Incanter - Chapter 9
Incantare - Chapter 9
Rating: PG
Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Romance, Historical, Tragedy
Pairings: Hankyung/girl!Heechul, Donghae/girl!Kibum, Siwon/girl!Kibum, Donghae/Eunhyuk, Kangin/girl!Eeteuk
Summary: Fairies were supposed to stay in their realm. They weren’t supposed to go to human world, but some fairies are just stubborn
Hankyung's POV
She pushed my away. She looked so mad that I felt guilty. Why did I even kiss her? I loved her and I was sure of it. She was the one who I was destined to be with. I was already living my second lifetime and I was still yearning for her. However, we were different. We were not in the same plane. I was in the world of the living while she was in the world of the dead.
She slapped me. "You are going to call Kibum, aren't you?"
I turned to her, my hand on my cheek. "No... I... I was supposed to but I won't if you just please love me."
She grabbed me by the collar and pulled me to her. "I refuse to fall in love, Hankyung. You left me when I needed you. Your father wanted me as his concubine. I do not and will never love you. Besides," she pushed me, "I like feeling like a god." She turned and walked away. I watched her but I could not run to her anymore. Her words hurt and I started to cry. She said that she did not love me. She thought that I did not protect her when I did. I tried everything to protect her. I even looked for her.
Heechul walked over to the table where she was at with Donghae and grabbed the man up. She whispered to him and they both left me in that bar, alone with a broken heart.
I looked down and grasped my pants with my hands. The pain was unbearable. I wanted to scream, to run, to fall off a cliff. I wanted her to love me like i loved her, but she could not remember. She just remembered running away to Japan with her brother where they met Eeteuk, where Kangin fell in love with Eeteuk, and where they soon met their fate when the earthquake and tsunami took their lives.
I died with them but why was I reincarnated? Why could I not be one of them? A fairy stuck in the realm of Incantare, waiting for that time when I could pass. It sounded so lonely, as if to live there was to be resigned to being a clueless ghost of a child. However, it was worse. No memories of the past. No recognition of the people who you shared memories. But it was needed. They don't feel negative emotions but still there are dangers. Heechul was a ghost in between Heaven and Hell. i would not let her suffer eternal punishment.
I took the phone from my pocket and dialed Kibum's number.
+
I sat on the bed of my room. It was four am, Saturday. In front of me were two fairies, Donghae and Heechul, both tied back to back on the floor by this mystic golden rope that Kibum had. I did not help in the capture of the two. I just called Kibum and she said that she will go to Hongdae and find them. I just drank alcohol and returned to my apartment with these two in my room. In his room, Siwon was snoring loudly and Kibum was asleep on the sofa. She too was tired. Despite having a hold of the fairy king's powers, she suffered fatigue like a human because that was her current form. Like Siwon, she too was snoring. They both refused to sleep beside each other as well because of reasons -Siwon was still scared shitless over what happened and Kibum, well, she said it had something to do with her past.
I stared at Heechul and she glared at me. She hissed, "Traitor."
"Heechul, don't be so mean," said Dongahe. "He just cares for you that's why he did what he did."
"Shut up!" Heechul shouted at Donghae. "Do you want to return?"
Donghae shook his head. "I don't but I don't want to fight against it. With this rope around us, we're powerless. All they need to do now is find Kangin."
"You sound happy, you bastard!"
Donghae sighed, "I guess that too much of all this human life got to me. I'm still depressed, Heechul. I want to be happy again even if I were to forget once more. Being a fairy in Incantare, I was happy. I should have waited until I entered Heaven where I could be happy and live with my memories. But no. I went here the memories are making me so sad. I wanted to go back but at the same time I wanted to stay. I was confused that I stayed."
"You are a fucking traitor as well!" Heechul shouted.
Curious, I asked, "What is your story, Donghae?"
Donghae smiled faintly and looked down. "I was Chinese just like you and I was engaged to Kibum. She was my childhood friend and I loved her dearly. However, I caught her making love to Siwon. It was painful, so painful." He closed his eyes. "I saw how they kissed and how he held her. I heard how my beloved moan his name and desire his body." He took a deep breath and looked at me with tears brimming his eyes. "I was so lost, Hankyung. I did not tell Kibum what I saw. Instead, I watched her every night she was with Siwon. Every time, my heart would break. I would cry despite being a man, and soon I did find comfort in another man, in your friend, Eunhyuk. He was a fisherman and he caught me crying by the shore. Pathetic, isn't it?"
