Kyuhyun, Hyukjae, and Junsu were all hanging out together in Hyukjae's bedroom to talk about Hyukjae's most recent discovery. Kyuhyun had called Junsu right after walking out on Hyukjae to get some advice but just like before, Junsu thought they were simply pranking him. 

"This is the stupidest story invention you two have come up with yet." Junsu said with his arms across his chest while he shook his head at his two best friends. "I mean, do you really expect me to believe you that he," Junsu pointed his right hand out to Hyukjae who was too busy twirling the old smartphone in his hand with his eyes staring at the ceiling, obviously mentally wandering off somewhere unknown, "...is talking to someone 50 years in the past? I might be gullible but I'm not stupid. That's the dumbest lie you two have come up with since you tried to trick me into believing that mustard came from squeezing wilted sunflowers." 

Kyuhyun and Hyukjae both shared a quick look before snickering to one another. Junsu rolled his eyes and grabbed the two nearest objects he could get his hands on to hurl at the two. The flimsy comic book and pen that he chucked did little to nothing to stop Kyuhyun and Hyukjae from laughing. 

"Seriously, guys. What gives?"

Hyukjae flipped himself to lay on his stomach, arms hanging off the side of his bed, and craned his neck up to look at Junsu before uttering, "I don't know what to tell you. It's- It's real. It's all real."

"How?" Junsu countered, still skeptical of the whole thing. "How is that even possible? How do you know that this- this Donghae guy isn't just some creepo playing tricks on you?!" 

"We already showed you the proof, Su." Hyukjae pointed at the messy sheets of paper laying on the ground in front of his friend then stared at the phone he held in his hand. "I spoke to him on the phone for hours and randomly asked him about history stuff and repeatedly asked him to repeat what year he was in to see if he'd slip but not once did he change his answer." 

"Maybe he's just a really good liar."

"That's what I said!" Kyuhyun chimed causing Hyukjae to glare at him. "Look, Hyukjae. I'm all for you finding romance with whoever that guy is on the other side of your phone but- but you have to admit that him lying to you is way more plausible of an explanation than him actually living 50 years in the past. That's- That's insane!"

Hyukjae immediately sat up from his position on the bed and glared at Kyuhyun and Junsu. His overprotective nature was starting to spur and despite only knowing Donghae from a few phonecalls, he knows that the other wasn't lying to him. Something inside him just trusted Donghae. Even when it didn't make sense to. 

"Look, I know Donghae's not lying, ok? I don't know how to explain it but just trust me, I know he's not lying." Junsu and Kyuhyun remained quiet but kept their eyes on Hyukjae so the latter took advantage of the attention and continued. "I know it's hard to understand but he promised me that he wasn't lying and I believe him. It's just-..." Hyukjae closed his eyes tight and tried to gather his thoughts together. Even though he believed Donghae wholeheartedly, the rational part of his brain was still looking for an answer that didn't involve him speaking with a ghost. "I know it's complicated...and that it's hard to explain, but- but I believe Donghae. There has to be something online we can look up to explain how any of this is possible."

Junsu's eyes widened a little "Oh. My. Go- you're gonna go down the Rabbit Hole again aren't you," Junsu accused, his tone already disapproving of Hyukjae's plans, 

"Oh come on, Junsu. We're not gonna let it get that far." 

"No. No. Not figuratively." Junsu pulled his phone out of his back pocket and typed in the Rabbit Hole website in his browser's url bar. "Hyukjae and I found this website a few years ago and it talks about all sorts of sci-fi stuff. These are people who are obsessed - and I mean obsessed - with aliens, ghosts, bigfoot, chupacabra, you name it and they'll find 'proof' of it somewhere." Once the page has loaded, Junsu handed his phone to Kyuhyun who immediately started scrolling through the different threads that people have posted varying from government conspiracies all the way to alternate realities. It was, at the very least, a lot of information to take in. 

"When Hyukjae and I experienced our first ghost sighting when we vacationed at that old run down bed and breakfast place, we found that website and almost immediately people started piling on and sharing their own experiences as well. It became a pretty big deal in that small town that the local newspaper ended up doing a story about it." Junsu looked at Hyukjae and crossed his arms again to show his disapproval at the other. 

Hyukjae on the other hand had a completely different reaction as he let out a light laugh at the memory. 

"I don't know why you're looking at me like that. You know that old lady was delighted to have gathered all those people visiting her little inn."

"They were looking for ghosts!"

"But they paid her to look for the ghosts." Hyukjae shrugged his shoulders and Junsu just rolled his eyes at his nonchalant reaction. "Business is business. Besides, if that story didn't blow up then they wouldn't have been able to prove that there were no ghosts in that place. She should be thanking us that we cleared the name of her business."

"You're hopeless." 

