Flashback...

"Cell 145 done! So next is....146" Kyungsoo lifted his head to the next cell. A man could be found in the cell, touching a diamond placed in front of him. Kyungsoo stared at the man and watched as the Qweit was channeled from the man to the diamond. He waited and waited until the Qweit stopped elevating. 

Kyungsoo entered the cell. The man's breath was unstable. His chest moved up and down, as he trying to catch his breath. Kyungsoo's hand landed on the man's shoulder. His pupil expanded as he focused, covering the white part of his eyes. The man's life span appeared in front of Kyungsoo.

"Emmm....3 months. There is not so much time left gentleman" Kyungsoo muttered despite the fact that the man would never remembered any of this. The man's eyes were blank, showing that the drug planted in him was working fine on him. 

Kyungsoo turned his head to the diamond beside him. There was not so much different than yesterday. Today was the last time Kyungsoo was in charge of this pitiful gentleman. His Qweit was low every day. According to the Quera before him, this man's diamond was never full. The last time he crashed his diamond was 5 years ago. He got to lengthen his life span to 2 years and those 2 years almost came to an end. 

"Crash Drowte One at 5 years old, Drowte Two at 20 years old?" Kyungsoo's eyes rounded as he read the man's profile. Kyungsoo wondered what took the man so long to fill his diamond. Kyungsoo was aware it was getting harder to fill the diamond with Qweit but Drowte Two at 20, it was rare. Now, the man still struggle with his Drowte Three

Kyungsoo shook his head as his fingers dancing on the kerboard appeared on the cell wall, keying the data. Done, he pressed the release button, allowing the man to leave the cell and returned to human world. Kyungsoo stepped out of the cell to see his superior was walking towards him. He immediately bowed to show respect.

"Done?" His superior asked with a smile adorned his face. 

"Yes Junmyeon sunbaenim" Kyungsoo replied.

"It's good when interns came to work right? We get to finish early" Junmyeon let out a chuckle.

"Want to eat with me? I'm hungry" Junmyeon placed his hand around Kyungsoo's shoulder. 

"Not today sunbaenim. I have a place to go" Kyungsoo felt guilty as he had to reject his superior's request but he really had to go somewhere. There was someone he wanted to see. 

"Really? It's a pity. It's okay Kyungsoo but next time you have to eat with me. Okay?" Junmyeon winked, causing the latter to laugh.

"Okay" 

...

Areum flipped through her thick book, sigh escaped her lips. It had been almost an hour her eyes bored onto the book. No, it had been years she read the book to the point she remembered every single words in it. Even the page! Human have this certain aura inside them and The Quera call it Qweit. The Qweit is used to prove whether the human is worth to be given extra life or not. The Qweit level in human depends on happiness. 

At 13:00 am, the Qweit will be visible and it perform a kind of power which able the human to crash a special diamond made by the Quera. It is called Drowte. Drowte represents death. If they cannot crash the Drowte it's mean they cannot change their death time. Areum stopped reading. She felt like skipping the next lines. Her heart was pierced each time she read the word Drowte.

The frustrated girl shut the book close, did not even have a heart to spare a look at it. Her slender fingers ran through her brown-black hair, trying to sort out her chaotic mind. Areum peek at the clock hung on the wall. 13.30 am. She read to herself.  Shutting her eyes, Areum took in a deep breath before trudging towards her window. Her neighborhood seemed decolonized as most Quera had gone to work. It had been 30 minutes only since the human race arrive. There was 3o minutes left.

Areum then fixed her gaze towards tons of tall huge building that could be seen from her house known as Skyte. The buildings where Quera worked. The buildings where human race stopped by. No one knew how much she wanted to be there at this hour. The desire to give human life, desire to watch over their Qweit and the desire to form......Drowte. The thought of Drowte sank her heart again. Areum's gaze shifted to her own hands as she raised them high. She scanned them as if this was the first time. Why I can't be like anyone else? 

"Stop doing that" a pair of warm hands reached hers and brought it down to her side, revealing his chiseled face. A smile completed his handsome feature.

"I've told you for the umpteenth time already! Don't let the petty thought bring you down" the man continued. Concern could be noticed in his tone, but still kept the smile plastered on his face.

"Kyungsoo...what are you doing here? You suppose to.." Kyungsoo placed his index finger on Areum's lips, stunning Areum.

"Let's just say I finished my work early" Kyungsoo chortled. Areum tried to smile but it came out fake. She knew Kyungsoo did not want to hurt her feelings by ranting about his work at Skyte. Unfortunately it was prominent to the man.

Areum lowered her gaze, afraid to look at Kyungsoo's gauging eyes. Without uttering a word, Kyungsoo reached for Areum's hand and led her towards her bed. They sat against the headboard and let the silent swallowing them. Kyungsoo did not want to push Areum to talk. He knew Areum would tell him if she wanted and if she refused, he would not force her. That was how Areum felt comfortable around Kyungsoo. It was also the reason they were best friends since they were a kid.

"Kyungsoo-yah, when can I make Drowte? Like anyone  else? Like....you?" Areum broke the silence. Kyungsoo kept his mouth shut, waiting for Areum to finish her words.

"I want to be like everyone else. I want to watch over human's Qweit, give them life and produce Drowte. Am I a Quera? No, do I deserve to be called as Quera?" Areum's voice trailed off as it turned into a subtle cry. 

The man's heart was wrenched by her tears. Kyungsoo budged closer to her and let his skin brushed against her bare arm. He placed the girl's head on his shoulder and wrapped her in his warm , soothing embrace. He patted her lightly on her arm, hoping it would ease her pain. The pain that she had been holding for years. Kyungsoo was aware of his friend's weakness. For Quera like them, forming Drowte was a vital. However Areum was different. She could not make Drowte. 

