Xuyun drove until they arrived at the coast. The wind was strong, the smell of sea water kicked in. As they got off, Sui was fascinated by the glimmering surface of the sea. He remembered this beach; he had came here one time in the past. He was still a child back then.
“I thought this was the edge of the world, “ he said. The sun light shone on his face, emphasizing his small, baby- like face. “I was still a kid. It was the first time I’ve been to the beach.” He laughed.
When he saw this ‘edge of the world’, at first he thought that, what people said by ‘dying’ that would mean they would go to this beach, jumped off the cliff, then they would ended up in the so-called ‘heaven’. It was after his best friend’s death that he finally realized that this was completely wrong.
“What are you talking about? You’re still a kid now,” Xuyun teased him.
Sui kicked the sand to him. “Now talk, don’t think I don’t remember.”
Xuyun hold his hand, as they walked through the beach. They both loved how the waves touched their feet, so they took off their shoes, walked barefooted.
Sui’s hand tightening on Xuyun’s hand as they walked.
“I’m not going to die, you know,” Xuyun smiled. “Don’t you know who I am?”
“But it’s not ordinary power. Do you know what is that black hole?”
Xuyun took a deep breath, then said, “I have two abilities. I could travel between the past and future. The black hole is the portal, the media. But I couldn’t bring it out whenever I want, because it needs enormous energy.”
Sui stared at him, dumbfounded. Wasn’t senior a physical type?? “No way,” he said.
“That’s true. I hide it because it’s troublesome.”
Sui thought seriously for awhile. Was that really true? That was why senior said that he came from the past? But if it was true, how great the power is?? That could disrupt the timeline!
“But why did you come here?”
He waited for awhile but Xuyun didn’t answer. Is there something he hide from me? When Sui opened his mouth to ask again, Xuyun anwered, “well, something came up, I need to take care of it.”
What is it that you have to take care of? Did you come from the past? The future? Do you really have that power? How long have you been in this era, what happened to senior in this era then? Why did you confess to me? Am I the one you have to take care? Do you really like me? What are you hiding from me? Who are you, senior?
Doubts kept appearing in Sui’s heart. A lot of questions remained unanswered, Sui kept them on his own. He watched his senior almost two years long. He watched his last year, last week, yesterday, but today’s senior was indeed too weird. Too gentle, smile too much, and he was not scary like his usual self. Was he an impostor? Or was he really a time traveller, the future or past senior?
Sui was scared, but he was more scared of seeing senior got sucked by a black hole, leaving him all alone.
“How long will you be here? Will you go back to your time soon?” If he went back today, Sui would try to prepare himself. That was right. Just imagine this day as a dream; got confessed to by a senior you like for two years, walked barefooted side by side with him on the beach. That was already a dream he could treasure for a lifetime.
But, Xuyun smiled at him. “I’ll stay with you. Seems it would be months until I can go back. So busy.”
“Really?” I can stay with you longer? I can continue dreaming?
Xuyun hummed. He could finally see Sui’s smile.
It didn’t matter. When he used his power for the last time, it would be for Sui. Sui saw his future. Finally, he got his turn. This time would ‘consume’ him, because he had interfered too much with it. The higher-ups had warned him on this matter. It didn’t matter, because finally, after watching Sui’s death countless times, he would too.
Sui told him about the black hole, but he didn’t tell him about his own death. Like always. Sui never told him about what would happen to him after each date was over. Sui cried for him, not for himself. How typical of him.
Don’t worry. This time, you’ll live. Don’t think too much about it, and focus on fulfilling my last wish, okay?
They walked and walked until the edge of the beach. There was a light tower. After asking for permission, they climbed the tower. The stair steps were shallow, and it was narrow.
“S-Senior, can we just walk back to the beach?” Sui was most afraid of heights. His hands trembled as he grabbed Xuyun’s shirt.
“We are almost there,” Xuyun chuckled. He opened a door, which led them to a light so bright. The wind blowed their hair.
They could see the entire sea and sky.
Xuyun glanced at Sui’s dumbstruck face. He could stare at him all day, and would never get bored. He strokes the hair on his cheek. Sui closed his eyes, his shoulder lifted. He felt ticklish. He was just like a hamster. Xuyun lifted his chin.
“Don’t be this cute in front of others,” he said.
Sui froze. He never even imagined the word ‘cute’ would came from senior’s mouth. He instantly blushed and looked away. “I-I’m not cute.”
Sui Lowered his head. His face turned red, his ears and neck too. What kind of men would say, ‘I’m not cute’ with this kind of expression? This made Xuyun crazy. He laid his head on Sui’s shoulder.
“Hh.. What should I do with you, Sui Shizi?”
You’re the start of everything. If it wasn’t because of you, I wouldn’t have known this ugly truth of life. If it wasn’t because of you, I would still be a pitiful person who clings to the past. If it wasn’t because of you, I would not want this life anymore. What should I do, Sui Shizi? I still want to keep living. I want to go star gazing with you. I want to be with you a little longer.
He could feel Sui hugged his shoulder.
“I love you, senior,” he said.
Xuyun knew that. Sui had said that almost fifty times. He glad that this time he had a chance to say it first. “You’re too moody. You said it this time, but next time you might say you hate me.”
“I won’t!” Sui slapped his back. “I definitely won’t say that!”
Xuyun laughed. Sui, you said it yourself. You definitely wouldn’t hate me. Keep your words, okay?
They hugged each other comfortably until they realized something drop, making their clothes wet. It started raining, unexpectedly. The clear sky turned grey, there were thunder rumbling. The light tower keeper shouted from the stairs, telling them to go down.
Slowly because of the dark, they went down. The light tower keeper told them to go back home immediately, because a big storm was coming.