Hyukjae stuck his tongue out at Junsu then joined his friends to sit in a circle on the floor. He gathered up the papers he had printed about Donghae, there was a little more now that he was able to look up some information that the other had shared with him yesterday like the small blurb his old high school did when he won first place at national composing competition for a new anthem song that was used for the opening of South Korea's soccer league in 2019 or as one of the members of his school's drama club when they performed a mini play version of Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

Although his role in the play had been minor, Hyukjae was able to enjoy seeing Donghae in his goblin costume and thought that the artist might have liked him too much if he could still look good with green make up on his face. Hyukjae does feel a little guilty to have snooped around Donghae's life like so, especially when he hasn't even told the other that he was living in a completely different century than him...or that he was from the future, even though he's not. Hyukjae was living in the present and Donghae was living in his past...or is Donghae the one living in the present and that he was actually living in the future?...Could it be both?

Is it possible to be both?

All that thinking was starting to make Hyukjae's head swirl and was only saved by Kyuhyun's loud yell. 

"OH! OH! You guys, read this!" Kyuhyun huddled Junsu and Hyukjae together and showed them a conversation thread he found in the website. "You two should read this. It sounds a lot like something Hyukjae's going through." 

"My husband is a time traveler..." Junsu stopped as soon as he read the title and gave Kyuhyun a deadpan look. "Yah, are you serious? This person's a lunatic." 

"No, no. Not her post. This comment below it." Kyuhhyun pointed out at the first reply the thread had received. "This person, whoever they are, described the exact same thing that's happening to Hyukjae right now. It was posted five years ago."

Hyukjae furrowed his brows together and took the phone out of Kyuhyun's hands to read the comment out loud. 

"Wow. That's amazing OP. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to be with someone that can disappear from your life without a moment's notice but I guess that's what love can do to you. I personally haven't experienced this, and I don't know if I would want to, but my dongsaeng did many many years ago. It's not time traveling per say but he swears that the person he'd fallen in love with was living in the future. They could never meet but he was on the phone with him practically day and night. Sadly, he died young, and even though I didn't believe it back then, I'm grateful to that person for putting a smile on his face. They never met, not that they ever could have had the chance to, but I saw him be happy in a different way that I actually feel more remorseful to the person he was talking to in the future. 

I had to do some extensive research on this and I still haven't really found the answer I was looking for. Science and fate, when they collide makes very little sense of anything. Switching from a patisier to astrophysicist was such a life changing move for me but it was something I had to do for my little brother. I still can't explain with 100% certainty how or why things like that happens but from what I can surmise, sometimes, fate tempts you into swaying away from your destiny. It all boils down to the choices you make and what matters to you the most that can result with the most extra ordinary thing happening in your life. It could be the best; it could be the worst, but no matter what the result is you can't regret it.

I've aged quite a bit since then but I hope I could remain healthy and maybe, someday, I can meet the person my dongsaeng loved in his time and tell him how happy and treasured he was by him. I can only die in peace if I could see him with my own eyes and know that the person he loved the most in the world actually existed and felt the same way about him. I have a few more years to go though before I could reach the year my dongsaeng said he was in so I hope I can stay healthy until then. I have something I've been keeping safe with me since he passed away that I promised to to give to that person. 

Stay strong! If you and your husband are meant to be together you two will find a way to be together. Fighting!"

Hyukjae finished reading the post and looked up to see if his friends shared the same puzzled feeling he did only to be surprised himself when he heard one of them sniffling. He looked at Junsu and raised his right brow in silent inquiry. 

"Are you...crying?" 

Junsu scowled and wiped the corner of his eyes eyes. "Shut up! I have strong sympathy for others, okay." He sniffled some more before taking his phone back away from Hyukjae's hands. "Anyways, I don't see how this could help us at all. This person wrote this years ago and even if we did find him, he wouldn't be able to give us any answers. It was his dongsaeng who experienced the time-travel-phone-interconnection thing that Hyukjae's experiencing and that person, may his soul rest in peace, is unfortunately dead."

Hearing Junsu's emphasis of the last word, Hyukjae couldn't help but think back to Donghae's file. It said that hes only lived up till 2021 and hes mentioned quite a handful of times that he was currently living in the year 2020. 'That means...' Hyukjae's eyes widened as the realization of it all finally dawned on him. Donghae has less than a year left to live! 

Slapping his hand over his forehead, Hyukjae immediately scattered for the papers he had compiled of Donghae and tried to see if they had ever discovered the reason for his death. However, in the pile of his birth documents, school accolades, and whatever the Republic Registry had on him, cause of death was not in any of them. He plopped himself down with a frown feeling utterly defeated that he had missed such an important detail. 

"What's wrong?" Kyuhyun asked him as he watched Hyukjae physically deflate in front of him. "What are you looking for?"

"Donghae's going to die soon." Hyukjae said. The words left a weird bitter feeling inside him as he