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Chapter Text

*Aesthetic of Wang So as a Slytherin*

Edited by Me :3

The first time Wang So met Hae Soo, he was sure she was the most annoying girl in the whole wide world. Yet, he was okay with that.

The door to the compartment opened as a petite dark-headed girl all decked out in her robes stood there. “Can I sit here? All the other compartments are full.”

“We’re—“ So begins.

“Sure! Go right ahead!” Eun answers with a wide grin as he hops from his seat across from his elder brother to sit next to him. So could only grumble at the annoyance of having less personal space now that his little brother was next to him.

The girl smiles as she takes a seat right across from the boys. “I’m Hae Soo. What are your names?”

“Wang Eun!”  Eun eagerly pipes up.

So remains quiet as Eun answers for him. “This is my big brother, So-hyung over here.”

“Wang So,” So corrects as he eyes Soo to make sure she had heard him.

Soo didn’t give any notice to Eun, as she stares at So. “Your face… there’s a scar…” she points in surprise.

So turns his head away from her as he raises a hand to cover the scar on his right face then coldly tells her. “Don’t look at it.”

“You’re the Boy Who Lived… Your father defeated—“ Soo lowers her voice to a hushed whisper. “—You-Know-Who.”

He didn’t reply a word to her.

Eun senses the awkward silence building up and holds up a chocolate frog in his hand as he sticks it in front of Soo’s face. “Chocolate frog?” he asks mainly to break the weirdness and change the subject from their father.

So turns his head around to see Eun who takes out more treats from a box next to him. “So-hyung bought out the whole trolley! We have tons of goodies so feel free to have some.”

Her nose crinkles as she shakes her head and pushes his hand down. “No thanks. My parents are dentists. I do not want cavities.”

“Dentists?” Eun echoes.

“It’s a muggle profession,” So explains to Eun.  

“But why would they want to work as dentists?”  Eun asks.

“Because my parents are muggles,” Soo explains matter-of-factly.

The confused expression on Eun’s face seemed to grow from a Level One to a Level Five. He turned to his older brother. “So-hyung… Hogwarts is for wizards, right? Not muggles?”

“Idiot,” So mutters under his breath.

Soo chuckles. “I am a wizard, if that is what you are wondering.” She takes out her wand as she points it at Eun. “You have some chocolate on your nose by the way,” she points out as she flicks her wrist slightly to cast a spell. Immediately, the smudge of chocolate disappears from Eun’s nose and he wipes his nose in amazement.

“A mudblood, then,” So states. The word sort of slipped out and before he could even apologize, Soo turns to look at him.

“I prefer to not use that term,” Soo answers coldly. “Being muggle-born does not make me any less of a wizard than the two of you.”

Reacting quickly, Eun elbows So and chuckles nervously. “My brother didn’t mean that! Right, So-hyung?”

So is silent as he attempts to mumble an apology but Soo was already standing up. “We’ll be arriving soon. The two of you better change into your robes quickly. I’ll be visiting the bathroom.”

As the two boys watch Soo exit the compartment car, So could tell that he already messed up big time.

Despite his earlier remarks that may or may not have cost him some friend points with the girl, when Soo returned from the bathroom, she seemed to be in a cheerier mood as she sat down again in her seat. Her nod of approval came as she saw that the two boys had listened to her suggestion to change into their robes. Seeing her, he notices how proper Soo carries herself in the way she sits and talks. Even her ebony hair falls with grace each time she turns or moves. So was sure that she was the prettiest and smartest girl on this train. Just like he was sure that Eun was the most obnoxious person abroad on this train. 

“So your parents are muggles… is it supposed to be genetic? Or did your parents mess up it up?” Eun asks as he inspects close to Soo’s face.

“Yes and No, honestly that’s how it is.” Soo remarks as she edges away from Eun. “But if you try to put your face near mine, I will turn your hand into putty.”

So smirks as Eun’s face turned into a look of terror. “Don’t mind my little brother. He wasn’t born with social skills.”

Eun scowls and sits back in his seat with another chocolate frog in hand.

“So you two are brothers?” Soo asks as she points at the two boys. 

“Yes, but we are not the only two siblings here. We were a children of nine, eight sons and one daughter.” So responds.

“Oh, I see… so are you the eldest or second youngest among the siblings?” Soo asked again curiously as Eun barged in to answer instead of So.

“So-hyung is the third eldest brother among the siblings. He was supposed to go to Hogwarts three years ago with my four older brothers then two years with my sister and two younger brothers. But he had some issues that are very, very troublesome in the family. And as for me, I also was supposed to join in with my sister and younger brothers two years ago, but I would rather wait for my big brother, So to go with me.” Eun smiled optimistically.

Soo nodded with understanding then stares at So who averts his eyes away from her and is silent for a moment.

 A small whimper sounds from his bag as his grey wolf cub, Nuri, pops out of the bag and crawls down to the seats before hopping up, settling on top of Soo’s lap. Nuri lowers its head as it finds comfort on the girl’s lap.

“Nuri likes you,” So comments, although he could feel a teensy bit of jealously forming in his chest. He tries to shake it off as it is ridiculous to be jealous of your own pet wolf. 

Soo smiles but glances worriedly at the bag on her left. “Um, except I don’t think he’ll think too kindly of Min.”

“Min?” So echoes. Immediately, out of the corner of his eye, he notices something wiggling in Soo’s bag. Nuri must have sensed it too because he growls at the bag and then quickly cowers back in fear as it crawls back up the wall and into So’s bag, although not before shooting So a dirty look, as if he was to be blamed for it. 

Soo chuckles as she takes out a small white kitten from her bag. “Min. My companion white cat.”

“Awwww,” was Eun’s first comment. “Better put that away before my wolf cub here eats that thing for lunch.”

Soo shoots Eun a dirty glare. “You keep your carnivore dog away from my Min.”

Eun quickly covers his wolf cub’s ears. “Don’t say that! He’ll hear you!”

It wasn’t long before the train arrives at Hogwarts and all of the wizards are shuffled into boats to get to the school. As they file down the Great Hall, So immediately notices his second older brother, Yo, sitting over at the Slytherin table along with his fifth brother, Won and his only sister, Yeonhwa. While on the other side, his fourth brother Wook, his seventh brother, Baek Ah and finally his eighth brother, Jung sitting over at the Ravenclaw table as his fourth brother, Wook smiles and waves but So looks straight ahead instead.

Soo nudges him from behind. “There’s someone looking at you,” she whispers.

“Ignore him,” So replies back.

“I can’t… he’s looking at me now,” Soo whispers back.

So turns back his head and sure enough, Wook was now focusing his attention on Soo. He shoots his brother a dirty look as he quickly pushes Soo forward in front of him.

He and the rest of the first years then crowd around the front as the Headmaster, Choi Ji-mong, smiles down at them with a twinkle in his eye. “Let the sorting begin!”

So watches as one by one, the other students get sorted into the houses. Soon, the line gets smaller and smaller until it was just his group left. Eun goes first and immediately, the sorting hat shouts out Gryffindor before even touching the dark hair on top of his little brother, Eun. Soo follows after and So is barely breathing as he holds his breath to see what house she gets. It seems to take the hat some time and from his guess, Soo was either going to be placed in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.

“Gryffindor!” the hat shouts. Applause is heard from the Gryffindor table as they now got two new students in a row.

Soo hops off the seat and walks over to her house table but not before giving So a small smile. Gryffindor. He has to get into Gryffindor.

With bold steps, he marches up to the seat and sits down. Choi Ji-mong places the sorting hat on him and immediately, the hat begins to speak to him.

“Hmmmm, what an interesting little mind you got there, Wang So,” the sorting hat snickers. Was it a snicker? Do hats snicker?

“Place me in Gryffindor!” So orders it.

“Gryffindor?! Well, I see… you do have some of the qualities fit for a Gryffindor. Hmmm, so you got a little crush, eh? On the previous girl? She was a difficult decision as well. But not so much as you. Hm… Gryffindor… Ravenclaw… or Slytherin?”

“Not Slytherin,” he grits his teeth.

“Oh? But you are one of the Wang Brothers, aren’t you? And like your family before you, they have all been placed in the prestigious Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Unlike your optimistic younger brother here, who had the most qualities for being a Gryffindor, Lucky him.”

“I don’t want to follow in my brothers’ shadows.”

“Yes, yes. I see… hm, let me see then. How about we place you in…” the hat mumbles. “SLYTHERIN!” it shouts out loud to the Great Hall.

The Slytherin house table whoops and yells loudly with applause as Choi Ji-mong removes the hat from So. The boy’s mouth drops open. “Traitorous hat,” he growls at the sorting hat.  

He sulks as he makes his way over to the Slytherin table to take his seat beside his siblings, Yo, Won and Yeonhwa. As he passes by Eun and Soo, he gives a silent yet sad stare.

He sulks in the dorms for the next three days. Nuri notices his master’s depression but instead of comforting him, Nuri rolls its beady eyes if that was possible and goes back to sleep as it covers back into its corner of the nightstand.

Yo and Won notices the moody attitude of their third brother and immediately guesses as to the reason of why. After all, it was strange for their brother to show any emotion beyond mildly displeased and annoyed. As a smile curls up on the two mischievous brothers’ faces, a plan slowly begins to hatch in the two prefects’ minds.

Despite not being placed in the same house, So still sees Soo quite often since they have every class together. It wasn’t hard to spot her from the sea of first year students. In Charms, he watches in amusement as Eun blows up a feather instead of levitating it and is in awe as Soo manages to float a feather all the way to the ceiling on her first try.

A knock comes at the door and the whole class looks up to see an older boy enter the classroom. “Sir, may we please borrow our brother for a moment?” 

“Ah, yes. Prefect Yo and Prefect Won, is it not? Go ahead, So, run along now. Class shall be ending shortly so gather your things as well,” Professor Young-gyu responds as he resumes to helping a student with the levitation lesson.

So grumbles but does so as he packs his books and things with him. He follows his two brothers out of the classroom but not before giving a fleeting glance at Soo, who in turns, gives him a curious gaze.

“What is it?” So asks abruptly as the three of them step out the door and into the hallway.

“That girl who sits next to you in class… she’s really beautiful, isn’t she?”

So turns to look at Yo with an incredulous gaze. “Why?” he asks, almost accusingly.  

Yo only gives a whimsical smile then faces Won with a nod as the fifth brother pulls out a small vial from his robes and said. “Wouldn’t it be great if she falls in love with you, dear brother?”

Immediately, So could see where this was heading. “Oh no you don’t!” he shouts as he tries to swipe the vial away but Won is quicker then throws it to Yo as he catches it and raises it up while dodging So’s catching hand. “Or what if she falls in love with our good looking brother, Wook instead?” Yo jests.

So halts in his steps as he annoyingly stares at his brothers. “What do you want?”

“Chore wheel,” Yo simply states. “You have to do your chores to the utmost perfection. No slacking, no half-attempts, nothing less of perfection.” 

To anyone, it would sound like an almost ridiculously request but given Yo’s utmost desire for perfection and order, it was understandable. So had been slacking when it came to doing his chores. It wasn’t hard to slack off given how Yo did end up cleaning up after his mistakes with almost no complaints. But obviously, the prefect had probably just been silently stewing the past three months until this moment. “Fine,” So grumbles as he holds out his hand. “Now hand it over. All of them. I know you made more than one.”

The next day, Soo had a slight bounce in her steps as she practically floats into Potions class. She drops her books on the desk besides So as she happily announces her good news. “Professor Sik-ryeom has agreed to take me on for extra lessons in Herbology.”

“What? But you’re only a first year! And why would you want more work?” Eun questions. The idea of doing extra work was beyond Eun’s imagination.

“Because, Herbology is fascinating. Many plants provide ingredients needed not only for potions but also medicine,” Soo states.

So rubs his chin. “So you will be spending your afternoons at the greenhouses?”

Eun frowns as he furrows his eyebrows. “But we were going to go ask the third years if they can help us buy chocolate frogs. I need to find all the cards and collect ‘em all!” he whines a little.

Soo shrugs. “You two boys will just have to go on without me. Get me a frog if you can, will you?”

Before So could reply, the door opens and the middle-aged male professor walks through the door, bringing in an ominous air about him. The kids in the class shudders in unison as they all have heard the rumors about the professor from the upper class students. So only grumbles because he was going to tell Soo that he would deliver her some chocolate frogs if she wanted.

After Potions class, Soo waves goodbye to them as she hurries to go see Professor Sik-ryeom about her schedule. Eun only grumbles besides So which only brings him to question why Eun was so upset.

“What?” So asks in annoyance as he watches Soo disappear around the corridor hall.

“Without a girl, how are we going to ask the third years to help us? You know they’ll only laugh at us!”

So rolls his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll ask Yo or Won.”

“Oh thank god!” Eun sighs in relief as he hugs So. “You’re the best big brother I could have ever hope for.”

“Get off me.”

Eun grins. “Hey. Ask him to get me some things from Zonko’s Joke Shop too.”

Asking his brother was a mistake. Yo only laughed in his face and then walked off. Fortunately, there were some nice third year girls he was able to convince to get him chocolate frogs in exchange for the Wang Brothers’ pictures (Mostly Yo, Wook, Baek  Ah, Jung and… himself). He had to dig through his luggage to find last year’s Christmas photo card but it was worth it as the girls came back with a big haul of chocolate frogs. Surprisingly, the girls also listened to Eun’s request of some prank items from Zonko’s as they handed him several sugar quills and frog spawn soaps. He didn’t want to guess what was in the other black bag that Eun had asked to remain shut.

As he sits in his room with the stash in front of him, he wonders what is the proper way to send them to Soo. If he sent her a bunch of chocolate frogs, surely Eun would be onto him and tease him for the rest of his life. He stares at the frog spawn soap. He wonders if it was wise to send such a thing to Soo. After all, she and her cat thing were definitely appalled at Eun and his brown wolf cub during the train ride. 

Putting the soap aside, he wraps up the chocolate frogs as he packages it and hands it to Nuri. “Deliver this for me, Nuri.”

Nuri sighs but opens up his mouth to reveal his sharp fangs as he bites down on the package and crawls away. But before he delivers the package of chocolate frogs, Nuri comes back discreetly and finds the frog spawn soap as he carries it to deliver it to his friend, Min, with an evil laugh in mind. The grey wolf cub leaves Soo’s room as he hears her shout angry words cursing at his master, So. 

Chapter Text

*Aesthetic of Hae Soo as a Gryffindor*

Edited by Me :3

A wolf cub whimpers with relaxation as he curls up on his seat by Wang So, his master. The grey wolf, Nuri, is a gentle and respectful creature and is silent as he rests his head down. With unblinking silver beady eyes, Nuri watches as his master drums his fingers against the desk in an absentminded impatience.

“You are sure she received the gifts, Nuri?” So asks as he glances at the door in slight anticipation. Nuri could only sigh in his mind as wolves would do as he raises his head and gives a curt nod as a reply.

As if on cue, the door bursts open as a young dark-haired girl comes barreling through with an angry expression on her face that could only be classified as either rage or annoyance or possibly both. “Wang So! What is the meaning of this?!” she shouts as she waves a package in her hands.

So smirks but seems glad to see her. “What’s what?” he asks in innocence as he bats not even an eye at her entrance.

She throws the package at the ground as it slides to his feet. He bends down to pick it up and sees that it is indeed the package that he had made Nuri deliver to Soo.

“I swear! If you sent me another one of those prank gifts that you and Eun always play around with… I’ll…I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” he taunts as he wags an eyebrow at her, clearly pleased by how riled up Soo was getting.

Soo narrows her eyes at him. “I’ll tell everyone that you have a bunch of love potions in your luggage!”

So’s eyes widens as he jumps up from his seat. “I do not!”

“Yes you do! I saw it when you went with Eun to buy chocolate frogs!”

“You went through my bags?!” he sputters out in shock.

“It wasn’t me! Nuri was the one that crawled out of your bag and was carrying a vial in his mouth!” Soo retorts.

So whips his head around as he glares at Nuri for betraying him. The wolf cub only whimpers in response as he turns his head away and hops off the table. So crosses his arms as he turns back to face Soo. “They’re not mine… they’re my brothers’…”

“Your brothers? You mean your three prefect brothers, Wang Yo, Won and Wook?” Soo scoffs. “Right, like I’ll believe that. There’s no way someone as wonderful and perfect as your perfectly “responsible” brothers would have silly little love potions lying around. Mostly Wook-hyung, he would never do such ridiculous pranks unlike you and Eun.”

“Yo and Won are not that perfect! Even Wook!” So retorts. “Yo and Won are evil,” he mutters underneath his breath as he stares at the ground. His three brothers were indeed the image of a perfect older brother, son, and student as prefect of Slytherin and Ravenclaw House. So imagine to his surprise when his own flesh and blood threatens to use a love potion against him just so he would do his chores at home. 

So felt angry just thinking about it. He knew he was slacking a bit at home with his duties at completing the chores on the chore wheel. He hated that stupid chore wheel. He was sure Yo and Won had jinxed the wheel so that it would always land on the worst chore possible when it came to So’s spin. But for them to threaten to use a love potion on Soo, that was a low blow. So’s stomach hurled just thinking about Soo falling for his fourth brother, Wook.

So’s eyes flicker back to Soo. He actually did her a favor. How mad would she be if she found out that she had a love potion casted on her to fall for his fourth brother? It certainly wasn’t him being jealous of his brother. So was just upholding his duty of protecting his good friend, Hae Soo, from the likes of his brothers.

