Archive of Our Own ^beta

Fragments of memories came flowing in through strings of dreams that slowly knitted themselves together. However, like shattered glass, the past memories were not only precious but had sharp edges. Each dream had different love stories, but they all had the same dreadful ending. Even if there was a reset, a second life, it didn’t matter. He could only watch helplessly as the scenes unfolded before him as he was taken deeper and deeper into the depths of his grievance. The sands of time would always run a little too quickly than they were supposed to. His body trembled like an earthquake and he cried out over and over in his sleep. With a final shake, he awoke. The aftershocks of the dreams hit him quickly as tears of heartache fell one by one. It was as if he found something he had lost, but maybe it would’ve been better if it remained forgotten.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

GORYEO DYNASTY - 988

"Maybe this could actually work?" The young prince thought to himself as he watched the scholar in front of him start nodding off. Wonwoo had asked a court lady to slip in some liquor inside the scholar’s tea earlier prior to his lesson and it seemed like it was just starting to kick in now. As he counted down to ten, the scholar slowly drifted off into a deep slumber — dropping his calligraphy brush and planting face first onto the inkstone. 

Silently celebrating the victory of his successful plan, he tiptoed out and closed the sliding door behind him. Slipping on his shoes, he makes a run for his usual hiding spot where the guards won’t be able to find him. The garden. The garden that the late queen had kept close and dear to her heart from when she had first entered the palace as a young maiden until her last breath. 

Prince Wonwoo was just 7-years-old when he tugged on his mother's sleeve and begged her to have a pond installed next to the pavilion. It had taken three years for the workers to finish setting it up, and sadly the queen hadn’t lived long enough to see it. 

After her burial ceremony, it took Wonwoo a whole year before he could enter that garden again. When he finally did, he found a single koi fish swimming inside. Tears fell like raindrops into the pond from the young boy's eyes that day; it was as if the fish was his mother reborn. Even though Wonwoo was 15-years-old now, the garden was still a place that embraced him with solitude and comfort. 

Though the prince was at the age of adolescence, he did not ditch his classes for the sole reason of being mischievous. No, there was more to that. Ever since the queen passed away, his majesty the king was never the same. The king became stricter on Wonwoo and less loving. The pressures of the crown prince’s future responsibilities were suddenly forced onto the young boy that hadn’t even hit puberty yet. Wonwoo didn’t have a single care for politics nor inheriting the throne. He would rather spend his time visiting the towns and joining the common folk in their “measly lantern celebrations,” as his father like to describe them, instead of having to sit through a royal feast with relatives that have their eyes on the throne.

The head gisaeng that adhered to the king's side after the queen passed was the only person that understood and truly cared for Wonwoo. She was a good friend of his mother’s and Wonwoo always loved listening to the stories she told through poetry. His most favorite one was one that went like this: 

A spring breeze that passes while leaving a tickle to my nose 

Reminds me that that life is full of colors when I’m caught in the grey

The summer rain that befalls on a humid day

Reminds me that it’s the little things that keeps us going amidst the scorching heat

The satisfying soft crunch of autumn leaves beneath my feet 

Serves as a reminder that the harvest has arrived

A winter's frosty breath that I can see

Serves as a reminder that I am alive

Other than that, the prince didn’t find anything in the palace to be entertaining enough. He sighed as he played with the fish by poking the pond with a stick, creating small ripples. Wonwoo startled when he heard someone grunting from a distance. Curiosity got the better of him and he went to peek to see what was going on, only to find a boy that looked around his age doing some kind of traditional dance while wielding a sword on the pavilion. 

Wonwoo’s breath was taken away as he watched the boy move both so fluidly like a stream of fresh water as well as swiftly like a snake hunting its prey. Time seemed to slow down as the boy did, and the wind blew his long locks gently as cherry blossoms petals fell behind him in the background. Wonwoo had never seen anyone as graceful as he and marveled at his beauty. 

“There you are, Crown Prince!” 

Wonwoo flinched and turned around, getting startled by the eunuch. 

“His Majesty was looking for you.”

Wonwoo turned to look back at the pavilion, but the boy was gone. Clearing his throat, he let the eunuch bring him to his father.

When he entered the main palace building, he was greeted by a bunch of new faces — including the boy he saw earlier, which excited him.

“Crown Prince, I would like for you to meet a few people.” He gestured firstly to an older man along with the boy from before. “Please greet the emissary that came all the way from China, Scholar Lee, along with his translator.” 

They both bowed deeply to Wonwoo and he bowed back respectfully.

“My name is Jun, your Majesty. I will work hard on translating accurately and precisely.” The boy said as he also turned to bow to the king. 

The king nodded at him in acknowledgement while Wonwoo made a mental note of the boy’s name.

“Also, remember when we discussed finding you a queen soon? Well, I worked with the head gisaeng and we found a promising lady. Here is Scholar Park with his daughter, Lady Mirae. They say she is the fairest and most graceful woman in the kingdom.”

Lady Mirae fluttered her eyes as she bowed to Wonwoo, but he wasn’t a bit interested. He bowed back politely, but in his head, he was wondering in what way she was considered “graceful.” To him, she didn’t seem anything like how Jun looked earlier.

“Spend the next few weeks together and we shall plan for the wedding after I am done discussing with Scholar Lee about our ideas.” The king decreed. 

Wonwoo’s eyes were directed to only Jun, who quietly translated for the scholar before accidentally meeting Wonwoo’s gaze. The crown prince looked away quickly, a slight tint of red appearing on his ears, as he wondered why he was acting as if he was infatuated with the foreign boy. He deemed it to be more of a fascination, but the way his eyes would constantly fall back on Jun told him otherwise.

Without properly announcing that he was leaving, Wonwoo dashed out of the building to clear his mind. 

After excusing herself from the room, Lady Mirae ran after him excitedly while thinking that Wonwoo was playing hard-to-get.

Having heard footsteps follow him, the crown prince went into hiding once more at the pavilion. Wonwoo was certain that no one was following him when he reached the garden, until a voice from behind him scared the living daylights out of him.

“Feeling shy meeting your future queen for the first time, your highness?”

Wonwoo turned around to see Jun, his stomach stirring with butterflies as the boy approached him.

“Please, call me Wonwoo. I heard from my father that we are the same age.”

Jun hummed, shaking his head politely. “I would never dare to, your highness. I heard you enjoy stories though. That is what I can offer to you, if you like.”

Of course Wonwoo accepted, and learned that Jun understood Korean because his grandmother married a Korean after coincidentally meeting at a trading post. Jun also told him stories of how his uncle has been trying to sail to the end of the Earth and stories about the ships he would build. Wonwoo’s favorite story had to be the one about Jun’s mother and how she was once a traditional dancer for the Emperor who picked up sword fighting and became a great warrior. It wasn’t just the stories themselves that entertained Wonwoo, but it was the way that Jun delivered them so poetically. He just knew how to utilize his voice and expressions to emphasize certain parts of the story with such emotion. Wonwoo would listen to him talk for hours if he could and Jun didn’t have to sit in on Scholar Lee’s sessions with the king.

For once, Wonwoo was thankful for politics as it gave Jun a reason to stay around longer. With time, the two boys grew closer and even the distant crown prince began to open up to Jun. At their favorite place to meet, which was the pavilion, Wonwoo told him about his mother and how she had just wanted him to grow up to be happy rather than to be fit for a king.

“I know that this sounds selfish, but sometimes I just wish that I wasn’t born into royalty. It’s so suffocating in here that I’m even jealous of the birds for being able to fly away and be free.”

Jun nodded, understanding him on a certain level of craving to be someone you wanted to be and not someone other people want you to be. “I think your mother was right.” He turned to look at Wonwoo with a fond gentle gaze. “I feel like you are destined to do greater things. Not as a king per-se, but as a person. As simply, Wonwoo.”

Noticing that Jun started to stop referring to him as your highness, a small smile grew on his face. “You really think so?” He asked, turning to meet Jun’s gaze.

“That is all that I hope for you.” 

From the tone of his voice, Wonwoo could tell that he truly meant it.

Still, Jun encouraged him to learn how to write as he explained that it would benefit him in the future. He even added the fact that Wonwoo would be able to read the poems and stories to further convince him.

Either way, Wonwoo agreed to learn only if Jun was the one who would teach him.

When Wonwoo asked his regular teacher for materials the next day, he gladly obliged and gave them everything they needed.

Before their lesson started, Wonwoo asked for Jun to show a brief demonstration first so that he could see how he wrote. He watched in awe as Jun gently swiped his brush against the ink block and began to write, moving in a rhythmic motion as his brush danced across the parchment paper. Although Wonwoo couldn’t read, the characters Jun wrote popped out of the paper as the strokes were perfectly sized and spaced out — perfectly balanced, just like him.

“What did you write?” Wonwoo asked when Jun finished and set his brush down on the table.

Jun grinned cheekily. “It’s a secret. Until you learn how to read and write, you won’t be able to find out.”

The curiosity made Wonwoo even more eager to learn as he grabbed his own brush and was ready to follow Jun’s instructions. Despite Jun’s explanation and slow demonstration, Wonwoo failed to imitate Jun as his strokes came out to be either too fat as he applied too much force or too thin when he used less strength. 

“You’re holding the brush wrong.” Jun pointed out.

As it was his first time of actually trying to write, Wonwoo’s hands were shaky and he held the brush at a weird angle with awkward fingers. “Like this?”

“Here, let me.” Jun placed down his brush and went over to Wonwoo as he helped him get into the proper writing position by moving his fingers around. “Hold it like this, and then…” 

Wonwoo felt his heart pound when Jun went behind him and gently wrapped his hand around his and began to guide him. His heart fluttered for the first time, but Wonwoo didn’t know what it was. It was weird for him to notice how his back laid comfortably against Jun’s chest, how Jun was so close he could feel his breath tickle his ear, and how he just felt so safe and secure.

“Then you lightly glide the brush like this~,” Jun continued, not noticing how much more nervous Wonwoo was getting. With Jun’s help, Wonwoo successfully drew one perfect stroke that wasn’t too thick nor too thin. Seeing how beautifully it came out, Wonwoo’s lips curved upwards into a satisfied little smile. 

“And that will be all for our lesson today!” Jun said, releasing his grip on Wonwoo’s hand and backing away.

Wonwoo looked at Jun disheartenedly, feeling disappointed that Jun moved away and that the lesson ended so quickly already.

Noticing the expression on Wonwoo’s face, Jun was able to hear his unspoken words. “Next time I’ll teach you how to write a word of your choosing,” Jun promised, trying to cheer him up. “Today’s lesson was just for learning how to hold the brush. It takes practice to get used to it. Besides, we still have a lot of time.”

That was true as Scholar Lee had requested for the king to keep Jun around until he returned from his short trip to the neighboring kingdom. Adding up the traveling time, Wonwoo would say that it would at least be a month before the scholar returned. He already knew what word he wanted to learn how to write for the next lesson and he was looking at him right now.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Whenever Wonwoo was forced to spend time with Lady Mirae, he would tell her that he would be impressed if she knew how to crochet and she would immediately request to learn from a teacher. While that kept her busy, Wonwoo would beg Jun to sneak him out of the palace for a day to visit the village. On their second successful attempt at sneaking out, a booth selling accessories caught Wonwoo’s attention.

“Jun, which one do you think looks the prettiest?” He asked, gesturing to the handmade hairpins.

Thinking that it was for Lady Mirae, Jun carefully picked out the one he thought was the most unique. “This one is perfect, your highness. Also, if you’re done looking, we should be heading back soon before they notice you’re gone.” 

Wonwoo nodded, gesturing for him to start heading back first. “Go on back first, I’ll catch up to you.”

As Jun left, Wonwoo bought the hairpin Jun had chosen, the biggest grin on his face as he had it wrapped carefully in a piece of cloth.

Before they snuck back over the palace walls, Wonwoo held Jun back by pulling on his sleeve. 

Jun looked at him with a confused expression on his face and watched as Wonwoo handed him the bag while looking away, too shy to meet his gaze. 

“Here. This is for you.”

Jun unwrapped it and took out the hairpin, realizing that it was the one he had chosen earlier. “Wasn’t this beautiful hairpin for Lady Mirae?”

Wonwoo shook his head as he took it from Jun’s hand and went behind him, helping him put it on. “A beautiful hairpin should be worn by a beautiful person...” 

Jun looked at the prince with a shocked expression as Wonwoo turned him around so that he could see how it looked. Smiling immensely, Wonwoo was satisfied with how perfectly the pin sat on Jun’s head.

Before Jun could react, they heard guards approaching them and they both quickly hopped over the wall before they got caught. 

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Little did they know that one of the eunuchs had been noticing their growing relationship and had been reporting everything to the king. Enraged, the king decided to teach Jun a lesson and ordered for the guards to capture him at night when he was asleep. 

