Kyungsoo returned to university in late April and was able to resume his studies. He was made to sign an oath to maintain a distance from Chanyeol unless it was absolutely necessary for them to be together in the same place.

Kyungsoo also resigned from his position at the restaurant once he was back in university.

Kyungsoo’s classmates seemed to have an inkling as to why Kyungsoo disappeared for over a month. But they didn’t know the details, only knowing that it had to do with some personal strife of Kyungsoo which led to his suspension.

Chanyeol wasn’t one to gossip either and he didn’t tell anyone about what went on, thus protecting Kyungsoo’s integrity and saving him face.

Kyungsoo was glad that at least Chanyeol had not put a legal restraining order on him, which would look bad on public records for him. Furthermore, he had no other reasons to be around Chanyeol anymore either so it wouldn’t be too hard to avoid Chanyeol.

Knowing where Chanyeol liked to hang out around campus, Kyungsoo made sure to avoid those places too. It shouldn’t be too hard, considering the large size of the campus, Kyungsoo thought.

But despite that, he still did accidentally run into Chanyeol while walking down the hall or during lunchtime at the cafeteria. When that happened, Kyungsoo would bow his head and walk away to immediately exit the situation.

Chanyeol understood that those random encounters were by accident and purely coincidental. When that happened, he’d try to force a small smile to make it less awkward on Kyungsoo’s behalf before going on his own way too.

Nonetheless, Chanyeol would be reminded of Kyungsoo and their little accidental encounter for at least the whole day. In ways Chanyeol couldn’t explain, Kyungsoo often left a lasting impression on him, be it for better or for worse.

Next, Kyungsoo attempted to repair his friendship with Baekhyun. Kyungsoo personally apologized for his mistakes and actions that troubled Baekhyun. He asked to be given another chance to prove that he was slowly taking steps to change himself.

Kyungsoo had actually thought that Baekhyun would not believe him and want to be friends again. But Baekhyun forgave Kyungsoo and gave him another chance to prove himself.

Even then, Kyungsoo didn’t felt that he finally managed to “maintain” his friendship with Baekhyun because they would inevitably drift apart and reach that stage of contact where they only wished each other “Happy Birthday” once a year.

Baekhyun was in his final year and was busy as expected with final year projects, internships and classes so he could finally graduate.

Knowing that, Kyungsoo also decided that it was best that he tried keeping a distance from Baekhyun for the best, not wanting to burden his only friend with his own problems and general instability. Kyungsoo wanted the best for Baekhyun too, even if it meant taking himself out of the picture.

They still did hang out with each other but less frequently and their texts and calls became more sporadic than usual.  When they talked, Kyungsoo also avoided talking about himself and focused more on Baekhyun, having decided that no good would come out of sharing his problems with anyone.

In the summer of 2017, the construction for the house the scroll seller would move into was finally completed. Banners and signboards had been put up in the residential area surrounding the detached houses project to advertise the sale.

Before the specific house was sold off, Kyungsoo replicated the scroll he would buy in the future, word for word. It wasn’t that hard considering that it was just a stationery shop-bought calligraphy scroll, which he could find almost anywhere.

In the middle of the night in July, Kyungsoo broke into the house by prying the windows open with a crowbar. Kyungsoo entered the kitchen area of the empty house and with the crowbar, pried open the loosest floorboard.

There, he planted the scroll together with a note to sell it to “Do Kyungsoo” at a certain specified university.

Kyungsoo designated himself as “Kyungsoo B” with “Kyungsoo A” being the one from the future.

Kyungsoo A experienced a completely different past than what Kyungsoo B was currently experiencing. Kyungsoo A received the scroll in the year 2030, even when he never planted one to be sent to himself.

Kyungsoo had reasons to believe that he might actually be the person who wrote the scroll as a warning to himself, although he had no idea of how it ended up to Kyungsoo A in the future.