“Yo and Won were going to use the potions on you! To mess with me by making you falling in love with Wook!” So sputters out as he points a finger at Soo.

Soo crosses her arms as she raises an eyebrow at him. She later drops her arms as she muses over the thought. “Really? They want to use a love potion on me?” she asks as her voice turns a bit sweeter and she blushes slightly. Her hands come up to her cheeks as she tries to fan herself from the heat that was emitting from beneath her rosy complexion. But she drops her arms again as she stares at So. “Why would that mess with you?” she asks, almost accusingly.

“B-because!” So sputters out. “They're evil!” was the only response he could think of. “They probably want you to fall in love with him so they can have an extra person to drive me up the wall.”

“Oh please. As if I would live with you still if I get married to him.”

So gapes at her. “What?! You can’t marry him!”

“Why not? Yo wants to cast a love potion on me for Wook. He doesn’t have to. I’ll willingly give him my heart to the most perfect guy in Hogwarts School.”

So grabs Soo by the shoulders. “You can’t be serious! Don’t say that! Wook doesn’t like you like I—” his voice stops as he realizes how he almost spilled his secret.

“Like you what?” Soo asks as she crosses her arms again.

“N-nothing! Just forget about my brother! He’s … he already has someone else!”

Soo sighs as her face turns to a sad expression. “You’re right. I’m no match for Wook-hyung. He deserves someone like the prefect from Hufflepuff, my cousin, Myung Hee.”

“Actually they’re already dating—-” So mutters but he stops when he sees Soo glare at him. “I mean, yeah, they deserve each other.”

“Well, let’s go. We have Transfiguration and then Flying class,” Soo says as she turns to walk out the door. So runs behind her as he smiles. “Flying class, eh?”

“Sir Park!” Soo raises her hand as she points at her broomstick. “Something is wrong with my broomstick. It won’t fly!”

Sir Park walks over as he crouches down and inspects the limp looking broomstick. “It looks like it’s broken. We’re going to have to get you a new one before you can fly.”

Soo begins to protest. “But I can’t miss out on today’s lesson! I’ll fall behind.”

He smiles. “Don’t worry. You’ll be up in the air today.” He turns and looks at the rest of the class, all lined up with their broomsticks in hand. “Wang So!” He barks. “Soo-ya will be joining you today on your broomstick.”

Soo gapes at Sir Park. “No! Anyone but him! Give me Soo Deok or even Jung!”

Sir Park raises an eyebrow at her. “Wang So is the best flyer in my class. I think you’ll be safer with him than…” He trails off as he glances at Jung. “Wang Jung! If you keep rumming around with the broomstick like a weapon in my class again, I’ll toss you to the Whomping Willow.”

The young girl grumbles as she grudgingly stomps over to stand besides So. The raven-head smirks as he hops onto his broomstick and scoots a little forward to give room for Soo to sit behind him. She stares at the spot on his broomstick as she hesitantly climbs on. Her hands are balled up into fists as she clenches them and puts them firmly on her lap.

“Hold on tightly,” he tells her with a smirk as he glances behind him.

“I’m fine,” she shouts back at him as she unclenches her hands and grips the broomstick with her hands. “You better not be careless like last week and try to do any fancy mo—ooooooves!” Soo shrieks as the broomstick lifts off the ground and So begins to soar up to the sky. “YOU ASSHOLE! SIR PARK DIDN’T SAY FLY YET!”

In fear, she releases her hands from the broomstick as she grabs onto So’s robes and firmly holds onto him as the wind whips around her hair. “THIS IS WHY I WANTED TO RIDE WITH SOO DEOK!”

So laughs as he zooms and flies around in several loops around the area. He glances down as he sees the rest of the class as tiny specks on the ground.

Sir Park sighs as he stares up at the sky. He always hates when So starts off on his own without his command to go. But the thing was, he couldn’t be too upset when he watches him fly around like a pro. “He would make a fine Seeker,” he muses as he raises a hand to shield his face from the sun.

In the air, So snickers as he peeks behind him to see Soo clutching his robes in fear. Her eyes were closed as her arms wrapped around his waist in an almost chokehold. He was glad he didn’t eat a big breakfast that day because he was sure Soo had just squeezed his stomach flat.

“ARE WE DOWN ON THE GROUND YET?” Soo shouts at him as her eyes remained closed.

“Yes,” he replies.

Soo opens her eyes as she glances down at her feet and sees 50 feet down to the ground. “YOU LIAR!” she shouts again as she closes her eyes shut once more and considers taking one hand to hit him but decides against it because she was too scared to let go of even one hand from his robes.  

So glides to a gentle float as the wind dies down and becomes a light breeze that brushes past his face. “Open your eyes, Soo-ya.”

“NO!” she shouts as she refuses and continues to hold on tightly to his robes.

“Soo-ya…”

The young girl peeks open one eye before opening her other eye. “Oh wow,” she gasps as she takes in the view. “I’ve never been this high,” she murmurs as her grip on So loosens.

“Aren’t you glad you rode with me?” he smirks.

“No,” Soo replies curtly but she gives a small smile to hint that she was lying. She glances down at Sir Park, who is just a tiny person on the ground. “But I think we should go back down soon before Sir Park gets angry.”

So smiles but he listens as he begins to descend downwards and his heart skips a beat when he feels Soo’s hands wrap around his waist again in a firm grip.

After Flying class was lunchtime and the students all crowd into the Great Hall. “Well goodbye,” Soo says to So as she heads over to her table with the rest of the Gryffindor students. So follows behind her. 

Soo turns around as she narrows her eyes at So in blank confusion. “Your table is that right,” she says as she points to the Slytherin House table. 

So shrugs. “I don’t like the food over there.”

“We have the same food,” Soo points out as she sits down at the Gryffindor table, across from Wang Eun. She watches as So takes a seat beside her. 

“Well, let me be the judge of that,” So says as he ignores the stares of the other students around them. 

Eun shakes his head as he begins to stuff food down his mouth. “The food is different over here, Soo-ya!” he says in between bites. He grins at So. “Food tastes differently when you eat with the one you looooov—”

So throws a piece of bread at Eun as it smacks the blond in the head. “OW!” Eun yells as he clutches his head and rubs his forehead as if he was gravely injured. “Soo-ya, heal me! Look at the bruise that So-hyung gave me!”

“You’re not hurt!” Soo and So both said in unison.

Eun frowns. “Man, you two really are perfect for each other,” he mutters under his breath. So glares at him and Eun shuts up as he goes back to eating in silence.

He watches though as Soo rolls her eyes at the way So peels his apples as she takes it from him and peels it in an expert fashion and even slices it up neatly before placing it back on So’s plate. In return, he takes Soo’s plate as he helps her cut up the sausages into bite-size pieces.

Eun grins as he holds up his plate and offers it to Soo and So. “Mine too!”

The two look at him as Soo smiles sweetly and thanks Eun by getting a legged chicken from him while So just stared at him and said. “I would rather take from Soo-ya’s plate, thank you.” As So bites into a slice of apple and Soo sticks her fork into a sausage piece. 

“So-hyung, you are so mean.” Eun whines.

Chapter Text

Hae Soo could feel her world closing in on her. The nights were becoming shorter and the days were increasingly longer. She dreaded waking up in the morning because each day was a reminder to her of what sort of lifestyle she was entrapped in. Each day is a day of decisions being made but every decision was never her own. From her wardrobe being picked out by her mother each day to the breakfast and meals decided upon by her dreadful fiancee. 

She was expected to be proper. Expected to be prim. Expected to be uptight and stuffy like all of the rest of the first class passengers on board. Soo couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t stand this role she was trapped in. She wanted to be free. She wanted to soar and fly and live for once in her life.

As when she found herself at the edge of the RMS Titanic, her red heels almost dangling off the edges, she finally felt alive for once. But just feeling it wasn’t enough. She knew soon enough that once she turned her body around to go back to her room, she would return back to that stuffy lifestyle of hers. The very thought of it sent trembles through her body. 

A tear fell down her face and she realized that the life that was set out for her in stone was not the life she wanted. 

“Don’t do it.”

It was startling to hear a voice outside of the voice within her head. It was a young man who is a year older than her age. 

“Because if you jump, I will have to jump after you,” he said to her.

And because of him, because of his words, he convinced her to not jump. He had saved her that night. In more ways than one. He had freed her soul. She didn’t know it yet then. 

They went to dinner together the next evening. Granted, they were not alone as her mother was there, as well as her fiancee, and some of the wealthiest people in the world — albeit the stuffiest people she has ever met — on board too. So was nervous, she could tell. He was not used to these kinds of social gatherings but whatever sort of nerves he may have, he did not show it on his face at all. He was calm, witty and charming as he spoke to everyone as if he was one of them. 

She was smitten by the way he talked. The way he smiled and laughed and charmed the pants off of everyone in the room. He talked about living for the moment and to make every single moment count. Those words of wisdom struck a chord in her heart and probably a lot of the people in the room with her. But of course, while every man was thinking about riches or how to make more money, she knew he meant something else besides money. 

Making it count. Living in the moment. She knew when her heart had taken a turn and fell for this man. Her eyes sparkled at him and her gaze was only momentarily broken from his when her fiancee happened to speak up beside her. 

“Me and the boys will be having a glass of brandy after dinner,” her fiancee told her. She only nodded half-listening at that point as her eyes returned to gaze at So.

After dinner, her fiancee went off to get his drinks with the rest of the wealthy businessmen. Soo bid him goodnight and was about to return to her room when So came up behind her and surprised her by grabbing her hand.

“Want to go to a real party?” he asked with a grin.

His idea of a real party was far different from what she had in mind. But it was fabulous and amazing, just like he was. It wasn’t pretentious and there wasn’t an orchestra playing the same five songs over and over. The downstairs room was lively and full of music and laughter. Full of big dreams and wonder. It was magical because she, a wealthy heiress, did not belong with them at all yet she felt like she was every bit apart of them. 

He took her by both hands as the music played, music of an Irish jig, and she protested as she didn’t know the steps to dance to the song. He laughed as he said he didn’t either and so they spun around and around as they made up the moves to the music. 

The next day, just a bit before sunset, she met him again on the same spot where they had first met. He told her to close her eyes and she did as he guided her with each step forward. She could him wrapping his arms around her waist. She followed the sound of his voice as he whispered sweetly into her ears – first to raise her arms up to the side and then to open her eyes. She gasped in astonishment at the view. 

Spectacular, that was what it was. Breathtaking, if more words could be used to describe what she saw. She was flying, not literally, but her heart wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. The feeling of wonder swept over her as she felt the wind whipping past her hair and caressing her cheeks. She could breathe in the salty ocean air and hear the sound of seagulls overhead. The sounds of the open waters drowned out the sound of the ship and all the people in it. This was what freedom felt like. Not her mother’s nagging, not her fiancee’s insufferable remarks, and certainly not anything about how the stock market was doing or who was marrying who. 

Taking a deep breath, she took it all in. She almost forgot that she was not alone on the bow of the ship. As she turned her head slightly towards him, she catches the boyish smile on his face and it causes her heart to do that funny thing where it skips a little quicker than before. Slowly, like a scene of a romantic movie, he leans closer towards her as his lips meet hers. The warm rays of the pink sunset touches her cheek as they kiss for what feels like a beautiful eternity that she doesn’t want to break. 

“I love you,” she tells him when they break apart from the kiss for just a brief moment to each catch a breath.

“I love you, So-ya,” she repeats once more as he smiles and kisses her again.

She was lucky to meet him that night. Lucky to have ran into him just as she was about to jump. Lucky that he was there to stop her and save her and give her the chance to taste what freedom would have felt like. To free her from the stifling life she was living. But no, he told her that it wasn’t luck. He made his own luck. He called it fate. Fate that allowed him to win a game of poker to secure two tickets to board the Titanic when he was the worst poker player ever. Fate that brought him to meet her on a cold, chilly night when he should have been asleep. Fate that re-aligned the stars so that the two of them — a high class lady and a poor boy like himself — had the chance to meet and fall in love.

She laughs at this because it sounds like a silly thing to call it fate. But she didn’t argue back because maybe, just maybe, he was right. 

Chapter Text

Chae Ryung nudged Hae Soo gently as Soo glanced up at the menu on the Starbucks wall. Nudge gently was putting it nicely. More like elbowed with a sharp prick as Soo yelped in pain and glared at Ryung. Rubbing the newly added bruise to her side, Soo hissed at Ryung, “What?!” 

“Cute guys in front of us,”Ryung whispered back as she nodded her head to gesture at the two raven-head men standing in front. “You should ask one of them out,” The pig-tailed girl mouthed as she smiled and continued to point at the guy’s back. "How about that hottie?" 

Soo shook her head as she mouthed back “no”. Turning her attention back to the menu, she scanned the prices as she contemplated on whether she should get anything at all or just ask for iced water. 

“I dare you,” Ryung whispered to her.

Soo rolled her eyes. Daring somebody was such middle-school behavior. They were in high school and about to graduate in a month for crying out loud. The line moved up as the two boys in front of them were up at the cash register. A young man named Baek Ah had ordered a venti caramel Frappuccino with extra whip cream and chocolate whip sauce. The one that Ryung had pointed at was now at the register, about to give his order.

“Can I get a venti green tea Frappuccino but decrease the classic syrup to just 2 pumps, add five pumps of peppermint syrup, 4 scoops vanilla bean powder, 2 scoops protein powder, and 2 pumps mocha sauce for the bottom of the cup and mocha drizzle on the inside of the cup. Top it with whipped cream, mocha drizzle, and a sprinkle of matcha powder on top.”

Soo’s mouth gaped open. She couldn’t believe such a customer existed as she watched the cashier scribble that all down on a venti cup in a flurry. “What kind of guy orders such a complicated drink?” she gasped to her friend. 

Ryung shrugged. “I don’t know but he’s still super hot.”

“Guys just don’t order drinks like that. Even girls don’t do it. Do you think he’s gay?” Soo asked in a whisper.

“I don’t know. How does a drink define your sexual orientation?” Ryung asked back.

“Good point. Still, I can’t see myself with a guy that orders such a complicated drink,” Soo muttered.

Ryung rolled her eyes as she went up to the cashier to place her order. “Tall iced green tea latte, sweetened please.”

When Soo reached the front, she still had no idea what to get. She also didn’t want to spend over five dollars on a drink she could probably make at home if she just bought a few syrups of her own. “Um…” Soo glanced at the menu. “Can I get a venti… iced water?”

Ryung groaned at the order Soo had just placed. “I don’t know about you,” She told her. “But I can’t date a girl that goes to Starbucks to just order water.”

Soo shrugged. “It’s free.”

They waited to the side as they stood behind the two boys again. Soo could have sworn that the dark-haired boy had given her look when she walked by. Perhaps he was judging her for ordering an iced water the same way she was judging him for ordering a complicated drink.

“Soo-ya?” someone behind the counter called out as the Starbucks employee placed a drink down. Soo walked up to get her drink but realized that it wasn’t it. Unless water looked like a Frappuccino at Starbucks. She turned the cup and saw that it only looked like her name. The name read ‘So’ but some of the ink had smudged off so it looked somewhat similar to her name.

“That’s mine,” said a voice that could only belong to the said So. His hand wrapped around hers as he grabbed a hold of his drink and for a moment, she stared back at him in shock before realizing what was happening. She released her hand as she mumbled an apology. He said nothing as Soo’s name was called out again and this time, an iced water was placed on the counter. 

He reached for the water as he held both drinks up at her. She stared at him in confusion. “Choose one,” he offered.

She wasn’t sure what game he was playing at but she instinctively pointed to the more expensive drink as she picked his weirdly concoction of a drink. He smiled as he handed her his drink. “Try it. It’s a Chocolate Mint.”

She hesitantly reached out for the drink as she took a small sip. It tasted like pure bliss. It was the taste of a York Peppermint Patty and Andes Mint Chocolate meeting on top of a mint chocolate chip ice cream mountain. It was delicious and chocolate-y and minty all in one. She wanted to finish it all but wasn’t sure if he was truly being serious about giving it to her.

“You can have the rest. It’s a secret menu item. I used to make it all the time when I worked here,” he said with a smile. 

He was a god. A god that made delicious mint chocolate drinks. 

“Oh, and I am straight by the way,” he added.

He was a god with excellent hearing. Her face turned beet red as she glanced down at the ground in embarrassment that he had heard the earlier conversation she had with Chae Ryung.

“And I wouldn’t say no if you asked me out on a date. Even if you are only doing it as a dare,” he continued.

Well, this just proves that Ryung’s voice carries. And in the following five minutes, they had somehow exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up tomorrow at the same time, same place. Only, instead of ordering an iced water, she was going to get him to teach her his super complicated order for the best mint chocolate Frappuccino she had ever had.

Chapter Text

*Aesthetic of SoSoo's Wallet*

Edited by Me :3

It happened in a blur. One moment this guy brushed by her and the next moment, he was gone in a flash. She would have thought nothing of it. It was crowded in the coffeehouse that evening as everyone was getting their second or third cup of coffee for a night of all-night studying. Geared in the middle of finals week, tensions were high as students were jittery and lamenting over either failed exams or soon to be failed exams. 

It was especially nerve-wracking for a third of the student population on campus since tomorrow was the day of the biology and chemistry finals, which can determine whether the student will be able to move up to the next course in the series. 

