Soul's Requiem (Epilogue)
Previous Chapters: Forewords
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13.1) (13.2) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18.1) (18.2) (19.1) (19.2) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24.1)(24.2) (25.1) (25.2) Epilogue Deleted Scene
=----------Five Years Later-----------=
“In other news, police are still searching for the man that killed State Representative Daniel Henney. He was found in his home on Friday afternoon, badly mutilated and with the words, “Swing wide the gates of Hades, Satan’s on his way” etched across his chest. Police are following a lead, but no official evidence has been found that would--”
The radio was clicked off, blanketing the car in silence once again. He already knew who had killed Daniel Henney. He had been the one that told the man to do it.
Jung Yunho reached out and shut off the car, the intense silence setting his ears to wringing. His entire body was alive with anticipation, his mind jumbled with the reality of where he was and what he was doing.
But he had to do it. He had to see that man again.
Five years ago he’d disappeared, as if he’d just vanished off the face of the earth. No one could find him, no matter the resources Yunho let them use. He’d spent thousands upon thousands of dollars trying to track down the man that had become like a ghost. It was almost as if he’d never existed.
Four days ago was when all the time and money had finally paid off. Someone had found him. Spotted him in a supermarket and then followed him home.
He lived in a decent sized house in a cookie-cutter neighborhood. It was the kind of house that a family would move into, not a single man.
Yunho felt his stomach clench at the thought of Jaejoong having found someone else to love. But what else should he have expected? How could he even imagine that Jaejoong would simple spend he years pining for a man that had broken his hear?
Yunho let out a soft sigh , hands gripping the wheel for a moment longer before he reached out and unlocked the car doors.
Things had been different after he’d gotten back to the Jung Organization and found his father and best friend dead. He’d been devastated beyond everything he thought was possible. He contemplated killing himself, his lifestyle making it rather easy to obtain all sorts of weapons to end his life with.
But somehow he’d managed to press through, taking care of things with the gang before he simply told them he was finished. He couldn’t bring himself to play the mobster anymore. He didn’t want any part of that life. He just wanted to be with the man he loved and live a simple life that required nothing more than his happiness. He was financially set for the rest of his life, but he felt empty and alone without Jaejoong there.
He couldn’t remember a time when he’d been so nervous about talking to a person. He could visibly see his hand shaking as he reached out and opened the car door.
Now was the time.
He quickly exited the car, closing the door behind him and locking it before he made his way up the stone pathway that led to the quaint, white house with the perfect yard.
Yunho felt his stomach drop as he small a child’s wagon sitting on the porch, handle propped against the white railing. Jaejoong had a child? That meant he was married. Was he happy?
Just as Yunho was about to ring the doorbell, the white door swung open and none other than Changmin stood there looking at Yunho with a shocked face.
He almost looked as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Hi.” A younger girl, probably around three, called up to Yunho, her round eyes glowing with excitement. She seemed totally oblivious to the sudden hostility that had fallen between the two men. She was beautiful with silky, black hair and round face that fit her large, brown eyes to perfection. She exuded sweetness in her every move and look. There was no doubt that she was Jaejoong’s daughter.
“Yunha, go back inside.” Changmin ushered her inside before he stepped out of the door, shutting it behind him.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” He growled, voice dark as he stepped into Yunho’s personal space.
“I want to talk to Jaejoong.” Yunho breathed calmly, taking a slight step back to put some distance between himself and the angry male.
“He doesn’t want to talk to you, so just go back to playing gang lord.” Changmin snapped, motioning back towards Yunho’s Dodge Viper at the end of the driveway.
“I need to talk to him.” Yunho tried again, wanting the other male to fully see how much he needed to talk to Jaejoong. Even if it was just to glimpse that beautiful face again.
Just as Changmin was about to speak, the front door opened and Jaejoong walked out, brow drown forward in a look of pure anger.
“What the hell are you doing here?” He growled in a whisper as he shut the door, obviously not wanting his daughter to hear his words.
“I was telling him to leave, Jae…you can go back in the hou--”
“Go back inside, Changmin.” Jaejoong cut him off, his eyes only flickering towards Changmin for a moment before he was looking at Yunho with that same, angry expression.
The taller male pursed his lips in a moment of indecision, before he sighed and slumped his shoulders, long legs caring him back through the door. “If you need me, I’m only a shout away.” He told Jaejoong with a supportive smile before he closed the door and left he two alone.
Yunho felt lost in the beauty of the man before him. He’d never seen Jaejoong like this before. His hair was clean, the skin of his face was smooth and clean…everything was perfect. He’d even gained a bit of weight and didn’t look so malnourished. Yunho had thought Jaejoong was perfection when they were in that cell together, but that was like dirty rags compared to what Jaejoong was now.
