warning: super super long (it's about 30k which is my longest oneshot ever) and unedited. excuse any little mistakes! ^^ 
you're going to need a lot of time, so please enjoy!
 

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“You’re late.” Sunggyu glanced down at his watch with impatience. Woohyun was running towards him, out of breath. Sunggyu sighed as he skidded to a stop next to him. His punctuality had needed some work.

“I’m sorry!” Woohyun huffed. “I got lost on my way here. Did you know about the right turn? I completely missed it.”

“Of course I knew about the right turn.” Sunggyu gave him a strange look. “Are you telling me you missed the right turn? Come on, Woohyun. If you’re going to be a timetraveler, you can’t be running late or getting lost. Our clients are on a fixed time restraint and we can’t waste any of it.”

Woohyun stepped onto the dirt road with Sunggyu and sighed. “I know, I know. I won’t do it again, I promise.”

“And you’re carrying the equipment. I wouldn’t have been able to get started if you didn’t come on time,” Sunggyu reprimanded. His steps crunched against the gravelly dirt. “Make sure you come on time from now on, rookie. You’re not making a very good first impression for your first assignment.”

“I’m sorry,” Woohyun apologized again. He gripped onto the briefcase in his hands with care as he followed Sunggyu up the narrow path. “But in my defense, it is my first assignment and this house is in the middle of the woods.”

Sunggyu shot him a judgmental look over his shoulder. “That’s not an excuse. Now hurry up, we’re going to be late.”

Woohyun frowned as he watched Sunggyu move forward. Of all the people he could have as his mentor, he got the grumpy Kim Sunggyu. Sunggyu was the most well-known timetraveler and arguably the most talented. And since Woohyun had graduated as the top student in his time travel program, he was paired up to work with Sunggyu.

It seemed like a dream come true at first, especially since most rookies didn’t even make it through their eight month field training to work independently. He assumed that field training with the Kim Sunggyu would help him get to where he wanted to be, but if Sunggyu nagged this much, he wasn’t sure if he could handle eight months of it.

Woohyun swallowed his pride and kept following the elder – he had worked this hard to get here. He wouldn’t back out now.

“So,” Sunggyu started saying, interrupting the tranquil sounds of nature around them, “what made you enter the field of time travel?”

His voice had startled Woohyun momentarily. “Oh. I’ve wanted to be a timetraveler for as long as I could remember,” he replied. His eyes lit up as he began speaking. “It’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I want to make people happy before they need to leave. I love it when people are happy before they die – it’s much more peaceful. And I’m happy for them that they got to die in peace. What about you? Why did you decide to become a timetraveler?”

“Similar reasons as yours, I guess,” Sunggyu said. “I wanted to make sure people died in peace. Besides that, I was interested in time travel as a whole and couldn’t sate my curiosity for it. Being a timetraveler hadn’t really crossed my mind until my old mentor required an apprentice. I applied and got picked and that started my whole career.”

“Oh,” Woohyun responded in interest. Sunggyu talked more about his old aspirations and how after learning how to time travel, he only wanted to keep the job more. But Woohyun wondered why his eyes didn’t light up when he spoke of his dreams. It was a curious thing.

“I forgot to say it to you when you arrived here, but congratulations for being chosen out of the pool of applicants. You must have worked very hard.” Sunggyu looked back at him with a warm smile.

Woohyun grinned at him as he shifted the weight of the suitcase in his hands. “Yeah,” he agreed, “I’m so lucky. And I’m glad too – if I wasn’t picked, I would have to get a different job with my degree in time travel. And any jobs besides this are time travel research and tech. Not really my kind of thing.” He scrunched up his nose.

“Well, I’m happy for you then that you got chosen. I’m going to be mentoring you for a while and after you’ve learned the ropes, you’ll be able to do this on your own. And after I retire, you’ll need to choose a new timetraveler to mentor.” Sunggyu shrugged his shoulders and said, “Don’t know how long it’ll be before I retire though. You might not need to choose a new rookie for a long time.”

“I’m okay with that. I think it will take me a while before I’m confident enough to mentor any new timetravelers anyways.” He blinked at the back of Sunggyu’s head as he stepped on a few twigs. “Is there any advice you can give me? You know, as a veteran timetraveler.”

“Advice?” Sunggyu repeated, stepping onto a wooden bridge that crossed a small bubbling creek. “Depends. What kind of advice are you looking for?”

“Oh, any. It’s my first mission so anything you have to offer will help.”

Sunggyu came to a stop and Woohyun nearly bumped into him. The only sound between the two of them were the sounds of the creek beneath them and the occasional chirps of birds. The cool forest air breezed past them.

“…Sunggyu?” Woohyun asked.

The elder turned around, the morning sunlight lighting up spots of his face through the trees. “Listen, Woohyun,” he said firmly. “Before you get into this, I want you to know something. Being a timetraveler is difficult. It’s mentally and physically taxing and while our jobs are exclusive and we don’t need to do it often, it takes so much time. There are times when one appointment lasts for days. I know you’re excited that you were chosen, but keep in mind that there’s a reason only a few people do this. It’s not for everyone.” Sunggyu shook his head. “It’s definitely not for everyone, Woohyun. And I want you to remember that as you go through your first mission. Figure out if this is really the job for you.”

Woohyun blinked up in surprise. He hadn’t expected such an impassioned speech from his brand new mentor – especially on his first day. They hadn’t even start the mission yet and he already felt a little intimidated. He swallowed and took a step back. “I understand,” he said.

After staring at him for a moment, Sunggyu nodded. “Okay,” he said, turning around to continue up the narrow forest path. “Just wanted to make sure you knew that.”

Swallowing was a little difficult, but Woohyun managed to. He tripped over his feet a little bit in an attempt to catch up. Luckily, Sunggyu failed to notice it. “How did you realize this was the job for you?” he asked, trying to strike up some more conversation.

Sunggyu sighed softly but continued to walk. Woohyun didn’t understand why they were walking so far – it was like they had been walking in this forest for so long despite it only being minutes since their departure. “I guess I got used to the feeling really quickly,” Sunggyu said. “And it was something I was passionate about. I could have given up but I didn’t.”

“Ah.”

He could see Sunggyu’s cheek lift up in a slight smile. “Also, sorry if working with me is a little difficult. I haven’t worked with a partner in a long time – since I was a rookie. So you’ll have to excuse that.”

“Oh, that’s alright,” Woohyun told him. He shifted the weight of the suitcase higher to make it more comfortable to hold. “This is only my first mission. I’m sure we can get the hang of it together.”

Sunggyu chuckled and Woohyun saw a house coming into sight. He breathed a sigh of relief and had to stop himself from running towards it. Instead he opted to just follow Sunggyu quietly until they reached the door.

The house wasn’t too big. It looked like another house from a suburb, just set in the middle of a forest. The roof was worn and haggard, as if the house was reflecting all the hardships it had been through. But the house was sturdy, and despite its heaving atmosphere, it looked inviting. The steps creaked loudly as they walked up and the door sounded hollow as Sunggyu knocked on it. They waited a few moments for the door to open and Woohyun couldn’t help but feel that it was incredibly awkward. Maybe the awkward atmosphere between him and Sunggyu would fade away with experience. He hoped that this mission would help ease the tension.

“Is anyone home…?” Woohyun asked softly, peeking over Sunggyu’s shoulder.

“Should be,” Sunggyu replied. “I always give a call to let them know I’m coming. It is taking a bit of time though.”

Woohyun rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. “This is a nice place though… In the forest and all. It’s peaceful.”

Sunggyu’s eyes wandered around, taking in the surrounding environment. He didn’t seem interested in the least. “I suppose so,” he said. “Living out here can be peaceful. But it’s isolated. It’s lonely.”

“Oh… You’re right.”

It was quiet for another moment. Then from inside the house, footsteps could be heard walking towards the door. The door opened to reveal a young man – younger than Woohyun by a few years it seemed.

The younger man had tired look in his eyes and deep blue circles beneath them. He seemed exhausted, as if he hadn’t gotten any sleep for weeks. His frail hands gripped the door as his face lit into a smile. If his face had not been so sunken, he would have been extremely beautiful.

“Hi,” Sunggyu spoke up, reaching out to shake his hand. “I’m Sunggyu, the timetraveler you called for. This is Woohyun – he’s a rookie training under my wing.”

The man holding the door smiled warmly and reached out to shake Woohyun’s hand as well. His skin was stretched over his bones tautly, his hands cool as Woohyun gripped them firmly. The man said. “My name is Sungjong, I’m the caretaker here. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Woohyun replied with a smile.

“Come in, come in,” Sungjong said. He opened the door wider to usher them inside and the two timetravelers made their way in.

“Thank you,” Sunggyu said as he stepped inside. He gestured for Woohyun to follow him. “How is the patient doing?”

“Um, he’s alright. The doctor should be coming by later to check up on him but he says he’s only got a few days left to live. As soon as he heard that he had me call you guys up.”

“I see,” Sunggyu said. “Will you take us to him please?”

Sungjong nodded. “Oh, of course.” He adjusted the apron he was wearing and sniffed. “You’ll need to excuse me, I got sick this past week. My head’s a little fuzzy but I’ll try to help you through everything that I can.”

“That’s greatly appreciated, thank you.” Sunggyu looked around. “Where is the patient?”

“He upstairs in his room. Follow me please.”

Woohyun and Sunggyu followed him diligently. Woohyun made sure not to miss a single detail of the house as he wandered further into it. The walls were crème colored and were littered with pictures of two men smiling and in happy embraces. The floorboards creaked underneath them and as Sungjong took them up the staircase, Woohyun couldn’t help but feel a certain warmth exude from the house. A familiarity almost, as if there was someone in this house that would care for him.

They reached the top of the stairs and to the opening of a hallway. There were a few doors lining the picture filled hallways that Sungjong led them down diligently.

“At the end of the hall is the patient’s room,” Sungjong told them. “My room is on the right, next to his. A lot of the other rooms are empty though. I always think that this house must have been beautiful in its prime,” he sighed almost dreamily.

“Indeed,” Sunggyu agreed.

When they reached the door at the end of hall, Sungjong held up a hand to halt them. “I’ll go in first,” he said. “And you know – tell the patient you’re here.”

Sunggyu nodded his approval and Sungjong slipped inside. With a quick breath of relief, Woohyun put the heavy suitcase down for a moment. “Oh man,” he whispered, “I’m not sure if I can ever get used to carrying that thing around.”

With a laugh, Sunggyu told him, “Unfortunately, that’s one of the perks that you’ll need to get used to.”

“Guess so.” Woohyun brushed the hair out of his eyes. “So, what about our patient today? What’s he like?”

“You didn’t read up on him when you received the mission?” Sunggyu asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, um,” Woohyun coughed. “I was reading up on him in the car, but I missed that turn and got lost so I panicked and I–”

“That’s alright. First time rookie mistakes, after all. Just make sure you know the customers next time and don’t make that mistake again. We don’t have time to waste. But since we have a little a down time right now, I’ll debrief you a little bit.”

Woohyun nodded in agreement. “Yes please,” he replied.

“The guy’s name is Kim Myungsoo. He’s around ninety-seven years old, his impending death is coming from natural causes. He’s lived a pretty good life – a very clean record. For his wish, he says he wished to have been able to get the opportunity to play piano professionally.”

“You can grant people something like that?” Woohyun asked in amazement. He had heard of going back in time so that people were given chances to say goodbye to a lost pet, or so that they could make amends with someone. He had never heard of anyone wishing for a career change. “Can you change their jobs just like that?”

Sunggyu’s mouth twisted into thinking. After a moment of heavy thought, he said, “…Sort of. His records state that he was planning to be a pianist in university. He was finishing general education at a community college and was planning to audition for a prestigious music school. Word was that he was definitely going to get in, but for some reason or another, he missed the audition. In other words, we’re not just going to give him a new career – we can travel through time but we can’t make things appear out of thin air. We’ll simply go back to make sure that he doesn’t miss that audition. After that, things should work out.”

“So by changing one moment in life, it can change everything else afterwards?”

“That’s the gist of it.”

“How do you know it’ll work?”

“If it doesn’t, we can try to change something else. If there are still things we can change to get Myungsoo his wish, then we will change what we can. After all, our number one priority is customer satisfaction.”

Woohyun hummed to himself. “But… what if–”

The door to the room opened, effectively cutting off Woohyun’s words. Sungjong looked at both of them and smiled. “You guys can come in now. Myungsoo is conscious.”

Sunggyu smiled back and nodded his thanks. He motioned for Woohyun to follow him and with a grunt, Woohyun picked up the heavy suitcase once again. They entered the room together and were greeted by the sight of an old man on the bed, attached to numerous hooks and cables. The heart monitor next to the bed beeped at a constant pace – slow, but constant.

His skin was pale and old, draped frailly over his thin bones. His lower face was covered in a breathing mask and his eyes were closed as if they were so tired from being open for all his life. The man looked like he was on the verge of passing away. And in reality, he probably only had a day or two left. But was why they were called.

Sungjong smiled as he bent down next to the old man’s bed. He touched his hand gently and whispered, “Myungsoo, the timetravelers are here. They’re here to grant you that wish you wanted.”

Myungsoo smiled softly and opened his eyes with some difficulty. The deep set wrinkles around his eyes crinkled with even the slightest movement. He wiggled his fingers and wheezed out a soft greeting that was inaudible to the both of them. Woohyun was polite enough to smile back.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Woohyun told him, waving as if Myungsoo would wave back. He set down the heavy briefcase and went to join Sungjong and Myungsoo’s bedside. “How have you been – oh, wait, maybe I shouldn’t ask that.”

Myungsoo let out a breathy chuckle despite the mask covering his mouth. He shook his head and Sungjong laughed lightly and said, “He says it’s alright.”

Woohyun grinned brightly and responded, “My name is Woohyun. I’m here to help grant you a wish.” He sighed in content as Myungsoo weakly placed his hand over Woohyun’s. Though his hold was weak, it was warm and Woohyun could feel his thanks through that simple gesture.

“Woohyun.” The younger glanced up when his name was called and found Sunggyu looking at him sternly. “Come here and help me set up the equipment,” he said as he began to open up the briefcase.

“Coming,” Woohyun told him. He looked back at Myungsoo who was struggling to keep his eyes open as if to just gaze at him. “Best of luck. To both of us.” Myungsoo nodded weakly and Woohyun released his hand to join his mentor’s side.

Sunggyu gave him a questionable look. “Do you plan to always be that friendly with your patients?” he asked in a hushed voice.

Woohyun glanced back at the elderly man on the bed briefly and then back to Sunggyu to give him his own gaze of inquiry. “Is that against some type of protocol?”

“Not really, it’s just…” Sunggyu blinked as he took out a large piece of metal. “It’s safer not to develop any type of relationship or emotional tie with the patient. No matter how friendly they are.”

“Why is that?” the younger whispered back.

Sunggyu paused his hands. He looked up to match Woohyun’s gaze for a moment before tearing his eyes away. Focusing on the equipment in his hands, he muttered, “It’s nothing. Just a common rookie mistake. If you’re lucky, you won’t need to find out why.”

Scrunching his eyebrows in confusion, Woohyun asked, “…Lucky?”

“Never mind that. You learned how to assemble the equipment for the system unit, right?” Woohyun nodded. “Put this together and then set up the vests. I’ll attach the headpiece to Myungsoo.”

Sungjong watched wordlessly as they pulled out more special devices from their large briefcase. Sunggyu took out a large helmet-like looking piece that was covered in strange bolts and colored lights. It was sleek in design and seemed to be light in weight. Sungjong could only wonder what it did. He felt a small graze on his wrist and looked down to see Myungsoo looking up at him tiredly, but curiously. “Excuse me,” Sungjong said then to Sunggyu, “we – Myungsoo and I – would both like to know what that thing you’re holding does exactly.”

“It’s a very important part of our timetraveling job, actually,” Sunggyu told him as he approached. “I need to attach this to Myungsoo’s head. It will be scanning his cerebral cortex, where his memories are stored. From there, we’ll use his memories to ‘time hop’ so to speak.”

Sungjong watched in curiosity as Sunggyu slipped the device on Myungsoo’s head. Such a futuristic piece of technology looked to have no business sitting on this old man’s head. “Why do you need to scan his memories? I thought you just travelled back in time?”

“It’s a little more complicated than just travelling back in time,” Sunggyu explained slowly. He made sure it was sitting comfortably on Myungsoo’s head before tightening it. “We need to travel using Myungsoo’s memories as memory stops. It really depends on the memories in Myungsoo’s head because we’ll only be able to travel to those spots in time.”

“Why not just travel back to the point you need to get to?” Sungjong asked.

Sunggyu hummed. “Timetraveling can’t be done in large amounts. We can only travel back a few years at a time. Every memory we travel to require a bit of buffer time for the next memory to load. Since its Myungsoo’s life that we must go back through, we’re using his memories as travel points. It’s… hard to explain. I didn’t major in time travel engineering, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you much more,” he chuckled.

Sungjong smiled. “Oh, no that’s okay. We were just curious. Time travel has always been so elusive ever since it was introduced. I don’t think it was even around when Myungsoo was young.”

“Probably not until he was an older adult,” Woohyun added from the middle of the room. “And even then, time travel had just begun. It wasn’t used the same way we’ve learned to use it today.” He had finished setting up the system unit. It was like the headpiece in the sense that it was futuristic looking but instead of multiple lights, it had a large glowing orb at the core that gave off just the smallest wash of blue light. It was also like the headpiece in a sense that such a piece of technology had no business in an old room like this.

“How will you timetravel?”

Woohyun lifted up two heavy vests and walked over to hand one to Sunggyu. “With these.”

“Vests?” Sungjong asked.

“They’re designed with the same core element that powers our system unit,” Sunggyu told him as he began to strap it on. It looked heavy and it was full of buttons. It also seemed to glow ethereally from the inside. “All three of these connect. The headpiece identifies the memories we must travel to, the system unit automatically does all those math formulas and stuff to get us there. These vests act like a controller. They system units respond directly to what they want to do.”

“Have you ever gotten stuck? In time, I mean.”

Woohyun looked over to Sunggyu – he would have more experience with that. The only actual time travel Woohyun had done was only for a few seconds and that was for his final exam. But Sunggyu had travelled through so many years and so many memories.

“Sometimes our system unit does give up,” Sunggyu nodded. “Usually it’ll do with faulty wiring. But we have a backup hand-held system that will give us just enough power to get back to our current time and fix the system unit. Nothing drastic ever really happens.”

Sungjong blinked. “Oh. That’s good.”

With a short laugh, Sunggyu agreed. “Yes, that is good. Now, if it’s alright with the both of you, we’d like to get started.”

“Oh, yes of course,” Sungjong replied eagerly. He glanced down at Myungsoo who gripped at his fingers loosely. He nodded. “We’re both ready for you to begin.”

“Woohyun, turn on the system please.”

After the press of a couple buttons, all the machines starting whirring in unison. Sunggyu glanced at Woohyun and engaged him to make sure he was ready. After a reassuring nod, Sunggyu pressed his lips together. He turned to Sungjong with a smile.

“We’ll be beginning now. We would like to make sure that Myungsoo is completely comfortable before we start.”

Sungjong looked at his patient. “You good, Myungsoo?” The old man let out an airy chuckle and nodded. “He’s alright,” Sungjong told them with a laugh of his own. “He’s old, but he’s a trooper.”

Woohyun smiled. “That’s good. Don’t worry about a thing, Myungsoo – we’ll do our best to grant you your wish.”

Myungsoo raised his hand as if saying a quick thank you for the effort they were about to put in just for him. It made Woohyun smile. He really liked Myungsoo despite barely talking to him and he wanted him to be happy. He was going to get that wish granted no matter what.

