The first time was about six years ago. He couldn’t exactly remember how it all started, but it was just like that, one day—poof! He was transported somewhere out of his will; a phenomenon which happened for the first of times. Lee Minhyuk was only seventeen years of age then, having just discovered that he had the ability to travel from his present year to another. He was enjoying it greatly as how a naughty teenager would. Transporting to the day before the exam, and the day after it, so he could know the answers to ace the test. It was all fun and games until that first ninth of February.

It was after-school. Whilst he was treading his way home he suddenly felt an uncomfortable, sharp sensation in his gut; like his stomach was being twisted. The last thing he remembers before disappearing that day is his vision blurring.

The next time he awoke he found himself in a different environment; sure it was still Seoul, he was sure, but it was somehow…old?

An elderly guy happened to pass by, and Minhyuk gathered all the guts to approach him, asking, “Excuse me, sir, what is the date?”

The guy paid him a weird look, but answered eventually, “1995 February 9,”

Minhyuk blinked. That’s the farthest his time-travel had gone. It was still February 9, albeit a couple of years backwards. By this time, he’d be six years old. The thought of going to their house and eat some food before going back to his present time crossed his mind, but he figured that the sight of two of her sons would probably give her mother a heart attack, so he gave up on the idea. “Ah, kamsahamnida,” he bowed, and the elderly guy went off.

He was not sure how in the world he got there; he never even thought of travelling back up to eleven years. What was he supposed to do here?

Probably whoever-was-lording-over-time had a reason why he brought him here, and probably if Lee Minhyuk had fulfilled that, he would get him back to his present time. Hopefully, though. He wandered around the city, and he did not know why, but his feet led him to the front of an elementary school. Just in time, the students were starting to flock out of the institution; each student going most probably to his home. For a couple of minutes Lee Minhyuk remained standing there on his post, waiting for something he himself did not know.  A few moments passed then, and all there was left in front of the school was a little girl about six years of age, leaning on the brick wall with her head angled down. Somehow attracted to the sight he made his way to her. It was a gut feeling—an impetus that pushed him to do what he did not even imagine. He did not have the intention but, as if falling out of character, he knelt down in front of the little girl, a smile present on his pretty face. “Hello,” he greeted.

The girl, startled, recoiled.

“Don’t be scared,” Lee Minhyuk said, a little bit alarmed too. “Are you waiting for someone, little girl?”

Lee Minhyuk observed the little girl. She had flowing black locks; there were slight curls at the end of them. Her skin was a bit darker than anyone else’s. He rather even considered her as pretty. “Hm-mm,” she answered, bobbing her head oh so slightly it was almost unseen.

“Why the long face? Who are you waiting for?”

“I…” she looked like she winced out every word.

“Don’t be scared, I’m a friend,” he said tenderly, putting a hand on the arm of the girl for a comforting gesture. He had no idea what he was doing, at all, but the need to do that overtook the bewilderment that was in him.

She looked at him then. “I’m…I’m waiting for my eomma…and…appa…”

“Are they going to pick you up?”

“Hm,”

“Are they coming soon?”

It took her quite a moment before composing her next reply. Rather than timidity, there was sadness in her voice when she said, “I don’t know…maybe they’re not…going to arrive…”

Minhyuk wanted to ask why, but probably prodding on would just injure the child more. He thought of what to do next, and finally came to the resolution, “Do you want to come with me?”

She looked up.

“So, you know, we could pass the time,”

With a somewhat shy smile, she nodded her head.

“You can call me oppa,” he suggested, pointing a finger at himself. “Minhyuk-oppa,”

“Minhyuk-oppa…” the little girl mumbled, the smile now spreading wider, when she took his offered hand. And the two walked away from the school, with Minhyuk intending to treat the little girl ice cream for appeasement.

“Stay there, okay? Oppa will buy ice cream,” he told her when they went to a park, as the girl settled herself on one of the swings.

“Ne,”

Good thing he was able to bring money along. He bought one for him, and one for the little girl. When he came back, he was curious to see the little girl getting something from her bag—a little red box with a ribbon on it. “Here,” he gave her the cone, and as the child thanked him, he followed it with a question, “Is that a gift?”

“Ne,”

“From your friend?”

“Ne,”

“It must be your birthday today; am I right?”

Slowly, she bobbed her head.

“Aigoo, why didn’t you tell oppa? I could’ve treated you with something better than ice cream!”

“Ah, ani; ani. It’s alright, oppa,”

It was still visible. The little girl was sad about the absence of her parents. “Happy birthday,”

“Thank you, oppa,”

He put his hand on top of her head in a brotherly gesture. “What’s your wish?”

A respite settled after that. After what seemed like forever, slowly, slowly, the girl turned her head to him with a blank face, and Lee Minhyuk thinks that the rosy glow of her cheeks have now gone a bit darker; a little bit more obvious.

