A Thousand Miles, A Thousand Years (01/01)
KrisYeol, mention of TaoBaek | oneshot (5,000+ wc) | fantasy, romance, angst | PG-13 | "'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you tonight." - Vanessa Carlton
A/N: un-beta'd unedited whatsoever because my mind is currently occupied by 3 assignments due to the 28th, so please excuse any errors. written for you, who are currently celebrating christmas and enjoying your winter break. happy holiday!
this might need a slight warning: OOC and multiple character deaths
00
Yixing closes the door behind him, walking away slowly in the 3rd floor corridor. Once he reaches his office, shared with a few other assistants, he sits on his chair and drops off the files he has been holding on to the table. ‘This is too much,’ he thinks, ‘I have no enough capability to take care of him but still…’
“How’s your patient, Yixing?” asks Hanae, a colleague who sits just right beside his desk. He is a prodigy in the hospital, who already gets to be a doctor assistant at 23 year of age. Yixing himself is just 24, getting an abroad scholarship from his previous university in China, but he’s no special.
“Which patient?” Yixing asks back. “You know I’ve been taking care of six patients.”
“That Riddle Guy,” Hanae crooks his neck a bit. “Is he getting better?”
“Yeah,” the Chinese one of them sighs. “I mean, he’s getting better physically, but not mentally. 2 police officers paid a visit a few days ago to ask him a few questions, but he gave no reply. It’s like he is… not revivable.”
“What do you mean?” now Hanhae sits straighter and listens to his friend fully. “Is he unstable?”
“No,” Yixing shakes his head. “But you know him. We know him but know nothing about him. It’s like his head just let go all of what filled it earlier and be happy with its emptiness. I know it seems like I make no sense now. And the fact that no one looks for him doesn’t help either.”
Hanhae looks at him sympathetically before patting his shoulder. “Don’t lose hope, Yixing. Besides, you’ve been doing your best.”
“But still…” Yixing covers his face with his palms in distress. “What about him?”
*
A tall, young guy heads to the information desk of Yonsei University Hospital with a big smile plastered on his face. “Good afternoon,” he greets one of the desk helper. “May I know where Lee Gahang’s room is?”
The helper gasps silently, eyes widen, but she quickly fixes her composure and types something to the computer in front of her. “307,” she answers. “You can take the elevator to the 3rd floor and go to the left. The room is on the left side.”
The young guy smiles and thanks her before heading to the elevator. Once he gets in, the helper goes the cord phone and punches a few numbers. “Doc, someone is currently visiting patient room 307.”
*
Gahang gets up from the bed and walks toward the window, watching the blue skies and the clouds swimming in it. He smiles and reaches his hand out of the window, as if trying to get one of the clouds. He realizes his stupidity and giggles to himself, but still thinks inwardly, ‘Why do the clouds look like rabbits and bears?’
A series of soft knocks to his room's door breaks his daydream. He wonders who the person is this time. Can it be Nurse Seohyun? No, she has delivered his lunch earlier. Or maybe Dr. Zhang? But he usually comes in late afternoon. Nevertheless it is rude to let someone outside for so long so he answers, “Come in.”
The door creaks open and a tall guy walks in. He has a big, toothy smile, almost like a grin, and he approaches Gahang and greets, “Annyeong.”
Gahang doesn’t know how to respond this awkward situation -yes, this is awkward for him- but he smiles back and waves his hand a little, “Annyeong,” he greets back. “Am I supposed to know you?”
The strangers seems like taken aback by the sudden change of language so Gahang adds to fill in that guy’s confusion, “I am not Korean. Chinese.”
“I kind of figured it out,” it is the stranger’s turn to shock Gahang. “By the way, my name is Chanyeol.”
“Chanyeol?” Gahang tilts his head to the side. “I am… call me Gahang.”
Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows. “I know that already…” he trails off. “But that’s not a Chinese name.”
The resident of the room shrugs, “I don’t know either, but everybody calls me with that name.”
Suddenly someone outside knocks door, stopping their confusing conversation. After Gahang lets him in, a slightly shorter guy Chanyeol steps in. He wears a white coat, glasses perch on the slope of his nose. He smiles kindly to Chanyeol and greets, “Annyeonghaseyo. I’m Dr. Zhang Yixing. Are you perhaps Gahang’s relative?”
Chanyeol shakes his head, “No, but sort of yes.”
Yixing thinks for a while before turning to Gahang, who was still standing dumbly since he doesn’t understand the conversation between the stranger and his doctor. “Gahang, can I borrow your guest for a while? I need to talk to him.”
Gahang nods blankly before he turns around and continues watching the sky. Yixing opens the door and guides Chanyeol outside to his office. There is no one inside, all of his colleagues are taking care of their respective patients, so he lets the tall guy sit on Hanae’s chair. “First of all,” Yixing breaks the awkward silence between them. “I’m Zhang Yixing, the doctor assistant who is in charge of Lee Gahang. May I know your name, sir?”
“Oh, so you’re Chinese too,” Chanyeol nods. “You can call me Chanyeol.”
“May I know your relationship with him, Chanyeol sshi?”
Chanyeol shakes his head. “It’s supposed to be only him who knows that I’m here right now. So I can’t tell you, doctor. I’m sorry.”
“But do you know him?”
“Yeah, long time ago. You can say that I don’t right now.”
Yixing sighs. The guy in front of him clearly doesn’t want to help him straighten the problem.
“May I know what happened to him?” it is Chanyeol’s turn to ask back the doctor. “He seems… off.”
Yixing straightens his sitting position. “He was assigned under my care 2 weeks ago after he woke up from a long comatose state. He got into a big traffic accident a month ago and he can’t remember anything about him. His belongings are gone, too, burned into ashes along with the bus he had taken on that day. The last remaining of his identity is a piece of paper in his jacket pocket, written 이가항 on it a few times, as if he had been practicing it before the accident happened. No one has visited him or at least looked for him, beside 2 police officers who came to asked him some questions a week ago. He couldn’t provide them any answers because he couldn’t remember anything and he couldn’t speak Korean. He is assigned under me also mainly because I’m the only Chinese assistant here.”
Chanyeol nods in understanding. No wonder Gahang looks so serene and innocent by the time he stepped into his room. “But,” he continues. “Other than his amnesiac state, is he fine?”
“His injuries are healing, so nothing to worry anymore,” Yixing states, and he can see relief in Chanyeol’s expression. “Chanyeol sshi, can I ask for your help?”
“Yes?”
“Can you interact with him as often as you can? I think interaction with other people can help him gain back his memories. Get him into conversations, or if you know any, take him to places he has visited before.”
The young guy thinks for a while before looking at his wristwatch. “I’ll try,” Chanyeol gets up from his seat, before giving the young doctor a sad smile. “But I don’t know how it will end up later.”
*
Chanyeol comes to the room 307 again later in the evening. At the time he steps in, Gahang is standing before the window, watching the night sky. Upon hearing his coming, the patient turns around and smiles, “You come again.”
