I could not go back to sleep, for I was drowning in my own curiosity. My mom, dad, and even brother warned me not to be too curious, for curiosity killed the cat. Funny, I nearly died three hours in the future… but I did not. I was lost and my eyes wandered off into space with dust particles floating freely in mid air. I tossed and turned in my bed, but to no avail was I able to fall asleep. I usually never had any trouble with things like this… I decided to get out of bed and brush my teeth—no, I stopped myself.

I remembered that the only reason why I had a near-death experience—er, not so near-death experience was because both Kai and Leo attempted to hand me chocolates, roses, and bears. I did not want to experience such an event again, for I wanted to keep my friendship with the two of them. I decided to shower first.

Once I got out, combed my hair 49 times instead of my usual 50 to change the future. Finally, I brushed my teeth and applied facial lotion to moisturize my face, something I only do every once in a while. I ran downstairs and found my parents chatting and eating before going about their daily business.

“You’re up early today, sweetheart” my mom commented as I walked past her to sit across from my dad on the dining table. “What’s eatin’ ya this time? Had another one of those dreams?”

“Mom!” I whined and my dad took his eyes off his newspaper to quickly glance at me, and then returned to his usual reading. I was a bit shocked since he never once peeled his eyes off his newspaper, especially when he wasn’t finished reading a column. “I just figured waking up early would be… better for me! I would rather get stuff done now than regret doing all of it on Sunday” I smiled and strayed away from the table as I walked toward the living room.

“Eat breakfast, sweetheart!” my mom called from the kitchen, to which I quickly replied with a polite “no” and moved on with my day. My parents carpooled to work together (he’s a surgeon and she’s a nurse… in the same hospital). They told me to watch the house as Inguk was sleeping and I sheepishly nodded to this while they backed out of the driveway.

I lazed around on my couch, channel surfing and waiting for the time I snuck out of the house to come to see if anything is different. I checked my phone every once in a while to see if the time had come, and it finally did. Nothing out of the extraordinary happened as it had supposedly happened before.

So my day went on until about 5:30 PM when my phone vibrated and a text from Yujin appeared.

“What’s up?”

I was delighted that she took time out of her day to greet me.

“Not much, what about you?”

“Same, the strangest thing happened though… I felt a bizarre sense of déjà vu earlier. Did you?”

I was unsure as to how I was supposed to explain to her my odd time travel… so I ended up calling her. As the phone rang, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

“Hello?” I was so excited to hear her voice, as she was the first person other than my parents I have contacted since the incident.

“Yujin! I have a bajillion things to tell you… I don’t think telling you over the phone will do either of us justice, can we meet in person?” I suggested, and she quickly agreed as I got ready.

“Where are you going… why do you look so nice… you’re wearing that special perfume again, are you meeting a boy?! I’m telling mom!” Inguk wailed as he pulled out his phone to threaten me.

“No you idiot, I’m meeting up with Yujin” I insulted blatantly while reapplying lotion on my face.

“Oh, she’s pretty… is she—”

“No” I cut him off before he finished his sentence and walked back into my room as he followed me in.

“Can I come along then..?” he said in an almost whisper and I laughed at his silly question.

“Of course, you’re driving me, aren’t you?” and he began to dance. “Go get ready” I continued laughing at my brother’s child-like behavior. We finally stopped in front of a frozen yogurt shop where Yujin was waiting patiently inside. Inguk and I walked in, politely greeting the workers and shying away from Inguk’s cute working friend. Inguk went over to greet him and stayed with him as I walked over to Yujin.

“Wow, you’re Inguk’s infamous sister? I never knew” Yujin giggled as she put her drink down. I smiled and then stared at her.

“Infamous?”

“Long story, I’ll tell you later. What was it that you had to tell me anyway?” she picked her drink up again delicately, biting the straw as she took a sip. “You sounded really bewildered… and excited over the phone.”

“You better tell me later… but the craziest thing happened. Earlier today… I was supposed to uh—” I didn’t know how to tell her without feeling like an idiot and looking like a lunatic. “Um… die” I said quietly. She didn’t quite catch what I said.

“You… were supposed to what?”

“Die.”

“What?!”

“DIE!” I shouted tumultuously, and suddenly felt incredibly penitent as the workers and Inguk turned toward us. I shrunk in my chair. “Die…” I repeated softly.

“What..? Then how can you explain the fact that you’re still here, perfectly healthy—well, for the most part, and aliv