“The fact that you have the audacity to come and see me after everything you did…I just…” Jaejoong trailed off, shaking his head slightly as he gave Yunho an angry look. “What kind of sick bastard are you?”
Those words cut him to his very core, reopening old wounds that he’d thought had healed. “Jaejoong, I have some many things I need to explain to you. Give me one hour of your time and I will tell you all of the reasons why I’m here.” Yunho set forth his offer, watching Jaejoong’s face fall into one of slight distaste.
“Please, Jaejoong. Please.” He was ready to go down on his knees before the other man if that was what it would take.
Jaejoong crossed his arms over his torso, Yunho’s eyes flickering to his right hand, which was clad in a black glove that had only the pinky and thumb fingers filled out. He felt sick as memories came rushing back to him from all those years ago.
“I’ll give you one hour. But you had better have a good reason for coming to my house like this.” Jaejoong growled before he turned and pushed through the door, leaving it open for Yunho.
He wasted no time in following Jaejoong, his eyes darting about the entrance of the house, which was painted in bright, sunny yellows and soft blues. It was a calm and friendly environment.
A giggle to his left drew his attention and he spotted the girl sitting on the steps leading to the second floor. She smiled brightly and wiggled her fingers in a childish wave.
He couldn’t help but return the smile and the wave to that sociable child.
He was led past a kitchen in warm reds and beige and then led into a sort of sun room that housed a piano and a few plush chairs. A few bookshelves lined the walls, but it was mostly windows in the room, which meant that everything was bathed in sunlight. The room felt very light a beautiful.
“Start talking.” Jaejoong said as he closed the door and leaned up against it, arms crossed over his torso.
Now that the spotlight was on him, Yunho suddenly found himself unsure of where to start, or how to say the things he’d been practicing for the better part of five years. He was drawing a blank.
“Five years ago I lied to you. I told you things that I didn’t mean because that was how I was going to save you.” He could feel the bitter tears stinging his eyes, his throat clogging up slightly from the intensity for his emotions.
“I played a stupid game to save your life. Five years ago, I fell in love with you and then I had to tell you to your face that it was all just a game. But it wasn’t a game. I loved you then and I love you now.” The words made no sense to him, but it felt like the things that he needed to say.
The room fell into silence, Jaejoong looking at Yunho with a face of growing uncertainty.
“I don’t understand.” Jaejoong breathed, his brow furrowing as if he were trying to fight the urge to cry. “How did you breaking my heart end up saving me?” His voice was bitter and there was no mistaking the excess moister in his dark eyes.
“The leader of the Lee Organization told me that if I could make you fall in love with me, then he would set you free so long as I told you the game I had played with your love. He said that if I didn’t do it, he would kill you. I felt like I had no other choice. I couldn’t let them kill you after everything you had done for me. So I did what I had to in order to save you.” Yunho finished, taking a few steps closer to Jaejoong. He wanted to be so much closer to the other male. He wanted to touch that skin that he’d touched so many years ago. He wanted to become one again.
“Why did you tell me this when we got rescued?” Jaejoong asked, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief. “You could have had me at that moment, if you had just worked up the courage to run after me. What stopped you?” He breathed, absently reaching a hand up to brush away a tear.
“I thought your life would be better without me. But I can’t do it, Jaejoong. I’ve never stopped loving you, no matter how hard I’ve tried to set my heart in a different direction. I’ve spent five years looking for you, needing to see you and know that you were still alive.” Yunho took a deep breath and pulled the back of his hand across his face to wipe away the moister there.
“Jaejoong,” Changmin’s voice floated through the door, followed by the sound of a soft knock. “Junsu, Yunha and I are going to get ice cream. We’ll be back in an hour or so. Call me if you need me.”
“Alright.” Jaejoong called back quickly, sniffing slightly as he quickly wiped away the tears on his face. He waited a moment to hear the sound of the front door closing before he returned his gaze to Yunho.
“Are you saying that you love me and that you just want to come barging into my life five years later? Yunho, I can’t do that to the rest of my family. Yunha needs me, Changmin and Junsu need me…”
“I need you , Jaejoong. I don’t care if I have to approach our relationship like it never even existed. I’ll woo you and take you on romantic dates. I’ll buy you that Golden Retriever that you wanted.” Yunho closed the distance between them pinning Jaejoong to the white door.
“I can see it in your eyes, Jaejoong, you still love me.” He brought his lips so close, feeling the hot exhalation of breath from Jaejoong.