"No," I shook my head. "Please continue..." my eyes were already closing and my world was spinning. I lay myself down on the bed and told him, "I just need to lay down. Just talk." I was already drunk but I still had control over myself.
"Okay," Donghae said. "Every time I saw Kibum and Siwon together, I would run to Eunhyuk wherein we started our own affair. I started to disappear, started coming home late. Kibum and I were not wed yet but my family already bought a house for us to please Kibum's parents. We were supposed to be wed soon at that time and we were supposed to be excited but we were not. Kibum started to question my disappearances and I would refuse to talk. I told her that a man had to work for his wife and she told me that she needed me. I grew furious that I pushed her and told her that I know of her affair with Siwon. She begged for forgiveness, telling me that she loved me, but I could not believe her. We started to grow distant but we still were wed under the agreements of our parents. Our family became one. However, I never made love to Kibum for I felt as if I was only touching what Siwon was touching. It disgusted me. Our affairs continued. She made love to Siwon while I made love to a man as well. Before we knew it, our whole town was massacred because of this attack. Kibum was raped in front of me before she was beheaded, and they cut my arms off letting me die of great blood loss."
I stared at him, shocked of his story. The alcohol started to leave me because of his last words of death. It scared me. I asked him, "Did it hurt?"
He laughed. "You are one stupid man to ask me if it hurt. I was living in a loveless marriage and my arms were cut off before my body was thrown in a pit where I was buried with my wife, my lover, and the man who my wife was cheating on."
Then I asked, "Why can you remember this and Heechul cannot remember me?"
"Because you never came!" Heechul shouted. "You just stopped those fucking guards of your father from taking me but you never came! We talked about it! You told me that you would protect me but I still ended dead and without you! Your father still came looking for me!" She stomped her bare foot on the floor. "We kept our relationship a secret because I was no princess. I was only a Korean girl while you were the Chinese emperor's son! Yesung told me to hide. Kangin even tried to hide me. They did not know that your father has always lusted over me since you first introduced him to me during one of your visits! You told me that you would protect me from him but you did not!"
I pushed myself up and started to cry. "He's my father. I did what I could do. A prince has no power over the emperor."
Heechul started to cry as well. "Kangin and I managed to get into that boat and travel to Japan because you stopped the imperial guards. That was my last memory of you."
I shook my head. "I talked to Eeteuk. Chiaki. Yes, Chiaki. I went to Japan with my family. I thought that I lost you but then Chiaki told me that she knew my lover. She was going to bring me to you but the earthquake struck and then the earthquake."
"Lies!" Heechul screamed. "Stop speaking of such horrid lies! You do not remember anything! These are what Chiaki told you. I want you to speak of what you remember!"
"But I don't remember anything!" I wailed as the tears furiously fell down from my eyes. "I want to remember but I can't! But I can feel it, Heechul! Please love me!"
"No!"
Donghae shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, man."
I fell onto the bed and cried like a helpless little child until I fell asleep.
+
When I woke, it was only 7am. 2 and a half hours of sleep. That was unusual since I sleep a lot. I probably just could not sleep because of the turmoil happening inside of me. Heechul and Donghae were still in the room, both of whom were talking.
"Oh, you're awake," said Heechul when she saw my open eyes. "Go back to sleep, asshole."
I sat up and looked down. The sadness was too strong that I stood up. "Excuse me."
"Where are you going? You going to shower all that shitty smell away from you?"
I winced and turned away. Biting my lower lip, I walked to the door. However, Donghae called for me, "Wait!" I turned and he asked me, "Kibum made love to Siwon, didn't she?"
"She did," I said. "Why?"
"She's still here so that means that it was Siwon who she was meant to be with..." Donghae looked down, "not me."
Sorrow was in his tone. I was about to go to him, to give him some comfort, but Heechul barked at me, "Leave, asshole!"
I ran out of the room and slammed the door shut. To my surprise, Eeteuk was in the apartment. She was talking to Kibum over a cup of coffee. Both of them had dark bags underneath their eyes.
"Eeteuk?" I said. "What are you doing here?"
"Because I have a secret that I have keeping from you," she sighed. "Kangin has been living with me since he returned to Earth. I wanted to do the right thing and make him return but... I do not know how to live without him. I still love him, Hankyung."
