"I... Zach, I l-like you..."

"What?"

That is all Zach uttered when his best friend since childhood - the one he has had feelings for years now - suddenly confessed to him. This can't be! Zach didn't anticipate such a thing from happening! He truly believed that his feelings being met the same way was impossible. He was already fine with how things were between them. But he'd be lying if he said that hearing his best friend confess his love didn't feel good.

But like the dumb oaf he is, caught up in the intense moment, he blurted out something that he quickly regretted. "I'm sorry. I don't feel the same way... Maybe we can still be friends?"

He saw the hurt and disappointment on his friend's delicate and gentle face. His friend was trying his best not to sob or express his disappointment so he just shrugged it off nonchalantly, saying "it's fine. I was just testing my chance." But Zach had known him since they were kids - he was the most sensitive and emotional person Zach had ever met, so staying calm and composed must have been too hard for the poor guy.

When they departed that night, Zach felt this bad feeling within him, like something terrible was going to happen. He shrugged it off, too focused on the regret he was feeling. I didn't just reject my crush for ten years, right? What the fuck was I thinking?! Calming himself that night was too difficult, but Zach managed to convince himself that there would be a next time. Maybe tomorrow he would admit that he actually felt the same way.

*ring! ring!

He picked up his phone, seeing his friend's caller name - "Mr. Bunny" - flash on the screen. Expecting to hear his friend's voice, Zach breathed deeply before answering. "Hey. Why did you ca—"

"Is this Mr. Zach? This is from the hospital. We have your name listed as an emergency contact for one of the victims from a car crash," Zach could feel his stomach drop from what he heard. "Their bodies are too disfigured for identification, so we're asking you to come to the hospital to help us identify them."

Days passed since then, but Zach was still too depressed to leave his room. He lay on his bed, still wearing the clothes from that night. He didn't think he had eaten anything in the past few days. His mind was too preoccupied with thoughts about his friend - his best friend, his poor friend - that even basic chores felt too tiring.

The sight of his friend's disfigured body in the morgue was still etched in his mind - the lower half crushed from the impact, the bloodied remains that barely resembled the person he knew. There was no way the prettiest, most delicate, kind, innocent, and purest guy he knew had turned into that. The image only intensified Zach's guilt. What if he had only told his friend his own feelings? If he had, would they have stayed together, preventing his friend from driving on that damned road?

But regrets are meaningless now. He would never see his friend again, or would he? Unbeknownst to Zach, just minutes from now, he would be transported back in time when his friend was still alive. He would be given another chance to confess his feelings one last time.