“I have nothing to do, and you are lonely,” Chanyeol shrugs. “Actually I came here in order to see you.”
“Where are you coming from?” Gahang approaches him and leads him to the bed before sitting together.
“I’m from a place so far, far away,” Chanyeol grins.
“Is it China?”
“Nope. I’m not Chinese.”
“Then why are you speaking Chinese?”
“Because you are speaking Chinese.”
Gahang furrows his thick eyebrows in confusion. Chanyeol warmly smiles upon the other side of his beloved that he hasn’t seen before; Li Jiaheng, or one of his reincarnations, looks so innocent as if he is only 5 instead of 20. All of Jiaheng’s reincarnations had been kindhearted, warm, but never child-like. Yes, Chanyeol came to the Earth earlier than usual, but 7 years difference shouldn’t have given a change of basic characters.
Chanyeol scoffs inwardly, ‘So the God of this world likes to play with His creations’. And to think that he won’t see his beloved again later-
“But,” Chanyeol snaps back to reality when Gahang starts talking to him again. “Are you my relative?”
“No,” the guest shakes his head. “But I knew you, long time ago.”
“Really?” Gahang’s eyes widen. “Then who was I?”
Chanyeol can’t suppress his chuckle because of Gahang’s endless questions. It feels like talking to their son, a bit more than a hundred years ago. “Long ago, I knew you as someone named Li Jiaheng.”
Gahang practices that name, feeling it with his tongue. He nods to himself comprehensively. “Then, is my name actually Li Jiaheng?”
“I don’t know, Gahang. But it was, long time ago.”
“But I like that name!”
“Yes, you can use that name from now on if you want,” Chanyeol laughs heartily. The Jiaheng in front of him is adorable, despite of his thick pointy eyebrows and serious expression. “Tell Dr. Zhang tomorrow that you know your real name already.”
Jiaheng smiles, all of his teeth are showing, but still as beautiful and warm as the last time Chanyeol saw it. But now it becomes so pure, innocent, and Chanyeol doesn’t have a heart to let that brilliance dim.
Chanyeol will do anything to make that smile last.
“But do you want to know where I came from?” asks Chanyeol playfully. Jiaheng nods enthusiastically, making Chanyeol laugh once again. “Alright. I’ll come here every night to tell you something as a bedtime story. How about that?”
“Bedtime story? But I’m not a child anymore.” Jiaheng unconsciously pouts his lips.
“But one story will be very long and I will only come after 9 PM, so when it finishes it’ll be your time to sleep.”
“Okay,” Jiaheng easily complies and slips into his comforter. “What are you going to share to me tonight?”
Jiaheng really reminds Chanyeol of their son a decade ago. So he turns on his ‘father mode’ and pats Jiaheng’s leg over the cover. “Actually, I don’t live in this planet. I came from outer space, a planet far away from here.”
“You are kidding.”
“It’s up to you if you want to believe me or not, but I’m no liar,” Chanyeol shrugs. When he feels Jiaheng’s attention is back to him, he continues, “My planet is called Olympus, and I have 5 brothers there.”
“Your parents?”
“My dad is… the ruler of the planet, or in this world’s term, a God,” Chanyeol smiles. “Actually all of us are His children, except the Goddess. He and the Goddess was the one who made the first generation. And after that, he marries all of his daughters, granddaughters, and so on.”
“So he marries all of the women in your planet?”
“Yes. My mother gave birth to 6 sons with no daughter, so there will be no child after my generation from my lineage.”
“And why is that so?”
“I don’t know. It’s my Father’s authority, and I have no right to question that.”
“Okay,” Jiaheng nods. “Then what about your brothers?”
“The oldest among us is Joonmyun, he is one of the Authorities there because he is so clever. And then there is Luhan, and just like any second child here in this world, he is different from others and has witty personality. Baekhyun, the third son, is so pretty but really sick right now. Jongdae is older by a few months than me, but he’s one of the most genius people in my planet. And then there is me. And the last one is Sehun, he is still going to school and will graduate soon,” Chanyeol tells about his brothers with a smile etched on his face; he misses his brothers, especially Joonmyun.
“Why is Baekhyun sick? Is he dying?”
“He is…” Chanyeol suddenly loses his word; he remembers his brother in the Olympus right now, unmoving just like a broken doll. “He has his own story, Jiaheng. I will tell you someday. And no, fortunately he’s not dying.”
“Thank goodness,” Jiaheng smiles and closes his eyes, clearly relieved by the news. Chanyeol’s never seen someone who worries over a person he just knew about a few minutes ago.
“And how did you arrive here? Didn’t you say that your planet is located far away?”
“I will tell you next time, alright,” Chanyeol grins when Jiaheng is slightly pouting.
“Will you come again tomorrow?” asks Jiaheng while stifling a yawn.
“I will.”
*
“Where are you?”
“Can I come over? We need to talk.”
“No, not about me. This is about Baekhyun.”
*
The next time Chanyeol comes over, Jiaheng is with Dr. Zhang in his room. It seems like they were in the middle of mild conversation before they heard Chanyeol coming in.
“Chanyeol sshi, thank you so much for your help,” says Yixing. “Jiaheng told me that he got a weird dream last night. He never dreamed anything since he woke up so this is clearly a big progress.”
Seeing the young doctor’s contented smile, Chanyeol can’t help but smile back. “What did he dream about?”
“He saw himself in front of a few people sitting behind a long desk, and he held a microphone. That was it, but I can take a rough conclusion that he came here through an audition from an entertainment company.”
“That makes sense,” Chanyeol nods. “Will you tell the officers about this?”
“Yes, I will tomorrow,” Yixing takes his hand for a handshake. “Once again, thank you Chanyeol sshi.”
“He looked so happy, Chanyeol,” says Jiaheng once Dr. Zhang steps out of the room. “What did he say?”
“He told me about your progression,” Chanyeol sits on the edge of the bed. “And I see you already told him your name.”
“Of course I did,” Jiaheng grins. “Jiaheng sounds better than my former name.”
“And the meaning of it is beautiful too.”
“Eh, what does it mean anyway?”
Chanyeol walks to the drawer beside Jiaheng’s bed, looking for a sheet of paper and something he can use to write. He finds a post-it note and a pencil. “You see here,” Chanyeol writes down 3 characters in Chinese. “李, ‘Li’, is your family name. 嘉, ‘Jia’, means ‘excellent’ or ‘beautiful’. And then lastly, 恒, ‘Heng’, means ‘always’ or ‘permanent’. So, Jiaheng means ‘permanently beautiful’.”
“Then, do you have any Chinese name, perhaps?”
Chanyeol smiles before writes another characters upon the paper. “Jiaheng made this name for me,” his smile grows wider while stroking down the 燦 character. “This is ‘Can’, which means ‘bright’ or ‘brilliant’,” and he continues with 烈. “And this is ‘Lie’, means ‘giving one’s life a big cause’. He gave me this name because-” Chanyeol pauses for a second, reminiscing the time when he first met his beloved in his first life. “-because he said that I gave him a purpose to live.”
