ARA’S POV

     It was a late summer day, in 2009, beginning of August, I think. I was in the mall—by myself—looking at end-of-summer sales. I like to get text updates on my phone about new ringtones or games or whatever. This day, I got a text of a completely different kind. It seemed like a hoax, but I wondered if it was a prank from one of my few friends. The text said this:

Reply if you would like to change your life.

What kind of cheesy prank is that? I thought. Maybe it’s an advertisement for pimple cream or a dietary supplement or something… I replied ‘yes’ simply because I was curious and bored and it didn’t cost me anything. While I was browsing TVXQ cell phone wallpapers, a reply came.

Reply if you want to make your wish come true.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Is this just going keep asking me to reply until I run out of texts? It seemed so dumb…but so did the costume sail, so I went to the food court, grabbed a bite to eat, and replied another brief ‘yes’.

I sat and waited for another reply. Maybe, “Reply if you would like to enter this sweepstakes”.

Great. And operator will be in touch with you shortly.

This made me chuckle for some reason. An operator? You’ve gotta be kidding me. This is all just some way to get me to talk to a telemarketer, isn’t it? And I totally just fell for it! I waited. Maybe I could have some fun with the guy before I hung up on him… Not too long after that, my phone rang.

“Nuga mwora haedo, You’re my crazy love, michyeottdago haedo, Just can’t get enough, ireon naui mareul geudaen arajugettjyo, Baby my heart beats for U.” My phone sang to me.

I looked at the number. Restricted. I hesitated. Sometimes these telemarketers can be pretty annoying… Or what if it was some crazy stalker person? I answered it anyway.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Go Ara.” Said an automated voice. Oh God, they know my name! “You have been chosen to receive this opportunity.

“You have been selected to receive this once in a lifetime opportunity!” Said an enthusiastic female commercial voice. “Press one now to enter your wish.”

This has got to be some kind of contest or something. I thought. I hope they don’t ask for my credit card information… I pressed one.

“You have one choice.” The voice had change to a deep male voice. “You can pick one place, one time. Every choice is yours. Time, place, position, circumstances, ect. Choose carefully. Choose wisely. You only have one choice. Please record your wish after the tone—“ Beep!

“Wha-uh…”

“I’m sorry; your wish was not properly recorded. Please try again.” Beep!

What the heck! This is so weird. What am I supposed to say? I looked up at a poster hanging in the window of a music store. If I could have one wish… If I could wish for one life… If I could be anyone, live anywhere, have anything, be with anybody… What would I choose? I wasn’t sure about this whole wish thing, but I decided to go with it anyway. Maybe my life would finally get a bit more interesting. Maybe I would actually get a life—who knows?

“I’m sorry; your wish was not heard. Please try again.” Beep!

“If I could have one wish like this, I would wish for a new life, where I go to college, live in my own apartment, have actual friends…I would go back to 2006 after I graduate high school and start over again.” I knew the exact day I wanted to go back to. The exact day I wanted to fix. The most embarrassing day of my life. “I want to go back to the day I got fired from my job.” But I didn’t want to go back to that day. I wanted to change it. “If it were my wish, that would be the day I meet the love of my life.” My eyes stayed on the poster—a new poster of TVXQ. “The person I want to be with is Kim Junsu. I wish to become his girlfriend. And that would be the day we meet…” If he was there, he could make things better—I just know it.

I waited for a second, then the female voice replied. “Thank you for your time. Your wish is being processed now. Please wait as this may take a few seconds….”

I took the phone away from my ear and look at it. It hadn’t disconnected, but I had heard a distinct click and no one was talking.

“Hello?” I spoke into the phone

There was no response. But something was happening.

I felt dizzy, but I knew I wasn’t the one that was moving. The whole world was slowly starting to spin around me, gaining speed with each second until it was all a blur of colors and movements and sounds. I close my eyes so that I wouldn’t feel sick. What’s happening?!

When the queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach finally stopped I opened my eyes. Hm…maybe it was an earthquake or something… But no one else seemed to notice that anything had happened at all. They just kept walking. I looked around me. Something was different. Have you been in one place one second and then suddenly felt like you were in the same place the next second—only the people were different? Of course you haven’t, and neither have I, but that’s what I felt then. Suddenly, everyone was wearing something different. I know that’s a ridiculous thing to think about, but… I’m just the kind of person to think ridiculous thoughts, I guess. I slowly lowered the phone from my ear and walked up to the music store I had been staring at it. It looked different too. I looked over to the right. The clothing store that had been next to it was gone, covered up with a sign that said “Coming Soon!” What…is going? I looked in the window. The poster was different. The one I’d been looking at while I was on the phone. It was of the same amazing group—TVXQ! But it wasn’t the same TVXQ I’d rested my eyes on before. It wasn’t the same Xiah.  His hair was longer…and a bit lighter. Everyone’s hair was longer, come to think of it.

“What on earth…?” I mumbled.

This wasn’t a poster of 2009. It was a poster of 2006. Had the manager suddenly changed it while I was having my dizzy spell? And if so, why would he do that? Change it from 2009 back to 2006? I looked over at the “Coming Soon!” sign again and shook my head.

