Rushing up the stairs to attempt to reach the platform in time, Yuki had to reach out to grip the mental banister with her free hand to keep herself from ending up on her face. She couldn't afford to be a klutz today. There wasn't enough time.

When Yuki reached the platform, she felt short of breath as her eyes tried to scan the heads of the passengers in front of her for the person that she was looking for. In her scanning, Yuki's eyes flew to the clock mounted to one of the nearby pillars that displayed the time. Even though it felt as if she were too late, Yuki knew she wasn't quite yet.

Yuki began to run in the direction of the train Kuro was set to board, holding tightly to her carry-on bag as she wove through the people on the platform with surprising grace. Yuki soon reached a section of the platform where a departing train sat behind her and in front of her. People milled about her with their luggage, boarding their respective trains as she tried to look for his face in the crowd. It was then that she saw Kuro with his luggage a few feet from her. His back was to her currently since he was focused on getting to his train on time. Running towards him, Yuki soon closed the gap between the two of them, reaching out to tap him on the shoulder as she stood directly behind him. Kuro turned, looking at her in surprise for a moment before a smile graced his handsome features.

"Hey! You decided to come with me after all then?"

Nodding, Yuki held up her carry-on for him to see, watching as his smile only continued to grow. Standing near the other train behind her, her childhood best friend Jiro watched as she moved to stand arm-in-arm with him. Jiro now understood why his text had gone unanswered. With a single red rose in his hand, he looked at a little kid rushing by then. He reached out to stop the kid, holding the rose out to them.

"You see that couple over there?" Jiro asked as the kid nodded. "Can you go give this to them?"

Nodding again, the kid grasped the rose and ran over to the couple that he had pointed out. Getting Kuro's attention, the kid handed the rose to him. Kuro thanked the kid before taking the rose and holding it out to Yuki. Jiro let a small, sad smile pass across his lips before turning to board his train, knowing that she had made her choice and there was nothing to be done about it now.

- - -

Four Years Later

"Are you here with someone, Miss?"

Yuki, who felt bundled up to her eyeballs in winter gear to attempt to combat the cold that Times Square carried with it, turned to look at the man that had just questioned her. The man was dressed in less layers than her, holding tightly to the hand of a woman that seemed to be glowing brighter than the billboard signs nearby. Yuki knew that since she was close to one of the barriers that she was right in the way of the cameras that were set to catch glimpses of couples kissing at midnight.

"No, I'm not," Yuki said as she moved to stand out of the way, slipping into the back a bit more so that the couple had a chance of being picked up by the cameras.

If someone had asked her that question even a week ago, the answer would have been different. Four years almost to the day, she had chosen to go with Kuro as he left the city they had grown up in behind to try his hand at setting up a law firm. Yuki had always had a crush on Kuro growing up, never thinking that he noticed her since they seemed to run in different circles. When he started to pay more attention to her in college for some reason, she jumped at the opportunity to stay in his good graces. The crush she had on him her whole life had never died away and the attention he gave to her caused it to stay alive with a vengeance. When he had offered for her to move with him so he could chase his law firm dreams, Yuki had chased after him without hesitation. She willingly left everything she had known behind, including her childhood best friend Jiro. Jiro had texted her on New Year's Eve, the day before she was set to leave with Kuro, saying he needed to tell her something before he left for his new job outside the city, but she had left it unanswered. She figured that she would have time to catch up with him about whatever it was later.

However, time was something that wasn't in store for her when it came to Jiro. Moving into an apartment with Kuro and helping to advise him on the best ways to set up his firm ate up all her time. About six months after Jiro had sent that text, Jiro's mother had called her in tears to tell her that Jiro had died. It left Yuki with a hole in her heart and the unanswered question of what he wanted to tell her. Kuro tried to comfort her the best he could through her sorrow, eventually proposing to her after they had been living together for a year and a half as his law firm finally took off. The date for the marriage kept getting pushed back as Kuro kept insisting that he had to make sure his firm was more stable first. Then last week happened. Yuki closed her eyes as the memories came to mind.

She had shown up at his office unannounced, wanting to surprise him with his favorite baked goods and coffee ahead of his important meeting with new potential shareholders. Yuki knew how stressed he had been about it all and wanted to try to alleviate that in any way she could. When she had reached his office, Yuki had opened the door without knocking. Before her eyes she saw Kuro, her husband-to-be, securing one of his newest shareholders in a rather unconventional way. Right before her very eyes Kuro was cheating on her.

Without giving him a chance to explain, Yuki dropped all the things she had brought for him in the doorway before turning to run out of the building. She had made quick work of going back to their shared apartment and packing her belongings up, leaving the spare key to the apartment and the engagement ring behind. She had no clue where to go next, finally deciding last minute that she would go to New York and celebrate New Year's Eve in Times Square like she had told Kuro several times before she had always wanted to do.

Kuro. The name brought with it a fresh round of pain as she stood there, keeping her eyes shut as she breathed in the brisk winter air surrounding her. Yuki wished that she had known back then that choosing Kuro would end up with her being alone, heart-broken, and without her best friend. There still wasn't a day that went by where she didn't miss Jiro, wondering what would have happened if she had answered his text that day instead of being more focused on reaching Kuro.

Yuki could hear the countdown to midnight starting as she remained standing there with her eyes closed. Right before the countdown reached 'one', she felt like someone's presence was lingering over her shoulder. Before she could open her eyes and see who was standing there, a voice whispered in her ear, "I really think we can do so much better, so how about we try again?"

The presence and the mysterious voice behind her disappeared when she opened her eyes and saw that the Times Square scene she had once been a part of was now on her television screen in her old apartment. Her eyes widened as the date flashed onto the screen.

January 1st, 2020.