Chanyeol looks over his shoulder and sees Jiaheng, looking at the paper with tender face. The other’s face structure is just the same like the last time Chanyeol saw it: deep brown eyes, pointy nose, small lips, and long chin. He looks way younger than he was ages ago, but still beautiful nevertheless. Jiaheng’s eyes meet Chanyeol’s, and they finally realize that their faces are just inches away.
Jiaheng retreats back and clears his throat. “You said yesterday that you would tell me how you ended up coming to the Earth.”
“Oh right,” Chanyeol scratches his not itchy head. “Do you still remember my brother Joonmyun?”
“The one who is clever and becomes one of the Authorities in your planet?”
“You already know that we, men, aren’t allowed to marry women in our planet, so that we have to take a journey to other planets in order to find our own soul mate. One day Joonmyun got an order to go to the Earth to find someone and stayed there for a while. As his younger brothers who knew nothing about other planets than our own, my older brothers and I decided to follow him and head to the Earth.” Chanyeol smiles upon remembering his first encounter with his beloved. “You see that the first time I went here, I was still so young and inexperienced so instead of landing on a solid surface, I went straight to the sea, or in the other word, drown.”
“Drown?” Jiaheng chuckles. “Then, what happened?”
“There are seas in my own planet, too and I’m capable to swim, but you can’t immediately swim right after getting into the water in fast speed, can you? So I struggled in the water, and my clothes at that time didn’t help me either, until a few of threads were spread around me and soon enough, I was pulled out of the water. Later I knew that the threads were actually a fish net, and the one pulled me out was a young guy. At the first sight, I knew that he was my soul mate.”
“How could you be so sure that he was your soul mate?” asks Jiaheng curiously. Chanyeol smiles more and takes his hand, brings it to his right chest. He can feel something is beating against the other guy’s ribcage, just like his own heart in the left chest, only weaker and slower. “What is… this?”
“This is the duplicate of your heart,” says Chanyeol softly. “All of my Father’s children are born with two hearts. One is our own heart in the left chest, and the other one is our soul mate’s located in the right chest and smaller in size. When I saw Jiaheng at the first sight, the heart in my right chest suddenly worked and beat heavily. Since then, the small heart becomes a kind of ‘radar’ and I can detect you wherever you are at that moment.”
“How did he… I… react at that time?” asks Jiaheng timidly. “Was I happy?”
“This soul mate feels are mutual, so of course you were ecstatic to know that,” Chanyeol nods happily. “We lived together in a small village until the end.”
“And I died?”
“Yes,” Chanyeol looks down to his lap. “You died. But you were reborn again into a different person.”
“And who was I in the next life?”
Chanyeol grins. “Time to sleep.” He fixes the blanket upon Jiaheng’s lanky form and sweeps some strands of hair on the other guy’s forehead. He looks at the younger guy’s half-sleeping face, hesitates a bit, before leaning forward to kiss his forehead tenderly.
And Chanyeol can see Jiaheng’s eyes spring open and his cheeks redden. “Good night, Jiaheng.”
“Good night,” whispers Jiaheng. Chanyeol’s eyes widen at the sudden Korean he uses, and he smiles fondly before stepping out the room.
Once he closes the door behind him, he leans on the wall nearby before collapsing onto the cold floor, sobbing silently. It hurts, but he has to bear with it. “I’m sorry,” he whispers to the cold air. “I’m sorry, Jiaheng.”
*
“One time, you were an English gentleman named Kris,” Chanyeol tells Jiaheng while caressing the other guy’s tresses softly. Both of them are lying together on the small bed, Chanyeol props his upper body with his elbow and lies on his side. “You worked as a diplomat and we sailed together to other countries such as France. The Seine River was so pretty at night.”
“I want to go to other places too,” mumbles Jiaheng. “Chanyeol, can you take me somewhere someday? I want to see the outside world.”
Chanyeol gulps, but Jiaheng doesn’t see him. “Of course. I will ask Dr. Zhang tomorrow if I can take you outside.”
Jiaheng looks up; his eyes twinkle in glee, before nodding and rolling to his side to hug Chanyeol. Chanyeol’s breathe hitches. “Thank you. Thank you so much Chanyeol.”
“A-anytime,” the other guy stammers. “ Now let’s sleep okay?”
Chanyeol watches Jiaheng’s sleeping form; he looks so peaceful and beautiful, as if he doesn’t worry about what is going to come tomorrow, whether good or bad.
And Chanyeol knows, but he tells no one about it. He doesn’t have a right to interfere the work of this world’s God.
“I will show you this world, Jiaheng. You once taught me how to live like a normal human here, so I could stand equally with you, and now it’s time for me to return the favor.”
*
Chanyeol comes back in the morning, and finds Jiaheng talking with Dr. Zhang already. The young doctor knows everything, and gives him permission to leave the hospital. While the patient goes to the bathroom to take a short shower, Dr. Zhang shoves a card into Chanyeol’s palm.
“Call me if something happens to him,” says Yixing. “I trust you to take care of him.”
Chanyeol looks at the card in his palm- Dr. Zhang’s business card, complete with his office phone and mobile phone number- and looks up to call the retreating guy. “Doctor, are you by any chance… having any kind of feeling to Jiaheng?”
Yixing looks back, offering Chanyeol a sad smile. “My feeling doesn’t matter, but his does. And he chooses you.”
*
Chanyeol looks up to the dull grey sky above and quickens his pace to the bus station with Jiaheng catching up beside him. The air is getting colder and the chill wind blows occasionally; the autumn is coming.
“Where are we heading to, Chanyeol?” asks Jiaheng, rather excitedly. He uses Korean more often than before, although limited to simple sentences.
“We are going to Gyeonggi,” answers Chanyeol with a smile. “Have you been to a theme park? Everland in Yongin is beautiful, people say.”
Jiaheng shakes his head. “It’ll be exciting,” then he drapes the other guy’s neck with his own scarf. “It’s getting cold.”
Chanyeol unfolds the scarf and shares it with his beloved tightly, causing the other’s head to lean onto his shoulder. Jiaheng sighs contently, feeling comfortable with Chanyeol’s broad shoulder.
“Chanyeol,” calls Jiaheng softly. “You haven’t told me a story about Baekhyun.”
“Alright. But this is not a story with happy ending,” Chanyeol leans his head on to Jiaheng’s; the other’s hair feels soft against his cheek. “Just like me, my brother Baekhyun came here to find his soul mate. One day he found him, a guy named Huang Zitao, and they lived happily together. Even after Zitao died, he went back to our planet and patiently waited until Zitao was reborn again. Until one day, over a decade ago, they were arrested by the villagers where they lived at that moment. The villagers were against same-sex relationship, and as the resident of the village, Zitao was given death penalty.”
“And Baekhyun?” asks Jiaheng, barely a whisper.
