4:30 AM.

Taeyeon looks at her watch. She begins walking towards the woman eating cup ramyun on the long table near the glass partition of the store. She hands her a fruit popsicle.

“You might want an ice pop with that,” The woman’s cheeks were flushed red and her lips were swollen from the spiciness of the food.

“Thank you,” She tore the plastic packaging and cures her throbbing mouth with a strawberry-flavored popsicle.

Taeyeon strikes up a conversation. “What are you doing eating spicy ramyun at 4 in the morning?”

“I’m doing an experiment,” The blonde woman raises her brows. “I’m testing out how long I’ll last before I get sent to the ER,”

Taeyeon unexpectedly beams, her chins revealing a pair of little dimples.

She is too cute!

“Why are you smiling?” The woman asks, biting the last of her popsicle.

“I just think it’s cute,” She answers. “I’m not making light of your situation, though. I do hope you can get through whatever it is holding you back,” Taeyeon mouths a ‘fighting,’ she shakes her fist and purses her lips together.

The woman erupts in laughter. A sound Taeyeon was already accustomed with. It’s melodic, she never gets tired from hearing the sound.

“It’s not that serious. I’m Jessica, by the way,” Jessica offers a hand for her to shake.

“I’m single—I mean, I’m Taeyeon but you can call me Taengoo!” Taeyeon beams again, happily shaking Jessica’s hand.

Taeyeon’s wristwatch beeps. It’s 4:45 AM.

“Do you have somewhere to go?” questioned Jessica who was finished with her food and is now wiping with a tissue.

“Yeah, I jog in the morning,” Taeyeon lies.

Jessica stands up from the stool and Taeyeon follows. The watch beeps again after they exit the mart.

4:50 AM.

“You must love jogging in the morning,” Jessica comments with a laugh as Taeyeon comically turns the beeping off after a couple of failed attempts.

The blonde woman smiles apologetically. She cracks a joke to lighten the atmosphere. Jessica, thankfully, finds the other woman amusing and gives a great reaction to her cheesy jokes.

The watch beeps a final time.

December 23, 20XX.

4:55 AM.

Jessica was about to cross the street. A wine-red truck moves forward ceaselessly, leaving the brunette no time to realize that the heavy vehicle isn’t going to stop any time soon. Taeyeon grabs her hard by the wrist, dragging the shocked woman back to the pavement and embracing her savior, clutching Taeyeon’s back like she doesn’t want death to take her away this early.

Her life had been difficult since accepting a job in Itaewon. It was hard, but it was especially rewarding. She had just started a brand new chapter in her life. If Taeyeon hadn’t been here with her, she would’ve died on the spot.

“Thank you,” Jessica mumbles in Taeyeon’s chest.

“It’s okay, I’m here.” The blonde promises, gently Jessica’s hair.
____
Meanwhile, Jessica races to get the only available seat in the train. Because she wasn’t paid enough to afford her own car, she constantly travels via the Korean Train Express or KTX. The train appears to be the only mode of transport that enables her to go to Taeyeon’s era in the future or to go back to her time.

That’s what she’s been doing to save her girlfriend.

She anxiously opens and closes her smartwatch. Her boss didn’t let her get off work early because of the meetings. She failed to save Taeyeon at the same time [where she’s currently travelling to] before, losing her again isn’t an option.

After exiting the station, she runs like she was being chased. She comes to a stop when she views Taeyeon in the jewelry store, scanning through various rings and necklaces. Jessica already knew why her girlfriend visited this place.

Taeyeon was here for the engagement ring that she had customized a month before. She learned about it subsequently after her partner uttered the last I love you and, as her heartbeat subsides, the darkness consumes the life from her eyes. Her breathing stops, the body goes limp as soon as Jessica pleads for her to hang on.

Jessica doesn’t want to repeat the same mistakes again, so she calls Taeyeon from the earpiece that came with the smartwatch.

Taeyeon’s device rings and she smiles as soon as she sees the caller ID. She wears the earpiece and taps on the screen to accept the call while admiring the expensive necklaces displayed on the glass cabinet.

“Hey, love,” says Taeyeon, obviously happy to hear her girlfriend (and soon-to-be-wife-if-she-accepts-her-proposal).

“Baby,” answers Jessica sweetly. She had finally grown to reciprocate her love.

Her first meeting with the smaller woman was traumatizing, to say the least. She didn’t think about having a girlfriend, let alone dating a woman, so this was all new to her. Spending time with Taeyeon wasn’t bad, it was actually the happiest you’ll ever see her—that is until Jessica has to save Taeyeon’s life and it becomes another topic to talk about in therapy.

