13^th December, 2019

-or the day after Kim Yae Na lost the battle that she fought

The room was quiet. Outside, snow was beginning to melt under the morning light, the same light that was seeping in through the crack of the curtains, illuminating the entire room. A quiet whine of a dog would sound, then their nails dragging across the linoleum as they slept. Sheets rustled at times, a lowly hum would come from under the covers, a hand would fall out, a golden wedding band glistening under the sun.

It was just like any other day. Quiet, peaceful, tranquil. A bright winter morning that one would spend long, huddled under the covers, dreaming.

It was just like any other day, but it wasn’t.

Kim Yae Na woke up with a startled. She felt like she was falling. Her head was paining, mind hazy, eyes taking too long to adjust to the light. It took her a few minutes to register then. But for a moment, she wondered if it was how heaven felt like. Warm, calming and quiet. For the first time in days, there were no sound of barking dogs, there was no trepidation, no dread. It certainly had to be how heaven felt like, for Yae Na hadn’t felt so peaceful in a while. It certainly had to be heaven, for Yae Na could no longer be alive by then.

Unless, only unless…

Yae Na abruptly pulled herself up, reached out, her hand searching. She found her phone on the nightstand, haphazardly tossed away. Her eyes finally adjusted to the light, her mind fell into place again when she saw the time on the screen. It was somewhere past seven in the morning, and the date was-

13^th December 2019

-Or the day that life moved on

For the first time in five days, Kim Yae Na had moved forward in time. It was the 13^th of December after so many days, snow had fallen outside and Yae Na was still alive. Life would continue from here, she believed. Her life would continue from here. Yet, there was a terrifying, gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she felt her chest tighten in anxiety.

If time had indeed moved on, what was the time line that had continued? Of all the five different timelines of the same day that she’d lived, with four different consequences, what timeline had she lived? Alarmed, Yae Na moved to pull herself out of bed again. But only, she couldn’t, as holding her back now, she felt an arm wrapping around her waist. Yae Na froze in the moment, right there, right then. Sung Gyu familiar groggy voice was soon so close behind her, and then his warmth, and then his scent, the tingle of his messy hair brushing her skin as he moved closer and pulled her into his arms.

“Good morning” He mumbled against her neck, and with a start she realized that they both wore nothing under the blankets at that time. “Too early...come back”

Yae Na remained frozen to the spot, trying to make sense of everything that she felt. Her mind was in a turmoil. Sung Gyu was here, in her room, on her bed, holding her. She couldn’t have been more overwhelmed than she was right at that moment. Warmth filled her eyes, her head felt empty, and she felt herself falling again; but only this time, she was falling into his arms.

Yae Na was crying again, with happiness or by pain, she couldn’t tell. Through her blurry eyes, she could see Sung Gyu’s concerned gaze as he hovered above her. Even as she cried, she reached out and fixed the mess of his hair. It’s been so long that she’d properly looked at him in daylight. She hadn’t realized, all this time, that his hair had actually grown too long.

“Hey….hey are you okay?” He asked her, one of his hands was on her face, feeling her warmth, wiping her tears. “This is too early for waterworks” He said mock disapprovingly, making her laugh through tears. He was quiet for a while, observing her and she took in a sharp breath.

“Yae Na, sweetheart, is this about last night?”

Last night? In Yae Na’s reality, last night she had overtaken Sung Gyu’s place in a car chase and sacrificed herself to stop a fleeing serial killer. But that didn’t seem to be the exact incident that he seemed to be referring to when he talked about last night.

“Last...night?” She croaked out, anticipating a better explanation. She was nervous as to what this timeline could be. There was only one possibility as to which timeline had continued, the fourth. But Yae Na could never be too sure.

Sung Gyu made a face. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember”

She shook her head. “I honestly don’t”

Sung Gyu seemed to contemplate it for a second, then instead of telling her and clearing her doubts, he moved in and kissed her. His lips were soft and warm and comforting, the kiss so different to all the other times that they have kissed for the past few days; soft, gentle yet playful, so him.

