His Mischievous Time-Traveler: How To Capture A Celebrity Husband?

Chapter 89: This is your last kiss with me

"Kyuri, can you tell me your name?" The middle-aged doctor asks me slowly. My family is watching me while holding their breaths.

"Kwon Kyuri," I reply calmly. It seems like I have been here for a long time. Surprisingly, I am still alive. Did the timekeeper not find me?

My family and the doctor exhale at the same time. The doctor smiles at me and says, "How old are you?"

A little more than a thousand years. "21."

"Do you remember what you were doing before you passed out?"

"I was standing in front of my dorm."

The doctor looks relieved. My parents wipe their tears. My brother is silently crying at the door, hiding his face from me. I look at my arms. I am no longer pale and grayish like the dead. The time crystal is still inside me. My heart is beating.

In the last thousand years, how many times have I checked? It's a habit now.

"What's the date today?" I ask him with a low voice. Did the timekeeper forget about his mission and let me go? Is it possible? I don't think so. We wouldn't go through what we went through if he was that kind.

The doctor tells me the date kindly. I realize that more than five months have passed. My day of death is only three weeks away.

"..."

Is this a coincidence or...?

The doctor is saying something, but I don't listen. Why I am still alive? Does he want to do it at the same spot on the same day? He won't be that much of the perfectionist, right? Even after more than a thousand years, I can't understand that timekeeper.

Whatever! Death by stabbing doesn't sound too bad at this time. How many times was I stabbed in the thousand years? Whenever people noticed something strange about me, they tried to kill me. Some wanted to catch me to find the recipe of immortality. There were times when they tried to burn me alive. I would have died countless times if I wasn't immortal back then. I have seen too many things. Too many things have happened to me.

"Kyuri, my pretty daughter." My mother hugs me. "Why did you do it? You should have taken care of your health. You are beautiful the way you are."

"Idiot!" My brother flicks my forehead. "You are prettier than all the girls your age. You don't need to lose weight. If you don't eat proper meals four times a day, I would kill you."

My father looks at me gravely. "If you ever do that again, I will disown you."

"..."

What do they think that I did? I can't make sense of their words. It takes some time for me to understand. They think that I starved myself to get a figure like a model.

"..."

I get scolded for a crime that I didn't commit. They feed me five times a day and continue to nag. I have missed my family.

A few days before the day of my death, I leave the hospital. I spend two days at home. I keep waiting for the damn timekeeper, but he doesn't appear once. I am scared. I like living with my family. I want to spend more time with them. Even after living for more than a thousand years, I want to live more.

Nevertheless, I am happy. It's probably because I have lived so much time alone that I understand the value of my family.

On the day of my death, I eat lunch with my family. It's one of my happiest moment. I leave at 3 PM. The city is a few hours drive away. I don't leave any message or letter. I am a selfish person. I hate saying goodbyes.

It's already night. I go to the spot where I was murdered a long time ago in my past. It is my present moment now. The poster on the wall is familiar. It's going to be released soon.

I wish that I could see that movie, but I am too tired.

I hear the sound of footsteps. It's Kang Si An. No, he's the timekeeper. Unlike before, there's no coldness in his eyes. He's carrying the keeper's dagger in his hand.

"I thought that you wouldn't come." He steps toward me. "You could run away. I gave you the chance."

"You knew that I wouldn't leave." I smile at him. "You know how I feel. You also suffered because of me. I was frozen for a long time. You had to keep watch on me in each of Li Jun's reincarnation. Let's end this now."

He pushes me against the wall. "Traveler, you think that I would pity you?"

"I don't think so." I look into his green eyes. "Why didn't you come and kill me?"

"You were at the hospital. There were too many times. Then, you were always surrounded by your family at your home." The timekeeper glares at me. "I will finish this tonight. I know that nothing would change the past now."

I agree with his words. I don't think that there is any version of me who can change the past now. I spent 5 months in a coma. My past self will never see this scene. I didn't meet Kang Si An or become his fake girlfriend. I have destroyed the original timeline.

"You are getting your wish. I am surrendering to my death." I close my eyes and wait.

***

The dagger in his hand feels heavy. The timekeeper lifts his hand to stab her. The time crystal is inside her soul. He can't pity this woman. After she dies, she will go to hell for destroying the original timeline. The fire of hell will purify her soul before she is reborn again. Life and death are only two sides of a coin in his eyes.

Kang Si An never met this girl. Like his previous reincarnations, he is also born with the burden of Li Jun's wishes and desires. But, it is still nothing that the timekeeper can't handle. If he could kill her once, killing her again is also nothing.

So much have happened. It started at this moment. It is ending with this moment now. This girl must die. That's her punishment. She's an anomaly that this world doesn't need. She chose this moment.

There were 100 minutes that he gained from making a deal with Kang Si An in the original timeline. He spent and conversed for 95 minutes with her in the last thousand years. There are only 5 minutes left.

"Traveler, open your eyes."

She looks at him - not Kang Si An. The calm in her eyes reminds him of the moment when he gutted her with this same dagger in the original timeline. Even then, she was calm and smiling. But, she didn't see him as the timekeeper back then. She called him Kang Si An and accepted her death willingly.

"Are you upset that you are spending the last five minutes with me?" He asks her.

"I am not." She shakes her head. "I feel better that it's not Li Jun or Kang Si An."

This woman. She wouldn't want her lover to get hurt even when she's dying. "You are something."

"I will take that as a compliment." She laughs a little.

He smiles at her unconsciously. "Then, close your eyes. I will do it now."

"Okay."

She shuts her eyes close again, waiting for her death. The dagger falls to the ground. The timekeeper lifts her chin and kisses her. She opens her eyes right away.

"It's me who is kissing you." He stares into her eyes. "It's not Kang Si An or Li Jun. Do you hear? It's me. This is your first kiss with me."

"I don't understand." The woman widens her eyes dumbly, unable to comprehend what he is saying.

The timekeeper chuckles. It seems like he will fail his mission. For more than a thousand years and several lifetimes, he has been buried under Li Jun's and Kang Si An's feelings. He wonders when he fell for her. Is that why he wanted to keep a distance from Li Jun and his reincarnation?

The's the girl who bravely challenged him. She's the one who paid gravely to save the man she loved. The timekeeper is upset that he isn't the man she loved. He is only a special entity sent to live inside Kang Si An's soul to take care of this special anomaly. Since he will fail this mission and gets removed from his soul, he will return to the place where he came from. He won't be able to see this roguish time-traveler ever again. He will say goodbye to her in the way he likes.

"This is your last kiss with me." The timekeeper leans down and kisses her again - tender and ardent, needy and giving, and conveying a thousand words without saying anything. His warm tear falls on her cheek. The last five minutes are over. The timekeeper is gone.