“Baekhyun wasn’t the actual resident of the village, so he was kicked out and prohibited to come back again. He tried to save Zitao, struggled between the guards’ holds, but his right chest got stabbed. He was thrown away from the village’s gate, bleeding to no end until we found him and brought him home. The injuries healed, but the small heart doesn’t work anymore. He had tried to go to the Earth again, along with Jongdae, but he couldn’t find and feel the existence of Zitao. He gave up his life and went into void state. Now if you see him, he looks like nothing other than a porcelain doll; so pretty, but unresponsive. He has lost his soul and his reason to live.”
Jiaheng shudders against Chanyeol’s arm, scooting as close as possible to the other’s body; as if feeling afraid that Chanyeol will go into the same state like Baekhyun. He holds the other’s hand tightly before closing his eyes, praying for the best for the one who has lost his soul mate.
*
Chanyeol sits on one of the benches, watching Jiaheng play with the tower crane, aiming for a red dragon plush. They have run around the park, tried almost all attractions available, and Chanyeol needs a little bit of a breather.
“He looks so happy,” says someone sitting beside him. “Are you sure with what you told me a few days ago?”
Chanyeol checks on his wristwatch before looking up again, watching the happy Jiaheng. “Well, if you doubt Jongdae’s intelligence, then go ahead.”
The other guy shakes his head. “I doubt God’s mercy in this,” he sighs. “Does He really have a heart to take away a smile so bright like his?”
“You live here longer than me, so tell me about it.” Jiaheng turns around and waves his hand when he meets Chanyeol’s eyes. Chanyeol waves back. “How about the other one, the one I asked you a favor to find him?”
“Kyungsoo is looking for him right now,” the other’s face turns grim. “But the chance that he can find him is too slim.”
“But I just can’t stop,” Chanyeol sighs and rubs his tired face with both of his palms. “If I give up, Baekhyun will also give up permanently.”
“Chanyeol, are you still tired?” asks Jiaheng out of sudden. Chanyeol looks up and sees Jiaheng standing before him; the other guy has disappeared already. “What if we go to the Ferris Wheel? We can watch the sunset from up there!”
Jiaheng pulls Chanyeol out of the bench and runs together to the Ferris Wheel line up. After queuing for 15 minutes, they finally get into one car and go up.
“Chanyeol,” calls Jiaheng while looking outside the window, watching the fascinating landscape of Korea under them. “Why are the clouds sometimes in rabbit or bear shape?”
Chanyeol’s breathe hitches, before clearing his throat. “Someone said that it is the cloud’s way to remind us to always look up to the sky,” he softly tells his beloved. “Even if we have hard times or unfortunate days, we can look at the sky and watch the clouds, and eventually, we will find ourselves smile at them and everything will be alright again.”
Chanyeol looks down to the lap because long ago, it was him who asked the same question and it was Jiaheng who gave him the same answer.
"Jiaheng, why are the clouds so cute like that?"
"To make us smile; to wash away our sadness and grief."
*
In the evening, after they have their dinner together, Jiaheng holds his head and his face scrunches up in pain. Chanyeol panics; the bus to Seoul will only arrive 15 minute later.
Chanyeol takes Jiaheng to his back and carries him while running. He heads to a deserted place, far from people’s eyes. “Jiaheng,” he says, half-crying. “Hold on tight, we’re going to fly.” After he feels the grip to his collar gets tighter, he runs faster, faster, and jumps a bit before finally fly to Seoul.
Ten minutes after, they land on a deserted park in Yonsei University area and Chanyeol keeps on running until he reaches the emergency door. He tells the nurses to get Dr. Zhang and lets them take away Jiaheng to the ER room. Chanyeol waits outside, sits on a hard plastic chair. He leans his head to the wall on the back, feeling the coldness to cool down his burning head.
His wristwatch beeps for the first time after he arrived on the Earth. Jiaheng’s time is up.
*
“Chanyeol, tell me,” whispers Jiaheng weakly. “Tell me…”
Brain hemorrhage, Dr. Zhang told Chanyeol, and nothing he can do to save him.
“Yes?” Chanyeol reaches Jiaheng’s hand and strokes it a bit; it is cold. “What do you want to know?”
“What will happen to you… when I die?”
Chanyeol tries his best to hold back his tears. “My small heart will stop,” he answers with hoarse voice. “And only when you are reborn, it will start working again.”
“Does it hurt?”
“As good as die,” says Chanyeol truthfully.
Jiaheng closes his eyes. “I’m sorry, Chanyeol-ah.”
“Why?” Chanyeol finally bursts. “I’m the one who’s supposed to say that! I knew that you’re actually dying but I didn’t tell anyone so I wouldn’t interfere your God’s work! It is my and my principle’s fault! I’m the one who’s supposed to be sorry to you!”
The grip to Chanyeol’s hand gets tighter, and Jiaheng smiles weakly. “It doesn’t matter… right? You’ve been giving me happiness in these past days. You’ve been my Canlie, the brilliant purpose of my life. While soon, I will only give you pain… I’m sorry, Canlie.”
“Don’t,” Chanyeol starts to sob.
“What do you think… the reason why… stars twinkle every night?” Jiaheng’s words become weak whispers.
“I don’t know,” Chanyeol kisses Jiaheng’s cold knuckle. “Tell me.”
“If you know better… those stars are actually… dead already. They twinkle to remind… us.., that even though… they are dead… they will always shine… for us… and new stars… will be born…”
Chanyeol sobs quietly because it starts to hurt. It’s getting hurt, so he holds onto Jiaheng’s hand tighter, never letting it go.
“Do you know? Chanyeol,” says Jiaheng again, barely heard to Chanyeol’s ears. “Do you know…”
And it hits Chanyeol.
He lets go Jiaheng’s limp hand and grabs his right chest. It hurts, it hurts so much as if his heart is stabbed by countless knifes. And he cries on the cold floor, both because of his hurting chest and his lost beloved.
He drags his legs and walks out of the hospital lifelessly. He keeps on walking, walking, until finally collapsing into someone’s embrace.
“I’m so sorry, Chanyeol,” says that guy. “Let me take you to my house, you need to recover before we can run our mission.”
Chanyeol keeps on crying, wetting the other’s coat. He nods, anyway, and shudders because of the chill wind at night. “Thank you, Joonmyun.”
fin.
A/N this will be a long-ass note. beware.
according to the list i've made in my fic list, 'A Thousand Miles, A Thousand Years'is the first installment of Thousand Year verse. the next episode, 'Hello Again' won't be my usual sappy-romantic kind of story. i will start writing later on the middle of january. i will continue writing 'A Certain Romance' as well.
idk if you guys know this already but for us authors, your reviews and comments are our vitamins. being lack of them won't bring us death immediately but yeah, we'll be very 'sick'. nevertheless, thank you so much for reading! have a nice day.
