A few minutes ago, Ai had seen Jun rubbing his head in pain and dozing off to sleep on his desk. It was still the middle of his duty, so it was strange that he chose to take a nap now.
Some people whispered to themselves about how the assistant librarian was slacking on his job. But looking at him, Ai felt as if something was bothering him. In the morning, she noticed that his complexion didn't look quite good. His eyes looked tired.
When he talked to her to thank her, his voice sounded more edgy and uneasy than when he had talked to her before.
Didn't he have any sleep last night?
Jun seemed to be lethargic. So even if Ai wanted another book which was placed high up in the bookshelf and would definitely need his help in fetching it; she chose not to go for it. Instead, she picked a book which she could easily reach with her height.
Ai kept reading, but her gaze frequently averted to his side. When it was the fourth time, she noticed that he was uncomfortably moving in his seat.
She blinked and slightly tilted her head.
She quietly walked up to him and saw him indeed trembling. She faintly heard him raggedly breathing.
Ai thought about it. She raised her arm to shake his shoulder when Jun woke up on his own with a jump.
His forehead was sweating, and his brown irises seemed unfocussed. He looked at her in a stupor. Ai didn't understand what happened.
There was a bottle at his side. She picked it and poured some water in a glass.
"You don't look so good. If you are sick, you should go home and rest," Ai said as she brought forward the glass.
"...How long was I sleeping?"
"Not much. Only fifteen minutes."
Jun took the glass and drank a few sips while his eyes were fixed on her.
"Why are you staring at me?"
He choked on the water. "I am not."
"You were."
He shot a cold glare but recalling her dying expression in her last moments made him retract his iciness.
"You…"
"Yes?"
He felt as if he had a lot of things to say but at the same time, he didn't.
"Nothing. I am fine. You can go back."
Ai was quiet. Then she slowly nodded and left.
Jun saw her retreating back.
I am reborn ten years back in time. She died the same time I did. That means…
She has only ten more years to live.
He knew everything about his past life, and he had decided to avoid all the things that would lead to the tragic ending of his last life.
But now, he came to know about someone's fate other than his own.
Jun lowered his head and stared at his palm as he wondered.
Why did I reach out to her at that time?
Now that he thought about it, Jun felt it was more shocking than ever. In his whole past life, he had never even once turned his gaze towards another woman. His heart only had his childhood sweetheart.
But in his dying moments, he held onto a complete stranger who he had never met before. The meeting with Ai was his first and his last one.
So why in that extremely miniscule amount of time did I feel like holding her hand?
Jun tilted his head in deep thought.
He never met Ai in his previous life. But coincidentally, he met her this time. He felt strange knowing that the woman who died with him was in front of him right now.
Did this happen because I left home and became an assistant here?
Since he wasn't following the fate of his last life, things took a new turn in his second life. Naturally, situations wouldn't be exactly as they were before.
But now the question was - What was he going to do with it?
Ai was going to die in ten years by falling off a building.
Jun narrowed his eyes.
He had worked in the Underworld with his father long enough for him to smell the trouble from miles away.
Falling off a building…doesn't seem like a suicide to me.
Plus, the way she had slapped him and reprimanded him of his own suicide attempt was more than enough for him to believe that Ai wasn't someone to give up on her life.
Accident?
Or…
Murder?
Jun glanced at Ai.
She didn't seem to be a woman who could make enemies. But appearances were deceptive. Sometimes, it only needed a fickle reason for someone to treat you as their enemy.
So should he meddle in her life and warn her of her fate somehow?
—
The next day.
"Ah there you are, Jun."
Mrs. Quan Su warmly smiled at him. "Do you feel better now?"
"I was never sick."
"Liar. You seemed so pale yesterday, and I heard you took a nap in the middle of your duty. You shouldn't work too hard," she sighed, "I told you to take a day off today."
"I feel stuffy at home," he said without much emotion. "What is this banner?"
"Ah, yes. I am organizing a small event the day after tomorrow. Will you help me around in the evening?"
"Hm."
Reaching his usual desk on the third floor, Jun kept his bag aside and started his computer. Ai was already on her seat, fiddling with her phone.
Jun still didn't know what to do about the fact that he knew about her death.
*Ding*
A soft message popup sound came from his computer. Jun opened the chat window of an online readers forum and saw a familiar username pinging in the server.
[Warlord - Ahh somebody please help! *crying emote x 3* My sis forced me to read a book It was such a torture! Let this brother share his pain!]
It was early morning, so not many were online.
[Warlord - Somebody talk to meeeeeeee! Yo dude @MrPerfect! I know you are definitely here!]
Jun was annoyed. He kept ignoring, but the user was incessantly pinging him. Mr.Perfect was his username. He coldly typed.
[Fuck off.]
[Warlord - You heartless creature! You will understand it too! You have read MissImperfectlyFine's novels right? I was made to read one of those!]
Jun's countenance went sour.
MissImperfectlyFine…
Was an author who had published three novels until now. But what bothered Jun was that all her novels had melancholic, tragedy or bitter-sweet endings.
Which Jun absolutely hated.
[MrPerfect - My condolences.]
[Warlord - Ughh why is that author like that? She writes not so bad…but what problem does she have with happy endings?]
[Hm.]
[Her books are such a torture.]
[Hm.]
[And do you know? Didn't you feel something off with her story? Is that why she is covering her faults by giving such a bad ending to her readers?]
[Hm.]
[Say something else too!]
[Fuck off.]
[Hey!]
*Ding*
Jun glanced at the notification.
MissImperfectlyFine has just joined Reading Point. Say hi!