His arm moved to cradle her head as his fingers massaged her scalp. He broke off only to rub his nose against hers. “On second thoughts, it’s good that you don’t”

Yae Na pouted her lips, although in her mind, she was desperate. “Oppa…”

Sung Gyu pulled away from her, sitting up on the bed. “Now come on, it’s late and we’ve got to go to work”

“Wait” She too, pulled herself up on the bed, bringing the sheets along with her, covering herself. She couldn’t possibly leave her doubts unanswered, floating in the air between them. So much has happened, so many things have changed and she already did have an insurmountable amount of questions that showed no possibility of getting answered; this, today, was the last she needed to be added on to her pile. Sung Gyu paused and turned to her. Yae Na slid across the bed towards him, and his fingers slowly entangled with hers.

“You really don’t remember?” He asked her quietly, his concerned gaze falling into hers. There was doubt in his eyes, there was concern. But above all, there was warmth, there was love, all of which, Yae Na knew, was directed towards her.

Yae Na shook her head. She would have no explanation why she didn’t, and even if he asked her, she had no idea how she could explain to him without him thinking that she had gone out of her mind. The Sung Gyu in the previous timeline, for all the wrong and right reasons, had somehow believed her. But the Sung Gyu here, right now, Yae Na had no idea what to expect.

Sung Gyu nodded, holding her hand warmly in his. “Yesterday...we...we had a fight” He said, met her eyes, “And you wanted to call off the wedding”

It didn’t take long for her to put two and two together, It was the very first timeline that had continued then; the very first. It took everything from her not to exclaim her relief too loud, lest she surprised him, and in the bad way.

“Do you remember that?” He asked, albeit gently as he searched her eyes.

Yae Na tilted her head. “A little…?”

Sung Gyu chuckled. “I thought so. Because when I came over last night, you were stinking drunk and passed out in your work clothes and I had to-,”

“Oh” Yae Na’s cheeks heated up in embarrassment and she made a face. “Oh, no”

“And it didn’t go exactly well because we-,” He trailed off at that, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Oh no!”

Sung Gyu laughed, so did she, the air becoming lighter and lighter between them. She realized, it was how things should have been since the beginning, and it was how the things were now, after everything that they went through. Perhaps this was the reason why god did this to her, kept her in repeating time, put her through pain time and time again until she realized what mattered the most in her life.

The two of them fell quiet again, and in that comfortable silence, Sung Gyu gently rubbed her hand, lost in his own thoughts. Yae Na reached out and fixed his hair which had messily fallen over his eyes. Sung Gyu raised his head and looked at her.

“Do you still want to do it?” He asked her.

“Do what?” She raised her brows.

Sung Gyu hesitated, swallowing hard before he replied. “Call off the wedding”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and Yae Na didn’t think twice before she shook her head. “No, no...and I’m sorry-I was an idiot-”

“Ssh...ssh….” Sung Gyu shook his head, stopping her and placed a finger on her lips. “Listen, Yae Na, I’m sorry...for putting you in that place, for making you think that way-,”

“It’s not your fault” She whispered, recalling his reasons, his very good reasons.

“Nor is it yours” Sung Gyu replied gravely, took her hand and kissed her palm. His thumb rubbed the golden band that he himself had put on her a few months back on a warm summer night, not knowing all the adventures that it would entail. He slowly pulled it off her hand then, surprising her, and gave her yet another chaste kiss on her lips.

“Now, I’m asking you again; Kim Yae Na, will you marry me?”

Yae Na was crying and laughing all at once as she threw herself into his arms. She let him put the ring on her yet again, and all was well.

Later that morning, Yae Na was in the kitchen while Sung Gyu pressed one of his extra suits that he had hoarding in her closet for emergencies while talking to Sam and Coco like he usually did. It was once again, a usual domestic morning in her flat; one of the many nights that Sung Gyu had stayed over, promising her not to stay late but ended up doing so anyway and grumbled the next morning about going to work late. But only, this time, he wasn’t grumbling or complaining, he was mostly quiet as if whatever that had happened in Sung Gyu’s reality had affected him a lot more than she expected. Yae Na didn’t usually have a big breakfast, but that morning she tried her best to put together a better meal as to make up for whatever she did the night before. Yae Na was in the middle of transferring some Kimchi from a container that his mother had sent her to a bowl when Sung Gyu came to the kitchen, all dressed with the dogs tailing behind him. He was never a dog person before. Not until he met her. And now she sometimes had a feeling that he came over to her place with the sole intention of seeing them.

