Part 16 ❀

January 28th 2020, part 12

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⋆ ★

Beomgyu had loaded his save and is now in the permanent timeline.

'Where I'm lying is awfully familiar...Oh right the floor. The same wooden floor that I landed on when Taehyun apparently knocked me out...'

...

Condensed Flashback from part 12

~~~

Beomgyu cupped Taehyun's cheeks

"Wait for me okay? I just need to fix a couple of things and you'll be safe"

He glowered at him "Get your hands off of my face and what are you talking about?"

"Ehhh?" Beomgyu leaned closer "Isn't this the same guy who wanted to kiss me? We can do it if you want to so badly~ »

~

'Why... am I lying on the floor...?'

{Jessica did you make me time travel again?!}

« Taehyun knocked you out. Quite brutally in my opinion. »

Beomgyu's eyes widened as he perceived the younger's slightly flushed cheeks.

The dark haired hastily got up "See you in what will be a long time for me but a second for you!"

Taehyun just gave him an annoyed expression

{Jessica save my progress here please, then let's travel back again}

« It is done, let's go »

End of flashback

~~~

It came to Beomgyu that if he lifts up his head a bit he should normally see present Taehyun standing in front of him. Which made him anxious and excited at the same time.

He shut his eyes closed like before when he's scared of the outcome. He stood up, eyes still shut.

No sounds where heard in the classroom, and Taehyun who was supposed to be there also didn't say anything.

The same Taehyun from the very first timeline, before all the changes, the timeline where he and Beomgyu weren't really on very good terms.

But now he will naturally be different, in a positive way, since they never ended up fighting. And he also shouldn't have a rebystraint on his face.

Beomgyu opened his eyes and then...

If Huening Kai was there, he would have a lot of trouble trying to read the older's mind. Since that mind of his was now all messed up, filled with all kinds of thoughts flying by. What he saw in front of him was...

Beomgyu's lips have been slowly parting for like 30 seconds now, his hands were also trembling uncontrollably.

Taehyun wasn't there.

The raven haired fell on his knees with the most emotionless expression ever. Jessica would have called him 'stupid' four times by now, so he knew for a fact that she was no longer there, just like Taehyun. This also means that going back in time is utterly impossible.

Beomgyu tried to get up again even though he felt weak in the knees 'Maybe... he's just simply somewhere else...'

Still looking emotionless, Beomgyu went out of the room and started searching for the boy who he has liked for a while.

After searching the entire school, the blonde was still no where to be found.

Beomgyu tried to stay strong and keep his tears in.

Jessica said that he should normally have the memories of this alternate universe, and well he does. He remembers things like, seeing his older self when he was 14, dating Taehyun which by the way was for a short period of time. And he doesn't have any memory of them kissing or anything.

But the events that happened between September 2nd 2018 and January 28th 2020 are really hazy.

'Maybe we simply didn't have cleaning duty in this new timeline'

'Yes....... it makes sense... The reason why I even had it with him that time was because he wanted to spend time with me before he dies.'

'But now... he's not dead or about to die... right..? Yes... he's fine..'

Beomgyu brought his phone out and tried to call Taehyun.

*ringing...*

*ringing...*

*ringing...*

He then heard a voice.

But not Taehyun's voice.

The ravenette dropped his phone in utter shock after hearing what that robotic female voice said

'This phone number doesn't exist anymore?'

Still fighting for his heavy tears to stay in, Beomgyu hastily grabbed his phone and ran to the headmaster's office. Arriving there, he opened the big doors without knocking first.

"Excuse me but Kang Taehyun is at this school right?" Beomgyu tried to reassure himself from what should be obvious while panting a little. He then bowed for the sudden intrusion.

The man looked at him with a skeptical and annoyed look before typing the boy's name on his computer

"I don't see any Kang Taehyun registered here."

"What...."

The older scrunched his face

"From what I'm seeing, The blazing ebyser left us a year ago."