I sighed and sat beside her. "I love Heechul as well."
"But we cannot love," said Kibum. "You are humans. We are fairies."
"Kibum, have you ever wondered why there is such a thing as soul mates?" I asked. "I have been thinking of it. You have proven that Siwon is your soul mate but why have the two of you been separated? Siwon is a model here. He's good looking and good with children. Women want him. He'll be married before he dies."
Kibum sighed and said, "The answer to that is something that I do not know. It pains me as well. Why would you separate two souls that were meant to be one?"
I sighed and turned to Eeteuk, "What made you come here?"
"Kangin has these crazy senses. He woke up at five am telling me that Heechul was with you and that he could not come over because of Kibum. I told him to return because he belongs in Incantare but he didn't want to separate from me. I don't want to separate from him as well. However, he knew that this time was coming. So I'm here, begging Kibum to give me one more week with Kangin."
Kibum nodded, "And I can wait a week. As long as the troublemaker has been captured, I can rest."
"Yeah, the troublemaker..." I looked down. "Excuse me for a moment." I stood up and walked out of the apartment. I was too depressed.
Outside, I stood at the streets. I looked up at my apartment window and saw Heechul staring down at me from the glass. Still wrapped in that golden rope, she could stand and walk around but Donghae was strapped behind her. She was mad at me. She hated me and didn't love me. Then the memories started to come.
I was once a young prince brought to Korea to study the people there. My father wanted me to learn how to rule and so he made me practice with Korea. I was only ten when I first came there with advisors. It was then that I saw a young Heechul running around with Kangin, her dear brother. I was envious of Kangin because I wanted a sibling, then I grew envious because I wanted Heechul. I walked away with a heart that started to beat with a different kind of love.
I did not talk to Heechul that day because I did not know how to. I stayed in Korea for a year and returned when I was fifteen. I returned to the same place and it was not to practice my power but to gather taxes. Father wanted me to learn how to be a well rounded prince so that I could be a good emperor. Also, he just bore another child that he wanted me to be the best example for my sibling.
As I was gathering taxes, I met Kangin who introduced me to Heechul. I did not return to China for two years because of that. My excuse to my father was that I had more in depth lessons in Korea. Korea was under China but Korea had its emperor as well. So I stayed at the emperor's palace. Father became proud of me, saying that it is a blessing to have a son who was eager to rule. Also, he said that it's better to start ruling a small dynasty before going on to rule the whole of China.
He did not know that I had other reasons: Heechul. I snuck her into the king's palace and romanced her there. And she would introduce to me the world that I was so foreign to. In the palace, we watched the fishes swim in the man-made lakes, and we would sit by the trees that was surrounded by lush grass. I would always hold her. I even brought her to the performances in the palace and the Korean emperor did not question me for he feared me. I was, after all, the son of his own boss. Anyways, outside of the palace, she showed me the market and introduced me to the people. I got to know them and developed a greater sense of compassion for the people. We would run freely on the hills and we would make love within the dense forest, hidden from everyone but visible to the moon.
The whole while, Kangin did not know of our relationship for he was a strict brother who despised my tyrant of a father.
When my father did come to Korea, I introduced him to Heechul and he said that he wanted her. That night, when we were alone in our chamber, we argued. I told him that I loved Heechul and he told me that women like Heechul were only meant to be concubines. I frowned at him but then he added that I was allowed to have a concubine. However, I could not marry a peasant. Also, he insisted that he wanted Heechul was his own concubine, that it was okay for a father and son to share their own trophy.
I broke three vases in front of him.
Repulsed by my sudden rebellion, he took me out of Korea and brought me back to China were I was stuck for a few years, learning the art of war and politics and other bullshit. Then I found out that my father sent some imperial guards to get him some Korean concubines. I was enraged that I snuck out that night, following the guards on my own horse. To my luck, they did not catch me. When we reached Korea, though, I thought that they would rest but they did not. They immediately announced that it was time, that they already sent a messenger about it and that the women should be ready. They ransacked the town looking for gorgeous women while other women were offered directly to the guards since it was such an honor to be held by the emperor. Bullshit. I wanted to look for Heechul but I saw some women in trouble that I had to help them. When I saw Heechul, she was already on the shore with her brother. They were running to a boat. I ran and stopped the guards who immediately bowed at the sight of their prince. When I turned back to Heechul, she was already on the boat with her brother who was rowing ferociously. I screamed, "They will not get you while I am here!" but she could not hear me. She just stared at me and I stared at her. I glared at the guards and screamed, "Leave!"