Xuyun knew it. It was coming. It was already 5 PM. He grabbed Sui’s hand and ran.
“Senior, we can’t drive in this weather. Should we take shelter in a nearby restaurant?”
Xuyun nodded. They ran into the nearest cottage, which was a seafood restaurant. But, as they stepped inside, a bunch of people rushed outside, nearly bumped into Sui, if there was no Xuyun shielding him.
“Run! Run! A big storm is coming!” they yelled.
“Quick! Go toward the city! If there’s a huge storm coming, this cottage could be wiped out too!” the owner gave those teenagers a quick brief, before he ran outside himself. Xuyun and Sui quickly followed them.
The rain were going heavier, and the wave became more and more qild. Thunder kept deafening their ears. Xuyun let Sui ran besides him, so he wouldn’t got hit by the wave.
They ran and ran, when the road could finally be seen, they climb onto it. Then, they took a shelter in a conveniece store.
“What happened, what’s with the sudden storm??” the owner of the store asked, she seemed afraid that the weather would keep getting bad. The people from the cottage chatted. They had not encountered a weather this bad since long ago.
Xuyun went ahead and bought tissues. He wiped Sui’s face that was drenched wet.
“It is weird,” he heard Sui said. “Today should be hot all day, not like this.”
Xuyun didn’t say anything. It was always like this, ‘death’ would do anything to get what it wanted. Something unexpectedly always happen at this time. It was 5:30 PM now.
But, he did noticed something unusual. This time, Sui didn’t attempt to leave him before 5 PM. Usually he would stare at his watch, keeping the right time to leave. This time, he didn’t. Why? Was it because he was going to die too?
His mind was occupied with these thoughts, so he didn’t caught what Sui had said.
“What…?”
Sui stared at his eyes. “This time… am I going to die too?”
A huge thunder struck, the flash was so bright that the surrounding area turned black and white. Then, everything went dark.
“Power outage! The sea water raised into the road already!”
“Go! Go! Go to the higher place!”
Everyone began to rush, panicky pushing each other to be the first one to survive. Xuyun noticed them late. He couldn’t grab Sui’s hands on time. Sui got dragged outside by the crowd.
“Senior!!”
Xuyun immediately caught the sight of him. He rushed towards him, pushed the other people aside until he could pulled Sui into his embrace. “Keep close to me,” he said.
“Did you come back here to save me?”
Sui grabbed his shirt tight. He had a hunch since earlier. Xuyun said that he came to take care of something. But, he confessed to him. He protected him like he was a treasure. He kept glancing at the time, like he knew something was about to happen.
He must had came from the future, to prevent something to happen again. Maybe to him. Maybe something like this had happened to him from the future. He could only see the future up until 6 PM. Was that why he kept checking on the time? Because something was going to happen at 6? And he would go back again to the past if something happen to him? Was that why he couldn’t look past 6, because the past and future could change?
But, Xuyun didn’t know this. He would not be shocked if Sui told him that he was going to die, because that was the truth. But, what Sui asked was if he was going to die too this time. This time? How did Sui knew that he had died before? Did he unconsciously spilled something? Or did Sui recovered his memories from his previous life?
Xuyun was most afraid of this outcome. He wanted to keep it all by himself, not letting Sui to be sad for him. If Sui knew that he had used all his power to save him again and again, he would have his heart broken. It was fine for Xuyun to have these memories of them together by himself and suffer alone.
“I’m sorry,” Xuyun said that, sincerely. He saw a lot of people ran, going to save themselves. So he pulled Sui on his back and carried him. Then, he continued loudly, because the situation was too noisy, “I have been too selfish! I wanted to stay with you a little longer! But the rules are definite! I could not do anything to break them, just only to delay them from happening! This time, I will do it again!”
Sui felt like his chest were smashed to pieces.
“ I love you a lot, Sui!” Xuyun’s hands tightened on Sui.
A gigantic wave rose above people’s head, causing the sky to turn darker. People screamed, they intended ran away but they were too slow. The wave smashed into them like a hand slapped a fly; they were drown, swept away.
Because of the heavy current, Xuyun couldn’t hold on Sui’s body. They were separated while being swept away. The wave smashed the trees, the road railings, power pole, even small wooden house. A lot of scraps were being blown away by the waves, together with the people. The heavy current made them to crashed with each other; it was a crazy disaster.
As if it was not enough, another wave smashed again.
Xuyun was originally different from other people; he could still protect himself from the scraps, he could still look for Sui. But, they were too many stuffs. He couldn’t find him in this wide, messy flood. When he thought he had found him, it was actually a person who had similar figure. The person died from suffocation and blood lost from being hit by a sharp object.
Sui must not die like this. He had to stop all of this.
Xuyun felt it was unfortunate that he couldn’t hug Sui for the last time. But it was okay. Everything was okay since he had met Sui.
Sui felt cold and painful. The second wave smashed him against a wall. but he felt he could still swim. He had to look for senior. He wanted to teach him a lesson for lying to him.
This feeling was familiar. Sui knew this. So this was what he had seen in his vision before. Blurry, suffocating and painful. It was referring to this flood. But the last vision hadn’t happened yet. He had to hurry find his senior.
He knew that his visions were bound to happen. That was the rule. He knew he had once tried to defy that, it didn’t work. But he didn’t care about that now.
To hell with the rule! If senior could cheat, then I could too! He had the power to mess with the past and future, and I have one too! If we could think a bit smart and put in some effort, we might could bend one rule, right?
He tried to look again and again, swam here and there, but he couldn't find him. He was starting to feel the numbness on his feet, before he saw a little crack in the air, from his left side.
“SENIOR!!”
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