Thankfully, the maids in the prince’s corridors loved to gossip and the Wonwoo found out quickly that the king planned to have Jun tortured. Although he was late, at the dead of night, he ran out to the main courtyard to put a stop to it. 

“Tell me, who sent you here to seduce the Crown Prince and destroy our kingdom?” The king bellowed.

Jun, who was all tied up to a chair and bloodied, looked up at the king while trembling. “Y-your Majesty, I would never.” He sputtered. 

“Lies! I am not a fool! A eunuch told me that you have been trying to get close to my son to make him fall in love with you so that he won’t be able to produce an heir for the kingdom. Guards, punish him until he confesses.”

The guards nodded as they placed two rods between Jun’s legs and pressed down on each side in an attempt to dislocate his leg bones. 

As Jun yelled out a shrilling cry in pain, Wonwoo arrived at the scene shouting “Halt! Stop this at once!”

“Crown Prince, it is not in your place to be here. Go back to your corridors.” The king ordered. 

“Please, let him go. I will do whatever you ask if you just let him go.” Wonwoo made haste to get straight to the point, knowing how quickly the king would increase the amount of torture to the point of death.

Rubbing his goatee, the king thought long and hard about it as his top eunuch whispered something in his ear. “Alright.” He said, surprising Wonwoo. “I will let the boy go, but I will exile him from this kingdom.” 

Wonwoo breathed a sigh of relief as he glanced over to Jun who was breathing heavily with his head hung down. His face and clothes were covered with his own blood and his hair was frazzled. Wonwoo had to bite his tongue to hold in his anger as he also noticed the hairpin he had given Jun broken in half at the feet of a guard.

“In return…” The king continued. “You will proceed to wed Lady Mirae, attend all your classes, and do everything exactly as I say without complaints.”

Wonwoo had no choice but to agree to those terms if he wanted Jun to live. “I promise, I will. Now let him go.” He said firmly, looking dead into the king’s eyes.

The king nodded, feeling pleased. “Very well. We shall release him tomorrow and have someone take him away in the morning. You are forbidden to reach out to him through messengers once he is exiled.”

»»——⌛⌛——««   

After bribing a guard, Wonwoo snuck into the prison cell to where Jun was kept. He held in his tears, trying his best to remain dignified and calm, as he softly clanged on the metal bars to awake him. 

Upon hearing the sound, Jun rolled to his side and peeked open one eye and faintly smiled. “You came.”

“Of course, I did….Jun, I am so sorry...It’s my fault that this happened to you.”

Jun looked up at Wonwoo from the cold ground with half-opened eyes. “Don’t blame yourself, Wonwoo. It was my fault for not knowing my place in this kingdom.”

Wonwoo frowned, grabbing a hold onto the metal bars. “It’s not your fault either! I don’t even know what the eunuch was talking about. You and me in love? How could I fall for a man?” 

When Wonwoo realized what he just said, he bit his lip in guilt as he watched Jun close his eyes once more before turning the other way. “Let’s say our goodbyes in the morning. I am exhausted and need strength to travel tomorrow. Goodnight, your highness.”

Hearing “your Highness” from Jun after a long time pained Wonwoo’s heart at the coldness that came along with those two words. Wanting to linger longer, as this would probably be the last time they could spend just as the two of them, he regretfully let go of the bars and nodded in understanding. “Goodnight, Jun.”

»»——⌛⌛——««   

At the break of dawn, Wonwoo got up quickly without getting dressed in his royal robes and ran straight to the prison cell. He didn’t want to risk missing the chance to say goodbye but when he got there, he was filled with confusion and rage when he found it empty. 

Barging into the main palace building, he approached the king as he yelled loudly as he seethed with anger and resentment. “Where is he?”

“I thought you might try some funny business if I let you know when I would have him removed, so I had the guards transport him last night.”

Without thinking, Wonwoo ran out again, pushing through all the guards as he made his way out of the palace. He jumped on a horse that was feeding just outside the palace walls and galloped away, ignoring the shouts from the guards telling him to stop. Wonwoo didn't know where he was going but he just kept following the road as he cut through the forest.

They couldn’t have gone far, could they?

He kept looking till night had fallen, and he returned with his head hung low. The king punished him for running away by having him start his studies right away. The scholar that taught him noticed how depressed the crown prince was during the lesson and got up to get something.

“Here.” He said, hitting Wonwoo’s head with a rolled up parchment. 

“What is it?” Wonwoo mumbled.

“The head gisaeng hid this for you. It’s from the lesson he gave you the other day.”

Wonwoo’s ears perked up as he took the paper from him hastily. Unrolling it, he found words all over. Right, he still didn’t know how to read.

“I know that you skipped your lessons for a reason and that you would’ve preferred to learn how to write from him, but it would be good to learn how to read. Even if it’s just so that you could read this.” 

He stared at the parchment paper with a look of newfound determination. “Alright.”

After about a few months of being studious day and night, Wonwoo was able to quickly learn how to read and write the words used in daily life. His hard work got him to learn up to the level of what a scholar his age would be at. Gathering up his bravery, along with the assistance of his teacher, he finally unraveled the parchment paper after a long time.

Wonwoo closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before opening them and reading: 

Others may see you simply as a quartz stone,

Durable and seemingly indestructible

Little do they know that you are much more than that

As you slowly opened up to me, like a rose starting to bloom

You became more and more beautiful

As I started to see each and every petal that makes up who you are

You are a crystal, an amethyst

Unlike others who hold great power, within you resides protection from the intoxication of the corrupt mind

Behind every word that leaves your lips, comes along a sense of serenity

And with every smile, a sense of healing

May you continue to shine as bright as the sun

While showing all, that there is more to you than what you're made of

Tears fell on the parchment paper as Wonwoo finished reading. It wasn’t just a letter, it was an ode. An ode to him. He clutched it close to his heart and wept for a long time that day.

Since then, Wonwoo would read it every day at the garden and have his servants read it to him every night before he went to bed. However, it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the same as hearing those words from Jun’s own mouth. 

Years passed, and the King died of illness when Wonwoo turned 18-years-old. His first move as the new king was to send out a messenger to find out about Jun’s whereabouts. Unfortunately for him, no one had any idea of where Jun was taken. Still, he sent multiple messengers to scour the land beyond the kingdom. The messengers would either return with nothing or not return at all as they continued to travel far and wide to find the one man. 

Wonwoo’s heart ached as he began to lose hope and began to forget what his soothing calm voice sounded like. Slowly, his responsibilities as king ate at him like the emptiness of his heart. Like the king wanted, he produced an heir with someone he did not love and delegated trades. 

Gradually, his sadness turned into madness. Wonwoo’s heart turned bitter and he decided to go all out to become the king he was always expected to be, but more. He fell into extremes and eventually became like his father after his mother had passed. 

Eventually, Wonwoo was led to his own demise after he insisted on leading his army into a battle. As the sun set, he was brutally slashed across the face by the sword of his enemies. With a bloody eye, he looked up at the sky and watched as a swirl of flower petals blew with the wind. Spring was nearing its end, and so was he. If Jun was still alive and well somewhere, he would’ve been disappointed that Wonwoo hadn’t been able to shine like the sun on a hot summer’s day. He shed a single tear, not because he was afraid of death but because he had let Jun down. As the crown prince took his last breath, before the enemy took a final blow, he whispered the words that he didn’t get to say to Jun when he got taken away.

“I’m sorry.”

With that, the enemy pierced their sword through his heart.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

 MEDIEVAL TIMES - 1347 (Somewhere in Europe )

“Love will find you one day, you’ll see” was something his parents always told him. In response, Wonwoo would always sarcastically reply with “No, I won’t see...because I’m blind.” 

His life was pretty ordinary — it sucked as usual, but it wasn't too bad he guessed. Well it was, until a blacksmith shop moved into town right across from Wonwoo's cottage. That was when things got worse. 

Wonwoo was just sitting in his chair, attempting to sell his paintings, when he heard the new neighbors start settling in by screaming at each other.

"Boy, don't you start complaining now. If you didn't want to move here, then you should've said that 16 kilometers ago."

The boy, who Wonwoo presumed was the man's son, huffed in frustration. "I was the one that lugged this dreadful heavy cart anyways."

Wonwoo heard a small slap, probably on the boy's arm.

"Wen Junhui, did you just talk back to me?! You’re already 30-years-old, but you’re still acting like a wee child?!"

30? Same age as me...

"No! I'm just saying that I'm not so keen on the idea of us moving our shop every so often.” Jun yelled, trying to defend himself.

“You don’t know enough about how to run a shop then! That’s how we do business! To be the talk of multiple towns, not just one! We are staying here, and that is final!”

Wonwoo sighed out loud in annoyance. “Great,” he muttered under his breath.

The next few days weren’t any better when the new neighbors got their shop up and running. It turned out that they were a family-run blacksmith shop. With a slightly heightened sense of hearing, the clanking sounds of iron hitting metal irritated Wonwoo immensely. He kept it to himself at first, not wanting to be rude, but eventually the anger that boiled inside him combusted.

“Keep it down there, will ya?!” He shouted across the street. 

Jun, who was working on hammering on an anvil, stopped what he was doing when he heard the shout. “What seems to be the problem, lad?” He asked, putting his hands on his hips.

“You’re hammering too loudly. I can’t even hear myself think.”

“My apologies, good sir. Let me hammer softer, just for you.” Jun said sarcastically.

“Thank you.”

Jun gave the piece of metal a little tink, before hammering obnoxiously louder purposely.

Wonwoo stood up, infuriated. “I thought you said that you would do it softer!”

“I don’t know if you know anything about blacksmithing, but hammering softer isn’t going to help me forge anything.” Jun retorted. “Why don’t you just grab your paintings and move somewhere else?” He asked, gesturing with his hammer down the road.

“I was here first, so you can move somewhere else. This is my spot”

Jun sighed. “Tell my father that, and then we’ll talk.”

Wonwoo had to admit that his father sounded terrifying earlier this week. Definitely not wanting to mess with that, he sat down grumpily in defeat. Jun had won, but only for now.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

A couple hours later, Jun moved on to welding new pieces and couldn’t help but notice how the grumpy lad just kept on staring blankly in his direction.

“Hey there, laddy!” He shouted.

“What?!” Wonwoo barked back.

Jun smirked, using his arm to sweep his bangs to the side. “Are you having fun watching a dashing lad like me forge with fire? The folks in my old town used to say how I still look good even while sweating.” 

Wonwoo scoffed before shouting back, “I can’t see, you nitwit!”

Thinking that Wonwoo was joking, Jun let out a laugh. “Then buy a pair of spectacles! You’re missing out!”

“Spectacles aren’t going to do anything for me. I’m blind, you arse!”

Jun’s eyes widened as he suddenly regretted everything he said. “Oh...I am sorry about that. I didn’t know, that was rude of me.”

Wonwoo clicked his tongue smugly. “Yeah, you should be.” 

He had won that round.

Jun stayed silent after that, and Wonwoo wondered if he felt awkward after having found out about his blindness. Bickering with Jun was actually kind of fun. It was a lot more entertaining than just sitting there and having nobody give him or his paintings the time of day. Wonwoo was about to start up a conversation with him when he heard one of his paintings fall down.

“Pardon me, my bad.” The person that accidentally bumped into it said, sounding completely insincere. 

Wonwoo grumbled as he heard them walk away without helping him pick it back up. Based on the sound of the thud, he reached out his arms downwards and managed to find it at the tips of his fingers. As he was about to pull it towards him, he felt it disappear suddenly as someone kicked it away. 

“My bad~!” The kids said, imitating the person from before bursting into a fit of giggles.

Wonwoo almost cursed them out, but he bit his tongue. He didn’t want to deal with their parents later. The children of the village were always up to no good.

Those damn kids…

Thinking that they had kicked it further out onto the road, he got up and walked forward, hoping to find it by using his long legs to feel around for it. His ears perked up when he suddenly heard a strange rumbling noise coming from a distance, it sounded like it was getting closer. Realizing that there was a cart coming his way, he started to sweep the floor with his foot faster so he could move out of the way in time.

However, what Wonwoo didn’t know was that the owner of that cart had been pushing it down a slope and had lost his grip. The cart was heading straight towards him at a high speed, and Wonwoo turned his head slightly towards its direction once he realized that it was moving faster than expected based off of the creaky noise it made as it rode down the rocky road.

Right as it was about a few inches away from hitting him, Wonwoo stumbled backwards as someone nearly tackled him. 

“You alright there, bloke?” Jun asked worriedly as he kept his grip around Wonwoo’s waist tightly to keep him from falling. “That was a close one.”

Wonwoo felt his cheeks heat up from the sudden closeness. Never had he been hugged by someone that wasn’t his own mother—let alone this intimately. Pushing Jun off quickly, he cleared his throat as he straightened his clothes. “I-I’m fine.”

