“This is the first time we celebrate a new year together,” says Jessica, throwing the Christmas-themed wrapping paper on the floor to the recycling bin in the corner of the room.

As promised, Taeyeon had stayed with her. Although the word ‘forever’ is relative, they both spend their days together like it was their last. They had no scientific background, so all they could do was hope that neither of them would suddenly disappear.

“This is the 5th time you said that today,” Taeyeon sits down on the floor right next to Jessica, handing her a cup of hot coco.

“I’m just being thankful, okay?” She takes a sip on the cup and sighs in content.

“I’m thankful too,” Taeyeon leans in and presses her lips to hers.

“You taste like chocolate,” remarks the younger woman after a brief moment of eye contact.

“You’re better than chocolate,” Taeyeon's expression changed in a snap.

Her eyes twinkle under the moonlight, it shows both longing and lust. Jessica was sure of it. Taeyeon kisses her again but with passion, almost as if Taeyeon was begging for her not to let go. It felt sadder as the kiss deepens, Taeyeon hides her regretful demeanor in the dark room.

There was a whistle from afar followed by a loud bang in the sky. The startled couple broke away from their kiss. There were sparks of vivid colors bursting into the dark night, blanketing their city. Jessica sat in awe, jaw hanging in admiration. Taeyeon focuses on a different light: the woman beside her.

Jessica feels a pair of eyes on her, she gives a blissful smile to Taeyeon who couldn’t return the action. She notices something was wrong.

“Babe, you okay?”

Taeyeon didn’t have anything to say. She was beginning to fade out like watercolor. Jessica’s dimension serving as the paper and her existence as the paint. Her declining quantum stability being the water that dulls her color.

She already knew about it. Long before she made the promise to Jessica. She had been traveling dimensions for as long as she could remember. She just couldn’t get herself to say it. Taeyeon stalled until it reached to this moment: the couple staying still as the other half begins to dissipate into thin air as fiery sparks explode in a distant.

“Taeyeon?” Jessica’s voice cracks. Tears blurring her vision as if seeing the fading body wasn’t already enough. She reaches to touch her skin. Taeyeon was like a light that flickered gradually and she couldn’t touch her anymore.

She feels more like a figment of her imagination than an actual human that she spent most of her adult life with. Jessica hates it. She felt complete with her. She doesn’t want more out of life than being with her until the end of time. And some random force takes it away like a child who lost their balloon.

“You promised you would stay with me forever,” She croaks as tears spill out of her eyes.

“I didn’t promise forever,” Taeyeon whispers. She was ashamed of her mistake and hated herself for it.

“Now you’re just leaving me?” Jessica growled.

“I promise I’ll come back to you,”

Jessica stays silent, her sobs were the only sound filling room.

Taeyeon continues, “I love you, Jessica.”

The weeping stopped when she heard the three words. Taeyeon completely vanishes into thin air before Jessica could even open .
______
“No one would click on your article, Tyler,” Jessica drops the papers on her desk, leaving it crumpled.

“Miss Jung, hear me out please,” Tyler picks up the papers, showing his boss a photocopy of a research article. “This explains the possibility of time-travel! You see, Kurt Gödel—”

Jessica leans forward, “You work in the entertainment department,” she says, emphasizing every word. “Go pester some celebrities for all I care, just keep your weird theories for yourself,” She swats her hand, dismissing her subordinate.

Tyler exits her office in defeat. She massages her temples and groans.

“Woah, you still didn’t fire him?” asks Yuri aloud, purposely making Tyler angry and slamming the door behind him. Yuri laughs.

“It’s kinda amusing watching him beg to keep his job. If he stalks me again, I’ll drop him in no time,” Jessica shrugs.

“You’re a sadist, I like it!” Yuri imitates a cat growling.

“Ya!” Jessica jokingly raises her fist at her. The two friends burst out laughing.

“You’re still not gonna change your mind?” prompted Yuri after their fit of laughter subsided. “A blind date won’t kill you, you know,”

“I know but I’m still waiting for her,” responded Jessica whose voice became quieter at the thought of her.

“Is that Taeyeon girl even real?” Yuri doubts.

Taeyeon, whoever she was, left Jessica in pieces. Yuri could only believe half of that Taeyeon girl’s existence as she, herself, endured three years of Jessica crying over a random woman who doesn’t seem to exist online, and the only thing she knew about her was her blonde hair.

“You wanna get coffee?” asks Jessica all of the sudden to avoid the topic.
______
The Hongik Walking Street was packed with locals and tourists.

After her untimely parting with Taeyeon, she relocates to an office in Hongdae but still keeping her apartment in Itaewon, in the event that her girlfriend comes back.

She tried to travel to a random dimension via KTX (after a year of not using it since she messed up), and it doesn’t seem to work anymore. It was like the universe was cleaning up all of Taeyeon’s footprints. She keeps hoping for her to come back because Taeyeon wasn’t the type to break a promise.

Yuri left first as she was called for an emergency meeting at the office. Jessica wanted to stay, she wants to explore Hongdae in all its glory. Most importantly, this was where the pre-blonde Taeyeon first met her. It’s a good place to have fun and remember her time with Taeyeon, who is probably not even thinking about her and enjoying her life in her respective universe.

It’s stupid of me to think that Taeyeon wouldn’t wanna come back. It’s also selfish of me to think she even wants to come back to me.

“Aargh!” Jessica covers her face in her hands, being annoyed at herself for thinking such thoughts about doubting her lover that’s been MIA for three years.

Jessica finishes her drink and exits the coffee shop. She looks at her watch and exhales when she sees that it’s not even time for lunch. Then again, she ditched work with Yuri so she might as well enjoy her time here.

Everywhere she looks, there’s always a street performer. Whenever she would visit this place, Taeyeon would appear in her mind like a holograph—an augmented reality made up by the heartache and longing of her own. It was painful, yes, but she would oddly be at peace when she thinks about Taeyeon’s smile.

She hears a female singer among the loud music, chattering, and applause. The background noise overpowers the singer’s yet Jessica was able to make it out, it was distinctly familiar. It was like she grew up with the voice.

She frantically searches for the singer. If it wasn’t her, it would be another funny memory she would remember. Even so, she never gave up. Her ears picked up the voice, her eyes following suit.

Sure enough, it was a blonde girl. Her voice is exactly like Taeyeon’s. The only thing different is the way she looks: she wore a black top that shows the tattoo on her shoulder (the Taeyeon she knows never had it or even thought about having it), and she wore shades—very normal, but the accessory below it is a nose piercing.

Is this her rockstar phase?

“Thank you, guys!” The blonde girl waved with a smile and bowed to the crowd. The people loved her performance.

“She seems to be doing well for the past three years,” Jessica thought. The fans leave once the blonde girl finished up the little meet-and-greet.

It feels like another déjà vu. Jessica stood, she was just a few steps away from the singer who was cleaning up her equipment for the next street performer.

The blonde woman takes off her sunglasses and turns her head towards the woman in light brown hair.

When she smiled at her, the world around them stopped.

“Sica,”