A/N: un-beta'd unedited whatsoever because my mind is currently occupied by 3 assignments due to the 28th, so please excuse any errors. written for you, who are currently celebrating christmas and enjoying your winter break. happy holiday!
this might need a slight warning: OOC and multiple character deaths
00
Yixing closes the door behind him, walking away slowly in the 3rd floor corridor. Once he reaches his office, shared with a few other assistants, he sits on his chair and drops off the files he has been holding on to the table. ‘This is too much,’ he thinks, ‘I have no enough capability to take care of him but still…’
“How’s your patient, Yixing?” asks Hanae, a colleague who sits just right beside his desk. He is a prodigy in the hospital, who already gets to be a doctor assistant at 23 year of age. Yixing himself is just 24, getting an abroad scholarship from his previous university in China, but he’s no special.
“Which patient?” Yixing asks back. “You know I’ve been taking care of six patients.”
“That Riddle Guy,” Hanae crooks his neck a bit. “Is he getting better?”
“Yeah,” the Chinese one of them sighs. “I mean, he’s getting better physically, but not mentally. 2 police officers paid a visit a few days ago to ask him a few questions, but he gave no reply. It’s like he is… not revivable.”
“What do you mean?” now Hanhae sits straighter and listens to his friend fully. “Is he unstable?”
“No,” Yixing shakes his head. “But you know him. We know him but know nothing about him. It’s like his head just let go all of what filled it earlier and be happy with its emptiness. I know it seems like I make no sense now. And the fact that no one looks for him doesn’t help either.”
Hanhae looks at him sympathetically before patting his shoulder. “Don’t lose hope, Yixing. Besides, you’ve been doing your best.”
“But still…” Yixing covers his face with his palms in distress. “What about him?”
*
A tall, young guy heads to the information desk of Yonsei University Hospital with a big smile plastered on his face. “Good afternoon,” he greets one of the desk helper. “May I know where Lee Gahang’s room is?”
The helper gasps silently, eyes widen, but she quickly fixes her composure and types something to the computer in front of her. “307,” she answers. “You can take the elevator to the 3rd floor and go to the left. The room is on the left side.”
The young guy smiles and thanks her before heading to the elevator. Once he gets in, the helper goes the cord phone and punches a few numbers. “Doc, someone is currently visiting patient room 307.”
*
Gahang gets up from the bed and walks toward the window, watching the blue skies and the clouds swimming in it. He smiles and reaches his hand out of the window, as if trying to get one of the clouds. He realizes his stupidity and giggles to himself, but still thinks inwardly, ‘Why do the clouds look like rabbits and bears?’
A series of soft knocks to his room's door breaks his daydream. He wonders who the person is this time. Can it be Nurse Seohyun? No, she has delivered his lunch earlier. Or maybe Dr. Zhang? But he usually comes in late afternoon. Nevertheless it is rude to let someone outside for so long so he answers, “Come in.”
The door creaks open and a tall guy walks in. He has a big, toothy smile, almost like a grin, and he approaches Gahang and greets, “Annyeong.”
Gahang doesn’t know how to respond this awkward situation -yes, this is awkward for him- but he smiles back and waves his hand a little, “Annyeong,” he greets back. “Am I supposed to know you?”
The strangers seems like taken aback by the sudden change of language so Gahang adds to fill in that guy’s confusion, “I am not Korean. Chinese.”
“I kind of figured it out,” it is the stranger’s turn to shock Gahang. “By the way, my name is Chanyeol.”
“Chanyeol?” Gahang tilts his head to the side. “I am… call me Gahang.”
Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows. “I know that already…” he trails off. “But that’s not a Chinese name.”
The resident of the room shrugs, “I don’t know either, but everybody calls me with that name.”
Suddenly someone outside knocks door, stopping their confusing conversation. After Gahang lets him in, a slightly shorter guy Chanyeol steps in. He wears a white coat, glasses perch on the slope of his nose. He smiles kindly to Chanyeol and greets, “Annyeonghaseyo. I’m Dr. Zhang Yixing. Are you perhaps Gahang’s relative?”
Chanyeol shakes his head, “No, but sort of yes.”
Yixing thinks for a while before turning to Gahang, who was still standing dumbly since he doesn’t understand the conversation between the stranger and his doctor. “Gahang, can I borrow your guest for a while? I need to talk to him.”
Gahang nods blankly before he turns around and continues watching the sky. Yixing opens the door and guides Chanyeol outside to his office. There is no one inside, all of his colleagues are taking care of their respective patients, so he lets the tall guy sit on Hanae’s chair. “First of all,” Yixing breaks the awkward silence between them. “I’m Zhang Yixing, the doctor assistant who is in charge of Lee Gahang. May I know your name, sir?”
“Oh, so you’re Chinese too,” Chanyeol nods. “You can call me Chanyeol.”
“May I know your relationship with him, Chanyeol sshi?”
Chanyeol shakes his head. “It’s supposed to be only him who knows that I’m here right now. So I can’t tell you, doctor. I’m sorry.”
“But do you know him?”
“Yeah, long time ago. You can say that I don’t right now.”
Yixing sighs. The guy in front of him clearly doesn’t want to help him straighten the problem.
“May I know what happened to him?” it is Chanyeol’s turn to ask back the doctor. “He seems… off.”
Yixing straightens his sitting position. “He was assigned under my care 2 weeks ago after he woke up from a long comatose state. He got into a big traffic accident a month ago and he can’t remember anything about him. His belongings are gone, too, burned into ashes along with the bus he had taken on that day. The last remaining of his identity is a piece of paper in his jacket pocket, written 이가항 on it a few times, as if he had been practicing it before the accident happened. No one has visited him or at least looked for him, beside 2 police officers who came to asked him some questions a week ago. He couldn’t provide them any answers because he couldn’t remember anything and he couldn’t speak Korean. He is assigned under me also mainly because I’m the only Chinese assistant here.”
Chanyeol nods in understanding. No wonder Gahang looks so serene and innocent by the time he stepped into his room. “But,” he continues. “Other than his amnesiac state, is he fine?”
“His injuries are healing, so nothing to worry anymore,” Yixing states, and he can see relief in Chanyeol’s expression. “Chanyeol sshi, can I ask for your help?”
“Yes?”
“Can you interact with him as often as you can? I think interaction with other people can help him gain back his memories. Get him into conversations, or if you know any, take him to places he has visited before.”
The young guy thinks for a while before looking at his wristwatch. “I’ll try,” Chanyeol gets up from his seat, before giving the young doctor a sad smile. “But I don’t know how it will end up later.”
*
Chanyeol comes to the room 307 again later in the evening. At the time he steps in, Gahang is standing before the window, watching the night sky. Upon hearing his coming, the patient turns around and smiles, “You come again.”
“I have nothing to do, and you are lonely,” Chanyeol shrugs. “Actually I came here in order to see you.”
“Where are you coming from?” Gahang approaches him and leads him to the bed before sitting together.
“I’m from a place so far, far away,” Chanyeol grins.
“Is it China?”
“Nope. I’m not Chinese.”
“Then why are you speaking Chinese?”
