settles a box into the crate ready for distribution, standing up to face his boss, a burly man who looked younger than his sixty years.

It was obvious how Mr. Yoo must have worked his way up in this warehouse. The job was physically l draining yet the decent workout owed him his looks. Though he was no longer running around senseless like Minho was.

“You’re not fooling anyone, Song. I know a soldier when I see one.” Mr. Yoo shakes his balding head as he lets out a small smile, “You walk around like you’re on a bloody mission. Loosen up, will ya?”

A smile twitches the corner of his lips as the man pats him a little to hard on the shoulder, “Six years, sir.”

“And friend’s with our head of security?” A throaty laugh escapes the old man and Minho was no stranger to this reaction before. Many didn’t need to assume that Jinwoo had more enemies than friends, it was a fact.

“Yes, yes we are.” Minho couldn’t help but chuckle along.

It was during his first deployment that he saved Jinwoo’s life, earning him a sniper’s bullet to the shoulder. At first, their friendship felt like it was an obligation for Jinwoo, the least that he could do to repay Minho. This remained unsaid between the two friends, eventually forgotten throughout the years.

“Six months, huh?”

“Six years, sir.” His brows curl to a subtle frown at his boss’s mistake.

“I meant your time, son.” Mr. Yoo taps his own wrist, inked with the zeros he was once used to.

It was the first time anyone has ever asked him about his new countdown. Minho had kept to himself ever since that night, hoping that it was some glitch in the system and that it would disappear the next day.

Two weeks later and it’s still counting down.

//

They never figured it out. It frustrated Seunghoon– the strange anomaly in his sister’s lifeline wavered his focus at work. Aeri was all he has, and nothing else mattered. Thoughts of getting into relationships were long gone, and it’s not like he could bring anyone home.

The last time he ever gotten serious with anyone, bringing her home was a mistake. Having Aeri walk in on them all over the living room couch was definitely not on his list. Seunghoon remembered the pathetic justification he brought to his sister, “Well it’s not like I could go at it in your room.” To which he’d expected some sort of repulsed remark from her, only to have her choke out in fits of laughter partly guilty for hogging the only bedroom they have.

It was the last thing in his mind, and he sure as hell was expecting the same from her, forbidding Aeri from seeing anyone right now. Anyone that weren’t just after the little time she has or just her, really. He’d witnessed plenty of men ogling her and it was nauseating to say the least.

Sometimes it still hurts to see Aeri, the fact that she was so much like their mother. But he accepted this, thinking that it was a way to punish him for that night. To live with the constant reminder in living form and that was his sister.

In a way, she was like him too. They’ve inhereted long limbs, but maybe it was the hormones or whatever it was– biology was never his strongest subject. Aeri wasn’t just unnecessarily long like he was. She’d grown up into a woman quicker than he expected.

Just to spare him the headache, dates were strictly prohibited. Although, Seunghoon has to admit that this wasn’t so much of a problem, glad that Aeri shares the same opinion when it comes to relationships. “I can’t afford time for myself, let alone someone else. I’m not a baby anymore, Hoon. I get these things.”

He could tell that Aeri was trying hard to fight it, whatever this was. For as long as he could remember she was always the one to plan out her day, making sure that every second was put to good use and he knows how the sudden pause in her time had driven her over the edge.

If it had paused while she slept, there was no reason why it won’t drain all together if it were to happen again. His brain was wrecked trying to find a reason in the first place.

It was all the planning that made her see it. She began going through her activities, jotted down in her notebook in greater detail this time. The reason, she was convinced, came to light one day when she was tracing back her days one by one.

Her time seemed to stop after a particular dream. She felt stupid for missing it at first, it was a reocurring dream after all. The dreams were vivid and unlike others, she could remember them clearly.

There was a young man in every one of them, she couldn’t exactly describe how he looked like but the things they did together and the way he made her feel was crystal clear. In it she was carefree, with her guard down and opened up to him quicker compared to anyone else. It was just a dream anyway, she could be whoever she wanted to be.

But what was it about the dream that affected her time this way? She wasn’t even sure if that was the explanation behind it, but it can’t just be a concidence. Not after months, dream after dream, she would always wake up with more time than expected.

Aeri became more invested into it. She wondered who this person was, if they have ever met before or even crossed paths. Every customer that walked into that bakery, the same way he did, would be subjected to her full attention. Something she would have never done before.

She remembered how intimidated he made her feel but once he smiled, it shattered that facade and revealed how innocent he really was. Not a name was uttered, or what his story was, the two strangers clicked like it was fate.

//

Minho never imagined that a night that ended just like any other would come to this.

Jinwoo was halfway through his dinner when he got home from a late shift, joining in without a complaint on whatever was served on the table. Jinwoo wasn’t much of a cook, and Minho noticed that he’d been trying ever since his stay here. It made him feel terrible but his appetite was more of a public secret.

He remembered almost choking on the pasta when Jinwoo got a call back from basecamp earlier and dropped– “They caught Nam passed out drunk, the idiot better get his together.”

Taehyun was a troubled kid with a heart of gold. Substance abuse wasn’t a strange thing back there, many in his unit and others struggled to deal with war and having to play a part. And for Taehyun, this was a strike too many and it wouldn’t be so much of surprise to see him discharged earlier than those of his young age.

As unpleasant as the news was, nothing would prepare him for what was about to happen the next morning.

It all seemed too unreal, too alien for him to go to sleep and wake up somewhere he’d never been before– some sort of twisted game that life decided to throw at him out of the blue. Minho was convinced that he was still in a dream, or even dead for that matter.

It wasn’t Jinwoo’s usual shuffling in the kitchen that woke him up, but the ungodly, ear splitting screech that surely, no human should ever be allowed to produce. A tall figure, towered over him at the edge of the unfamiliar couch he was certain he didn’t fall asleep in.

“You better have a ing explanation for this, Lee Aeri!”

Minho was on his feet by then, there was no time to rid of the sleep that clung heavily on his lids. He was sure that the look on his face mirrored the one on the stranger that stood before him.

His feet seemed to have registered the shock in his system, automatically retreating as the stranger takes a step towards him cautiously.

“What is it now? I swear to god Seunghoon, I’ll die standing up with all the screaming–”

Seeing her made him question it more than he already did. Is this really a dream?

She was quick with her steps, slowing down almost instantly as her wide eyes rested on his. The same soft gaze fleeted over him, and she blinks in utmost bewilderment.

“Let’s hear it, Aeri.” Seunghoon interrupts, eyebrows raised accusingly at the young woman.

Minho didn’t think he would come to know her name this way. He’d never heard of it before, but even through the bitterness in Seunghoon’s tone, it sounded strangely sweet.

She remains silent still, eyes never leaving Minho and it felt so real, she was real– something that his brain refuses to believe.

“Did you sneak him in?!” Seunghoon was raging, and the sight of a half angry man ready to murder him in some living room he’s never seen before didn’t exactly help his sanity.

“Aeri, I swear to god–”

“Yes. Yes, I did.” Her voice was stern, not once did she look away, eyes fixed on Minho to the point where he could almost feel it.

Her answer sent his pulse racing, it was enough to confirm him that he wasn’t the only one that noticed her.

She noticed him too.

//