“Sorry!” The owner of the cart apologized as he passed by them, still running after the cart that didn’t want to stop.

Wonwoo was ready to give that man a mouthful about carelessness, when he heard Jun suddenly take off running. 

Hearing the wheel screech at a distance, he deduced that Jun must’ve caught up to it. He listened as the man thanked Jun for his help and waited as the soft patter of light footsteps made their way back towards him.

“Why did you help him?” Wonwoo asked.

Jun was panting, trying to catch his breath from all the running, before shooting Wonwoo a weird look. “What?”

“He almost killed me, and you helped him??”

“Well, it was an accident. He didn’t mean to lose his grip on his cart.”

Wonwoo scoffed. “Yeah, right. Just like how it was an accident that those little demons kicked my painting.”

“Oh...About that…” Jun walked over and picked up the canvas that was now completely squashed after being run over by the cart. 

“If it’s ruined, then forget about it. You can just throw it away in that little furnace of yours. I wasn’t very fond of that one anyways…”

Jun thought for a moment, before taking a hold of Wonwoo’s wrist. “Come with me.”

Wonwoo shook him off instantly. “Don’t touch me!” 

“Fine, then just follow the sound of my voice. Follow me across the road.”

Wonwoo wasn’t sure why he listened to Jun, but he obediently did what he was told.

Instead of throwing Wonwoo’s painting in the furnace, Jun utilized it a different way instead—by roasting sweet potatoes for the both of them. Wonwoo wondered how much Jun pitied him after today, but at the same time he found this to be unusual. He touched his own face and wondered why it suddenly was feeling so warm? Must’ve been the furnace or the hot potato he was holding. 

Yeah, that must have been it.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Since that day, Wonwoo allowed Jun to linger around him from time to time. For the most part, Jun was tolerable and only got a little annoying when he rambled off too much. Jun would always try to get Wonwoo to crack a smile by being a complete nitwit, singing everything that he was doing, and occasionally it would work. After his constant begging, Wonwoo also showed Jun his gallery of paintings that he kept in his room.

Jun had looked at each one, completely and utterly gobsmacked by Wonwoo’s talent as he repeated the word “wow” as if it was the only word he knew. Even though Wonwoo would never admit it, the compliments Jun gave him filled him with more confidence in his skills.

“Please paint me a portrait. Preferably with brighter colors and not just black like you usually paint with.” He had requested, tugging on Wonwoo’s sleeve. “I’ll make you something in return, like a...staff!”

Wonwoo gasped in offense. “A staff as in for walking? I can walk just fine, thank you very much.”

“No, for whacking nitwit children with,” Jun joked, making sure to add in Wonwoo’s favorite term.

It worked as it earned him a small curve of Wonwoo’s lips. “Alright, you have a deal, mate.”

The first step was for Wonwoo to memorize Jun’s facial features so that he could visualize it in his mind. Although it felt a little uncomfortable, Wonwoo just repeated to himself in his head that this was for painting purposes as he began his “observation.” 

He had Jun sit down one day and with his permission, began to touch his face. Wonwoo cupped Jun’s face in his hands to feel the shape of his jawline, moving upwards to feel the shape of his head. He instructed Jun to shut his eyes as he slowly traced his fingers over them, feeling his pretty eyelashes and the shape of his almond-shaped eyes. His fingers continued to move as he went down the curve of Jun’s prominent nose bridge, thinking that it probably was quite an impressive sharp nose.

Wonwoo hesitated before he moved on to Jun’s lips, but he mustered up his courage and rubbed his fingers across them. They felt soft and slightly plumped, just slightly. When his mind wandered off to a place he never thought it would dare to go, he shook it off immediately. As Wonwoo wondered about how Jun was feeling, he suddenly felt his breath on his face. 

“You can get closer if you want.” Jun said in a low whisper.

Wonwoo gulped quietly. “I’m scared to get closer.” He confessed.

This time Jun reached up to cup Wonwoo’s cheek in his hand.“It’s okay, you’ll be safe with me. I’ll be there to love you until you’re able to love yourself.”

And Wonwoo believed him for once—at least for that day.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Things were going well for the two, until one day when something happened as Wonwoo came back from the market.

He shrugged Jun off when he noticed that something was wrong, having noticed the dark expression on Wonwoo’s face that day.

“Wonwoo, tell me what’s wrong. What happened?” 

“A bunch of thieves stole my mother’s coin purse while we were shopping, okay?!” Wonwoo blurted out. “They stole it right in front of me, and I couldn’t help her...I just stood there like an imbecile.”

“I’m so sorry Wonwoo...It’s not your fault though.”

Wonwoo ignored him and continued to spiral down. “I can’t even help to make up for it because no one will even buy my rubbish paintings.”

"They’re not rubbish at all!! How you visualize the world is beautiful and how-"

“The way I visualize the world is utter darkness.” Wonwoo said, cutting Jun off. “A dark void where humans just care about themselves and get what they want, not caring about those who are at disadvantage."

Jun placed a hand on his shoulder. "But you see a light at the end of the tunnel, Wonwoo. I know deep down inside, you see it."

Wonwoo shook his head. "You're wrong. You don't understand. No one will be able to understand...how bleak the future is for me. There is no hope."

"What do you mean? Your paintings are phenomenal. They hold so much more meaning compared to other artists around town." Jun pointed out.

"No one cares. You saw when we first met. Someone knocked over my painting without a care in the world. Even measly children tease me.”

“Hey...hey…” Jun held Wonwoo’s tear-stained face in his hands. “I care.” He said so tenderly, that even Wonwoo could feel that it held a lot of weight. “I’m here...I’m here...” He whispered as he embraced him tightly. 

Wonwoo wanted to believe him. He wanted to believe his words so badly. But he didn’t believe that he deserved happy endings.

Pushing Jun away harshly, Wonwoo swallowed the huge lump in his throat and said “Get out. I don’t want you coming here ever again.”

For a long moment, Jun was silent. Wonwoo swore he heard him stumble and maybe even heard a muffled cough, but he didn’t think much of it as he was in an emotional state.

“Wonwoo…”

Wonwoo shook his head and backed away, hearing Jun stepping closer. With a cold expression on his face, he repeated himself once more but more sternly. “I said leave! Just go away…I want to be alone.”

Leaving was the last thing Jun wanted to do, but he was worried that Wonwoo might hurt himself if he aggravated him even more by staying. “Okay, I’ll go...Bye, Wonwoo.” 

Wonwoo stood silently and listened as the sound of Jun’s footsteps faded away, before breaking down sobbing hard. It was just so much easier to take out his anger on someone else than to realize that he hated himself. It was much scarier to uncover and dig up the insecurities he had so deeply buried for many many years. However, untreated wounds are always bound to turn into an infection. And fear is like a poison. It consumes you entirely — making it difficult for you to think or act rationally. 

»»——⌛⌛——««   

A couple weeks had gone by without hearing from Jun, and Wonwoo was moping in his darkness. His mother kept trying to convince him to apologize first and go see Jun, but he would just get even more aggravated. Even though he felt like she was right, that he was being overly stubborn, Wonwoo just couldn't do it. It wasn’t like he hoped for Jun to go against his wishes and barge into his cottage anyways…Even though he longed to lower his pride and to hear his voice again, he dealt with it by starting his portrait of Jun.  

It wasn’t until he heard a huge crowd outside his home when he finally decided to cave in and go out.

“Did you hear? The plague has moved into our town! It seems like it has taken its first victim.” A townsperson said to another.

“Poor boy. He was a very kind lad that helped me out when I needed to get new shoes for my horses.” The other mentioned.

“The plague truly is no myth. He was completely fine a couple weeks ago when I last saw him. I guess it really does go downhill quickly…”

Wonwoo shook his head in denial at what it sounded like. “No...no…” Were they talking about Jun? It couldn’t be. It hasn’t been that long since he...

Realizing that his stubbornness prevented him from finding out, Wonwoo finally cracked. Without trying to navigate with his mind, Wonwoo frantically began to push his way past the crowd. Ignoring their complaints at his rudeness, he forced forward across the road until he ran into the front door. 

As the crowd tried to pry him away from the door, it suddenly flung open and out came Jun’s father. 

He raised his arms up to stop the commotion. “Everyone calm down. He’s a friend…” 

Mr.Wen then brought Wonwoo in, guiding him to the cot where the body laid and they both kneeled down before it. 

“Is he...here?” He asked in a weak voice.

“Yes.”

Wonwoo’s lips opened slightly as they trembled, but no words came out. 

Mr.Wen placed a hand on Wonwoo’s shoulder. “It’s okay if you want to touch him.”

Wonwoo wasn’t sure if he wanted to. He was afraid to. But this probably would be his last time to have the chance to memorize what it was like to hold his hand.

With a shaky hand and tears streaming down his cheeks, he found his way over to Jun’s and held it delicately in his. It was so cold…

As if he needed confirmation that Jun was completely gone, his hands moved upwards to his wrist area where his pulse would’ve been. He felt nothing.

What Wonwoo did feel was his heart cracking inside. Heartbroken wasn’t just an expression anymore, he actually felt like his heart was breaking into two. He was filled with such sadness that he felt like vomiting it all out. He didn’t mean it...The last words he shouted at Jun, he didn’t mean them at all. 

“Get out.” Please stay.

“I don’t want you ever coming here again.” Please come see me every day.

“Just go away.” Don’t go.

“I want to be alone.” Stand by my side, so I’ll never feel alone again.

Jun was Wonwoo’s antidote and he refused to take it. He should've taken it. Why didn't he? Why didn’t he?

Jun was a blacksmith, someone who made nothing into something. He was someone that turned something shabby into something magnificent with his blazing passion and comforting warmth. Jun was the only one that had been able to break through Wonwoo's walls and mend him into becoming someone Wonwoo hated a little less. 

How was he going to learn to love himself now? Without him…?

“Oh right, he said he wanted to give this to you...”

Wonwoo heard Jun’s father leave to retrieve something and reached out when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. As Mr.Wen handed him the item, Wonwoo felt all around it to realize that it was the walking stick that Jun promised to make him.

“The stick to whack the nitwits with…” He whispered, as a wistful smile grew on his face. Jun even made sure to use different types of metals to make it lightweight.

Mr.Wen sniffled. “W-what?” 

“Oh nothing, Mr.Wen.” Wonwoo laughed, wiping away his tears. “Nothing at all.”

After the burial, Wonwoo found the strength to finish the painting. He wanted Jun to be remembered as someone that was embraced by the sun and shone rays of sunshine.

Adding more brighter colors, with every stroke, Wonwoo reminisced about his time spent with Jun. Yellow, to represent his endless amount of energy and childish acts. Orange, for his warm friendliness and the slightly annoying amount of confidence he had. And red, for his passionate love that Wonwoo had been too stubborn to accept…

When Wonwoo finished, he traced his fingers over the entire piece and was content. Although he wasn’t able to see it physically with his eyes, he knew that this was his best work of art. One that he would treasure forever. He tried to gift the painting to Jun’s father, but he refused.

“He would want for you to keep it. That way, he could keep his promise of watching over you forever.” 

Tears welled up in Wonwoo’s eyes when he said that, and they comforted one another with a hug.

“I miss him…” He cried, burying his face onto Mr.Wen’s shoulder.

“Me too, boy. Me too…”

»»——⌛⌛——««   

A WAR - 1801

A home was all Wonwoo wanted and craved for. It’s been a few months since he got drafted into the military, and he so badly yearned to go back home where it was safe and sound. Wonwoo was never the most athletic person to begin with, yet he was given a helmet, a rifle, along with a pair of combat boots and forced into this cursed war between his country and China. 

It’s been a few months since he joined and he has seen more than he could bear. Seeing his new brothers drop like dead flies broke Wonwoo. Like a malfunctioning toy, he lived through each day in hell with hand tremors and the constant fear that he was either going to get blown into smithereens or filled with bullet holes at any second. What scared Wonwoo even more was the fact that, soon, he would probably grow to become apathetic to it. He has met a good handful of soldiers who were like machines — pulling their triggers without hesitation and stepping over fallen bodies. It was kill or be killed.                                                                                                                                                                                 

There he was now, dispatched with a few others to defend their land because intruders have crossed into the militarized zone. An enormous cloud of fog had emerged in the forest and Wonwoo’s Captain thought it would be best if they all split up to make it less easier for them to be spotted. 

The team got into formation and Wonwoo sidestepped to the left as he was instructed while tightening his grip on the rifle he was holding in position. Bumping into a small boulder, he crouched down — using it as a cover. He scanned the area from left to right, but saw nothing but eerie-looking oak trees. Wonwoo felt his goosebumps rise as he held his breath, keeping a lookout for any sign of any movement. He staggered for a moment out of nervousness and heard a soft crunch underneath his foot. 

