Chapter Text
A sigh escaped Hongjoong's lips.
The same routine, day in and day out.
The small boy pondered while waiting for more customers behind the counter.
It wasn't that the city, his home, or his job were terrible. Quite the opposite. He lived in a beautiful area in a spacious apartment that was honestly a bit too large for a single person.
His job was comfortable; he owned the cozy café shop and could start or leave work whenever he pleased.
During his break, he sat at a table next to the counter, reserved only for him, continued to produce his music, and indulged in the delicious pastries he sold.
If only Hongjoong didn't carry all those painful memories, he could have a perfect life.
Enough money, a job he enjoyed, and...
Perhaps he could have friends. Be closer with his employees and maybe he could experience the luxury of living with the person he loves.
But he couldn't. He tried. He tried it in several lifetimes already.
In his first life, thousands of years ago, he found happiness as the son of a wealthy senator in Pompeii. Hongjoong was fortunate to be born into high ranks and to be spared the worries of starvation or servitude to other affluent families as a slave. He was surrounded by a lot of friends and married into another wealthy family.
They didn't marry because they loved each other but they were best friends and their families business partners.
However, Hongjoong's luck was short-lived, extinguished by a volcanic eruption that obliterated the entire city. But at least there was some kind of actual happiness. A kind he never experienced again.
Born again a hundred years later, memories flooded back into him. Back then, he didn't understand what those sudden pictures in his head meant. Why did he see a strange man, who was running around an unknown area, wearing a toga inside his head? Why did he feel connected with him?
Even in his third reincarnation, when he broke down because of another wave of memories, he couldn't tell what it was. Perhaps he was going crazy or seriously ill.
His third life wasn't as fortunate and was probably his shortest. A life of poverty, living on the streets without food or family.
His fourth life started better. Born into a financially stable family, he found friends, fell in love and lived his life. Calling himself happy and carefree like in his first life would have been a lie, but he still enjoyed his life until Japanese soldiers invaded his small town, taking everything from him. He became the sole survivor among his friends and family, enduring imprisonment and torture until his death.
It was in his fifth life that he realized what was happening to him. There he was, back in Pompeii once again. Not because he lived there. No one was able to live there anymore after the disaster a thousand years ago. Humans didn't even know the city existed during all those years.
Now, alongside other archaeologists, he excavated the city where he was born in his first life.
"Am I the only one who remembers? Are there other people like me?" He wondered but never received an answer until his eighth life.
By that time, Hongjoong had already served in several wars, witnessing death and terror. He lost enough people he loved and cared about.
With new rules he made for himself, he started his eighth life.
No friends, no love, no significant relationships at all.
There was only one person he let near him—another like him, the first he had encountered.
Another person remembered all of her previous lifetimes. A person he already knew too well.
"It's a curse." She said. "We got cursed on our wedding day", the girl next to him explained.
They sat together like they did thousand years ago at the hot streets of Pompeii.
"You remember the poor slave family who lived near the forest?" She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
Hongjoong frowned but nodded, a faint memory ringing in his head.
"I had a conflict with her the night before our wedding." The girl took a deep breath.
"She cursed us and all our descendants, so we will never forget our atrocities in that lifetime. I thought she was just a crazy old lady. But then in my second life, all those memories came back, and I knew she told the truth. Fortunately, Pompeii was destroyed before we started a family. So we are the only ones cursed." She sighed and shook her head.
"I'm sorry. I was an awful person back then. I deserved that curse. But not you. You've been nothing but kind." Nervously fumbling with her fingers, she continued, avoiding eye contact.
"The curse will end after our ninth life."
"Why after our ninth life?" Hongjoong asked.
"Because after our ninth, our souls will die together with our bodies. A faded soul can't be cursed anymore, right?"
Hongjoong's last thoughts in this 8th lifetime were, "One last time. Let's find peace afterward."
Now in his ninth life, he wasn't sad about dying in the future; the boy was actually happy to forget everything – the haunting images in his head and the deaths of loved ones he had mourned over.
Finally, it would all be gone.
"Hello!" Hongjoong was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts, startled by a tall boy with bright pink hair and a big smile on his lips. He was more than just beautiful; he could belong in an art museum.
Hongjoong shook his head when he realized what he was thinking.
"Good morning, what can I get for you?" he asked with the work smile he had mastered over the years of working with customers.
"A strawberry milkshake, please. With whipped cream," the boy requested.
Hongjoong simply nodded, entering the order into his register.
"Oh, do you perhaps have sprinkles?" the other quickly added.
"Sure. Chocolate or sugar sprinkles?"
The boy bit his lip and tilted his head.
"Hwa, just add both, or we're going to stand here for hours", a familar voice behind him said. "Sorry, Hyung, he can't decide for shit," the black haired boy behind the tall guy smiled apologising.
"Wooyoung, let me think, please." The boy turned back towards Hongjoong. "Please add both!"
The barista chuckled his eyes sparkling amused, "Alright. Takeout, or do you want to drink it here? Or is that another hard decision?"
The boy in front of him laughed now as well. "I'll drink it here"
Hongjoong nodded with a grin. "That would be 7000 Won. I'll bring your order to your table as soon as it's ready."
The pink-haired boy took out his wallet and gave the barista the money. "Thank you!" He said before going back to a table where some other guys sat.
Hongjoong had never seen that guy at his café before, a handsome face like his would have stayed stuck in Hongjoong's mind for sure, and he knew everyone, including Wooyoung and the other boys.
Wooyoung had worked at the café during his first university years. Hongjoong didn't form any serious relationships anymore, but he was still kind to his employees and paid them well. Probably better than any other café in korea. For the last university year, Wooyoung was able to concentrate on his assignments alone without worrying about money.
"Again lost in your thoughts?" Wooyoung snapped in front of Hongjoong's face.
"Sorry," he murmured."Let me guess, an iced Americano?"
Wooyoung nodded. "You know me too well, Hyung," he said with a smile after he paid.
☕️
"Here you go," Hongjoong said as soon as the milkshake and Americano were ready.
"Thanks," the pink-haired guy said with another big smile.
How was a person able to smile like that all the time?
Hongjoong asked himself. With another fake smile, he left the table and welcomed the next customer.
An hour passed, and the group of friends still sat at their table, laughing over the most trivial things and getting a bit too loud once or twice.
"Wooyoung..." Hongjoong called when his shrill laugh filled the whole room again.
"Sorry, I promise we'll try to be more quiet," the younger said after bowing his head apologising.
But Hongjoong knew that group. Those promises didn't mean anything, especially not if they came from Wooyoung.
When he looked at the group, he noticed that the boy with pink hair was looking straight at him.
"Do I have something on my face?"
he thought, quickly turning around to clean some cups and glasses.
Definitely not to escape the sharp gaze of the handsome boy.