“Because you are speaking Chinese.”
Gahang furrows his thick eyebrows in confusion. Chanyeol warmly smiles upon the other side of his beloved that he hasn’t seen before; Li Jiaheng, or one of his reincarnations, looks so innocent as if he is only 5 instead of 20. All of Jiaheng’s reincarnations had been kindhearted, warm, but never child-like. Yes, Chanyeol came to the Earth earlier than usual, but 7 years difference shouldn’t have given a change of basic characters.
Chanyeol scoffs inwardly, ‘So the God of this world likes to play with His creations’. And to think that he won’t see his beloved again later-
“But,” Chanyeol snaps back to reality when Gahang starts talking to him again. “Are you my relative?”
“No,” the guest shakes his head. “But I knew you, long time ago.”
“Really?” Gahang’s eyes widen. “Then who was I?”
Chanyeol can’t suppress his chuckle because of Gahang’s endless questions. It feels like talking to their son, a bit more than a hundred years ago. “Long ago, I knew you as someone named Li Jiaheng.”
Gahang practices that name, feeling it with his tongue. He nods to himself comprehensively. “Then, is my name actually Li Jiaheng?”
“I don’t know, Gahang. But it was, long time ago.”
“But I like that name!”
“Yes, you can use that name from now on if you want,” Chanyeol laughs heartily. The Jiaheng in front of him is adorable, despite of his thick pointy eyebrows and serious expression. “Tell Dr. Zhang tomorrow that you know your real name already.”
Jiaheng smiles, all of his teeth are showing, but still as beautiful and warm as the last time Chanyeol saw it. But now it becomes so pure, innocent, and Chanyeol doesn’t have a heart to let that brilliance dim.
Chanyeol will do anything to make that smile last.
“But do you want to know where I came from?” asks Chanyeol playfully. Jiaheng nods enthusiastically, making Chanyeol laugh once again. “Alright. I’ll come here every night to tell you something as a bedtime story. How about that?”
“Bedtime story? But I’m not a child anymore.” Jiaheng unconsciously pouts his lips.
“But one story will be very long and I will only come after 9 PM, so when it finishes it’ll be your time to sleep.”
“Okay,” Jiaheng easily complies and slips into his comforter. “What are you going to share to me tonight?”
Jiaheng really reminds Chanyeol of their son a decade ago. So he turns on his ‘father mode’ and pats Jiaheng’s leg over the cover. “Actually, I don’t live in this planet. I came from outer space, a planet far away from here.”
“You are kidding.”
“It’s up to you if you want to believe me or not, but I’m no liar,” Chanyeol shrugs. When he feels Jiaheng’s attention is back to him, he continues, “My planet is called Olympus, and I have 5 brothers there.”
“Your parents?”
“My dad is… the ruler of the planet, or in this world’s term, a God,” Chanyeol smiles. “Actually all of us are His children, except the Goddess. He and the Goddess was the one who made the first generation. And after that, he marries all of his daughters, granddaughters, and so on.”
“So he marries all of the women in your planet?”
“Yes. My mother gave birth to 6 sons with no daughter, so there will be no child after my generation from my lineage.”
“And why is that so?”
“I don’t know. It’s my Father’s authority, and I have no right to question that.”
“Okay,” Jiaheng nods. “Then what about your brothers?”
“The oldest among us is Joonmyun, he is one of the Authorities there because he is so clever. And then there is Luhan, and just like any second child here in this world, he is different from others and has witty personality. Baekhyun, the third son, is so pretty but really sick right now. Jongdae is older by a few months than me, but he’s one of the most genius people in my planet. And then there is me. And the last one is Sehun, he is still going to school and will graduate soon,” Chanyeol tells about his brothers with a smile etched on his face; he misses his brothers, especially Joonmyun.
“Why is Baekhyun sick? Is he dying?”
“He is…” Chanyeol suddenly loses his word; he remembers his brother in the Olympus right now, unmoving just like a broken doll. “He has his own story, Jiaheng. I will tell you someday. And no, fortunately he’s not dying.”
“Thank goodness,” Jiaheng smiles and closes his eyes, clearly relieved by the news. Chanyeol’s never seen someone who worries over a person he just knew about a few minutes ago.
“And how did you arrive here? Didn’t you say that your planet is located far away?”
“I will tell you next time, alright,” Chanyeol grins when Jiaheng is slightly pouting.
“Will you come again tomorrow?” asks Jiaheng while stifling a yawn.
“I will.”
*
“Where are you?”
“Can I come over? We need to talk.”
“No, not about me. This is about Baekhyun.”
*
The next time Chanyeol comes over, Jiaheng is with Dr. Zhang in his room. It seems like they were in the middle of mild conversation before they heard Chanyeol coming in.
“Chanyeol sshi, thank you so much for your help,” says Yixing. “Jiaheng told me that he got a weird dream last night. He never dreamed anything since he woke up so this is clearly a big progress.”
Seeing the young doctor’s contented smile, Chanyeol can’t help but smile back. “What did he dream about?”
“He saw himself in front of a few people sitting behind a long desk, and he held a microphone. That was it, but I can take a rough conclusion that he came here through an audition from an entertainment company.”
“That makes sense,” Chanyeol nods. “Will you tell the officers about this?”
“Yes, I will tomorrow,” Yixing takes his hand for a handshake. “Once again, thank you Chanyeol sshi.”
“He looked so happy, Chanyeol,” says Jiaheng once Dr. Zhang steps out of the room. “What did he say?”
“He told me about your progression,” Chanyeol sits on the edge of the bed. “And I see you already told him your name.”
“Of course I did,” Jiaheng grins. “Jiaheng sounds better than my former name.”
“And the meaning of it is beautiful too.”
“Eh, what does it mean anyway?”
Chanyeol walks to the drawer beside Jiaheng’s bed, looking for a sheet of paper and something he can use to write. He finds a post-it note and a pencil. “You see here,” Chanyeol writes down 3 characters in Chinese. “李, ‘Li’, is your family name. 嘉, ‘Jia’, means ‘excellent’ or ‘beautiful’. And then lastly, 恒, ‘Heng’, means ‘always’ or ‘permanent’. So, Jiaheng means ‘permanently beautiful’.”
“Then, do you have any Chinese name, perhaps?”
Chanyeol smiles before writes another characters upon the paper. “Jiaheng made this name for me,” his smile grows wider while stroking down the 燦 character. “This is ‘Can’, which means ‘bright’ or ‘brilliant’,” and he continues with 烈. “And this is ‘Lie’, means ‘giving one’s life a big cause’. He gave me this name because-” Chanyeol pauses for a second, reminiscing the time when he first met his beloved in his first life. “-because he said that I gave him a purpose to live.”
Chanyeol looks over his shoulder and sees Jiaheng, looking at the paper with tender face. The other’s face structure is just the same like the last time Chanyeol saw it: deep brown eyes, pointy nose, small lips, and long chin. He looks way younger than he was ages ago, but still beautiful nevertheless. Jiaheng’s eyes meet Chanyeol’s, and they finally realize that their faces are just inches away.