Oh that’s right, it’s autumn now.

For a moment, while it was still silent, Wonwoo took a deep breath to calm his nerves. As he did so, the smell of soil and the oak filled his nose and he sighed softly, closing his eyes. Nature is beautiful when it's not out to kill you. A loud booming sound of a gunshot in the distance broke the moment of silence and Wonwoo’s eyes flew open. His eyes landed on a shadowy figure amidst the fog that was coming from about a hundred feet away towards his direction.

Walking in the open? That’s a rookie move.

As the figure moved closer, Wonwoo squinted and noticed that the uniform was different from his. Although he was scared of ensuing combat, as well as feeling bad for the rookie for being an easy target, he knew what he had to do in order to survive. Unfortunately for him, the figure began to move closer behind trees and Wonwoo had to adjust his position accordingly. Looking for a new cover, he noticed another boulder a few feet away and he hastened to move there as quietly as he could. Like a feline directly registering, he stealthily moved — with his right foot following after and falling exactly where his left foot landed to avoid stepping on the leaves. Wonwoo steadied his rifle as he looked for the perfect angle to shoot the figure who still hadn't noticed him and was moving closer but facing the other direction.

Steady...Steady...Aim and…

As Wonwoo put his hand on the trigger, the figure turned its head in his direction, but it was too late. 

I’m sorry...Shoot.

Wonwoo pulled the trigger quickly and waited for the sound that he hated the most yet was forced to grow familiar with. The sound of death. However, only the sound of a click came out. Wonwoo cursed in his mind as he realized that his muzzleloader was fouled because he hadn’t cleaned his weapon thoroughly last night. A total misfire. This gave the enemy an advantage as they pulled their firearm and quickly aimed it at the sound of the click, making their way towards Wonwoo. 

Meanwhile, Wonwoo was in the middle of pointing the barrel downwards, a precaution in case of a hangfire. When he looked up again, the fog had started to dissipate and it revealed the soldier pointing his rifle directly at him from about now twenty feet away. The enemy stiffened when their eyes met, causing him to hesitate as he looked into Wonwoo's pleading eyes. Wonwoo wasn't sure if it was the fear in his eyes or if the enemy noticed that he was no longer a threat, but the man lowered his weapon. Instead of fleeing the scene, Wonwoo froze in place as the man began to close the distance between them — afraid to make any sudden movements. With each step they took forward, Wonwoo's heart rate increased. The man inched closer...and closer…In a moment of seconds, a loud audible scream was heard. 

The man...disappeared? He was just a few feet away from Wonwoo, but in the blink of an eye he just suddenly vanished in thin air before him. With the ounces of courage he had left, he came out from behind where he was hiding and stepped carefully out towards where the man last stood. A crow flying by from above cawed, making Wonwoo flinch. The last of the fog cleared, almost just in time as Wonwoo almost misstepped, making it apparent of what happened to the enemy.

An explosion crater. He must’ve fallen in.

Wonwoo took a peek in and sure enough the soldier was deep inside the hole as he dusted himself off from the dirt. Whether he was religious or not, Wonwoo thanked God for letting him live another day — or an hour at the very least. Turning around, he was about to make a run for it when something stopped him. That man could’ve killed him right then and there, but he didn’t. He had chosen not to. Even though every cell in his brain screamed at him not to, his cursed soft heart moved his body otherwise. 

Wonwoo went up to the edge of the crater and leaned slightly forward, whistling once softly to get the soldier’s attention. The man turned around wide-eyed, surprised that Wonwoo was still lingering around. Wonwoo pointed at the man’s gun and made an “X” with his arms, signaling him to put it aside. 

The man nodded and did what he was told as he watched Wonwoo lay down on the ground and outstretched his hand towards him. However, the hole was deeper than he thought and his hand was still very much out of reach even if the man stood on his toes. The man seemed to have an idea as he backed up as far as he could in the hole and took a few big steps forward quickly before leaping. At the very last second, Wonwoo’s eyes widened as he realized that he should’ve anchored himself down first before offering to pull the guy up. As he feared, the momentum and weight of the man was too much for Wonwoo to handle and he slid straight into the hole headfirst. Luckily for him, he fell right on top of the guy, who broke his fall. The other, who wasn’t so lucky, groaned as he ended up being completely crushed by Wonwoo.

Wonwoo scrambled up as fast as he could, repeatedly apologizing in his native language before remembering that the man didn’t speak Korean. “Oh, uh...sorry,” he stuttered in English.

The man nodded his head in frustration, accepting his apology but biting his tongue while doing so. He then pointed at Wonwoo’s gun and signaled for him to put his gun aside too, to which Wonwoo complied in order to settle on some sort of temporary truce.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

It got a little awkward after, with Wonwoo feeling embarrassed for his not-so-well-thought out plan and the man rubbing his back in pain as he looked for another way to get out of this hellhole. 

“What’s your name?” Wonwoo blurted out in English again. It seemed like this was probably the best way for them to communicate — even if it meant simple or broken phrases. 

“Wen Junhui,” He replied.

“Pardon?”

“You can call me Jun.”

Wonwoo nodded in understanding. That was much easier for him to pronounce and remember.

“And you?” Jun asked, gesturing to him.

“I am Jeon Wonwoo. You can call me Wonwoo.”

They both exchanged polite small smiles after the sudden introduction. It felt weird that they weren’t currently having a showdown and were speaking civilly as if Wonwoo hadn’t just tried to shoot Jun in the head. 

Jun motioned him over. “Come here.” 

Wonwoo walked over to him and realized that he never took a good look at Jun. He was actually quite handsome? His eyes were charismatic and sharp just like his other facial features. He also had a very nice build with a very nice pair of shoulders.

“Shoulders?” 

Wonwoo winced, face quickly reddening. 

Did he just get caught staring? Could Jun read minds? 

“What?” He noticed that Jun had kneeled down on the ground.

“You come, I help you up.” Jun explained as best as he could while using hand gestures.

Nodding in understanding, Wonwoo hurried over as he put his legs over the man’s shoulders. As he was about to doubt whether Jun could carry someone who appeared to be in the same weight class as him, he was in for surprise when Jun heaved and lifted Wonwoo up. Although he was shaky, Jun prompted his feet on the ground and did his best to sturdy himself as he stood. 

“Fast! Fast!” Jun cried out in a strained voice.

Not wanting to cause further discomfort, Wonwoo reached up as high as his long arms could reach and managed to reach the edge. As he got a good grasp of the ground, he started pulling himself up and got excited at the taste of success. All was well until he heard a low growl at a distance. Wonwoo froze halfway up as he met eyes with a snarling beast that looked back at him with a fixed aggressive stare. Not wanting to provoke the wild animal, he stayed as still as he could. 

“What happen?!” Jun grunted in exhaustion, reminding Wonwoo that he was still being carried.

Wonwoo gulped as he saw how sharp the animal’s canines were. “D-dog. Big scary dog.” He whispered back in a panicked manner.

“Dog?” Jun thought hard for a moment before realizing what Wonwoo meant. “Ahh!! Láng! Láng!” He shouted in Chinese, finally getting why they should be panicking right now. Jun’s eyes then went huge as he shut his own mouth quickly after being so loud.

However, it was too late as Jun’s epiphany made the wolf feel threatened enough to start charging at Wonwoo, who started calling Jun’s name and got louder as the beast got closer.

 “Jun...Jun...Jun!!”

Before Jun could slowly lower Wonwoo down, Wonwoo flailed backwards just as he was inches away from getting a bite or scratch from the beast. Once more, Wonwoo fell back down into the pit, taking Jun down with him.

The wolf gave a final bark, as if to let them know to heed this encounter as a warning, before scampering away to its pack.

After another round of “sorry’s,” the two decided to stop trying for the time being and they both just awkwardly sat down across from one another. 

Wanting to be friendly, Wonwoo bravely decided to break the silence himself by making small talk. 

“How do you say ‘hello’ in Chinese?” 

Jun’s eyes lit up, surprised yet grateful that Wonwoo was curious enough to want to learn despite the situation their countries were in.

“Ni hao ma?”

Wonwoo repeated after him slowly, and Jun nodded while giving him an encouraging thumbs up. 

The two of them began to teach one another simple phrases from how to say “hello,” “what’s your name,” and “my name is ___.” Along the way, Wonwoo also learned that Jun was quite the funny guy. The topic ended up changing over to funny anecdotes about how clumsy they were when they first joined the army and Jun had the most hilarious exaggerated hand gestures and goofy facial expressions. He also playfully teased Wonwoo for his camouflage paint on his face, calling him “green face.” For the first time in a long time, they both shared laughter despite the language barrier as they both made the effort to communicate.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Soon enough, night had fallen and the two decided to use what they had in their packs and the dry leaves in the pit to start a small fire. They both huddled closely to the fire, and Wonwoo looked up at Jun who was busy cooking them a can of beans. Seeing Jun’s face glow from the light of the fire, made Wonwoo’s heart do cartwheels. The embers of the fire were not the only sparks that were flying.

Wonwoo shivered once and Jun immediately took off his uniform coat and put it over Wonwoo’s shoulders before he could even reject it. He wasn’t going to let Jun fight the cold though, so Jun settled it by agreeing to put on Wonwoo’s jacket which was slightly thinner.

Wonwoo never thought that he would’ve been so grateful to have fallen into a hole. In that hole, he found a diamond in the rough. That may sound like an exaggeration, but all Wonwoo longed for during this cursed war was for a companion. It was crazy how the person he befriended was an enemy, but it didn’t matter to him. Not at all.

As they both tried to sleep, Jun noticed again that Wonwoo was having a hard time doing so due to the uncomfortable bumpy walls. Not caring about boundaries, he offered his shoulder for Wonwoo to sleep on — to which Wonwoo only agreed upon due to being exhausted. That night, Wonwoo dreamt with a smile on his face as he imagined what it would be like to show Jun around Seoul. He dreamt of bringing Jun to a bar and drinking beer together before taking it to the dance floor. They danced all night without a care in the world.

His dream, however, was completely shattered when he woke up to the shrilling sound of gunshots going off. Wonwoo coughed at the smell of burnt gunpowder and startled awake, quickly feeling all around his body to see where he got shot. When he felt no sense of pain on his body, he slowly turned to look at Jun. 

The image of the amount of bullet holes he saw on his chest was horrendous. The man that was so full of life, laid there lifeless, slumped over to the side. Wonwoo was so in shock that he couldn’t even process what happened. His ears were still ringing from the gunshots and he heard muffled yelling from above, but all he cared about was Jun. 

What happened? Why is Jun wearing my helmet too? 

Wonwoo looked down at his hands and found Jun’s dog tag in his possession. He looked at Jun again and saw that he was wearing Wonwoo’s around his neck. 

The shouting got louder and Wonwoo felt himself being hoisted up in the air. Someone had lowered themselves down, wrapped a rope around Wonwoo, and the other people above pulled them out. When they got out of the hole, Wonwoo was still in such a daze that he couldn’t process that Jun was dead. That he was gone forever.

As Wonwoo’s hearing started clearing up, the soldiers surrounded Wonwoo and barked at him in Chinese. Remembering his lessons with Jun, he recognized that they were asking for his name. Looking down at Jun’s dog tag in his hand, he realized that Jun knew that this was going to happen all along.

With trembling lips, Wonwoo responded in Chinese like he practiced. “I’m Wen Junhui.” 

Thankfully, Wonwoo was still wearing camouflage paint on his face so they believed him and started to push him along to follow them back to base. It wasn’t until Wonwoo excused himself to relieve himself by a tree when he completely broke down, mourning belatedly over Jun.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Jun didn’t know what “worth fighting for” meant — at least not until now when he met him . Like Wonwoo, he was just a young man who was afraid of dying, but Wonwoo gave him a new fear — living on this earth without him. Jun knew he wouldn’t have been able to bear the fact that he could’ve done something to save his life. He knew that the next cavalry that was coming their way was led by a ruthless captain whose motto was to shoot at the sight of a Korean soldier uniform. Carefully, Jun took off Wonwoo’s helmet and swapped it with his. He also made sure to rip off their dog tags and swapped them. 

His touch was gentle as he caressed Wonwoo’s cheek — careful not to wake him. "I am sorry," he whispered with a pained smile on his face. As those three heavy words left his lips, a single tear rolled down his cheek and he closed his eyes as he waited for dawn to come.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

SEOUL - 2020

“Another time.” Jun hated that phrase. Especially, when it kept on coming from his roommate’s mouth all the time. Not today though, not today.

Minghao groaned as they reached their destination in front of a fortune teller’s shop. “Ugh, remind me why I’m here again?” 

