Aeri was already on her feet even before the bus pulls to a stop, hopping out of the vehicle as soon as the door slides open with her heart on the verge of flying out of her chest. She was strung-up, always feeling like something was chasing after her in recent months. It was way past sundown, her paranoia kicking in as she makes her way through the deserted streets.

“There you are.” Seungyoon appears from god knows where, startling the living soul out of her as she let out a breathless yelp.

“What the hell!” He winces as her palm hits his side, the usual cheeky smile of his made no appearance this time. Instead he looks at her that way, with pity and concern which she completely despised.

“Why didn’t you tell me you switched jobs?” He scrambles after her as she proceeds to ignore his greeting.

“Why should I?” She turns to him, already regretting the snappish tone that she didn’t intend to utter.

Seungyoon stares at her through the mess of brown curls that lapped his forehead, he looked so innocent and Aeri bites back her sharp tongue. Guilt wells in her after realizing that all this boy ever did was look out for her.

“I thought we were friends?” He was blunt with his words and it did nothing to ease how ty she’s feeling.

“I didn’t switch jobs.” Her eyes found it hard to hold his pensive gaze. It was true, her boss decided to relocate a month ago, just when she thinks everything couldn’t be any more out of place.

Business wasn’t looking up at the bakery and Mrs. Jung figured it would be better for them to move closer towards the town center. She and her husband had been saving up for years, and Aeri had no choice but to oblige. That or starve to death, though at this point she wouldn’t be so surprised if she woke up with five seconds left on her and die anyway. She no longer trusted the clock engraved on the inside of her wrist, the one thing that kept her alive.

Without a word, Seungyoon grabs her arm, yanking her sleeves to reveal her numbers. The abrupt move baffled her and she pulls herself back angrily, “Just what do you think–”

“You were gone for weeks, Aeri-ah! I thought–”

“You thought I was dead?” Aeri laughs bitterly, and Seungyoon was left dumbfounded by her take on something that was far from amusing.

“Why do you insist in being friends with me, Yoon?” She felt like an at every word that seemed to spew out of , “You have everything anyone in this hell of a place could possibly want, I do nothing for you!”

Her insides felt like collapsing but Aeri remains passive in her expression, nothing held her back because it was true. She felt like their friendship was one sided, and it definitely wasn’t hers.

Seungyoon kept eye contact, a stoic look on his face as he roughly rolls up his sleeve. He was sure to shove his wrist right in her sight, and Aeri didn’t need his sudden change in mood to feel this disorientated.

Three hundred years was all her small mind could comprehend. It was more than enough to make her realize that these things are real –people like Seungyoon do exist, with centuries running lavishly through their veins. Aeri felt like a tiny speck, meaningless with the five days blinking meekly on her skin.  

“Is this what everything is to you?” His voice was low, barely a whisper, “This is the only reminder of my father. His of an excuse that he still cares, a couple of hundreds monthly and I still don’t ing know how he looks like.”

“Do you think I’d be here looking for you if I had everything, Aeri?” Seungyoon continues and she was half glad that he didn’t spare her the chance to say anything, she couldn’t. “I don’t remember anyone asking me how my day was until I met you.”

Aeri blinks and it was cowardly of her but she kept her eyes fixed on Seungyoon’s quivering chin, unable to look him in the eye.

“How–” She swallows the burning lump in , turning around as she tugs his arm forward, “–was your day?”

Seungyoon’s laughter erupted lightly into the night’s air as he let her pull him along the sidewalk, “Apology accepted.”

“I’m sorry,” There was nothing else that she could think of, “–for being a ty friend.”

And for your father ­­–she kept the last part to herself, thinking that it was probably better left unsaid. Seungyoon never needed to say what it was, she could see his pain in everything he does, the things he says. He longed for companionship– someone that he could look forward to and Aeri was too late to realize that for him, it was her.

//

Aeri didn’t dare to test Seunghoon’s nonexistent patience anymore than it already was that morning. He’d left for work unwillingly, after her many assurances that this stranger was a friend who needed her help and nothing else.

She tried to play it coolly, making it seem like she had known him before when it fact, they have never met. At least not in this way, not this… real.

He hasn’t moved an inch, still standing by the couch in an intimidating, tall stance, thick brows deepening to a frown as he observes her. It was rude of her but she couldn’t help when her eyes studied him head to toe, finding it strange how he looks like he just rolled off bed himself. A roomy black shirt hung loosely on his broad frame and Aeri notes a beaded silver chain that draped around his strong neck, peeking through the collar of his shirt.

“Have we met?” It was the first time he spoke, and even through her dreams she never remembered it to be this rich, resonating heavily through the strained atmosphere.  

“You tell me…” She must be staring at him like a deer in headlights, and him the same way. It would usually bother her to have someone she hardly knows stare at her this way, but she was just as curious. Or rather, overwhelmed at the bizarre nature of this –whatever this was.