Quera's duty was to make Drowte and gave human extra life. Yes, human should be thankful of Quera's existence but they did not even know they were exist. They did not even know about 13.00 am. For them 12.00 am was the last hour. But Quera had nothing to argue about that because it was for their safety too. If human race knew about them, they would threat Quera to give them life when they were not deserved to be given. Human was greedy indeed. Thanks to the intelligent chemist, they managed to create special drug that was given to human. Human would enter Quera World in subconscious mind and erased their memories in Quera World. 

"Yes you're, girl. You're a Quera indeed. Tell me, why you can see human's life span?" Kyungsoo turned his head to Areum to find out the girl was looking back at him. Other than giving human extra life, Quera had the ability to see human's life span. 

"You always make me smile again. Thanks" the end of Areum's lips curled upwards, forming a sweet smile that put Kyungsoo's heart at ease.

"You're welcome. Tomorrow do you want to practice making Drowte with me? I don't have any class" Kyungsoo offered. 

Areum sometimes found it incredulous that she was a friend with a professor. The fact that he was able to be a professor at a top university in Quera World in such a young age was more than enough to put Areum in such a shock state. But if she looked back at his achievement, Kyungsoo deserved it. Areum did not understand why his parents never proud of him when she almost shed tears of happiness. 

"Do we have to? Can we do something else? I miss you" Areum placed her arm around Kyungsoo's waist and snuggled into his embrace. She longed for him as he had been busy in these past few weeks.

"Areum.....if you want to be a success Quera, you-" 

"Fine fine! Okay I'll practice!" Areum snapped before Kyungsoo started with his lecture. She shoved Kyungsoo away and crossed her arms, causing Kyungsoo to burst into laughter.

"We'll practice and then we'll do what you want. Deal?" Kyungsoo continued after settling with his laugh. Areum swirled her head towards Kyungsoo with a broad smile. 

"Deal!"

....

Up on a deserted hill, a man and a woman could be found lying beside each other, having their eyes on the blue sky. The man had both his hands at the back of his head as well as the woman. Staring blankly at the sky never bored them. Instead, it entertained them.

"See that cloud? I think it resembles a poop" Areum pointed to a 'poop-looking' cloud up in the vast, blue sky. Kyungsoo pushed her head with his index finger, causing the girl to jerk sideway.

"Yaa! Why did you do that?" Areum propped up her head, glowering at the laughing guy beside her. 

"You're disgusting. Is that all you can think?" Kyungsoo rebutted. His gaze was still fixed at the sky above him. 

Areum's chuckle reached Kyungsoo's ear as she lied back down. The girl inhaled a deep breath before letting it out. Her small action unwittingly drew Kyungsoo's attention as the side of his eyes traced her flawless face. A smile flashed on her face. Never he found a girl prettier than Areum. A girl who captured his heart long ago. 

"That cloud looks like.....a Drowte" Kyungsoo shifted his eyes towards Areum's direction to see the cloud but immediately darted away. He turned his head to face Areum who did not even bother to look at him.

"Areum-ah......" 

"I'm fine. I'm just stating what I see" Areum kept the smile with her, breaking Kyungsoo from the inside. Almost 20 years of friendship always failed Areum to hid her feelings from Kyungsoo. Areum was transparent to Kyungsoo. He could see everything that Areum tried to hide from the world.

"I guess I can't lie to you, right?" Areum turned her head after feeling the burning sensation as Kyungsoo's eyes bored through her. 

Areum shot up and held her knees up. She wrapped her knees and rested her head on it. Kyungsoo followed her action. Now, they were both staring at each other. Silence was occupying the air but neither of them was feeling uncomfortable. Instead they savored the moment. 

"I've told you Kyungsoo. Making Drowte is impossible for me. I'm sorry I waste your time today" Areum broke the silence. They had their Drowte lesson today but Areum still could not make it.

Keeping his eyes at Areum, Kyungsoo swept away a few strands of hair that dangle on Areum's forehead. His fingers then traveled to her head and it gently. Areum's eyes followed his hand movement before turning her gaze towards Kyungsoo beside her. Kyungsoo captured her lips mouthed the word 'sorry'.

"You don't have to say sorry Areum. You've done nothing wrong. And please, don't mention the word impossibe anymore. I don't like it. You can do this. It's just the matter of time. The doctor said so isn't it?" Kyungsoo tried to cheer on his distraught friend.

Areum's parents had once brought Areum to a doctor. According to the doctor, Areum had a rare case because the checkup showed that Areum was healthy and did not suffer from any illness. However the doctor said Areum should not give up and kept on trying. Kyungsoo, as a friend always reminded Areum about those words to make sure she would never give up. But lately, those words seemed futile. Areum's patience was dwindling and Kyungsoo was aware of that.

"Besides...I don't think my time is wasted today. We get to come here and guessing all the clouds shape like we used to do. It's been awhile, right?" A chuckle escaped from Kyungsoo's heart-shaped lips. 

Out of sudden, Areum grabbed his arm and reduce the distance between them. Her head rested on his shoulder, allowing Kyungsoo to get a sniff of her hair. The scent coming from Areum's hair was enough to make Kyungsoo's heart to thump against his chest hard. Unconsciously, Kyungsoo gulped.

"Thank you Kyungsoo-yah" Areum said almost whispering. Stunned Kyungsoo only hummed as a respond.

I wish I can say I love you Areum....

Not as a friend...

But as a woman..

Finally I've managed to post this *cry