And they left. I fell on my knees and cried on that shore.
Every year, I would return to Korea to look for Heechul but she never returned. My heart was broken and I was in constant sorrow. I need no other women. I just needed her. Being the prince, I had concubines that my father bought for me, some of which were offerings. However, I touched none of them. I needed the passion and the love, not the skin and the lust.
Then I was brought to Japan because my father had some business there. It was there that I met Chiaki, Eeteuk, who told me that her friend was once the Chinese prince's lover. When she told me her name, I could not remember her real name, I jumped and told her to bring me to Heechul. We agreed on a day and I snuck out of my father's guards and met with Chiaki by the shore. Just when she was about to bring me to Heechul, the earthquake struck and the tsunami came. I drowned with Chiaki in the ocean. Before I died, though, I saw a house be buried underneath the waves and I saw Heechul clinging onto Kangin. I screamed her name and died.
I always loved her and I would never stop loving her. To have her be untouchable to me, her as a fairy while me as a human, was terrible. She was a spirit about to enter Heaven while I was still part of the living who still had to be judged. Even if I finally had her tied by this powerful rope inside my room, it was never going to be enough. I would never be able to hold her in my arms like all those times in the past.
That was my heaven; Heechul. No one and nothing else. I turned to the road and watched the cars race by. I took a deep breath then looked back at the window where Heechul was staring at me. However, her glare was gone. She looked scared and she was shaking her head, mouthing something that I could not hear. I smiled at her and mouthed, Even without memories, I love you. I turned my head to the racing cars and ran into the busy road.
End of Chapter 9
Val's corner: Sad ending to the chapter, isn't it? :) Well, it's not the end yet ;) I wrote this chapter in one sitting and am too lazy to edit again XD anyways, I enjoyed this chapter too much because it finally gives a full disclosure to both Hankyung and Kibum's past, both of which broke my heart. We all don't want to experience such heartbreak and separation, right? It's terrible. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this!
Rating: PG
Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Romance, Historical, Tragedy
Pairings: Hankyung/girl!Heechul, Donghae/girl!Kibum, Siwon/girl!Kibum, Donghae/Eunhyuk, Kangin/girl!Eeteuk
Summary: Fairies were supposed to stay in their realm. They weren’t supposed to go to human world, but some fairies are just stubborn
Hankyung's POV
She pushed my away. She looked so mad that I felt guilty. Why did I even kiss her? I loved her and I was sure of it. She was the one who I was destined to be with. I was already living my second lifetime and I was still yearning for her. However, we were different. We were not in the same plane. I was in the world of the living while she was in the world of the dead.
She slapped me. "You are going to call Kibum, aren't you?"
I turned to her, my hand on my cheek. "No... I... I was supposed to but I won't if you just please love me."
She grabbed me by the collar and pulled me to her. "I refuse to fall in love, Hankyung. You left me when I needed you. Your father wanted me as his concubine. I do not and will never love you. Besides," she pushed me, "I like feeling like a god." She turned and walked away. I watched her but I could not run to her anymore. Her words hurt and I started to cry. She said that she did not love me. She thought that I did not protect her when I did. I tried everything to protect her. I even looked for her.
Heechul walked over to the table where she was at with Donghae and grabbed the man up. She whispered to him and they both left me in that bar, alone with a broken heart.
I looked down and grasped my pants with my hands. The pain was unbearable. I wanted to scream, to run, to fall off a cliff. I wanted her to love me like i loved her, but she could not remember. She just remembered running away to Japan with her brother where they met Eeteuk, where Kangin fell in love with Eeteuk, and where they soon met their fate when the earthquake and tsunami took their lives.
I died with them but why was I reincarnated? Why could I not be one of them? A fairy stuck in the realm of Incantare, waiting for that time when I could pass. It sounded so lonely, as if to live there was to be resigned to being a clueless ghost of a child. However, it was worse. No memories of the past. No recognition of the people who you shared memories. But it was needed. They don't feel negative emotions but still there are dangers. Heechul was a ghost in between Heaven and Hell. i would not let her suffer eternal punishment.
