My legs were shaking under my skirt.
But...
But I couldn't let Shawn help me this time. If he came, he'd die. So...
"Liam Griffin, don't forget—I'm not the one who dies here."
I suddenly pulled out two one-liter bottles of alcohol from inside my jacket, unscrewed the caps, and poured them all over the cabin floor.
Then I held up a lighter.
"Liam Griffin, in this enclosed space, it only takes one spark to kill us both."
Liam Griffin nodded. "Fierce little thing."
I accepted his compliment, lifted my chin, and smiled. "Actually, I'm really curious—have you ever seen how you die?"
I have to admit, I sounded pretty cool.
Right before death, that whole speech was pretty cool.
Too bad Shawn didn't see it.
Otherwise he'd love me even more. Well, being a year younger wasn't a big deal—I'd been carrying too much baggage. Should have said yes earlier, could've enjoyed a few more months. But now? Dying for him, and he didn't even see it.
After rushing through these bizarre thoughts, I went to flick the lighter.
But suddenly, I felt a cold sensation under my ribs.
Then every ounce of strength in my body was instantly drained. Every ounce—including the tiny bit needed to strike the lighter.
It was Liam Griffin.
What a fast knife. Then again, with his combat experience, I should have been more alert.
I crumpled to the floor. The lighter flew from my hand in an arc and landed in Liam Griffin's palm.
"Girlie, I, Liam Griffin, am not dying this way either."
---
22
"How you die—did you ask me?"
The cabin door was suddenly ripped open.
Standing in the wind in midair...
Was Shawn.
---
23
The Ferris wheel cabin had nearly reached its peak.
Inside, Shawn stood in front of me, arms slightly spread, shielding me from Liam Griffin.
I tugged at Shawn's pant leg.
"Come on, Sophie. You think you can still hide anything from me? Why did you turn me down, why have you been anxious for the past month, why have you been riding the Ferris wheel alone for nights on end?"
"But..."
"You're about to say I can't beat him, aren't you?" Shawn smiled. "If I could beat him, you wouldn't have acted on your own."
Liam Griffin was still somewhat confused. "How the hell did you get in here?"
"Oh, I rode in the next cabin over, following Sophie." Shawn showed the magnesium powder on his hands. "It's a bit high, but actually pretty easy to climb."
Before he'd even finished the sentence, Shawn charged.
He dodged Liam Griffin's blade and landed a punch to the man's vulnerable spot. While his opponent was still reeling, Shawn grabbed the knife-wielding wrist with both hands and twisted it against the joint. The knife clattered free, bounced twice, and flew out of the cabin, tumbling into the sky.
Then Shawn pivoted behind his opponent and locked in a cross-body choke.
The entire sequence was fluid—in a narrow, swaying Ferris wheel cabin, it was simple, direct, effective.
And handsome.
My boy Shawn!
But...
"Liam Griffin, forgot to tell you—I'm the one who can change the future."
"Shawn..." I called out.
I'd lost too much blood, no strength left to speak, but still had to muster my last breath to warn him, even though he was winning every exchange...
"She's trying to tell you," Liam Griffin spoke, even in the grip of the choke, "that everything you've done hasn't escaped the future she saw."
With that, Liam Griffin surged, throwing Shawn with a shoulder toss. In the confined cabin, Shawn was launched into the air, slammed against the side wall, and crashed down with a heavy thud. Liam Griffin immediately mounted him.
"Kid, your cross-body choke was way too sloppy. You call yourself a cop?"
Liam Griffin increased the pressure. Shawn instantly couldn't breathe, his face turning red, veins bulging.
Liam Griffin freed one hand and drew his knife.
Yes—everything happening right now was exactly within the future I'd seen.
The future where Shawn died.
But suddenly I understood one thing—the "variable."
In Shawn's death, could I be the variable?
---
24
"Liam Griffin—he's not killed by a knife."
I gathered every last shred of strength to steady my breath, and in the howling wind at that height, shouted those final words.
Sure enough, Liam Griffin hesitated for just a moment.
In that single moment, Shawn's core surged, his hands shot up and grabbed Liam Griffin's collar, and then, rolling backward—
Shawn yanked Liam Griffin with him, and together they tumbled out of the cabin.
The Ferris wheel was still turning, having just passed its peak.
Shawn and Liam Griffin, clinging to each other, plummeted into the sky dozens of meters above the ground.
---
25
"Shawn!"
I screamed with everything I had, then the pain in my ribs nearly made me pass out.
"Shawn—"
"Enough!"
That was—Shawn's voice.
He was alive?
But from my vantage point, all I could see was the patch of night sky through the cabin door.
I scrambled forward, finally dragging myself to the doorway and looking down.
I saw Liam Griffin lying on the ground at the base of the Ferris wheel.
And I saw Shawn, hanging from the cabin door, his feet dangling in midair.
How on earth did he hold on?
Oh—the handcuffs on his wrist. My novelty gift handcuffs. The other end was looped around the steel bar of the cabin doorframe.
---
26
"Sophie, your handcuffs are actually pretty useful."
"Sophie, you have to say yes now, right?"
"Hey, don't you think I was awesome today? The deduction, the prediction, the close combat—even Conan doesn't have scenes this cool..."
"Sophie, you really have to date me now, I'm pretty great!"
"Officer Shawn!" The nurse in the ambulance couldn't take it anymore. "The patient needs rest. Can you please shut that mouth of yours?"
Shawn froze.
He'd probably never expected that, right after pulling off a heroic feat, he'd get scolded.
He went quiet for a long time, not daring to speak.
The ambulance carried only the wail of the siren and the occasional jolt of the road.
Honestly, I was pretty anxious too.
With an oxygen mask over my mouth, I couldn't speak, or I'd have kissed him right then.
Ever since he first called me Sophie, I'd wanted to kiss him.
The End.