“What’s cooking?” he asked as he joined her.

“Just breakfast” She muttered, putting the half empty box of Kimchi aside.

“Need any help?”

“Nothing much” She shrugged, gazing at him, feeling warm and peaceful than she had ever been. Sung Gyu was just Sung Gyu, loving and breathtaking, her everything, the love of her life. Yae Na had never believed in love until she met him, and she never believed that she could fall in love with someone every passing day like she did with Sung Gyu. Sung Gyu was just Sung Gyu, with his gentle smiles, tired creases around his eyes, constant complaining in ordinary mornings, overly engrossed in work, hardly ever putting his love into words. But it was him that she loved beyond words, him and everything that made him, him. And to think that she had nearly lost him...twice-,

“Yae Na?” Sung Gyu’s voice cut into her train of thoughts, then, and only at that point did she realise that she’d been staring at him for so long.

“You’ve just been...staring” He replied, meeting her eyes.

“Oh um” Yae Na turned away, tucking her hair behind her ear. “You can just...set the table”

“On it” He replied and moved on to do just that. Even as he did, Yae Na realized, she wasn’t done watching him. She wasn’t done watching his quick, meticulous ways of doing things as simple and mundane as setting the table, arranging the cutlery and placing the dishes, how quiet and engrossed he was in it, how, although his eyes constantly glimmered like stars, he hid so much behind them, so, so much.

In this timeline, Yae Na remembered, that nothing was over. Doctor Yoon probably escaped last night, and Sung Gyu’s mind was still wounded up around it, although he was here, trying his best not to show his concerns. This is the Sung Gyu that Yae Na had always known, and she knew that nothing she’d say or do would change that. He would open up so little about work, keep mostly to himself and search for comfort in her embrace in every other way but that. Yae Na also realized that she’d have to live with it, accept it just as she had for the past six years, and if anything, love him more, for there’s nothing that love couldn’t heal.

“Aren’t you going to look at the stew?” He asked her as he concentratedly placed chopsticks on the table. “Or are you going to let it boil over?”

Yae Na smiled, shaking her head. He could be overbearing sometimes, quite the complainer. But he was her mess to love.

Yae Na returned to the broth and Sung Gyu sat down to talk to the dogs who enthusiastically responded. She had just returned to the table with the piping hot stew on tow when Sung Gyu’s phone began to rang. For some reason, the sound of his phone gave her raging anxiety; from the very first timeline when he left her behind to the last where Yae Na was certain how their fate was going to be. Even then, she paused, stilled in the moment as Sung Gyu’s face visibly darkened. He glanced up at her, and she wished he couldn’t see the horror in her eyes. He picked up the phone then, climbed up on his feet and hurried out of the kitchen to her room.

Yae Na gave it a second, then two. Then she placed the hot stew on a coaster and promptly followed after him.

Sung Gyu was speaking in a lowly hushed tone that she couldn’t make out much of what he was saying. However, she could see his movements, read his expressions. He moved about the room, one hand on his waist, the other holding the phone. He’d nod a couple of times, he’d run his hand through his hair, he’d close his eyes, take deep breaths, and Yae Na could almost assume what it was about. The call didn’t last for long, but his reaction post-call seemed to last for a long time. As soon as the call ended, Sung Gyu sat down on the bed, all the weight that he’d carried on his shoulders perhaps being finally taken away. Then he covered his face with both his hands and stayed like that for a very long time.

Yae Na knew what exactly that meant. Yae Na knew it all.

Back in the kitchen, she pretended not to have seen or overheard anything as she continued to fill their bowls with rice. Sung Gyu entered the kitchen, slow on his feet. He stood there for a moment as Yae Na paused, gripping the spoon so hard as the warm steam from the cooker lingered on her skin. In a matter of minutes, then, Sung Gyu had approached her, and his arms slowly wrapped around her, holding her from her back. Yae Na could feel the lightness of his touch, the gentleness of his weight when he rested his head upon her shoulder and breathed her in. Her own hand rested on top of his on her midriff and he held her like that for a while.

