Yeji pov
"Yeonjun?"
I was still panting from my long journey to reach here, but I was too busy to wipe off the sweat trickling down my forehead or slow down my breath before calling out Yeonjun's name in confusion.
Why does he know that I will be coming?
"Yeji."
His lips rose into a warm smile. But his eyes told me otherwise. There was so much sadness hidden under his warm gaze. It was like a sun at sunset, shining so brightly and covering the skies with warm shades of yellow and orange, but this beautiful sight only lasts for a flick of a candle.
"You must be clouded with thoughts now. Come here and let me explain to you."
I walked towards him and he gestured me to sit next to him on the grass. I was still deep in my thoughts so there was a moment of silence between us.
"You must be wondering why I knew you would come."
At last Yeonjun broke the silence and decided to save me from my deep thoughts.
"How did you know?"
I was desperate to know.
"Because it's not my first time experiencing this."
What?
"Yeji, what we're experiencing right now, this world that we are in...is actually in you."
He looked straight into my eyes. What he was saying now was complete nonsense but I could tell that he was serious. Yeonjun noticed my frozen state and placed his hand on mine.
"Yeji, you did not go back in time. Nor did I die from suicide. You were just drowned with guilt."
"In the real world, you are now unconscious from the accident we got in. I...didn't survive but you did."
I could feel Yeonjun's thumb slowly caressing my hand, like he was comforting me from all these jaw-dropping truths.
"We were going to the amusement park but because a wedding was going on, there were a lot of cars carrying the guests and trucks carrying flower bouquets. Everyone was in a hurry so the staff from the flower company probably did not close the doors of the compartment properly. The doors flung open and huge vases and chairs decorated with flowers fell on our front window. I held you under my body so you were ok....but I died right there."
"When you arrived at the hospital you were unconscious. It was weird though, because you had not suffer from any injuries that would cause you to faint. The doctors then found out your brain shut down itself because of the traumatic events. It swept all of the memories related to the accident into dusty corners of your head and only showed you the happy memories you had. Hence why you can't remember anything I'm talking about right now."
"So my brain made a story with my happy memories? To hide the truth that would be too painful for me?"
My lips trembled as I put my thoughts in words.
"Yes. My death triggered your will to change everything. To change...my death. To change the ending of our love story. To change the tragic fate of you. So your head picked out the memories we shared together when we had high school, when we were friends and even made up a story where I suicided because of depression so you wouldn't blame yourself so much for my death."
"And the time travel was because of my desperation to change...everything?"
"Yes, Yeji."
My head was smart. The truth was indeed too painful for me to handle. I didn't know what to do. It was so painful for me that I couldn't even cry. Listening to Yeonjun tell me the truths was just like having waves of sorrow slap on me. To the point where so much sadness has engulfed me my body had just given up to react.
Everything was just a dream. The chance to change, Yeonjun's presence and all that I had experienced.
Yeonjun pulled me in a hug and we stayed like this for a while.
"Yeji, as much as I want to stay like this, we can't-you can't."
He carressed my cheek gently.
"You're dying Yeji. You've been repeating this dream for 23 times which equals to 23 days in the real world. Your brain is gonna shut down completely if you don't wake up. You would be a living body with no conscious."
"Yeonjun...I don't want to go back..."
I just wanted to stay here with Yeonjun, even if it means that I will die.
"Yeji....I can't stay here with you....I have to leave...."
"To where?"
"Back to the underworld."
Although I was sad, I came back to my senses for now.
Everything makes sense now.
If Yeonjun was a "character" I made up in my mind, then he shouldn't be able to say all of this. He would be only doing what my mind tells him to do.
"Yeonjun...did you feel that I was in danger so you came back?"
"I exchanged seven years of my next life to come back. I was about to cross the bridge to the afterlife but something was pulling me back; I sensed that you were in danger so I decided to follow you to the hospital. The only way to save you from brain failure was to sneak into this dream. But I was still restricted from doing what I want. The only way to free me is for your conscious to wake up. You noticed a bruise on my hand right? It was one of the...injuries I had during the accident...your memories are coming back to you."
I held up his hand and ran through it with my finger.
"You tried to make me wonder about it by showing it to my purposely, so my memories would come back?"
"I tried. Luckily it did work."
I looked at Yeonjun and crashed into his embrace. He patted my back.
"When we were friends"
"The ending of our love story"
"When we had high school"
What? I always had special feelings for Yeonjun but I never confessed.
The accident me and Yeonjun got in was because of a wedding.
"Your brain swept all of the memories related to the accident into dusty corners of your head."
Love story....when we were friends....
All these different pieces of information came together just like a puzzle.
I swallowed the huge lump in my throat and asked Yeonjun.
"Yeonjun....we were-are married right?"
Author's notes:
I promised I would update more often in 2022 but I wasn't able to do so :( school has been really taking a toll on me so sorry guys :((( btw the finale of change is almost finished so it should be out soon!!! Thank you for all of your support despite my long breaks in between updates :)
Ps: do you think change will have a happy ending or bad ending?