Jiaheng retreats back and clears his throat. “You said yesterday that you would tell me how you ended up coming to the Earth.”
“Oh right,” Chanyeol scratches his not itchy head. “Do you still remember my brother Joonmyun?”
“The one who is clever and becomes one of the Authorities in your planet?”
“You already know that we, men, aren’t allowed to marry women in our planet, so that we have to take a journey to other planets in order to find our own soul mate. One day Joonmyun got an order to go to the Earth to find someone and stayed there for a while. As his younger brothers who knew nothing about other planets than our own, my older brothers and I decided to follow him and head to the Earth.” Chanyeol smiles upon remembering his first encounter with his beloved. “You see that the first time I went here, I was still so young and inexperienced so instead of landing on a solid surface, I went straight to the sea, or in the other word, drown.”
“Drown?” Jiaheng chuckles. “Then, what happened?”
“There are seas in my own planet, too and I’m capable to swim, but you can’t immediately swim right after getting into the water in fast speed, can you? So I struggled in the water, and my clothes at that time didn’t help me either, until a few of threads were spread around me and soon enough, I was pulled out of the water. Later I knew that the threads were actually a fish net, and the one pulled me out was a young guy. At the first sight, I knew that he was my soul mate.”
“How could you be so sure that he was your soul mate?” asks Jiaheng curiously. Chanyeol smiles more and takes his hand, brings it to his right chest. He can feel something is beating against the other guy’s ribcage, just like his own heart in the left chest, only weaker and slower. “What is… this?”
“This is the duplicate of your heart,” says Chanyeol softly. “All of my Father’s children are born with two hearts. One is our own heart in the left chest, and the other one is our soul mate’s located in the right chest and smaller in size. When I saw Jiaheng at the first sight, the heart in my right chest suddenly worked and beat heavily. Since then, the small heart becomes a kind of ‘radar’ and I can detect you wherever you are at that moment.”
“How did he… I… react at that time?” asks Jiaheng timidly. “Was I happy?”
“This soul mate feels are mutual, so of course you were ecstatic to know that,” Chanyeol nods happily. “We lived together in a small village until the end.”
“And I died?”
“Yes,” Chanyeol looks down to his lap. “You died. But you were reborn again into a different person.”
“And who was I in the next life?”
Chanyeol grins. “Time to sleep.” He fixes the blanket upon Jiaheng’s lanky form and sweeps some strands of hair on the other guy’s forehead. He looks at the younger guy’s half-sleeping face, hesitates a bit, before leaning forward to kiss his forehead tenderly.
And Chanyeol can see Jiaheng’s eyes spring open and his cheeks redden. “Good night, Jiaheng.”
“Good night,” whispers Jiaheng. Chanyeol’s eyes widen at the sudden Korean he uses, and he smiles fondly before stepping out the room.
Once he closes the door behind him, he leans on the wall nearby before collapsing onto the cold floor, sobbing silently. It hurts, but he has to bear with it. “I’m sorry,” he whispers to the cold air. “I’m sorry, Jiaheng.”
*
“One time, you were an English gentleman named Kris,” Chanyeol tells Jiaheng while caressing the other guy’s tresses softly. Both of them are lying together on the small bed, Chanyeol props his upper body with his elbow and lies on his side. “You worked as a diplomat and we sailed together to other countries such as France. The Seine River was so pretty at night.”
“I want to go to other places too,” mumbles Jiaheng. “Chanyeol, can you take me somewhere someday? I want to see the outside world.”
Chanyeol gulps, but Jiaheng doesn’t see him. “Of course. I will ask Dr. Zhang tomorrow if I can take you outside.”
Jiaheng looks up; his eyes twinkle in glee, before nodding and rolling to his side to hug Chanyeol. Chanyeol’s breathe hitches. “Thank you. Thank you so much Chanyeol.”
“A-anytime,” the other guy stammers. “ Now let’s sleep okay?”
Chanyeol watches Jiaheng’s sleeping form; he looks so peaceful and beautiful, as if he doesn’t worry about what is going to come tomorrow, whether good or bad.
And Chanyeol knows, but he tells no one about it. He doesn’t have a right to interfere the work of this world’s God.
“I will show you this world, Jiaheng. You once taught me how to live like a normal human here, so I could stand equally with you, and now it’s time for me to return the favor.”
*
Chanyeol comes back in the morning, and finds Jiaheng talking with Dr. Zhang already. The young doctor knows everything, and gives him permission to leave the hospital. While the patient goes to the bathroom to take a short shower, Dr. Zhang shoves a card into Chanyeol’s palm.
“Call me if something happens to him,” says Yixing. “I trust you to take care of him.”
Chanyeol looks at the card in his palm- Dr. Zhang’s business card, complete with his office phone and mobile phone number- and looks up to call the retreating guy. “Doctor, are you by any chance… having any kind of feeling to Jiaheng?”
Yixing looks back, offering Chanyeol a sad smile. “My feeling doesn’t matter, but his does. And he chooses you.”
*
Chanyeol looks up to the dull grey sky above and quickens his pace to the bus station with Jiaheng catching up beside him. The air is getting colder and the chill wind blows occasionally; the autumn is coming.
“Where are we heading to, Chanyeol?” asks Jiaheng, rather excitedly. He uses Korean more often than before, although limited to simple sentences.
“We are going to Gyeonggi,” answers Chanyeol with a smile. “Have you been to a theme park? Everland in Yongin is beautiful, people say.”
Jiaheng shakes his head. “It’ll be exciting,” then he drapes the other guy’s neck with his own scarf. “It’s getting cold.”
Chanyeol unfolds the scarf and shares it with his beloved tightly, causing the other’s head to lean onto his shoulder. Jiaheng sighs contently, feeling comfortable with Chanyeol’s broad shoulder.
“Chanyeol,” calls Jiaheng softly. “You haven’t told me a story about Baekhyun.”
“Alright. But this is not a story with happy ending,” Chanyeol leans his head on to Jiaheng’s; the other’s hair feels soft against his cheek. “Just like me, my brother Baekhyun came here to find his soul mate. One day he found him, a guy named Huang Zitao, and they lived happily together. Even after Zitao died, he went back to our planet and patiently waited until Zitao was reborn again. Until one day, over a decade ago, they were arrested by the villagers where they lived at that moment. The villagers were against same-sex relationship, and as the resident of the village, Zitao was given death penalty.”
“And Baekhyun?” asks Jiaheng, barely a whisper.
“Baekhyun wasn’t the actual resident of the village, so he was kicked out and prohibited to come back again. He tried to save Zitao, struggled between the guards’ holds, but his right chest got stabbed. He was thrown away from the village’s gate, bleeding to no end until we found him and brought him home. The injuries healed, but the small heart doesn’t work anymore. He had tried to go to the Earth again, along with Jongdae, but he couldn’t find and feel the existence of Zitao. He gave up his life and went into void state. Now if you see him, he looks like nothing other than a porcelain doll; so pretty, but unresponsive. He has lost his soul and his reason to live.”