“Good news?” She asked him in the end, having clarified her doubts in his response. There was definitive relief in his stance, she could tell.

“Very good news” He sighed, leaned in and kissed her on her cheek.

“Yae Na” He called her.

“Hm?”

“Do you remember the red cross murderer that I was talking about?”

Yae Na’s hand gripped onto his even harder, which he didn’t seem to notice. “Yeah?”

“We caught him” He muttered, and his voice broke. “It was Howon on the phone just now, and they’d caught him this morning”

If it was any other time, if it was the continuation of her original timeline and if the time-glitch never happened, this wouldn’t have excited her as much. But in truth, Yae Na and he had gone so much together; it didn’t fail to bring tears to her eyes.

“They did?”

“Yeah they did”

Yae Na couldn’t sound too eager, she couldn’t possibly show that she knew all about it. Rather, she made light of the situation. “Is this the guy who draw a red cross somewhere in the crime scene?” She knew exactly what it meant, but he didn’t have to know.

Sung Gyu burst out in laughter and turned her around. “You’re so cute” He said and took the spoon off her hand. “Is that what you thought the whole time I talked about him?”

She widened her eyes. “Is it not why you call him that?”

He laughed again, holding her in his arms. She hadn’t seen him laugh so much in a long time, and now she realised how much she had missed it. “It’s not….but it sounds so much better”

Yae Na smiled, moved in and hugged him close in her arms. She buried her face in his chest, breathed in his scent, and she hadn’t felt safer than she did right then, she felt home.

“I’m glad its over”

She knew that what she meant wasn’t exactly what he interpreted, but he didn’t have to know. Not now, at least. Perhaps when times had passed by, when none of this mattered, she’d tell him, she’d tell him everything. But for now-,

“Me too...I’m glad its over”

She gave it a second then, and a moment of contemplation. Although she wouldn’t tell him in detail. She couldn’t help it, she couldn’t help thinking, she couldn’t help wondering. So she pulled away from him, just a few inches of a gap and met his eyes.

“Oppa…”

“Hm?”

“I have a question”

He narrowed his eyes. “As long as its not about the murderer-,”

“If you could live the same day again and again, what day would it be?”

Sung Gyu looked at her, baffled, perplexed. “Is that your question?”

“Mmhm” Yae Na nodded.

“Well” Sung Gyu started, looked away, but he didn’t take long before he replied. “I have to say, for now, today is topping the charts”

Today. Yae Na gave it a thought. If she could choose to live today again and again, would she make that choice? Ever?

She looked up at Sung Gyu, gazed into his glistening eyes, into the millions of stars inside them, the universe that they held. He was happy, if the smile on his lips hadn’t said much, and he was glowing. If Yae Na could see this smile, hear the sound of his laughter and feel the warmth of his embrace for every second that she lived, she wouldn’t think twice to take a chance, any day.

“Today?” She reiterated, earning a nod in return. She smiled at him, moved closer and buried herself in his arms.

“Me too...today would do”

~Fin~

Author's note.

With 43 778 words, 8 chapters and 71 pages, this story has come to an end. I believe this is one of my best work and is a personal favorite, as crime and fantasy wasn't a combination that I'd often challenge myself with but now i regret not trying it sooner as I had so much fun writing this. As questionable the accuracy of many details of the story is (Honestly I spent three hours looking at roads and town on google maps with and without the sattlite images, reading about anesthetics and what anesthetics killed the fastest) I hope I got as close as they were and I hope they didn't impact the storyline or its flow. I hope you fell in love with the characters as much as I did, I hope you grew along with them, found a part of yourself within them as much as I did.

Lastly, this is the one story that took me the least time to complete. If I count off the weekend I was travelling during which I couldn't proofread hence not post, I managed to finish it in two weeks, which is a new record for myself. Not to mention that this is the fourth novella I was able to complete for the past eight months. With everything that happened in my life, I suppose it was a huge achievement.

I do understand that this story haven't reached a lot of people, especially it having an original character. But to those who did read it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Hoping to see you in another story of mine.

Thank you.

Loads of love,
Achini