“Ready,” he told Sunggyu as he clenched his fist.

Sunggyu nodded as a small button on their vest lit up bright blue. The first accessible memory was ready to be traveled to. Together, they pressed a button that would transmit them to the memory.

Woohyun felt the tingles starting from his ribs and spreading through his body. In moments, the electrical feeling zapped all over his form and he disappeared.

When Woohyun’s vision returned, he found himself in a large, flat field. There was a gentle breeze in the air but the atmosphere lacked any warmth or energy. It didn’t take Woohyun long to realize–

“This is a cemetery.”

Sunggyu gazed at the endless rows of scattered bouquets and tiny windmills that were left on the gravestones of loved ones. “It is,” he said softly. “It’s a cemetery.”

“It’s so quiet,” Woohyun murmured. The sound of the breeze was the only noise he could make out. Rustling leaves filtered through the silence slightly.

Sunggyu’s eyes scanned the area and nudged Woohyun as soon as he noticed someone. “Turn to me.” Woohyun obeyed and watched as Sunggyu fiddled around with a couple buttons on his vest.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Turning on your incognito mode.” He flipped a knob and Woohyun could feel a certain energy emit from the vest. It spread through his body as Sunggyu turned the knob on his vest as well. “This way they won’t be able to see us unless we want them to,” Sunggyu told him. “We don’t want them to see us in their memories.”

“Oh, yes,” Woohyun agreed. “We shouldn’t be seen.”

“No. Especially when Myungsoo is coming this way.”

Woohyun looked up to see Sungjong and Myungsoo traveling along the grass. The old man was hunched over, holding onto Sungjong for most of his support. He was shaking with two large stalks of sunflowers in his hand. His steps were slow and careful, but with purpose. As they approached, Woohyun could make out their conversation.

“…shouldn’t be outside like this. It’s dangerous.”

“Nonsense,” Myungsoo laughed. It was strange for Woohyun to hear his voice so clearly after not being able to speak with him moments before. “I’m old but I still got a spring in my step.”

Sungjong chuckled but the worry in his eyes didn’t fade. “I know, but you should be in bed. Remember what the doctors said–”

“Doctor or not, I’m still going to see my husband.” Myungsoo kept walking despite Sungjong’s protests. “If you didn’t want me to go, you shouldn’t have driven me.”

“And I wasn’t going to drive you,” Sungjong huffed. “But you convinced me to break the doctor’s orders.”

“That’s why you’re my favorite caretaker,” the old man laughed airily.

Sungjong sighed but smiled anyways. “I’m your only caretaker. Oh, watch your step–!”

“No, no – don’t worry about me,” Myungsoo told him. “Just get me to my husband. I have to see him before all you people force me back into bed for a million years.”

“Myungsoo,” Sungjong chastised.

“Besides, you’ve never even met him. I talk about Sungyeol so much and I haven’t even properly introduced you two.”

“I’m sure he’s a lovely man.”

“Even more than you would imagine.”

Woohyun furrowed his eyebrows and took a step back. He looked up at Sunggyu, who was watching with his arms crossed, and asked, “Who’s Sungyeol?”

“Didn’t you hear?” Sunggyu whispered without looking at him. “Sungyeol is his husband. We’re in a cemetery, Woohyun. Put the pieces together.”

Myungsoo and Sungjong were right in front of them now, but the two timetravelers went unnoticed.

“They can’t see us?” Woohyun asked in near disbelief. He had never been introduced to this technology as a student.

“No, they can’t. But we can see and hear everything.”

Woohyun looked back at the scene in front of him with awe. Myungsoo was crouching down with the help of Sungjong. Despite his body shaking unsteadily, he still managed to kneel onto the soft grass. He placed the sunflowers onto the grave as he took off his hat and placed it over his chest.

“Good morning, love. I’m so sorry I haven’t visited in a while. The doctors are keeping me all cooped up at home and I hate it. Luckily, my favorite caretaker lets me go outside.”

Sungjong scoffed at that comment and Myungsoo nudged at him. After a moment, Sungjong joined him on his knees in the soft grass.

“This is Sungjong, he’s taking care of me,” Myungsoo said, talking to the gravestone. He placed a weary hand on Sungjong’s side and grinned. “He’s doing a good job – making sure I’m healthy and all. You’d love him if you were here.” He turned to look at his caretaker and said, “Sungjong, this is my husband, Sungyeol.”

“Hi, Sungyeol,” Sungjong said politely. He waved his fingers at the gravestone to satisfy Myungsoo, who did seem pleased at the action.

“I hope you’re well, baby,” Myungsoo whispered. “I know I don’t usually come to visit you on a Tuesday, but I didn’t have a choice. The doctors are going to start locking me up in my house and I won’t be able to see you anymore.” He breathed sadly as his fingers traced over the engravings on the stone. “Isn’t that upsetting? I can’t come visit you.”

 Woohyun touched Sunggyu’s elbow apprehensively. “How long ago was this memory?”

Sunggyu took the hand held system unit out of his pocket and checked some of the statistics. “It looks like this was some months ago – maybe a year.” He shoved the device back into his pocket and sighed. “Freshest memory in his mind.”

Woohyun stared down at the gravestone that was engraved with the words Lee Sungyeol. He wondered how much Sungyeol meant to Myungsoo if Myungsoo was sneaking out of his medical confinements just to put a couple sunflowers on his grave.

“How long are we staying here?” Woohyun murmured.

Glancing up at the sky, Sunggyu replied, “As long as we need to. Or until the next memory loads.”

“This is sad,” the rookie mentioned offhandedly. The look in Myungsoo’s eyes was so full of love for someone that was no longer with him. It made Woohyun’s heart lurch. It only made him want to grant the elder’s wish that much more.

Myungsoo’s frail hands reached out and touched the gravestone lovingly. He kneeled over to place a tender kiss onto the plaque. Because maybe then, even leaving just the tiniest bit of warmth on the cold stones would make his old love feel better. “Sungyeol must be sad I won’t be able to see him anymore,” Myungsoo told Sungjong. His eyes were shining with what seemed to be tears but Woohyun couldn’t see clearly enough.

“We should get going, Myungsoo,” Sungjong said him gently. “It’s going to get colder and I don’t want your condition getting any worse than it already is.”

The elder smiled wearily. “I understand. I’ll leave now. Just… one more kiss would be okay… right?”

Sungjong looked as if he was going to protest but he pursed his lips into a smile instead and bowed his head. “Of course. I’ll give you a minute by yourself.” He stood up and walked a few feet away to wait in the silence of the breeze.

Myungsoo turned back to the gravestone and arranged the sunflowers slightly. He didn’t want the stalks covering his beloved’s name. “I miss you,” he whispered. But then he chuckled. “But I always miss you. I just wish you were here so I could kiss your hands and ask you to comfort me. It’s scary knowing that my time is running out. And with all these doctors and even Sungjong – I love the kid, but he’s also just a reminder that my stay here on Earth is limited.”

Woohyun bit his bottom lip. It felt so morbid even though Myungsoo was speaking with so much warmth.

Myungsoo bent down to lay one last kiss onto the cold stone. “It’s okay though. It’s okay if I don’t have much time left. Because at the end of it all, I’ll just get to see you again. And I might get to reunite with you soon. I love you.”

He stood up shakily and called out for Sungjong. Sungjong was at his aid within moments. “I shouldn’t have taken you out,” Sungjong murmured.

“Bah, there are other things to worry about besides me,” Myungsoo harrumphed good-naturedly. “You don’t need to worry about me. Everything is alright.”

Sungjong sighed as he let Myungsoo hold onto his arm tightly. “We do need to worry about you, Myungsoo. You can’t just waive off doctor’s orders.”

“Sure I can.”

Sunggyu chuckled. “Spunky old guy, isn’t he?”

“I wonder where he gets it from,” Woohyun murmured. But staring down at the grave below him adorned with the words ‘Lee Sungyeol,’ he had a pretty good idea.

 A quiet beep came from Sunggyu’s pocket as the small button on their vests lit up. He pulled out his handheld system and looked at the readings. “The next memory is reached and ready. Is there anything you want to stay back and look at before we move on?” He looked to Woohyun.

Woohyun shook his head. “No, nothing to explore. We should go.”

“Let’s leave then.”

Woohyun was still staring at the gravestone as Sunggyu hit the commands on his handheld system and when the tingles seeped through his body once again. And once again, he was gone in a flash.

When they flashed to the new memory, Woohyun recognized the room. Anybody could recognize the room. It was too white and too sterile and everything Woohyun hated. It was a hospital room.

“I hate these memories,” Sunggyu murmured wistfully. “They’re the worst.”

“Why?” Woohyun asked. “What kinds of memories are these?”

Sunggyu pressed his lips together. “Usually… these are the Farewells.”

“Farewells…?”

“We call them the Farewells. It’s the memories that include a goodbye. If you want me to put it bluntly,” he sighed, “it’s when their loved ones die.”

Woohyun blinked blankly, his hand going up to ruffle his black hair. “Oh. Why is this the next memory?”

“It’s always the memories that stick out,” Sunggyu told him as he pushed a button on his handheld. “I hope the next memory loads before we have to watch the whole thing.”

“Can’t we just…? Go somewhere else? This is a hospital, isn’t it?” Woohyun asked. He stared at the bed in the center of the room, a strange feeling creeping up his spine. The slow beeping made him uncomfortable. He didn’t like it. “Can’t we just wait somewhere else until the next memory loads?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Sunggyu told him again. He leaned against the wall and trained his eyes on his shoes. “These are Myungsoo’s memories. Unless it’s significant enough for him to remember, we won’t be able to see it. We can’t explore outside of this hospital room because this is probably all he remembers.”

Woohyun looked towards the door. “Well, the entrance is right there. What if we try…?”

“You don’t think I haven’t tried before? I hate the Farewells. I try to avoid them as much as I can. But once you try to exit the memory, the system messes up. It glitches and it sends you right back to the present day. And if I want to complete my task, I have to get through the Farewells anyways.”

Upset, Woohyun murmured, “So we have to… watch him die?”

Sunggyu looked up at the ceiling. “Try to ignore it. That’s what I always do. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to travel to the next memory before we have to see anything we don’t want to see.”

The door suddenly opened and Myungsoo was walking in. He looked younger – less gray hair on his head. The wrinkles on his face were less deep set. But he was still old. Maybe it was five, six years before the last memory. Woohyun wasn’t sure.

The body on the hospital bed stirred when Myungsoo sat down next to it. He reached out his hand to link out with another weak hand. All skin and bones with an IV attached. Myungsoo’s voice was quiet, but it felt amplified in the sterile room.

“Baby…” Myungsoo whispered.

Woohyun took half a step forward from the corner of the room they appeared in. He wanted to see the face of the man in the bed. But he felt like he was maybe stepping out of line – that this might have been an invasion of Myungsoo’s privacy. So he looked back to Sunggyu for answers.

“Go,” Sunggyu said, gesturing towards the bed. His eyes were closed as he leaned his head back on the wall. “It’s natural curiosity. Besides, you’re the timetraveler. If you want to see it, see it. I won’t stop you.”

“It’s not… an invasion of privacy or something?” Woohyun asked.

Sunggyu shook his head. “Privacy isn’t a concern. It’s all taken care of in the contracts they sign beforehand. Don’t worry about it. This is your first mission. Just go see for yourself. It’s your first Farewell. You should see it anyways.” His eyes remained closed as he crossed his arms. “I’ll let you know when we can time travel.”

“Al…Alright,” Woohyun muttered. He continued to walk towards the bed and stood at the side of it.

In the bed was another man. He was breathing into a respirator and his eyes were half open. His fingers were linked with Myungsoo’s and he wore a half smile on his face. Woohyun stopped himself from leaning closer and instead looked from the side. He took a step back in fear of perhaps being too close to an intimate scene that he did not belong in.

“How am I doing?” the man in the bed whispered.

Myungsoo smiled despite the sparkling tears resting in his eyes. “Not too well,” he admitted softly. “Doctors say you don’t have much time left.”

“I know,” the other responds. “I can feel it. I don’t need doctors to tell me that. Just let me know how much longer I have specifically, Myungsoo.”

“They say… you have maybe today or tomorrow? Not long.”

“Yeah, I figured. Too bad, isn’t it?” he whispered with a smile. “At least I’ve got you to keep me company until then.”

“Baby,” Myungsoo murmured, his eyes casting downwards. “I know it’s not something I should bring up but… remember what I said? A couple days ago?”

The other exhaled heavily and closed his eyes. “Myungsoo.”

“I know it’s not something you want, but just… think about me for a second. It’ll only just remind me of you. And I’m not sure if I could have that kind of reminder.”

“Honey,” the laying man began, “I’m not going to let you sell our house. If you dare sell it, I will haunt that house forever.”

“Yeol–”

“You don’t want my spirit to be restless, do you? Even if you’re too old to even get up those stairs, you keep that house. Don’t even think about selling it. My soul is a part of that house.”

Myungsoo looked up at him, his eyes bleary. “Sungyeol, I can’t live in a place that constantly reminds me of you.” That was when Woohyun realized the old man lying in the bed was the Lee Sungyeol from the memory before.

Sungyeol closed his eyes and gripped Myungsoo’s hands. “You have to remember me. That house is my memory, you’ve got to stay in it. Keep it – no, me. You’ve got to keep me as yours.”

“But Sungyeol!” Myungsoo pleaded. “Come on. Just… think about it.”

Sungyeol sighed as he reopened his eyes. He used all his strength in an attempt to sit up. Myungsoo helped him but with light protests about how he shouldn’t have been exerting his energy this way. “Myungsoo,” he whispered after he was finally in a sitting position. His breathing was heavier and Myungsoo looked like he wanted to make him lay back down.

“Don’t strain yourself, Yeol.”

“I know it’s selfish of me,” Sungyeol continued, disregarding Myungsoo’s words, “to ask you to do this one thing after you’ve spent your life catering to me. But this is the last thing I sincerely request of you. If you think you should sell the house, then do so. But I want you to keep it. From the bottom of my heart, I wish you’ll keep it. We put so much into building it.”

Myungsoo only looked at him sadly and heaved a sigh from his lip. “I’ll try,” he murmured. “I’ll try for you.”

“I want you to stay there and remember me and fill those hallways with the sound of your piano. I’ll live on in the walls of the house so you can’t sell it. But… if you really need to, then you have my permission.”

Sungyeol let out a rough cough and Myungsoo helped him lie back down. “Don’t strain yourself,” he told him. He gripped Sungyeol’s hand tightly in his own and he brought it up to kiss it. “I’ll try to keep the house for you. If that’s what you really want.”

The other nodded as he closed his eyes again. “That’s what I want.”

Myungsoo leaned down to leave a kiss on his forehead. “Then that’s what I’ll do.”

Sungyeol chuckled as he took a thin breath. “I’m glad,” he said. “At least I’ll know that when I go.”

“Yeol, please – don’t talk like that. You’re not… you’re not going just yet.”

Woohyun jumped in surprise when the machine that Sungyeol was attached to started beeping wildly. He had to restrain himself from tripping over his own feet as Myungsoo was scrambling in panic. Myungsoo was calling for nurses as he kept his hand tightly clenched over Sungyeol’s and his eyes trained on his beloved’s face. 

Woohyun backed away slowly as nurses came running into the room. A feeling of panic was beginning to set into his chest from all the commotion. All the nurses were rushing around Sungyeol’s bed and touching the machines and tubes as if it would help him. But Woohyun knew what was happening – he was watching Sungyeol die.

He backed away some more, unwilling to watch but unable to actually take his eyes off of the scene before him. His eyes widened the more the scene went downhill, his fists clenched at his side until his knuckles were turning pale.

Woohyun let out a shout when he felt a hand at his wrist. He looked up in panic but breathed a sigh of relief soon afterwards. “Sunggyu,” he heaved.

“Who else?” the elder asked. “I’m the only one that can see you. The next memory is ready, we can go now.”

Woohyun looked down to his vest where the blue light had lit up again. He didn’t realize how heavy he was breathing until he tried to calm himself down. “O-Oh,” he stammered. “Okay. Um, yeah. Let’s go.”

Sunggyu took a glance to the scene before them and brought Woohyun slightly closer as he brought out the handheld again. “It’s scary, isn’t it? The Farewells.”

“…Yeah. It is.” Woohyun swallowed. He turned away when he caught tears beginning to trail down Myungsoo’s cheeks.

“The Farewells are the hardest to get through. Any timetraveler can tell you that.” He tilted his head to look at Woohyun’s face. “Are you okay? You experienced your first Farewell up close. That’s not something you’ll forget easily.”

Woohyun inhaled sharply. “It was pretty intense.”

“Too intense?” Sunggyu asked. He wore a slight smile on his face as if to tease Woohyun.

With a short, humorless chuckle, Woohyun replied, “It’ll take more than a Farewell to make me rethink this career path. I’ve worked too hard for too long to get here.”

“If you say so,” Sunggyu said quietly.

“Let’s just… go,” Woohyun murmured. “To the next memory. Please.”

Sunggyu nodded and together they disappeared.

“How did you do that?”

“You just poke a hole into the stem with your nail.”

“I keep breaking the stems.”

“Be gentle, Yeol. Just use the edge of your nail.”

“How do you already have a chain of flowers? I barely have three flowers connected. I feel like I’m killing more flowers than anything.”

When Woohyun refocused his vision, he found himself in a garden. Behind him was a big house – the same house that he and Sunggyu had gone to in the present day. It was Myungsoo’s house. Myungsoo and Sungyeol were sitting crisscrossed in their back lawn, surrounded by clusters of flowers.

From what they could see, Sungyeol and Myungsoo were picking the flowers and linking them together to make some sort of chain. The atmosphere felt much lighter and less heavy than the memories before.

“Where are we?” Woohyun asked, looking up at Sunggyu.

Sunggyu checked the numbers on his handheld. “Couple years before, I think? They look younger.”

Woohyun nodded in agreement. Both of them had darker hair and smoother skin. “They look like they’re in their fifties? Sixties maybe?”

“Maybe somewhere around there,” Sunggyu agreed.

It was dusk. The sun was setting and the stars were beginning to come out in the sky. The entire scene seemed serene and peaceful and Woohyun was grateful for that. After the Farewell, he was very grateful to have a memory like this. He sat down on the grass as well, playing with the green blades as he waited for the next memory.

Sunggyu sat down next to him and sighed. “How was it?” he asked. “Your first Farewell? How are you holding up?”

 “I think I’m okay,” Woohyun told him.

“How’d it feel?”

Woohyun looked up at the sky. “It felt… surreal. And intrusive. It felt like something illusory – something out of a movie. I’ve never experienced such raw emotion before. But I was experiencing it through proxy almost.” He shook his head and twiddled his fingers. “I felt like I wasn’t permitted to be there. Like I was watching something private.”

Sunggyu nodded. “It feels like that; especially if you’re a rookie, it’ll feel like that. You’ll get used to it over time.”

“Have you gotten over it?” Woohyun asked, looking towards his mentor. “How long did it take?”

“I’ve mostly gotten over it. It took half a year at least. But sometimes, it still gets to me.” Sunggyu shook the thoughts away from his head with a short sighed and looked up. “Now, let’s get to work. What do you think is significant about this memory?”

“This memory?” Woohyun asked, his eyes going wide in confusion. “I thought… I mean, there’s nothing very special about this memory, is there? They’re just talking,” he said, gesturing to the couple in front of them. “There’s nothing special.”

“There’s always something special.” Sunggyu stared at Myungsoo and Sungyeol with interest before turning to look back at Woohyun. “If there was nothing special, Myungsoo wouldn’t have remembered it. All the memories we travel to are here for a reason. We have to pay attention to all of them if we plan to learn about Myungsoo. And we must learn about our client if we plan to grant his wish without any setbacks.”