I took the phone from my pocket and dialed Kibum's number.
+
I sat on the bed of my room. It was four am, Saturday. In front of me were two fairies, Donghae and Heechul, both tied back to back on the floor by this mystic golden rope that Kibum had. I did not help in the capture of the two. I just called Kibum and she said that she will go to Hongdae and find them. I just drank alcohol and returned to my apartment with these two in my room. In his room, Siwon was snoring loudly and Kibum was asleep on the sofa. She too was tired. Despite having a hold of the fairy king's powers, she suffered fatigue like a human because that was her current form. Like Siwon, she too was snoring. They both refused to sleep beside each other as well because of reasons -Siwon was still scared shitless over what happened and Kibum, well, she said it had something to do with her past.
I stared at Heechul and she glared at me. She hissed, "Traitor."
"Heechul, don't be so mean," said Dongahe. "He just cares for you that's why he did what he did."
"Shut up!" Heechul shouted at Donghae. "Do you want to return?"
Donghae shook his head. "I don't but I don't want to fight against it. With this rope around us, we're powerless. All they need to do now is find Kangin."
"You sound happy, you bastard!"
Donghae sighed, "I guess that too much of all this human life got to me. I'm still depressed, Heechul. I want to be happy again even if I were to forget once more. Being a fairy in Incantare, I was happy. I should have waited until I entered Heaven where I could be happy and live with my memories. But no. I went here the memories are making me so sad. I wanted to go back but at the same time I wanted to stay. I was confused that I stayed."
"You are a fucking traitor as well!" Heechul shouted.
Curious, I asked, "What is your story, Donghae?"
Donghae smiled faintly and looked down. "I was Chinese just like you and I was engaged to Kibum. She was my childhood friend and I loved her dearly. However, I caught her making love to Siwon. It was painful, so painful." He closed his eyes. "I saw how they kissed and how he held her. I heard how my beloved moan his name and desire his body." He took a deep breath and looked at me with tears brimming his eyes. "I was so lost, Hankyung. I did not tell Kibum what I saw. Instead, I watched her every night she was with Siwon. Every time, my heart would break. I would cry despite being a man, and soon I did find comfort in another man, in your friend, Eunhyuk. He was a fisherman and he caught me crying by the shore. Pathetic, isn't it?"
"No," I shook my head. "Please continue..." my eyes were already closing and my world was spinning. I lay myself down on the bed and told him, "I just need to lay down. Just talk." I was already drunk but I still had control over myself.
"Okay," Donghae said. "Every time I saw Kibum and Siwon together, I would run to Eunhyuk wherein we started our own affair. I started to disappear, started coming home late. Kibum and I were not wed yet but my family already bought a house for us to please Kibum's parents. We were supposed to be wed soon at that time and we were supposed to be excited but we were not. Kibum started to question my disappearances and I would refuse to talk. I told her that a man had to work for his wife and she told me that she needed me. I grew furious that I pushed her and told her that I know of her affair with Siwon. She begged for forgiveness, telling me that she loved me, but I could not believe her. We started to grow distant but we still were wed under the agreements of our parents. Our family became one. However, I never made love to Kibum for I felt as if I was only touching what Siwon was touching. It disgusted me. Our affairs continued. She made love to Siwon while I made love to a man as well. Before we knew it, our whole town was massacred because of this attack. Kibum was raped in front of me before she was beheaded, and they cut my arms off letting me die of great blood loss."
I stared at him, shocked of his story. The alcohol started to leave me because of his last words of death. It scared me. I asked him, "Did it hurt?"
He laughed. "You are one stupid man to ask me if it hurt. I was living in a loveless marriage and my arms were cut off before my body was thrown in a pit where I was buried with my wife, my lover, and the man who my wife was cheating on."
Then I asked, "Why can you remember this and Heechul cannot remember me?"
"Because you never came!" Heechul shouted. "You just stopped those fucking guards of your father from taking me but you never came! We talked about it! You told me that you would protect me but I still ended dead and without you! Your father still came looking for me!" She stomped her bare foot on the floor. "We kept our relationship a secret because I was no princess. I was only a Korean girl while you were the Chinese emperor's son! Yesung told me to hide. Kangin even tried to hide me. They did not know that your father has always lusted over me since you first introduced him to me during one of your visits! You told me that you would protect me from him but you did not!"
