Until The End of Time | Wonho [√]

35: AFTERSOME

Only Hanbyul and Hyungwon seemed to have heard it, except for the one the question was asked to.

Minhyuk, Shownu, and Jooheon were going with Wonho to help him shop and they were already way ahead. Kihyun had to prepare for finals so he left early. And Changkyun was hailing a taxi for him and Hanbyul.

"Of course, I am alright," he said. Not smiling for the first time since I had seen him today. He said it like an early morning news person stating out the daily mundane happenings.

"Bye, Sunny," he said next, the gentle smile back on his face. Soon he caught up to the others, and I watched his retreating back, knowing that this could be the last time I would ever see him.

"I really don't understand this man," Hanbyul commented from my side.

The sky was suddenly overcast with a nebula of dark clouds. Hyungwon and I trudged alone, separated from the rest as we lived together (and in all honesty, I couldn't but refuse when Changkyun and Hanbyul offered us to have a meal with them; nothing was alright for me to act alright).

Before it could start raining, Hyungwon and I flagged down a vacant cab and hopped inside. It didn't rain though. I just mindlessly stared outside, watching everything blearily pass by.

"If he does not end up, somehow, doing it..."

"How are you sure about that?" Hyungwon cut in before I could finish, his small voice blending with the hum of the engine of the car.

I could smell the damped murky weather from outside, even while sitting inside having an artificial coziness wrapped around me. Of course, Hyungwon knew way better than me.

"If," I emphasized, my eyes darting towards my hands limply folded on my lap. And I couldn't help but focus on the multicolored bracelet on my left hand, shiny beads of different forms and shapes, dulled down for the amount of usage.

Was I wearing the one Wonho gave me, or the one Hyungwon brought me from his universe? Ultimately, they all were from Wonho, or his dead brother.

"If that's the case, or if it isn't, you can't stay here, can you?" I asked, avoiding looking at the boy beside me.

"If," he elucidated loudly, "if he lives, there's a possibility that you can end up being with him instead of my dad."

I couldn't help but sneer, a bitter one. Somehow my eyes were blurrier than before, and when I looked at the window I wondered if it was the rain splashing against the taxi window, but no, it hadn't started pouring yet.

Feeling my disbelief, Hyungwon continued in a barely audible voice, "Or someone else. At that point, the possibility of me being born here will cease to exist. I can't stay somewhere where I don't exist. The bracelet-" he said, probably noticing me staring at it, "And I am not the same. It's an object but a living being can fairly well be destroyed."

"You can go back in your own time, right? You said you figured it out." I couldn't tell if I remembered well, I probably did. He did tell me that.

However, Hyungwon did not answer.

"Whatever happens this time, don't travel back again. You should go to your home Hyungwon, you have to. You did your best," I said a little absent-mindedly and I shut my eyes right after.

Exhaustion took over, my highly rushing blood now streaming slower, and slower until it felt like even my breathing had stopped. I didn't hear Hyungwon say anything, I couldn't.

Because at that time, I could only focus on the fact that Wonho gave away his dead brother's bracelet for me to keep when he said that he always had it with him before.

He quit clubs after clubs and only later turned to kendo, because it kept him busy, kept his mind off from something else.

He could never fall asleep, he spent his nights reading complicated books or watching movies.

"Do you think when someone dies they can live among the stars?"

He never made any promises, he never wanted to go an extra mile with me because he did not want to lead me on.

He changed his hair color abruptly and kept on changing it, his sense of style also changed drastically, as if he was trying to find himself again, or just holding onto something for a short while. He started to wear full sleeves more often. Even when it was hot outside.

"You are the sun and the moon. I'm just a distant star, Sunny."

Finally, the teardrops fell from my eyes. There was something wrong with Wonho from the very beginning, and I had chosen to make myself believe otherwise.

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A/n: last chapter next week. Do things ever change or they just don't?