Woohyun blinked at Myungsoo, who just seemed to be an older man who was enjoying time with his love, making flower chains and talking amiably. “Oh,” he muttered simply. “So, we need to pay attention to every single memory?”

“Yes,” Sunggyu confirmed. “So take a listen to them. What do you hear?”

Myungsoo had just finished his chain of daises and was looping it around Sungyeol’s head. Sungyeol smiled at him lovingly and placed a short daisy chain over his wrist like a bracelet.

“You look gorgeous,” Myungsoo told him, kissing his cheek.

Sungyeol laughed and smacked him away. “You always say that. You say it so often, I wonder if I should even believe you anymore.”

“Of course you should believe me! I would never say something I didn’t mean.” Myungsoo his cheek gently.

“I can’t be that beautiful,” Sungyeol chuckled. “All my hair has gone gray and my skin has gone wrinkly. There’s no way you could see beauty in me. Not anymore at least.”

“On the contrary, you get more and more beautiful each day. Especially to me. And I’m the only one who should matter because I’m your husband.” Myungsoo grinned at him.

Sungyeol laughed. “You flatter me too much, honey. I don’t deserve that.”

“Yes you do,” Myungsoo murmured, playing with strands of Sungyeol’s hair. “You absolutely do.”

Sungyeol looked at Myungsoo wistfully as if he wanted to argue. But from the looks of it, it was an argument he lost too many times to try again. “You always say that,” he said after a moment, looking down at the grass. “And you always do your best to give me anything but I can never give anything back.”

“You don’t need to give me anything back.”

“No, but I just… I feel like I should. You’ve given me so much, Myungsoo, so many things that range from physical to emotional. I feel like I’ve just contributed nothing to our married lives.”

With a soft laugh, Myungsoo pulled him into a hug and kept him there gently. “You’re doing it again. That thing where you beat down on yourself. You know how much I hate that.”

Sungyeol sighed as he brought his arms up to reciprocate the hug. “I want to give you things too, Myungsoo. I want you to look at something and think of me like the way I look at everything and think of you. I look at this house that you had built for us and all I can think of is you and your sweet loving self.”

Myungsoo kissed the crown of his head and replied, “I think of you too, you know. Every time I see our house I think of the way your eyes lit up when you saw it finished for the first time. I see the way you relax whenever I play the piano for you. You’ve given me a lot too, Sungyeol.”

Sungyeol leaned into his embrace and lay there peacefully. “I’m upset that you were never able to become a concert pianist like you wanted,” he murmured. “You should have been able to share your gift outside of our home.”

“I don’t need to,” Myungsoo reassured him. “I wouldn’t be able to play for crowds anyways. I can only play when I see your eyes light up.” He touched the flower crown adorning Sungyeol’s head. “I play the best when I play for you.”

It got quiet then. The only sounds permeating the atmosphere were birds chirping and leaves rustling in trees. It seemed like they were both thinking of something to say and the same time, they were both trying to be graceful about it. Woohyun recognized this kind of silence. There was something they both wanted to say without wanting to upset the other. A sensitive topic that they were both trying to dance around in their heads.

“The atmosphere got really heavy,” Woohyun muttered. He felt Sunggyu shift besides him.

“It’s probably why he remembers it,” Sunggyu said nonchalantly.

Woohyun stole a glance at his mentor. Sunggyu was young – not many years older than him. But everything about his demeanor seemed to say that he was an older man with years of wisdom under his belt. “You seem unaffected by everything,” Woohyun said.

“I guess you could say that. Desensitized is more like it.” Sunggyu shrugged and sighed. “Seen too many lives and I guess I don’t see any surprises. I’ve gone through all the emotional distress already.”

Woohyun turned his attention back to the old couple whose wrinkles seemed deeper set than they were before.

“I’m going to miss all this,” Sungyeol spoke up softly. His eyes were cast downward, unable to look at Myungsoo. “I’ll miss all of this.”

Myungsoo was silent for a moment before replying, “So will I. I’m going miss you.”

Letting out a bitter chuckle, Sungyeol murmured, “You spent your life dedicating it to me and in the end I have to go first. Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to repay you for everything you’ve done.”

“I did it because I love you, you don’t need to repay anything.”

“Can you at least promise me one thing?” Sungyeol asked as he buried his nose into Myungsoo’s shoulder.

Myungsoo hummed. “And what’s that?”

“Keep playing piano after I’m gone, okay? Keep the house and fill it with the sound of your piano. I’ll live on through the music.”

With a chuckle, Myungsoo replied, “My skills have worn down, love. I’m not as good as I used to be.”

Sungyeol turned his head to kiss his cheek softly. “You’re good enough for me. And for this house.”

Myungsoo shifted uncomfortably as he brought his arms tighter around Sungyeol. He sighed as he cradled Sungyeol closer like he needed to be protected. “I wanted to talk to you about the house.” He a hand through Sungyeol’s gray hair and murmured, “I was thinking that… maybe after you leave…”

“…Myungsoo,” Sungyeol said softly in warning.

“I mean, it’ll be just me in this house. It is two stories high and it’ll be so empty without you running around and constantly fixing things up. I don’t know if living here alone will be the same.”

Sungyeol sat up slowly, his eyebrows furrowed. “You can always change living alone.”

“I’m not going to get remarried, if that’s what you’re trying to insinuate,” Myungsoo snapped.

“Well, you’re not selling this house,” Sungyeol said back, his gaze starting to darken. “Don’t you know how much time we spent to make it – and then lived in it? You can’t think of selling it just like that.”

“I live in it with you – for you!” Myungsoo exclaimed. “The whole reminds me of you, you can’t expect me to feel good living in a place that reminds me of you without you.”

Sungyeol stood up with his arms crossed. “Myungsoo, how could you even think to sell our house? We spent months building it up! It’s too special to us!”

“Special to us! It’s not as special without you here to live in it with me!”

“I’ll still be here,” Sungyeol told him as Myungsoo stood up. “I’ll be gone but my spirit will still be around, don’t you know that?”

“Spirit or not, you won’t be here!” Myungsoo said, his voice on the verge of shouting. “You’ll be gone, Sungyeol! It’s just going to be me!”

Woohyun felt a touch on his arm. He looked up to see Sunggyu kneeling in the grass. It didn’t take him much longer to realize that his vest had lit up once again. “Time to go?” he asked.

Sunggyu nodded. “It’s time.” The sound of an argument was brewing in front of them as the couple began raising their voices at each other. Sunggyu shook his head. “It’s going to get nasty. You can tell by the way they’re starting to snap.”

“Do you think… this is why Myungsoo’s wish is to be a professional pianist?” Woohyun asked as he stood up. “He didn’t think he was good enough for Sungyeol? Or was it so that his skills would be able to still be impressive after Sungyeol dies?”

“Who knows,” Sunggyu said. “Maybe it could be either one. Maybe we’re going to find another reason on the way back.”

Woohyun winced as the shouts started getting louder in front of them. “Let’s go then,” he said.

When Woohyun appeared in the next memory, he sighed once again. It was another hospital. However, they were in the general area where patients received checkups rather than at Sungyeol’s death bed.

“Why are there so many memories here?” he asked.

Sunggyu snickered. “What did you expect? We’re starting at the end of his memories and working backwards, it only makes sense. Of course we’re going to start out with some sadder memories. They usually get happier along the way, though.”

“It’s just so dreary,” Woohyun complained. “And we have to time hops through all these memories before we can get to a spot where we can change Myungsoo’s opportunities?”

“Of course. I assumed you learned that before you graduated.” Sunggyu raised an eyebrow at him.

Woohyun flushed and coughed. “Yeah, well I guess I’ll need a refresher from Timetravel Ethics 101. I took that freshman year, after all.”

Sunggyu only laughed. “You’re cheeky, rookie. I like that.”

“Cheeky?” Woohyun repeated.

“Reminds me of when I first started time traveling.” Sunggyu smiled nostalgically. “I was chipper and excited too.”

Woohyun tilted his head and slowly asked, “So… what happened?”

“Can’t say,” Sunggyu replied with a humorless smile. “Guess it just took a toll on me.”

“I guess…” Woohyun murmured. He wondered briefly if that would happen to him. If all this timetravel would take a toll on his personality and his demeanor.

A moment after that, they spotted Sungyeol was walking past them. It seemed like a year or two prior from the last memory. He was still most likely in his late fifties. Sungyeol was looking down as he exited the hospital doors. Woohyun guessed that he had just finished some sort of checkup.

 “There he goes,” Sunggyu said, nodding his head in Sungyeol’s direction. “Let’s follow him.”

So they followed Sungyeol out the sliding doors together and out to the front of the hospital. They found Myungsoo sitting outside on a bench. Sungyeol stopped before reaching him, biting his lips and wringing his hands nervously.

Sungyeol took in a deep breath and then approached Myungsoo softly. He touched his husband’s shoulder and smiled. “Hey.”

Myungsoo stood up and hugged him. “Hey there. How’d it go?”

“Let’s… sit down, okay? So we can talk about it.”

Myungsoo’s eyes were bright with confusion as he slowly lowered himself back down to the bench. “Alright… this can’t wait until we get home? I want to make sure you eat before–”

“It’s okay,” Sungyeol whispered with a smile. He sat down next to his husband and took his hand gently. “I wanted to talk about this before anything else.”

Myungsoo paused and stared at Sungyeol’s face. Sungyeol looked down – upset, almost. And Myungsoo seemed afraid of what he could say. “Go on then,” he murmured. “I won’t interrupt you.”

Sungyeol smiled as he stared down at the pavement. “I don’t have the best track record, honey. Before we got married and before I settled down, I… I-I lived a dark life. Even while we were dating, I was still living so awfully. And even though I’ve stopped living the way I used to – even though you’ve saved me from destroying myself – the past is still there. And… it’s finally catching up to me.”

“What?” Myungsoo’s eyebrows creased as he tried to meet Sungyeol’s gaze, but Sungyeol kept his eyes away. “What are you trying to say? Wha…What did the doctors tell you?”

With a humorless chuckle, Sungyeol raked his hand back through his graying hair. “Soo, I’m… I’m not going to make it.”

“…What?” Myungsoo asked softly. He blinked rapidly in disbelief as he gripped Sungyeol’s fingers tighter in his own. “Baby, you’re joking. The doctors didn’t say that. They couldn’t have.”

Sungyeol’s smile broke as he whispered, “I’m so sorry… I-I’m not going to make it.”

Woohyun could see the tears forming in Myungsoo’s eyes from where he stood. Myungsoo was shaking his head in disbelief and murmuring, “Sungyeol, no. That can’t be true, it can’t be.”

Sungyeol touched his face and forced that smile back on his face. “Baby, are you crying? Come on, don’t cry. If you start crying, I’m going to start crying and we’re both going to be a mess.”

“I can’t help but cry, you know I can’t,” Myungsoo said with a pout, burying his face into Sungyeol’s shoulder. He hugged him close and murmured, “Especially when it comes to you, I’ll always cry.”

“Don’t cry for me,” Sungyeol told him, his voice cracking. He pat Myungsoo’s head affectionately, comfortingly, as he sniffled loudly. Wiping away at his own tears, he whispered, “You’ve cried for me so much already, honey, let me bear this one. I can bear this one on my own. You don’t need to cry for me, okay?”

Myungsoo sighed and hiccupped into Sungyeol’s shoulder. “I-I’m sorry, it’s just… I’ll try not to cry for you, honey. It’s just not fair,” he muttered. Pulling away from Sungyeol’s shoulders, he reached out to hold his husband’s face in his hands. “You don’t deserve this, Yeol.”

Sungyeol smiled bitterly. “Myungsoo… I think that… after the life that I lived, I deserve this. I did this to myself, not you.”

“I wish I could change it,” Myungsoo sighed wearily. “And you don’t deserve this. You might have done a lot of things but you don’t deserve this.”

“It’s alright, Myungsoo,” the other hushed gently. “Everything is alright. Don’t you worry about a thing. This just means that we get to cherish every single moment together from now on.”

“He’s dying?!” Woohyun exclaimed. He looked at Sunggyu in disbelief. “This memory is where they found out that Sungyeol was dying?!” The blue light his vest but he paid it no attention. “That’s… That’s so–”

“Morbid?” Sunggyu finished with a dry smile. “Yeah, it’s pretty depressing. But like I said – it’s something you get used to.” He fished the handheld system from his pocket and began the process to travel to the next memory.

Woohyun huffed as he stared at the couple, who were still comforting each other on the bench. “Honestly? I don’t know if this is something I can get used to.”

“You smell that?” Sunggyu asked when they landed in the next memory. He sniffed the air fondly. “That smells good. Really good, actually. Where are we?”

“It looks like we’re inside the house,” Woohyun told him, searching the landscape with his eyes. “This is the foyer that Sungjong lead us through, remember?”

“Yeah, this is his place.” Sunggyu nodded as he glanced around.

“How many years ago was this?”

“Can’t really tell,” Sunggyu admitted with a slight shrug. “I don’t see Myungsoo or Sungyeol yet at all–”

Like a cue, the door behind them opened up with a jingle. Myungsoo stepped in at that moment, wearing a button up shirt and holding a thin briefcase. “Sungyeol?” he called out. “I’m home–” He paused in his tracks as he sniffed the air. “What is that smell?”

“I’m in the kitchen!” Sungyeol responded.

Woohyun and Sunggyu followed Myungsoo, who was eagerly trekking to the kitchen in search of his husband. Sungyeol was standing behind the counter, flour covering him from his head to his toes. He smiled sheepishly as he tried dusting himself to look more presentable.

“Surprise,” he said with a light laugh. His hands presented the lopsided cake in the center of the counter and laughed. “After all these birthdays, I still can’t properly make a cake.”

The way Myungsoo halted in the kitchen doorway while staring lovingly at his husband made Woohyun’s body feel absolutely warm inside. He dropped his briefcase as he went to his husband’s side immediately, wrapping his arms around him and kissing him all over his face.

“Myungsoo!” Sungyeol laughed, trying to push him away. “I’m covered in flour, stop!”

“No,” Myungsoo said in between his kisses with a grin. “I’m going to kiss you all I want.”

Sungyeol snickered before he was finally able to softly shove him off. He grinned and whispered, “Happy birthday. Sorry that the cake is a little messed up.”

Leaning in for another kiss, Myungsoo murmured, “Don’t worry about that. The cake is only part of what really matters.”

“Happy forty-third birthday, sweetheart,” Sungyeol whispered to him, combing his hair back.

Sunggyu turned away from the scene and lifted his chin up at Woohyun to engage him. “So,” he said, “what kind of person would you classify Myungsoo as through his memories? They taught you all that stuff, right? Or were my core classes different than the ones now?”

“You’re not that much older than me,” Woohyun told him with a light laugh. He shoved him playfully and said, “I doubt the core classes have changed that much.”

“Then I assume you can classify him?” With crossed arms, Sunggyu looked at him as if to challenge.

Woohyun nodded confidently. “Of course I can. Myungsoo remembers all these tender moments and love then I think it’s clear that he’s the Sentimental. Isn’t he?”

Sunggyu gave him an impressed look before nodding with a pout. “He looks to be a Sentimental, I agree. He’s definitely not a Blasé, I’ll tell you that. Not with all these meaningful memories, at least.”

“What are the grounds for identifying a Blasé again?” Woohyun inquired as he looked back towards the couple.

“If the memories that pop up are random and bear no significant pattern in meaning or anything,” the elder informed matter-of-factly. “If he remembers lots of things and it’s a mix of important and unimportant events, he was probably indifferent towards his memories. I bet you he’s like that,” Sunggyu said, gesturing towards Sungyeol with his head.

Woohyun furrowed his brows as he paused in a short moment of disbelief. “Sung… Sungyeol? This one? Are you sure you think he’d qualify as a Blasé? He was the one that fought Myungsoo to keep their house because it was special to them.”

Sunggyu shrugged, “Hey, you might be right. But I’ve been there, seen a lot of things – Sungyeol seems like a Blasé.”

“You barely know him.” Woohyun narrowed his eyes.

“And neither do you,” Sunggyu retorted softly. He raised an eyebrow at Woohyun’s sudden defiance. “We know the ending of the story, not the beginning quite yet. And it already feels like Myungsoo cares for Sungyeol more than vice versa. Don’t you agree?”

Woohyun’s jaw dropped open. “No, I don’t agree. That’s so baseless! How could you assume that? Sungyeol just baked him a birthday cake, and you’re saying he doesn’t care about Myungsoo?”

“I didn’t say that, I’m just saying Myungsoo probably cares more than he does.” Sunggyu shrugged again. “And it’s based off my gut. My gut’s pretty good at predicting what happened in the past – after all my years of experience on the field and all.”

Woohyun sniffed and turned away. “First time for everything.”

Sunggyu raised an eyebrow at the rookie, but managed to a quirk an interested smile onto his lips.

After a few more memory hops, Sunggyu and Woohyun found themselves standing in the middle of what looked like a house under construction. There was nothing but the foundation and beams put up – no walls, no windows, nothing.

“How far was that last hop?” Woohyun asked.

“A long time, by the looks of this construction site.” Sunggyu moved a piece of stray lumber with his foot.  “I guess they really built their home from the ground up.”

Woohyun felt a small smile form on his face. “How romantic,” he hummed.

A sound came from their right, signaling the entrance of Myungsoo and Sungyeol. Woohyun and Sunggyu backed away towards the wooden beams behind them as the other two came into the gigantic space. They were both wearing hard helmets as they shuffled in, hand in hand.

Myungsoo tilted his head back to gaze up at where a roof should have been hanging over his head. But instead, he looked up in between the swaying branches of the forest trees and simply curved his lips into a smile. “What about here?” he asked, glancing at Sungyeol for a moment. He pointed up into the air. “What if we put a chandelier here?”

“Hm.” Sungyeol pouted, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. “What would we need with a chandelier?”

“I don’t know,” the other admitted with a snort. “Aesthetic?”

“They look younger,” Woohyun muttered to Sunggyu, who nodded his agreement in return. “They have to be in their thirties now, at least. The wrinkles around Sungyeol’s eyes aren’t as pronounced.”

Sunggyu chuckled. “You got an eye for details like that, rookie?”

With a humble shrug, Woohyun replied, “Well, it’s a habit.”

“It’s a good habit,” Sunggyu complimented sincerely.

“I don’t think we need a chandelier.” Sungyeol’s voice distracted them from any further conversation. They turned back to find Sungyeol looking at the dimensions of the room with a keen eye. “I think it’ll look nicer if we just keep it simple. No fancy chandeliers. Just your piano by the windows, a carpet on the floor and then a radio, maybe. That’s all we need.”

Myungsoo looked at his husband warmly and hugged his arms around his waist. “Yeah? That’s all we need?”

“That’s all we need,” Sungyeol repeated in a whisper, leaning to give Myungsoo a quick kiss. “Just you and me and a couple of other things.”

“Hmm,” Myungsoo sighed happily. “That sounds like a good plan. Although… I do still want my chandelier.”

Sungyeol snorted. “You can have your chandelier then. I’ll let you put one up.”

Myungsoo broke out into a grin and hugged him closer. “Just imagine it, honey – a winter day, my glowing chandelier and you and I dancing right under it.”

“Dancing? Dancing for what?”

“Dancing for our very own prom, like always,” Myungsoo said, as if that answer was the only obvious one.

Sungyeol laughed at Myungsoo as he swung him around in a dancing manner. Although, their little missteps and fluctuating arms could hardly be counted as dancing. “I missed my proms, but we don’t have to do this every weekend, babe. Everything is alright now, we don’t have to keep dancing if you don’t want to. Besides – neither of us are very good at it.”