I pushed myself up and started to cry. "He's my father. I did what I could do. A prince has no power over the emperor."
Heechul started to cry as well. "Kangin and I managed to get into that boat and travel to Japan because you stopped the imperial guards. That was my last memory of you."
I shook my head. "I talked to Eeteuk. Chiaki. Yes, Chiaki. I went to Japan with my family. I thought that I lost you but then Chiaki told me that she knew my lover. She was going to bring me to you but the earthquake struck and then the earthquake."
"Lies!" Heechul screamed. "Stop speaking of such horrid lies! You do not remember anything! These are what Chiaki told you. I want you to speak of what you remember!"
"But I don't remember anything!" I wailed as the tears furiously fell down from my eyes. "I want to remember but I can't! But I can feel it, Heechul! Please love me!"
"No!"
Donghae shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, man."
I fell onto the bed and cried like a helpless little child until I fell asleep.
+
When I woke, it was only 7am. 2 and a half hours of sleep. That was unusual since I sleep a lot. I probably just could not sleep because of the turmoil happening inside of me. Heechul and Donghae were still in the room, both of whom were talking.
"Oh, you're awake," said Heechul when she saw my open eyes. "Go back to sleep, asshole."
I sat up and looked down. The sadness was too strong that I stood up. "Excuse me."
"Where are you going? You going to shower all that shitty smell away from you?"
I winced and turned away. Biting my lower lip, I walked to the door. However, Donghae called for me, "Wait!" I turned and he asked me, "Kibum made love to Siwon, didn't she?"
"She did," I said. "Why?"
"She's still here so that means that it was Siwon who she was meant to be with..." Donghae looked down, "not me."
Sorrow was in his tone. I was about to go to him, to give him some comfort, but Heechul barked at me, "Leave, asshole!"
I ran out of the room and slammed the door shut. To my surprise, Eeteuk was in the apartment. She was talking to Kibum over a cup of coffee. Both of them had dark bags underneath their eyes.
"Eeteuk?" I said. "What are you doing here?"
"Because I have a secret that I have keeping from you," she sighed. "Kangin has been living with me since he returned to Earth. I wanted to do the right thing and make him return but... I do not know how to live without him. I still love him, Hankyung."
I sighed and sat beside her. "I love Heechul as well."
"But we cannot love," said Kibum. "You are humans. We are fairies."
"Kibum, have you ever wondered why there is such a thing as soul mates?" I asked. "I have been thinking of it. You have proven that Siwon is your soul mate but why have the two of you been separated? Siwon is a model here. He's good looking and good with children. Women want him. He'll be married before he dies."
Kibum sighed and said, "The answer to that is something that I do not know. It pains me as well. Why would you separate two souls that were meant to be one?"
I sighed and turned to Eeteuk, "What made you come here?"
"Kangin has these crazy senses. He woke up at five am telling me that Heechul was with you and that he could not come over because of Kibum. I told him to return because he belongs in Incantare but he didn't want to separate from me. I don't want to separate from him as well. However, he knew that this time was coming. So I'm here, begging Kibum to give me one more week with Kangin."
Kibum nodded, "And I can wait a week. As long as the troublemaker has been captured, I can rest."
"Yeah, the troublemaker..." I looked down. "Excuse me for a moment." I stood up and walked out of the apartment. I was too depressed.
Outside, I stood at the streets. I looked up at my apartment window and saw Heechul staring down at me from the glass. Still wrapped in that golden rope, she could stand and walk around but Donghae was strapped behind her. She was mad at me. She hated me and didn't love me. Then the memories started to come.
I was once a young prince brought to Korea to study the people there. My father wanted me to learn how to rule and so he made me practice with Korea. I was only ten when I first came there with advisors. It was then that I saw a young Heechul running around with Kangin, her dear brother. I was envious of Kangin because I wanted a sibling, then I grew envious because I wanted Heechul. I walked away with a heart that started to beat with a different kind of love.
I did not talk to Heechul that day because I did not know how to. I stayed in Korea for a year and returned when I was fifteen. I returned to the same place and it was not to practice my power but to gather taxes. Father wanted me to learn how to be a well rounded prince so that I could be a good emperor. Also, he just bore another child that he wanted me to be the best example for my sibling.