“I told you already. There was a 1+1 deal for a palm reading session. Also, I want to know what my fortune is like for the new year.” Jun explained, referring to Lunar New Year which just passed by a few weeks ago. “After all, this year is my year. The year of the rat~.”

Minghao rolled his eyes at the elder. “When will you ever care about someone else more than yourself?” 

“Oh Hao, I do…” Jun moved towards him and caressed his cheek, earning an immediate swat of a hand which only made Jun switch to his other hand. “I do care…” He said with a serious look on his face.

“I care about...my good ol’ pal, Lee Jihoon.”

So done with his shit, Minghao pushed him aside while looking clearly annoyed.

Before he could start walking, Jun clung onto him tightly — wrapping his arms over Minghao’s shoulders.

“Aww Hao don’t be like that~.” Jun whined.  “I was just kidding~. Of course I care about you! My beloved roommate and precious didi~.”

Minghao groaned. “Ugh, can’t you just act like your age for once?!”

Jun released his hold with an exaggerated shocked expression. “Ouch. Be careful with how you treat your elders. The fortune teller lady may just tell you about how karma is going to bite you in the ass for disrespecting me.”

“I don’t believe in that stuff.”

“Haven’t you heard of that one phrase?” Jun went on, ignoring Minghao’s comment. “That karma’s a b-”

“Yeah? Well, I’m a bigger one. The baddest one too, so I’m not scared one bit.”

Jun frowned, pouting. “Oh come on~. You promised!!” He whined.

“Fine.” Minghao complied, caving in to put a stop to Jun’s constant whining. “But you owe me.” 

Jun watched triumphantly as Minghao trudgingly walked into the building and smirked. 

Works every time.

About twenty minutes had passed and unexpectedly Minghao seemed to be enjoying the session more than Jun. Wanting to get it over with, Minghao had volunteered to get his fortune told first.

“I see...I see that you will be very successful and rich in a few years. Your biggest and wildest dreams? Just keep working hard and you’ll get to them in no time.” The fortune teller told Minghao as she read his palm.

“Did you hear that? She said that I’m gonna be successful.” Minghao bragged with a cheeky smile on his face.

Even though Minghao still thought that her words were the same as what you would find in a fortune cookie, he was enjoying every second of it as he glanced at a pouty Jun sitting with crossed arms.

“Oh yeah? We’ll see about that when I get my fortune told.”

When it was Jun’s turn, he scooted his chair excitedly forward as he handed his palm over to the lady.

"I see...I see...It seems like fate has been playing around with you. It keeps cutting your red string short and retying it like a never-ending cycle.”

Jun tilted his head in confusion. “Red string? I don’t think I own any red shirts that might have loose ends...”

“No, I’m talking about the string of fate that leads you to your soulmate.”

Jun pulled his hand away, taken aback. “Soulmate? What does this all mean?”

The fortune teller let out a small sigh, as she slowly got more frustrated. “Here, look at it this way...It’s as if once you both are balanced on a seesaw, fate tips it over to one side — flinging the person on the opposite end to their doom. Or maybe, moreso, it’s more like the sand in your hourglasses run out ”

Jun looked up to the ceiling while furrowing his eyebrows as he tried to process what she said.

Seesaw? Hourglass?

Metaphors just didn’t get through him — at least not in this life. “So that means….?”

“It means one of you DIES,” The fortune teller shouted, getting up from her seat. Realizing that she was getting out of character, she cleared her throat, straightened her clothes and sat back down.

Jun’s eyes went huge in shock as he slowly turned his head to Minghao who was sitting right next to him — just as shocked by the fortune teller’s outburst. 

“So about my future…” Jun began slowly, with a serious tone. “Am I really not gonna be more successful than my friend right here?”  

»»——⌛⌛——««   

As the two walked out of the fortune teller’s shop, Jun stayed silent for a good few minutes as they started walking back to campus. After thinking for a while, he turned to Minghao and said, “You know what? I think you’re right. That didn’t seem legit at all.” He admitted regretfully.

Minghao chuckled. “You’re just saying that because you didn’t get to hear a good fortune like I did.”

“Whatever.” Jun huffed. “It’s all mumbo jumbo anyways. Let’s just go to class.”

“Oh? The Wen Junhui wants to go to class early?” Minghao teased. 

Now it was Jun’s turn to roll his eyes. “Well, it’s only the second week of school and I’m not going to risk getting dropped out of the class for being late too many times. This is my last year of university and there’s no way I’m staying another year.”

“Alright, Mr.Future Actor. Better head on to your creative writing class then.”

Jun groaned. He still didn’t understand why he still had to take classes like when he just wanted to focus on acting and not playwriting.

As they reached the campus, Jun sent Minghao off with a nod and a wave. “See you after your ballet class, Mr.Future Dance Instructor.”

“It’s dance therapist,” Minghao corrected as he headed off in the other direction.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Jun ended up making it to class a few minutes early, so he took out a pen and started twirling it in his hand absentmindedly as he waited for class to start. He blanked out so hard that he didn’t realize that his classmate sitting in front of him, who was also his friend, had turned around and was tapping on his desk with a pen trying to get his attention.

"Hey, did you memorize your poem?" 

"Huh? What poem?"

Jihoon shook his head disapprovingly. "I knew you would forget. We were supposed to memorize the poem the professor passed out to us last week."

Jun's eyes widened as he dug through his backpack to find the piece of paper that he stuffed deep inside. 

"You better memorize it fast. Class is about to start in about two minutes."

Finally finding the poem, Jun takes one glance at it and then slams it on his desk. He leans back on his chair before sighing. 

"Dude." Jun looks over at Jihoon with an exasperated look on his face. "I'm fucked. It's so long. A whole paragraph basically!" 

Jihoon moves the paper close to him and laughs when he sees how many stanzas the poem has. "That's all on you. The professor gave us a whole weekend to memorize our poems. Though..." He tilts his head to read a couple lines. "Though the professor could've given you an easier one. There's a lot of unique wording in this one."

Jun groaned in frustration. Why did this always happen to him? 

Jihoon pushes the paper back towards Jun. “Come on, you have a minute left. At least try to memorize one line.”

With his friend’s nudge, Jun grabs the paper and his eyes scan each line with lightning speed. 

“Alright class, why don’t we get started? Did everyone memorize their poems?” The professor asked, looking around to see every student look away — hoping with all their might that they won’t get chosen to go first.

As what some cruel teachers usually do, he decided to pick the one kid who looked like he didn’t do his homework. “How about the young man in the back on the first column?” 

“Hey, he’s talking to you!” Jihoon whispered, giving Jun whose complete utter attention was on the piece of paper.

“Huh?” Jun peeled his eyes away for a second and looked up to see the professor and the entire class staring at him. Cursing under his breath, he put his paper face down on the table and stood up. Taking a deep breath, he began to recite the first line.

“Others may see you simply as a quartz stone, durable and seemingly indestructible.” 

Jihoon bit his nails as he nervously waited for Jun to forget the rest of the lines, but miraculously he didn’t.

With much confidence and even bringing in emotions, Jun recited the rest of the poem perfectly. Everybody in the class went silent as they listened to Jun speak, almost as if he was the author of this poem himself, in awe of how easily the words flowed out of his mouth.

Jun felt it himself too, the warmth of the love inscribed in each and every word. As he recited the last two lines, he was overwhelmed with deep indescribable feelings of sentiment and longing.

“May you continue to shine as bright as the sun. While showing all, that there is more to you than what you’re made of.” He finished, being extremely close to tears.

In astonishment, everyone, including the professor, began to slowly applaud Jun for his performance. 

“Wow, that was amazing. A job well done.” The professor praised him. “What’s your name?”

“Jun.”

“Well Jun, you should consider doing spoken word more often. That was excellent.”

Jun bowed politely to the professor before quickly sitting back down, feeling both amazed and  dazed over what just happened.

Jihoon continued to slowly clap as Jun sat. “Wow...you actually memorized the entire poem in less than a minute. How did you do that?” 

“I-I don’t know. I don’t know what came over me…”

Jihoon eyed him suspiciously. “Are you sure you’ve never read this poem before?” 

Jun laughed at the preposterous accusation. “Me? Reading poems?”

“You’re right,” Jihoon said chuckling. “I’ll admit though, it was still a very touching performance despite how you managed to pull that off.”

Little did they know that on the other end of the room was another person that was deeply touched. The film major student took off his glasses and rubbed away his tears before anyone could see. The poem had spoken to his soul and there was something about it that hit home. Even if he probably won’t be able to add this class, he was grateful for having witnessed such a performance.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

About a month had passed without anything out of the ordinary, until one day on April 14th. The day that Jun was being forced to visit a museum with Minghao. Even though he didn’t want to, he still went because Minghao told him that he was using the favor he had been saving until now.

“Why can’t we just do what we usually do on this day and grab some jajangmyeon along with some beer?” Jun whispered as Minghao handed over their tickets to the worker.

“There’s a discount for singles today. It’s kind of a joke because of how museums are a good place for couples to go on dates. They probably hope that the singles will meet someone at the museum.” Grabbing two brochures, he passed one over to Jun who was a little hesitant at first. Jun sighed and gave in, grabbing it from Minghao. A favor was a favor after all.

Just five minutes later, and Minghao was already starting to question why he decided to invite Jun to accompany him. Jun was literally like an excited grown kid in IKEA — always having something absurd to say about every piece.

“Hey Hao, doesn’t that painting look a little bit like me?” Jun asked Minghao, pointing to a portrait at a corner.

Minghao rolled his eyes. “You always say that everyone looks like you, Jun. Last week you even said that the superstar Kim Heechul looked like you.” 

“But it’s true!! He could be my young long lost dad for all we know.”

Ignoring Jun, Minghao read off the title of the painting. “The Colors that Shine Even in the Black Void.”

“That’s a weird name for a portrait.” Jun said as he continued to stare back at the face that looked similar to his.

“It says that this was painted somewhere in Europe during the mid-1300s. That was during the Plague, which is also known as the Black Death. Maybe this person was someone that the anonymous painter held dear and lost them to the disease?”

Jun frowned, with his heart feeling heavy. “That’s depressing…” 

Minghao moved on to the next piece, but Jun stayed put. There was something mesmerizing? There was something about it that he felt incredibly drawn to, as if he was meant to see this painting. Feeling his heart ache more the longer he looked at it, he decided to finally move on after a good solid ten minutes. 

When Jun turned around, a small gasp left his mouth as he met eyes with him . 

The voices then came all at once, banging against the walls of his head. He heard the echoes of shouts and shrill cries — both of his own and another that he did not quite recognize but at the same time was faintly familiar. Jun turned around immediately, walking away to crouch down behind a wall as he held his head in pain. Endless tears that built up over his past lives began to stream down his face — like a full glass overflowing. He felt his chest tightened and found it hard to breathe as someone else’s memories tried to force their way inside his head. Not being able to handle it, he ran for the emergency staircase and sobbed mournfully without knowing why.

On the other end, Wonwoo was wondering why his “allergies” were suddenly acting up now when he met eyes with this man that looked like someone he saw on campus before. He didn’t think too much of it and just went to the restroom to wipe his tears and blow his nose.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

That wasn’t the end to Jun’s misery as he got the huge latter of it that night.

Minghao frantically shook the elder. “Junhui!! Wen Junhui, wake up!!” 

Jun’s eyes flew open in shock — sitting up abruptly as the sweat that was building up on his forehead dripped down his face. 

“Ge, are you okay...? You’ve been screaming ‘I’m sorry’ for the past ten minutes in your sleep.”

As if the blank state was suddenly filled with a thousand words of an elegy, tears immediately started to stream down Jun’s face as the river of memories from his past lifetimes flowed in.

Minghao comforted him with a hug, rubbing circles on his back until he was able to slowly calm down.

“Come on Jun, tell me what’s going on. Don’t go silent on me now.”

So Jun sat Minghao down and told him every painful detail of each lifetime. By the time he finished, it was 4am and Minghao was drained. 

“What kind of movies have you been watching Jun?”

Jun threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “They’re not dreams, they’re real! This isn’t my first life. I swear, you gotta believe me Hao. I can’t do this alone.”

“Okay, let’s say that this is all real. So that guy that made you cry at the museum is your soulmate that the fortune teller lady was talking about?”

Jun nodded. “Yeah, I saw him again in my dreams. I mean my memories. It’s weird that I didn’t see you in any of my past lifetimes though…”

Minghao crossed his arms. “Well maybe I was, but you didn’t notice. In my past lives, I could’ve been that one rock that you tripped on or a mosquito that bit you.”

“So you’re saying that you probably were just something that made my life harder?”

Minghao smiled smugly. “Precisely. Except in this life, it’s the other way around.”

Jun scoffed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

With a sigh, Minghao got up and went back over to his bed. “Anyways, thanks for the bedtime story. Let’s talk more about this and do some research tomorrow. It’s getting late. Try to sleep again if you can, okay?”