“I’m going to want to do this forever,” Myungsoo said decisively. “I could be the absolute worst dancer in the entire universe and could make a fool out of myself every time I danced, but I’d still dance as long as you’re there to be my partner.”

Sungyeol blushed and Woohyun felt his heart leap. “Aw,” he whispered, “that’s adorable.”

“He’s definitely a Sentimental,” Sunggyu stated amusedly. “We don’t have to hop through his memories to know that. Just the way he talks to Sungyeol says it all.”

“It’s cute,” Woohyun mused, kicking his feet on the floor. “I hope I can have a relationship like theirs.”

“You do? You haven’t even seen their full relationship yet. They’re only in their thirties.”

“Yeah, but we’ve seen how they ended up,” Woohyun pointed out. “And looking at how much they care for each other, I would want something like this. They love each other so much.”

Sunggyu scoffed through his nose, which Woohyun was confused by. “Oh yeah? And what do you think made them love and care for each other so much in the first place? Life isn’t a fairytale, Woohyun – you’re going to learn that while doing this job. Romance definitely isn’t a fairytale. It’s real life.”

“So they can’t just love each other because they love each other?”

“There’s always a story behind love,” Sunggyu responded matter-of-factly. “There’s no such thing as love at first sight or anything, so of course there’s a story behind them and how they got together. For all we know it could be romantic, but I’m telling you Woohyun – a deep and caring relationship like what we’ve seen of theirs doesn’t come from a storybook romance.”

Woohyun frowned as the blue light on his vest began to glow. He stared at the bright orb in deep thought, wondering how anything could have gone wrong in Sungyeol and Myungsoo’s relationship at all as Sunggyu flashed them to the next memory on the timeline of Myungsoo’s life.

“Are you ready?”

“Not really… but if it’s with you, then I’ll always be ready for anything.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Sungyeol held Myungsoo’s hand tightly as he took in a large breath through his nose. He let it out with a sigh and an insignificant chuckle. Myungsoo held him close, resting his cheek against Sungyeol’s as they stood against a tree. It was the same forest as the memory before, but without any signs of a house.

“Do you think it’s going to feel any different?” Sungyeol asked, raising Myungsoo’s hand up to kiss the back of it and then rested it on his other cheek. “After we put on the rings. Do you think it’ll be any different?”

Myungsoo shrugged as he pulled his face away. Staring into Sungyeol’s eyes, he said, “I don’t think it’s going to feel any different. It’s going to be just us still. Do you want to feel different?”

Sungyeol nodded. “I want to feel different. I want to know that I’m different – that I’ve changed. And I’m afraid that it’s not going to feel any different.” He sighed as Myungsoo held his face gently. “I’m different now, aren’t I?”

Myungsoo kissed him softly and nodded. “You’re different, baby, of course you are. You changed right before my eyes. And no ring will tell you that as much as I can.”

A smile lifted Sungyeol’s face as he whispered, “I’m so lucky to have you, Myungsoo. I’m… I’m really thankful that you’re the one who believed in me.”

“Me too.” Myungsoo grinned at him and his hair affectionately. “I’m lucky to have someone as handsome as you.”

“Please, if either of us are handsome, it would be you, not me.”

“You’ve got your charms,” Myungsoo told him coyly, pecking him on the lips once more. “I’ve got something for us to wear before the ceremony starts.”

Sungyeol scrunched his eyebrows and laughed. “You do? What more could we wear – you already got us wearing suits.”

“Everybody wears a suit to their wedding,” Myungsoo teased as he went to reach into a bag that was sitting at the base of the tree. “So I have to make it special for us.”

“Don’t you always?” Sungyeol snickered. He watched Myungsoo carefully. “I can’t imagine what you could have gotten– oh, Myungsoo…”

Myungsoo grinned boldly, the matching crowns of flowers held tenderly in his hands. “Thought it would make you look more gorgeous than you already are.” He lifted one of the crowns so he could place it on Sungyeol’s head gingerly. “And if you can’t get any more gorgeous, well… it’ll make you feel more handsome, either way.”

“You crazy romantic,” Sungyeol muttered under his breath. Yet the grin on his features was undeniably radiant.

“You used to hate it.”

“No, it just made me feel guilty all the time,” Sungyeol clarified with a snort. He took the other ring of flowers and placed it atop of Myungsoo’s head as well. “There, now don’t we look fancy? Some old suits and flower crowns.”

“Hey, without these crowns, we would’ve just looked like some kids going to prom.”

“More like chaperones,” Sungyeol giggled. “I think we’re too old to look like we’re going to prom.”

“That’s okay – we still look handsome either way.”

Myungsoo went to kiss him again but Sungyeol shook his head. “No more kissing. You kiss this much before we even get married, it’s got be some sort of bad luck.”

Woohyun, who had been silently spectating along with Sunggyu on the side, began to grin in delight. “They’re getting married?” he exclaimed in joy. He clasped his hands together and sighed happily. “That’s so romantic – getting married in a forest.”

“I guess.” Sunggyu shrugged indifferently. “I’m not that fond of bugs, so I don’t think I’d ever have an outdoor wedding.”

“But this is so beautiful,” Woohyun swooned, fawning over the couple. Sungyeol and Myungsoo looked to be in their young thirties; much, much younger than how they had first seen them. “Isn’t it strange,” he commented, “how we knew nothing about them when they were old? That’s like when we’re supposed to know them the most – when they’re old and dying. But we knew nothing. And as we go back in time, we know more about them when they’re younger. And right now, we know how their story unfolds, but they don’t. Isn’t that just weird?”

Sunggyu looked at him and then smiled softly. He ruffled Woohyun’s hair. “You’re enthusiastic, aren’t you? You talk a lot too.” His smile was warm – caring, almost. “But don’t worry too much about that stuff. You’re going to give yourself an existential crisis. Besides, after a while–”

“I’ll get used to it?” Woohyun finished, raising an eyebrow and smiling cheekily. “Figured you’d say that.”

Myungsoo’s eyes lit up as a priest came stumbling into the clearing. “Father!” he exclaimed. “We’re so glad you could make it. Thank you for agreeing to marry us.”

“It’s not a problem.” The priest smiled and coughed. “Sorry I took so long. Did you guys know about that right turn? Because I didn’t.”

Sungyeol giggled. “Sorry for not giving you very clear directions.”

“I told you,” Woohyun hissed at Sunggyu. Sunggyu rolled his eyes and just shoved the other playfully. “That right turn is evil.”

“Alright, rookie – now pay attention to the memory.”

Woohyun turned back but with the biggest smile on his face. “I love weddings,” he whispered excitedly.

The ceremony in itself was very bare. There was no fancy aisle for them to walk down and no guests to witness. The only flowers there were the wild ones that swayed in the breeze with the tree branches. And the only choir serenading them was the wind. It was peaceful and serene and Woohyun absolutely loved it.

Myungsoo and Sungyeol’s voices were quiet – their vows almost too faint for Woohyun and Sunggyu to hear. But their words were full of love and trust and promises to love each other, promises to always cherish each other.

Woohyun was nearly glowing as much as Sungyeol when they exchanged their rings. Myungsoo’s eyes were positively brighter with joy when the priest allowed them to kiss to seal their marriage officially.

It was a sweet ceremony filled with such raw love and emotion that even Sunggyu was feeling a bit overwhelmed at some point. The night continued in such romantic simplicity, Sungyeol and Myungsoo laid out a picnic blanket on the ground, eating cheese and crackers as their reception. They danced in the moonlight for hours on end, using the quiet music that they played from Myungsoo’s phone.

That night they fell asleep in each other’s arms, the wind and crickets singing them to sleep.

“That was a long memory,” Woohyun said, wiping at his eyes.

Sunggyu snickered at him. “You crying rookie?”

“No! I’m just… tired. Why did that last so long anyways? I mean it was a beautiful little ceremony, but–”

“You looked like you were enjoying yourself,” Sunggyu explained. “So I… I just waited before we had to time jump. I wanted to let you finish the memory before we moved on.”

Woohyun looked at Sunggyu curiously and noticed how Sunggyu’s cheeks were flushed ever so slightly. He chuckled to himself and whispered, “Thanks… Sunggyu.”

Clearing his throat, Sunggyu muttered, “Don’t mention it.”

“I think this is the first time you went out of your way to be nice to me.” Woohyun started grinning, his eyes squinting up into a smile.

“Yeah, don’t get used to it.” Sunggyu coughed into his hand and then looked up swiftly. “Now, where are we on the timeline?”

Woohyun looked around him, taking in the sight of a small bedroom they were transported to. It was early morning – perhaps a little after dawn from the looks of the light rays peeking through the window blinds.

He spotted Myungsoo and Sungyeol laying in a bed together – , but together. They were drooped over each other lazily, something about the way the thin sheets barely covered their lower bodies screamed late summer and lethargy.

“They don’t look much younger,” Sunggyu commented with a hum.

“They don’t,” Woohyun agreed.

He watched as the two started to move beneath their sheets, slowly waking. Sungyeol rubbed his eye, his face catching on the thin rays of sunlight in the dim room. He stretched his arms and yawned out loud, his fingers curling into the air. After a moment he looked down and stared at Myungsoo with the slightest smile on his face.   

Sungyeol shook Myungsoo awake gently; his pushes and nudges filled with an undeniable warmth. “Baby,” he whispered. “Baby, wake up.”

“Hm?” Myungsoo groaned out, shifting around.

Sungyeol laughed and smacked his arm. “Don’t be like that, come on – wake up for me please.”

“I’m awake,” Myungsoo muttered into his pillow. His eyes were stubbornly shut as he buried his nose further into his arm.

“No you’re not.” Sungyeol laughed at him.

“Yes. I am.”

“Come on, I wanted to tell you something important.”

“You can tell me still. I am awake.”

Sungyeol the side of his lip into his mouth nervously and ruffled the back of his head. “Well, uh… it’s really important, babe.”

“Go on and tell me then.”

“O-Okay then…”

Myungsoo opened his eyes and looked up at Sungyeol. He had a bright smile on his face as he sat himself up slowly. “Yeol, are you nervous or something?” He snickered behind his hand and reached out to brush Sungyeol’s hair back. “Since when were you ever nervous when you needed to talk to me? If I remember correctly, I was usually the nervous one whenever you asked to talk about something important.”

Sungyeol laughed softly and looked down at his lap. “I guess I’m just… excited to tell you? I don’t know.”

Myungsoo pulled Sungyeol over into his lap with an exaggerated grunt and smiled as Sungyeol laughed. Woohyun was thankful that the sheets were still wrapped around them like water, otherwise this straddle would have been very awkward to witness with Sunggyu by his side.

“So?” Myungsoo asked softly, looking up and touching Sungyeol’s cheek. “What do you want say?”

Sungyeol held Myungsoo’s face in both of his hands, his large twinkling eyes searching Myungsoo’s. After what Woohyun assumed was several moments of debate, Sungyeol stated, “I want to get married.”

Myungsoo’s smile faltered in shock but he put it back on his face quickly. “Sungyeol, what–… what do you mean?”

“I mean I want to get married to you.” Sungyeol tilted his head. “Unless… you don’t want that anymore?”

“No, no, of course not, I want that too, it’s just… what brought this on so suddenly? What… What made you change your mind all of a sudden?”

Sungyeol shrugged. “I woke up and I looked at you and I thought… you’ve done so much for me. You were very much my saving grace and… I just couldn’t see myself living without you anymore and I don’t want to risk doing anything stupid to lose you. I,” he shrugged, “I want to get married.”

“Just like that?” Myungsoo chuckled at him. “You want to get married?”

“Yeah.” Sungyeol nodded lightly. “Is that… okay?”

“That’s very okay with me. I’d love to get married. You don’t have a ring for me, do you?” he joked.

With a giggle, Sungyeol replied, “No, sorry. I don’t have any special ring or speech for you. I just want to get married.”

“Okay then. When?”

“Soon. As soon as we can.”

Myungsoo breathed in deeply and let it out. “I don’t know how soon that would be, baby. We’ll have to start planning the ceremony and thinking up a guest list and renting out venues–”

Sungyeol hushed him quickly. “No,” he stated decisively. “No ceremonies, no guest list, no renting anything. Just you and I getting married. I don’t have anyone to invite anyways.”

“So… eloping,” Myungsoo said and raised his eyebrows as Sungyeol nodded. He sighed heavily and shook his head with a smile. “Well, I’ll have to break the news to my parents eventually. But if you want that then I want that. We can have our own private wedding together. Just the two of us.”

Sungyeol’s eyes lit up in delight and he let out a short laugh of disbelief. “Really?” he asked, his eyes going wide. “Wait, you’ll really? You’re really agreeing?”

“Of course.” Myungsoo grinned up at him and kissed him softly. “I can’t think of any reason why I wouldn’t.”

Sunggyu snickered to himself as he nudged Woohyun’s side. “I didn’t have to see this to know that he’s completely wrapped around Sungyeol’s finger. He’s so in love with him.”

Woohyun nodded in agreement. “It’s very sweet.”

“You still don’t believe that nothing went wrong in their life? Do you think their romance is a fairytale story?”

“I-I… I don’t see why not.” Woohyun stared at Sungyeol and Myungsoo and then continued, “They seem healthily in love with each other. I still don’t think that Sungyeol is a Blasé.”

“Hm. Maybe not.” Sunggyu shrugged indifferently. “Maybe not until now, at least. I think he was a Blasé when he was younger.”

Woohyun held back a scoff in the back of his throat. “Why?” he asked, his chest clenching at the mere idea of Sunggyu’s. “Why would you even think that of him? They’re a beautiful couple, Sunggyu.”

“I’ll agree with you there – they are beautiful. However; listen to me, Woohyun, I know what I’m doing. I’ve seen these kind of relationships before. There’s a reason Sungyeol wants to get married as soon as possible, Woohyun. It’s because something happened. Something happened to make him cherish Myungsoo like this and want to get married. You heard him didn’t you – he said he didn’t want to do anything stupid to lose him. He must have done lots of stupid things in the past.” Sunggyu looked at Woohyun, who looked angry. He seemed as if he wanted to talk back and tell Sunggyu that he was wrong. “You know I’m right,” Sunggyu told him softly.

Woohyun looked away. “No, I don’t know that.”

“Then you’ll see.” Sunggyu took out the handheld device from his pocket and sighed shortly. “Come on, we should go anyways.”

“Your nose is pink. Are you cold?”

“No.”

“Your heart is racing. Are you nervous?”

“No.”

“Your chest is tight. Are you upset?”

“No.”

“Your arms are shaking. Are you scared?”

“No, Myungsoo.”

Myungsoo frowned and sat up from the picnic blanket they were laying on. “Then what is it? You don’t feel normal, Sungyeol.”

Sungyeol turned to the other side, refusing to face his boyfriend. “It’s nothing, baby. Just forget about it.”

“No, we came all the way out here to spend time together and you won’t even talk to me.” Myungsoo pulled the flannel blanket over them closer. “I know you’re having a hard time but you’ve got to talk to me. I can’t help you otherwise.”

“I don’t want your help, Myungsoo, you’ve done so much for me already.”

Myungsoo’s lips formed a small pout. He seemed upset at the lack of affection – at the lack of everything. “Do you at least want to help me? Make dinner, I mean.” He started pulling equipment out of his tote bag – a big pan, a camping burner and lots of ingredients. He set the burner down on the grass in front of them, pulling the ends of their blanket away from it.

“What are you making?” Sungyeol asked.

“Ramen,” Myungsoo replied with a chuckle. He the burner swiftly, letting the small flame warm him up for a moment. “Spicy ramen with green onions and–”

“Rice cakes?” Sungyeol sat up with a hopeful glimmer in his eyes.

Pulling out a bag of short, cylindrical rice cakes, Myungsoo replied, “Of course.” Sungyeol seemed reluctant at first, but Myungsoo’s small smile started growing as his boyfriend scooted closer to him to help him cook. “You’ll add in the rice cakes for me when I need you to, right?”

Sungyeol nodded and sniffed. Myungsoo stared at him momentarily and reached up to touch his pink nose. He leaned over and pecked it lovingly and whispered, “I love you, you know that?”

Sungyeol looked down at his lap and smiled softly. “Yeah. I know that.”

“Is this the forest they got married in?” Woohyun asked.

“Yeah,” Sunggyu replied. “Looks like it.”

“That’s sweet,” Woohyun trailed off. He seemed distracted, looking at the cooking couple but not really looking. His eyes looked distracted. Humming to himself, Woohyun muttered, “I wonder…”

“What is it?”

“Is Sungyeol lying?” Woohyun looked up at Sunggyu, expecting an answer. “His nose is pink and he’s shaking. Isn’t he cold?”

“What?” Sunggyu stared at him in disbelief. “Cold? Woohyun, his nose is pink, he’s got tremors, his chest his tight and his heart is racing. Don’t you get it?”

Woohyun furrowed his eyebrows confusedly and asked, “Get it? Get what?”

“He’s not cold, Woohyun, those are symptoms of withdrawal.” Sunggyu paused to let the new information sink in. When he didn’t see any realization dawning in Woohyun’s eyes, he quietly added, “Withdrawals from drugs, Woohyun. He’s recovering from a drug addiction.”

The surprise flooded into Woohyun’s face along with a sharp gasp that sounded from his mouth. He covered his mouth in shock and hissed out, “Drug addiction?! But he’s–”

“I told you it wasn’t going to be a happy story,” Sunggyu interrupted. He crossed his arms. “But this may be worse than I anticipated.

Myungsoo’s arm was wrapped around Sungyeol’s waist as they waited for their food to finish cooking. Sungyeol was leaning his head against Myungsoo’s, his eyes closed as he breathed heavily.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Myungsoo asked him in a hushed voice. “If you’re cold we can sleep in the car instead, you know.”

Sungyeol shook his head. “I’m not cold, babe, don’t worry. I’ll be okay out here. Just hide me in your arms and I will be okay.”

Woohyun shook his head rapidly, like he was trying to shake away the mere thought that Sungyeol was a recovering drug addict. It didn’t seem real; it didn’t seem possible. “I almost don’t believe it,” he muttered to himself.

“I don’t think it’s going to get any prettier. So you better brace yourself.”

Woohyun’s face fell as he disappeared from the scene before him.

When they landed in the next memory, Woohyun covered his nose and groaned. “What is that smell?!”

Sunggyu sniffed the air before grimacing and covering his own nose. “Smells like weed,” he murmured in disgust. He coughed into his palm and eyed the dirty bedroom floor. There were no signs of the telltale drugs anywhere so Sunggyu suspected that Sungyeol was using in a different room.

But then there was the noise of a crash – a terrible one – and yelling right afterwards. “What was that?” Woohyun whispered, his eyes widening.

Silence continued afterwards but then the sound of more crashes came. More yelling was heard and the voices were so angry, so upset that it made Woohyun nervous. He was almost too scared to know what was going to happen. All at once, Sunggyu yanked him away from the door quickly as Sungyeol and Myungsoo burst in, fighting.

“Drop it!” Myungsoo shouted at him. His hands were fighting to hold onto Sungyeol’s wrists as Sungyeol was struggling against him. “Sungyeol, let go right now!”

Sungyeol didn’t say anything in return, only pushing back against him.

Myungsoo wrestled him against a wall and pushed his arms against his chest. After subduing him successfully, he snatched a baggie filled with white powder out of Sungyeol’s fists and threw it on the ground.

“Are you ing crazy?!” Myungsoo yelled. “How could you even dare to put yourself through this again?! After what happened last time?!”

Sungyeol looked away, his eyes filled with angry tears.

“Answer me, Sungyeol!” Myungsoo shoved him, shaking him harshly. “Why would you put yourself – why would you put me – through this kind of thing again?! You know what happened last time, you know you got lucky!” His eyes filled with tears as he searched Sungyeol’s.

