Pulsatilla | Chapter 1/?
Pulsatilla
Author: love_cassiopeia
Summary: A complete mess was what Jung Yunho became after his beloved wife’s death. Trapped in a permanent state of isolation and loneliness, Yunho summons his knowledge on biology in hopes of recreating his wife in the form of an artificial human. However, the experiment goes terribly wrong and instead creates a male who has all his wife’s looks and qualities, one who he eventually decides to name ‘Jaejoong.’ Coping with the idyllic memories Jaejoong brings back of his wife, Yunho tries his best not to fall in love with his creation, knowing that the love he brings along is not the real thing-or is it?
Rated: PG-13 - NC-17
Warning(s): NC-17 material, language
Genre: Romance/Angst
Pairing(s): YunJae
Chapter 1: Résultat
Definition: The Pulsatilla is a deciduous perennial flower native to Europe and Asia that grows in the leftover nutrients of a dead plant. It is usually grown to replace another plant. It is capable of curing diseases and may be used in remedies.
R é s u l t a t
In his mind, Jaejoong always resembled a flower. Out of all the people in the world, he was the most beautiful, the most effervescent, but also the most fragile.
*
“I can’t believe this, you bastard! You’re choosing work over me?”
It was rainy Friday night-a sort filled with lightening and the occasional roaring of thunder in the distant background. The rain splattered onto the large penthouse windows like rocks, infusing with the irate voices of a man and a woman who sounded as if they were ready to murder each other. It appeared that by now, the sun would never again appear from within the turbulent clouds.
“I never said such a thing! But if I do not attend this meeting, I may fall back in work… and ultimately get fired!”
The female was in no position to listen to any explanations. “This is our anniversary, Yunho! I don’t ask of anything more but a few minutes of your time!”
“I’ll make plans for you next week! I just don’t have the time right now!”
She scoffed. “Well, that makes our point clear, doesn’t it? You never seem to have the time ‘right now.’” She held out her left hand, and furiously severed the luxurious diamond ring that occupied her ring finger apart from her delicate hand. “I’m leaving! Don’t try to follow me! As long as I remain second place to you, don’t ever try to win me back!”
Dropping the ring onto the marble floor, she pulled open the front door and stumbled down the range of stairs. She was too blind to take the elevator which stood visibly before her-too blinded by her tears, that is.
Did this mean divorce? Did this mean she would never be able to relive the delightful memories Yunho had created with her ever again? Did this mean departure from everything she once held dear to her?
She didn’t care. She knew that sooner or later, the two of them would have this conversation. Why not just run away from all the dilemmas and escape from all these irksome chains? Although she had to admit he did love her once upon a time, she knew that his love for her was slowly diminishing away into absolute nothing.
The man however, had different initiatives in mind. He did not hesitate to run after his wife as she abruptly disappeared from the apartment. He predicted that there was still a grain of hope left and that perhaps, he would be able to catch up to her, and eventually, knock some sense back into her.
He followed her down the stairs and then into the streets. Rain poured over her petite and slender body (it nearly looked as if she would tumble over if the wind blew too fiercely), and soaked her dark, long hair entirely. He tried his best to catch up to her, but alas, she had flown too quickly for even his voice to reach her.
“Oh lord, what the hell does she think she’s doing?” He muttered under his breath, his body shivering in the chaotic rainfall.
When the woman approached the stoplight, she vigorously ran out into the street without a single notion of the traffic that was honking repeatedly at her. With tears in her eyes and her clothes soaked in rain, she tumbled into the street, only to be struck powerfully by an accelerating storage truck.
The man’s heart skipped a beat as he saw the horrid sight. His eyes began to moisten as his head began to spin. What on earth had just happened?
“Seulki!” He called out “Seulki! What the hell-”
He rushed over to her fallen body, only to find her blood tainting the road; and her tears, tainting her pale skin.
It didn’t take long for him to realize that she was dead-and ultimately, that he was the cause of it all.
And now, as he glanced across the boy’s features which were so similar to that of his wife’s, he couldn’t help but recall the blissful but painful memories of Seulki once again.