Loving her makes the younger woman more determined to save her. She realizes how dull her life would’ve been if she hadn’t met Taeyeon.

“I thought you’d be busy with meetings today,” Taeyeon mouths a ‘thank you’ to the cashier. “Did you miss me already?” She opens the velvet box and gawks at the twinkling gem.

This was all I could afford thanks to my ten part-time jobs, but the quality is no joke! Jessica would love this.

“I ditched work because I suddenly wanted to spend more time with the love of my life,” Taeyeon’s face instantly turned red, she thought she’s safe from Jessica seeing her expression but what she doesn’t know is that the woman is surreptitiously watching from across the store.

Jessica laughs when she sees the blushing blonde woman. “Let me guess, you’re blushing?”

“Nuh-uh!” Taeyeon strongly denies. She says calmly, “I suddenly wanted to spend more time with the love of my life, too,” A smile crept up on her face. She is totally whipped.

“Okay, I’ll see you outside. Where are you, even?” Jessica pretends to guess.

“I’m by the, uh,” Taeyeon looks around outside the jewelry store and spots a nearby pizza place. “The pizzeria in Jongno District, it’s just near your office,” She can’t spoil the surprise just yet.

“Perfect! I’ll see you in a few minutes!” They end the call with a smile still etched on their faces.

She still has less than ten minutes left to drag Taeyeon and the rest of the people outside the building before a group of robbers barge in and kill off everyone inside it.

Jessica couldn’t stand still anymore. She's been waiting in the alley for three minutes to stall some time, Taeyeon still wasn't close to exiting the store yet.

Refusing to do nothing, she walks out of the alley and enters the pizzeria Taeyeon was talking about. Explaining to her why she was already here, when she implied to the older woman that she was still at work, would be tough. She was willing to lie to her if it means saving her life.

The lure was set, she just needs Taeyeon to exit the establishment. She has called the cops beforehand, too. The people in the building would only have a small window of time between life and death. The last thing Jessica needs is another failed duty as someone with a gift to travel through time and space.

Alas, there was a miscalculation.

She was happily browsing the menu until she heard gunshots and screaming, just a few blocks from where she is. She quickly rushes out and witnesses the same tragedy happening, she experiences déjà vu.

No, this isn’t fair! I planned it out perfectly!

The cops didn’t show up until Taeyeon had taken her last breath, again.

Even if I change the past, the police are still useless.

Jessica hated herself. She let her die twice! She checked her late girlfriend’s pulse. She failed again. Jessica takes the small box from Taeyeon’s grasp. It was bloody and now her tears stained the velvet fabric, mixing with the dried deep red liquid.

The grieving woman doesn’t care about anything anymore. She gets up from the pool of blood, scampering off to the train express. Her hands holding onto the velvet box like it was the only thing left for her.

She gets on the train, her pastel pink cardigan and pear green dress soaked in the blood of her dead soulmate. This certainly wasn’t the first time she gets on the train post-death of a loved one. The stares that she gets doesn’t faze her.

Her seat suddenly rocks persistently, snapping Jessica out of her own negative thoughts. The whole car seems to shake, not just her seat. Lights flicker, the passengers from both timelines (her own and Taeyeon’s) are overlapping. She looks down to see her hands and entire body fading into the background like she was a ghost disappearing.

Jessica feels lightheaded. Her body could only take so much quantum effects in the space-time vacuum. This time-travelling thing is not for the faint of heart, Jessica thought before collapsing to the ground.

She wakes up in her room. She was on the twin-sized bed that she had before she met Taeyeon. Her clothes were the same without the blood. Jessica realizes that she must be back in the present, one without Taeyeon.

The brunette’s first instinct was to take her wallet and go back to the KTX. But she feels exhausted, her body feels as heavy as lead. It was like she had attended an intense party with heavy alcohol, giving her a burning headache and the fatigue was weighing her down like gravity.

She couldn’t physically do anything at this moment. She feels so hopeless that she considers giving up. She could only do as much as burying her face with her hands and weeping to herself, muttering every curse word that she knows to the air and letting the tears slip through her fingers and dropping to the duvet.

I’m so sorry, Taeyeon. I promise I won't fail you again.

Her crying was cut short when she hears the lock clicking on her front door. She hears her fridge door open and some thudding. The trespasser must be drinking water.

Jessica slowly drags her feet to approach her bedroom door. Her slowness didn’t let help as the door bursts open before she could even reach for it. She fell to the ground and looked up to see the trespasser.

“Taeyeon? What are you doing in my timeline?”