“I-I… I don’t know,” Sungyeol muttered, refusing to meet his eyes.

“You told me you were okay!” Myungsoo shouted. His eyes were full of betrayal and hurt. “You told me you had stopped! You promised me, Sungyeol! Why–?!”

 “Because I lied! I lied, Myungsoo!” Sungyeol shrieked out as he snapped his head to look Myungsoo in the eyes. He struggled against the hold Myungsoo had him in as he started to cry. “I can’t stop! Nothing can stop me, I’m broken! And I can’t run away from myself!”

Myungsoo held him strongly against the wall, his hands gripping onto Sungyeol’s wrists almost harshly. “Yes, you can! I told you I’d help you with this so why won’t you let me?! Your demons can’t get to you when I’m here, Sungyeol. Just tell me where they are and I’ll help you! That’s what I’m here for, I’m here to support you–”

“But you can’t!” Sungyeol sobbed out. His struggling had weakened as streams of tears ran down his cheeks. “I can’t hide from my demons, not even when you’re here!”

“Why not?! I know you can do it, Sungyeol–”

“Because they’re everywhere!” Sungyeol shrieked out at the top of his lungs. The pain in his eyes and his voice struck a chord in Woohyun’s heart. His voice was scratchy and hurt as he continued, “The demons are everywhere, Myungsoo! And not you or I can make them leave! I can’t run from them!” Sungyeol broke down into tears, his body falling onto Myungsoo’s weakly. “I can’t get away from them…”

Myungsoo closed his eyes, his eyebrows knitted from the distress he could feel. He held Sungyeol’s body against his own as a way of comfort. He rubbed Sungyeol’s back as he cried onto his shoulders. After a few moments of silence, he pulled away and held Sungyeol’s face in between his hands.

“Yes, you can get away from them,” Myungsoo whispered, thumbing the wetness off his cheeks. “Because I’m here. I’m going to help you.”

“Myungsoo–”

“No, I promised to be by your side as you went through this. I’m not going to let you kill yourself – not when I’m here. So when you can feel the demons coming, I want you to come to me.” Myungsoo leaned forward to leave a tender kiss on Sungyeol’s forehead. “I’ll protect you from your demons. You can hide from them in my arms and they won’t hurt you. I won’t let them hurt you.”­­

Sungyeol whimpered out tearfully as he fell onto Myungsoo and hugged him tightly. He started crying harder then, his tears relentlessly falling onto Myungsoo’s shoulders as he refused to let go. Myungsoo hushed him and kissed his wet cheeks over and over.

“It’s okay,” he repeated to him softly, rocking the two of them back and forth. He led them to the bed, laying the both of them down and pulling blankets up to their chins. “Everything is alright,” he promised earnestly. He Sungyeol’s hair comfortingly. “Everything is going to be okay. Your demons won’t get you. Not when you’re hiding from them in my arms. It’s going to be alright.”

Sungyeol cried himself to sleep.

“Hold on.”

“What is it?”

Woohyun’s knees buckled and he fell onto a wall for support. They were back in the small apartment, but in the kitchen now. “I-I need a moment,” he whispered. They had already moved on from the last memory but Woohyun still felt so weak. He rubbed the unshed tears away from his eyes and sniffed loudly.

Sunggyu looked at him sympathetically, putting a hand on his shoulder to relax him. “Sorry you had to witness that on your first mission. It’s hard stuff to stomach, I know.”

“Are you that jaded?” Woohyun asked him with a weird look in his eyes. To Sunggyu it looked almost accusative – his eyes were hard. “You don’t even react to that? You don’t feel bad?”

Sunggyu took half a step back. “O-Of course I feel bad, Woohyun, it’s just…”

“You get used to it, right?” Woohyun whispered, his eyes looking down. “You’ve just seen it so many times now, it doesn’t hurt you anymore.”

Sunggyu sighed heavily and retracted his hand from Woohyun’s shoulder. “It doesn’t,” he admitted. “Sorry, I can’t say that I feel anything more than some sympathy.”

Woohyun stood up and hugged himself. “Figures,” he muttered.

Before Sunggyu had the chance to ask why Woohyun seemed so bitter towards him for not getting emotional, the door opened and the couple came walking in. They seemed happier here, no signs of fighting or substance abuse. Woohyun wondered what the difference was.

The two stood in the kitchen, sighing as they drooped over the counter. “So,” Myungsoo said, looking at his boyfriend. “You want to cook something?”

Sungyeol shook his head with a laugh. “Nope. I don’t have that kind of energy in me tonight.”

“Me neither,” Myungsoo chuckled. “Shall we fry up some frozen dumplings?”

“Let’s do that,” Sungyeol said with a grin. “That sounds good for tonight.”

“Get the stove on and I’ll get the dumplings out.”

Sungyeol went under the counter to get a pan from the cupboards. He set it on the stove gently and the flame, sniffing the entire time.

Myungsoo slowed down as he closed the freezer, eyeing Sungyeol curiously. “You alright, baby?”

Sungyeol looked up and gave him a smile. “Yeah, of course. What makes you ask?”

“…Nothing really, I just thought you were sniffling kind of loudly.”

“Oh, that’s just allergies.” Sungyeol smiled down at the pan and cleared his throat. “Anyways, the pan is hot now. Let’s make some dinner.”

Myungsoo pursed his lips together before walking over. “Alright,” he said quietly.

“He’s lying,” Sunggyu said. Woohyun looked over to him and he continued, “Sungyeol is lying.”

“How can you tell so quickly?” Woohyun asked.

“Why else would Myungsoo remember this? It’s because he realized later that Sungyeol was lying to him.”

Woohyun looked down and frowned sadly. He seemed disappointed, more than disappointed, that Sungyeol and Myungsoo’s romance wasn’t what he expected. He seemed upset almost that things had turned so sour so quickly.

There wasn’t much to watch in this memory. All they two did was cook some food, talk and eat dinner together. It was very relaxed. Fittingly, it was the calm before the storm. Myungsoo was probably suspicious of Sungyeol doing drugs again but had never really pushed the subject.

It was, to put it very bluntly, upsetting.

“Are the next memories going to get worse?” Woohyun asked in a low voice.

“Don’t know. Maybe it’ll get better.” Sunggyu took in a deep breath and looked towards the rookie. “You ready to go? Next memory should be just about ready by now.”

“Okay. Let’s go then.”

As they disappeared, Woohyun hoped to the high heavens that things wouldn’t get any worse.

“Do you think Myungsoo ever regrets this kind of stuff?” Woohyun asked Sunggyu as they flashed into the next memory. “If he remembers this stuff, do you think he ever regrets it?”

Sunggyu looked down at his feet and responded, “No one can say.”

“Hm.”

“Do you think he regrets anything?”

Woohyun shrugged. “I can’t say. If I were him I wouldn’t regret it though. I don’t think I would regret it.”

“And why’s that?”

“Well–… Because he loves Sungyeol. Obviously he does. And they got their happily ever after. I wouldn’t regret it.”

Sunggyu looked at him curiously. “You don’t think he would regret it? He didn’t get his pianist career, which is why we were contacted. Isn’t that a form of regret?”

“I guess.” Woohyun shrugged. “I don’t think he would change his entire life just to get a dream career. If anything, he’s got Sungyeol. I think that would be enough for him.”

“You don’t know what kind of things people are willing to give up,” Sunggyu told him. He stared at Woohyun earnestly and said, “There are people out there who are willing to give up the memories of people close to them just to get something they wanted. You don’t know if Myungsoo is the same.”

“I hope he’s not.”

They ended the conversation then, deciding instead to focus on the memory in front of them. Myungsoo and Sungyeol were eating dinner quietly, the sound of their utensils clinking on plates echoing in the room. It was dull and so silent, the two timetravelers wondered if the couple had been in an argument or something.

It passed like that for a few moments – nothing but silence. But when Myungsoo finally spoke up, his voice was soft.

“Are you mad?” he asked.

Sungyeol stared down at his plate silently, his hands pausing. “No,” he said after a moment, spooning some more food into his mouth.

“Yes you are.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, we need to talk about it,” Myungsoo said, putting his fork down loudly. Sungyeol still refused to look at him. “We can’t ignore it forever.”

“Yes we can.”

Myungsoo pursed his lips into a frown. “Sungyeol,” he warned.

“Well, what do you want me to say?” Sungyeol snapped as he threw his spoon down with a clang. “Because I don’t have anything to tell you.”

“I want you to tell my how you’re feeling! It’s not like it didn’t happen, because it did, so why don’t you tell me what you’re upset about? I already get that you rejected me, shouldn’t I be upset instead of you?”

Sungyeol pouted and rested his head in his hand on the table. He picked his spoon back up and started pushing his food around uninterestedly. “I just don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, we’re going to have to talk about it sooner or later and I want answers now. So talk to me. I’m not letting you go to bed until you tell me why you’ve been avoiding this.”

“Because I’m not ready!” Sungyeol exclaimed. “I’m not ready to get married, Myungsoo! And when you asked me the other day, I didn’t know what to say! Because I love you, I really do but–” He sighed heavily and looked down at his hands, “I just don’t want to be married yet. I don’t think I’m ready to be tied down.”

“Tied down? Nothing would change,” Myungsoo said with a bite in his voice. “The only difference would be that we would have rings and a certificate. Unless you’re telling me that you’re planning on moving out.”

“I’ve lived here for years, why would I move out?”

“You tell me.”

Sungyeol sighed and muttered, “Marriage is scary, okay? I’m not ready. And I’m sorry if I’m making you wait, but if you really can’t wait then you can marry someone else.”

“But I don’t want anyone else,” Myungsoo argued, “I want you.”

“I’m not going to get married for a while.”

“What are you so afraid of?!” Myungsoo burst out, standing up from the table. “I’m here, Sungyeol, there’s nothing to be afraid of! Can’t you see that?!”

“But it’s because it’s you! You’re the reason I’m scared!”

“Are you saying you’re scared of me?!”

“No!” Sungyeol shouted, frustration filling his eyes. “I’m scared something is going to happen to you, or me, or us – and we can’t stay together! I’m scared that I’m going to mess up again and one of us is going to have to leave! And it scares me because it’s you and I don’t want to lose you!”

Myungsoo’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he replied, “What? Is marrying me somehow going to make me want to leave you?! Sungyeol we’ve been boyfriends for so long, how could you think that?!”

“I just do! I’m not ready for marriage, okay?! There’s nothing you can do, nothing you can say, to change that! I’m not… ready to feel like I belong to someone. I can’t, Myungsoo, I just can’t.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

Myungsoo sat down in his seat and crossed his arms. With a deep breath, he softly said, “Whatever, it’s fine. I shouldn’t have asked you when you weren’t ready. I should have talked about this with you first.”

Sungyeol was quiet for a few moments before speaking up softly again. “No, you wanted to surprise me, I understand that. I’m just not ready. I’ll be ready someday though. And if it means anything, I don’t see myself marrying anybody but you.”

“And…” Myungsoo took in a sharp breath. “I… shouldn’t have I embarrassed you. I guess I didn’t expect you to say no and then you had to in front of so many people. You must have been embarrassed.”

“Yeah.” Sungyeol nodded.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“How romantic,” Sunggyu joked, earning a small shove from Woohyun. “Hey, I’m just saying, okay?”

Woohyun frowned. “Going back keeps making me more depressed,” he murmured. He snorted. “But I guess I’ll get used to it.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“You’re stepping on my toe,” Sungyeol snickered, looking down at their feet.

“Excuse me for being uncoordinated,” Myungsoo sang playfully.

The two were spinning around each other in uncoordinated steps, laughing as they pranced around to keep themselves from stepping on each other’s feet.

“They look so young here,” Woohyun whispered.

“Very,” Sunggyu agreed. “They look like they’re in their mid-twenties probably. Pretty young to be thinking about getting married.”

Woohyun tilted his head. “They’re really cute though.”

“Still wish you could have a romance like theirs?” Sunggyu asked. He watched Woohyun carefully and hummed to himself when Woohyun shook his head slowly. “And why is that?”

“They love each other a lot,” Woohyun explained, “but there’s lots of turmoil. I think I understand what you said now – with all that stuff you said about how something must have happened for them to love each other so much.”

Sunggyu nodded. “Mm-hm.”

Myungsoo fell on the ground with a loud plop then, distracting the two from their conversation. Sungyeol laughed at him as he held out a hand to help him up.

“Got to be more careful, twinkle toes,” he teased with a snicker.

Myungsoo laughed as he stood up and dusted himself off. “Well – I’m glad I didn’t do that at prom.”

Sungyeol’s smile faltered slightly. “Hard to think that prom was so long ago.”

Reaching up to Sungyeol’s cheek, Myungsoo smiled softly. “You didn’t go to prom, did you?”

“No.” Sungyeol pressed his lips into a humorless smile. “I can’t say I did.”

“That’s alright. You didn’t miss much besides overpriced dinners and thousands of pictures.”

“Did you go with someone?”

Myungsoo blinked in thought, trying to recall memories from years ago. “Well, I don’t think you can count her as a date. I was just her backup.” He smiled at Sungyeol, dimples appearing on his cheeks. “Her boyfriend dumped her last minute so she asked me to come instead.”

“Oh,” Sungyeol replied simply. “Did you have fun?”

Myungsoo shrugged. “A little. It was alright I guess. Probably would have been more fun if you were there,” he chuckled.

Sungyeol flushed and looked down. “O-Oh, yeah. I mean, I do wish I could have been there though.”

“If you like, we can have our own prom. Get some decorations and dress all fancy.”

With a snort, Sungyeol snickered, “What are you talking about? That sounds like too much effort.”

Myungsoo chuckled. “Or, I guess we could just have a private one right now.” He pulled out his phone, ignoring the confusion on Sungyeol’s face as he pressed play on a song. It was quiet – a piano intro – and it was such a soft and tender melody. Myungsoo set his phone down on a table and held out his hand, “May I have this slow dance?”

“Is that how people ask each other to dance at prom?” Sungyeol giggled, taking his hand.

“No,” he said with a shake of his head and a bright grin. “But that’s how I’m asking you.”

So Myungsoo wrapped his arms around Sungyeol’s waist and Sungyeol wrapped his arms around Myungsoo’s neck and both of them rested their heads on each other’s shoulders. It was easier to dance like this because it was slow and steady and they didn’t risk stepping on each other’s toes. It couldn’t be called dancing, not their little swaying motion as they stayed in one spot, but it was good enough for them.

So they danced to the gentle tune and soft words of the song, still dancing even when the song stopped.

                     Short steps

                     Deep breath

                     Everything is alright

Myungsoo helped lower Sungyeol into the bathtub gently, making sure none of the water splashed over the edges. Sungyeol wouldn’t meet Myungsoo’s eyes. Instead he stared down at the water, stared down at his body, stared at anything but Myungsoo, as the latter rolled up his sleeves and took up a stool next to the tub.

It was silent between them, the sloshing water serving as the only sound in the room. Myungsoo was squirting shampoo in his hands, lathering it gently into Sungyeol’s hair. It foamed up and Sungyeol closed his eyes as to make sure it wouldn’t get in.

“Tilt your head back,” Myungsoo whispered and rinsed off the suds when Sungyeol did so. He filled his hands with soap afterwards and began massaging it into Sungyeol’s shoulders gently.

It was still quiet – uncomfortably quiet. Sungyeol didn’t say a single thing as Myungsoo finished bathing him. His hands were gentle and soft, afraid to hurt him. It was only when Sungyeol was standing outside of the tub, a towel wrapped around his shoulders and body warmly, and Myungsoo rubbing his hair dry affectionately, that he spoke up.

“Why are you doing this?” he whispered.

“Hm?” Myungsoo responded, clearly distracted.

“Myungsoo, why are you letting me stay here?” he asked softly once more. “Why don’t you kick me out – make me leave? I’ve done nothing but make more trouble for you.”

Myungsoo shrugged and continued drying Sungyeol’s hair. “I don’t need to – don’t want to. I didn’t realize how much I needed you around after I almost lost you.”

“Myungsoo–”

“I love you, Sungyeol, I realized that. I-I know neither of us have really said that to each other. Neither of us have thought we were that far but… I really do think I’m in love with you.”

Sungyeol looked at the floor as if from guilt. He hugged the towel tighter around himself and muttered, “I don’t deserve that, Myungsoo. I don’t think I deserve you after everything I’ve done.”

“Hey, hey – don’t say that. We all make mistakes, okay? You don’t need to keep thinking of the past because I’ve moved away them already. Let’s just start anew. We don’t need to talk about anything else.” He moved closer and hugged Sungyeol warmly, rubbing his back.

Sungyeol leaned into the hug. With his eyes closed, he murmured, “I think… I think I love you too.”

Myungsoo laughed to himself and said, “I can’t believe we’ve been waiting this long to say it. How long have we been pretending to just be roommates?”

“Too long,” Sungyeol laughed. “Honestly, I knew we were more than that when you kissed me. I guess we were just too afraid to talk about it.”

“I’m glad you stayed.”

“I’m happy that you’re there to care about me.”

“I’ll always care about you.”

“We’re in a hospital again,” Woohyun muttered, his eyes darkening.

“It’s familiar, isn’t it?” Sunggyu told him, gesturing to the patients in the middle of the room.

Sungyeol was lying there, tubes attached all over his body and up his nose. The monitor next to his bed was beeping slowly and Myungsoo was there, sleeping. He was resting his head by Sungyeol’s side like he was patiently waiting for him to wake up. And maybe he was.

“I don’t like it,” Woohyun said out loud. “I hate how quiet these memories keep getting. And I’ll be honest, Sunggyu – I don’t think I can get used to it.”

“Is it starting to be too much?”

“It’s not just starting!” Woohyun exclaimed. Sunggyu looked at him in surprise, his eyebrows raising. “All this hurt, the pain – this entire kaleidoscope of emotions is so much to handle as a person at once! It’s like all the feelings have been condensed into what really hurt and we have to go through it.”

Sunggyu blinked at him without a reaction. “That’s our job,” he stated flatly with a shrug. “It’s what you’ve signed up for. I told you at the start that it might not be something suited for you. Maybe you should start rethinking things.”

Woohyun sighed and slumped against the wall. “It’s just so heartbreaking,” he mumbled. “Everything hurts and these aren’t even all the memories. I can’t imagine how his entire life played out.”

Sungyeol stirred in the bed then, alerting the people around him. He groaned as he opened his eyes, squinting in the bright light. He sat up weakly and noticed how Myungsoo was laying his head on the mattress as well. He reached out to touch Myungsoo and wake him, touching his shoulders gently. “Myungsoo…?” he said hoarsely as the other began to wake up. “Where… Where am I?”

Myungsoo’s eyes widened the moment he saw Sungyeol and his eyes filled with tears immediately. Sungyeol watched in confusion as he started crying almost uncontrollably, hiccupping over his words. Blinking rapidly, Sungyeol tried to make sense out of Myungsoo’s sudden tears. “Myungsoo…?”

Myungsoo glared at him through his tears and sniffed harshly. “You idiot,” he hissed, lightly smacking Sungyeol’s hand. “You’re so stupid!”

“I–… what–?”

“How could you?!” Myungsoo shouted, punching him in the shoulder. “You’re so irresponsible, I hate you!”

“What did I… do?” Sungyeol asked him, his eyes wide in anxiety.

“What did you do?! Sungyeol, you’re so stupid, I thought you were dead! I thought you had gone and killed yourself and all this time there was nothing I could have done about it! You’re such an idiot, Sungyeol, you’re such an idiot!” He hit Sungyeol over and over as he stood up. “Don’t you know how worried I was?! Don’t you know how panicked I was when I learned you ended up in the hospital because of a drug overdose?! You’re so stupid, how could you put yourself in that kind of danger?!”