Beomgyu felt like the world crumbled before him "By 'left us' what do you mean exactly..?"

~~~

later

"Gyuuu!!" Yeonjun who was visiting his cousins happily exclaimed when the youngest opened the front door to their house.

But when Beomgyu lifted his head up, quite difficultly it seemed, Yeonjun's expression became grim. The ravenette was soaking wet, he looked really exhausted and radiated so much melancholy.

"Oh gosh Beomgyu! Why didn't you put your hood on? You clearly have one"

The younger replied with the most dead tone of voice while looking down "HE also walked alone at night without an umbrella or a hood one time... I acted so arrogantly and I was too shy so I didn't share my umbrella with him. He ended up walking with someone else. I was hurt and regretful... But now I deserve to feel what he felt."

"Huh?! Sorry but I'm incredibly confused. What are you talking about Gyu?"

The younger slowly trudged to his cousin then gripped his shoulders "Yeonjun hyung... do you still have your ebys?"

"Oh it's long gone heh. Why?"

The clutch on his shoulders became tighter "What... happened to Taehyun?"

Yeonjun tilted his head "Taehyun? Who's that?"

Beomgyu viciously slapped his cousin's cheek "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!!" He wailed.

Yeonjun put his hand on the red mark, trying to ease the pain. He wanted to scold the younger but, he already seemed disconsolate enough "I-I'm sorry? I just-"

"T-The blazing ebyser, Kang Taehyun.. He's 18, blonde, beautiful. You also kept trying to prove that you were smarter than him."

"I.. I have no idea who that is"

Beomgyu started shaking him while wailing "Taehyun! Taehyun!! Please where is my Tyun-ah I love him so much!"

"Oh you lo—" Yeonjun coughed "Oh that's.. quite a reveal. But sorry I can't help you..."

Beomgyu breathed out. Trying hard not to just lash his negative emotions on his cousin like he did just now by slapping him, he whispered "You know Soobin hyung and Kai right?"

"Ye—"

"SO HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW TAEHYUN?!"

Beomgyu had pain written all over his face, with his fists clenched in distress he asked Yeonjun another question "Where's Taehyung hyung?"

"He actually left to sleep over at someone's place, he should be back tomorrow. That's why I'm even here, to keep my little cousin company!" He laughed awkwardly at this dark atmosphere he was in. But he still looked worried "But do you want to talk?... You look upset, like really upset"

"No.. Don't speak to me and leave me alone..." Beomgyu mumbled dejectedly and made his way to the staircase at a slow aimless pace.

~

Beomgyu was now sitting on his bed in his dark bedroom, while dully staring at the ceiling. After a while he decided to make another phone call.

*ringing*

*ringing*

"Hello?" A female voice answered.

"Good evening... Is this Taehyun's mother?"

She sighed "Oh.. it's you. Beomgyu. What do you want?"

The dark haired male felt somewhat relieved, since his cousin gave him the impression that the blonde never even existed.

"What happened to Taehyun?" He asked the same question that he previously asked Yeonjun.

"You know exactly what happened to him and, Look, my baby isn't with me anymore and I don't want to talk about it ok? Is that all?" You could hear the irritation in her voice.

Beomgyu hung up on her and recklessly threw his phone away. 'This can't be...'

"This can't be..." He repeated this time out loud with tears rolling down his cheeks.

He was bubbly during his time travelling journey, mainly because he kept seeing different versions of Taehyun. And also since he truly realised how he felt about the latter. But now, Beomgyu was slowly getting to his old self, an ill-tempered person.

"The truth is inside" (from part 11)

Now that Beomgyu thought about it...why did Yeonjun whisper this to him right before he sent him off? 'What truth and inside of what?' Beomgyu wondered tediously.

After doing absolutely nothing for like 10 minutes. Beomgyu rummaged up from his backpack the teddy tiger that Taehyun indirectly gave him.

He stared into its black glassy eyes 'I had you with me for comfort if I ever mess up...' he couldn't help but make a loud sniffle "and now... I think this is that time. I.messed.up"

He tightly hugged the crossbreed stuffed animal who looks more like a tiger than a bear, against his chest and started crying in it.

"What have I done?! What is it that I did wrong?!"

As far as it is known, the past Taehyun from this universe was doing entirely fine. But now...The young boy just.. vanished without a trace.

« Airhead! I'm going to suffocate! »

Beomgyu was feeling so down that he didn't give an immediate reaction to the voice that he knows all too well, but, it wasn't resonating from his head this time but from...

The little teddy tiger yeeted itself out of the human's arms then scratched its head « I'm not even technically alive but I thought I was going to die in that bag! »

Beomgyu blinked,

If you see that your plushie randomly started talking, moving and basically being alive. Simply blinking while looking calm wouldn't really be your initial reaction. But in this paranormal world, everything is normal.

The boy wiped his tears then peered at the teddy with a perplexed look. "Jess is that you?"

« Yes and there's something I need to tell—»

Beomgyu immediately took hold back of the teddy and lifted it upwards "I'm so happy you're back! I felt so alone..."

No one knows that he time travelled and this timeline feels foreign to him. So it felt good to have her back since she's the only one who knows about all of this.

The tiger started hastily moving its tiny arms and legs around « Whatever just let go of me! »

"But what the hell is this?? Did you possess my teddy tiger or something? Why would you do that... it's one of my most prized possessions"

« I didn't 'posses' it, I'm not a spirit! Before you stepped foot in this timeline I was supposed to completely disappear. But instead I rapidly transferred to this object before it was too late. But by doing that I lost my time travelling assisting ability so...... but at least I'm here. »

"This is so weird... I'm so confused"

«You're unintelligent what do you expect »

"It's so weird though.... but" he made a broken smile "I'm glad you're here, even though you uh look like this now."

« I cannot stay like this forever. So our real farewell should be in a few days. I'm glad this was in your bag, if not I would have transferred to like a sheet of paper. How would I have been able to do stuff? »

"Why did you even feel the need to transfer to something? Couldn't you like just 'pass on to the afterlife of a mind voice' or something?"

She humphed «Well it's not that I wanted to help you if something went wrong..or anything... »

Beomgyu became sorrowful again, "Something did go wrong, Taehyun.. he.. I-I don't know where he is or what happened to him.."

« So he wasn't in front of you when you first came here eh.... I see »

Beomgyu grabbed his head "I'm so troubled... I'm sure his disappearance is related to his ebys. I hate his ebys! If he didn't have it, everything would have been so perfect.."

The tiger looked at its paws « wow.. I used to see things from a third/second-person point of view but now it's a first-person point of view... »

"K and what does that have to do with anything?" Beomgyu looked sullen and picked the plushie up.

« What are you doing? »

"Putting you on a shelf" he said as he did just that, "By the way I ain't calling you Jessica anymore." then went back to his bed and slumped on it.

Lying on the bed like a starfish, Beomgyu kept a fixated stare on the white ceiling 'Taehyun is okay... I know he's here.. somewhere. I will see him tomorrow, I know it'

Meanwhile,

« Umm will I die if I jump off from this shelf? »

~~~