Hae Soo whirled around to only catch a glimpse of the boy exiting the coffee shop. Dressed in layers for the cold winter quarter, the faux lining of his navy blue hooded jacket only covered up part of the back of his head as Soo saw that he had a distinct hairstyle. Ebony black hair with the highlight shades of brown, the view was a familiar sight to her but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it.

She must have stood there in a trance-like state because it was only when her friend called her name out that she snapped out of her daydream. Taking a step back, she felt something against the bottom of her foot. She looked down and was surprised to find a small black wallet near her foot. Bending down, she picked it up and brushed it clean with her hands. 

Crouched in the middle of the coffee shop, she must have looked strange as she flipped the wallet back and forth in her hands. She moved to the corner as she ignored the questioning stares from her friends at a couch by the wall. Soo opened up the wallet to find that there was not much inside. There was a few crisp bills in the money pocket fold and two cards in the card slots. She slid out the first card and saw that it was a credit card with the name of Wang So. The name didn’t ring a bell. Putting it away, she pulled out the second card as she saw that it was his driver’s license. The great thing about a driver’s license was the photo for identification. 

The name in question finally had a face to it. The face belonged to a very attractive young man with ebony black hair. The same guy who just bumped into her earlier and left the coffee house. She quickly ran out of the coffee house as she looked both ways in wonder of which direction he turned. The streets were empty as many were inside cafes or stores to keep out of the wintry cold. 

Disappointed, she headed back inside the coffee shop. She glanced at the photo again and she could swear that he looked familiar to her. It was after five minutes of staring that it clicked in her brain. She did seen him before. He was in her class two years ago in a freshman seminar. She had always walked past him as he sat two rows ahead of her. Since no one was sitting in the row between them, Soo always had a clear view of the back of his head. 

Placing the license back in its original pocket, she figured she would contact him through Facebook or some sort to message him about finding his lost wallet. That should be the end of it and she should have no more reason to continue searching through his wallet. But the curiosity gnawed at her as she traced the outer edge of the wallet’s leather feel. 

It wasn’t that she was a prying person and would go through everything inside a stranger’s wallet. She just had a gut instinct or feeling about this guy in particular. As if the two of them were connected through something more than just a chance meeting of a missing wallet or sharing a freshman seminar class once upon a time ago. She couldn’t really place her finger on what or why she had this feeling. It was just an instinct that had no known explanation. But her heart pounded nevertheless as she flipped the wallet back open and dug through the two inner pockets. The first pocket was empty. The second had a bit more luck as her fingers felt the edge of an object. 

She pulled it out part way before hesitating and questioning whether she should be doing this. She would hate it if someone found her wallet and went through her stuff. But then again, she would be upset regardless for having lost her wallet. Plus, he would never know. Still didn’t justify how morally wrong it felt but she was already too far in to care now. 

They were photographs. Wallet-sized photographs neatly tucked into the wallet to be kept hidden. It was strange since most people would prefer to put pictures where it is easily seen. At least, that was how Soo thought most people would prefer to do. There were three photographs and the first was easy to distinguish. It was a family photo and So was easily pointed out with his hairstyle never changing from childhood. He looked to be about ten years old or so and was standing beside his father and mother. To the right and left of him and his parents, he had nine siblings, two older and five younger brothers and one sister as they shared the same facial features with the only difference being that So has a wolf shape eyes while his siblings were normally round.

She placed the first photo underneath the stack as she came across the second photo. It was a photo of an older Wang So standing next to another three boys for what it seems to be his younger brothers. She recognized those boys. They were in her class currently and their names were Eun, Baek Ah and Jung. Eun was really loud and energetic kind of guy, he always spoke up in class and made the other kids laugh, Baek Ah on the other hand was a calm and sweet boy who loves to play with his guitar making the girls fall over him while Jung was almost the same as Eun but loves to pick a fight by challenging them to see who is the toughest kid in school. She smiled as she looked down at the photo. The photo must have been taken not too long ago because they looked to be around sixteen and younger. Eun was smiling brightly with his arm slung around So in a casual pose but So had a disgruntled expression on his face and his arms folded against his chest and on his right side, Baek Ah just smiles with the same gesture as So’s while Jung did the same as Eun’s by putting his arm around Baek Ah’s with a huge grin. It seemed to So that he was not exactly the type to like taking self-portraits. 

As she placed the second photo underneath, she noticed that the last photo was turned over with its back facing up. Her clumsy fingers fumbled a bit to turn the photo around and she only ended up dropping the entire stack on the floor. 

Embarrassed, she glanced around to see if anyone noticed her being a klutz in the corner. No one did or if they did, they pretended to have not noticed. Soo stooped low as she bent down to pick up the photos. After picking up the first two, her fingers barely grazed the last as she stared wide-eyed at the photo. The picture was facing up now towards her so she could clearly see the subject of the picture. It was a picture of her.

Soo paced back and forth as she contemplated on what to do about this new piece of information in her hand. She bit her lower lip and then she bit her nail as she racked her head for an answer. She would have to return the wallet to him and it would have to be face to face. Of course, she could avoid him entirely and let a friend return it in her place.

But that was not the thing that was bothering her right now. It was the fact that this guy, a stranger to her practically, was carrying a photo of her around in his wallet. She should be freaked out and she was but she wasn’t scared which she should have been. It was strange indeed. Even stranger than him having a photo of her.

Soo sat down in the seat closest to her and the people sitting on the opposite side of the table glanced at her with raised eyebrows. She ignored them as she sighed and opened the wallet again to look at the picture of her again. 

She wondered how he got that photo of her. It was a photo she had taken during freshman year and she didn’t even post it online or anything. Even she didn’t have a copy of it. It was a picture of her during her first day of college orientation. Her father had insisted on a photo and she reluctantly agreed to pose in front of the main campus sign and do the standard cheesy pose. She remembered taking her parent’s camera and getting the film developed at the campus store since her parents were the old fashioned type and didn’t care for digital photos. 

If her mom and dad were the only one to get the original copy, how did So end up getting a copy of the same photo? That thought was even more perplexing. She took out his driver’s license as she stared at his ID photo. Twirling the card in her hand, she absent-mindedly thought of what she should do next. 

Was he a stalker? An admirer? A creep? A fan of hers? Maybe he wanted to plot revenge on her or kill her in her sleep. Soo wondered if she was watching too many soap operas on television. The thoughts cluttered in her mind and made her feel more anxious and aggravated with each passing moment. 

She decided that maybe it was best to let a friend return it to him in in her place. Soo couldn’t face the awkwardness of handing it to him with the knowledge that she knew what was inside the wallet. Granted, he wouldn’t know that she knew. But she was never good at deceiving others and her face would probably reveal everything the moment he saw her.

The moment he saw her… she wondered what he did think of her when he saw her. He had probably saw her at the coffee house earlier. Was that why he left in such a rush? Was that why he bumped into her? Perhaps, it wasn’t an accident as she had thought.

Soo groaned as she pulled at her hair in frustration. The two students who were sitting across from her glanced at her as they picked up their books and moved to another table. Soo blew a piece of hair away from her face as she grumbled to herself. She was perfectly happy and content just a half hour ago and now she was driving herself positively insane with the wandering thoughts of who, what, where, when, and why. She wished that a higher power would just drop the answer at her door and tell her what her next move should be.

At the moment, the bell above the coffee shop door chimed as the door opened as someone stepped inside. Soo was paying no attention to it as she was still slumped in her chair with a dumbstruck expression on her face as she stared at the wallet in her hand that was being clutched to death. 

“That’s mine.”

Soo glanced up in surprise at the sound of the voice. It was a deep soothing voice that one could probably listen to all day. Her eyes met with his and she suddenly wished she didn’t make that prayer two minutes ago for an answer as to what to do. Because fate would have it and brought her to So himself at her table. He said nothing more as he pointed to the wallet in her hand. Slightly flustered by his sudden appearance, she offered it up to him as her eyes stared in wide-eyed at the possibility that he had actually returned to the coffee shop.

It was in the moment of exchange when his fingers slightly grazed upon hers that she moved her hands back as she continued to keep a firm hold on the wallet. She knew it was his wallet but how did he know that she had his. That was the question of the day. “How do you know this is yours?” she blurted out. He glanced at her with a slight confusion before reaching for the wallet and lifting it from her grasp. He turned it over so that she could see as he pointed to the lower right hand corner of the wallet. 

“My family crest,” he stated matter-of-factly and sure enough, Soo could see that there indeed was something on the back of the wallet. A small green eagle like bird was stitched to the corner and she couldn’t believe she had missed it the first time. She had been holding it by the corners the whole time so her thumb must have covered it. 

“Oh,” was all that she could say in response to that. He nodded as he thanked her and turned to leave. Soo was at a loss for words. Somehow, this was a lot different from what she had imagined. He had barely any reaction to her despite the fact that he had a picture of her face in his wallet.

Without thinking, she called out to him the moment he was a step away from opening the door to leave. “Wait!” she shouted as she stood up. 

He stopped as he paused for a moment before turning to glance back at her. His dark brown wolf eyes bore into hers and for a minute there, she was too stunned to say anything. She couldn’t read what he was thinking behind those dark eyes of his but for a moment, she could feel a slight connection as if she had fell into a new world in the depths of his eyes. It was haunting how drawn in she felt to him despite only really realizing who he was just today, if not just only an hour ago.

“Yes?” he asked as he turned fully around to face her again.

She wanted to ask him about her photo. Desperate almost. But asking him about it would be admitting to snooping through his wallet. It felt like a lose-lose situation if she did ask. But it was going to bug her tonight and the rest of finals week and probably the rest of her life if she didn’t ask or find out somehow. Still, she couldn’t just go ahead and ask him right then and there. Or could she?

Her mouth felt dry as she fumbled for the right words to form a coherent sentence in beginning the conversation. She came up with nothing except for the feeling of clammy hands and sweat trembling at the back of her neck as she gulped down the nervousness that contained in her fast, beating heart. Why should she be so nervous? Shouldn’t it be him who should be nervous for being caught? Honestly, she wished she never knew. He seemed unfazed by her standing there and gaping at him with her large, guppy eyes. 

“Never mind,” she muttered in defeat when the words failed to come to her. He nodded once more as he turned to leave again.

“W-wait!” she called out once more. “S-shouldn’t you check to see if everything is in your wallet?” she asked him.

So turned back around. “Don’t worry. I trust you.”

Soo grew impatient. “No, but you should still check. I don’t want you to go back home and find out later that something in your wallet was missing and then blame it on me!” It was a lame excuse to get him to stay just a bit longer but it somehow had worked as he glanced at her curiously before taking his wallet back out from his pocket.

He opened it up as he took out the bills inside and gave it a quick glance. “Everything is here,” he murmured as he held it out to give Soo a glance inside too as if that would ease her worries. He closed the wallet again and moved to put it away once more.

“What about the inner pockets? Shouldn’t you check those too?” she blurted out. Great, she might as well just have admitted it to him that she snooped through his wallet. How blatantly obvious was that?

He eyed her but something must have clicked in his mind as he hesitantly opened up the wallet again. This time, he shielded it partly away from gaze so that she couldn’t see the inside contents of it anymore. He slipped his finger through the inner pocket of the wallet as he pulled out three photos. Relieved to see them all there, he was just about to put it back inside again when his hand paused in the action. He lifted up the photos in his hand as his other hand holding the wallet fell to his side. All three photos were facing up towards his side and his eyes furrowed at the last photo. The last photo that should have been faced down. 

Soo glanced at him curiously as she wondered what he was doing and stunned by how boldly he had pulled the photos out into the air. It was when she saw the white backs of the photos that she realized her mistake and his realization at her mistake. She had forgot to put the photo of her flipped around to the backside like the way she had found it originally. She cursed loudly in her head as she gaped at him and tried to find the words to explain.

Turns out, she didn’t really have to explain. It was he who started to turn slightly red in the face as he shoved the photos into the inside pocket of his coat. He cleared his throat loudly in an attempt to disguise the awkwardness that had now settled in the air between the two of them. Both of them remained silent as they both glanced awkwardly at the floor before somehow bravely looking at each other.

She had snooped through his wallet but he had a picture of her inside that wallet. Soo wasn’t sure which action was more embarrassing to be caught doing but after a moment more of silence, she was sure that his was definitely way more embarrassing. She decided to clear the air and be the first to speak. If she didn’t, he probably would never will.

“That picture of me…” she began. His eyes met with hers as her words made the sudden realization become more of a reality to him. “How did you get it? There was supposed to be only one copy… at least… so I thought.”

He seemed embarrassed already as he scratched the side of his chin and his cheeks flushed a little red. “I worked at the student campus store freshman year,” he mumbled. “You came to us to get your photos developed and… the last photo from your film was developed twice by accident.”

So cleared his throat as he continued on. “Normally, store policy is to throw away any accidental duplicates but it just seemed a waste to throw out a perfectly nice photo…” His cheeks seemed to have turned an even brighter red. “I thought I would have a chance to return it to you if I got the chance and when we ended up being in the same seminar class, I… chickened out.”

Soo listened in disbelief to his story. As it remained silent after his last words, he glanced at her for some sort of reaction. She bursted out into laughter. “Oh thank god! At least you’re not a stalker. I think…” she giggled.

He muttered something under his breath as his flushed cheeks dialed back down a bit in color. “Well, I better be going,” he mumbled, clearly ready to leave his embarrassing story behind.

“Wait!” Soo called out. He turned to look at her again for the third time that night. “Aren’t you… shouldn’t you… don’t I get a reward for finding your wallet?” she asked him. It sounded like a desperate attempt to keep him there longer and she knew it. 

“I… I supposed I could treat you to a coffee or something tomorrow night after the exams,” he said in reply, his eyes surprised that she was still talking to him instead of calling the nearest police station on him.

She smiled. “Okay, I’ll call you.”

“But you don’t have my phone number?”

Soo chuckled. “From your wallet alone, I got your name, your address, your bank credit card, your family members, best friend, and potential female interest. I don’t think it would be that hard to find out your phone number.”

He seemed caught off-guard by this. “I-I…guess.”

She smiled as she took out her phone. “One sec. Smile for me!”

So seemed taken aback as he watched her take out her phone and point the camera at him. “What are you doing?” he asked in alarm.

“Since you have a picture of me, it’s only right that I get a picture of you,” she responded as she pressed the camera button to take the picture. She stared at the photo and smiled. So wasn’t smiling but he was looking her way with a stoic face. “Perfect, for now,” she mused.

With a smile, she took a step backwards as she waved her hand goodbye towards him. “I’ll message you,” she said as she turned and ran out of the coffee house. Clutching her phone to her chest, she grinned. She didn’t really understand why but somehow, she couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come.

Back inside the coffee shop, So stared at the swinging door as it came to a full stop. He wasn’t sure what just happened but suddenly, his mouth felt dry and he needed water. He went over to a nearby counter and poured himself a small cup of water from a pitcher sitting by the napkins and straws. He held up his wallet as he opened it again to look inside. Taking out the picture of her again, he smiled as he clutched the photograph in his hand and his thoughts brought him back to the day that he saw it for the first time. 

“Oh, did the customer who picked up her photos just now leave already?” a middle-aged man asked as he peeked up from underneath the counter. 

So nodded as he glanced up from the cash register. “Yeah, I just rang her up about five minutes ago.”

Ji Mong sighed as he pulled out a photo from the photo bucket underneath the counter. “I’m not sure if this is a duplicate or if it fell out but I guess you should shred it,” he said as he handed it to So.

So took it as he glanced at it. It was a picture of the girl who was just here a moment ago. “Maybe I can see if I can chase her down. She can’t be too far from here,” he offered.

Ji Mong shook his head as he pressed a few buttons on the photo printer behind him. “Forget it. Just shred it. It seems to be a duplicate.” He smiled as he waved So back to work. “Man the register. I’ll be in the stock room checking on inventory.”

So nodded as Ji Mong walked off. With a glance back down at the photo, he slowly walked towards the shredder. A paper sign was still taped over the top of the shredder with the words ‘out of order.’  With a second glance at the photo, he sighed as he tucked it into his back pocket. 

The day wore on slowly as it was nearing the afternoon and orientation was already long over. Since it was still summer, there weren’t many students on campus to begin with and all the new incoming students and parents who came for orientation had already left. So yawned as he drummed his fingers against the counter in boredom. He wondered if he should have taken a summer job at a different place but he liked the convenience of being able to work close to campus when school started up.

When he went home for the weekend, he was surprised to see his two elder brothers came home too. It was rare to see his brothers since Mu and Yo were in grad school and would come home only a few times a year. It was nice though as he and his elder brothers got to spend a quiet weekend at home with mother and father along with his five younger brothers and sister. 

“So-ya!” his mother, Soo-yeon, had called out to him, with a sneaky smile on her face as she hid something behind her back. He and his brothers were sitting in the living room with the TV on and a game controller in each of their hands on one another by taking turns from which one of two players will lose the battle as they were about to prepare for another epic showdown of Street Fighter. “Eomma and I were doing the laundry and we found something interesting in one of your pockets,” Yeonhwa sang while walking towards her mother’s side.

So didn’t know what Yeonhwa was referring to, but his mother and sister were always the type to tease him and his brothers often. With a flourish, Soo-yeon looked at Yeonhwa on her side with a nod amusingly as the only daughter of the family whipped out a photograph. The photograph that he had forgotten about and had stuck in his back pocket. Quickly, So jumped up to tried to grab it from her but she was a lot quicker as she stepped back then swiftly passes  the photo to her mother successfully. The boys had already gotten up from the couch and ran over to their mother’s side as Yo took it from her hands and laughed as he waved it around in the air. 