Sungyeol stared at Myungsoo sorrowfully. Guilt filled his eyes as Myungsoo hit him over and over, crying and chanting, “I hate you, I hate you.”

“Myungsoo… I-I… I’m sorry, I–”

“You can’t be sorry, Sungyeol, you don’t get it! All this time I’ve let you stay at my house and I don’t expect anything, not a single thing, in return! But the least you could do was stay healthy! Or at least alive!” Myungsoo swiped the tears off of his cheeks violently as he landed another hit against Sungyeol’s chest. “I didn’t need you to clean or cook or even pay me for staying in my home but I expected you to at least stay alive! Do you want to terrify me or something?!”

Sungyeol blinked, his eyes wide in surprise and confusion. “No, no,” he whispered roughly. “Myungsoo, I didn’t mean… I didn’t want this to happen.” His voice was soft and thin and the sound of it just about broke Myungsoo’s heart.

Myungsoo fell back onto his chair and buried his face into his hands and cried. He sat there and cried in front of Sungyeol, not bothering to hide how disappointed and scared he had been. Sungyeol’s heart monitor beeped constantly in the background, serving as a grave reminder that Sungyeol was alive, but barely.

“You’re an idiot,” Myungsoo cried in a whisper. “A real idiot, you know that? What if you did die, Sungyeol? What if you actually died?” He sniffed loudly and apologized as he wiped his face with his shirt. “What would I have done? I… I almost lost you, Sungyeol – the doctors almost couldn’t save you!”

Sungyeol sniffled; a few tears falling down from his eyes as he gripped at the hospital sheets tightly. “I’m sorry…” he whispered. He hiccupped softly and went up to wipe away his tears, but was stopped from all the tubes on his face and body. “I didn’t mean this, Myungsoo, I-I’m so sorry…”

“,” Woohyun whispered out miserably. He wiped away at his own tears and held his breath to stop himself from sobbing. “Sorry, I just- I need a moment.”

Sunggyu looked at him sympathetically and reached out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. He rubbed Woohyun’s shoulder comfortingly, watching as the other cried. He wasn’t stopping. Woohyun’s emotions were running wild.

Sunggyu assumed it was from all the emotions he had bottled up while traveling through Myungsoo’s memories. He felt bad for Woohyun a little – the guy was brand new to time traveling and his first mission was such an emotional rollercoaster. Watching Woohyun weep made Sunggyu’s chest tighten a little bit as he bit back a sigh.

“Woohyun?” he asked softly.

Woohyun shook his head and laughed humorlessly. “Sorry,” he sniffled. He turned away from the hospital bed and covered his face. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to break down like that–” he muttered huskily.

“Hey, hey it’s okay,” Sunggyu told him gently. “It’s alright if you cry.” He put one arm around Woohyun’s shoulders, rubbing his arm comfortingly. “I cried my first couple missions too. It’s hard stuff to stomach.”

“How would you ever get used to this?” Woohyun asked through his bleary eyes. He wiped at them and then said, “It’s so emotionally devastating, Sunggyu, how can anyone ever get used to seeing someone’s story unravel before your eyes?”

Sunggyu frowned. “Because I know how it ends. It’s not a tragedy, Woohyun, you have to understand that.”

Woohyun was quiet for the next few moments, calming down to nothing but hiccups. After sniffling a few more times he shook his head. “I understand that, Sunggyu. I know how it ends, I know how they end. But doesn’t their journey make you emotional?”

Sunggyu opened his mouth to speak but closed it soon after. “No,” he said after a moment. His voice was soft. “Sorry, but I can’t say I do.”

Woohyun shook his head unhappily. “That’s sad, you know – the fact that you can’t appreciate the emotional journey people take to get their happy ending in life.”

The elder was silent as they continued on the next memory.

When they flashed into the next memory, Woohyun’s eyes were still red and wet as he focused on the scene before him. Myungsoo was alone in a dim lit room. He sat at a piano, his hands flying across a piano’s keys gracefully. A complex sound filled the silence in the room around them.

“What… what is this?” Woohyun asked, squinting in the darkness. The room was so dark and musty that the lonely tune of the piano was almost ominous. “Where’s Sungyeol?” he asked.

Sunggyu scanned their surroundings and blinked in confusion. “I’m not sure actually,” he responded. “Maybe we’ve gone back to before he met Sungyeol.”

“That far?” Woohyun’s eyes widened in surprise. “There’s no other memories in between?”

“Guess not,” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun looked to Sunggyu for answers. “Why not?”

“Myungsoo’s an old guy,” Sunggyu told him. “He probably can’t remember every single detail from his twenties. If it’s not important to him then we probably won’t see it. Or maybe he just doesn’t remember. Besides, that last memory we were just in was probably so jarring to him that it’s the only one that he can remember from this time of his life. Which is pretty sad.”

Woohyun stared at the back of this younger version of Myungsoo, wondering if he had any idea how his life would turn out. In this moment he was probably just an aspiring pianist, working hard to achieve a dream that had been in the works for so long. His hands were so fluid against the keys that Woohyun thought if he had made it to his audition, he most likely would have passed.

The piano was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing that caused Myungsoo to jump in his seat. He sighed heavily as he answered the call with a click and brought it up to his ears. “Hello?” he said. “Oh, Dongwoo! Yeah, I’m on my way to the audition right now.” He snatched his music sheets from the piano and shoved them into a bag that was resting on the leg of his chair. With a rush, he threw on his jacket and buckled his bag as he stood up.

He paused to listen to whatever words were coming through the phone and he laughed nervously as he threw a glance at the piano he was previously sitting at. “What? No, I’m not… practicing last minute! I’m on my way, I’m in a taxi right now! There’s just traffic, okay? I’m on the road, okay, trust me Dongwoo! I’m not–!”

In his rush, he accidentally let his hand fall from the music stand on the piano to the keys with an uncoordinated musical plunk. He winced as someone yelled at him through the phone for ‘still practicing in that creepy basement, you liar!’ and visibly ruffled. Myungsoo’s voice quieted as he whispered, “Yes, okay… I’ll get my to the audition now, sorry. Thanks, I’ll see you there. Bye.”

Sunggyu had enough in him to crack a laugh. “Myungsoo seems to be running late,” he commented obviously.

“Yeah.” Woohyun smiled slightly. “Do you think he missed his audition because he was late?”

“Who knows? Better follow him to see the real reason,” Sunggyu stated. “And we better hurry,” he added with a chuckle, “because Myungsoo looks like he’s in a hurry.”

The two chased after Myungsoo with quick steps because while Myungsoo was in a haste, he wasn’t running quite yet. They followed him out onto the chilly streets of winter. Myungsoo didn’t bother flagging down any taxis or catching any buses – he seemed content with speed walking to his destination.

“I bet you this is why he was late,” Sunggyu commented as they walked after him rapidly. “He didn’t take a taxi or a bus to the audition, no wonder he missed it.”

“So what does that mean for us?”

“That means we have to replay this memory and make sure he gets in a taxi. Makes it easy for us,” Sunggyu said with a slight smile. “I’m glad it’s nothing too complicated, otherwise we might have to sacrifice some stuff in his life–”

The two of them stopped in their tracks then. It was a little sudden, almost making both of them fall over, but Myungsoo had completely stopped in his tracks as well. The young man was frozen in his footsteps and staring heavily into an alley to his left. His feet shuffled a little in place then, as if struggling to find where to go.

Woohyun tilted his head in confusion and looked to Sunggyu. “What’s… going on? Sunggyu?”

“I’m not sure…” Sunggyu replied in a low voice. He took small steps forward in caution, trying to take a look at what Myungsoo was staring so intently at.

“You…” Myungsoo said suddenly. He turned towards the alley, his eyes going wide as he rushed into it.

Sunggyu and Woohyun followed after him quickly and were immediately taken back by what they saw. “Oh my–” Woohyun gasped, reaching up to cover his mouth with his hands.

Sungyeol was laying there in the alley, hugging himself as he shivered in his thin clothes. His eyes were blank as if he wasn’t registering what he was seeing at all. The cardboard he sat on seemed to be ineffective at keeping his legs warm. Myungsoo was kneeling in front of him, touching his matted hair and his cold cheeks.

“I… I know you,” he whispered, his eyes panicked as he searched Sungyeol’s. He got no response so he threw down his bag and checked for Sungyeol’s pulse and temperature. “You’re freezing,” he muttered. His hands traveled along Sungyeol’s arms and his brows furrowed in confusion as his fingers brushed across a band of rubber that was tied tightly around his upper arm. The veins in Sungyeol’s arm were clear even in the night’s dim lighting.

With a slight grunt, Myungsoo snapped it off with his hands. His breath came out like smoke and it seemed as if it was all Sungyeol could really focus on.

Sungyeol’s frail hands reached up to touch Myungsoo’s cheek softly, like he didn’t believe what he was seeing. “Who are you…?” he whispered with creased eyebrows. He breathed heavily and groaned.

“I’m here to help you.” Myungsoo wrapped his arms around his shoulder decisively then, helping the other to stand up. “You look like you’re on the verge of death and you need help, so I’m going to help you.” He kicked away the cardboard from under Sungyeol’s feet and helped him move forward. “We’re going to call a taxi and I’m going to take you home.”

Sungyeol shook his head, not in disagreement but rather as if to clear it. “I-I… Who are you, what–”

“It’s alright, Sungyeol, it’s fine. I’m helping you, you’re okay now,” he told him over and over. His voice was shaking like he couldn’t believe his own eyes – like he couldn’t believe that Sungyeol was freezing out here in an alley.

Sungyeol couldn’t seem to register anything he was saying. His eyes were heavily unfocused and his breathing was uneven. Myungsoo looked more scared than he was as he struggled to carry him out of the streets.

“Is this how he met Sungyeol?” Woohyun asked. His eyes were misty as if he was about to cry again.

Sunggyu shook his head. “I don’t think so, because he recognized Sungyeol. But Sungyeol doesn’t seem to recognize him.”

“But they barely seem to know each other.” Woohyun watched as Myungsoo called a taxi service on his phone.

“Perhaps they were acquaintances before. But Myungsoo recognized him enough to instantly stop and help him. Sungyeol doesn’t look like he remembers him though.”

Myungsoo panted heavily as he draped Sungyeol over his shoulder. Sungyeol was on the brink of unconsciousness and it only seemed to make Myungsoo panic a little more each second. “Stay with me, Sungyeol, you’re okay now,” he would grunt every so often. With his arms still around Sungyeol, he maneuvered his heavy coat off and wrapped it around Sungyeol instead. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

Myungsoo’s phone rang at that moment, his hands going to fish inside his pockets to pull out the device. “Hello?” His eyes closed as he sighed into the phone. “Dongwoo, I can’t come, I’m sorry. No, I’m not chickening out, I’m – Dongwoo, listen. I just… I have something more important tonight.”

Myungsoo paused on the phone, letting the other named Dongwoo speak before talking again. “Dongwoo, remember back in high school? That guy I asked out named Sungyeol? Yeah, the one that disappeared later. I found him on the streets just now – yeah, on the streets. I’m taking him home with me. He looks like he needs the help and I can give it to him so– no, I’m not doing it because I’m still infatuated with him, Dongwoo, the guy was sleeping in an alley! I can’t let him stay there! Whatever, I’ll talk to you in a few days… sorry about the audition.”

In that moment, Woohyun wondered if he knew. He wondered if Myungsoo knew how difficult Sungyeol was going to make his life. He wondered if Myungsoo knew all the emotional distress that was going to come with it; if he knew that before he and Sungyeol could be happily in love, there would be so much turmoil and tension.

“We’ve got to change this don’t we?” Woohyun asked softly. The taxi came then and Myungsoo hauled Sungyeol and his-self inside of it. “If we’re going to make sure he gets to his audition, he can’t find Sungyeol in the alley.”

Sunggyu pressed two fingers into his temples, his forehead creasing as he shook his head. “This just got a whole hell of a lot harder.”

“What’s going to happen after that?” Woohyun asked, concern starting to bleed into his voice. “Is Sungyeol going to die out here without Myungsoo finding him? We can’t let that happen, Sunggyu–”

“Is that a problem?” Sunggyu asked with a hard look in his eye. Woohyun was taken back, unable to say anything as Sunggyu continued. “You don’t know Sungyeol, Woohyun, you’ve never met him. Don’t tell me you’ve gotten attached to him already.”

“I-I,” Woohyun stammered unintelligently. “It’s not that, I just–”

“I told you not to get attached, rookie.”

“I’m not attached–”

“Yes you are,” Sunggyu said firmly. “I know you are. Don’t deny it, Woohyun. Denial isn’t going to help.”

“But–”

“Let’s go, Woohyun. Attached or not, we still have a job to do and a wish to fulfill.”

Woohyun was quiet when Sunggyu took them back to the start of that memory. He stayed silent as he watched Sunggyu analyze the situation more carefully before taking action. He had absolutely nothing to say as Sunggyu called a taxi service and made sure a taxi arrived as soon as Myungsoo left the building.

Woohyun watched with a certain taste of regret in his mouth as Myungsoo assumed Dongwoo had sent him the cab and got in without hesitation. The actions he took were so simple, but Woohyun knew it was going to have a huge, permanent effect on Myungsoo’s life. But he couldn’t say anything, for what could he say? It was true, he was kind of attached

“How does that work?” he asked finally, looking at Sunggyu’s phone.

Sunggyu gave him a small smile and replied, “Company cell phone. It’s specially engineered to work during timetravel.”

Woohyun nodded in fascination before breathing out a sigh of morose. “Sungyeol won’t get saved tonight,” he commented. “Myungsoo will get his audition but Sungyeol will just be stuck in that alley.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Sunggyu told him. “Myungsoo forgot his scarf back there. He’ll eventually notice and he’ll need to go back to retrieve it.”

“So… he’ll find Sungyeol then?”

“Can’t say,” Sunggyu replied. “But let’s hope he does.” Woohyun nodded in agreement. “Alright, let’s go now. We can head back to the present day and see how Myungsoo’s life played out this time.”

When Woohyun and Sunggyu flashed back to the present day, they were greeted with the same sight as when they left. Myungsoo lay on a bed with Sungjong at his side, talking to him amiably. The room was a little different – there was some furniture that hadn’t been there before as well as different pictures in the frames. Though there were small little differences, not much seemed to have changed.

“We’re back,” Sunggyu announced as he switched off their incognito mode.

Sungjong smiled at them and stood up. “Oh, welcome back! That took a while. Myungsoo and I were wondering if you had run into complications or something.”

“No, not at all. Just a lot of memories to process. Right, Woohyun?”

Woohyun blinked. “O-Oh, yes. Lots of memories.” He felt a pit lower in his stomach – the memories they traveled through no longer existed. He and Sunggyu were the last people to ever see the old timeline that Myungsoo’s life was. He swallowed a thick lump in his throat; it was a hard concept to stomach.

“So, tell me Sungjong. You know Myungsoo’s life, right? I’m sure he’s talked to you enough for you to know the basics of that about him.”

Sungjong nodded. “Yes, I guess you could say that I know what happened throughout his life.”

Sunggyu said, “Good, good. So tell us, is Myungsoo a pianist?”

“Uh – well, he used to be.”

“Perfect, that’s– wait, what?” Sunggyu’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “What do you mean he used to be? You mean he retired, right?”

“No. I mean he used to be a professional pianist but gave it up.” Sungjong seemed confused at Sunggyu astonishment. “You didn’t know that? He was quite famous for piano back in the day, so when he suddenly quit he was even featured in a local newspaper because of it.”

“Wait, wait, wait – why did he quit though?”

“For a homeless guy he had taken in at the time. Lee Sungyeol. They even got married later.”

The silence was deafening in the next moment. Woohyun could see a vein starting to bulge in Sunggyu’s neck and he swallowed. It seemed like their timetraveling endeavors were fruitless, and to Woohyun, that meant one of two things – either they had acted at the wrong interval in time, or Sungyeol and Myungsoo were Red Strings.

Suddenly Sunggyu yanked his arm and pulled him out of the room, apologizing to Sungjong as he closed the door. He turned to Woohyun with eyes full of stress and frustration. “Do you think they’re Red Strings?” he asked.

Woohyun blinked and half nodded. “I think they might be… I mean, you changed something and they still found a way back to each other. That’s usually signs of Red Strings, right?”

“Ugh, I hoped this wouldn’t have happened.” Sunggyu shook his head. “We don’t know if they’re Red Strings for sure. I’ll run a few tests. I’m going to need you to stay back here and let me know what happens when I come back, okay?”

Woohyun nodded rapidly and Sunggyu went back into the room. He flipped a switch on Woohyun’s vest, turning off the power to make sure that the other couldn’t time travel. He punched in some commands into his hand held power unit and disappeared.

Woohyun sat there next to Sungjong, hoping and hoping that nothing could get any worse from here on out.

“Damn. Damn it all!” Sunggyu shouted. He crossed his arms in frustration. “They’re Red Strings, for sure! There’s no possible explanation other than that!”

Woohyun pursed his lips together and placed his hands on his hips. “So what does that mean? We can’t grant his wish?”

“We have to grant his wish,” Sunggyu muttered. “That’s what we came here to do and that’s what he wants. We’re not stopping until we’re out of options.”

Every time Sunggyu changed something in Myungsoo’s past for him to keep his pianist career, it made no difference when he would meet Sungyeol again. Myungsoo gave up his career every single time he found Sungyeol struggling on the streets. Sunggyu learned very quickly that had it not been for Myungsoo, Sungyeol would have lived his life and died in the streets as he jumped from alley to alley, playing with narcotics.

All Sunggyu did was try to prevent them from meeting until Myungsoo had a strong grip on his career. But all that happened each time was that Myungsoo would become a more well-known musician, and each time he would give up his growing fame to take care of Sungyeol. The same thing happened in each new timeline.

Myungsoo would become the pianist he always wanted to become and played in big theaters for people to hear. The public would know his name and hold his image in a golden light. And then he would somehow cross Sungyeol, struggling to survive in the streets, and he would drop every single penny to his name to take him in and take care of him. They fell in love each time.

Yet each time was sadder than the next because since the public was so aware of Myungsoo, they were now aware of Sungyeol as well. They blamed him for cutting Myungsoo’s budding career and success short and the longer Sunggyu delayed their meeting, the more harsh the public was towards Sungyeol for being the alleged ruining of Myungsoo.

In one life, Sungyeol and Myungsoo didn’t get married. In another, Sungyeol had left Myungsoo in order to keep feeding his drug addiction. And in the latest one Sunggyu changed, Myungsoo had managed to keep Sungyeol, but the onslaught of criticisms from the public eye had spiraled him into depression and he had taken his own life.

So when Sunggyu came back, the house Myungsoo laid in had changed drastically. They were no longer in a mansion in the woods but in a lonely suburban home where Myungsoo had lived the rest of his life by himself.

“You don’t think we’re out of options yet?” Woohyun asked him. “Sungyeol committed suicide in this last one, Sunggyu–”

“I know he did!” Sunggyu snapped. “Every time I change something he just… comes back! They always meet, no matter what I change, and Myungsoo always gives up his career for Sungyeol. The only thing that really changes is what Sungyeol does.”

“They’re Red Strings, for sure then,” Woohyun murmured.

Sunggyu massaged his temples and said, “Can you tell me the exact definition of Red Strings for me, Woohyun? It’s been so long since I’ve ever had to deal with Red Strings and I’m sure you’re much more familiar with the definition since you just graduated.”

“Red Strings are people who meet once in life and will always find a way to meet and fall in love. Fated, so to say.” Woohyun shrugged. “Very rare in most cases.”

“And we just had to get a rare case of lovebirds, didn’t we,” Sunggyu sighed. “What else is there to know about Red Strings?”