As Minghao pulled up his own covers, he stared at the ceiling feeling overwhelmed. He remembered a few years ago today when he and Jun got drunk and they vaguely promised each other that they would date each other if they were single by 30. It’s not like he was disappointed — okay he was maybe a little — but he guessed that the drunk backup plan was out of the window. Jun probably was too drunk to remember it anyways. Sighing, he closed his eyes and hoped that Jun would be able to sleep too.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

The next day, Minghao dragged Jun to the library as he tried to look for books or sources that might be able to help them.

Minghao cracked his knuckles as he sat down in front of a computer. “So tell me what time period you think each life took place in. I can estimate a time for your second lifetime, but I need more details for the other two. Tell me what events in history you remember taking place.” 

“Can’t you just look up our past ancestors with the same name?” 

“I don’t think fate would make it that easy. It would be a huge deal if everyone could easily search up who they were in their past life. I don’t even think that you were supposed to get your memories back.”

Jun sighed. “You’re right. But at least try searching up King Wonwoo and see if anything pops up.” 

Minghao’s finger flew across the keyboard and hit enter, but nothing popped up. “Maybe the government was so embarrassed and ashamed of him that they didn’t even write him down in history?”

“How could they!!” Jun shouted angrily, getting a bunch of annoyed looks from people that were trying to study. “Sorry…” He whispered.

“Okay, I found his father.” Minghao said, writing down an estimated date based on the next most recent war that occurred after the end of the king’s rule.

“Oh shit!” 

Minghao smiled smugly. “Impressive right?”

“What? No, I was talking about him!!” Jun exclaimed, pointing across the room where Wonwoo was studying alone at a table.

“Why are you so scared? Be honest with me, are you avoiding him because you’re afraid that you’re going to die or that he’s going to die?”

Jun was appalled at the question. “Of course both are horrible. I wouldn’t want either of us to die.”

“Then why don’t you start helping me and stop playing hide-n-seek?”

As Jun squatted down to stay out of sight, he and Minghao worked together to jot down three years for each perspective lifetime.

“I think he passed out..” Jun whispered to Minghao as he worriedly looked over at Wonwoo who was knocked out tired from studying.

“Good. Now you don’t have to worry about hiding anymore then. Now let’s look at these numbers…”

Looking at the numbers, Minghao thought for a while as he thought of different possible ways of how these years could give them a hint on who out of the two were going to die in this lifetime. After writing both names down, he found a potential pattern.

“Aha! I got it. I think I figured it out! Uhh Jun?” Minghao turned around and Jun was missing. He instinctively turned to look over to where Wonwoo was and saw that Jun was trying to sneakily put a can of coffee that he got from the vending machine outside next to him.

After successfully setting it down on the table, Jun tiptoed away quickly back to Minghao. 

Minghao looked at him judgingly. “What happened to limiting your interactions with him?”

“He looked really tired, okay? I’m just a worried stranger that’s all. He wouldn’t even know it’s from me anyways when he wakes up.”

Minghao rolled his eyes. “Sure, whatever. Anyways, I think I figured it out. The Wonwoo guy is going to be the one who is going to die in this life.” 

Jun’s eyes widened. “What?! How do you know?”

“It’s because the years and the number of letters and strokes in your names correspond. In the lifetime with an even year, Wonwoo died. For the odd years, you died. There’s an even number of letters in Wonwoo’s name in English and an even number of strokes in Korean. For you, there’s an odd number. This is the year 2020 so…”

Jun was stunned. “Wow...You like escape rooms don’t you? You solved this like as if it was some kind of puzzle.”

Minghao shrugged. “I do enjoy problem-solving, but this is just a hunch. It could always just be a random thing and I’m overthinking it.”

“It’s better than nothing though. Thanks Hao! I guess you’re probably glad that I’m not the one that is going to die, right?”

“I’d be more glad if you thanked me with some wine.”

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Jun thought that it would be easy to avoid bumping into Wonwoo. After all, he hasn’t even seen the guy for the past few years in university. Unfortunately, fate has started its games and Jun wasn’t looking forward to it. 

He and Jihoon were discussing their senior project of making a film together with a few others in the fine arts club when someone knocked and walked in. 

“Ah, there’s our other camera operator!” Jihoon waved, greeting the guy that just walked in.

That guy turned out to be no other than Jeon Wonwoo, and Jun tried his best to get out of it as soon as he found out. However, Jihoon managed to convince him to stay. 

“Jun, please. This is our last year together. I really want to work with you on this film. You’re perfect for the role. Please, I’ll even treat you to hotpot.”

Compliments, food, and Jihoon’s rare puppy eyes appearance was Jun’s weakness and he lost easily. He was not looking forward to having to spend a couple weeks on this retreat with Wonwoo.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

On the day they were about to leave for the filming location, the crew were trying to figure out the seating arrangement of the two cars they rented. Since Jihoon was the director, he got first dibs and claimed a whole car to himself with Jun as the driver.

"How about we invite Wonwoo to sit in our car?" Jihoon suggested, with a cheeky smile on his face as they got ready to leave for their filming location. He thought that the reason why Jun was acting weird around Wonwoo was because he had a crush on him. Not that he was entirely wrong, but...

"Don't you dare-"

Before Jun could finish, Jihoon was already waving Wonwoo over while shouting "Hey Wonwoo! Come join our car!"

Jun sighed as he rubbed his temples stressfully, earning a reassuring pat from a chuckling Jihoon. 

"Hey c'mon man. You'll be fine, I promise. I'll be your wingman. You'll thank me later, you'll see."

Jun guessed that it was probably his own fault for not telling Jihoon about his past lifetimes and the whole shabam of his soulmate dying in this one. It's not that he didn't trust Jihoon, but the guy already had so much on his plate with directing the short film and producing the music for it.

Meanwhile Wonwoo had already made his way towards them. “Did you call me, director?”

“Director?” Jihoon crossed his arms as his shoulders bulked up in confidence. “I like the sound of that. You can just call me Jihoon when we’re not filming though. I want all of us to just speak casually with one another and be comfortable . Right Jun?” He said, nudging Jun who was thinking of ways of getting back at Jihoon for this later.

Jun was worried about the drive at first, but Jihoon managed to make things feel more natural by starting up random conversations like a Q&A while making sure to not leave out Wonwoo. However, that only lasted about 25 minutes and the loudest thing was the sound of the old engine of the car and the sound of Jun’s beating heart. Normally he would be the moodmaker in groups, but he doesn’t know what to do or say when he’s around Wonwoo. The silence during the car ride was so awkward that it would probably take a sword like Excalibur to cut through it. Not being able to bear it, Jun turned on the radio in hopes that it would distract the other two from noticing how nervous and fidgety he was getting.

The universe wasn’t helping at all when the first song that played turned out to be “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri. Each line was a punch to Jun’s heart and it was a complete knock-out when it got to the chorus.

“I have died every day, waiting for you

Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years

I'll love you for a thousand more”

From the corner of his eye, Jun glanced and saw Wonwoo silently nodding along to the melody with his hand resting on the compartment between them. Jun felt the sudden urge to hold that hand as all the love he had built up for Wonwoo throughout the lifetimes awoke in his heart and he unconsciously let go a hand off the steering wheel to do so.

I’ll love you for a thousand more…

Realizing what he was doing, he shook his head and put his hand back on the steering wheel while pretending that nothing just happened. As the lyrics started hitting too close to home, Jun changed the station before he could embarrass himself by crying in front of Wonwoo.

“Hey! I liked that song.” Jihoon, who was quietly singing along in the back, whined.

“W-well, I don’t. It’s too depressing.” Jun stuttered out as an excuse.

“I didn’t take you to be a sentimental kind of guy.”

Jun and Jihoon both turned to Wonwoo, surprised that he actually spoke up for once without being spoken to first.

"Uh yeah, there's actually a lot of things you don't know about me." Jun chuckled, before almost immediately frowning after realizing that he just lowkey flirted. He glanced at the rear view mirror and saw Jihoon nodding in approval, making him mouth words to keep his mouth shut. 

Being oblivious to this all, Wonwoo went on to talk about the song again. "It's actually a really sweet song if you listen to the lyrics. What part of it did you find to be depressing?" 

Why must he be so curious now?

Jun shrugged. "I don't know...I guess I just thought of old forsaken love stories of soulmates. It's just completely unfair and tragic that they would have to go through something like that over and over again." As each word left his mouth, he became more passionate about it and the emotions that came with it started to show as tears started brimming in his eyes. 

Wonwoo nodded in some level of understanding, not in the same way as Jun but he has read enough tragic romance novels himself. "That's true, but it's still a love story right? Like Romeo and Juliet is still a well-known love story despite it being a tragedy. There were still intimate moments shared full of warmth, tenderness, and pure joy."

Jihoon poked his head forward to join the conversation. "Um, I would like to refute that those two were actually in love. Like how could you just fall in love at first sight and decide that you want to marry them right away?"

"Well, the concept of love itself is quite complicated and debatable." Wonwoo pointed out. You can question whether two people were ever truly in love, but only those two will know for sure what is true."

Jun sighed as his choked up sadness slowly went down as the conversation suddenly became a little too philosophical for him. Love to him was more of a feeling that is hard to describe unless you actually experience it for yourself. It's not something that should be thought too hard about. 

Wonwoo was right though...Even if their past lifetimes ended in tragedy, there were a few precious memories that he treasured so closely to his heart.

However, still, he was only human and he wasn't sure how much more suffering he could bear any longer.

Would Wonwoo still feel the same if he knew? No, let’s not think about that right now.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

After that conversation ended, they stayed silent and just hummed along to the music for a couple of hours. Eventually, the sun started to set, and Jihoon fell asleep in the back seat. 

Jun noticed that Wonwoo was looking out the window at the scenery and flinched when he suddenly turned to him and asked if they could make a pitstop somewhere so he could take pictures. Not wanting to be rude, Jun obliged and pulled over to an open area.

Full of excitement, Wonwoo immediately hopped out of the car as soon as Jun parked.

Jun followed Wonwoo out of the car, leaving the sleeping Jihoon inside. Wonwoo had already walked up to the edge of the cliff, basking at the marvelous view of the ocean before him. Squinting from the slowly receding glare of the setting sun, Jun made his way next to Wonwoo and looked out at the horizon.

This is actually quite nice…

Being in that car felt a little suffocating to Jun as he was being confined in a space with someone he did not dare to love. Although he was still next to Wonwoo, the change in the atmosphere made him feel a little more at ease. Everything came together perfectly with the soothing sound of crashing waves, the coolness of the ocean breeze, the bracing smell of the sea air, the warm colors of that looked like they were effortlessly painted across the sky, and the person that makes you feel like everything will be okay even if the world ended today.

Jun couldn't help notice the way the sunset glow danced off Wonwoo's skin as his hair got beautifully disheveled by the wind. Wonwoo had a winsome, childlike smile on his face as he snapped a few photos and when he turned to look at Jun — boy was he done for. In all their lifetimes, he had never seen Wonwoo smile so warmly and filled with so much joy and contentment. Wonwoo was suffocated in his first life, broken in his second, and afraid in his third. Now, there he was sharing this special moment with Jun without worry or fear. Just simply happy . If someone asked for him to imagine himself in his happy place, this would be it. He wondered if this held any kind of meaning for Wonwoo too, or if this was just another chance at getting a perfect shot. 

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Wonwoo asked with an expectant smile.

A beautiful moment indeed. One that I wish I could just record in my mind and play it over and over again.

Belatedly realizing that he was staring at Wonwoo too long, he looked away towards the horizon. “I’ll admit, it’s quite nice.” Jun replied, hiding how much this new memory meant to him.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm, “quite nice” was enough for Wonwoo to feel proud that he was able to get that out of the seemingly aloof man. “I’m glad,” he responded while grinning. 

They both stayed there for a few more minutes to watch the sun dive into the sea before Jun suggested that they should head back to the road before it got dark.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Jun realized that he never really had the time to learn how to love Wonwoo. In the past lifetimes, their time spent together was quite short just like in Romeo & Juliet. It was easy for him to fall for Wonwoo, but there wasn’t enough time for them to learn about the things they loved about each other. However, Jun learned through this lifetime that there were many things to Wonwoo that he learned to love — and they were the smallest things. Little things like the way Wonwoo was usually soft-spoken, but would laugh loudly and brightly while scrunching his nose. Or the way Wonwoo was observant and would notice when someone was missing from a staff meeting. 