"No...no this can't be real..." Yuki said out loud, looking at her surroundings to see that she was in her old college apartment. It was bare at the moment since most of her belongings were in storage since she planned to leave with Kuro.

Her phone suddenly lit up on the kitchen island as she rushed for it, seeing that it was a text from Jiro.

Happy New Year, Yuki!
If you have a second, can you meet me
on the train platform today
before I leave at 10AM?
I have something I want to tell you in person.

She nearly let out a cry at seeing the text. Jiro was still alive. She still had a chance to make it right. Kuro sent her a text a few minutes later merely to ask if she was going to meet him at 10AM tomorrow to head with him out of the city.

'This time, I'm going to make the right choice,' Yuki thought.

Yuki hadn't realized until Jiro was dead how much he had meant to her. She had known him her entire life and he had always been there by her side. Their friendship over the years had blossomed into something more, but she had never wanted to admit it since her sole focus had been on Kuro and him alone. This time she refused to let the narrative end the same. For whatever reason she had been given a second chance and she wasn't about to waste it.

Making quick work on packing her carry-on, she left for the train station early. When she arrived, Yuki climbed the metal stairs to the platform that she had rushed up what felt like a lifetime ago, walking over to where the tracks were currently empty. Taking a seat on one of the benches there, she bundled herself up in her coat to keep away the nighttime chill as she moved to lay down. She used her carry-on bag as a pillow as she tried to shut her eyes and get some sleep.

A few hours after Yuki had shown up, Jiro arrived to make sure he was there for his train early, stopping at a florist along the way to pick up a rose. He knew that Yuki had her heart set on Kuro and was more than likely about to disappear from his life completely. However, he couldn't let her do that without at least attempting to tell her how he felt. He didn't want to live with regret his whole life. The thought alone was enough to make him die of a broken heart. With the text last night, Jiro left the ball in her court and would wait to see if she responded today. He wanted to have a rose with him just in case.

The crisp cold New Year's Day air surrounded him as he walked up the platform steps. Wandering towards where his train was set to be, he slowed in his steps when he saw Yuki sleeping curled up on a bench. Jiro soon came to a standstill by the bench, looking down at her to see his eyes didn't deceive him. Crouching down beside the bench, he could see Yuki shivering slightly from the cold. He set the rose down by his feet for a second before shrugging off his jacket and gently laying it over her. The moment he was about to draw his hands back, Yuki woke up and they both locked eyes.

"Jiro," she said softly, tears misting in her eyes as she sat up.

"Yeah...Yuki, what are you doing here so early?" Jiro asked.

"I didn't want to miss you again."

"Again? What do you mean again?"

"It doesn't matter," she said. "Just...tell me. What did your text mean?"

A blush coated Jiro's cheeks as his hand sought the rose he had momentarily put down. As he lifted it into view, Yuki's eyes locked with it.

"I just wanted to tell you before I go and before you leave to be with Kuro how I really feel about you. I know that it probably won't change how you feel, but I just need to tell you that I love you," Jiro said.

Yuki smiled, reaching out to try to touch him and the rose he held. She was about to say she loved him in return, but the moment her hand touched the rose, everything about her faded to black.

"Are you here with someone, Miss?"

Opening her eyes, they soon widened in shock to see the same man she had remembered from four years ago standing in front of her, holding the hand of the same woman.

"What...what year is it?" Yuki asked.

"2024," the man remarked, "Almost 2025. Are you okay?"

Leaving the man's question unanswered, Yuki dug out her cell phone to begin scrolling through her contacts. Her gloved hands made it impossible, forcing her to take them off. As she did, she noticed a wedding band on one of her fingers. The sight of it caused her hands to shake as she looked through her contacts until she found Jiro's name. Tears blurred her vision as she clicked on it, listening as the ringtone rang out.

"Pick up. Please pick up...please say it wasn't all some sort of dream..."

The man, who decided to give her a moment, stepped away with his woman and left Yuki alone to anxiously wait for someone to pick up. As she waited, a tear slipped down her cheek followed quickly by another and then another. When the call went to voicemail, she felt like her heart had dropped into her stomach.

"No...no..."

Her tears became more numerous as the cold caused their presence to sting, snow beginning to fall then from the sky in lazy, swirling patterns as the chatter of Times Square started to pick up now that it was getting closer to midnight.

'Jiro, I'm sorry. I'm...'

"Yuki, why are you crying?"

That voice. Looking behind her with tear-filled eyes as she was jerked from her thoughts, she looked at the man standing just a feet away from her. The snow swirled about the long black jacket he had on, the slight breeze alowing the pieces of his raven-colored hair that weren't covered by his slate, gray hat to tickle the tips of his ears. His familiar brown eyes locked with hers as she let out a gasp.

"Jiro!"

He smiled, nodding as he closed the distance between them to take her bare, trembling hands in his.

"Why are you crying? And where are your gloves? I leave you for five seconds to try to find a bathroom and..."

His words were cut off as Yuki quickly wrapped her arms about his neck, hugging him tightly to her. He chuckled, wrapping his arms about her back, one of his hands cupping the back of her head.

"You act like I died or something," Jiro said near her head as he kept her close. "I'm right here though just like I promised you I would be when we got married. Nothing will ever change that. I promise."

Neither of them could say anything more then as the traditional New Year's countdown started. As the countdown reached its conclusion, plumes of confetti started to rain down from the sky as everyone cheered the start of the new year. Pulling back from the hug, Jiro moved to cup Yuki's face in his hands. His thumbs gently padded over her cheeks as he locked his gazes on hers.

"Happy New Year, my beautiful wife," Jiro said, "I love you."

"I love you too," Yuki finally got to tell him, the two of them leaning in so their lips connected as the confetti and snow swirled down from the sky all about them.