“They’ll do anything for each other,” Woohyun added. “The name was coined from the belief of the Red String of Fate. Once they meet there’s no stopping them from falling in love later in life. Not exactly love at first sight, but very similar.”

Sunggyu’s eyes shot open as he stood up. “I got it, Woohyun. You said that once they meet they’ll never be able to stay away from each other, right? They’re like magnets.”

“Yes…” Woohyun replied slowly. “But what does that–”

“The night of their audition wasn’t their first meeting, remember?! Why didn’t I think of this before?! Myungsoo had mentioned that he had met Sungyeol in high school or something like that.”

Woohyun frowned. “What?”

“Come on, Woohyun. You’re going to come with me this time.” Sunggyu pulled him over to the power unit and Woohyun’s vest. “I think you should be there. You’re working on this mission too.”

Woohyun didn’t get a chance to respond before Sunggyu flashed them to a memory before the night of Myungsoo’s audition.

“Kill me, are we at prom?” Sunggyu snorted when they reappeared in a fancy room decorated from the floor to ceiling with blue and white balloons. All the students were dancing on the dance floor, the heavy bass rumbling through their bodies.

Woohyun snickered. “Brings back memories. What do you think the theme is?”

They both looked around at the white and blue colors and the obnoxious amounts of blue and silver streamers. When they saw the giant, glass seashell shaped punch bowl, they both nearly rolled their eyes.

“Under the sea?” they both said.

Sunggyu scoffed. “Is every prom ‘under the sea’ themed or something? Or is it just every single one I’ve been to?”

“I could ask the same thing,” Woohyun snorted.

“Anyways, let’s look around. I don’t think they would have met at prom, so–”

“Hey, why aren’t you two dressed up?!”

Woohyun and Sunggyu froze and turned around slowly. There was a student there, dressed in a suit with a green tie and staring at them with his lips pursed in a frown. Sunggyu looked around because maybe this guy was looking past them. After all, they should have their incognito mode on.

But after a quick look around, he noticed that everyone was dressed formally. There couldn’t have been anyone else this student was talking to.

“I’m looking at you two!”

“Can he see us?!” Woohyun hissed at him. Sunggyu looked back with just as much confusion.

The student sighed, walking over and grasping their arms. Both Sunggyu and Woohyun let out a gasp at the touch because he shouldn’t have been able to see them to begin with, let alone be able to touch them.

“I don’t recognize you two as students here, where are your dates?” the student asked, narrowing his eyes. “Aren’t you a little old to be prom dates…? I swear the age limit was twenty-one.”

“Dongwoo, what are you doing?” Another student in a suit and purple tie walked up.

“Oh, Hoya! I was just asking why these guys weren’t dressed up.” Dongwoo shook his head. “After all the effort we put into this dance and they don’t even bother to dress up. You know we can kick you out?”

“Wait, what?” Woohyun stammered. “You can’t kick us out–” He looked at Sunggyu worriedly. If they were kicked out of the dance they’d probably go outside of the memory’s boundaries and the timeline would glitch.

“Well, you’re not wearing proper attire. I don’t even see how you got in, to be honest–”

“We’re chaperones!” Sunggyu blurted out. The two students eyed him strangely. “Um, we’re chaperones? That’s why we don’t look like students here, we were hired to do some chaperoning…?”

The two students blinked. “Oh,” they said together. Dongwoo nodded and said, “Okay then, sorry for getting in your face. Thanks for chaperoning!”

“Uh… sure, I guess,” Sunggyu replied. He scratched his head. “You’re welcome?”

Dongwoo draped himself on Hoya’s arm then, waving as Hoya whisked him away. “Have fun chaperoning!”

Woohyun and Sunggyu stared until Dongwoo had disappeared in the sea of dancing teenagers. After that, Sunggyu pulled him inside of the nearest maintenance closet, shoving him into the cramped space.

After fitting himself in, Sunggyu whispered, “Okay, that was weird.” He flicked on the lights and locked the door handle. “Something might be wrong with the wiring in our vests. Our incognito mode isn’t working?”

Woohyun pressed a button his vest over and over, letting out a frustrated grunt. “Looks like it’s not. You can fix it though, right? I never really… learned this sort of thing,” he admitted sheepishly.

Sunggyu chuckled and nodded. “I think I’ve had enough run-ins with faulty wiring to know how to fix it up enough until I can get it looked it by a professional. Let me look at yours first.”

Sunggyu reached for his vest and split it open to reveal all sorts of wires and gadgets underneath the padded fabric. His fingers were nimble in rearranging the wires to something manageable for the time being.

“What’s the problem?” Woohyun asked, looking down at his hands.

“Looks like our time jump messed up some of the wires,” Sunggyu said, tilting his head. “But it’s fixable. We’ll have to send these back to the headquarters for them to check it out completely.”

Woohyun was watching him work quietly when a sudden shake came to their door, followed with a high female voice asking, “Hello?! Who’s in here?! You’re not allowed to be in here!”

Woohyun looked to Sunggyu worriedly. “Sunggyu–!”

“Don’t worry, the door is locked.”

“Yeah, but she probably has a key!” he hissed as they heard a lock be inserted into the door.

The handle jiggled and Sunggyu frowned. “Crap,” he muttered. He turned back to Woohyun with his voice low and said, “Put your arms around my neck.”

Woohyun’s eyes widened and his eyebrows furrowed. “What?!” he whispered. “Why would I–”

“I’m not finished fixing our incognito mode, just do it!” Sunggyu told him. The elder wrapped his own arms around Woohyun’s waist, pulling him close. “Trust me, okay, I know what to do.”

“I-I,” Woohyun stammered, feeling uncomfortable at the sudden intimacy. “Can you at least tell me what your plan is?” he asked, slowly putting his arms around Sunggyu’s neck. The door handle clicked and the lady outside made a noise of achievement.

“Into my hair,” Sunggyu commanded.

“Huh?”

“Your fingers.”

The door was beginning to swing open. “Sunggyu, I still don’t– mmpf!”

The moment the door was opened all the way, Sunggyu had slammed his mouth onto Woohyun’s, kissing him like they were a couple or something. Woohyun screwed his eyes shut and tightened his fingers in Sunggyu’s hair.

“Oh!” the lady squeaked as she saw the two of them in tight embrace.

Sunggyu moved in an awkward rhythm that Woohyun couldn’t keep up with, resulting in some clacking teeth and messy kissing. He grunted as Sunggyu ran his hands over his body hastily. It was an awkward little make out, but that seemed to be a common sight, considering how many hormonal teenagers were probably making out in their own corners as well.

Peeking one eye open, Woohyun noticed that the lady was a teacher and her face was bright red. She tried to yell at them, to tell them to get away from each other and get out of the closet but Sunggyu made sure to pay her no attention. She slammed the door closed when Sunggyu brought up Woohyun’s leg to wrap around his waist. As soon as the door closed, Sunggyu let him go and locked the door again.

“Alright then,” he said, fixing his hair and refocusing back on Woohyun’s vest. “That is how you divert people’s attention away from you.”

Woohyun covered his face in his hands, blushing madly. “By making out with them?!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, that tends to make people uncomfortable enough to leave.” Sunggyu shrugged.

“Now people are going to think their chaperones are doing the dirty in some maintenance room!”

“It’s fine, we’ll be in and out in no time.” Woohyun felt whirring come from his vest just then and he felt the same energy he felt before radiating through his body. “There,” Sunggyu said contently. “Should be fixed now.”

He turned his attention to his own vest then, leaving Woohyun by himself. Woohyun still hadn’t stopped flushing, his face heating up the more he thought about the ridiculous situation they were just in. He crossed his arms and huffed.

“Is there a problem?” Sunggyu teased without looking up from his own vest.

“No,” Woohyun muttered.

“Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for my superior kissing skills already,” he laughed.

Woohyun’s face burned harder. “I haven’t! A-Anyways, shouldn’t we be heading out? We still haven’t seen Myungsoo in this memory yet. There’s got to be a reason why he remembered it.”

Sunggyu snapped a wire into place and his vest let out a whirring noise. “That should do it,” he said to himself. “Incognito mode is back on. And I agree, we should find Myungsoo in this memory before moving on.”

Now that the two were no longer visible to anybody’s eyes, they were careful exiting the closet together. Reentering the sweaty atmosphere wasn’t very fun as the droning bass shook their ribcages once more. Navigating the crowded floor was a little difficult but after a little bit of patience, they found themselves on the other side of the room.

Myungsoo was sitting by himself at one of the tables covered in shimmery blue cloth. He sat alone, his head in his hands as he picked at the rhinestones adorning the ends of the silverware. He looked lonely.

“Did he go to prom by himself?” Woohyun asked with his eyebrow raised. “Didn’t he say he went with a friend?”

“Guess he got ditched,” Sunggyu murmured.

“Hey, Myung.” The student named Dongwoo walked over and put an arm around him. “Want to come dance with me and Hoya?”

“And make a fool out of myself next to you two? No thanks.” Myungsoo sighed and buried his face in his arms. “I just want to go home.”

Hoya placed a hand on his shoulder. “Where’s your date?”

“I don’t know, probably making out with some guy in the corner.” Myungsoo pouted. “I can’t leave her because I’m her ride home.”

Dongwoo gave him a sympathetic smile and draped over him in a strange hug. “You know, you didn’t have to take her. You could have just gone alone like you planned.”

“I didn’t want to go alone. I just… I don’t know, I wish I was having more fun. I wish I could have asked him.”

“It’s okay, buddy. You’re always welcome to tag along with me and Hoya.”

Myungsoo shook his head sadly. “No, I wouldn’t want to impose. So you two go ahead, I’ll just stay here.”

Dongwoo eyed him unsurely. “Are you positive?”

“Yeah, definitely. Just go and dance, you two, I know you guys want to.” Myungsoo smiled at them briefly.

“Poor kid,” Sunggyu hummed. “Stranded at prom and too kind to third wheel his friends.”

“Yeah… hope prom night gets a little better for him.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think it will.”

“You haven’t heard from him still?” Dongwoo asked Myungsoo. They were hanging in front of their lockers, just talking.

Myungsoo looked worried and there were bags underneath his eyes. He shook his head and responded, “I haven’t seen or heard a single thing from him in weeks! It’s like he just got up and disappeared somewhere.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll come back. Maybe he’s in the hospital for something?”

“I hope so…” Myungsoo murmured, looking down. “I-I wanted to ask him to prom but seeing that he hasn’t showed up to school for at least a month, I’m not sure what to think anymore.”

Dongwoo smiled at him. “It’ll be fine. If anything, at least your infatuation can be put to rest.”

“It’s not infatuation!” Myungsoo snapped nervously. “Our date went so well, Dongwoo, I honestly think he likes me. And I kind of wanted to ask him if he wanted to be boyfriends but...” He sighed heavily. “There’s just been sign of him! It’s not like he could have disappeared off the face of the Earth or something!”

“Calm down, buddy,” Dongwoo told him. “Maybe Sungyeol moved is all.”

“Wouldn’t he contact me?”

“Is he obligated to? You guys only went out on one date. And besides, just because you’ve been staring at him since sophomore year doesn’t mean he’s done the same.”

Myungsoo frowned and slumped against the lockers. “I know, I know… I’m still worried though, Dongwoo. He hasn’t come to school, what am I supposed to think?”

Dongwoo looked around and pursed his lips. “I mean, if you’re really that worried, maybe you should talk to his homeroom teacher or counselor. If anyone in this school would know, it’s them.”

“Are they talking about Sungyeol?” Woohyun asked. “Myungsoo had mentioned Sungyeol had disappeared during high school in one of the memories we had gone to, hadn’t he?”

“Think so,” Sunggyu replied. “I’ll bet you it’s because this is when Sungyeol started getting hooked on drugs.”

Woohyun didn’t want to admit that idea, or even acknowledge it. But they both knew that it was probably true. They followed Myungsoo quietly through the hallways, frowning at how loud the bells were to signal the students to get to class. They didn’t remember high school being this hectic.

When Myungsoo got to his homeroom, he made a beeline straight for the teacher. Tightening his grip on his backpack straps, he asked, “Mr. Kwon? Can I ask you something?”

The teacher lowered his wire-framed glasses and raised his eyebrows. “Oh, Myungsoo. Sure, what do you want to know?”

“You know that boy in our homeroom? Sungyeol?” Myungsoo scratched his head. “Has he been out sick or something?”

The teacher’s face fell as he sighed. “Myungsoo, Sungyeol hasn’t been sick. He dropped out.”

“What?” Myungsoo gasped, his eyebrows knitting. “Did he call the school?”

“I’m not sure of the details, I just know that he’s no longer a student here.”

“Do you know where he’s gone?”

“No, I’m sorry.”

With wide and confused eyes, Myungsoo shuffled to his seat and plopped down in disappointment. His face still didn’t seem to comprehend the news he had been told as he rested his chin into his hands. Dongwoo leaned over from his seat next to him.

“Well?” he asked with curiosity. “What’d he say?”

Myungsoo sulked. “I was right… It’s like he just disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

When Woohyun and Sunggyu appeared in the next memory, Myungsoo was standing outside of a classroom, hugging his books to his chest.

“He looks so young,” Woohyun breathed out. “It’s hard to believe he’s the same person as the old man we met.”

“Yeah,” Sunggyu agreed.

Myungsoo looked like a baby here compared to all the other memories. His skin was wrinkle-free and fresh and his eyes were so bright. Dimples would appear with his smile and his hair was fluffy and unruly. Everything about his demeanor showed that he was a young, unkempt man that didn’t have any worries in life besides his grades.

“I can’t do it,” Myungsoo whispered, peeking into the classroom. His voice was higher too.

A younger version of his friend Dongwoo pushed his shoulder. “Come on! You’ve been stalking him for so long, just go over there and ask!”

“I wasn’t stalking,” Myungsoo hissed. His feet stayed stationary as he poked his head inside again. “He’s too pretty, Dongwoo, I can’t possibly look at him without freezing up.”

“Yes, you can!”

Myungsoo let out a low whine. “No, I can’t,” he sang, drawing out the last word.

“He’s never met you before, he doesn’t even know your name! Just don’t trip and don’t smile like an idiot.” Dongwoo fixed the other’s hair a little bit and gave him a small shove through the door.

“Ah!” Myungsoo yelped quietly.

“There’s Sungyeol!” Woohyun exclaimed as he pointed to a young boy sitting in the corner.

Sungyeol looked so different in this memory. Maybe it was just because he was so young but there was innocence in his eyes as well. He looked untouched by reality, unharmed by his inevitable future. His hair was black and there were no bags under his eyes.

“So young,” Sunggyu murmured.

Myungsoo was inching towards him slowly, looking back to Dongwoo only to receive encouraging whispers. Swallowing, he inhaled deeply through his nose and walked over to the seat next to Sungyeol. He sat down so quietly that Sungyeol didn’t even notice him.

Sungyeol was focused on doodling in his notebook. He looked as though he was patiently waiting for class to start. Biting his lip and throwing one last glance at Dongwoo for reassurance, Myungsoo turned his body and cleared his throat.

Sungyeol looked over with his eyebrows raised, like he was surprised that someone had even made a move to acknowledge him. Myungsoo was momentarily stunned and he had to clear his throat again.

“Hi,” he said. His voiced cracked and he cleared his throat once more.

Eyeing him curiously, Sungyeol slowly replied, “Hello.”

“What, um, what are you doing?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Sungyeol said.

“Ah…” Myungsoo stared at the ground and scratched his head. “Um, I like your notebook. I have one just like it, but in black. I got it at a sale.”

“I see.” A smile quirked at the corner of Sungyeol’s lips and he covered his mouth. He looked at Myungsoo interestedly. “A sale, hm?”

“Yeah, a sale. That’s what happens when you wait until the day before school starts to go supplies shopping.” He laughed awkwardly at his own joke. He bit his lip and frowned. “I’m sorry, I’m making this really uncomfortable, aren’t I?”

Sungyeol raised his eyebrows. “Hm?” he asked. He rested his cheek in his palm. “What do you mean?”

“I’m trying to approach you and be funny and it’s not really working. Sorry, I should just go, shouldn’t I?” He hissed at himself, “Damn, I knew this wouldn’t have worked…”

“No, wait.” Sungyeol smiled at him brightly. “Stay. It’s… cute.”

Myungsoo’s face lit up brightly. “Oh, really? That’s good. Erm, my name is Myungsoo, by the way.”

Sungyeol grinned at him. “I’m Sungyeol.”

“Sungyeol…” Myungsoo repeated, testing the name for himself. “That’s pretty, I like that.”

With a chuckle, Sungyeol softly said, “Thanks.”

“Is this the same kid who got hooked on narcotics?” Sunggyu asked with a short laugh of disbelief. “He seems like a completely different person here.”

“I wish we could have gone back through his memories, so we could see what happened to him. And maybe stop it,” Woohyun whispered.

“Our jobs aren’t to be heroes, Woohyun. But I think I agree a little bit. I would have liked to see what happened to Sungyeol to make him the way he was. Unfortunately, our technology doesn’t work on the deceased.”

“Because maybe if he didn’t get addicted, he wouldn’t have needed to drop out of school or live in alleys,” Woohyun commented. “And Myungsoo would never need to give up his career.”

Sunggyu nodded. “That would be a nice and easy solution to all of this. But we’ll have to make do because we don’t have access to Sungyeol’s memories.”

Woohyun stared at Myungsoo and Sungyeol who were striking up a conversation. Sungyeol looked so light and happy as Myungsoo asked him to accompany him to a football game.

Woohyun felt his heart drop. If they removed this meeting, if Myungsoo never introduced himself, they would have never met. They wouldn’t have become the Red Strings they were today. And while Myungsoo would get his career, Sungyeol might possibly never get saved from the harsh living conditions of the streets. He might very well die living in an alley while pandering to his drug addiction.

“Well, now we know how they met,” Sunggyu stated. “Let’s go back to the beginning of this memory and do a quick and easy change–”

“No.”

Sunggyu knit his brows and looked at Woohyun strangely. “What?”

Woohyun bit his lip and stared at the floor. “No, Sunggyu, we can’t. We can’t do that, we just can’t.”

“Woohyun.” Sunggyu’s eyes narrowed.

“I know it’s our job!” Woohyun exclaimed. “I know that’s what Myungsoo wants but trust me, Sunggyu – I don’t think this is what he wants.”

“We don’t get to decide that, Woohyun,” Sunggyu said firmly. His mouth was pressed into a hard line. “We don’t make the rules.”

“If you asked Myungsoo if he would give up Sungyeol for a piano career, do you think he would say yes?! This can’t be the answer, Sunggyu!”

“It’s our only option! They’re Red Strings!”

“I don’t care if they’re Red Strings, this isn’t right, Sunggyu!” Woohyun said, trying with all his might to convince the elder. “I’m not comfortable, nowhere near comfortable, with doing this. They loved each other so much and without him, Sungyeol really won’t stand a chance.”

Sunggyu shook his head at Woohyun. “I had such high hopes for you, rookie.” Glowering, he continued, “I thought you would be able to keep your emotions at bay.”

“Well, I think it’s clear that I can’t.” Woohyun breathed through his nose. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do this. I won’t do this. It’s not right. I know you said with time I’ll get used to it, but I don’t think I will. I can’t get used to this, Sunggyu. I’ll never get used to feeling the same pain that our client went through but I wouldn’t want to change their life to make it easier. Their struggles and the way they overcome them are what make their lives beautiful, Sunggyu, and I’m not willing to change that.”

Sunggyu pulled him close by the vest and for once, Woohyun felt intimidated. Sunggyu’s eyes were hard and glaring at him harshly as his fingers ripped away the front fabric of his vest. “You know, timetravelers can have moral codes, that’s fine. But we don’t get to make decisions for our clients.”

“Sunggyu–” Woohyun stammered, his eyes going wide.

