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Choi Hye-ryeong froze in her seat. She couldn't believe the man in front of her was the same person who had written the book she had just finished. If anyone read it, they would think it was a work of fiction. Who wouldn't, right? Time travel with all its intricacies. Almost no one believed such a machine existed, including people like Hye-ryeong.

"But how?" she muttered.

"Someone gave me a stopwatch," Seokjin stated, straightening his sitting posture.

"A stopwatch?"

"Yes," Seokjin nodded. "Someone apparently gave me the stopwatch. They told me that with a single push of a button, I could travel back or forward in time."

"That's an absurd piece of information for me to process."

"I used to think the same. I never thought a stopwatch could work like that."

Hye-ryeong shook her head, trying to make sense of what had just happened. "Wait. You mentioned the stopwatch allows you to go back in time. How come you didn't use it to bring your lover back?"

Seokjin let out a sigh. "It doesn't matter how many times I go back in time. Every attempt I made felt like hitting the rewind button, replaying the same event over and over."

"But... but you know your beloved could have been reincarnated."

"Don't people have different beliefs?" The man smiled as he reached out and wrapped his hand around a cup on the table. "And it seems what I believe is true."

"What do you mean?"

He placed his cup down after taking a sip and said, "you."

"Me?" Her face contorted as she pointed at herself.

Seokjin nodded. "Your name is Hye-ryeong. I know you're my Hye-ryeong too. You have the same name as her, and you have the same poor eyesight as her."

"But it's possible that I'm not her. I might look like her, have the same name, and have poor eyesight," she said, emphasizing each point with a finger. "But I can't be her. I don't believe in reincarnation, and I'm confident she reincarnated someone else who isn't me."

"Convince me," the man said, taking another sip of his tea.

"What?"

"Convince me."

"How am I supposed to convince you?" she asked, flustered.

"It seems you know more about this than I do."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Seokjin. I don't know any better. But that doesn't mean you're smarter than everyone else," she retorted. "I believe you're just obsessed with your lover and can't accept that she's gone."

Seokjin fell silent for a few moments before calmly saying, "You do realize you're judging me, don't you?"

"Oh, yes!" Hye-ryeong exclaimed in a scornful tone. "I am judging you. From what I've heard, you're one of those insane, obsessed jerks who can't accept that someone has left their lives. What are you? Ten? Can't live without your lover?"

Despite the harsh words thrown at him, Seokjin maintained his composure.

"Mr. Seokjin, you know what? It's better if you go back to your time and reflect on what I've said. There are over a million people in the world, and you can find someone else to replace her."

With a calm, dark tone, Seokjin remarked, "That's enough." As he stared at the table, his temples pulsed, and his jaws clenched.

Hye-ryeong was taken aback by the sudden seriousness in his tone. Seokjin left after placing an old banknote under the small plate, leaving her speechless.

**********

She replaced the money with her own before leaving the café. She doubted the cashier would accept outdated cash.

Hye-ryeong was upset after watching Seokjin leave like that. She called her younger brother's number and told him everything that had happened. "Now I feel terrible. I think I did something bad."

"You did," Beomgyu pointed out. "You offended him. He lost someone he cherished, and you told him to replace her. That's terrible. How would you feel if someone told you to replace Mondoongie if he went missing? Think about that."

Hye-ryeong pouted. She then turned to look at the photo of her family on the table.

In the photo, her father, mother, younger brother, and grandmother stood behind her. She knelt on the grass, hugging their Golden Retriever. She couldn't help but smile when she noticed the dog's jaw wide open, as if it was beaming at the camera.

All the memories of a puppy growing up with her and brightening her days whenever she felt down came flooding back. Mondoongie often seemed to understand Hye-ryeong better than anyone else. He grew up knowing when to be by his owners' sides when they were upset. He could be a spoiled brat and a witty, adorable companion.

She would get angry when someone told her, "It's just a dog." Hye-ryeong never took Mondoongie for granted. He had a special place in her heart.

Then it dawned on her that she finally understood how Seokjin felt. "Ugh!" She rested her elbow on the table and put her forehead in her hand. "I'm terrible," she groaned.

Beomgyu only sighed. "Do you think you can find him, apologize, and talk about it again? Maybe there's more to his story than just losing his lover."

"How can I find him?" the older sister grumbled. "I practically sent him back to his time."

"Serves you right," Beomgyu mumbled. "Because of you, sometimes I forget I'm the youngest in our family. You're still acting like a kid."

"Hey!"

"You let your emotions get the best of you when you talked to him," Beomgyu remarked, brushing off her outburst. "Poor guy. You never know, maybe you could have helped him in his search for his reincarnated fiancée here."

For a moment, Hye-ryeong was silent as she glanced at her brother in their family portrait. She clenched her fist and pretended to punch him. Then, with a hint of annoyance in her voice, she added, "He actually pointed out that I resemble his reincarnated lover. Of course, I would get irritated."

"But, noona, listen. What if you actually are his reincarnated lover?"

She let out a long sigh. "Aaaah..." she whined, rubbing her face. "I don't know, I don't know. I'd rather not think about it. I'm just sorry I said something without considering how he felt. Ugh..." She paused to reflect. "I have a feeling he'll come back, though."

While Beomgyu was saying something, there was a knock on the door, making it hard to hear. She turned around to find a tall, blurry figure standing behind the frosted glass door. As the knocking continued, the metal frame supporting the glass rattled.

"I'll call you back later. I have a visitor." She hung up the phone.

She pushed open the door and peered through the small opening she had created. Leaning against the entrance, she was at the same level as the visitor's chest, so she gradually raised her eyes to see who had arrived.

Recognizing the person, she stood up straight and carefully opened the door wider, uttering a quiet "Oh... you."