“No way…” I stopped a random person and asked, “Excuse me, but could you tell me what the date is? My cell phone calendar isn’t working.”

“It’s August 1^st.”

“Ya, I know that. But what…” This was gonna sound crazy. “What year?”

He stared at me. “…2006… Do you need help?”

I shook my head and backed away. This is impossible! Someone is playing a huge trick on me. I stopped another person.

“Excuse me, is the year 2006 right now?”

She also stared at me. “Yes, of course. It has been all year now.”

I nodded and tried to look normal. “Right, thank you.”

This is crazy! It can’t be happening; I have to be dreaming or something… I pinched myself, slapped my cheek, banged my head against a wall, walked to a water fountain and splashed water on my face. This was totally real. I looked down at my phone. The text was still on the screen.

Great. And operator will be in touch with you shortly.

Was it all real? I had seriously just wished into my phone and it came true? I had really gone back in time? I jumped up and down. This is so cool! Then I checked my watch. If today was the day I thought it was, I had five minutes to get to work. So I ran.

     “Hey!” I stopped and bowed to my boss. “I’m sorry I’m a few minutes late.”

She rolled her eyes at me like I was annoying but she didn’t care. “Whatever, it’s just a few minutes. Just get to work, ok?”

I nodded, donned my apron, and went behind the counter. I remembered that she was always like that. Moody to everyone. I worked at a frozen desserts café at that time. I looked around. I couldn’t remember exactly how the embarrassing thing had happened this day. I shrugged. I guess I’ll find out one way or another… As people came up to the counter and ordered, everything started feeling more and more familiar. So much so that it made me smile.

“What on earth are you smiling at?” My coworker, Kyung-sook asked me.

I shrugged. “Today seems…like a déjà vu. That’s all. It’s funny.”

She shook her head at me as I scooped ice cream for a customer. The café started to get busy. I remembered that part too. I remembered that Kyoong-sook was going to leave for some dentist appointment or something, so my boss was leaving me in charge for a while—alone. I remembered how angry that made me. Leaving me by myself when we were at our busiest. There was a line of people waiting for me, but I couldn’t do it all by myself! Suddenly it was all coming back to me. How this had turned out to be the most embarrassing day I’ve ever experienced. But not fast enough for me to stop any of it—unfortunately. This was how it happened:

     I had to get over to the soft-serve machine. I was rushing and not paying attention. I bumped into something. A control or a switch or a button or something. I slipped and tripped. I reached out to steady myself and involuntarily grabbed the lever for the soft-serve machine.

That’s when everything went berserk. The soft-serve machine spewed liquid ice cream at me and I couldn’t figure out how to make it stop. I grabbed cups and bowls and napkins to clean up the mess, but it just kept getting bigger and bigger. I tried to figure out how I’d had made this happen in the first place by switching switches and pushing buttons, but it only make it worse. The ice machine went into overdrive and now the floor was cover in both liquid ice cream and melting ice cubes. I was a mess, the café behind the counter was a mess, and anything I tried made it worse.

Everyone was staring at me or laughing and pointing. A few people were actually taking pictures! No one offered to help. They were simply amused by my struggle. I was so embarrassed I wanted to cry, and I think I did, but I couldn’t tell because my face was covered in cold soft-serve. I finally collapsed helplessly in the middle of the floor and let them watch and laugh. Then I heard screaming and my first thought was, Oh great, now the machines are shooting the customerswith smoothie residue. I am so getting fired for this… At least, I think that’s how I lost my job back then… But that wasn’t what was happening at all.

“Yah! Are you ok?” I looked up.

I didn’t remember this part. All I remembered was sitting in my humiliation as it melted around me and soiled my clothes. I was shocked to see whose face I was looking up into. I mean, I know it had been my wish, but I didn’t think it would actually work.

Xiah Junsu reached his hand out to me. “Here, let me help you.”

He helped me up, then turned to all the buttons and dials and switches on the soft-serve and ice machines. He pressed two big red buttons and everything stopped.

“There you go.” Then he turned back to me.

I wiped my wrist across my face, but it didn’t help. He laughed at me. But it wasn’t a “you look ridiculous” laugh. It was more of a “aw you poor thing, but it’s quite adorable” kind of laugh—if that makes sense… He grabbed a napkin and wiped my face clean for me. I noticed that the laughing had subsided too. Everyone was staring at the big k-pop star that was wiping soft-serve of a clumsy girl’s face.

“That better?” He asked.

I just nodded and continued looking up into his face. He smiled at me.

“Can I help you clean up?” He offered.

 Shook my head and finally found my voice. “Thank you, but no. This is my mess and I wouldn’t want you to…”

We both looked down at his pants.

“Get dirty?” He finished for me.

I nodded. That was what I was going to say. Before I noticed that his pants were already dirty and stained from when he’d knelt on the floor to help me. Why would he do that for me? He doesn’t even know me… We both laughed. I grabbed two mops and a bucket and handed one mop to him.

“I guess, if you really want to, I can’t stop you from helping me.” I said.

But as soon as he took the mop, his cell phone rang.