As he and Wonwoo worked together as an actor and camera director, Jun also learned that Wonwoo’s working side was very attractive. He would just have this face of concentration and professionalism as he maneuvers the camera and moves around to find the perfect angle to shoot scenes. His eyes would be narrowed with eyebrows furrowed in seriousness, and Jun found that to be very charismatic. There was even a day when the sun was hot and blazing, and Wonwoo came out to film while wearing a black sleeveless tank and a black cap. You could say that Jun definitely struggled with focusing on filming that day, having to look at the direction of — Wonwoo’s arms or — the camera from time to time.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Wonwoo’s body seemed to innately remember his past lifetimes. It showed up one day when the crew was busy adding sound effects to a gunfight scene, and Wonwoo had a small panic attack.

Wonwoo’s head started pounding at the sound of the gunshots, as if someone inside his head was trying so hard to get out but just couldn’t. With a loud yelp, he threw off his headphones and crouched down while covering his ears.

Jun stepped forward unconsciously at the sound of his cry but stopped himself. He shouldn’t get too close. Not even when his heart yearned so much to run over there and make Wonwoo feel safe in his arms. Luckily, Jihoon was there instead to make sure that he was alright.

“Hey Wonwoo, are you okay?” Jihoon asked, getting off his director’s chair and squatting next to the trembling man that never looked so small. “Deep breaths, take deep breaths.” 

Inhale and exhale. Wonwoo, thankfully, managed to follow Jihoon through the breathing exercise and calmed down enough to speak. “S-sorry.” He sputtered, still slightly shaking. “I’m not a huge fan of war movies, but I thought I would be okay with action if it was in a different setting. I guess it’s the gunshots that trigger me…”

Overhearing what Wonwoo said, Jun immediately turned away and bit his lip as he looked up to the sky in an attempt to hold in his tears. An image of the last glimpse he got of Wonwoo a second before he died in that lifetime flashed through his mind. The horror on Wonwoo’s face after he realized what happened. The pain he saw in his eyes. Although those past memories were buried deep down inside Wonwoo, it seemed like his body remembered them quite well. He was still traumatized by it all and didn’t know why. Jun was glad that he was the one to carry the burden of remembering all the heart-wrenching pain, all the sorrow, and all the grief. It felt like he was being crushed by a building, but for Wonwoo? It was worth it. 

He took one more look at Wonwoo, as Jihoon helped him to his feet, before going on a walk to clear his mind.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

As filming went on throughout the week, Jun continued to try his best to put distance between him and Wonwoo. For the most part, he was doing a good job at staying away by hanging out with his castmates rather than the production staff during breaks. However, there were also days when he couldn’t sit still and would care for Wonwoo.

It happened when Jun was just sitting on the porch while practicing his lines as he waited for the side characters to finish filming their action scene. Wonwoo was running backwards with the camera as he tried to follow the actor who was sprinting a little too fast compared to Wonwoo’s capability. Being fully concentrated on filming, Wonwoo didn’t notice that there was a small dip on the field and had ended up falling down along with the camera.

“Cut!!” Jihoon shouted into the megaphone before asking if Wonwoo was okay.

Jun, who heard the fall, was about to go check up on Wonwoo until he saw him get up on his own and dusted himself off before giving Jihoon the “okay” sign. 

Jihoon decided to switch Wonwoo with the other camera director and had him film the side perspective of the scene instead. Filming resumed without any more hiccups until the late afternoon and Jihoon had the actors rest as he reviewed the footage with the filming crew.

Jun was getting the final touches of his outfit styled by the stylist when he heard a loud shout coming from where the filming staff were huddled.

“Why is the camera so shaky?! I didn’t even have you run that fast and yet you couldn’t hold your camera stably?! Do you know how many hours of filming we just wasted? How the actors will have to reshoot this scene again?” Feeling heated, Jihoon threw his script on the ground and walked away to cool off after lecturing him.

Jun knew that Jihoon didn't mean to lash out on Wonwoo. He knew that his friend just sometimes released his frustration all at once on someone else whenever he got stressed. That was Jihoon's professional side that Jun would never mess with — a side of him that consisted so much yelling that it's enough to make someone woozy. 

Wonwoo held his head down in shame the whole time and said nothing as he stared at his feet. It wasn’t until Jihoon and the rest of the filming crew left when Jun saw Wonwoo start limping towards a bench. 

When Jun saw that, he knew he couldn’t just stand idly and watch. He went straight up to Wonwoo without a second thought and grabbed his wrist. 

Wonwoo’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw that it was Jun. 

“Come with me,” was all Jun said as he gently pulled Wonwoo along with him back to the main house. 

When they got inside, Jun sat Wonwoo down and had him roll up his jeans. Wonwoo wanted to refute, but the serious look on Jun’s face made him comply without complaint. Sure enough, there were a few scrapes on his legs and a big bruise on his ankle. As Jun grabbed the medical kit from the kitchen top shelf, Wonwoo finally broke the silence.

“How did you know?”

“I saw you limp,” Jun replied as he opened up the kit and took out some cotton balls and the bottle of rubbing alcohol. “You should be more careful,” He nagged.

Wonwoo watched as Jun wet the cotton balls with the alcohol and started to dab the small cuts on Wonwoo’s knee — making him wince at the burn. 

Seeing Wonwoo’s reaction, Jun stopped for a moment and gave it a soft blow before continuing with a more gentle touch. “You know…” Jun began. “It’s okay to let people when you’re not doing okay. Otherwise, they won’t know you’re having a hard time and misunderstand.”

“I am having a hard time,” Wonwoo blurted out. 

Jun stopped blowing and looked at Wonwoo surprised. He didn’t expect Wonwoo to say something right away. “You are?”

Wonwoo nodded as he continued to stare directly at Jun. “Because of you.”

Jun froze in place at those three words and barely managed to ask why, gulping after as he felt his whole body start to tremble in fear.

“Do...do you hate me?”

Jun was aghast. That was not what he was expecting at all. “O-of course not. Why would you think that?”

Wonwoo shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s just sometimes I feel like you’re opening up to me and sometimes you act as if I don’t exist. On some days you help me move heavy equipment around, and on other days you act as if I’m invisible or even like an ex that you’re trying to avoid at all costs.”

Jun felt a pinch of guilt. He hadn’t realized how his actions and seesaw of emotions came off that way where Wonwoo would misunderstand like that. Jun didn’t mean for things to turn out this way, but they did.

Because it’s hard to not love you…

With wistful eyes, Jun feigned a smile. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. I’m sorry you felt that way…”

“So you don’t hate spending time with me?” 

“No!” Jun shouted a little too quickly and firmly. Ripping open a bandaid and carefully plastered it onto the biggest wound, he cleared his throat before continuing. “I don’t,” he said as he gave Wonwoo a reassuring gentle smile.

Wonwoo mirrored Jun’s smile, looking down shyly, which made Jun’s smile grow even more. There was that smile he loved so much. He just hoped that there would be many more, especially since he felt like he may be spending a little too much time with Wonwoo to fate’s liking. Jun hoped with all his might that sweet tender moments like these wouldn’t make fate shorten Wonwoo’s life span faster.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

That night, the crew decided to start a campfire after dinner to celebrate the nearing end of filming and everyone gathered around it while sipping cans of beer. Jihoon had pulled Wonwoo aside briefly and apologized for what happened, and everybody else was happily sharing their crazy dumb freshman year stories. For once, Jun felt at ease and that everything was perfectly normal. That everyone was going to be okay.

When Wonwoo returned to the group with Jihoon, one of the second lead actors handed Wonwoo a cold one. “Here, take this.”

“Oh, thank you Soonyoung but I don’t drink.” He rejected politely, as he tried to hand it back. 

“Cmon’ Wonwoo! Relax a little and at least take a few sips.” The stylist shouted. Others chimed in as well, rooting for Wonwoo to take a drink.

Jun sat there silently, still trying to not get too involved with Wonwoo unless necessary.

Succumbing to peer pressure, Wonwoo cracked it open and took one big gulp which made his face scrunch up from the strong bitter taste of alcohol. After earning a few cheers and hoots, he sat down next to Jihoon and across from Jun. 

A game of truth or dare started and Soonyoung had to drink while doing a handstand, the stylist revealed that she felt abs under Jun’s shirt once while helping him adjust his clothes, and Jihoon was dared to do aegyo while looking like he hated his life.

When it got to Wonwoo, he wasn’t looking so hot. He was slightly slumped over and didn’t respond when he was asked “truth” or “dare.”

Right as Jihoon gave Wonwoo a small pat on the shoulder, Wonwoo suddenly shot up and looked straight at Jun.

“Wen Junhwayy,” Wonwoo slurred, with his face clearly red.

Everybody turned to look at Jun, who was just as shocked as them. “Y-yes?”

“I...I like you.” 

At those few words that he had been waiting for three lifetimes to hear, Jun’s heart raced tenfold — both out of excitement and fear that this confession would be what will lead to Wonwoo’s demise. 

Before he even had time to react or respond, the lead actress bursted out laughing. “Oh my god, no way! Was that a drunk confession? How embarrassing!!”

Everyone else started to snicker too, but Wonwoo didn’t care about everyone else. His eyes were glued on Jun and Jun only.

Well, Jun didn’t know what to do and just awkwardly chuckled softly. Once he did, he regretted it instantly when he saw the look on Wonwoo’s face. It was the look of betrayal, something that held so much more hurt and pain behind his eyes compared to what Jun had seen in the past.

Not wanting to stay there any longer, Wonwoo walked away while stumbling slightly.

Jun had a strong urge to chase after him, to embrace him tightly and tell him that he was sorry and that he didn’t mean it. He wanted to tell him that he didn’t like him, but that he loved him. Jun wanted him to know that Wonwoo has and always will be his safe place, the place he yearned to call home. Wonwoo was the wind that kept the pinwheel in Jun’s heart spinning, the one that keeps him going through the dark time until the break of dawn. He wanted to tell him all that, but it wasn’t that simple. His brain yelled at him to stay put and let Wonwoo be. Having Wonwoo hate him forever was better than having Wonwoo die early. 

And so Jun stayed sitting there in the circle with his friends silently and somberly. Before it got to his turn for the game, he told everyone that he wasn’t feeling so well and headed back to the living quarters early.

»»——⌛⌛——««   

Even with alcohol in his system, Jun still had a hard time falling asleep. He tossed and turned, not being able to get rid of the image of Wonwoo’s dejected face and pained eyes at the campfire. 

“He should be fine. He should be fine Wen Junhui.” He repeated to himself, as he gently slapped both his cheeks to get a hold of it. Jun closed his eyes once more, but that only made his brain go even more wild as pessimistic and paranoid thoughts of how Wonwoo was doing filled his mind.

Feeling uneasy, his eyes flashed open and he pushed himself off the bed before grabbing his jacket and heading outside into the cold of night. As he shuffled towards Wonwoo’s room, he slipped his arms into the jacket and stuffed his hands in its pockets.

He was surprised to see that people were still walking about, even though it was probably already 2am. Passing by the parking lot, he spotted Soonyoung getting into a car.

Soonyoung spotted Jun first and waved him over. “Junnie! I thought you went to bed? What are you doing up? Are you feeling better?”

“Huh? Oh, uh yeah. I’m feeling a little better now.”

Soonyoung smiled feeling relieved. “That’s good to hear. Say, do you want to go on a late-night market run with me and Jihoon?”

Jihoon?

Jun peeked into the car and sure enough, Jihoon was sitting on the passenger seat while trying to pull his cap down in an attempt to hide his face.

Getting a hint that Jihoon probably wanted to spend some alone time with Soonyoung, Jun kindly rejected his offer. He had someone to see anyways.

“Maybe next time~. You two go ahead. Also, is Wonwoo in the room?”

Jun remembered that Soonyoung and Wonwoo were assigned roommates. 

“Wonwoo? Oh no, I haven’t seen him since the campfire. Maybe he just took a walk or is somewhere trying to sober up?” Soonyoung pouted and looked down in shame. “I feel bad for making him drink…”

Jun patted his shoulder in reassurance. “It’s okay, it wasn’t you who pressured him into doing it first.”

“Yeah, but still...I should’ve helped him out. I was being ignorant...Find him for me and let him know that I’m sorry?” 

Jun nodded, giving the boy a squeeze on the shoulder. “Will do.”

Soonyoung was all smiles again and ran into the driver’s seat to not keep Jihoon waiting any longer. 

Jun waved as they drove off and then realized that something was off. They rented two cars for this trip and Soonyoung just took one, but where was the other one? The worst possible scenario flashed in Jun’s mind, but he shook it off quickly. He probably was just being paranoid. There was no way that Wonwoo would’ve taken the car and drove especially while being intoxicated.

He wouldn’t….Right?

Every hair on his body was telling him to relax and to just go back to sleep and that he would see Wonwoo tomorrow morning. He was going to follow through and do that, but something that Soonyoung said stuck with him. “I was ignorant.”

In each lifetime, there was a pattern of some type of ignorance with regret following after when it was too late. Is this me being ignorant? 

