Darkness descended passionately over the obstinate city streets where a group of promiscuous females awaited their escorts for the evening. As twilight enveloped the brick and concrete constructs of the isolated outskirt roads, a pair of charcoal eyes made its gracious way along the avenue, slowing randomly to choose a winner. A cold breeze blew through the alleyways, forcing one man to cross his arms over his chest in order to conserve whatever bodily warmth he had remaining. Ironically, he had the personality of the frigid wind that had also tossed his lavishing hair across his face, but his reputation, to those who knew him, was renown.

It had been hours and hours now with him locked inside his little laboratory downtown. Nobody really knew about it but him. The raggedy old apartment was mainly in the filthy areas of downtown; garbage scattered along the road; stinking little puny roads built on the narrow alleyways; plus, those drunk, tumbling men.

The clear night above fashioned its abysmal dome over the street corner, allowing no horizon to be seen in the meandering distance. The man enjoyed the atmosphere, knowing his destination was close enough as well, but took a curious note of the same.

Passing through the stairs, he quickly unlocked the door, locking it right behind him.

There was an eerie silence that lasted throughout the sight. A silence that stretched for a long time throughout the span of time ticking away. But in a bright room, painted in white with the glaring lights above and accompanied by nothing else than a locked steel door and a white table with two occupied chairs next to it. Then there was an abrupt break in the tense silence.

"You came here without any prior information. Why?"

"We don't have time for that, Sejin," the apprentice muttered, keeping his bag atop the table.

Sejin had been working on his only dream; the room was scattered with papers and catalogues. This apartment didn't really attract any suspicious eyes to pry on him: the downtown was cackling, burning, and dirty. Why would anyone come up to this raggedy piece of room?

His eyes peered into the stack the visitor pulled out of his bag.

"These are the last specimens I procured, Sejin. None of them could tolerate zero gravity or artificial gravity either. Even zero degrees of temperature caused them to shrink in a total of thirty-eight seconds."

Grabbing the base of the file the visitor had sprawled upon his hands, Sejin peered minutely at all the degrees, gestures, measurements, errors, and factual results.

"And this?" He said, pointing at the third specimen jar on his table, "Is that a real embryo?"

The taller man had a quick retort, "Yeah, a human one too, extracted from the woman who didn't want to keep it, gave it an atmosphere that could pronounce life inside of it, and did the experiments."

There was an eerie calmness in the way Sejin stared at him, his head angled upon the cup of his right palm. "I did tell you to keep it alive now, didn't I?"

"Yeah, I did keep it alive an-"

"You think the shitty artificial atmosphere you created kept that embryo alive?"

The man, by now, had been sweating profusely. He couldn't just pick up a pregnant woman, use her body as a spaceship, and go along with the experiments the latter had asked him to. He couldn't deduce the absurd alternatives in retaliation for the ominous experiment.

"But-"

Sejin was quick to raise a hand and motion the male to stop spilling anymore lies as he pointed at the data chart, the time of death given, "There was no point to lying and honestly, I knew you weren't capable of doing this, Norton, so I had my work done."

With the chair squeaking at the movement, Sejin squandered through the mess, reaching the door to the basement. He had taken the basement from the owner, more like bought it, or threatened him. He needed more space, or whatever.

The visitor, Norton didn't question much; Sejin had never allowed him or anyone to enter his secret dungeon, and today he could visibly see Sejin motioning him to follow.

Walking through the menace, darkness kept swelling in the suburbs of his hindsight. Too dark, too captivating, too fierce. It continued for another minute or so until the blinding blue light suddenly webbed its home through the darkness and the man shut his eyes tight, unable to decipher the whole figurative behind this.

A light tapping sound distracted him as he blinked and walked over to the source of the sound; Sejin was standing on his podium in the centre, getting bored and tapping his metallic scale against the wall to relieve the boredom. Damn him. It was frightening to think that his mind had malfunctioned.

