Her eyes remained open. Seeking the pale ceiling. Tasting his warm breath; the warm body pressing into her; the hand cupping her face endearingly.

Pushing him away the next second for some odd reason she couldn’t explain. Wide eyed, Namjoo blinked. Appalled.

A mix of confusion whirled inside her chest. Unable to sort out the clog in her head.

The version of this man merged with the 21^st century man she knew. Face. Eyes. Nose. Ears. Brows. Lips. Mouth.

Park Chanyeol smiling at her. Calling her name.

This person springing the same aura…

And she couldn’t tell them apart.

General Chanyeol’s eyes never wavered. Not even for a moment. Park Chanyeol looking at her the exact same way. Those eyes tinted with mood. The slight opening of his mouth. The glint in his big eyes narrowing before he would kiss her. His warm fingers dug into her face before he kissed her again.

Namjoo stiffened. Uncertain. Lost. Thinking about her Chanyeol. Then the general… That she’d been worried with no news of him. If he would ever come back. Whether he had already gotten together with this Lady Chunghee and she would become just a forgotten fragment of his memory. Some peasant girl he had coincidentally met at a bathhouse.

She sighed a breath when his lips touched again. Easing into him. Fighting to overcome this strange guilt at the pit of her stomach.

That this was Park Chanyeol but also not him.

Closing her eyes, Namjoo dug her fingers into his sleeve. Let him kiss her with affection and some kind of first time desperation.

The weight of his breath brushed against her bottom lip when he withdrew but still held her. It felt the same way her Chanyeol would hold her in his embrace.

Warm. Gentle. With much affection.

Dropping her hand, she glanced into his face. Noticing that his ears were streaked a shade of dark pink.

“Uh…” he seemed shy suddenly, “I didn’t mean to make you fall.”

It was silly of him even after boldly kissing her. Namjoo chose not to pick on him. A kind of satisfactory glee remained a residue in his eyes. His moist lips trying not to curl too hard into a smile.

Namjoo’s heart raged inside her chest.

He was cute, adorable, and handsome.

“You can let go.” She said.

“Oh, right.” Embarrassed, he removed his arm from around her. Gulping awkwardly.

“Why are you here?” Namjoo questioned.

His timid eyes flew from here to there. Then he quietly said before courageously meeting her gaze, “You asked.”

The soft of his eyes forced her to in a breath.

“I did.”

ꞜꞜꞜꞜꞜ

Stars had come out one by one. The moon was somewhere out of sight casting just enough light to guide her. Yet Namjoo really didn’t need light to find her way through the dark. At the corner of the west guesthouse a shadow sat on the porch with a lantern glowing beside him.

Changed into dry clothes, Namjoo quietly walked down the courtyard. She was knowledgeable enough now, after watching the girls so many times. Fixating her robe together. Tying the layers underneath to make sure she looked appropriate and well dressed.

An immediate smile popped onto Chanyeol’s face when she paused below the double steps. With heart pounding she climbed up onto the wraparound porch and sat beside him. Enjoying the solace of the moment, like they were the only ones alive.

“I came alone,” Chanyeol first started.

Namjoo glanced at him. Catching the slightest of the light reflected in his eyes. Taking in the sharp-edged jawline and the nose of his very familiar face.

“I rode Mul nonstop for several days,” he admitted.

“Mul?” Namjoo repeated.

“The horse,” he turned to her with a sheepish grin. “Mul for water.”

Staring into his face sparked something inside her. This flood of recognition; of home. General Park was astonishing.

Turning away he lowered his head. “I’ve never done anything like this before. I apologize if it was insulting.”

“No, it’s not.” Peering into the distance where the other guest house appeared like some dark building, she said, “Where I come from, it happens more often than you think.”

“Where you come from…” he repeated with much interest. “I’m curious where that is. I’d like to go there someday.”

Namjoo traced the well-known outline of his face. The shape of home. Wondering why he was just like her Chanyeol.

Why they were identical at all…

Why she was meeting someone like her boyfriend here…

“Maybe you’ll be there someday.” Namjoo nostalgically said.

And when Chanyeol woke up from his coma she would be better to him. Apologize she wasn’t at his side, and that she had forgotten how it was to be in love with him.

That she had let him love her more and it was wrong of her.

Sorry that I got carried away with my life and cast you aside, will you forgive me?

Chanyeol looked at her curiously. Offering no explanation, Namjoo merely smiled.

Shyly smiling, he turned away yet again. “Strangely, I keep thinking we know each other.”

