The Universe Makes Mistakes Sometimes - Replay

Mr Kang

They'd had to postpone this meeting time and time again. He'd meant to see her the very day of the phone call, but the anxiety had proved to be too much for Brian. And then on the day after, the guilt and the shame at having failed his job sunk into Brian's bones. But that anxiety, shame and guilt would only get worse if he didn't see Rosemary soon.

And that's how Brian Kang ended up in front of the peeling facade of St Valentine's Home for Elders, his ratty trainers and mismatched leather and denim outfit incredibly out of place.

He couldn't wait until after school. Well he could, but what was the point in that? His hurt would be pounding, racing all day anyway. Might as well get it over with now.

He sighed, walking through the entrance. He'd been to see Rosemary so many times, the nurses were familiar with him. But they couldn't be too familiar with him, he made sure of that. Nobody could be too familiar with him.

Yeah, but he'd already messed that up. He'd fucked up the timeline by arriving in Seoul, and now he had a soulmate, yet another thing to think of.

"Mr Kang," The nurse at reception, Seulgi waved to Brian. She was the only one who called him that. The rest called him 'That boy who visits Rosemary'. And the only reason she called him that was because they had the same last name and it amused her.

Brian nodded back, leading himself down the hall to Rosemary's room.

He took a deep breath, knocking on the door and waiting a few seconds before letting himself in.

Rosemary was lying on her bed, a book propped up on her lap.

"Ah! Brian!" She said, taking off her reading glasses and gently laying them on her bedside table.

Brian flopped down into the arm chair next to her bed, rubbing his temples.

"Aren't you going to say hello, Brian?" Rosemary asked tentatively.

Brian sat there, motionless.

After a minute or two, he finally looked up at Rosemary. To her astonishment, his eyes were red and sore and swimming in a glaze of salty tears.

Silently, she opened her arms and welcomed Brian into an embrace. He sobbed quietly, almost painfully, the whimpers choking him.

"I fucked up," he groaned. She didn't brother telling him to mind his language.

"Jungwoo and Yukhei met. Pretty sure Yukhei already knows about them. Jungwoo's falling to pieces. And I-I-"

"Have a soulmate?" Rosemary's fingers had brushed against the soulmate on his wrist.

Brian face turned pale and sweaty, as if he had caught a fever.

"Don't look so sick, Brian! What the problem with having a soulmate?!"

"I don't want one," Brian spat, "I've spent enough time with Tom going back and forth through time, fixing soulmate fuckups to know that things always go wrong. The heart...I dunno. It can't handle all this soulmate shit. People want what they can't have, but when they're doomed to have something...just fucks people up, you know?"

No, Rosemary did not know.

"I understand where you're coming from, Brian. But that...security. Not many people have that. Not many people can guarantee that someone's going to love them, and love them forever at that. But as you said, people want what they cannot have and cannot have what they want," the old woman leaned back in her bed, closing her eyes.

Things were complicated. Things would always be complicated. And she consented to that when she tried to sort out the mess the first time. She let the confusion and hurt and pain that comes with love into her life the first time she tried to save Taemin. But if it meant she could save him, even after all this time, she was going to put up with all that hurt, all that pain.

"And you know what? It's my fault that this mission is fucked. If I hadn't come to sort it out, I wouldn't have a soulmate, Jungwoo and Yukhei wouldn't have met this way, maybe things would've turned out better."

"Need I remind you how things turned out the first two times? Everything happens for a reason, my dear. Perhaps this change in events was supposed to occur."

Brian nodded. Not that he believed a single word she said. Rosemary's hope was a little encouraging and a little sad. How she could feel so much hope and have so much strength after everything she'd been through was astounding. Brian was sure that if he had been in the same position, he would've given up a long time ago: perhaps when Taemin died.

Rosemary held Brian's hand in hers, grazing his knuckles.

"We'll find a way around this, Bri, I know we will. You, and Tom and I...we can do this."

Brian nodded. He rose to his feet, pecked the elderly woman on the cheek and marched towards he door.

"Goodbye, Brian."

Just before he left, he said something he said before. Something that tasted unnatural in his mouth, but something he could maybe get used to.

"Goodbye...grandma."

~~~

I hope you're still enjoying his story even tho it's kind've shitty 😅 I'll try to be a better author 💕

I'll be doing a Q&A chapter soon, so if you have any personal questions or you're confused about the story, hit me tf up! Either in the comments or pm me 💕💕

Thank you for reading ❤️

SOOOOOO much has happened recently and I'm so sorry I haven't update in literally forever. I'm finally feeling more motivated and I'm on half term so I'll try to update as much as possible because right have exams in two weeks and won't be able to update then  😕