Work Text:
Summer, Ancient China
The Palace was filled with people preparing for the choosing of the crown prince's bride, and you were tasked with preparing the rooms for the guests coming to stay. Maids and Eunuchs rush around to get everything done before the important guests arrive because so much needs to be done and prepared before the choosing in two days.
Rushing around to change the bedsheets alone, you didn’t notice another presence enter the chambers. Walking up to you, the presence wraps his arms around your waist, and you try to squeal but a hand covers your mouth and you hear a whisper in your ear “It’s just me...” You turn around and there stands crown prince Minghao with a big smile on his face. “What are you doing here?!?! Someone could see you” you whisper yell. “Calm down, no one can see us because we are the only ones in here and the doors are all closed.” “That doesn’t help if someone walks in and sees us, plus I am working mister.” you bop his nose and go back to work on putting the sheets on the bed. "This was the only time I could sneak away to see you before our guests get here...” He goes to help you, but you shoo him away saying “If someone catches you helping me, I could get in trouble and most likely fired.”
Once you finished making the bed you go to turn to face him again, but he is already there and pulls you in by the waist and pecks you softly on the lips. “Wanted to do that before I leave to do my duties for the day... Remember to meet me in the courtyard in 2 days and we will leave the palace together, okay?” “Okay, I trust you. I love you.” “I love you too.” He pecks you a few more times and then leaves, and you watch his retreating figure disappear behind those double doors. What you both don’t know is a person heard your whole conversation and quickly ran when they heard footsteps approaching. Going straight to the Emperor and the Empress and they come up with a plan...
A day later you walk into the maid chambers, and you see Minghaos Eunuch and best friend Junhui waiting for you. He pulls you into an empty corridor and shows you on a map of the palace a shortcut on how to get to the courtyard. Junhui is the only person who knows about you and Minghao and is willing to help you get out. “Meet him at the hour of the dog.” “Okay, thank you truly, Jun.” you hug him for a few seconds and then pull away. "I do hope to see you again one day, Jun" "You will" You smile at him and turn to walk back into the maid's chambers.
The morning of the day you escape finally comes and you go on with your daily duties, but you notice that the palace is unusually quiet for the type of event that is to be held tomorrow. Without giving it another thought, you carry on with your daily duties.
The hour of the dog finally comes, and you make sure everyone is asleep before quietly gathering your things and sneaking out to meet Minghao in the courtyard. Taking the shortcuts Jun showed you, you show up at the courtyard in no time and you see Minghao already there waiting there with his things. Making sure it's all clear you come out of your hiding spot and approach Minghao. When he hears your footsteps, he turns to you and starts to walk toward you. When in front of you he grabs your hand and says “Come on before someone notices we are missing.” You both start to go towards the exit and suddenly two guards come out from it and stand there blocking the exit. You both stop in your tracks and then more pop out making you both surrounded with no way out. Suddenly you hear a booming voice from behind you “You really think that you can be sneaky and escape without us knowing, son? And with a maid of all people?” You both turn around and see both the Empress and Emperor with hands crossed across their chests. Minghao stands in front of you with a hard expression “This ‘maid’ is my girlfriend and I love her. I can’t fit the standards you have for me, and I never will.” He says through gritted teeth and then grabs your hand again and makes a run for it towards the east wall that leads to the woods. Pushing past the guards out of the way, you both suddenly hear a scream “KILL HER AND BRING MY SON BACK TO ME!!”
Making it to the wall, he hoists you up onto it and you reach back down to help him up. Once you're both on the wall you both drop-down and make a break for the woods. The guards slowly gain on you both, you weave through the trees as the guards start to fire arrows at you both. One manages to skim your arm and you hiss at the pain that shoots around the wound. After gaining a head start you stop at a tree trunk to catch a breather and you both crouch down. Minghao inspects the wound on your arm and hisses. You look at your wound and see black lines starting to sprout around the wound. “Poisoned arrows” he hisses. You look at him with tears in your eyes and whisper “What...?”
Hearing a twig snap you both turn your heads to the noise and realise you both have run out of time because you see a guard pointing his bow at you. Closing your eyes, you wait for the impact and the pain, but it never comes because you hear a cry of pain. Opening your eyes, you see Minghao with the arrow meant for you sticking out of his middle stomach. Eyes widening you prepare to catch him as you see him swaying and catch him. Looking back up you see that the guard is no longer there. Looking back down your vision is getting kind of blurry and you realise that the poison is starting to kick in. You hear fast and airy breaths coming from Minghao and you realise how much blood he has lost mixed in with the poison currently fastly spreading through his bloodstream.
