September 12th, 2012
MMXIIAfter several years of research, the lovers finally managed to break certain laws of physics they thought could not be broken. Niu Nai was haggard and exhausted, but seeing Seohyun once every three months in the past and once a week in her own time, gave her strength to carry on. They discovered that traveling more than once in three months gave Niu Nai heart palpitations. Combined with prolonged lack of sleep, she could feel her organs working double-time just to keep up with her. Seohyun refused to let her continue this way, hence the three-month rule. In the present, Niu Nai tried to take better care of her health, while Seohyun was still unchangeably, dead.
The discovery of that special common space in the future, gave Niu Nai courage to keep her eye on the prize. Eventually, her perseverance paid off. The girls had successfully managed to meet in the future at a date and time they specified in advance. They needed precise coordination in the past and the present to achieve this feat. If their timing was one or two minutes off, they could still meet, but communicating would be hindered. Niu Nai would speak, and Seohyun would respond two minutes later. Or Seohyun would kiss Niu Nai but the latter would only feel it a few moments after the fact. This was a nuisance, but usually their timing was quite exact.
Meeting like this was a blessing to them both, yet incredibly sad at the same time. Laws that even science couldn't break limited them to twenty minutes, once a year. Niu Nai's body couldn't handle more than that. Seohyun also had started feeling ill each time she returned to the past, but doctors couldn't find anything wrong with her. The girls concluded that this must be emotional strain manifesting itself physically. Still, they lived their lives waiting for September 12th, in 2012 each year. To coordinate the perfect meeting, they had matching stopwatches. With no communication throughout the year, each girl lived on the hope that the other would remember the date. Faith was abundant between them, but there was still always a nervous pang a few days leading up to September 12th of any given year.
The sixth September 12th meeting they shared was their last.
2012 had now become a stain on Niu Nai's heart and a kink in Seohyun's conscience.
Something went wrong. Niu Nai remembered how clumsy Seohyun was during their college years. Even so, as hard as she tried to shift blame onto Seohyun, she could only blame herself. This was her idea. She should have left things as they were. Why had she been so desperate to see Seohyun again and again? She was greedy and should have been happy to simply pay her last respects and move on. Seohyun deserved a dignified death and Niu Nai needed to grieve. Now she would grieve for eternity.
Unless...
Maybe she could turn back the clocks once more.
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