As I was gathering taxes, I met Kangin who introduced me to Heechul. I did not return to China for two years because of that. My excuse to my father was that I had more in depth lessons in Korea. Korea was under China but Korea had its emperor as well. So I stayed at the emperor's palace. Father became proud of me, saying that it is a blessing to have a son who was eager to rule. Also, he said that it's better to start ruling a small dynasty before going on to rule the whole of China.
He did not know that I had other reasons: Heechul. I snuck her into the king's palace and romanced her there. And she would introduce to me the world that I was so foreign to. In the palace, we watched the fishes swim in the man-made lakes, and we would sit by the trees that was surrounded by lush grass. I would always hold her. I even brought her to the performances in the palace and the Korean emperor did not question me for he feared me. I was, after all, the son of his own boss. Anyways, outside of the palace, she showed me the market and introduced me to the people. I got to know them and developed a greater sense of compassion for the people. We would run freely on the hills and we would make love within the dense forest, hidden from everyone but visible to the moon.
The whole while, Kangin did not know of our relationship for he was a strict brother who despised my tyrant of a father.
When my father did come to Korea, I introduced him to Heechul and he said that he wanted her. That night, when we were alone in our chamber, we argued. I told him that I loved Heechul and he told me that women like Heechul were only meant to be concubines. I frowned at him but then he added that I was allowed to have a concubine. However, I could not marry a peasant. Also, he insisted that he wanted Heechul was his own concubine, that it was okay for a father and son to share their own trophy.
I broke three vases in front of him.
Repulsed by my sudden rebellion, he took me out of Korea and brought me back to China were I was stuck for a few years, learning the art of war and politics and other bullshit. Then I found out that my father sent some imperial guards to get him some Korean concubines. I was enraged that I snuck out that night, following the guards on my own horse. To my luck, they did not catch me. When we reached Korea, though, I thought that they would rest but they did not. They immediately announced that it was time, that they already sent a messenger about it and that the women should be ready. They ransacked the town looking for gorgeous women while other women were offered directly to the guards since it was such an honor to be held by the emperor. Bullshit. I wanted to look for Heechul but I saw some women in trouble that I had to help them. When I saw Heechul, she was already on the shore with her brother. They were running to a boat. I ran and stopped the guards who immediately bowed at the sight of their prince. When I turned back to Heechul, she was already on the boat with her brother who was rowing ferociously. I screamed, "They will not get you while I am here!" but she could not hear me. She just stared at me and I stared at her. I glared at the guards and screamed, "Leave!"
And they left. I fell on my knees and cried on that shore.
Every year, I would return to Korea to look for Heechul but she never returned. My heart was broken and I was in constant sorrow. I need no other women. I just needed her. Being the prince, I had concubines that my father bought for me, some of which were offerings. However, I touched none of them. I needed the passion and the love, not the skin and the lust.
Then I was brought to Japan because my father had some business there. It was there that I met Chiaki, Eeteuk, who told me that her friend was once the Chinese prince's lover. When she told me her name, I could not remember her real name, I jumped and told her to bring me to Heechul. We agreed on a day and I snuck out of my father's guards and met with Chiaki by the shore. Just when she was about to bring me to Heechul, the earthquake struck and the tsunami came. I drowned with Chiaki in the ocean. Before I died, though, I saw a house be buried underneath the waves and I saw Heechul clinging onto Kangin. I screamed her name and died.
I always loved her and I would never stop loving her. To have her be untouchable to me, her as a fairy while me as a human, was terrible. She was a spirit about to enter Heaven while I was still part of the living who still had to be judged. Even if I finally had her tied by this powerful rope inside my room, it was never going to be enough. I would never be able to hold her in my arms like all those times in the past.
That was my heaven; Heechul. No one and nothing else. I turned to the road and watched the cars race by. I took a deep breath then looked back at the window where Heechul was staring at me. However, her glare was gone. She looked scared and she was shaking her head, mouthing something that I could not hear. I smiled at her and mouthed, Even without memories, I love you. I turned my head to the racing cars and ran into the busy road.
End of Chapter 9
Val's corner: Sad ending to the chapter, isn't it? :) Well, it's not the end yet ;) I wrote this chapter in one sitting and am too lazy to edit again XD anyways, I enjoyed this chapter too much because it finally gives a full disclosure to both Hankyung and Kibum's past, both of which broke my heart. We all don't want to experience such heartbreak and separation, right? It's terrible. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this!