You hold him as his breathing starts to get faster and you realise that you will lose him here you start to sob. “R…Remember that I-I love you a-and I will f-find y-you in our n-next l-life okay...?” he says, reaching up with bloody hands to wipe your tears. “O-Okay, I l-love you too. I’ll n-never s-stop looking for y-you, okay? That’s a p-promise.” He smiles as he takes his last breath. Vision going blurry again, and not from the tears but from the poison coursing through your blood. Slowly you slump over, letting the poison take you as well.
Present day, Seoul
Jolting up into a sitting position on your bed and breathing heavily, you put one of your hands on your chest and run the other through your hair as you try and regulate your breathing. Once you're breathing back to normal you look out of your apartment window, and you see that it is already morning. Thinking back to the dream you had, you feel as if you recognise it. Thinking back, you realise it matches a story you were told when you were little about two lovers who were forbidden to have each other, leading to their deaths but your dream had more detail. You brush it off for now and you get up and get ready for the day ahead. Today was a day with no classes so you and your friends decided to go out clubbing tonight, which you are starting to dread going with the night's sleep you had.
Trying to put yourself together to meet your two besties at a bar you all haven't been to yet called Fallin’ Flower, you dress in a revealing black pantsuit paired with black wedge heels. Leaving and locking your door behind you, you make your way downstairs to the uber that is waiting for you. You are in the uber for 30 minutes before you make it to your destination.
Walking in, you look around to see if you can see your friends on the dance floor already. With no hope there you look at the tables and you finally see them in a corner booth. Yunjin is the first to notice you and gets up and hugs you. “Girl, you look like shit. Like you went through hell and back.” “I probably did with the dream I had last night” “Sit down and tell us about it” Chaewon replies. You sit down and down a shot of whatever was in the shot glass on the table and tell both of them what happened in your dream and your thoughts around it being like your childhood story. “Hmmm, I see. Y’know” Yunjin side glances at Chaewon and carries on “It almost sounds like reincarnation” you take the drink out of her hand and say “Right, you have had too much already.” “What?? I’m serious! With what you just said it sounds like reincarnation. It happens, you know. There have been a few cases of reincarnation before. It normally is when both parties remember a little of their past lives together.” “You know, Yunjin is kinda right?” says Chaewon. You sigh and take whatever drink is in front of you and take a sip “Whatever, I just want to take my mind off it. We came here for a good time, right? Let's have a good time then!”
Hours go by and you three have a great time, with you all just tipsy because you hardly drank and just gossiped. “Right ladies! Next round is on me!” you say as you turn to walk to the bar. “Wait! I’ll come with you,” says Yunjin as she comes up behind you. You both make it to the bar, and you order three cheap beers because you're all broke uni students. You didn’t look up to look at the bartender as you ordered, instead, you looked at all the different cocktail drinks they offer. “Here are your three beers. That would be $19.50 thanks.” You look up at the bartender because you thought that the voice seemed familiar. Your eyes widened as you saw the face that was haunting your dreams the very night before. When he looked at you you could see the remembrance in his eyes as they widened when he looked at you. During this interaction Yunjin was just standing to the side looking confusedly at the two, wondering how they knew each other.
He smiled a big wide smile and looked down at the bar he was kinda leaning on. “Come with me, I think we need to talk.” You just nodded dumbly and followed him, leaving Yunjin behind with the three beers and terribly confused. “Jun-hyung! I’m going on break!” “What? Right now?” The bartender indicated to you and ‘Jun-hyung’ looked at you and his eyes widened. “Right. Take as long as you need, okay?”
You follow the bartender to what looks like the staffroom. “Minghao…? Is that you…?” you whisper quietly as you stand near the doorway and he is on the other side of the room looking at you, smiling widely. “I told you I was going to find you, didn’t I?” he says as fresh tears run down his cheeks. All those feelings you had for him in another life come crashing back at once like a tidal wave and you can’t stop the sob that escapes you as the tears come running out of you. You run into his waiting arms and you both start sobbing together, both your knees buckle, and you both go kneeling to the floor, still in each other's arms. “After all these years I finally found you… I missed you so much, my love.” Minghao says, still crying and holding onto you. “I missed you too my prince, so so much <3” you reply, still holding onto him and crying. Suddenly Minghao pulls back and grabs your face and kisses you so passionately, and you kiss back almost immediately. The kiss was full of love and remembrance for the two.
“I’m never leaving you again, okay my love?”
Back at the bar, two women are wondering who the stranger that took their best friend was….