“What a strange song you sang.” Turning around, Yu Jin looked down at the short man – her manager? she wondered to herself. “I’ve never heard a song like that before.”

 

Well, if she really was in 1940, then of course they’d never heard it before. It’d only been written a year ago! Well, technically, 73 years later.

 

This time switch was beginning to give her a headache.

 

“I—I wrote it.” She replied curtly. Which was true, she had written it – or, well, would, in 69 years.

 

Bigger headache.

 

The short man shrugged. “Sure. You set the trend, after all, kid.” He struggled to reach up and pat her shoulder, to which she reacted by recoiling away from his hand. He clicked his tongue at her and gave her a condescending look. “Don’t stay out too late tonight, okay? You have two shows tomorrow.”

 

Yu Jin really didn’t quite understand what was going on, but nodded anyway and watched as the little man ran off to yell at the people in charge of lighting.

 

By some miracle, Yu Jin made her way back to her dressing room and locked the door tight once she was inside. With a sigh, she leaned against the door and dropped her face in her hands. What was she to do? How would she get out of this smoky, old-fashioned era?

 

Maybe she could escape.

 

Yu Jin looked around the room desperately, trying to find something that would help her escape. If what the short guy said was true, then she was famous. She couldn’t go out without being recognized—ooh, pants!

 

Girls in this era didn’t wear pants, right?

 

Yu Jin made her way to the corner of the room where she saw the hem of black trousers peeking out at her from beneath a pile of clothes. She pulled out the trousers – and lo and behold! – they were her size.  She tugged off her dress and hastily put the trousers on. There was a suit jacket and white collared shirt in the pile of clothing, and Yu Jin put those on too.

 

After wiping off her lipstick and tucking her hair into a broad-brimmed hat that cast a shadow over her eyes, she snuck out of the dressing room. She could hear the little man’s accented voice yelling at some poor soul as she scrambled through the darkness to try and find the exit.

 

“…blinding…Good god, you idiot… liabilities…hard enough to keep her…”

Once the back door closed behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief. But halfway out of , the sigh became a choke. Where would she go now?

 

The air around her was thick with smoke, but things were oddly rather calm. Quieter than there were in 2013.

 

… Or, well, would be in 2013.

 

Most of the people walking kept their heads down, staring at the floor with their hands tucked in their pockets as they walked, or leaning their heads close to their walking partner, whispering quietly.

 

Almost as if everyone was afraid of being heard.

 

But who cared? It’d just help Yu Jin blend in. All she had to do was keep her head down, and shut.

 

Just… it was so hard to keep her head down. She was in a strange place, and she could feel herself being jostled around by the bustling crowd. Lights shone at her from both sides of the street, cars zoomed by, smoke wafted in front of her face, and she realized she was lost. But at this point, what was she to do? There was nowhere she could go.

 

Then, completely out of nowhere, an arm draped itself over her shoulders and tugged her towards the owner of the arm. “There you are. You’re walking slower than usual, baby. Did you miss me that much?” A husky voice whispered beside her ear.

 

A very familiar, husky voice. Yu Jin looked up at the person holding her, surprised to find that it was, in fact, the person she was thinking of. Taecyeon. The very person she’d locked lips with only hours before.

 

Before this odd time change, anyway.

 

“T-Tae—“ He put a finger on her lips and shook his head. “Not here, sweetheart.” With that, he pulled his hat down so that it covered one of his eyes and gave her a charming smirk. The very smirk that had drawn her to him in the first place.

 

Yu Jin couldn’t help but nod and follow Taecyeon’s lead, letting him walk her through the crowd, keeping their heads down but their feet fast. She was relieved that she saw at least one familiar face.

 

Before she knew it, she was pulled into what seemed like a hotel by Taecyeon. He kept a tight grip on her as he led her to some room, which, upon entry, he immediately shut the door, threw off his hat, and locked his lips on hers.

 

She couldn’t help it, she was surprised. But not too surprised to be unable to react.

 

She vaguely knew that her hat had fallen off, but didn’t bother thinking about it. His teeth had begun to nibble on her lower lip, driving her crazy as she tried to keep him from crushing her against the wall.

 

“Babe, did you get sweeter overnight?” Taecyeon’s voice whispered against her lips.

 

And that was when Yu Jin was jolted back to reality. Hadn’t Taecyeon been shot?

 

She pulled away from him, albeit her hands were still on his shoulders, and their faces hardly centimeters apart. “W-wait… Why are you here?”

 

He chuckled softly, his warm breath tickling her lips. “You gave me the key to your room weeks ago, babe.”

 

So this was her room? It was a pretty nice room, Yu Jin thought, as looked around the room for the first time. But that wasn’t the matter at hand. “No, I mean…here!”

 

Taecyeon tilted his head. He had a rather amused look on his face, although he furrowed his eyebrows at her. “I missed you too much, love.” He caressed her cheek softly, brushing her hair behind her ear as he tilted her face to look up at him. “I called in sick tonight because I wanted to be with you.”

 

And then Yu Jin was hit by déjà vu. Hadn’t Taecyeon said that to her only hours ago? Before this odd dream, anyway. He’d skipped work to come see her, he’d said… And then…

 

The phone rang. Yu Jin pulled away from Taecyeon, desperate for an excuse. She hurriedly picked up the phone, watching out of the corner of her eye as Taecyeon sat himself down on her bed. “H-hello?”

 

“Miss Yu Jin, is it?” A dark voice asked her. That voice too, sounded extremely familiar.

 

“Y-yes. Who’s calling?”

 

“Oh baby girl, don’t cha recognize my voice? It’s your dear Changmin.”

 

Yu Jin paled. Something about that name sent shivers up and down her spine. Not in a good way. She tried to keep her voice steady as she asked, “What do you want?” Somehow, she got the odd feeling that he was grinning on the other side of the line. She could hear him softly clicking his tongue in amusement.

 

“Your boyfriend, baby girl. The one you’re cheating on me with. Is he there with you? He skipped work today.”

 

Yu Jin snuck a glance at Taecyeon, who seemed to be having his own fun simply watching her on the phone. She bit her lip nervously and turned away from Taecyeon. “And what if he is?”

 

Changmin chuckled, but it sounded anything but amused. It sounded more…sadistic. “Oh, babe. You still don’t get it, do you? I’m not letting you cheat on me. Go ahead and have one more night of fun… because after tonight, he won’t be able to see you ever again.”