“I’ve seen you but–”

“Dreams?” He was hesitant, probably unsure if he could say something so ridiculous but it was way past that right now and Aeri had no time, literally, for small talk.

Her question must have triggered something as his eyes shot up, piercing hers and Aeri dismissed that tug in her chest. His throat bobbed as he swallows, before a deep laugh escapes him and it would be a lie to say if she wasn’t a little mesmerized.

 The small pout of his lips, grew into the brightest smile she’d seen in a while, highlighting the high of his cheekbones. He revealed a set of white, perfectly straight teeth that sunk into his lower lip as he fights his amusement. It wasn’t hard to pinpoint how absurd the whole situation was for him, and Aeri wouldn’t blame him if a laugh was all he could respond with.

She remains composed, barely budging as if unaffected by him but her toes dug into the carpeted floor, convinced that if she loosened her grip, she’d collapse completely.

It wasn’t until he runs a hand over his shaven hair, rubbing the nape of his neck as he looks up with a long, defeated sigh. His bare wrist was in perfect view, and at what she just witnessed, Aeri swore that this all was just a dream, refusing to believe otherwise. Failing to grasp the fact that someone can still be standing on their own two feet with no time left, with the final zeros on their wrist –just like the ones on his.

He must have noticed the colour draining from her face, following the empty stare she shot towards his exposed wrist.

//

“Y-Your wrist –time, how…” Aeri was visibly shaken, stammering her words and the feeling was mutual. Minho had slowly peeled his eyes off his trembling wrist, and it felt like forever until they finally rested on Aeri –on her.

As unconvincing as it sounds, it finally made sense then. Those dreams, his countdown and this strange meeting, it all fell into place in its own ludicrous way.

“I know.” A smile twitched his dry lips, and Aeri looks at him almost like she was repulsed. She strides towards him and he felt his heart jump to his mouth at their proximity.

He was still trying to sink everything in, too occupied in the sudden introduction of the things he missed when she stood at a distance. Her hair was longer now, parted down the middle revealing her face unlike how he was used to in the dreams they shared. He had always found her pretty, yet there was something different in the way her outgrown bangs rubbed off the childlike innocence and she was breathtaking. Tiny heart shaped freckles scattered down the bridge of her sharp nose and he realizes that he must be staring too intently to notice something that close. His thoughts busied him, he didn’t even notice what had brought her to him until she grabbed his arm.

All he could pay attention to was the cold tips of her fingers, gripping onto his forearm. He’d always imagined their first physical contact to be a welcoming handshake of some sort but nothing this rushed, this tense.

“How is this possible?” She breathes out, fine eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “Your time –it’s stopped…”

“Yeah and–” Minho leans down to return the favour, her wrist was barely in his hands for a fraction of a second before she steps back, flustered by his hasty move.  

“–and yours too.” Her eyes widened at his remark, twisting her palm upwards to see what he had meant.

She stayed that way and Minho begins to wonder if time really had stopped, she had her fingers wrapped tightly around her wrist.

“Aeri…?” Her name rolled off his tongue like it belonged, and she perks up instantly. She looks rather perplexed, taken aback at the sound of her name in his voice.

“Mine stopped.” She pressed on every syllable like it was some foreign concept, and Minho could only nod a reply, “No. You don’t understand, mine stopped.”

“Yes, they’re suppose to aren’t they?”

“How are you still alive?” Clearly they weren’t on the same page, and having no clue to why she would ask such thing, “You don’t have time on you.”

“Yes, because I met you.”

Aeri was increasingly agitated, and Minho could tell that none of the things he said seemed to put her at ease.

“What?” She pulls a face as her brows knotted down even further, “What the hell are you on about?”

“Look, I have no idea what’s going as well.” He was growing impatient, trying hard to brush of the irritation in his tone, “But somehow, someway, we… we’re supposed to be soul mates.”

He never thought his voice could ever be so small, yet it was loud enough for Aeri to catch.

“You’re funny, I like you.” She pursed her lips, fighting a laugh by the looks of it, “That’s really funny, I’m actually quite impressed.”

The sound of her laughter bubbles through his ears blissfully, so much so he’d forgotten how annoyed he was at how he was the only one taking this whole chaos of a situation seriously.

He wonders if this is what the fuss was all about, how this one person you’re supposed to be with had the ability to mess around with your feelings this way.

“I barely know you,” He wanted so much to say that they practically know each other but kept his mouth shut, not wanting to sound more like a lunatic, as he already was, “I don’t even know your name for crying out loud.”

He walks over to her then, accepting the fact that this person in front of him might not be the person he came to know in those dreams. He extends a hand, something that was long overdue, “It’s Minho, Song Minho.”

//