1:43 | han jisung

PM - 5ii

"do you actually believe in me?"

those words, it was all that took for jisung to stop in his tracks. if the same question was asked to him in the beginning, where everything was still fine, going good; he would have not stopped to think twice about saying yes.

but what about now? he recollected the amount of pain that he had gone through these past few months — her sudden disappearances, her sudden reappearance in his class, her ability to erase memories? nothing seemed to add up now.

so did he really believe in her?

"taehee," he breathed, feeling hot tears welling up in his eyes as well, "you knew who i was, right? you knew me, you knew us, and yet you acted as if you met me for the first time."

"then what do you expect me to do, han jisung? you want me to tell the whole class that i am just some fictitious girl in your mind that shares a mutual love? have you ever spared a thought to think of that?"

jisung's breath hitched as he took a step back, processing his words. "fictitious? does that mean, you're... n-not... real? was this whole thing simply surreal?"

taehee fell on her knees, crying loudly in frustration and despair, realising what she had just done. "jisung, no. you don't understand —"

"— i don't think there is anything for me to understand, kang taehee." jisung looked down, crying softly to himself while his head pounded with all of their memories together. were they all unreal now.

"i'm only real if you believe in me. if you believe that i only come at 1:43, the time of love, to make you happy. to kiss you, cuddle with you, love you. so, i'm going to ask you this question again."

the pair made eye contact with each other — both eyes red and sore. "do you actually believe in me?"

he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by her second phase of chiding. "if you're going to say no," she swallowed the lump choking her, "save it, just let me go. it doesn't hurt when i die, i'm not real anyway," jisung's eyes widened as he saw the knife slowly inching closer to her.

"taehee, no!" he yelled, running towards her. taehee closed her eyes and waited for her impact, but never felt it. she opened her eyes, to be met with jisung's bloodshot ones. their faces were mere inches apart.

"taehee," jisung breathed, his eyes slowly falling. he brought her hand to the knife handle. taehee gasped at the realisation, quickly looking down to see a pool of blood forming around them, with the knife in jisung's stomach.

"oh my god, jisung," she scrambled out of her original position and held his head on his lap. "jisung, no, this is not happening. don't close your eyes, please," she pleaded in between sobs as she looked around helplessly. there was nobody in sight, and her screams would not be able to reach anybody nearby. she couldn't possibly leave jisung dying there as well.

she looked down at him, lost and afraid. "jisung, just stay with me for awhile, okay?" jisung took a deep breath before coughing out slowly, "0143."

taehee looked at him in confusion, before further blurting out softly, "phone... pass..." taehee looked down at his back pocket, fishing out his handphone from there. she keyed in the password and called their teacher, who managed to answer within the first ring. she explained the situation in between loud, hysterical cries. he briefly understood her words, but promised to send help immediately.

taehee hung up and looked back down at jisung, who managed to smile weakly at her. "taehee, stop crying, please," which only made the girl cry harder.

"i'm going to okay, i promise. i did that because i couldn't bear to see you in my shoes," he mumbled almost inaudibly. "i'm sorry, jisung," she repeated, the guilt seemed to be strangling her by the neck.

"hey," jisung slowly reached his hand to touch her cheek. he traced his fingers along her tears, slowly wiping them away. "i love you, okay?"

"i love you, too." jisung managed to hear her say, before he closed his eyes slowly. taehee panicked as she shook him hard. "jisung, jisung! can you hear me? are you there?" she screamed as her voice escalated with every sentence.

everything from that moment onwards seemed to be like a blur to taehee. the teachers and paramedics bursting through the door, picking jisung's lifeless body from the floor, their intertwined hands being separated, tahee falling on her knees as she watched jisung being rolled away, the frustrated faces of the teachers, students gathering at the door with mixed expressions, a female teacher holding taehee as she cried into her chest.

at the corner of her eye, taehee whimpered vulnerably, "jisung, was that going to be our last 1:43 together?"

—

the longest chapter in this book??? to make up for that really long time i took to update this, please forgive me!! college has taken over my life : (

so what do you think is going to happen here??? is the book ending or nah?? make a wild guess, you may end up being right : )

love, twinkle.