“Okay,” Yejun said easily, taking my hand. We fit so easily together that I wondered why I’d spent so long resisting. “Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Somewhere else.”
Yejun pressed his lips together in thought, then straightened up. “Did you like the cheesecake I brought you last week?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then that’s where we’re going!” he said, taking my hand and heading straight for the subway.
It was a quick two stops away, and he all but ran up the subway stairs the moment we reached our stop, as if I were dying from a lack of cheesecake and only he could save me. His pace slowed as we neared the bakery, and I realized why once he stopped in front of the dark storefront. A sign taped to the inside of the glass door said the owners were on vacation this week.
I pressed a hand to the glass and saw my own haunted reflection cast over the shadowed street. I hadn’t realized how dark my eyes looked, how messy I’d let my hair get, how badly I’d gnawed my bottom lip until it bled. Ever since Yejun had disappeared and Hong Gildong had handed me my final assignment, I’d felt like I was trying to hold the threads of the world together all on my own.
My hand slid down the glass and I hung my head, letting my hair fall in front of my face to hide the tears that were splashing the sidewalk.
“I’m sorry!” Yejun said, an edge of panic to his voice. He tried to pet my hair, but it felt more like he was trying to soothe a dog, and he quickly dropped his hands when he realized it wasn’t helping. “Okay, just… just stay here for a sec! I’ll fix it, okay?”
“You don’t have to—” I tried to say, but he was already charging down the sidewalk, ducking into the closest convenience store. I took a moment to wipe my face and tell myself toget it together, you absolutely cannot cry over a piece of cheesecake.
When Yejun popped out of the store, he was holding one of those big disposable bowls of ramen. He slammed the bowl down on a bench, peeled back the foil, tossed the dry noodles aside and emptied his water bottle into the bowl. I didn’t realize what he was doing until the surface of the water started glowing blue.
“Here?” I said, bracing myself in front of him to make sure the couple passing by didn’t see the magic-glowing ramen bowl.
“I’ll be quick,” he said as his fingers danced across the water. Watching him script scenarios was like watching a concert pianist perform. His fingers arced fluidly across the water, text appearing and disappearing faster than I could read it. After a few moments, he straightened up with a smile and the water went dark.
“October tenth,” he said, holding out his hand. “The store wasn’t closed then. We’ll get you your cheesecake.”
I let out sharp laugh. “Are you sure this one slice of cheesecake isn’t going to destroy the world?”
“I ran the scenario, it’s fine,” he said. “All this will do is slightly alter a cloud formation in three days. It will look a little less like a hedgehog and a little more like a hippo.”
It was a silly risk to take, and I should have told him no. That we could just as easily chat somewhere private in the present, rather than risk creating another paradox.
But in that moment, I wanted to be in a world that only existed with me and Yejun. I wanted to feel his magic wrap tight aroundmine, to fold myself up in the soft blanket of his soul and rest. I slipped my hand into his.
Yejun must have sensed how serious the situation was, because he bought metwopieces of cheesecake. He claimed it was for us to share but pointedly ignored his piece and pushed it toward me. A delivery truck had pulled up in front of the caféwindow, blocking off our view of the street, so it truly felt like no one existed in this tiny world except for the two of us.
“That one is Basque burnt cheesecake,” he said, pointing to the second piece, which I’d yet to try. “I firmly believe it can fix all problems.”
“Let’s throw some at Hong Gildong, then,” I said.
“There might not be enough cheesecake in the world for that,” Yejun said.
I took a bite, then my gaze snapped to Yejun in shock.
“It’s good, isn’t it?” he said, grinning.
I nodded, scooping up another bite. “If I eat enough of this, I might just forget all my problems entirely.”
“Don’t forgetallof them,” Yejun said with a smirk. “It was cute when you were worried about me getting caught.”
“I wasnotworried!” I said.
Yejun only smiled and pulled out his phone. “You sent me… let’s see… fifteen texts? I don’t know, Mina, that seems pretty worried.”
“You saw my texts and didn’t bother responding?”
“I was a little busy,” Yejun said, pouting. “I had to hide out for a while just to be safe. Aren’t you glad I’m safe? Can we go back to that part?”