Jiaheng shudders against Chanyeol’s arm, scooting as close as possible to the other’s body; as if feeling afraid that Chanyeol will go into the same state like Baekhyun. He holds the other’s hand tightly before closing his eyes, praying for the best for the one who has lost his soul mate.
*
Chanyeol sits on one of the benches, watching Jiaheng play with the tower crane, aiming for a red dragon plush. They have run around the park, tried almost all attractions available, and Chanyeol needs a little bit of a breather.
“He looks so happy,” says someone sitting beside him. “Are you sure with what you told me a few days ago?”
Chanyeol checks on his wristwatch before looking up again, watching the happy Jiaheng. “Well, if you doubt Jongdae’s intelligence, then go ahead.”
The other guy shakes his head. “I doubt God’s mercy in this,” he sighs. “Does He really have a heart to take away a smile so bright like his?”
“You live here longer than me, so tell me about it.” Jiaheng turns around and waves his hand when he meets Chanyeol’s eyes. Chanyeol waves back. “How about the other one, the one I asked you a favor to find him?”
“Kyungsoo is looking for him right now,” the other’s face turns grim. “But the chance that he can find him is too slim.”
“But I just can’t stop,” Chanyeol sighs and rubs his tired face with both of his palms. “If I give up, Baekhyun will also give up permanently.”
“Chanyeol, are you still tired?” asks Jiaheng out of sudden. Chanyeol looks up and sees Jiaheng standing before him; the other guy has disappeared already. “What if we go to the Ferris Wheel? We can watch the sunset from up there!”
Jiaheng pulls Chanyeol out of the bench and runs together to the Ferris Wheel line up. After queuing for 15 minutes, they finally get into one car and go up.
“Chanyeol,” calls Jiaheng while looking outside the window, watching the fascinating landscape of Korea under them. “Why are the clouds sometimes in rabbit or bear shape?”
Chanyeol’s breathe hitches, before clearing his throat. “Someone said that it is the cloud’s way to remind us to always look up to the sky,” he softly tells his beloved. “Even if we have hard times or unfortunate days, we can look at the sky and watch the clouds, and eventually, we will find ourselves smile at them and everything will be alright again.”
Chanyeol looks down to the lap because long ago, it was him who asked the same question and it was Jiaheng who gave him the same answer.
"Jiaheng, why are the clouds so cute like that?"
"To make us smile; to wash away our sadness and grief."
*
In the evening, after they have their dinner together, Jiaheng holds his head and his face scrunches up in pain. Chanyeol panics; the bus to Seoul will only arrive 15 minute later.
Chanyeol takes Jiaheng to his back and carries him while running. He heads to a deserted place, far from people’s eyes. “Jiaheng,” he says, half-crying. “Hold on tight, we’re going to fly.” After he feels the grip to his collar gets tighter, he runs faster, faster, and jumps a bit before finally fly to Seoul.
Ten minutes after, they land on a deserted park in Yonsei University area and Chanyeol keeps on running until he reaches the emergency door. He tells the nurses to get Dr. Zhang and lets them take away Jiaheng to the ER room. Chanyeol waits outside, sits on a hard plastic chair. He leans his head to the wall on the back, feeling the coldness to cool down his burning head.
His wristwatch beeps for the first time after he arrived on the Earth. Jiaheng’s time is up.
*
“Chanyeol, tell me,” whispers Jiaheng weakly. “Tell me…”
Brain hemorrhage, Dr. Zhang told Chanyeol, and nothing he can do to save him.
“Yes?” Chanyeol reaches Jiaheng’s hand and strokes it a bit; it is cold. “What do you want to know?”
“What will happen to you… when I die?”
Chanyeol tries his best to hold back his tears. “My small heart will stop,” he answers with hoarse voice. “And only when you are reborn, it will start working again.”
“Does it hurt?”
“As good as die,” says Chanyeol truthfully.
Jiaheng closes his eyes. “I’m sorry, Chanyeol-ah.”
“Why?” Chanyeol finally bursts. “I’m the one who’s supposed to say that! I knew that you’re actually dying but I didn’t tell anyone so I wouldn’t interfere your God’s work! It is my and my principle’s fault! I’m the one who’s supposed to be sorry to you!”
The grip to Chanyeol’s hand gets tighter, and Jiaheng smiles weakly. “It doesn’t matter… right? You’ve been giving me happiness in these past days. You’ve been my Canlie, the brilliant purpose of my life. While soon, I will only give you pain… I’m sorry, Canlie.”
“Don’t,” Chanyeol starts to sob.
“What do you think… the reason why… stars twinkle every night?” Jiaheng’s words become weak whispers.
“I don’t know,” Chanyeol kisses Jiaheng’s cold knuckle. “Tell me.”
“If you know better… those stars are actually… dead already. They twinkle to remind… us.., that even though… they are dead… they will always shine… for us… and new stars… will be born…”
Chanyeol sobs quietly because it starts to hurt. It’s getting hurt, so he holds onto Jiaheng’s hand tighter, never letting it go.
“Do you know? Chanyeol,” says Jiaheng again, barely heard to Chanyeol’s ears. “Do you know…”
And it hits Chanyeol.
He lets go Jiaheng’s limp hand and grabs his right chest. It hurts, it hurts so much as if his heart is stabbed by countless knifes. And he cries on the cold floor, both because of his hurting chest and his lost beloved.
He drags his legs and walks out of the hospital lifelessly. He keeps on walking, walking, until finally collapsing into someone’s embrace.
“I’m so sorry, Chanyeol,” says that guy. “Let me take you to my house, you need to recover before we can run our mission.”
Chanyeol keeps on crying, wetting the other’s coat. He nods, anyway, and shudders because of the chill wind at night. “Thank you, Joonmyun.”
fin.
A/N this will be a long-ass note. beware.
- Lee Gahang (이가항) is the Koreanized version of Li Jiaheng. i used to say "what's the importance of name meaning" until i knew his name lol. the meaning of Yixing's, Baekhyun's, and Joonmyun's names fit them really well too.
- i used traditional hanzi for Chanyeol's Chinese name because 1) Jiaheng gave Chanyeol that name long time ago, right? so there were no simplified version at that time, and 2) i only have his name in hanja lololol. hanja = traditional hanzi.
- i have no idea who krisyeol's son was. well they had adopted one but that's all.
according to the list i've made in my fic list, 'A Thousand Miles, A Thousand Years'is the first installment of Thousand Year verse. the next episode, 'Hello Again' won't be my usual sappy-romantic kind of story. i will start writing later on the middle of january. i will continue writing 'A Certain Romance' as well.
idk if you guys know this already but for us authors, your reviews and comments are our vitamins. being lack of them won't bring us death immediately but yeah, we'll be very 'sick'. nevertheless, thank you so much for reading! have a nice day.