“Looks like our third brother found a girlfriend!” he teased then shows it to the rest of his brothers who all laughed in amusement to see that their stoic third brother had a photo of a ‘girl’.

“She’s not my girlfriend!” So protested.

“Oh? Not yet, you mean?” Soo-yeon teased as her husband walked into the living room to see what all the commotion was about. He picked the photo out of his second eldest son’s hands. He stared at it for a moment and proceeded to hand it back to So. “Invite her over sometime for dinner,” he grunted as he turned to leave the room again.

So could feel the back of his neck turning a deep red as his ears flushed a hot red. He felt the strong gaze of his mother and his siblings and he mumbled under his breath and sat back down on the couch. He hid the photo back into the inside pocket of his jacket as he tossed the game controller over to Yo. “Can we just start the game… please?” he begged, hoping the game would be distraction enough from the teasing from his family.

Yo grinned then looks at his brothers with mischievous smirks for each of them had the same idea as he sat back down on the couch along with them. “If I win, can I meet her?” 

“Fine, whatever. You’re going to lose anyways,” So muttered as the six brothers watched So and Yo battled against each other to see who will win and hoping that Yo will defeat So, for wanting to see the ‘girl’ their third brother had a thing for.

Chapter Text

The phone buzzed in the corner of the bed as it vibrated and the screen lit up to show that one new text message has been received. So glanced up from his textbook as he stared across the bed at his phone sitting on the bed’s edge. Making a slow effort to lean over, he grabbed the phone from its charging area and glanced at the screen. It was probably another text from Eun again about the exam for tomorrow, who seems to be staying at his friend’s house for a sleepover. If Eun asked him one more time to describe the Krebs cycle, he will blow a gasket. 

It wasn’t Eun though. It was another phone number as no name showed up, just a number he had never seen before. Then again, he wouldn’t know if he had seen the number before considering he didn’t have a reason to memorize phone numbers anymore. He opened the text and prayed that it wasn’t another spam text telling him he won two tickets to a cruise ship. 

It wasn’t. It was from Hae Soo.

His breath hitched as he tried to calm his racing heart that had just suddenly started to thump excessively against his chest. His palms felt a little clammy even though he was perfectly fine a moment ago when he was reviewing his notes for his final exam tomorrow.

His eyes swarmed over the words of the text as he tried to process each letter and word in his mind but it was already hard enough to focus. His mind was pounding with just the one thought in his head as it shouted repeatedly out to him. She had actually messaged him as promised. 

Hey! Told you I’ll find out your number. :) I’ll be done with my last exam tomorrow by 5. We can meet up at the coffee house at 8? Good luck on your finals!

He must have stared at the text for about five minutes before snapping out of it and coming to realize that he should probably answer back. His thumb moved over to the text box to type out a message as he pondered over what his response should be. Perhaps a short “okay” would suffice. Or would that sound like he was not interested? He remembered Baek Ah once telling him of an article he read on interpreting certain words such as “I’m fine” and “okay” and how sometimes “I’m fine” doesn’t really mean “I’m fine”. So had tuned him out that day but now he wish he hadn’t.

He grunted in frustration as he pressed the delete button to backspace and delete the word to start over from the beginning. His fingers danced in the air as he stretched the joints in his hands. 

How about dinner at 6? I end at 4. We can still use the coffee house as our meeting spot.

So wondered if asking her out for dinner was too bold of a move. But as his finger questioned on whether to delete or send, a buzz from his phone startled him and he accidentally pressed down on the send button. He stared a bit dumbfounded at what just happened but decided that maybe fate had decided it for him.

Still, he opened up the new incoming text message to see who it was that fate had sent over. It was Eun. 

Soo-ya asked me for your number and I gave it to her. I hope you don’t mind. Don’t worry! She’s not crazy like that fangirl last time. I promise!

So frowned. He remembered the time when Eun accidentally gave out his number to one of So’s fangirls, who was positively nuts as she called him constantly in trying to plan a date. Eventually, he had enough of the recurrent phone calls and highly repetitive voice mails clogging up his inbox. He had to cancel his number and get a new number just to avoid hearing her high-pitched squeal each time he had accidentally answered her call during an incoming call on the other line.

That being said, So didn’t speak to Eun for a week. He was fine with Soo having his number but considering after the fiasco with the last girl, So had hoped that his little brother would at least still do the proper etiquette of asking for permission first. 

Another buzz from his phone and it was a reply from Soo. 

Sounds good :)

Just a short reply followed by a smiley. He smiled as he perched his head down on one hand against his pillow. Raising the phone above his face, he stared at the blue text message box some more. It buzzed again in his hand and he could see the message pop up on the top from Eun.

So-hyung! Answer me! You’re not mad, are you?!

He chuckled as he tossed his phone to the side. He would answer Eun later. It was cruel to let his little brother suffer in thinking he was mad at him but So never did get to exact his revenge on Eun for the fangirl-fiasco. Closing his eyes, he smiled as he felt the sudden excitement bubbling beneath the surface of his beating heart. And it wasn’t for the final exam tomorrow. Not at all.

Soo was nervous. She had tried to play it cool when she texted him about getting coffee and then even tried to sound nonchalant when he asked her out for dinner. Truth was, she was beyond ecstatic to see his reply in asking her to meet up for dinner instead of coffee. That meant something right? That he wasn’t overly freaked out by her bold move in approaching him?

Actually, it was a surprising move on her part as well. She never expected that she, herself, would do something like this. Guys had approached her often enough and it had gotten tiring to the point that she had lost interest in the dating scene. Men just seem like giant Neanderthals to her and she had tried to maintain a relatively low profile in just focusing on her studies and ignoring all love calls.

So why was she suddenly so interested in this guy? Especially a guy who carried a picture of her around. She should be running as far as she can from this guy but here she was, running straight towards him with open arms. He was handsome, that’s for sure. He was tall with model-like features and a quiet demeanor. Frankly put, he was certainly her ideal type. 

So maybe that was why her heart was beating like a pounding drum as she approached the coffee shop where they were supposed to meet up. She didn’t have time to change or even fancy herself up as she headed there straight from her exam. The best she could do was head to a nearby convenience store and buy a pack of mints for her coffee breath. Running her fingers through her long wavy brown hair, she tried to fix up any tangles as she smoothed out the bottom of her shirt with her other hand. 

With a deep breath, she pushed open the door to the coffee shop and immediately, her eyes spotted him. So was seated in the same place she was sitting at last night and she immediately felt the rush of embarrassment from recalling last night’s events with him finding out she had snooped through his wallet. He glanced up as she walked up to the table and for a moment there, they just stood in silence as they stared at each other in awkwardness.

“Um, hi,” she said, finally breaking the ice.

“Hello. How was your last exam?” he asked with a pleasant smile.

“It went fine. The last part was a little tricky but I managed to finish in time,” she replied.

So nodded as he stood up and gestured towards the door. “Shall we?” he asked her. She nodded as she followed him out of the coffee shop. They didn’t walk far as the downtown area was small so all the shops and restaurants were compacted in one area. He had chosen a local Italian restaurant and when they went in, he gave his name and they were brought to a small table in the corner. 

She didn’t know what to say to him but there was one thing nagging at the back of her mind the whole time she was walking next to him. 

“Um…” she began. He glanced up from the cloth napkin he was unfolding. 

“Something was still on my mind from last night. You told me how you got my photo but… you never told me why you kept it for this long. You even trimmed it down from the original 4 by 6 to wallet-size,” she added the last part quickly.

He gazed at her with a knowing smile as he placed the napkin down on his lap. “My brothers saw your picture that day I found it. They teased me about it and said he wanted to meet you. We even made a stupid bet on it." 

“A bet?”

So glanced away. “Nothing. It’s stupid.”

Before she could press on for more details, the waiter came to take their order. The rest of the evening continued on with pleasant small talk about school and their plans for winter break. He didn’t ask her many questions and she did the same although there were a million questions running through her mind. She really wanted to know what the bet was but somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to ask. It was like every time she thought to bring it up, her mouth clamps up and her hands start to sweat in her lap. 

Honestly, she was scared to know. Knowing what the bet was, knowing his real thoughts about her, she was scared to find out the truth. What if he didn’t think anything of her? Soo didn’t want the magic of that night to break. 

When the meal came to an end, he paid and the two of them left the restaurant. “Are you going home tomorrow night?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “I’ll make the drive tonight. I miss my family.”

Soo could feel her heart drop slightly as disappointment washed over her. She had planned to leave tomorrow night and was hoping there would be a reason to see him again tomorrow morning. “Oh,” she could only say in response. “Have a safe drive.” 

He smiled. “You too. I had a fun night.”

She nodded but inside she felt like this was the last of it. There was no more reason to see him again. He had given her the “reward” she asked for in returning his wallet. “Good night,” she said simply as she turned away to head home. 

“Wait!” he called out to her. Soo turned her head slightly as her eyes glanced at him in curiosity and anticipation. He seemed to have something more to say but he didn’t as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “N-nothing. Good night…Soo-ya.”

Finals were finally over for everyone and many of the students have left the school campus to go home for the winter break. Soo was excited to be back home in the city of Seoul. She had big plans to do completely nothing over break and just relax and enjoy the upcoming holidays with her family. Maybe it would take her mind off of So.

"Soo-ya, can you run to the market and pick up some carrots and tomatoes for tonight’s dinner?” her mother called out to her from the kitchen as Soo saw her mother’s head peek out.

She nodded as she grabbed her house keys and went out the door. Her parents were having friends over so had decided to cook up a huge dinner for tonight. Soo was glad that her parents had made friends so quickly, especially in a new town. They had previously lived near the border of the country but moved around three years ago when her father got transferred over to a new job just as she was about to start college. 

“Raspberries, blackberries, and…” Yo read off the shopping list.

“Dragon fruits,” So said as he stopped the shopping cart in front of the dragon fruit section.

“No, there are no dragon fruits on the list,” Yo said as he glanced down at the list again.

“Eomeoni probably just forgot to write it down,” So responded as he began to pick up a few dragon fruits to drop them inside a plastic bag.

“She didn’t but I guess we can grab some for your gluttonous self,” Yo remarked with a grin.

So glared at his brother as he proceeded to add in three more dragon fruits to the bag for that snide comment.

Yo glanced away from the shopping cart as something else caught his eye instead. “Oh,” he uttered as he smiled. “Well, if it isn’t your girlfriend, So-hyung.”

“What? I don’t have one,” So muttered as he turned to glance at the direction Yo was staring at.

Besides them was a familiar petite girl picking out carrots. So nearly dropped the bag of dragon fruits he was holding as he gaped at her. “S-Soo-ya?!” he croaked out.

At the sound of her name, Soo turned around in surprise as she stared back at So. “So-ya?”

“And I’m Wang Yo, So’s older and more handsome brother,” Yo introduced himself as he held out a hand towards Soo. She took it and shook it, much to So’s displeasure. 

“Okay, we have to continue shopping. Eomeoni needs the ingredients for her pie,” So said quickly as he pulled on Yo’s hand to hand him the bag of tomatoes to hold and effectively removing Yo’s hand from Soo’s. His elder brother only smirked at the obvious attempt to part him from the girl.  

“You should join us for dinner!” Yo offered.

“We can’t, we’re going out tonight!” So quickly said. There was no way he was going to give his family a chance to embarrass him in front of Soo. 

“Ah, it’s fine. My family has guests over tonight for dinner so I have to get home after this trip,” Soo said with a smile.

“Oh, groceries for dinner? Do you live around here?” Yo asked. 

Soo nodded and he smiled as he winked at So. “It’s strange because I have never seen you at the supermarket before and we come here often to get groceries. Surely, we would have run into each other once or twice.”

“Oh, well my family just moved to this area. Maybe you might have run into my eomeoni. I was away at school so this is only the second time I’ve been in this store.”

So pulled at the back of Yo’s shirt. “We should head home soon with the ingredients,” So mumbled. He didn’t want to stay in that store any longer. The awkwardness was already setting in and he could feel it and he know Soo could feel it as well. After the way they left each other that night at dinner, things felt somehow unresolved between the two of them. 

“We’ll see you around, Soo-ya,” Yo waved cheerfully. “Enjoy your holidays.”

“You too,” she echoed back as her eyes avoided So’s. 

Soo hummed as she got out the nice silverware for tonight’s dinner. “How many people will be coming over, Eomma?” 

“Set out four extra! Or was it three? Make it four just in case!” her mother shouted from the kitchen.

Four it was as she laid out seven place settings on the table. The doorbell rang and she could hear her mother let out a frantic yelp in the kitchen. “I’ll get it,” Soo shouted into the kitchen, although she was sure her mother wasn’t even listening. She walked to the front door and peeked through the peephole. It was a lady with beautiful dark long hair along with a girl around her age. 

Soo opened the door as she welcomed her parents’ guests to her home. “Welcome to the Hae residence.”

“Oh, you must be Soo!” the lady exclaimed as she held up a pie in her hand. “Boys! Bring the watermelons!” The

Soo froze as she saw So walk up the steps to her house. He stopped in surprise too as he stared at her. The watermelon in his hands almost fell as his hands wobbled underneath the weight but he caught it in time as he hugged it close. “Soo-ya…” he whispered.

Dinner was filled with laughter and talk as the parents and siblings all had their drinks. Yo continued to pour for everyone and even took a few sips himself. So and Soo abstained from the alcohol as they both sipped at their water, making eye contact only once or twice. 

After dinner was dessert and apparently more drinks as they all reconvened to the living room. So and Soo stayed behind to clean up and it was quiet with the exception of the occasional clink of glasses or silverware being picked up.

They carried the dishes into the kitchen as Soo began to run the sink with water and soap. “You can just leave these here. I’ll do them. You can go eat dessert with your family.”

“No, I’ll help you.”

“So… we know you don’t want to be here. Just go,” she said softly, her back turned to him so that he couldn’t see or read her face.

He placed a stack of dishes down on the counter as he stood next to her. “Who said I didn’t want to be here?”

“No one. Your body language makes it quite clear. You didn’t really want to do the dinner with me but I made you. You didn’t want to stay and talk in the grocery store when we ran into each other. And you definitely did not want to eat dinner when you realized that the place you were going to was my house. And now, you just want to get your parents out of here as fast as you could so you can go home and forget you ever met me.”

So dropped a plastic bowl into the sink as it made a loud clank against the bottom of the sink. “You’re wrong. About everything,” he said softly. 

She said nothing as she silently scrubbed at a plate in her hand. She was sure she was scrubbing at the same spot over and over but she didn’t want to do any other action than scrub. She was sure if she broke her concentration of washing that one plate, she would lose it and break down and cry in front of him.

His hand reached over to grab onto her wrist but she ignored it as she continued scrubbing. He then took her sponge and she began to use her hand. “Stop, Soo-ya,” he commanded. She did. “Sorry,” she whispered with her head still down. 

She could hear him sigh and she sighed along with him. “I’m sorry, Soo-ya. I knew winter break was coming up and I didn’t want to start anything with us being apart for two weeks. But I couldn’t imagine that we would be living in the same town.” 

Soo glanced up at him in surprise. “Start something?”

He turned to smile at her. “I.. I like you. A lot. I wanted to leave the grocery store not because I didn’t want to talk to you, but because I was scared my brother would say something stupid and embarrass me in front of you. I didn’t even tell you how I felt yet and I certainly didn’t want my parents or brother to be the one to tell you for me.”

“Your parents know about me?” she squeaked.

“Well, they probably don’t remember you. They saw the picture I had of you but they didn’t mention anything at dinner so I guess they forgot. Some of my brothers including my sister somehow remembers after seeing it just once like two years ago.”

Soo doesn’t say anything as her heart beats quickly against her chest. He reached for the back of his pants pocket as he pulled out his wallet. As So opens it, she sees that her picture was placed in the front in a transparent picture sleeve. No longer were the photographs hidden in the inner pockets of the wallet. He smiled nervously as he caught her looking. 

“I was hoping… that instead of having just a random girl’s photo in my wallet… I could tell people that the girl in the photo… is my girlfriend.” 

Soo’s heart feels lighter than ever as she turned back to the sink and picked up a bowl. Her cheeks flush a slight pink as she begins to scrub at the bowl. She knows she should say something as he was expecting her to. It was silent for a few seconds as he waited patiently for a response other than her incessant need to wash dishes at this time.

She took her hands away from the sink as she wiped it clean against the kitchen towel hanging next to her. She took out her phone from her back pocket as she pressed a bunch of buttons before showing it to So. “If you do that, then I’ll have to tell everyone that my wallpaper is my boyfriend,” she said softly. 

So chuckled as he sees that Soo had indeed just change the wallpaper of her phone to the picture that she took of him at the coffee shop. 

“Deal.”

The phone buzzed in her hand and she is surprised by the sudden vibration. So peers at her phone. “You got a text from Eun,” he remarked. “Soo-ya, can you ask my big brother if he’s mad at me,” he read.

Soo pulled the phone back as she read the text. “Are you mad at Eun?” she asked.

He smiled as he held her hand in his. “No. In fact, I think I have to thank him profusely for giving away my number to you.”

She giggled as the two of them stood in the kitchen with their hands both holding each other. Unbeknownst to the two, ten pairs of watchful eyes peeked through the doorway of the kitchen. 

“Will you look at that?” Soo-yeon whispered with a smile while Soo’s mother laughed. “I guess our children became good friends as well,” she responded back.