“You’re a good kid, Woohyun, but that’s not how you play the game. I told you to think about whether this was the right job for you or not before we started, didn’t I? Perhaps you weren’t as cut out for it as I thought.” His hands pulled at some wires. “Myungsoo signed a contract for that piano career, so that what we’re required to make happen.”

“Sunggyu, wait–!” Woohyun grabbed at Sunggyu’s hands.

“Sorry, Woohyun, but if you can’t finish the job then I’ll need to do it myself.”

“No, Sunggyu!”

“I told you not to get attached.”

He yanked a wire free and Woohyun didn’t even have time to yell as he was transported back to the present.

“Woohyun? What brings you back here so early?” Sungjong asked. “Where’s Sunggyu?”

Woohyun gasped, his hands trying to fix the wires in his vest. “No,” he muttered, “no, no, no! Damn, I knew I should have taken that Time Travel Engineering class.” He looked around hastily. “There’s got to be something I can do!”

“Is there something wrong?” Sungjong asked.

Woohyun looked at them, looked at the way Sungjong was holding onto Myungsoo’s hand tightly. “No,” he said, smoothing down his hair, “there’s… nothing wrong. Don’t worry.”

Sungjong smiled gently at him and Myungsoo’s hand. “As long as everything is alright.”

Woohyun wanted to tell them no, that nothing was alright. That Sunggyu was probably removing the most important person from Myungsoo’s life out of his memory and making him nonexistent in Myungsoo’s life. It was scary and it wasn’t alright. But Woohyun couldn’t tell him that.

Instead he put on a calm façade and ran his hands through his hair. “More or less, everything should be alright,” he told Sungjong. “How is Myungsoo doing?”

Sungjong smiled sadly. “Not so good,” he admitted. “I’ve called the doctor and he should be coming over soon. He says Myungsoo might not make it through the night.”

“Night, it’s night already?” Woohyun glanced out the window. It was indeed dark, perhaps ten or eleven. “Oh, shoot…”

“I’m so glad you were able to complete Myungsoo’s wish before he passes,” Sungjong told him genuinely.

“Me too…” Woohyun muttered. He took off his vest and threw it on the floor uselessly. If only he knew how to work those wires, he could turn the power back on and go stop Sunggyu from interfering.

“Come, you must be exhausted,” Sungjong said warmly. “The doctor will be here to care for Myungsoo any minute. I’ve got dinner for you and Sunggyu warmed up downstairs. Please stay the night, it’s much too late to go back out now.”

Woohyun allowed Sungjong to guide him downstairs and sit him down at the dinner table. As much as he would have liked to relax after such long, strenuous hours of work, he couldn’t. He couldn’t when Sunggyu was about to make the biggest mistake of Myungsoo’s life. He spent every second he could thinking of a way to stop Sunggyu, or at least fix the damage he was about to create.

He didn’t realize how exhausted he was until he passed out after only finishing half of his bowl.

When Woohyun checked the time when he woke up, it was two in the morning. It was too early for him to be up at all but something in his body stirred him awake. It had grown dark around him. He didn’t like the dark but what frightened him most was that the house was different.

The house was much larger with more furniture. The dining room he had fallen asleep in alone was larger and the dining table was lacquered wood. Everything was bigger, shinier and very clearly more expensive than what Myungsoo’s house had been before.

Getting up from the table, he snuck his way up the staircase quietly. The walls were plastered with a simple yet elegant wallpaper and the picture frames were all different. What used to be Myungsoo and Sungyeol was now Myungsoo and his award, Myungsoo smiling at a piano, Myungsoo playing from a huge stage for many to hear. It sent shivers down Woohyun’s spine. He continued past them and returned to Myungsoo’s room.

As he opened the door, a light wash of blue light was emitting from the center. The main power unit was still there, glowing dimly in the darkness of the room. Sunggyu was there as well but he was lying on a sofa in the corner with his vest off. He was dead asleep and Woohyun figured that if Sunggyu had come back later than he had, he must have knocked out like a light.

It was clear that Sunggyu did the job and he did it well. With all this change from moving one simple memory, it was clear that Myungsoo and Sungyeol’s entire relationship depended on their first meeting. It left a bittersweet taste on Woohyun’s tongue as he made his way over to a chair by Myungsoo’s bedside. His heart monitor was beeping ever so slowly and Sungjong was probably right – he wouldn’t last the night.

He reached for Myungsoo’s hand and touched it softly, making sure not to wake the old man. But Myungsoo woke anyways, opening his weary eyes at Woohyun. The other smiled at him softly and held his hand comfortingly.

“Hi,” he whispered. Myungsoo blinked in returned. With a short chuckle, Woohyun continued, “We, well… Sunggyu finished the job. I’m sure you’re satisfied now, aren’t you? You got your piano career that you wanted.” He smiled as Myungsoo seemed to nod at him.

After a few moments of nothing but the beeps of his heart monitor, Woohyun’s smile faded. He leaned closer to Myungsoo who stared back at him. “Myungsoo,” he whispered. “I know you got the career you wanted but… did you ever feel satisfied? Were you… happy, I mean. Did it feel like something was missing?”

Myungsoo paused, his eyes searching his ceiling. Then looking back at Woohyun, he nodded.

“You felt like something was missing?”

Another nod.

“You were never fully satisfied?”

A shake of the head.

Pursing his lips, Woohyun tightened his grip on Myungsoo’s hand. In that moment he had made his resolve – he was going to go back. He was going to set things right – to set things the way it should have been. He brought Myungsoo’s cold, frail hands up to his mouth and kissed it comfortingly. It would be a mark of the promise he was about to make.

“Don’t you worry,” he said, “I’ll go back and make things right. I’ll give you what you need.” Myungsoo closed his eyes and squeezed his hand – he trusted him.

Wordlessly, he opened the equipment suitcase and found the pieces of the metal headpiece to place back on Myungsoo’s head. His arrangement was a little sloppy and he hoped Myungsoo wasn’t too uncomfortable but looking at Myungsoo’s vitals, he didn’t have time to lose. Myungsoo only had a few hours left at best.

If Myungsoo died, he wouldn’t be able to go back through his memories anymore.

So he the headpiece and listened to the whirring as it came to life. His own timetraveling vest was still probably not working so he grabbed Sunggyu’s instead. As quietly as possible, he picked up the handheld power unit and looked through its statistics history. He was going to access the last memory he had been in with Sunggyu.

He took one last look around him one last time, making that mental promise to Myungsoo and silently apologizing to Sunggyu as he squeezed his eyes and disappeared.

Woohyun made absolutely certain that they met. He made sure that Myungsoo had taken those shaky steps towards Sungyeol to engage him in an innocently awkward first meeting. He made sure that they learned each other’s names and made sure that they were going to go on that date to a football game together. He made absolutely sure.

When Myungsoo disappeared to get to his own class and Sungyeol was left smiling dumbly, he turned off his incognito mode. Taking a deep breath, he stepped towards Sungyeol.

“Hello.”

Sungyeol looked up in surprise and frowned at his strange attire. “Who… are you? You don’t look like a student…”

“I’m not,” Woohyun said as he sat down in the desk in front of Sungyeol. He turned around and leaned over for good measure. “I’m here to tell you something important.”

Sungyeol furrowed his eyebrows and leaned away. Woohyun seemed suspicious. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“You know that kid that just talked to you? Myungsoo?”

“Yeah…”

Woohyun smiled at tilted his head. “What if I told you that he was going to be one of the most important people in your life?”

The young Sungyeol snickered at him. “Him? He’s cute but isn’t it a little early to tell me he’ll be super important in my life?”

“I suppose…” Woohyun chuckled himself. “And what if I told you that you were going to be married?”

“Well, I mean… of course I-I won’t believe you. That seems crazy. One boyfriend from high school till marriage?” Sungyeol shook his head in disbelief. “That can’t be it. Who are you anyway? Are you one of those people who try to read fortune on street corners?”

Woohyun guffawed. “Sure, let’s say that. After all, I know a lot about your future.”

“What does that even–?”

“Listen, I know it may not look it now, but Myungsoo will be one of the people that loves you most in life. He’ll be standing by your side, always ready to make sure that you’re happy and always ready to help you in any way. He’ll be more devoted than anyone you’ve ever met.”

Sungyeol looked at him strangely. Woohyun’s vest started pulsing then, to the time of a slow heartbeat. Myungsoo was dying at this very moment, he knew it. He didn’t have much time left. Sungyeol looked at his vest curiously, his face full of questions.

“Don’t worry,” Woohyun told him over the vibrations of his vest. “You’ll love each other very much. Remember to cherish him, okay? Because you two will make each other’s lives more beautiful than they could ever be.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t stay long enough to explain,” Woohyun said with a smile. The heartbeat that was pulsing his vest was slowing down. “But trust me. Love him, alright? Love him lots when you’re old enough.”

Sungyeol shook his head. “How do you even know all this? Aren’t you just making this up? That’s what all those street corner fortune tellers do, isn’t it? They just make it up.”

“Well, it’s up to you whether or not you want to believe me.” The vibrations slowed to one pulse, two pulses. “But just don’t forget him now. As long as you don’t forget his name or who he is, you’ll be alright.”

“Why would I forget?”

Woohyun grinned at him. He had already said enough. Anymore and he would spoil their happy ending. Standing up, he said, “I’ve got to go now. Take my advice though. It was lovely meeting you, Sungyeol. I wish I could have spoken to you more than once.”

“What?!”

Running out of the classroom and turning the corner, Woohyun turned his incognito mode back on. The bell rang and all the students filed into the respective classrooms. His heart was beating wildly as he grinned.

His vest pulsed once, twice and then changed into a long continuous vibration. As the vibration ended, he felt himself being automatically transported back to the present. As soon as a client died, their memories would no longer be accessible. And Myungsoo was dead. He was dead, but Woohyun was able to bring his life back to the way it should have been.

So he might have died, but at the very least, Woohyun knew he died in content.

“What did you do?!” Sunggyu eyes were full of rage. When Woohyun flashed back, he was met with the very same old house that he had first entered in and it put a warm hand over his heart. But he was also met with a glowering Sunggyu who looked angrier than ever.

“I… I fixed it,” Woohyun said.

“Fixed?! Fixed what?! You went back and changed it back to how it was before I interfered, didn’t you?! Woohyun, I told you not to get so attached!”

“It’s got nothing to do with being attached,” he retorted. “I was making sure that out of all the possible lives Myungsoo could have lived, he lived the best one.”

Sunggyu glared. “I told you, it’s not our place to make a decision! I’m going to have to report this to headquarters, you know. You’re going to get a permanent strike on your record for this.”

Woohyun smiled. “I know.”

Sunggyu scoffed and pulled the vest off of him. He pulled it over his own shoulders and tightened it. “You’re lucky I can go back to fix it otherwise the boss wouldn’t even–”

“You can’t change it anymore, Sunggyu,” Woohyun said with a smile.

“And why is that?”

Woohyun looked over to where Myungsoo slept peacefully and whispered, “Myungsoo passed away. My change was permanent.”

Sunggyu’s face hardened as he turned around and faced the reality of the situation. His face softened looking at Myungsoo and he bit his lip. Begrudgingly, he unstrapped the vest from his chest and handed it back to Woohyun.

“Put the equipment away then,” he said softly. “You’ll have to face the consequences on your own. But for now, we should show a little respect for Myungsoo.”

They packed up all the equipment, being careful when removing the pieces from around Myungsoo’s head. Woohyun disassembled the large power unit and packed it away neatly, as well as the vests and the small handheld. He made sure every single bolt and lock was tight and in place. The suitcase wasn’t so difficult to carry anymore.

Together they went to Myungsoo’s bedside and bowed their heads. Myungsoo looked peaceful – happy, even in death. Sunggyu pulled up his bedsheet all the way to his chest and sighed.

“Let’s say a quick prayer, shall we?”

Woohyun nodded and together they let their intentions disappear into the rising sun outside.

When Sungjong came upstairs, he gasped. He approached Myungsoo’s bedside slowly and though he cried, he smiled through it. He wiped his tears away with a grin as he planted a final kiss on Myungsoo’s forehead. The old man was finally at rest.

“Thank you,” Sungjong whispered to them as they headed out. “I don’t know what you did, but he looks happier than ever. So thank you.”

Sunggyu paused a moment and shot a brief glance at Woohyun. But he forced a small smile onto his face and bowed slightly. “You’re welcome,” he murmured.

Sungjong wiped his wet cheeks and bowed back his thanks. He locked the door behind them as they exited, smiling the whole time.

Woohyun and Sunggyu walked down the early morning forest path together, silence engulfing them again. There was nothing but the sounds of nature filling their quietness and Sunggyu wanted to ask him a million questions. But most of all he wanted to ask why. Why was Woohyun so bent on making sure this moral code of his was seen through?

But he looked at Woohyun’s unfaltering grin and he figured it out. He didn’t need Woohyun to tell him why.

Sunggyu understood. He didn’t like it, but he understood.

Sunggyu sat outside of his boss’ office, waiting nervously. He sat on his hands as he heard his boss’ muffled admonishments and he let out a sigh. Scratching his head nervously, he hoped for the best outcome.

“Morning, Sunggyu!” a co-worker said as he walked towards Sunggyu. “What brings you here instead of out in the field?”

Sunggyu stood up. “Oh, good morning, Minho.” Minho worked in their company’s legal department. “Boss wanted to see us,” he replied as he reached out for a handshake.

Minho shook his hand firmly and his eyes widened. “Boss wanted to see you? What for?”

Sunggyu inhaled sharply. “Kind of botched my last mission.”

“What? How?!”

“Woohyun kind of went off on his own tangent and changed what I did. So in the end, we didn’t fulfill the request of the client before he died.”

“Oh no,” Minho sympathized. “Woohyun is the rookie, right?”

“Yeah.” Sunggyu nodded. “He’s in there getting yelled at by the boss right now. Poor kid is probably going to get a permanent strike on his record. But in due time, working under my wing, he should be alright.”

Minho nodded and crossed his fingers. “Good luck to the both of you! Hope for the best!”

“I will, thanks,” Sunggyu said with a returned smile.

Minho bid his goodbye then, making his way to his own office. Sunggyu sat back down on the bench across from his boss’ door and tapped his foot nervously. He was really hoping for the best. Woohyun might have been a little unruly but he showed talent.

The door squeaked open and Woohyun slipped out quietly. Sunggyu stood up and looked at him expectantly. “Well?”

Woohyun slowly walked over and sat down, Sunggyu proceeding to sit down again next to him. “Well,” he said unhurriedly. “There’s good news… and there’s bad news.”

“Tell me the good news,” Sunggyu said.

Woohyun smiled with a little chuckle. “I’m not getting a permanent strike on my record.”

“You’re not?!”

Shaking his head, Woohyun said, “Nope.”

Sunggyu’s face lit up. “Oh, really? That’s really good news! And here I was, expecting the worst.” He sighed in relief. “And what’s the bad news.”

Woohyun positively laughed out loud with a shake of his head. “I’m fired.”

“What?” Sunggyu asked, a pause in his mind.

“I’m fired.” Woohyun repeated with a laugh. “Fired after my first mission, this must be a record of some kind.”

Sunggyu’s face fell. “What? There’s got to be something you can do about it, can’t you? No, you’re right, you’ve already spoken to the boss. Oh, Woohyun, I’m so sorry–”

“Don’t be sorry,” he said with a smile. “There’s loads to be sorry for but don’t be sorry about this. It’s okay. I was going to quit anyways.”

“You were?” Sunggyu asked incredulously. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Why? I thought you told me that this is what you worked so hard for.”

“It is, but… I think you’re right.” Woohyun smiled at him warmly. “I’m just not cut out for this job. It’s not something I can do.”

It was quiet between them for a few moments as Sunggyu stared up at the ceiling. “So…” he started, “what are you going to do now?”

Woohyun shrugged. “Go back to school probably? I think I’ll try to become a caregiver like Sungjong. That’s something I would probably be better at, I think. Besides – I became a timetraveler so that I could give the dying comfort before they pass. And in introspect, I think perhaps being a caregiver would fulfill that dream more than a timetraveler.”

Sunggyu hummed his agreement.

“Well!” Woohyun stood up and stretched his arms. “I better go clean out my locker. I won’t be returning here any time soon,” he chuckled. “It was lovely working with you during our time together, Sunggyu. I won’t forget this experience.”

Sunggyu snorted. “Lovely, I’m sure.” He paused and then slowly said, “You know… we can’t tell anybody about this mission. Only you, me and the boss can know. If the public found out, they might not trust us anymore. It could damage our name. And the things we saw – you know that’s only between you and me.”

“I know.” Woohyun nodded. “I’ll keep it a secret, I promise.”

“And… I don’t know about you, but maybe… we could see each other again? But in and unprofessional environment, perhaps?” Sunggyu stared down at the floor.

Woohyun grinned at him. “I’d really like that.”

A few years later…

 

“Mr. Lee was such a sweet old man, wasn’t he?”

Woohyun nodded excitedly. “He was adorable! Much more friendly than the person in the neighboring bed, if I could say so myself.”

“You mean Ms. Yoon?” the other laughed heartily. “Ms. Yoon might be a grumpy old windbag but she’s got a heart of gold.”

“Well, if she does then I’ve never seen it,” Woohyun snorted. They laughed together when a jingle at the café door alerted him. “Oh, Sunggyu!” he said, calling his boyfriend over with a wave of his hand. “We’re over here!”

Sunggyu smiled at him as he walked over. “Hi, sweetie,” he said, leaning down to kiss Woohyun’s cheek before taking the seat next to him. “Sorry I’m late. Got caught up making a hard decision.”

“It’s no problem,” Woohyun replied, grinning radiantly. He gestured to his friend across the table. “Sunggyu, this is Sungjae. He works with me at the nursing home.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sungjae said, shaking Sunggyu’s hand cordially. “You work in the time travel field, don’t you? My girlfriend is going to be graduating in that field this year.”

“Oh, nice!” Sunggyu said. “Time travel is a really hard major to get through.”

Sungjae nodded. “Yeah, she’s had a lot of sleepless nights but with me by her side.”

“Oh, how sweet!” Woohyun chimed. “How long have you two been dating?”

“Since senior year of high school I think?” Sungjae laughed. “Too long to remember. And you two?”

“We’ve actually only been dating for a few years now,” Sunggyu told him with a proud smile. “I asked him out after he got fired. How romantic, am I right?”

“That’s cute!” Sungjae said with a grin. “Have you two kissed yet?”

Woohyun snickered. “We had our first kiss nearly eighty years ago.”

Sungjae’s face faltered in confusion. He looked at both of them for answers, but only received a few giggles in reply. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “Eighty years go? I’m not sure I understand…”

Sunggyu chuckled at him. “It’s okay, kid. It’s kind of complicated.”

“Can I ask what you mean…?”

Woohyun looked over at Sunggyu, who shot him a knowing smile. They laughed at themselves together before turning back to Sungjae.

“Can’t tell you.” Woohyun winked. “It’s a secret.”

 

---

 

( a/n ) :

:))) hi guysss hope you made it through the oneshot alright. It was an emotional rollercoaster, I know haha. I hope you enjoyed it though! I know it might get a little confusing, especially writing with unfamiliar concepts like timetravel, so if you have any questions, please let me know! I'll do my best to explain to you! ^^ This is actually my longest oneshot ever, so I would really appreciate if you left a comment or an upvote if it pleases you. ^^ This story took so long, it was definitely exhausting. But I'm glad I took the time out to finish it. It's truly a gem in my long list of fanfics. It might possibly be my favorite oneshot too! 

Once again, I hope you enjoyed! I cried while writing! ><  Let me know how you felt! Love you all and I'll see you in the next fic! 

-- quinnie