Jaejoong sniffed slightly, his face crumpling as a soft sob shook his shoulders. “Do you know how much pain I went through? I married a woman I didn’t love, just so I could try and get you out of my mind. She died three years ago in a car accident and I was suddenly left alone to face the fact that I still love you. You broke my heart and my shattered heart still clung to you. I felt pathetic and lost, and I felt useless because you were the one that completed me…even in that cell when we were all alone.”
“Why can’t we make ourselves happy then? You’ve been through so much and I can’t see myself living the rest of my life without you. Just this once time, Jaejoong…let yourself be happy.” Yunho breathed before he leaned in and kissed Jaejoong, lips moist from their shared tears.
The kiss lasted only a few seconds before Yunho broke away and pulled Jaejoong into his arms, body thrilling at the feel of the other male pulled so closely. This was what he had been missing during those five years. It was why his shoulder always felt so cold when he was sitting on the floor, remembering how Jaejoong would lean his head down and rest it on his shoulder. He missed everything about Jaejoong.
“It scares me, Yunho…but I’m willing to give it a try.” Jaejoong breathed as he returned and hug, his voice sounding watery from his tears.
Yunho’s legs felt like jelly and he knew he wouldn’t be able to stand much longer due to the thrill of happiness that was rushing through is body. So he broke the hug and quickly led Jaejoong over to a loveseat, both of them sinking into the soft surface together.
Jaejoong’s head fell softly onto Yunho’s shoulder and he let out a soft sigh, tears still trekking down his face. “I missed this.” He stated softly, reaching out to grip Yunho’s hand.
“I missed it to. I had dreams about the times when we would just sit together, talking and sharing kisses. Funny how those turned out to be some of the best memories and some of the worst.”
“It was a changing point in my life.” Jaejoong sighed, lifting his gloved right hand to glance at it before his eyes strayed to the piano.
Yunho noticed a piece of sheet music propped up on the piano, two words written across the creamy top of the paper.
“Is that something you wrote recently?” He questioned, wondering if Jaejoong had started playing the piano again.
“Hm? Oh, no. It was something I wrote before…everything. It’s called Soul’s Requiem. I keep it there to remember the last piece of music I ever played on the piano.” His voice sounded slightly constricted, as if he were on the verge of breaking out into tears again.
“So how has Changmin been?” Yunho quickly changed the subject, sensing that the piano was not something to linger on.
“He’s doing great. I’d never thought that he could find someone that made his as happy as Junsu does. They make me sick sometimes with how in love they are.” Jaejoong gave a slight chuckle as he twined his fingers with Yunho’s. “They just fit together so well, like they were made for each other.”
“Like us?” Yunho questioned with a slight smile, his other arm coming out to rest over Jaejoong’s shoulder.
“You and I aren’t meant to be together. We’re fighting fate by trying to love each other.”
“Fate’s a bitch, so she can fuck off. I don’t believe in fate anymore. I make my own life and nothing decides it for me.” Yunho responded as he leaned in a gently kissed the top of Jaejoong’s head, his lips tingling at the long-forgotten feel of soft hair against his lips.
“What happened to Boa?”
Yunho tensed, drawing back slightly as he fought a sudden wave of emotion. “She’s dead. Got hit by a bus four years ago.” He responded in a dark voice, unconsciously tightening his grip on Jaejoong. “She killed my father and Yoochun while I was gone.”
Jaejoong pulled away from Yunho, eyes large with shock, “She killed them? Boa?” He seemed completely incredulous.
“It turns out that her father was the brother of the man that stole my mother. The brother was angry at my father and so he sent his daughter in to kill him and me. But I had been kidnapped by the Lee Organization, so I was saved…in a weird, convoluted sense.
“Why is it that everyone who seems to be so nice, always turns out to be the bad guy?” Jaejoong breathed as he rested his head back against Yunho’s shoulder, his face still pulled taut with sadness.
“Because the bad guys always know how to play the nice people. They know how to manipulate them and use them as an advantage.”
“The world scares me sometimes.” Jaejoong sighed as he pulled away from Yunho and looked into his eyes. His eyes were red from crying, but they looked no less serious. “Do you truly love me this time, Yunho?” He questioned, leaning in slightly as if that would make sure Yunho told him the truth.
“Jaejoong, I have never loved someone as much as I love you.” Yunho breathed as he leaned forward and placed his palm against the smooth flesh of Jaejoong’s cheek. “I went to hell with you and now I want to know what it’s like in heaven. I’m not leaving till I’ve had my fill.” Yunho breathed before he finished closing the distance and kissed Jaejoong’s slightly open mouth.
Five years ago, a soul’s requiem had played, marking the end of many lives for a pointless battle over greed and anger. One man incited so much pain and agony, but in the end, numerous paths of love sprung from that pain. So while the requiem played on, new and beautiful melodies were created to offer just a little bit of light to a slowly fading world.
-The End