Yo grinned. “Oh, it looks a lot more than just friends, I say.” Causing the siblings to smirk and grin mischievously for they will have a very good time teasing their third brother, So.

Chapter Text

'Don’t be afraid…'

'I’m not afraid to die… I’ve been dying a little each day since you came back into my life…'

'What are you talking about?'

'… I love you…'

'I thought we had decided not fall in love… that we would be forced to live a lie… and that it would destroy our lives.'

'I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway… I truly… deeply… love you, my So-ya…'

Gwangjong/Wang So's POV:

Gone… Forever... and I killed her. I killed her with my own hands. I killed my child, my own flesh and blood within my Soo-ya along with her. She was the light of my life, the only reason I moved on every day, the only reason I put up with The Council. As I stand and watched her body solemnly being pulled through the streets of Naboo, I mourn as I hear heartbreaking voice in my head at the time when she was painfully shock with sadness that I fell into the dark side.

‘So-ya… you’re breaking my heart… you’re going down a path I can’t follow…’

There is no reason for her to be dead, she should be at my side now with our child in our lake house on Naboo. I killed her and our daughter. Empress Yeonhwa had seduced me, corrupted me in every fiber of my being to the dark side as I remembered when I became a Sith Lord.

'Where is Soo-ya?... Is she safe?... Is she alright?'

The Empress looked at me a pitiful expression then solemnly replied.

'It seems in your anger, you killed her.'

What... No. No that's impossible, I don't want believe that!

'I-I couldn't have... She was alive, I felt it!'

I no longer wanted this fate, I wanted to die and be with my father, my Soo-ya and my unborn daughter. I wish I still had fallen tears, I wish I could show others on how much it pains me to see my beloved wife’s final journey. She is dressed in the loveliest dress I had ever seen graceful of her body, her chocolate waves is spread around her angelic face, and Soo-ya’s hands grasp the hairpin I had given her all those years ago on the Royal Cruiser. I can see the bump where my child now lies dead, the fabric made no attempt to hide her pregnancy like we had attempted to do for so many months.

Her mother and father dolefully walk behind her coffin with Soo-ya’s cousin, Myung-hee and her husband, Wook and nieces behind them with much woe. The youthful Queen treads behind Soo-ya’s family looking every bit as regal as her three predecessors, not long ago was this Queen, Princess of Theed as Soo-ya was. My dear friend Ji Mong brings up the rear of the upper class. Soo-ya’s handmaidens act as pall-bearers to her ornately decorated coffin.

Soo-ya will be buried on an island in the middle of the lake on which her lake house sits there. The very place we had our first kiss, where we were married, and now she shall rest forever with our child. Soo-ya’s burial is out of Naboo tradition as her mother’s wishes. Normally, a high ranking citizrn such as Soo-ya would have been cremated and her ashes spread over the Soulle River. Her mother wished to have some place to memorialize her heroic and ample daughter. Hae Soo was a hero to her people, she saved them from the Trade Federation oppression in 32.B.B.Y. She had officially died at the hands of a Jedi at least that was the formal statement we had been given by the Empress. Her family would never know the truth, they would never know what truly happened to her. The Empress, in her attempt to be humane, issued a galactic day of mourning for Senator Hae.

Soo-ya’s funeral procession makes its way to the dome where she will lie in state for three days before being taken to her burial site. No one speaks at her funeral, not even a eulogy is given. In Naboo tradition, the funeral is a time for a silent mourning. When Soo-ya is buried, she will have a memorial service at the Palace. The thought of her not being with her people in the rest of their days is unbearable. I cannot help but weep internally, my knees give out and I find myself looking at a blue Naboo stone.

“Oh Force, how did this fate come to fall on my family?”

I do not recognize my own voice, it is mechanical and dis-embodied.

“Perhaps, you should have not in to you fate.” This voice is new and is carried on the wind, I turn to find no one there. I know it is Park Soo-kyung. He died here on Naboo, his ashes will be carried through the planet forever. He is right, but I cannot change anything now I have chosen my fate… a lifetime in hell.

The people move out one by one after paying their respects to the heroine of their planet, every single person present must do this. It takes them until almost dawn to file out of the dome. As the final person drags himself away from Soo-ya I quickly make my way down to the dome. As I walk slowly into the magnificent temple, all I can see is my deceased beautiful wife lying in her coffin. She looks as if she is sleeping, peacefully resting, she has not looked this way since I first met her on Tatooine. I place my gloved hand over her soft, fragile hand gently, afraid that she might turn into dust. Her porcelain skin is cold, not warm as I fondly remembered. The flowers in her hair remind me of the day we kissed first, and how happy I was, now I looked upon those same flowers and I am sickened by the every thought of them lying in my dead wife’s hair. All I want to do is wake her and take her with me, some place safe. I moved my hand to her stomach, it is firm with my child, my daughter forever trapped in her womb.

I sit with her for a long time, gently stroking her face as if she were alive again. I should have died on Mustafar, Jung should have killed me and taken me out of my misery. I feel almost human again as I stare at my beloved wife, but I am reminded of the children I murdered at the Temple and I realized that I am not human.

“Soo-ya… do not worry for I will avenge your death and our child, for I will let Empress Yeonhwa suffer and when the time is right I will kill her and put liberty back on the throne. I will make this better… forgive me… please forgive me…” I pleaded to her lifeless form. “Forgive me, Soo-ya…”

I feel the presence of people approaching her corpse. I quickly shuffle to the shadows that still envelope the dome and covered myself with a hooded dark cloak.

“I will see you soon, my Soo-ya.” I muttered to her.

Soo-ya is being laid to rest today. Her family comes to take her body to the island at dusk. I follow behind them in the shadows, using the force to cover my steps. When we reach the lake I silently descend from my hood and walked next to the funeral procession. Twenty-seven boats, one for every year of her life with candles line the path, the boat takes to the island. We make it to the island quickly and the pallbearers pull her now covered casket out of the boat. The priest that married us is ready to oversee the burial, I can see the sadness in his eyes, he knows what happened to her and he knows the father of her child. The mourners mutter with one last prayer for Soo-ya as they lower her into the ground, her handmaidens shower her casket with peony flowers as her casket descends.

Her tombstone read,

“Here Lies Her Grace, Senator Hae Soo

 Former Queen of Naboo

May Shiraya Keep Her In The Highest Place In Her Lunar Heaven”

That did not do justice to my wife’s death. As Soon as the last mourner leaves, I went out of the shadows and fall to my knees where the fresh dirt covers my beloved wife forever. I grip the dirt just as I had done to my father’s grave.

“Forgive me Soo-ya… That I was not strong enough to save you… Forgive me…” That was all I said towards her tombstone. I get up and drop a Peony flower onto Soo-ya’s grave. I look at her tomb once more and I leave. I will never return to that place as long as I live. For I will become Gwangjong, no longer will I be Wang So.

Wang So killed my wife and child. Gwangjong tried to save her.

No one's POV:

“Woo-Hee.”

The woman turned around to see her husband Baek Ah cradling a newborn baby in a white cloth as he approached her towards the seat where the city of Alderaan is viewed.

“Meet our daughter, Seol.”

Woo-hee took the baby girl from his arms then into hers as she smiled, seeing the child sleeping in her arms. The child who is secretly known as the daughter of Senator Hae Soo and … the former Jedi, Wang So.

Baek Ah and Woo-Hee looked at each other lovingly with a smile then looked down at their new adopted daughter, who will be the New Princess of Alderaan… and will soon be the one to save the galaxy someday.

“Welcome to your new home, Princess Seol of Alderaan…”

Chapter Text

Chae Ryung was a lot of things – the blabbermouth, the troublesome yet optimistic girl, the obnoxious gal, etc – and a party animal was probably one of the best descriptions for her.

So she organized a party for her friends plus her boyfriend Won along with his brothers and sister during Christmas wasn’t much of a surprise. In fact, it was expected by everyone that even before Ryung can tell them, they already said yes, much to her annoyance.

The big shocker was that one of the Wang Brothers, So, had agreed to come.

Usually So always avoided attending most of the occasional parties such as this, for he is a workaholic kind of guy who never do things that are fun and dislikes a crowd full of people. In addition to his great dislike of parties and crowds or just people in general, the big stain to his relationship with Hae Soo is the ultimate reason they expected him that he won’t bother to attend Chae Ryung’s party. To say things are awkward and tense between them is the biggest understatement of the year. She’s been trying so hard on ignoring him while he’s getting frustrated with her.

“Hey, Soo-ya!” Ryung called out to the stiff woman who’s been unusually quiet since So came. “This is a party.”

Soo looked at her best friend as if she’s the stupidest person on the face of the planet... or universe for that matter.

Ryung swung her arms around. “You’re supposed to enjoy and have fun! Go get some booze in the kitchen!”

“But--!”

Her best friend glared at her and pushed her towards the direction of the kitchen. “Nuh-uh-uh! No buts, my butt! GO!”

“Fine.” Soo sighed and went on her way to get something to drink.

But before she could step inside the kitchen, there came So as her body froze to see the sight of him here. There’s no more than a meter between them. He saw her and he stopped as well, piercing her with his intense stare like a wolf awaiting for his prey.

“S-so-ya! Um, hi.” She said then gulped nervously. He didn’t made a response as he continues to stare at her for almost a long moment until Soo was caught off-guard when he raised his right arm and cupping her cheek with his left hand then suddenly, his lips were on hers.

Her eyes widened, not leaving anytime for her to react. Before she could push him away, his lips slowly left hers.

He was smirking. She gaped.

His right arm was still raised, her eyes traced his arm and looked up to see that he was holding a mistletoe.

“That was lame, So-hyung.” She heard his little brother, Eun from behind her. she could hear Yo, Won and Jung snickering while Mu and Wook just grinned at the sight of their third brother making a smooth move at ‘his person’. And most of all. She can feel that there are multiple pair of eyes looking at the couple.

Before she could protest—although at the moment, she couldn’t utter a single word as Ryung sighed loudly. “Well, it’s about damn time you two kissed!”

Soo’s cheeks turned red. Blushing in embarrassment, she covers her face with her hands then leans on So’s chest causing him to smile in amusement to see his cute girlfriend blushed in an adorable kind of way. He looks down to see her still covering her face on his chest then said with a gentle tone.

“As always… you are beautiful, my Soo-ya.”

Chapter Text

13 year old Seol smirked as she picked up the tube of lipstick sitting on her eomma’s desk. She didn’t know exactly what to do with it since she had never used make-up before but she had watched her eomma put it on many times in the morning before work so Seol had somewhat of an idea. 

Carefully, she uncapped the tube as she turned the bottom to allow the stick to go up. The color was a light rosy shade of pure red and it almost reminded Seol of her mama’s signature lipstick color. She dabbed a little on her lower lip as she continued to paint her lip with that tube until the red showed up on her lips.

Seol realized she may have added too much when the color look ridiculously bright on her lips for some reason. It was definitely not what her eomoni looked like in the morning. Grabbing a tissue, she dabbed her lips to try to remove some of the color to lighten the intensity of the red on her lips. It worked and she tossed the tissue aside as she briefly ran her fingers through her dark locks. 

She had asked an American boy named Jake out for a date today. He was actually a foreign exchange student and her classmate in school, who obviously has a massive crush on her ever since the day he first met her. It took a while for her to decide who to ask but she believed that Jake would make the best candidate on how to rile her appa up. After all, Jake was one of the best looking guys in her class and his well-quipped tongue would do wonders to her abeoji’s patience.

“Abeoji, I’m going out!” she called out as she ran down the stairs to the front door.

“Where are you going?” he asked as he glanced up from the paper he was working on.

“On a date!” she responded.

Seol allowed for the realization to set in as she opened the front door. She could almost feel her face break out into a wide grin as she heard the still silence in the room. Before she could let her appa say anything else, she ran out the door and quickly closed it behind her.

“WHAT?????” So’s shout could be heard from down the street.

Seol smirked as she ran down the streets for her “date” with Jake. Turning around, she stuck her tongue out at the direction she had just came from. Sure, it was childish but it was the only way to get appa to pay attention to her. She thought it was the greatest thing to have her appa spending time with her and eomma from work, but him being the director of one of the biggest companies of South Korea, Wang Go Enterprise was keeping him from spending time with his beloved wife and daughter.

Besides, she always had wanted to know what her eomma meant when she had told her a secret a few weeks ago.

“Appa doesn’t show his emotions easily. But when he gets jealous, the beast inside him is unleashed. He tries to cover it up and call it something else but Eomma knows it’s jealousy.”

Seol smiled. She sort of knew what Eomma meant. Sometimes, Appa would get all moody when some of Eomma’s admirers, mostly her male colleagues, who would ask her out to dinner. Eomma always reassures Appa that it is just a work dinner and Appa would insist that he isn’t bothered by it one bit. It doesn’t explain why only on Eomma’s work dinner days that the kitchen ends up “burning” accidentally and causing Eomma having to return home to cook dinner for the two of them. Seol doubts that her Appa would be so careless in crushing down the kitchen sometimes when he had such extreme tantrum whenever he had things that are dislikable to him. 

Seol came to a stop as she reached Jake’s house. She knocked on the door and was surprised to have it open on the first knock. Jake was standing behind the door with a worried look on his face.

“Uh, Seol… your dad called my house. He said you need to return home. Something about a destroyed kitchen?”

Seol couldn’t believe it. She smiled. “Oh, then I best return home. Sorry about tonight, Jake! I’ll make it up to you!”

Jake confused at her sudden cancellation of their first date but yet he smiled back at her with understanding. “Sure, no problem, Seol. I will keep our date, line in check.”

She suddenly gives him a kiss on his cheek causing him to blush as she then leaves him still smiling. Jake just stood there, watching her leave and dumbstruck for his crush had kissed him in the cheek.

Chapter Text

“No, no, nooo,” Soo moaned softly as she stared at the big red stain on the front of her skirt. She was just bringing out another platter of hors d’oeuvres when somebody stepped backwards and accidentally spilled their glass of red wine on her. Luckily, she was able to regain her balance and not spill anything on the platter. Unluckily, her outfit did not meet such lucky fate. 

She placed the platter down as she bit her lower lip. With some paper napkins, she tried to wipe away the spill from her skirt but it only made it worse as the red stain bled deeper into the fabric of the skirt.

“Sorry!” the man who bumped into her apologized. Soo mumbled a “it’s okay” as she turned quickly to go back into one of the empty corridors. It would be bad if the mistress of the house saw her. Soo had heard rumors of the Princess being a total witch when it comes to her parties even though her appearance is very beautifully angelic from the outside. Soo was sure that having a giant stain would soil the illusion of the perfect party. 

“Are you okay?” a voice called out to her.

Soo glanced up to see someone emerge from the shadows of the corridor halls. It was a young girl around her age but she was wearing a beautiful night blue ball gown with a dangling pearls each on her ear. The girl’s eyes sparkled with her deep brown shades and her hair was tied up in a whimsical braid bun style paired with a set of classic side bangs. In her hand was a masquerade mask that she must have removed earlier on.

“Y-yes, I’m fine,” Soo replied in a high-pitched voice as she tried to look away so that the girl couldn’t see her face. It would be bad if Soo was pinpointed out as a servant girl with clumsy hands. 

“Your skirt is stained,” the girl pointed out. 

“I’ll go to the bathroom to wash it out,” Soo said.

“That won’t do. You would have to launder that. Wine is a nuisance that way.” The girl smiled. “We have to find something for you to change into!”

“My change of clothes is in the back room. I will get them,” Soo responded.

“Did you bring a dress for the ball?” the girl asked.

“No, I’m just a servant girl here.”

“That’s a shame. You would look really pretty in one of Yeonhwa’s dresses.”

“Yeonhwa?” 

“Ah, she’s the hostess of this party.”

Sakura’s eyes widened. “Oh no! I can’t be caught seen in her dresses. She would kill me!”

The girl laughed. “Nonsense. Yeonhwa can’t even remember how many dresses she has. She wouldn’t notice at all. Besides, I am bored at this party and I feel like having a little adventure.” The girl grabbed Soo’s hand. “My name is Woo-Hee by the way,” she introduced herself.

“Hae Soo…” Soo replied weakly.

With a cheery smile, Woo-Hee took Soo upstairs as they walked down a series of hallways before coming to a grand bedroom. 

“I don’t think we should be doing this. I shouldn’t even be up here!” Soo protested. “We’re not supposed to set foot on the second floor.”

“Well, you already did. Besides, I know that Yeonhwa’s many dresses are in this room. I think you would look good in a pink gown,” Woo-Hee said as she opened the door to the bedroom and stepped inside. “Ah, here it is!” 

Twenty minutes later, Soo was changed out of her uniform and into a beautiful pure pink ball gown. Rhinestone detailing decorated the waist and upper top of her dress. The skirt of the dress was materialized in an elastic silk like satin. Soo was even sure that the dress made her breasts look fairly larger. Must be the push-up bra design. 

“Beautiful! Dare I say, even more so than me,” Woo-Hee said breathlessly as she admired her work. 

Soo blushed as she tucked a strand of her curled dark brown hair behind her ear. “T-thank you,” she murmured softly as she stared back at her reflection in the mirror. She had to admit that she looked nicely beautiful with her curled long hair tied in a waterfall braid.

Woo-Hee handed a brocade covered pink & gold masquerade mask to Soo. “Maybe you’ll get lucky and find a handsome young man to whisk you away into the night,” Woo-Hee said with a wink.

Soo took the mask. “I doubt it,” she murmured.

