Until The End of Time | Wonho [√]

16: ENOUEMENT

ENOUEMENT: THE BITTERSWEETNESS OF HAVING ARRIVED IN THE FUTURE AND SEEING HOW THINGS TURN OUT BUT NOT BEING ABLE TO TELL YOUR PAST SELF

"This is may," I said, countless thoughts meandering across my hazy state of mind. "May 20th to be exact."

He didn't say anything. My eyes were on the mug of steaming coffee in my hand, so I couldn't really see his expression. I assumed he didn't show much either way. The thing about instant coffee was that it always smelled better than its taste. I entered a kind of trance as I took in the fragrance surrounding me, and the little cloud emitting from the mug.

"You're telling me he'll die in less than six months." I finally looked up. Hyungwon was sitting on the bed opposing me, the room wasn't too bright but his long fringes shadowed his face more.

"Why would he kill himself?" Even asking that took something away from me, I didn't know what. My voice quivered and I sounded choked up.

"If I knew that, I could've saved him myself."

Could have? I felt my brows furrow, the insides of my palms burning because of the tight grip on the coffee mug.

"It's not the first time." He was sitting with his posture straightened up, unlike other times as whenever I'd seen him before he had his shoulders hunched. As if he too was waiting for me to talk to him, but his tone said he too wasn't fully prepared for this.

"Not the first time in what?" I already could guess what his answer would be.

He exhaled a small puff of air. "Watching him die. I have done this six times before. That's how I know Minhyuk, Shownu, Jooheon, Kihyun, Changkyun, and I know his girlfriend too because I met her last time when I turned to Changkyun."

It was too much to handle. Too much information at once. He didn't stop albeit, kept going.

"The first time I used the watch, I traveled to October 2017 and met up someone who could help me understand the watch better. I tried to stop Wonho that time too, the problem was I didn't know him better. He died in a car accident. Even then, I thought it was only an accident. I understood the nature of his death when the second time I traveled to September 2017 and met Shownu, someone close to him and Wonho died by overdosing on sleeping pills."

My throat was so painfully dry that I took a long sip of the coffee and burned my tongue. I placed the mug down on the table and watched Hyungwon as he spoke. He sounded mechanical, like a robot. His hands were tightly clasped and I realized mine too were, on my lap, and they were trembling in frenzy.

"Next time, I approached Minhyuk. Wonho died by hanging. Then I went further back to July, he died by drowning himself in the bathtub. The other time, I think it was by jumping off a rooftop. He cut his wrist one time. Then again it was overdosing-"

"Please stop...," I croaked out, on the verge of breaking down. My chest was heaving up and down rapidly and uncontrollably. Hyungwon watched over me with concern.