Yunho is what people would call a 'mad-scientist,' one who is as intelligent as he is creative. He is often the first one in a group of astute scientists to put his left and right brain to perfect use, leaving not one millimetre of his mind to waste. There was no one better to recruit for the company other than him-the scientist who was aware of every single event that was occurring around him.
The company Yunho worked for was an underground government facility that specialized in biology and top-secret projects such as cloning and medicine. With his deep knowledge on biology and a résumé inundated with the names of Korea’s most prestigious universities, the man made it within the company with ease. At first, he discerned that working for the company would have a positive impact on his life. Little did he know the harm it would cause him in the long run.
Due to his busy work hours, Yunho rarely had the opportunity to adore (or rather, communicate with) the wife he had married two years ago. And because he was spending too much time at work with projects that required numerous hours of time and mind-straining labour, the company slowly began to tear him further and further away from his beloved spouse.
But now that she was dead, the distance between them would forever continue to stretch. They would never be within each other’s arms ever again; that much he understood.
So due the melancholy and depression that continuously revisited to him, he decided to do something no one had ever considered doing.
Using his wife’s DNA left from the car crash, he stayed in his private lab for weeks, trying to make a person-a mannequin-that resembled her. He revealed nothing of his project to his comrades, for the thought of trying to revive a human being was just plainly ridiculous to the public. Not knowing how he would do it, he summoned his vast knowledge of biology and genealogy and tried to craft an exact replica of his now deceased wife.
By using the DNA left in the strand of dark hair, Yunho attempted to recreate her-to fuse all of her traits and characteristics into a new body.
He didn’t know whether he would succeed or not.
And now, seeing the boy’s face, he was immediately overcome by failure and remorse. He had failed to recreate his wife. Instead, he had created a boy with her features; with lustrous ebony hair and large eyes that resembled dark, cryptic marbles. He had fused every inch of his wife’s face into a new body, except this time-it was a male who replaced her.
He had made a colossal mistake, one which could never be reversed.
The boy sat naked in the scientist’s private lab, an innocent but bleak expression plastered upon his porcelain skin. He appeared young (perhaps a few years younger than his wife), but shared the same established look in his eyes. Yunho grimaced at his massive mistake, at the inhumane creation he had invented. He wanted to vomit, seeing the boy-so alike his wife and yet so different.
“Jung Yunho-sshi…” were the first words the boy pronounced. “What shall my name be?”
There was a large portion of Yunho that wanted to destroy the boy he had created instantly, yet, the innocent and pristine voice almost made his knees weaken.
He didn’t want to give him a name. In fact, he believed that the boy perhaps didn’t deserve a name (was he a boy?). He didn’t want to give him his wife’s name, for in the end, he wasn’t his wife. He didn't know who he was, and a part of him foresaw that he never would.
“Your name is Jaejoong.” He spoke out after a long silence. ‘Jaejoong’ was the name of the child he and his wife hoped to have one day. So it was rather apt, even if it was a bit absurd to begin with.
“Jaejoong.” The boy repeated, familiarizing his tongue with the alien syllables. “Jaejoong is my name.”
Yunho couldn’t stand staring into those eyes any longer. He simply could not put himself at peace, knowing that he had failed to recreate his wife and instead suffered a great failure in return. What would his wife be thinking, gazing down upon him from heaven? Would she be shedding tears, guilty that she had brought this misery upon him, or would she be laughing and condemning him about his farcical decision?
He could not look at the boy-Jaejoong, he was called now-in the eye. The project he had originally planned to erect was supposed to bring him happiness and an ounce of hope to continue living on without Seulki. But now with the disaster he had created right before his nose, he supposed that perhaps life itself simply wasn’t on his side.
It was because of love that he had decided to live, and yet, it was the same concept of love that brought him to wish he was dead. He hated himself like no other. Either he was going to drown in his guilt for creating this thing, or he would die just for the sake to be with his wife again.
But what on earth could he do with this boy?-No, he wasn’t a boy, but he wasn’t a robot either. There wasn’t a single part of ‘Jaejoong’ that was composed of machinery. He was constructed of the actual DNA his wife had left behind. And yet, he was so far away from being human that it was utterly foolish to have given him a human name.