The two of them finally made their way out of the bedroom as Soo darted her eyes back and forth for any signs of witnesses to her crime. She could feel her heart pounding as she hurried down the halls to get back to the first floor. Any moment now, she could be caught and although that thought scares her, it also made her blood rush in excitement as adrenaline kicked in.

It was exciting. She had never done something so brazen before. It was uplifting in a way to be a rebellious child and break down the social norms. No longer was she at the bottom of the ladder as she had somehow faked her way to the top. Even if it was only one night, Soo wanted to make it count.

Stepping out to the main ballroom, Soo quickly slipped on her mask as Woo-Hee followed suit and did the same. With a smile, Woo-Hee waved goodbye to Soo as a man came and whisked Woo-Hee away for a dance. Soo glanced around into the crowd as she wondered if finding a dance partner was going to be as easy as how Woo-Hee just did it.

But all the way across the room, her eyes caught the attention of someone who was staring at her. With dark ebony locks and a confident smirk across his face, the man in a dark suit needed no mask to shield himself. She could see his eyes pierce through her very soul as he stared at her. With almost no hesitation in his steps, he proceeded to walk across the room as the crowd of dancers parted the way for him. 

“Hello,” he said as soon as he was within earshot of her.

“Hello,” she greeted him back as she lowered her head slightly as a sign of respect.

He smiled at her as he held out a hand. She took it and he led her out to the middle of the dance floor. “What’s your name?” he asked.

Soo wasn’t sure if it was wise to give her real name. “W—Woo-Hee,” she stammered out.

“Ah, my name is Wang So.”

“Pleasure to meet you, sire.”

He chuckled. “You know of me?” he asked.

Soo couldn’t lie and say she hadn’t. The Wang Family was a famous one all across the kingdom. Perhaps, a bit infamous considering the history behind it all. But that was a story for some other time.

“I can’t say that I haven’t,” she replied.

“You are quite beautiful, milady,” he responded as he held her close to him as they danced. Soo blushed and said nothing as she accepted his compliment.

“You have a beautiful soul. There is such heartwarming kindness in your heart. No one else had one like yours.”

“How do you know that I am that person?” she whispered softly, enough for So to hear.

“I can see it through your eyes behind that mask. I am very observant.”

“Oh.” Soo nodded in amazement.

“Which royal family are you from?” Soo asked.

She was stumped there. Anything she said would be a bigger lie than saying her name was Woo-Hee. She couldn’t exactly make up a royal family, could she?

“A secret,” she murmured as he spun her around.

“What for? Are we rival families?” he asked jokingly.

“Perhaps,” she said.

So’s face turned serious. “You’re not joking?” he questioned. “Are you the Juliet to my Romeo?”

“That’s if you are as dashing as a Romeo,” she teased. She didn’t realize how easily she picked up the habits of flirting. It was such an adrenaline rush to be flirting with a royal family member when she herself was just a lowly commoner servant. Truth be told, if she was to be found out, she would probably be in a lot of trouble. Prison perhaps if not getting flogged ten times.

“Your eyes. They are beautiful as well. I would remember those eyes if I ever see it again,” he whispered as he held her.

“Would you not remember me for my hair or my face, first?” she asked him. 

“You can wear a wig or cover your hair and fool me. But you cannot change the color and the beauty of those eyes,” he said with a smile.

Soo’s heart pounded. His words were melting a hole in her heart. So stopped dancing as he gestured to her mask with his hands lifting up to indicate that he wanted to take off her mask. “May I?” he asked.

Immediately, So’s hands flew up to her mask as she held onto it tightly. She shook her head. “I can’t,” she whispered.

A loud chime was heard as everyone glanced up to the direction of the sound. It was the clock tower in the distance and the bells rung twelve times to mark midnight. Soo hadn’t realize how long the two of them had been dancing and talking. 

“Midnight. I should go,” she murmured.

“Why? Are you Cinderella?” he asked.

Soo smiled at him, almost wryly. “You have no idea,” she whispered as she picked up the train of her dress and bid him goodbye. 

“Wait,” he called out as he grabbed her wrist. Without a word or asking a question, he pulled her in for a parting kiss. Their lips lingered on each other for a while as if time had come to a standstill. Right as he pulled away, he whispered to her. “So what’s your real name?” he asked.

“W-what do you mean?” she stammered.

So gestured his head in the direction of Woo-Hee, who was dancing with a dark-headed guy for what it seems to be his younger brother, Baek-Ah. “Because I know Woo-Hee. And that is her. my younger brother’s fiancée. I also saw her walk in with you so I know you probably just used her name.”

Soo bit her lip. He was smarter than she had expected. “Hae Soo,” she finally admitted.

He smiled as he squeezed her hand in his. “Hae-Soo,” he repeated. “I shall remember that.”

She smiled back as she let go of him and disappeared back into the crowd. She had her night of frivolous fun. It was time to get back and return to reality.

The next morning, Soo sighed as she returned to her hometown, a few miles away from the kingdom. She had returned the dress last night to its proper location and even finished up the last of her duties as she received her payment for completion of her service.

“Soo-ya!” a cheerful voice called out as Soo turned to see her childhood best friend, Chae-Ryung, come running down the path to her home. 

“Chae-Ryung,” she greeted. She saw that she was holding what appeared to be a flyer as she was waving it wildly in her hands.

“Did you see the news?” She shouted as she showed the flyer to her. Soo gasped as she grabbed the piece of parchment from her hands. “What is this?” she demanded to know.

“Prince So is searching for a girl! Chae-Ryung exclaimed.

“Why does it say audition? Is he holding auditions for a play?” Soo asked as she read the flyer some more.

“It’s just a disguise for the real purpose. To keep commoners away. Anybody of royalty would see this immediately as a call out for marriage proposal,” Chae-Ryung explained.

“How would you know? You’re just as common as I am,” Soo stated.

“You hear things when you work in Wang Won’s household. Some of the girls there are already trying to get out of work to sneak into the kingdom for the audition.”

Soo shook her head. “This is silly. How many girls could there be?”

“Only you, is all I know! I never have met anyone with a golden heart besides you, Soo-ya. You have to go! You’re a shoo-in to win!”

Soo smiled wryly. “I did not know marriage was a competition,” she commented.

“It is if the prize is a Prince!”

Soo sighed as she stared back down at the flyer. It wouldn’t hurt to go to check it out. She just wanted to see if it was possible to see him once more.

“What in the world…” Soo breathed out as she scanned the scene before her. Girls flooded the entire area but what was amazing about the sight was that every single girl looked like Soo. Of course, they didn’t look exactly like her. Some were tall, some where short. Some where skinny and some were fat. Some of them had short hair while others had long hair. Everyone looked different but everyone also looked the same. Soo was sure that all of them were trying to look pretty as they can but she had to give a double-take to each time she saw a girl that could be her twin. In fact, she could have had several hundred clones to say the least.

Soo knew that she wasn’t going to join in the audition. After all, So would only be disappointed to learn the truth if she were to reveal herself. Soo sighed as she glanced down at the flyer. The strange thing was how vague the flyer was. She had assume that he would put in more details if he truly wanted to find her. Appearance wasn’t much to go on.

“Why the long sigh, miss?” 

Soo turned to see a man standing next to her. She almost gasped a little too loudly in an almost surprised attack. A dark-haired man who is tall with a calm smile.

“N-nothing, it’s just overwhelming to see so many girls here,” she responded.

“Yes. It seems they all want to get the part,” he commented.

She only nod as a reply.

“I wish you good luck as well. You sure look the part yourself.”

Soo blushed in embarrassment. She must have seem like one of the eager ladies out there. “R-right,” she murmured.

He smiled. “I hope you win,” he whispered before he left and disappeared into the crowd. 

“She didn’t come!” So said in frustration as he collapsed into his chair in a slump. 

“She did,” his older brother, Wang Mu, said. 

“No she didn’t! If she did, I would have known! But none of the girls that auditioned were her today!” So said with a frustrated sigh.

“That’s because she didn’t audition.”

“What?”

Mu smiled. “I saw her today. The girl you described to me. Hair as beautiful as like the sun. Eyes that are elegant like pearls. A smile that is radiant and serene if not a bit longing. And finally who has a beautiful soul with a heartwarming kindness.

“Where was she?” So demanded to know. 

“I followed her around the whole day after speaking to her. She went home.”

“WHAT?! She went home?!” So cried out in disbelief.

“Don’t fret. I’ll tell you where she lives.”

Soo hummed as she smashed a few herbs in the mortar. She was at home in the kitchen and making medicine for the sick children in the orphanage. One of the children had come down with a cold and Soo was trying to make enough medicine to give to the kids so that the sickness wouldn’t spread.

A knock came at the door and Soo quickly wiped her hands on her apron as she got up to answer the door. “Just one moment!” she called out as she walked over to open the door. She froze when she saw who was standing in front of her.

“P-Prince So!” she barely managed to squeak out as her hands flew to her mouth.

“So you live here,” he responded as he glanced around her home before stepping inside. “It’s a bit small,” he commented.

Her eyes widened to see that it was him inside of her house at this very moment. This was not happening. 

He smiled. “It was hard finding you. If it weren’t for my brother, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Brother..?”

“Ah, A taller and older man with a calm expression.” So said.

Oh, so that was who the man earlier was. “W-what are you doing here?” she asked.

“To find you. Soo-ya. I told you I will remember your name.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” she said glumly. “I’m not who you think. As you can see. I lied to you. I’m not royalty.”

“Your house is indeed small,” he noted.

Soo sighed. 

“I can’t move in here. But thankfully, my home should be suitable enough to house us both. As well as your parents and anyone else you want to move in,” So said as he surveyed the home.

“What?” she said in response. “You want me to what?”

“Well we can’t live apart when we get married,” So stated.

“B-but… I’m not of royalty. I’m just a lowly commoner.”

“The girl I met last night was nothing of the sort. She was smart and funny and more beautiful with a heartwarming kindness than any of the girls in this land. I should know. I saw a lot of girls who couldn’t hold a candle to you.”

Soo bit her lip. “How did you know they weren’t me?”

“I told you. I can’t forget those eyes of yours. I would remember it the moment I see it again. None of those girls had your eyes. They may have the right hair and the right clothes, but no one had your eyes.”

He did it again. Made her heart melt again. Twice in a row. It should be a crime. She should know. She committed a crime last night by stealing a dress. 

So smiled as he held her hands. “Come away with me. We will return to my home and we will wed.” 

She smiled as she held onto his hands. “But one thing. If you were blind and could not see me again, how would you ever find me?” she asked. It was a silly question but she was hoping that he would be clever enough to know the answer.

He smiled even wider. “There’s a method for that,” he whispered. He closed his eyes as his hands cupped her chin. “I remember too, the kiss we shared,” he said as his lips came down onto hers. 

Chapter Text

“Let’s all give a warm welcome to our new transfer today, Miss Hae Soo,” Mr. Ji-Mong said with a big smile as he introduced the new student to the class.

The class mumbled an incoherent hello as many students continued to glance at their phones and not pay attention to what the teacher was saying. It was homeroom after all and students were more concerned with the latest social gossip than who is the new kid in school. But it was not until one student glanced up that everyone else followed along too.

The whispers started as everyone was in awe of who they saw. It was a girl so that sparked many of the guy’s attention. And because it was a girl, that ignited an interest in the girls of the class because she was deemed too pretty. Any girl that was that pretty was major competition for one of the hottest guys in school and one of the Wang Brothers – the dark prince, Wang So.

Soo smiled as she bowed and greeted the class. “Nice to meet everyone. I’m Hae Soo. Hope to become fast friends with everyone here.”

The bell rang and everyone got up as they packed their things for their next classes. A few guys walked by Soo with grins and whistles as they waved hi. A group of girls snootily walked by with a cold shoulder as they left the classroom.

“Soo-ya, you have first period with me right?” Mr. Ji-Mong asked as he glanced down at Soo’s schedule.

She nodded. “Yes, Astrology.”

“Okay, go take a seat. It’ll be in this classroom,” he said as he gestured over to the seats.

Suddenly a loud commotion was heard in the hallway as a bright head of brown hair burst through the doors along with a few of his brothers behind him.

“Soo-ya!” he shouted out loud as he ran over to Soo, who had already seated herself by the window.

“Eun. Stop being so loud in the morning,” Soo greeted with a smile and a warning.

“I can’t believe you transferred here and didn’t even think to tell us!” Eun exclaimed.

“Because you would act this way and I knew it,” she said with a sigh.

“It’s only going to be quiet for a little while, y’know?” Jung, the youngest of the Wang Brothers, said with a grin as he walked towards her and sat on top of the desk in front of Soo as their older brother, Won just stood in front of their close female friend.

“Why?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.

“I know you live in prehistoric times with your flip phone and all but you need to upgrade to a smartphone because you’re going to fall off the social ladder if you’re not wired in,” Eun said before Jung was supposed to complain as the optimistic boy pointed to Soo’s tiny flip phone sitting on her desk.

Soo crossed her arms. “I don’t need a smartphone. I’m already smart enough.” She smiled as she couldn’t help adding in, “That’s why you need one more than I do.”

“Ouch,” Eun said as he clutched his heart in pretend hurt. “That stung. Real bad. Right here. In my heart. Like the time you rejected me in middle school.”

Soo rolled her eyes as the two brothers did the same as her at Eun’s silly pretense. “Don’t be so dramatic Eun.”

Loud squeals came from the hallway and Soo glanced up in surprise at the loud commotion. The classroom door slid open as the other Wang Brothers walked in, Baek-Ah, the second youngest and Wook, the forth eldest just gave the girls a soft smile to them while Yo, the second eldest just flirts with a devilish yet gorgeous smile to his adoring fans by waving and giving them a flying kiss. So, on the other hand, is a different story. He just ignores them and groaned in annoyance as he slammed the door shut in front of a group of excited girls.

“Loud and annoying,” he muttered as he walked over to where his three brothers and Soo was.

“You’re in my seat,” So said as he pointed at Soo’s seat.

She frowned at him. “No, I’m in my seat. Find a different seat. Your scary aura doesn’t work on mine, so beat it.”

“Ooooooooohhhhhhhhh.” The Wang Brothers winced at Soo’s words to their third cold brother.

So stared her down and she stared back at him, her gaze unwavering. Finally, he broke eye contact as he took the seat behind her. “Stubborn,” he muttered.

She smiled in triumph as she turned and stuck her tongue out at him. “You never change,” she commented with a smile then she turned her attention to his brothers as they all had very good conversation about her arrival here as a new student and classmate.

Lunch came and Soo glanced around the cafeteria as she wondered where on earth she should sit. Everyone seemed to have their rightful spot in the cafeteria and it seemed as if seating was already pre-assigned. Amidst the crowd of heads she saw, her eyes immediately spotted one. A familiar dark hair. She smiled as she walked towards it.

 The Wang Brothers were seated in the middle of the cafeteria and had all their stuff sprawled out on the seats. She crinkled her nose at the mess of backpacks, books, and lunch items scattered all over the bench and table. She placed her lunch down on top of a stack of textbooks as she eyed the Brothers.

“Mind if I sit here?” she asked with a raised eyebrow at the mess.

“Soo-ya!!!” Eun and Jung called out happily.

“You guys are slobs,” she commented as she picked up a backpack and moved it down the bench so that she could sit down beside Soo.

“It’s Eun and Jung. Not me, not Wook, not Baek-Ah, not Won and certainly not So.” Yo said as he took a big bite of his sandwich.

“Oh sure. Blame us. We only did it so that no one comes to bother you guys, Hyung-nim.” Jung said with a frown to Yo.

So smirked as he continued to eat. “We forgot to warn you about the Mystery Meat,” he commented as he eyed Soo’s cafeteria lunch, which consisted of a dark, brown blob of what appeared to be meat.

Soo wrinkled her nose. “I’ll remember to bring my own lunch tomorrow.”

After lunch, Soo went to the bathroom to wash up before her next class. It was to her surprise when she found herself cornered in the girls’ bathroom by the same group of girls from her homeroom.

“Explain this!” a girl with a twin pony tail exclaimed as she shoved a phone up Soo’s face.

Soo glanced at the phone. It was a picture of her and So at the beach. She smiled. She remembered that day. She had tripped on some rocks that were hidden in the sand and had twisted her ankle. So had scolded her at that time and was angry with her for being so clumsy all the while wrapping her leg up in gauze bandages and then carrying her on his back. When she had asked him why he had gauze bandages with him at the beach, he had told her that it was because he knew she was the clumsy type to get into situations like this. When Eun, Baek-Ah and Jung had found the two of them, Baek-Ah took a picture to commemorate it as ‘So’s random act of kindness’.

“Oh, that’s me at the beach,” Soo said.

“No, duh! Why are you on So-ya’s back?!”

“I injured my ankle and he carried me home.” Soo blinked. What part of the picture was confusing to these girls?

“Why were you with him?!”

“I thought I just explained it?” Soo said, confused.

The bell rang and Soo glanced up at the sound. “Oh, got to go to class. Bye girls!” she said as she walked through the group of girls and out the bathroom.

“Did she just…?” the twin pigtail headed girl gaped in surprise as she stared at the closed bathroom door.

Fifth period was English Literature with Ms. Hwangbo. Soo sat in the seat behind So as she smiled at his back. “So I see you made our beach photo your profile picture,” she whispered.

“No, I didn’t,” he said, as his head remained facing the front.

“I saw it. Some girl showed me in the bathroom.”

“Why was some girl showing you pictures in the bathroom?” he asked as he finally turned around.