Again, Namjoo stared at him harder.

So much of him…like her Chanyeol…

“We really don’t know each other?” the general glanced at her, his eyes melting her softly. The plead for some answer sketched on his face.

Figure it out, she thought, but she couldn’t. Even holding a master’s degree couldn’t have prepared her enough for something like this.

“I keep thinking of you,” he confessed. “It makes my heart race. It’s the first time I’m feeling like this about someone. We’ve really never met before?”

A breeze glided past. The flowers of the cherry blossom tree yet to fall swayed from the corner of her eye.

“I know you.” Namjoo said. Her tone fell. “There is someone like you I know.”

Park Chanyeol who she had coldly sent into a coma.

Park Chanyeol who was, right now, lying in a hospital bed because of her.

Park Chanyeol who she had refused to go see.

Park Chanyeol whose soul was right here in front of her. Alive. Well. In the form of someone else. Lightyears away in the Joseon era.

Park Chanyeol, the general, reigniting the passion she had long buried once upon a time when she valued love over success and money; herself.

Was this…also her Chanyeol? The familiarity that made her heart race.

Could it be?

Her gaze zoomed in on his face. Everything that was him.

Realization dawning upon her. Opening a hole beneath her.

The man who waited on her.

The man who refused to give up on her.

The man who loved her more than himself.

…Here?

Namjoo’s mouth parted. General Park Chanyeol unintentionally confessing to her again.

General Park Chanyeol – her Chanyeol…

The silk robed man and the modern man, two people in different times. Images merging in front of her. No different from the other.

“I think…I know you.” The word breathlessly slipped from her lips.

Bewilderment crossed her. Disbelieving. Opposite her reaction, Chanyeol’s eyes her in with awe.

“I’m glad,” he happily shared, combing his fingers through the hair just above her ear. “You don’t feel differently.”

She wasn’t in the 21^st century. She had gone somewhere back in time where another Park Chanyeol was. And he was doing the same things to her her Chanyeol had once accomplished.

None of it…was making sense.

ꞜꞜꞜꞜꞜ

He was lucky. That was all that went through his mind when he turned in for the night and woke up with another smile on his face. Ecstatic for the day.

He was going to spend it wisely.

After a short walk he returned to his room. Not a few minutes later, Namjoo appeared in his doorway with a tray of food. Filled from brim to brim with twice the food he’d usually eat.

“Did you starve on your way here?” Namjoo asked walking in. He leaned over to peer at the tray with a smug grin when she set it down.

Grabbing one set of the spoons he offered it to her. “Take it.”

Namjoo stared at the object. “What.”

“I told them to prepare your breakfast with mine.”

“I’ve never eaten with a guest,” Namjoo told. “Madam Cho might not be happy.”

“Since when do you care about what that woman thinks?” Chanyeol pointed out. “The last time you fearlessly strut into her office like you owned the bathhouse.”

“Well, I’m saying…”

He cut her off by clinking the utensil against one of the bowls. “This is a request by one of the guests.”

Snatching the spoon from him, Namjoo muttered, “Don’t go around creating gossip.”

“What kind of gossip can there be when we finished talking yesterday?” he reminded.

Namjoo in a breath prepared to retaliate, but ended up saying nothing.

“I’ve been wondering since you mentioned it,” Chanyeol began several minutes later. “You said there is someone like me you know.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Tell me.”

“It’s really not important.”

“Then why won’t you tell me?”

She glanced up at him with an irate frown.

“Is he important to you?”

Namjoo resumed stirring her bowl of soup.

“I’m going to get jealous.” He threatened. Also, kind of meant it. If she was all he thought about he didn’t want anyone else on her mind.

He had traveled day and night to come here. Done something inexplicable yesterday. Shared his heart with her.

He deserved more, didn’t he?

“Don’t be absurd.” She muttered.

“What do you mean absurd?” he accused. “It’s not right for you to be close to these people without my knowledge. I’d like to know who he is.”

Bemused laughter burst from her lips after a silent second. He stared befuddled. Namjoo covered as if to hide the grin.

“What?” he asked completely lost.

“Maybe you know him better than you think.”

“That doesn’t answer anything.” He grumbled.

“Chanyeol.”

He opened his mouth to retort. Perhaps gasp. He ended up with, “Is that how you’re going to address me? So casually?”

“Chanyeol,” she started again more sentimentally, “since we’re here ahead of time, let me apologize to you.”

