The first thing she felt was pain. Her headache was excruciating, and the aches that tormented her body were bone splitting. She sat up in her bed and looked at her kneecaps, which were bruised a deep shade of deceased purple. The last thing she had remembered before passing out was the cold sensation of her skin colliding with wet cement.

She groaned and got out of bed, her entire body feeling like old, creaky wooden floorboards. She downed a glass of cold water and proceeded to step out onto the small balcony. The breeze that greeted her was freezing, remnants of yesterday’s rainstorm. For some strange reason, she couldn’t get the image of her little brother dying in her arms out of her head. The incident had happened six years ago, but out of all days, today the memory was fresher—more painful—than ever. It was as if he had died yesterday. She raised a finger to her cheek as she realized she was crying. She wiped away her tears as she suppressed her sobs, focusing her attention on the busy streets down below. The world was still full of life, she told herself. But for some reason, in that very moment, it felt as if her heart itself was splintering into pieces.

--

When she went back inside, she was surprised to see her roommate Jieun sitting in front of the television, a bowl of cherry tomatoes securely positioned on her lap. She turned around at the sound of the balcony door closing and motioned for Chaerin to sit down on the sofa next to her.

“I have soo many questions. I’ve been waiting forever for you to wake up.” Jieun began, offering her a cherry tomato. “How are you feeling? Do you want to go see a doctor?”

“I’m okay. My bones just ache a bit. How long was I out? I don't... remember anything.” Chaerin laughed nervously. 

“For a good ten hours. Dude, you were wrecked last night. I was so scared. Did you overdose on alcohol or something?”

“No, I wasn’t drinking. I don’t know what happened. How—”

“How you got home? Ding ding ding!" Jieun waved an invisible bell in the air as she forged an expression of pure excitement. "That’s exactly the question you were supposed to ask! When on earth did you get a boyfriend and why the hell did you not tell me?” A trace of irritation was present in her voice, as she looked Chaerin up and down with an exaggerated glare. She ate another tomato.

“What—”

“His visuals are no joke. You should’ve seen it. He was completely drenched from head to toe from the rain, yet it was strangely amazingly so hot. And he was carrying you in his arms, complete princess style! Wow. It was like the movie scene of all movie scenes. Where on earth did you find a man like that? Do you think they have more?!” Jieun was squealing now, her eyes the size of saucers. She waved her hands in the air enthusiastically.

“I... What... What did he say?” Chaerin asked dumbly, unable to process anything at the moment. Jieun's words made absolutely no sense to her. 

“I would advise you to tell your boyfriend one thing though—to wear some more colorful clothing. If I didn’t know better, I would have assumed he was the grim reaper or something. I mean, who dresses in literally all black?” Jieun continued to rattle on, completely oblivious to Chaerin’s question.

“Did he say anything, Jieun?” Chaerin repeated, this time with more urgency.

“Say something?” Jieun paused. Then she made a face and spoke with a deeper voice. “She’ll be better by morning. Make sure she stays warm.”

Chaerin buried her face in her hands. “And then?”

“He left. I was going to say something, but he disappeared before I could. I mean, to be honest, I was still gawking at his visuals. He’s soo mysterious. And hot. He is your boyfriend, right?”

Chaerin covered her face with a pillow. “I don’t even know his name,” she groaned with a muffled voice.

Moments later, she felt Jieun tap her fiercely on the back and remove the pillow from her hands. She pointed to the news, her eyes wide and agape with terror.  

Bus 13 had gotten into an accident last night. The collision had involved 3 other cars. There were no survivors.

“You were supposed to be on that bus,” Jieun said in a quiet voice.

Goosebumps raced over her skin as she watched the news unfold. Take bus 14.

--

Min Yoongi stirred the cup of hot tea absentmindedly, his long beautiful fingers gingerly curled around the thin silver spoon. The tea was the color of watered down honey and smelled of ginger. He gazed into the cup, slightly disheartened to see his reflection nowhere to be seen. He expected this, yet every time he had a cup of tea or looked into the mirror, he had always had a sliver of hope. A sliver of hope that perhaps everything had been a dream; that perhaps he was just as human as everyone else. Grim Reapers were not alive like humans; simply put, they were wandering souls that did the dirty work of the deities.

When he finally ripped his gaze away from his teacup, he faced his friend Hoseok. Hoseok was a grim reaper just like him, yet one that was far more lawless. Hoseok, despite seeming like the happiest grim reaper you’d ever meet, was by far the saddest under his mask. He lived in a world of fabricated joy, one where all his sorrowful memories were coated in an illusion of happiness. As time went on, however, even those illusions eventually melted away.

They say that there are two ways to become a grim reaper when death comes knocking on your door. If you had lived a sinful life, believing that you were above the law and taken what was not yours for the taking, then you were damned to live in hell on earth as a reaper. The other was if you had a debt to repay but had been unable to do so during the life that you had lived—being a reaper was the only way to mediate between the living and the dead. In rare cases, the debt is forgiven by the other party and the soul is free to move on. In other cases, the deceased themselves are unable to move onto the afterlife due to their own burdens in regards to that very debt. 

Hoseok sat across the table, facing Yoongi with a solemn expression. His elbows were planted upon the table, his fingers entwined before him in a brooding manner.

“You do know that you’re crossing the line with your actions, right?” Hoseok warned him in a low voice. “Don’t misinterpret the debt that you're here to fulfill.”

Yoongi sipped his tea and offered him a taste. Hoseok leaned back in his chair and sighed. “You might think that no one is watching but you know better. The deities all have their eyes set on you. You can’t keep on interfering with a living soul like that, regardless of the fact that she was involved. One more step in the wrong direction—”

“I’ll be dismissed?” Yoongi interrupted, giving Hoseok a sly smile.

“One more step in the wrong direction and there’s a possibility that she’ll die as well.”

The smile disappeared from Yoongi’s lips, his expression darkening. “That was never a part of the contract.”

Hoseok waved his hands in the air. “There are times where even the fine print isn’t written. The deities are always changing their minds.”

Yoongi reverted to stirring his tea with the silver spoon, no longer looking at Hoseok.

His tone was low and almost apologetic when he spoke. “So that was the reason.”

Hoseok went tense as he heard those words. “What was?”

“The reason you changed so much. She died. I had always wondered, but now it’s crystal clear.”

When Yoongi finally turned to face him again, he felt his heart go numb. Hoseok gazed at him with a calm smile, yet Yoongi could see right through him. Emotions of fury, suffering, and heartbreak were etched all over his being. The boy was crestfallen.

“Don’t make the same mistake as I did.” And with those final words, he got up and disappeared. His own cup of tea sat untouched, cold as ice. 

Yoongi sighed and drank the last of his tea. “That boy... I miss his smile.”