He blinked. “Well…?”

For about the hundredth time that day, the girl turned shy in front of him. She blinked several times, rapidly, and avoided his eyes, suddenly developing interest on her shoes.

“Come on, don’t be shy,”

Silence.

“Really, you can tell oppa,”

Still, no answer. Lee Minhyuk was all ready to let go of the topic until she spoke, “I…I don’t think my wish won’t be granted immediately…”

“Why not? Maybe I can help you with it; what is it?”

“I…” but the conversation was disturbed when a loud honk was heard in the air. Immediately after that angry steps made their way to the swing set and a pair of arms quickly picked up the little girl. “Appa!” the child cheered, both happy and surprised.

“Goodness, child, what are you doing here? You should be at school!”

“I was!” she reasoned, her lower lip protruding outward. “But it took you too long to get me so Minhyuk-oppa treated me with ice cream first—” she made a gesture towards her new friend.

“Who’s—?” her father turned, and Minhyuk immediately stood up to bow.

“A-annyeonghasseyo,”

“Annyeonghasseyo; my name is Lee Minhyuk,”

The father eyed the teenager with inquisitive, almost suspecting eyes. He eyed him from head to toe. “Kaja,” he faced his daughter after a while, and, paying no word to the teenager, he walked away, carrying his child. The child was facing Minhyuk, though, and as they receded in the distance, she mouthed at him a small thank you, oppa.

And though Minhyuk was hurt a while ago by the distaste the child’s father had given him, he was appeased.

The car of the birthday girl’s family drove away, and as Minhyuk waved, he felt the sharp sensation in his gut again. With a gasp, he disappeared.

***

The following year, 2007, Lee Minhyuk did not expect that the same thing would happen. It was a Friday, and before he knew it, he had involuntarily time-travelled to another Friday—that was, 1996, ninth of February.

When he awoke, he found himself lying on the bough of a tree; situated at the direct front of a room’s window. He was concealed by the multitude of leaves of the tree. Pushing his way through, he stopped short upon the sight of a little girl who was dreamily looking out her window. She had long black locks; striking a familiar sensation in Lee Minhyuk.

He must have made a sound, or he sensed her, but nonetheless she turned her head and yelped upon the sight of a stranger on the tree.

“Shh!” Minhyuk’s first instinct was to shush her, putting a finger on his mouth.

The child slowly backed away from her window. To prove that he was not a monster or anything of the sort, Lee Minhyuk carefully revealed more of his appearance.

“Greetings, child,” was all the time-traveller could mutter. “May I ask what the date is?”

“Who are you?!” the child demanded.

“I’m a friend,” he benignly introduced himself, although he himself doubted the credibility of that. Before he could speak any further they heard heavy steps trotting up the stairs. Of course, the time-traveller panicked; he knew he intruded a home.

A male voice thundered outside; calling his child’s name.

“A-appa…” the child muttered in horror, stepping backward from Minhyuk. That was when it struck him. The innocence in her face; the black hair—he knew who this kid was! Unfortunately just when the realization hit him he felt dizzy again, and the last thing he saw was the violent opening of the room’s door, and then everything was black.

***

This continued for the next few years. Every time the calendar struck ninth of February, Lee Minhyuk would always—always travel backwards in time. And every time he would do so, no matter what place he’d find himself in, the young girl with black hair would be there. One way or another, their paths would always cross on that day.

On the tenth birthday of the girl, Minhyuk found himself transported into a venue where a party was being held. A lot of guests were there; and the cynosure of the occasion was the girl herself.

“What’s the date?” he asked a guy who was involved in serving the food.

“What? It’s February 9.”

“What year?”

The guy was confused why he was asking such questions, but he answered, “1999.”

Just as he thought. The 21-year-old Lee Minhyuk whose point of origin was 2010 then disguised himself as one of the waiters.

He looked for the birthday celebrator, which, curiously, was not around in her own party. Ceaselessly searching, he asked, looked, and finally, when everything else failed, he went out of the venue—at the back of the building to be exact, and voila—he was right. She was there.

As if the scene of her sixth birthday repeated itself, Lee Minhyuk found her in a sad mood.

“Aiya,” Minhyuk snickered, amused, when he saw her. “I thought a birthday is an occasion when you should be happy?”

She looked at him. “Who are you?”

That was, apparently, the only question that he knew the answer of. “You don’t remember me, do you?”

A pause.

“Ah, it’s okay,” he knelt before her. “February 9, 1995. You were outside your school waiting for your parents to pick you up. A guy offered to treat you ice cream. It was your birthday. The same date, two years later, you met an oppa that was from the high school next to your school. He knew it was your birthday, so he gave you a present, a little pink bear which you display on the bedside table in your room. Last year in school you found a cupcake in your locker. There was a little tag on it,” he smiled, hoping that she will finally recognize who she was.

