The Man Who Could Not Stop Time (Monsta X Fanfiction)

Chapter One: Rewind

I finished my work day, my mind racing as I thought about seeing Hyungwon again. It was odd to see him so suddenly after he disappeared for so long.

'Did he change his mind about obliterating watch?'

My heart was racing as I took off my apron at the end of the day, tossing it into my locker. Hyungwon had agreed to wait to meet me after work, and I didn't want to make him wait long for me. I quickly dressed back into my clothes, grabbed my bag, and went to meet him outside.

I pushed open the door to the alley, walking around the building to see Hyungwon standing out front of the cafe. He was leaning against a wall, watching people as they passed. Girls stared as they walked by, some of them bumping their friends to point out the attractive guy. He was either oblivious to or ignoring the attention.

Hyungwon noticed me as I approached. I gripped onto the strap of my purse nervously.

"H-hyungwon..." I said, looking down at his nice shoes, "Where have you been?"

He stared at me silently before responding, "Let's go somewhere to talk."

I followed him to a family restaurant, the two of us going to drink and eat somewhere kind of quiet. I sat across from Hyungwon, who seemed too stoic for the occasion, waiting for him to say something.

"So..." I started to say, staring down at the table.

"I decided to back out of it." Hyungwon replied bluntly once our banchan had been set on the table and the waitress was gone.

'Thank god.' I let out a sigh, 'The guys all deserve the changes that the watch gave them.'

"Why?" I asked, taking a shaky sip of water.

In the back of my mind, I wondered if Jimin passed his audition. And I wondered how everyone else was doing.

"Where are the others? How are they doing? Have you talked to them?" I pressed, continuing to ask questions.

Hyungwon put up a hand to silence me, "One question at a time." He laughed. "I'll start with the watch..." He stared down at his beer for saying, "I changed my mind because of what you said..."

I looked up at Hyungwon as he took a swig of beer.

It turns out I was so much better at giving advice than I thought.

"Calling me a wolf in sheep's clothing." He scoffed, "I mean, it really hit me then. I realized that obliterating the timepiece make me a worse guy than creating it in the first place did." He sighed, making eye contact with me, "At first I was going to go through with it anyway. But once you all were gone, and I was left on my own... I decided I couldn't live without my friends being happy."

"So what did you do instead?" I asked, pressing the question. "What time did you go back to?"

"Well..." Hyungwon sat back in his seat, smiling a bit. "I decided to just stay like this." He motioned to himself. "I didn't go back in time. I didn't want to go through my last college semester all over again. Instead, I locked the watch away about a week after I took you back to your timeline. It's buried somewhere in the forest. Only I know where it is, and no one will likely find it. But, in case I need it again, I know where it's safely hidden," I couldn't imagine Hyungwon being caught dead in a forest, let alone digging a hole, "I'm going to learn to go through life without relying on time travel. ."