"Wher-"

"Look behind me, there," Sejin chuckled, moving away as the man stuck his eyes upon a lady figure, trapped on a stretcher, and the bump predominantly suggesting she was pregnant. Shelly.

Even in the murk of the grave situation, his eyes could pretty well scan out the bloody wrist, the fresh bruises, and the dried tears on her face. What had he done to her?

"Sejin! That's my wife!"

Sejin smiled to himself as he looked at the two test tubes filled with a green liquid and a body each. The only height difference was the huge console the two tubes were set upon. Yes, he really had outdone himself this time. No more little experiments. This is what he had dreamed of, "Yes, that is your wife, Norton."

It was a heinous meltdown, the whole world crumpling down. The pain was numbing, overwhelming, even saturating. What is it now? Why this? Why Shelly?

Norton was visibly shivering. What had he even stepped into?

"Wha-why have you kept her, Sejin?"

It was going to rain. The weather forecast didn't say that, but his mind had transpired clouds of tentative glee, "Norton, I did give you a chance. I told you everything, how to do, what to do; I brought up your family. And whenever gratitude had fled over your boundaries you would always be naïve, asking me what you could do to payback. I gave you a choice. I told you to do the experiment and submit the reports, and your sorry self couldn't bring you to hurt another human being..."

"But, wh-hy Shelly?"

"I needed my good work to be paid off, Norton. That's all."

Time, perhaps, is the only narrator of the good and the bad. The one feeding the empty stomachs could either be God or a devil in disguise, and only time could unfurl the actual truth, the paradigm of reality.

"Please Sejin, please... I will do it this time. Please don't hurt her." He tumbled on his steps, falling to his feet, blobs of tears streaking down the convexity of his cheeks.

Sejin moved his feet away from the computer, "Time, that's what I don't have in my recor... Time, Tick tock tick tock..."

Goodness is a lie, a lie wrapped around the most aesthetically gruesome hearts.
It was a lie until the wrappings were torn open and the innards spilled out.
Goodness.

...

"What was it again?"

"Spaghetti."

"Spa-ghe-tti... nice name for these worms."

"They aren't worms, Sejin!"

"I bet they are."

Dinner felt comfy around his favourite people. Sejin would always look up to them: eating, talking, smiling, something he never found at his peace. It was serene. And then, of course, there was the food and the old banter between Ahyun and him. Time, perfect time spent well.

They go back pretty far in history, really. Nothing serious apart from them fake dating in high-school to make his twin burn, Seojin punching him right on his nose, etcetera. Nothing serious.

But things were new now. The three were friends and family.

"Okay these worms-"

"Spaghetti motherf-"

"One more word and I will throw you both into the prison of Azkaban!" Poor Seojin, this banter had been with him for years now. His words did work with two pouting adults accompanying him, slurping their spaghetti and being horribly quiet. The life was good.

"I still have a doubt. Why did you two invite me to a dinner at this menace's place? We usually eat at ours and she brings the pie. What's going on?"

Before Ahyun could throw her hands, Seojin quickly caught her little hands in his own, showing off the glittering metal.

"I proposed to her, Sejinnie. She said yes."

Sejin gasped, his eyes widening in surprise. "Oh, my goodness! Congratulations, you two!"

Seojin nodded, a warm smile spreading across his face. "Thank you Sejin-ah. I've loved her for as long as I can remember, and I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else. So, I wanted to make it official, as soon as possible."

The words echoed in Sejin's mind as he looked at the newly engaged couple sitting opposite him at a small table in a dimly lit room. Ahyun's eyes sparkled with joy, her hand placed tenderly over the diamond ring that now adorned her finger. Seojin, always the charmer, wore a smug grin, satisfied with his grand gesture.

And maybe it was time for him to get his grip tight.
Time.

__________

Yeah, death is beautifully curated destination, but the journey is what hurts the most...

A/Q: If you had a chance to spend one day with anyone of the characters, who would you choose? And why?