By doing so, Kyungsoo ensured that the scroll would eventually return to the Kyungsoo B life he lived now. Hoping that doing so would put him back into a loop where he returned to becoming Kyungsoo A.

Compared to all the other risks Kyungsoo had taken prior to this as Kyungsoo B, this seemed the most harmless. At worse, if Kyungsoo never returned to becoming Kyungsoo A, he would only have a useless scroll to deal with.

Eventually, Kyungsoo even forgot about it. 

***

Accepting that his life was different now, Kyungsoo was more comfortable with doing things differently, unafraid that his actions would severely affect his future.

His children were never born on February 14th, 2018 and he never married Chanyeol on June 9th, 2018.

Kyungsoo still did celebrate the occasions that only Kyungsoo A experienced, such as his wedding anniversary and his children’s birthday but told no one about it. Around the day, he’d bring his father and/or even Baekhyun out for a nice dinner under the pretense of treating them to a meal.

Baekhyun graduated in February of 2018 and got himself a job and a girlfriend shortly later, while Kyungsoo was busy making final touches to his dissertation before the thesis defense in late May.

Naturally, they began to see each other less often, especially now that they were no longer usually in the same place and had their own things to deal with.

Kyungsoo A was only able to finalize his dissertation and defense his thesis around November of the same year. Kyungsoo B was several months ahead because he never had to take time off to give birth and was considerably more experienced due to coming from the future.

During the thesis defense in the university’s auditorium, which was public for attendees,  Kyungsoo saw Chanyeol in the audience and his breath hitched while he was summarizing the research to the panel.

Chanyeol also attended the thesis defense for Kyungsoo A because he wanted to support his husband. Kyungsoo A had been nervous about the whole process because it was his first time and Chanyeol had been there for the morale boost.

But Kyungsoo B was considerably more experienced and independent from Chanyeol. This wasn’t his first time, after all. Kyungsoo simply smiled it off, excused himself for the brief pause and continued presenting his research without a single stutter or doubt in his own capabilities.

Chanyeol was probably there for a friend who was going to present their thesis too. There was no way Chanyeol would be there for him, Kyungsoo believed.

Kyungsoo graduated with his master’s degree in the fall of the same year, one semester early than Kyungsoo A. Only Baekhyun and his father attended the graduation ceremony. This time, there was no Chanyeol or his children.

Due to his exemplary research, Kyungsoo won the Chancellor’s Award and was offered a full scholarship and grant to continue his P.h.D, which he accepted in a heartbeat.

In the spring of 2019, Kyungsoo started his doctoral studies at the same time Chanyeol graduated with his postgraduate law degree. Kyungsoo no longer saw Chanyeol around campus for a few months after that.

As a P.h.D student, Kyungsoo was also employed by the university as a tutor, mainly teaching a few classes a week for undergraduate freshmen, while working on his research at the same time.

Kyungsoo genuinely enjoyed the time he spent teaching, probably even more than his independent research. He liked being a teacher and interacting with his students, especially when they came to him for guidance.

For a while, Kyungsoo felt that he was getting somewhere in this life and that he was leaving an impact of his own. He felt that the sun had once again risen over the dark plains that once shrouded his life. But with light, also came a shadow.

He was occasionally reminded of what he lost and could never possibly achieve here. His non-existent marriage and children remained a ghost of his past future that continued to haunt him from the shadows.

If Kyungsoo were to list out a fault, he could say that it was probably his drinking habits. Although his heart condition improved now years since the car accident, Kyungsoo really wasn’t doing himself a favor when he made it a goal to drink until he passed out almost every weekend.

Kyungsoo justified that he was able to well balance it between his duties, which encouraged him down this destructive behavior even more.

**

On the first day of the 2019 fall semester in September, Kyungsoo walked into the P.h.D student office, looking forward to teaching a class later that week after the quiet summers where he had no classes to teach.

The office was large with space for over sixty desks and separate cubicles for al