He looked at the asphalt and noticed that the tire tracks of the missing car went the opposite direction of the market. Knowing Wonwoo, he probably was heading towards the place where they stopped to look at the ocean.

With not another moment to waste, Jun took off and started running towards the road thinking that Wonwoo probably wouldn’t have made it that far in the state he was in. He ran and ran — as fast as his legs could carry him. He was a fool . Jun felt like a fool that was swimming outdoors in the winter, a fool that left the stove on in the house, and a fool that left something...something important.

The universe was trying its best to prevent Jun from being able to save Wonwoo, but Jun looked fate dead in the eyes and said “fuck you.”

Everybody dies at one point in their lifetime — humans are like ticking bombs after all...However, a lifetime without you? I wouldn't be able to bear it.  

After running down the dimly lit road for a good ten minutes and seeing nothing, Jun stopped to catch his breath. As he breathed heavily and looked around, he hoped with all his might that he would be able to find Wonwoo soon. Jun remembered while driving up the mountain that the curvy roads start about 20 minutes away from the campsite. The thought of Wonwoo driving off the mountain was much worse than anything else.

Having rested for a few minutes, Jun began to run again with every ounce of energy he had left. That’s when he spotted it. He could’ve easily missed it, but a little rabbit hopped on the road towards the crashed car. At first, Jun stood frozen and just saw how the hood of the car was badly damaged as it had collided against a tree. Only one of the headlights remained intact and it flickered weakly. Wishing it was all a nightmare that he would wake up after, Jun used the remaining strength he had in his legs to move closer.

As he did so, he dared to peer through the window and found Wonwoo unconscious with blood dripping down his head. Jun threw his hand over his mouth in horror as he quickly pulled on the handle — which thankfully was unlocked due to Wonwoo’s carelessness and the old model of the car. Swinging open the door, Jun hurriedly reached in and took off Wonwoo’s seatbelt, catching him as he fell once it got released. 

Collapsing on the ground, he cradled Wonwoo in his arms — resting his head on his lap. Immediately his eyes started shedding tears like the start of a rainstorm. His lips quivered as he stroked Wonwoo’s bloodstained cheek with shaky hands. Following the storm came the thunder as Jun began bawling, holding onto his loved one ever so preciously as he yelled out in anger at the world before breaking into sobs. He paused in between sobs when he suddenly remembered something crucial.

W-wait...Phone, my phone!

In a rush, he reached into his pocket and took out his phone before dialing 119. Thankfully, despite the lack of signal, the call went through since it was an emergency call. Jun frantically gave them the details of their whereabouts and desperately begged them to hurry as he suddenly noticed a large gash on Wonwoo’s side where he was bleeding excessively. 

“We’ll try our best Sir, but the roads near us are under construction right now. He begged for them to hurry just in time before the call got dropped. Throwing off his jacket, he used it to apply pressure to the wound and he wept.

When it comes to you, I'm willing to die not only once, nor twice, thrice — no, again and again in place of you. Please, oh cruel fate, take me instead. Let him live please...Please.

Jun wasn’t sure if it was a hallucination that came about due to the state of mind he was in, but something glowing appeared before him as if on cue. Two hourglasses appeared with both his and Wonwoo’s name written on a small plaque in front of it, with Wonwoo’s running out of sand quickly. He felt this heavy sense of darkness as he heard a chilling voice that whispered, “ Switch places and he shall live.”

Jun reached out and poked his hourglass, retracting his hand immediately when his skin made contact with the cold glass. They were real. He looked at Wonwoo one more time, caressing his cheek before planting a long kiss on his forehead. Wonwoo had been bleeding profusely too long already and it didn’t seem like the ambulance was coming any time soon. Thinking back to the previous deaths, Jun was at least thankful that this time he got to see Wonwoo one last time before saying goodbye. He knew what he had to do.

“I love you,” he whispered as he released his hold on Wonwoo.

»»——⌛——««   

A few hours had passed and it felt like a lifetime — or moreso a loss of a lifetime? Wonwoo's eyes fluttered open and he was greeted by a blinding bright light.

Am I alive?

The last thing he could remember was sobbing as he drove away from the campsite, just wanting so badly to get away from that night. He also remembered seeing a rabbit on the road and swerving to avoid it. The throbbing pain in his head and neck reminded him that there was an impact and how he felt raindrops on his face as he slowly lost consciousness as his ears rang. It felt like he was forgetting something important, but what?

Slowly coming to, Wonwoo realized that they put a neck brace on him. Even though it was difficult to move, he carefully turned his head to the side and saw a lonely all-too-familiar black jacket covered in blood that was laying on a chair at the corner of the room. As soon as his eyes fell on it, one word, one name escaped his mouth softly in the most heartbreaking way.

"Jun..." He breathed.

He was there.

Even though it pained him to speak, both physically and emotionally, he kept on calling out his name over and over — weakly but surely. Mournful tears began to stream down his face as he remembered what he had forgotten. During the surgery, he had three dreams of Jun in different time periods. They were only dreams, but something inside told him it was more than that. Wonwoo felt it in his bones that every moment of that was real. 

He also felt that something was terribly wrong, that something in this life didn't go the way it should've. That it was his turn to say goodbye, but there he was... still alive . Wonwoo had a bad feeling that he knew why.

He reached out his hand slowly towards where the jacket was and in a blink of an eye someone rushed in upon seeing that he was awake. 

“Doctor! He’s conscious now.” The nurse shouted. 

Wonwoo turned to the nurse and pointed at the jacket. “Where did you guys find that?”

The nurse turned to look and said, “Oh, we found it tied around your wound. We had to remove it to perform the surgery.”

“Oh…” Wonwoo closed his eyes, crestfallen. He wished that this lifetime could be over already so he could see Jun again. Next time, he’ll make sure to remember him first. Another time…

“Wonwoo.” 

Wonwoo flinched at the sound of that familiar voice. He must miss him so much that he’s hearing things. However, Wonwoo wasn’t going to fall for that.

“Wonwoo. It’s me.”

He felt a warm hand slip into his and his eyes flashed open. Wonwoo’s mouth was left agape when he saw who was kneeling beside him. He reached out with his other hand and touched the man’s face, just like he did during his second life, to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming a dream that he never wanted to wake up from.

“Yeah, it’s really me.” Jun chuckled, as he pressed his lips against Wonwoo’s hand that was still tracing his facial features.

Wonwoo broke into a smile and his tears of grief became tears of relief and happiness. “I-I thought you did something incredibly stupid.”

Jun reached out and wiped away Wonwoo’s tears, even though he himself started to tear up too. “I can’t say that I didn’t...”

Back to what happened a few hours ago…

“I love you,” Jun whispered as he released his hold on Wonwoo. He wasn’t sure if this was going to work, but he definitely was not going to just let fate have its way. Especially not when he had an advantage this time of remembering their past lifetimes.

Not again, not this time. This was another time.

He staggeringly stood up and grabbed a large fallen branch. “Neither Wonwoo nor I will be the ones saying goodbye. It’ll be this vicious cycle of hell you keep putting us through.” With that, he swung hard and hit both hourglasses at the same time. They were shattered now, and the sands from both mixed together. 

Back to the present…

“So after I shattered them, they vanished into thin air and a truck driver came driving down the mountain. I don’t know if that was a coincidence or not, but he gave us a lift and we were able to get you to the hospital on time.” Jun finished.

Wonwoo couldn’t stop smiling despite how insane that sounded. “I always loved the way you told stories. Though I do like you better with shorter hair.” 

Jun’s eyes widened in shock. “Y-you remember? For how long have you??”

“Just now, during the surgery. You’ve known this whole time haven’t you? All alone, you’ve known…”

Jun chuckled softly. “Yeah...Since the day we saw each other at the museum. Speaking of, the painting turned out pretty nice. Though, I’ll say that you could’ve gotten my nose bridge a little better. That’s my pride and joy.”

Wonwoo gave Jun’s hand a little slap. “Hey! I painted that out of visualizing what I touched!”

Jun laughed out loud. “I’m just joking~! Just glad that you did think that I was that handsome back then. Also, now you can look and touch~.” He said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“Stop it, you! You’re really not holding back now that we have nothing to worry about now, aren’t you? Besides, what in the world was that poem that you left me in Goryeo?” Wonwoo asked, chuckling.

“What are you talking about? It was beautiful! I bet you even cried after reading it.” Jun retorted. 

Wonwoo frowned, pouting as he thought about the amount of times he had his servants repeat it. “It’s annoying how much you know me.”

“And now, we have even more time to get to know each other.” Jun held Wonwoo’s face in his hands and looked straight into his eyes. With sparkling eyes, he said “Now we can grow old together. We can do everything we always wanted and dreamed for our future to be. There’s nothing holding us back now.”

Wonwoo grinned as Jun pulled him in for a long-awaited sweet kiss that sent him to the heavens. They finally had a place to call home and home was just as warm and sweet as they have hoped for and more.

»»——⌛——««   

A few weeks later, when Wonwoo was discharged and was allowed to remove his neck brace, the two went to visit the art museum again— this time hand in hand.

They stood in front of Wonwoo's painting and Jun smiled fondly, now knowing why the portrait held so much meaning to him. 

"It's beautiful, Wonwoo. I love it." He said, looking at him endearingly.

Wonwoo was surprised to hear those words. "Wow, really?"

Jun nodded, grinning as he looked closely to examine how much effort was put into each stroke.

"Honestly, back then, I imagined that your first response would've be something like 'It's nice, but I'm more handsome than that right?'" Wonwoo said, chuckling.

Jun snorted, playfully gently tapping Wonwoo's head. "Did you forget already? I told you at the hospital that my nose bridge could've been painted better."

Rolling his eyes, Wonwoo smiled and stuck his hand into the pocket of his coat before pulling it out and unraveling it. "Speaking of the past..."

Jun's eyes enlarged when he saw what was in his hand. "Is that..."

Wonwoo nodded as he helped slip the dog tag over Jun's head. This symbol of heroic sacrifice and love, finally, it had returned to its rightful owner. 

Jun looked down at it as he carefully traced his engraved name in reminisce. "But how...? How do you have this?"

"Well, first of all, you suck for dying without my permission like that."

"I could say the same for you, for the first life."

"I was careless back then, okay? Anyways, your little plan worked and the Chinese soldiers took me in after I showed them your military dog tag and pretended to be you. They were taking me back to base when I luckily ran into a few comrades that managed to recognize me underneath the disguise and rescued me." Wonwoo reached out and touched the dog tag with a wistful look on his face. "I knew they would take this away from me if they found it on me, so I buried it in the forest. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to find it, as it's been over a hundred years and someone could've stumbled upon it. But last weekend, despite it being a needle in a haystack, I went to look for the knife mark I made on the bark of a tree. Luckily, there it was, still buried.”

Jun was touched by Wonwoo’s dedication and immense effort to dig up something from the past that held so much sentiment. “Wow, I feel so spoiled to receive these two amazing gifts from you.”

Wonwoo playfully hit his arm. “Yeah, so where’s my gift?” 

Jun looked at him with a coy smile. “My gift for you was helping us defeat fate and getting to grow old together.”

Feeling flustered from hearing such a sweet sentiment in public, Wonwoo decided to tease him a bit more. “Well, while that may be great and all...It would be nice to have a physical gift.” Seeing Jun open his mouth to refute, Wonwoo quickly added, “And don’t say that the gift is you!”

Jun pouted. “Fine. Well for your information, I did get you something.” He said as he pulled out something from his own pocket.

“Is that an amethyst? From your poem?” Wonwoo asked, trying his best not to chuckle at how adorable Jun looked at that moment.

“Yeah…”

Wonwoo took it from him and examined it all over. “Hmm...This doesn’t seem to be the real stone. Wait, isn’t this like 12,000 Won at the gift shop?”

Jun swiped it back from him, feeling embarrassed and sulky that he got caught. “Hey, maybe gift-giving isn’t just my love language.”

“Oh certainly not,” Wonwoo said while laughing, bringing music to Jun’s ears despite the fact that he was getting teased. “But, words of affirmation is your love language.” Wonwoo a hand over his heart as he used the other to reach out to Jun in a dramatic manner. “May you continue to shine as bright as the sun~.” He recited, mocking Jun.

“Hey if you’re going to keep bringing that up, I’m going to tell everyone about your drunk confession.” Jun warned.

Wonwoo’s shoulders slumped, a pout forming on his mouth. “Please don’t do that. That was embarrassing.” 

Jun was truly enamored by the man standing before him as he couldn’t help but kiss that pout away, making the other blush pink.

“It’s okay. Now we can make many more embarrassing memories together.”

Wonwoo shyly took Jun’s hand in his, intertwining their fingers together — no longer caring that others might see them. “To many more happy lifetimes.”

Jun gave Wonwoo’s hand a tight squeeze. “To many more.”