He stared at her quizzically. There it was again. Resonating despondency, like she was in an unhappy place. He couldn’t understand where the root of these feelings came from.

“What are you apologizing for?”

“Someday you’ll understand,” Namjoo ambiguously said, “I hope when that day does come, you’ll remember this.”

When she reached across the table for food, he grasped her hand. “Why do you talk like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re leaving. Where are you going to go?” he interrogated. Shaking his head, “No. No, you can’t. From now on, you have to stay right by my side.”

Yanking her hand away, Namjoo remarked, “You’re so dramatic.”

“Then why do you speak so glumly?” he scolded. “It makes me misunderstand.”

“Geez, anyone can really tell this is your first time with a woman.” Namjoo snickered.

“Why, you!” he pouted.

Never minding him, Namjoo continued eating. Teasing him with the shake of her shoulders while noisily chewing. He let her have her moment. If one day she was destined to leave on her own journey, Chanyeol hoped she would keep him in her heart.

He prayed it wouldn’t be any time soon.

ꞜꞜꞜꞜꞜ

Chanyeol took her to the market. He bought her more taffy to eat. Sometimes they even ate out by one of the restaurants. He really made sure to keep her time and that she was almost constantly in his sight.

Loving Chanyeol was still drastically the same. Caring for her more than she would ever be able to repay him in feelings, through actions, with words and affection. Doting on her like she was a fragile piece of glass.

Park Chanyeol, regardless the space in time that separated them, was still a loyal man.

When he decided on something it would always be his first priority. Always he was determined to make the most importance of it. Unafraid to show off to the world his pride and joy.

Park Chanyeol the happy go-to man wearing his heart happily on his sleeve.

Now and the present were not much different.

How to absorb everything falling on her? What was the correct way to react?

During Chanyeol’s stay Namjoo learned that he was on a vacation period. No duty calls, so he was free to wander where he pleased. No one would be looking after him. He would return if he received a mandatory service call, but so far there was none.

The servant girls didn’t bother with her even when Chanyeol requested for two servings for every meal and noticed she was constantly disappearing. Madam Cho didn’t poke around at her schedule, so Namjoo continued doing as she pleased.

The general took her horseback riding. To walks into the forest. Telling her stories about his seamstress mother in Kyongsong. His childhood life and the village he grew up in. Conquered by narrow dirt roads surrounded by a luscious forest he and friends ventured into against the adults’ warnings. The trip home was grueling and far preventing him from often visiting.

He didn’t try to kiss her again. Neither did they hold hands. Well-mannered gentleman general Park Chanyeol was still too respectable to try to touch her. Even the way he posed himself remained strict and poised. Giving her many openings to observe him, enamored by the similarity of this man to the present one.

On certain occasions Chanyeol was as in tune with his romantic side as she always knew him to be. Waiting for her in front of his room in the evening. The lantern glowing at his side and a flower he’d plucked during the day laying in the spot meant to be hers. Once he caught her attention, he’d sheepishly grin. Then they’d spend what was left of daylight watching the sunset. Basking in each other’s presence.

Nearly four days with Chanyeol being sweet to her. As if she was experiencing love all over again. Falling head over heels at the start of a relationship. Reliving every moment she’d once spent with her boyfriend with the general. The heart pounding moments that kept her going. The man wooing her and winning again.

Chanyeol doing it all over again…in the Joseon dynasty.

Namjoo went to sleep thinking of these things. This man. That man.

Park Chanyeol who was supposed to gain honor ten lifetimes over…

“Yesterday I wanted to ask you to marry me.”

And then she had watched her boyfriend wheeled away on a stretcher. Unconscious with an oxygen mask connected to his mouth. Turning her back on the sight as she rushed toward her car to attend a meeting she was late for. Where her father had scolded her for arriving in an untimely manner.

She fidgeted in her sleep. Aware it was a dream. Distressed by the recall where her present life had left off.

When she woke up that night, she wasn’t alone. First huffing in order to wash away the remnants of present day. Glancing up to see pair of white eyes peeking through a black mask. A damp cloth landed over the second she jolted up with a starting scream. She struggled. The hand pressed down harder until eventually everything started blurring.

By the time she knocked out she knew Chanyeol wouldn’t be able to save her this time.

***heh she's apologizing a thousand years too early for being a bad girlfriend

***Namjoo is connecting the dots. Chanyeol is one and one, the same and she's met another version of him in the Joseon era. Past and Present is really not much different *hint hint: the oneshot*