That then, left agape, and the child’s eyes glittered with enchantment. “Minhyuk-oppa!” she exclaimed, and Lee Minhyuk opened his arms to welcome the embrace of the child.

“Aigoo, you’ve grown a lot!”

The little girl laughed, but she withdrew to ask, “How come I only see you once a year, oppa?”

He did not know what else to answer with, but the truth. “You see,” he smiled meekly, mingled with apology. “I am going to tell you a secret. But can you keep it?”

The little girl nodded eagerly. “Ne, oppa!”

“Good,” he grinned. He’s starting to feel the wicked sensation in his gut now, so that must mean his time is running out. “I am a time-traveller. Every year I am sent to greet you a happy birthday,”

Her face was the epitome of the mixture of sadness, curiosity, and confusion. “Sent by whom, oppa?”

“I also don’t know, honestly. Maybe the Big Guy up there?” Lee Minhyuk pointed heavenward. “You know Him, right?”

At first there was hesitation, but it turned to agreement. “Can’t He make me time-travel too? I want to be cool like Minhyuk-oppa!”

“Believe me, if I knew the answer to that, I’d tell you,” he chuckled. He put his hand on top of her head then, in a brotherly gesture. “What’s your birthday wish?” he asked, but as soon as the words came out of his mouth the pang of pain struck him even stronger, that the girl’s reply was drowned in an incoherent, globbing string of words; fragments of, “want to meet” and “I will marry” and the last thing he heard before he passed out was an exclamation of, “Oppa! Minhyuk-oppa!”

***

Those flashbacks spin in an uncontrollable vortex in Lee Minhyuk’s mind as he lay immobile on the ground. He doesn’t know where he is. Upon the last memory he tries to remember something; he thinks so hard he starts to have a headache. “She wants to meet,” he mumbles. “The guy she’s going to marry,” he rises with a grunt, holding his stomach that feels painful. He now realizes where he is. Still in Seoul, albeit the sky seems a bit darker and the atmosphere reeks of metallic smell; not exactly repugnant to the nose, but just enough for him to sense the staleness of the air. He trudges his way to a convenience store that he exactly knows where.

Bells ring upon his ingress. When he enters, he immediately buys a cup of noodles. As he waits for it to be cooked, he sits on a counter, a wall of glass separating him from the world outside. He sees people walking to and fro across him, the alleys that seem to have depreciated and improved over time. He doesn’t know where—or the better question would be, when he is.

Lee Minhyuk unveils the cover and unclasps the chopsticks. He clips the noodles and stirs them in the bowl. He’s drowned in his thoughts until something distracts him—a voice that’s been hovering over the entire convenience store, and has now intruded his ears, snagging his attention. It’s a radio show, Lee Minhyuk realizes. He decides to listen.

“Now we have a story from Lee Minkyung, from Chungdam-dong, Gangnam.  Let’s hear her,” the DJ starts reading the sender’s letter, as Lee Minhyuk commences eating. “‘Today is my birthday, and also my eomma’s. Although…I feel kind of sad. This is our first birthday that my Appa isn’t around. Because, you know…he’s left us already. He was taken by ‘The Big Guy Up There’ as he would call Him. I miss my Appa; he was a very jolly man—he was the perfect father, the person whom my mother had wished for ever since she was a child. They fit perfectly like two puzzle pieces. I miss my father, although I know my eomma misses him the most. He was her one and only love. Today when I woke up, the first thing I did was cry, and I desperately wished that Appa would be here with us today. But then again, that would be impossible, yes? The best I can do now is celebrate my—our birthday, the happiest we can manage. Eomma says that we will just celebrate at home today. She’s cooking food right now and she told me to buy the cake. It’s a feast, though there’s only the two of us. Perhaps eomma thinks there’s still room for one more person.

‘She doesn’t know that I wrote to you. She doesn’t tune in so she’ll never know. I’m crying as I’m writing right now; I never allow myself to do so when I’m in front of eomma because I need to be strong for her. I just need an outlet, because, honestly, I confide this in no one. I hope that whoever hears my story will always cherish their parents, because it’s not every day that they would be there.’”

“My, my, what a sad story,” Lee Minhyuk mutters to himself as he chews the noodles. Something inside him is stirring—it’s been there for a while now, he just chooses to ignore it. He warrants it’s caused by hunger. But even after he’s eaten up, consumed all his food, the stirring inside him has now coursed into discomfort, and Lee Minhyuk freezes, suddenly, when he hears the DJ.

Wrong.

It’s wrong.

It should be.

“Let’s have our time check now; it’s 3:34 in the afternoon, 9^th of February, year 2035.”