Leaving the fair-skinned boy naked in the small lab located in his penthouse, he ran down the stairs and left his apartment complex. Perhaps he would go jogging to relieve the stress he had just piled upon himself. Perhaps he would never return to this house ever again, and never have to see that thing’s face once more.
As he jogged within his neighbourhood, he began to replay the previous month’s occurrences, trying to perceive why on earth he had decided to create artificial life. Only now was he able to realize that the whole scenario was futile from the very beginning.
It had taken him nearly a month to craft Jaejoong. Everyday after he returned from work, he would spend hours after hours inside his private lab, testing DNA samples and discovering new laws to the field of science. Although the idea of creating (or in case, reviving) a human was absurd and much less condemned by society, Yunho couldn’t keep himself from his curiosities. Within a few weeks, he was able to gather all the information he needed to construct artificial life.
He kept his project hidden from the government and the company. No one would know of his intentions but himself. Despite whether the task was acceptable or not, he would no doubt be awarded by the satisfying company of his wife if he were to succeed.
No one was supposed to know anything.
No one was supposed to know that in the end, she would be fake.
After the month of languid waiting, Yunho was overjoyed to be opening up the metal chamber to discover what he had created within it. Relocating the wires elsewhere and removing the lock, he recklessly opened up the large, metal door to see what was inside.
At first, when he opened it, he was delighted to see his wife’s face emerge from the liquid nitrogen that surrounded her. However, as the body revealed itself inch by inch, he was struck with the reality that the body was nowhere close to that of his wife’s.
Yunho stared at his flat chest; in-between his legs. He wanted to scream, seeing his wife’s face printed upon a different body. The boy petrified him-he had the power to give him nightmares, and yet the boy was also able to bring thin traces of tears onto his distinct face. But then again, what could he do? Would he try to create his wife once more, especially after this failure? Or would he just give everything up, including life?
His rigorous jogging accelerated as the countless thoughts returned to him. Even if he was to create an artificial human who looked exactly like his wife, she would have no way of matching up to the original product-to the original human being.
But despite whether the whole idea was humane or not, he couldn’t leave Jaejoong alone. In the end, no matter how much he regretted it, he was still responsible for creating Jaejoong and eventually, having to take care of him until his death. But he couldn’t imagine himself doing so, for the thought of his wife’s genes trapped inside another body was just intolerable.
He predicted that Jaejoong would become a burden to him, yet another mistake on the course of his vapid life.
As if he didn’t have enough commotion in his life already.
Although he was reluctant to slow down, his fatigued legs brought his jogging to an abrupt pause. He didn’t know whether he stopped because all the anger dissipated-or just because he ran out of breath.
He turned around and decided to go back to the apartment. Along the way, a part of him reminded himself that ignoring his mistakes would only enlarge them.
Upon arriving at the door of his penthouse suite, there was a strong sense of hesitation of whether or not he would be able to enter. Exhaling deeply, he dug out his key, and inserted it into the lock.
As he opened the heavy door to the apartment, he came face to face with a scene that nearly made him jump out of his own skin.
There, the boy Jaejoong was, standing in the doorway, naked (Yunho hadn’t had the time to put any clothes on him yet), a bowl of steaming kimchi jjigae in his hands. It looked and smelt the exact same as his wife’s.
Where on earth had the boy learned to cook?
“Welcome home, Yunho, my husband.” He spoke in a childlike, candid tone. “Dinner is ready.”
Hey everyone! I’m home! I know I’ve been gone for a few months, and I really should apologize for not being able to post up anything since Project 2035, which was last updated in September. *gasps* It’s been five months! It’s been nearly half a year! So here is your new fic: Pulsatilla. It might appear to you to be quite strange (not to mention creepy) at this point, but I ensure you that Yunho and Jaejoong will warm up to each other soon, even though they’re on two opposite ends of the spectrum right now. I’m sure some readers are already starting to hate Yunho XD
And yes, I will be updating weekly, as always. I literally feel like I’m back at home again. I really missed writing…
Thank you for reading! Please comment if you have the time <3 By the way, for the people who don't know yet, I've recently just published Beauty and the Beast. You can find info on purchasing your own copy here.
-Cindy
Want more? For a list of chapters and stories, please don’t hesitate to visit my fanfiction archive