Soo shrugged. “I don’t know. She seemed a little riled up.”

He said nothing as he turned back around. “You should be careful around those girls,” he said softly as he scribbled something down on a piece of paper.

“I can take care of myself,” Soo replied.

So turned back around and dropped a slip of paper on her desk. “Meet me there after school.”

She glanced at him in suspicion but couldn’t say anything to it since their teacher had just walked in. Quietly, she unfolded the slip of paper as she read what he had written inside. With a smile, she tucked it into her book.

After seventh period had ended, Soo packed up her things to head to the location that So had written on the piece of paper earlier. She walked to the school’s gymnasium as she peeked in through the large doors to see that it was dark and empty. She walked inside as she glanced around for any signs of So.

“Boo,” a voice came from behind her and she whirled around to see So standing there with his hands in his pockets.

“Nice try,” she murmured. “That didn’t scare me.”

“I wasn’t trying to scare you,” he responded. He walked up to her as he brushed back a strand of hair from her face. “So how did you like your first day here?” he asked.

“It was alright. Met these seven guys. They seem alright,” she shrugged.

So smiled softly. “Was one of them good looking?”

“Eh...”

“Eh?”

“He was alright. For a guy who is an emo wolf dog,” she teased.

“I’ll make you regret saying that,” he warned.

She chuckled as she placed her hands at her hips. “Oh yeah?” she challenged.

So smirked as he pulled her in towards him for a kiss. “Yeah,” he said as his lips met with hers.

“Someone will see,” she murmured into the kiss.

“Let them. It’s good to finally have you back in Seoul,” he replied.

Soo smiled as she threw her arms around his shoulders. “I did miss my best friends,” she whispered.

“You mean six best friends and one boyfriend.”

“So your brothers is which one?” she asked innocently as she batted her eyelashes at him.

He gave a low growl as he picked her up and caused her to squeal out a little in surprise. “Wrong answer!” he said.

“Okay, okay! Put me down! You’re my boyfriend!” she exclaimed as her arms held on tightly to So’s neck.

“Say what again?” he asked with a tease.

“WANG SO IS MY BOYFRIEND!” she shouted out loud.

Static filled the air as the PA system went on inside the school. “Testing. Testing. We will be testing the PA system.”

Mr. Park Soo-kyung fumbled with the controls on the amplifier as he turned a few knobs. “Why won’t this microphone work?” he mumbled as he tapped into it. He crouched down to shine his flashlight around to see if there was another microphone somewhere.

The static and feedback echoed through the hallways as students glanced up while walking down the hallways to their lockers.

“WANG SO IS MY BOYFRIEND!” came over the PA system.

The girls in the hallway paused as they stared at the speakers and then proceeded to faint.

“Hey! What are you two kids doing down there? Can you bring me that microphone near you?” was heard muffled through the speakers.

“Thanks Miss Hae Soo. Oh, oops. Hey, this microphone is on,” came Soo-kyung’s voice. Then the speakers went silent as a click was heard.

So’s brothers glanced up with wide eyes as they stared at the speakers when Yo spoke. “Ah shit. So much for a secret relationship, huh.” he remarked at his younger brothers shook their heads thinking the same thing as they all closed their lockers then walked fast towards the hallway to rescue the couple and heard all of the girls in school whine and scream.

Chapter Text

(Edited by reylochanblog on tumbr)

When we hold each other, in the darkness, it doesn’t make the darkness go away. The bad things are still out there. The nightmares still waking. When we hold each other we feel not safe, but better. “It’s all right” we whisper, “I’m here, I love you.” And we lie: “I’ll never leave you.” For just a moment or two the darkness doesn’t seem so bad.

- Neil Gaiman, ‘Neil Gaiman’s Midnight Days'

Wang So was the right hand of Captain Wang Yo, his ruthless elder brother who became one of the most notorious pirates in Korean history, murderously killing anyone who dares to challenge him or oppose him and the reason why he is the pirate that all pirates fear. So, on the other hand was another story, for he was known as the ‘demon wolf’ pirate who slays anyone who comes in his way and mostly has a very high tantrum whenever it comes to things that are not satisfying to his purposes. During their voyage, Captain Yo tells his brother that the treasure they are now seeking is the fountain of Youth from which he scoffed in annoyance at that matter telling him, “You know that the legendary water fountain nonsense is far away from the truth, hyung-nim?”

“Oh my dear little wolf dog, this…” He smirked as he pointed his tip finger to the map of the location where the fountain of Youth is placed. “This is the very truth we have been waiting for. You see this map.” He faces his brother with determination and pride. “Belongs to the famous Ponce De Leon, I’m sure you’ve heard of that person, do you?”

So raised his eyebrow and spoke curiously. “Ponce De Leon… you mean the Spanish explorer who searches for the fountain of youth. I thought his discovery of that place was a myth.”

“Those are just plain rumors to lessen the real story of the Ponce De Leon’s discovery, brother.”

“I see. So how do we get there?”

“First we must find the Whitecap Bay where we will find something very much valuable, one of the items we need for the ritual of the fountain.”

“And that is?”

“… A mermaid’s tear…”

It was silent for a moment as Yo waited for his brother to respond as So scoffed again in annoyance then spoke. “First, you informed me that ‘The Fountain of Youth’ may possibly be real and now you’re telling me that we should find a tear, from a goddamn mermaid… which it doesn’t exist!”

“Oh my little wolf dog, there are things that can be seen if you want to believe in…”

“Tch.” So bit his lip as he walked out of the captain’s room then goes to the side of the ship as he smells the sea breeze with relaxation. His mind travels to the time when he was a small lad when his mother completely dislikes him and making herself to abuse him in such matter, her own son, she scarred his face in his left eye with no mercy. Making him a beast, a demon and a creature that everyone fears. His whole life is surrounded by darkness, pain, suffering and fear, never had a light of peace through him…

That is until a certain creature came into his dark life, who saved him from the fallen lighthouse that almost killed him would bring him to his salvation of redemption.

He knew from the moment he saw her that he was damned. Her hair draped her face and her eyes were scared like those of a fawn, wide and pleading as they told him ‘let me go, let me go.’ God, she was the loveliest thing he had ever see. The blood around her fin, scarlet ink writhing against her coral scales as he lifted his knife to let her release from stabbed pain she felt.

But it was already too late as the nets began to fall around this feminine creature causing her to shriek in mixture of anger and fear, struggling to get out of this tangled net. So was shocked to see this beautiful creature trapped in a net as he was about to stop the crew from hurting her, his brother called out to him.

“Well done, brother. You’ve caught the catch of the night.” He smirked in an almost sinister yet prideful.

So watched helplessly, seeing the young mermaid being taken away from his sight.

‘This girl… she is different from the rest of mermaids we have encountered. She’s… a kind and timid mermaid than the others… a very beautiful mermaid from that matter…’ He thought curiously as he heard his brother calling out to him to keep on the move to their way path to the fountain of youth. In the next torturous day of their walked through the jungle, the crew sat for a rest to save up their strength as So inhaled and exhaled from breathing for some air as he turns around to see the mermaid trying to breath inside the glass casket. In horror, he marched towards the casket trying to open the handle but it was completely locked as he looked at the mermaid with concern to see that her life is almost withering. So stood up and stared at the large man who keeps his guards to watch the mermaid as the wolf pirate spoke harshly.

“Open this casket.”

“She will escape.” The large man replied with no fear in expression as So began to sneer, almost in anger.

“You’re killing her.”

The large man replied with a sinister laugh. So have had enough of this as he unsheathed his sword and thrusts it towards lid that closes in between then tries to open successfully as the mermaid begins to breathe deeply, inhaling the air desperately.

So sighed for what it seems to be that he is relief that the mermaid had given some air to keep her from being alive then he looks up to the large man with a death stare. The large man just turned away giving him and the mermaid to have some alone time.

The wolf pirate turns his head to stare at the mermaid again from which she begins to stare him in return. But for a few moments, So looks away from her with a mixture of emotions he has right now as he moved far away from her sight.

He wanted to wrap his arms around her and keep her safe, but she was stuck in a chamber of glass and he was a wolf dog who follows orders from the captain. She could have been his Snow White and So wondered if that meant that he was her prince, the one who will wake her with true love’s kiss, he thought with a scoff, thinking it to be a child’s fairytale story. He could see her gasping and withering in her coffin, and he would remind himself of the mermaids and their songs and the way they had torn men as if they were nothing. Mermaids don’t have eternal souls, mermaids turn into sea foam, a voice whispered. They were forsaken by the Gods. Yet when she fixed her gaze on him, he was lost again. She made him doubt everything.

Her eyes still pleaded to him and he found himself wanting to answer.

Captain Wang Yo and his brother, So along with the crew continuously marched their path through the jungle. From behind, the other four men carry the glass casket where the mermaid is being held when one of the men clumsily slide his foot from the slippery soiled ground causing the half of the glass casket to shatter, freeing the mermaid out. Suddenly the mermaid’s tail begins to morph into something familiar to the men, a pair of slender feminine legs. Almost all of the crew were shock yet in awe to see a beautiful mermaid to have such stunning legs. So was almost the same like them, but his concern to the creature overcomes him as he walked towards her while removes his dark coat and wraps it around her exposed body. But unlike So and the crew, Captain Yo was not completely like them as he approached her with a satisfied expression to see that the mermaid finally has legs.

“You will walk.”

The feminine creature looked up to him with a calm yet a growing anger begins to flow slowly through her face as she tries to stand up while So assists her to keep her balance on her first time walking on the soiled ground but unfortunately, her legs wobbled like an infant making her unable to give a chance to make another step as she falls herself on the ground, easily giving up.

“I cannot.” She sighed while looking down.

“Walk or Die.” Yo looked down at her, with a small threat towards the creature as the large man unsheathed his sword then paced his way towards her to be ready to slay her, waiting for his captain’s orders.

The mermaid glares at the ruthless captain with a still calm yet intense anger through her face until she heard the man she saved.

“Put your arms around me.”

She turns her head to face him still angry and sneered. “I don’t ask for help.”

“You need it.” So replied.

The mermaid looks at the young man with her anger lowers down from her face as they stared at each other for a moment. Then finally, she timidly wraps her arms around his neck as So puts his arms on the mermaid to carry in a bridal style and looks up to his brother with a cold stare.

“We’re in a hurry are we not, hyung-nim?”

“Do not fall behind.” Yo stares at his younger brother with the same expression as his then turns around to continuously walk through the jungle.

So assures the creature that she will be alright as he follows his brother from behind along with the rest of crew. While still walking, he asked.

“What is your name?”

“…”

“Well?”

Why do want to know?”

“Just curious.” He shrugged.

“I have no name for myself, the sea never named me.”

“Then…” he looked down at her with a small smile that rarely seen from anyone including his brother. “I shall call you… Hae Soo.”

“Hae…Soo… but that means…”

“Grace and beautiful… it suits for a creature like you. You’re different from the others that I have encountered.”

The mermaid turns her head around not looking at him with a small blush on her cheeks as So notices her shyness, he smirked.

“And you?” Asked while looking away from him.

“… Wang So.”

At night when they reached the acacia tree where a small pool but a deep one was located below the tree, the large man took the feminine creature away from his arms and ties her up from large root of tree where her legs morph back into her original form in the water. Beside her, was the dead mermaid also being tied up from what it seems to be the way, Hae Soo is going to be soon ended up if they keep on torturing her like her deceased merfolk as she looked away from the horror she saw. The ruthless captain approached her with a smirk that Hae Soo truly hates as Wang So just stood there helplessly watched his brother trying to talk her out of it by forcing her to cry to get the tears.

“Look.” Yo said with a menacing tone trying make her look to the dead mermaid. “Look!” The large man turns her head harshly to look at the dead one. “Stay tied up and die, dry in the sun. Only half in the water, not enough to live, but just enough to make the dying slow.” He looked at her mockingly as he continued. “Your people, murdered for the harvesting of their tears. Hae Soo… won’t you cry?”

Soo looked at him with anger no tears coming out from eye and spoke with a threatening tone. “All die, even you. Soon they hear.”

Yo sneered at her words as he marched his way towards her and tugged her hair harshly. “Listen… Listen you, can you not hear your sisters scream? Do you not hear them?! We need but one tear.” Soo didn’t say anything causing the captain to slap her face hard.

“Vile Creature!” he stood up and walked away.

So saw this with the aura of a wolf dog surrounding him seeing his Hae Soo being slapped and abused by his brother as he tries to move his feet to help her and avenge her by killing his brother but his conscious won’t let him as he continues to hear some of the crew’s words with threatening words towards her.

“Cut off her fingers, one by one!”

“Shoved her!”

“Bulge out her eyes!”

“Perhaps.” He turns around to face the crew. “We should build a fire.”

“No!” So said out loud finally moving his feet by approaching in disagreeing his brother.

“Do not contest me, my little wolf dog.” He pushes So in the chest with his hand harshly.

“You will not torture her this way.”

Yo widened his eyes to see his brother, a ‘demon wolf’ who slays people with no mercy and no heart. But now seeing his brother in front of him was no longer the same boy he knew but different man who protects the little mermaid like a knight protecting his queen.

“Well, this is a bit unusual of you, Wang So. For someone who slays people, now begins to feel pity for this creature. You’re becoming weak because of that thing. I will tear every scale of her body one by one, if I see fit. I understand why eomeoni never loved you, you’re nothing but a beast with an ugly scar that is branded you as an outcast.”

The words caused So to become enrage as he unsheathes his sword to kill him but was pinned down by the large man and a few of the crew to stop him. So struggles to be free but pinned down even harder by the large man as Yo squats his knees to face down at him.

“You care for her, you fancy her…” Yo raised his finger and pointed towards his brother’s face. “And do not deny for what it is clear to me in my eyes.” He stood up and walked his way towards Soo. “The question is… “And tugged her hair again. “Does she fancy you? Fancy a monster like him? Why?”

Soo didn’t say anything as Yo smirked almost evilly. “Of course she does, we’re in luck, gentlemen. Bring forth the tear.” He took his knife then points it to So’s neck as one of the crew took out a vile and places it near her cheek to wait for her tear to fall as Soo sees the man she has grown fond with, was being tortured by his own brother.

“Soo-ya!” He called out to her while trying to struggle his way out of the crew’s hands away from him still being pinned down. “Don’t do it!” before being stabbed at the side of his abdomen and collapsed into the ground unmoved causing her eyes to widen in shock as she screamed.

“No!!” She begins to feel something foreign in her eyes as one tear was starting to fall from her eye. The man who holds the vile successfully catches it and tells his captain that he got the tear from the mermaid.

“Finally.” He took the vile of the mermaid’s tear with a victorious smirk then faces Soo with a mixture anger and hatred towards the captain. “Thank you, Hae Soo. For giving me what I need.” He turns around to face the large man. “Tie her up tightly and leave her to die. And uh… carry my brother, he’s not dead. Yet. But he will be. When I begin the ritual.”

The large man nodded as he begins to tie the rope around her hands tightly on one of the large roots then carries So’s body walked away. Hae Soo helplessly watches So’s body being taken away from her.

Chapter Text

After for what it seems to be more than an hour, She tries to keep her breathe calm even though her time out of the water is starting make her feel dehydrated. She has to save Wang So, she has to. And she won’t give up without a fight as she tries to untangle the ropes from wrists. She grunted in pain of the tightness of the rope but she can feel the ropes starting to slip from her slowly as she continues to struggle from the ties until finally she was free. And with that, she hastily dip herself to the underground waters.

The water was cold and numbing, just as she thought it would be, and it pushed against them as the pressure rose. It was her turn to set him free as she swam down the deep tunnels where she saw two broken chalices at the end, Hae Soo had some thoughts about whether she would help or escape from this terror. All of the voices in her head are telling her that she should swam away from this and go back to the way it was with her sisters. But her heart whispers to her that she has to do right thing… to save Wang So from his demonic brother. And so she took the chalices then swam her way up to the surface to where she saw a young man when he saw her emerge from the waters, he stare at her in awe as she gives the two chalices to him. He took the chalices from her while staring at her.

“Where is he?” Hae Soo asked with evidence of concern in her face.

“My brother, So-ya. Escaped from Captain Yo’s hands. I honestly don’t know where he is, Please find him.” He pleaded.

She looked up at him for a moment then spoke.

“Do not waste my tear, Jung.” She said in her calm yet determine.

As he was about to say a word, she plunged herself down to the waters and swam away through the tunnels.

When she rose from the water, her hair flowing around her like the darkest quicksilver, he knew everything might just be alright. She had come back just like he had come for her and in that moment he knew he loved her. He loved Hae Soo with her odd, smooth voice and her dark eyes that told him a million things he wanted to know as she gazed at him with that one look that was seared into his mind. That fierce yet fearful look that had enough love to make him believe in fairy tales gave him all the strength for what was to come.

“You’re hurt.” She said in a soft yet concerned tone.

“I’m alright.” He smiled weakly at her then continued to speak. “My mind is at peace… because of you.”

“Me?” Her eyes widen.

“Yes… I was lost…” He breathed heavily, trying to keep himself alive from his open wound. “The wind… the tides… I was a pawn under my brother’s throne, a demon wolf dog as his pet. But you made me feel like I am a man… a man falling in love with a beautiful creature like you... For me, you are my light. Only you.”

She raised her hand on his cheek affectionately with their lips closer. “So-ya. I can save you. You need only ask.”

He leaned himself forward to her face as if he was trying to steal a kiss from her. “I seek but one thing.”

“And what is that?”

