There was a long screeching sound and then there was nothing. This was all that he could remember before waking up into this seemingly infinite space. He turned in every direction but all he could see were blurry images of paths leading to the unknown. He was standing in the middle of nowhere without any idea of what exactly happened to him. Then amidst the mist, a man clad in black suddenly appeared.

“Where am I? And who are you?” Kyuhyun asked the mysterious man.

“Yesung. That’s how they call me here. I am the Timekeeper.” He monotonously replied.

“Timekeeper?” Kyuhyun looked at him incredulously.

“Yes. Timekeeper,” Yesung answered. “Oh! I forgot!” He placed a palm on his forehead. “How rude of me,” Yesung said in a barely audible voice that Kyuhyun had to tilt his head toward his direction.

“Excuse me?” Kyuhyun asked after being more confused with every passing second. Startled, Yesung turned back his attention to him.

“I’m so sorry, I forgot to welcome you.” Yesung said while scratching the back of his head. “Welcome to afterlife!” His monotonous voice suddenly transformed to a ridiculously cheerful one.

“What do you mean by afterlife?” Kyuhyun asked; his eyebrows knitted together.

“Huh?” Yesung looked at him like he was some stupid being who did not understand a thing that was very obvious indeed. “By your looks, I could tell that you are not a dumb one.” He clicked his tongue to express his disappointment. “What comes after life? Of course, it’s death. You are dead already.” He said it in a very straightforward way that Kyuhyun failed to grab it completely.

“Are you trying to be funny?” Kyuhyun replied.

“Who said I am kidding. Does this face look like I am kidding?” Yesung asked pointing his finger to his own face. “Has it not struck you yet? Where do you think are you right now? Can you even name this place?”  He demanded.

Kyuhyun searched his mind for an answer and in an instant, he said the most logical thing he could think of.

“This is just a dream. You are just part of my imagination.” Kyuhyun said.

“Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself? You do not sound so sure, either. Do you want me to hit you just to make you realize that this is real?” Yesung answered. “Geez…” Yesung paused for a moment and stared at Kyuhyun for a moment. All of the sudden he realized something and all that he could do was to sigh.

“I see, you are one of those unforeseen endings. I guess I still have to make you remember.” With a wave from his hand, he conjured a box out of the thin air. He lifted the lid and then a series of still images came out of it encircling Kyuhyun around. A flick from Yesung’s finger signaled the images to move and transformed into a short movie playing the his last shred of moments before his eyes.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw a truck fast approaching an anonymous lady. He abandoned his car and ran fast to the lady’s direction. When he reached her, he immediately pushed her away with his body. However, it was too late for him to escape the fast approaching truck. There was a long screeching sound. The truck tried to stop but it was just too fast. It hit him and he was thrown back. Kyuhyun watched his own body roll to the ground many times, with bruises, broken bones, and a bleeding head. An ambulance came and brought him to the hospital.

At the hospital, the doctors tried to revive him but his injuries were already too severe. The double doors opened revealing Victoria who suddenly barged inside, crying helplessly over him while hugging his body and wishing him to be awake.

As much as he did not want to believe it but the memories came back and the tragic truth caught up with him. He reached out his hand to touch Victoria but the image of her quickly faded away in front of him. Staring blankly at the space that the images left, he was trying hard to process it all. He repeatedly told himself that this shouldn’t be the ending and that their love should deserve something better, much better, much happier than this. At his frustration and desperation, he clenched his fist until his nails dug deep into his palm until he could not feel anything at all.

“This can’t be!!!” He yelled, his lips quivering.

“I know you are in that denial stage but you have no choice. Sooner or later, you’ll accept it. You have to accept it. Because there is no way for you to go back.” Yesung told him.

“No!!!” Kyuhyun charged at him, grabbing the front of his shirt. “You have to make a way. I have to go back! I cannot leave her like that. I have to go back!!! She needs me! Can’t you see that she’s hurting?”

Yesung grabbed Kyuhyun’s hand and pushed him away. “Everyone is hurting when they lost their loved one. Tell me what the big difference is between your situation and others, huh? You are not a soul who got separated from a body just like those in coma. You are already dead, completely dead. Now, tell me how you can go back.”

Kyuhyun cried and fell to his knees and bent on all fours. “Please… I beg you… Grant my request.”

“You are one of those people who are giving me headaches. Begging for one more chance… You cannot destroy the time continuum. Whatever it is that happened, it happened already and you cannot change that. You cannot gain back the time you lost. Unless there is a person to whom you can borrow time but I doubt there will be that kind of person.”  Yesung explained.

Out of the blue, a shining orb appeared, showing a girl crying in the middle of the park.

“Can’t you just return to him the time that he sacrificed for saving me?!!! Please!” she cried out loud. “This is the only thing I can do to atone for what I did… I can give half of my time to him.”

Kyuhyun watched closely as Yesung manipulated the orb. He tried to see what is in there but he could not. He guessed those were just the abilities that a Timekeeper could only possess.

 “Cho Kyuhyun, you are lucky. You have been saved.” Yesung said as he dismissed the orb.