“Forgiveness… if it weren’t for me, you could have never been captured.” His eyes full of regret with a soft tone.

She smiled. “Ask.”

For a moment of staring at each other, Wang So finally spoke. “Forgive me.”

And with that, she kissed him passionately then dragging him into the depths of the water.

His lips would taste like dried sea salt and sweat, she decided, holding his face in her hands. There was a deep yearning clawing at the back of her throat and her mouth felt suddenly dry as she felt the pulsating sensation of his blood running in his veins beneath her fingertips. In that moment, all she wanted was a bite. A small one, just a taste of his man flesh to sate her hunger, to keep the need at bay. She could show him how dim the sun shined at the bottom of the pond where the water was black and cold, and she could let his pain fade away as they painted the current in red. There hungers in life you could only deny for so long and she couldn’t remember that last time she had fed.

‘Wang So… So-ya… So-ya.’

His name was foreign on her lips, feeling as if did not belong there. He was sickly sweet, and the color of his eyes created a night sky she had never seen before, one beautiful and dark and iridescent like the inside of a shell. She almost felt like smiling. What a story they would make, a wisp of a fairytale made of tears and scale. To him, she was Hae Soo.

Hae Soo was beautiful. His very own nimpeu of yesnal in their twisted story crafted by pirates and mutiny. She was gentle and scared, as lovely as the sea that had born her, and did not know the iron tang of blood on her tongue. Wang So, a lone wolf, a dangerous pirate yet misunderstood and an unloved child, hated by his own mother- did not know her. And how could he ever love her if he knew nothing about her? Her sisters were liars, enchantresses spun from the darkest desires of a man’s soul, and she was not sure if she was any different. Every denied whimsy, every hunger not sated was bottled up and threaded through their bones, tied like sea shells in their hair as they sang above the waves. For him, she was willing to suck the marrow from her bones and start again.

She wanted to love him, truly. Soo wanted to love the ‘demon wolf’ and be loved in return with such ardor that she would never be able to doubt it. She wanted to forget to ever take a bite of human flesh, to erase any memory of the bones gathered on the sea floor where they took what was left of the bodies after they ate their fill. She wanted to forget herself. Perhaps then she would be able to become the Hae Soo he had painted in his head with sweet words and a bated touch.

There was a story, her sisters would tell to warn the little ones of men. No one knew the name of the mermaid of the tale for names were given by men, but some few knew the name the mermaid was called by this man, her name is ‘Soo-yeon’ and this one had never come back to tell it. She had fallen in love with a mortal she had saved from the waves, the tale went, but had no voice of her own to tell him with. So she swam him to shore, to his ivory kingdom above sea and danced through her pain for him instead. Her feet bled as she painted the happy ending she desired across the floor and he told her he loved her like no other, but her happy ending came to an end when her lover died from a disease that was unknown to her and she died of a broken heart at the end. They were not meant to love humans, her sisters said as they smiled and licked their fingers clean. ‘We write their ends with their blood, we take them to the depths, and show them the beauty of the moon beneath the water.’

She was so hungry that her head span, and it made her think of the woman. Soo-yeon who had been named by a man named, Wang Geon, the first time she saw a ship. She would have dragged him under with sweet nothings and So would have loved her more than anything for it. Who was Hae Soo? Hae Soo was no queen and had been nameless runt who hadn’t had the heart to let the fleshling die crushed beneath the debris.

‘You will come with us this time, sweet, and may chance you will catch one for yourself. When was the last time you ate? You look weak. Come with us… come with us…’

“Forgive me.”

She wanted to store his words in a pretty little box and keep them forever, shelved in her heart and engraved onto her skin with those small smoothed brushes humans used. Her hands slipped around the back of his neck and his eyes were like the stars and the ocean and the night sky all at once. So’s lips were chapped and broken against her own, but the feeling came with them was so very sweet and she felt a part of herself dying with them. She couldn’t describe it. This boy - this man - was lighting a trail of fire with his fingertips across his skin, mapping it as if were his own, and she was letting him. He had cared for her, clothed her, named her…

He had come back for her.

She couldn’t save him; a mermaid’s kiss did not grant a man with a pair of lungs to be able to breathe underwater. But by the Gods, she would try.

Hae Soo swam as fast as she could, her coral scales glinting and refracting like tiny kaleidoscopes in the water. She had to hurry. His face was cold and his hands colder still, his breathing so faint she could scarcely feel it, but she had to do it. The only way she knew how to save him was to ruin him. His wounds were leaving red rivulets that trailed behind them and he would die from them if she didn’t do this now. Hae Soo had never felt such desperation and this she finally understood, was it meant to be human. Her heart – small, silly beating thing that it was – could have flown out of her chest.

The Fountain was collapsing in on itself, the ancient rocks splitting and crumbling like fallen warriors in a battlefield. She could hear the noise of it echoing in the water, stone clashing against the earth before she reached the surface. When pulled Wang So out of the pool, his eyes were firmly shut and he was barely breathing and she could feel her eyes burning for different reasons than before. She wouldn’t let herself cry, she was stronger than that. Hae Soo was going to be his strength now, just as he had been hers, and she was finally going to do something right in her life. She wouldn’t let this hunger – this thing that was screaming in her head and dragging its claws across her heart, trying to shred it as her throat dried and her teeth grew sharper – get the best of her.

There were dead men scattered like ants everywhere, young and old, but none were what she needed. They had to be alive for it would not work if their life’s blood was spilled on the ground instead of flowing of through their heart. As she slowly dried from the surface, her scales dug themselves inside her skin like tiny knives and a pair of legs were left in their wake, and it hurts to walk. They were long and smooth, but the ground felt like a raging fire beneath the soles of her feet. Hae Soo, unable to keep her balance and her nails were buried themselves into the moist dirt as she hissed from the waves of pain that rang through her body. ‘Again, again’, her mind chanted, ‘again until I can’. Yet she kept falling and Wang So kept on dying and it hurts so much. What was she going to do? She was too weak and of the sea, not of the land that birthed treacherous men whose legs were useless in the waters of the Caribbean. ‘But I’m not in the sea, I’m not in the sea…’

Hae Soo needed a man and she needed to walk.

Her legs were shaky and she could only sustain herself for a few quick steps at a time so she had to drag herself when she fell. Hae Soo ignored the taste of dirt and moss in her mouth and accepted that this was this as close to walking as she could get. As she moved, she would put her ear against the chests of the fallen, just to make sure they were dead, but mermaid could smell death and she had not forgotten that. This entire place reeked of it.

“There is nothing to forgive, you silly man.” She found herself muttering as she searched like a scavenger, speaking as if Wang So was there next to her. The words were very warm, and they settled over like Wang So’s shirt. “You saved me.”

The chalices were in front of a pile of bone and cloth, and Hae Soo immediately knew that the young man, Jung had done what she asked of him. She took them and dragged herself to the broken fountain, her skin burning an angry red as dirt and grass and rock scrapped her flesh, and she let the small drops slither into the chalices. Everything around her was gray and dark, and they were all dead and she cursed everything and everyone she knew because there was no way she could simply let Wang So die. She would not let them take him from her again. Hae Soo would first let the entire world burn till it was nothing but smoke and ask, flames engulfing the land and ripping it apart until they were the only ones left standing in the dried desserts that had once been the seas.

She would do anything for him.

The moment Hae Soo found a breathing man, the earth slipped from beneath her feet. He was one of Captain Yo’s, scruffy and tan with rings of dirt around his neck and hair that stunk like the seven sea, but none of that mattered. He was alive and he would save Wang So. Hae Soo pressed the chalice to her cheek and found that she was crying. She pressed the palm of her hand against her cheek and let out a choked laugh, bitter at the trouble a single tear had caused. Hae Soo remembered her sisters, tied to the post and wasting away before they were reduced to skeletons because of the endless greed of men. They had not deserved to die like that. Not in her eyes, never in her eyes.

Her tears slid into the chalice slowly and the muscle of her calves burned as she tried to run towards Wang So, her feet on fire. Hae Soo fell, careless as she had been, and her heart almost stopped from the fear of having spilt of the water of the Fountain of Youth mixed with her tears. She placed the chalices before Wang So, counting her stars, and made her way back to the ragged man in his tattered clothes before dragging him back with her.

‘I can save him, I told him I could.’

He might come to hate her for the cost at which she would restore his life, but it was a price she was willing to pay.

Hae Soo forced the water down the throat of the half-dead man, feeling the life already slipping from his wounds. She wasn’t sure what she felt then, knowing what she did, but she placed Wang So in her lap and pressed the chalice of life to his lips, regardless of her doubts. The liquid slid down his throat and his wounds began to heal, flesh weaving itself across his stomach and veins stitching themselves back together. His breathing steadied and the man beside him – the one whose name they would never know – turned to bone.

Wang So was half-delirious when he opened his eyes, his eyes widen once the realization of what Hae Soo had done washed him over him. The water of the ruins had torn a man apart so that Wang So could breathe using the life he once had, and she didn’t know what to tell him. Her grasp on human emotions was poor at best and she knew that didn’t know how to comfort him, how to tell him that despite this, he would still be received in the arms of the Gods.

“Shhh.” She whispered softly, her accent thick. “You will be okay, that is all that matters.”

‘I love you. I did this for us and I’m sorry and I love you, I love you, I love you…’

Hae Soo stroked his face gently as she muttered against his temple, smoothing his hair before she kissed his lips.

“It is your turn to forgive me.”

Chapter Text

“How many times are you going to injure yourself on the job? You’re a cop! Not a stunt double!” Hae Soo gripes as she adds another layer of bandages to Wang So’s arm.

He shrugs as he watches Hae Soo’s slender fingers work its magic in tying up a neat knot for the bandages. His eyes continue to follow her every move as she sits down and opens up a first aid kit on her desk. She has an eye on the computer screen in front of her as her hands expertly move around the kit with an accurate memory of where everything in the kit is located.

Quickly, she picks up a swab and gestures towards him with a finger to move closer. He leans forward and watches as she dabs the swab in a jar of medication. With her free hand, she pushes back the bangs of his forehead as she examines the wound on the side of his head.

“You really—” She begins to scold before stopping herself and then giving a sigh. “How is your insurance still going? I would have cut you off after the last scuffle you got into.” She mutters.

He tries to shrug again but Hae Soo forcefully holds onto his head. “Don’t move.” She orders. “This will sting.”

Wang So winces as she applies the swab on his forehead and he feels the cold substance hit the wound. It does sting but he grits his teeth and clenches his hands around the armrest of his chair.

“You know…” Hae Soo starts to speak. “Your brother, Eun dropped by earlier to say hello and he didn’t mention you getting hurt on the case. In fact, it seemed as if the other party received the brunt of the injuries.”

Wang So says nothing as Hae Soo continues on. “It’s almost as if you purposely ran into a wall and then fell down a flight of stairs.”

He winces as Hae Soo gives another dab at his wound. He was sure that she was purposely poking at the wound with the swab now. He gives a low growl and then scoffs. “What? Do you think I got myself injured on purpose? Why would I do that?”

She puts down the swab at her desk and sticks a band-aid over his wound. “Good question. You tell me. It’s not like you’re getting injured just to have me take time off my busy schedule to fix you up.”

He raises his hand to rub at the band-aid on his forehead but Hae Soo swats his hand down. “Don’t touch,” she orders.

“I wouldn’t spend so much effort to purposely fall down the stairs so that I’ll injure my good arm just so that I can take up thirty minutes of your time in you fixing and bandaging my arm up,” he states.

She shoots him a distrusting look. “Good. Then I won’t be seeing you tomorrow or the next day or the day after that, correct?”

“Check up tomorrow. Then you have to take off my bandages the next day. And the day after that is my fitness exam for the police force.” He informs her.

“I should fail you for your fitness for reckless endangerment to yourself.” She scolds him.

“Go ahead.” Wang so responds back, his face unwavering at her threat. “That won’t keep me from showing up here, Doctor. In fact, without a job, I might just be loitering outside your office 24/7.”

“I’m only in the office nine hours a day.” She smirks mischievously.

“And what do you do for the other fifteen hours of the day?” He asks with a smirk to match hers.

“I sleep, you know, to take care of my health and body, unlike someone here, and sometimes I cook dinner, and sometimes I—”

“Sometimes you what?” He repeats.

 Hae Soo rolls her eyes. “Sometimes… I make sweet love to my husband.”

 Wang So’s face fell. “Sweet love?” He echoes.

“Yes.” She nods while batting her eyebrows seductively.

“It’s anything but sweet,” He murmurs. A lopsided grin crosses his face as he pulls Hae Soo down so that she fell on his lap. He nuzzles his head against her shoulder. “More like rough and wild like a—”

“Shush!” Hae Soo exclaims as she clamps a hand over his mouth. “I don’t need to listen to your sex life.”

“Our sex life.” He corrects her.

“Don’t you have like people to arrest or something?” She asks as she jumps off of Wang So’s lap as he stands up before he grabs his jacket. With a smirk, he tosses the jacket over his shoulder. “I’ll see you at home tonight,” He whispers as he leans in for a goodbye kiss from his wife.

 Hae Soo nods as she tiptoes to give Wang So a peck on the cheek. “I’ll make you your favorite dish so come home early.”

 “And dessert?” He asks back.

 Hae Soo grins. “Sweet love.”

 Wang So grins back at her words but Hae Soo has a plan to slightly punish him as she continued. “But too bad you injured your arm so guess we have to postpone that until your arm heals,” She smiles in a sassy tone.

 A pout crosses Wang So’s face as Hae Soo ushers him out of her office and shuts the door in front of him.

“Soo-ya! Soo-ya!” he calls through the door. “Wait! I think my arm is better now. Really! Check it! You can take off the bandages now! Soo-ya?”

“Soo-ya~!” Chae Ryung’s voice comes ringing through the hallway of her best friend’s office. Hae Soo hand is on the doorknob to her office as she looks up to see her best friend come skipping down the hallway.

“Oh no, please tell me you didn’t eat my last yogurt cup in the fridge,” Hae Soo pleads.

Chae Ryung grins as she points to the end of the hallway. “Your husband is hereee~! Like every other day.~” She continues in that sing-song voice as she skips down the rest of the hallway until she was out of sight. Hae Soo sighs as her hand leaves the doorknob and she begins to walk back to the lobby.

Sure enough, there was her husband at the front desk of the lobby. He was leaning on his side against the desk with his hand clutching his other arm, the one bandaged up from the day before.

“So-ya.” She greets warmly as she waves at him. His face lights up for a brief second when he notices her but he quickly switches back to the cool composure he was holding two seconds earlier. “How’s my little walking disaster doing today?”

“I need to see a doctor.” He tells her as he points at his arm. The bandages were practically falling apart which was strange because she had wrapped it quite tightly for him yesterday. “Oh, and checkup today,” he adds. Hae Soo nods with a half-concerned look on her face as she grabs a clipboard from the front desk.

“Yes, I remember your checkup is today.” She nods as she jots down some notes on the board. “Nurse Ji-mong will help you out with that today. He will also fix up the bandages that you so carefully unknotted.” Hae Soo says with a sweet smile as she eyes Wang So suspiciously. 

“W-what? Who? Nurse Ji-mong?” He sputters out.

“Oh, don’t worry honey. He’s very competent. He just got back from his vacation and it’s been a while since he has done with his patients, so I think this would be a great time for him to help you. You’ll be nice to him, okay?” Hae Soo says with a bright smile as she hands the clipboard back to the front desk. “Send Wang So to room 3 please.” She informs the receptionist.

Hae Soo gives a small wave to him as she turns to leave. “W-w-woah.” Wang So grabs her wrist. “You’re not leaving me to that guy. No, no, no, Soo-ya. You always do my checkups. Always! And don’t worry about the bandages. My arm is practically healed.”

She smiles while squeezing his chin with her other hand. “Nurse Ji-mong will take good care of you. And don’t worry. He doesn’t stare down there when you take off your gown. Not like that other nurse I fired the other day…”

Wang So clenches his teeth. “Soo-ya,” he hisses. “I’m not having another man stare at me while I am naked!”

“Doctor Hae Soo!”

The two of them turn around as they hear a voice call for Wang So. A middle-aged man with a grin walks through to the front lobby. “Well, look who is here. Honey, it’s Nurse Ji-mong.” Hae Soo introduces with a grin. “Ji-mong, you remember my husband.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet the head doctor’s husband again,” Ji-mong says as he extends a hand out to shake.

“Uh huh…” Wang So stares at the hand but doesn’t shake it. Hae Soo pulls her wrist out of his grip as she begins to back away with a grin on her face.

“Don’t worry boy.” Ji-mong assures him. “Doctor-patient confidentiality. I won’t tell anyone about what I see in the doctor’s office about your package.” He whispers with a wink. “Of course, I’m actually a nurse and not a doctor but the term still applies either way—” Ji-mong rattles on.

“Soo-ya!!” Wang So whirls around as Hae Soo begins to walk briskly back to her office. “Soo-ya!! You’re not leaving me with him. Don’t you dare walk away from me! I’m your husband! You remember our wedding vows, don’t you?! In sickness and in health! Well I need you to nurse me back to health. SOO-YA!”

Nurse Ji-mong follows after Wang So. “Sir! Room 3 is not that way!”

He whirls back around and holds out a hand to stop Ji-mong from coming any closer. “Don’t. Turn around. Head back.” Wang So shoots him another incredulous look. “A-and stop looking at me down there!”

He can his wife giggling in the hallway from the distance.

‘That woman’.