[Fic] Heart, Mind and Soul [4/?]
Part III
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Jaejoong blinks.
He was lying on the sand and he had no idea how he got there. Staring into the perfect blue, Jaejoong wondered if it were normal. Such a perfect blue.
“You shouldn’t stay in here any longer,” a voice says.
Jaejoong blinks.
He was lying on the sand and he had no idea how he got there. Staring into the perfect blue, Jaejoong wondered if it were normal. Such a pretty color.
“The longer you’re here the worst off you are but I’m sure you know that already.”
Jaejoong blinks.
He was lying on the sand and he had no idea how he got there. Staring into the perfect blue, Jaejoong wondered if it were normal. Such a-
“Are you alright?”
Jaejoong opens his eyes.
He was lying against the concrete floor and he had no idea how he got there. Looking up into the concerned bodyguard’s eyes, Jaejoong wondered when was the last time he’s seen such a look directed at him.
“Yoochun went to go find Changmin,” the bodyguard said softly but sincerely. “You just collapsed suddenly and well, we weren’t sure what to do.”
There was an awkward silence as Jaejoong didn’t-couldn’t-speak. The bodyguard seemed a little hesitant but slowly unraveled his fisted hand. He held it out, uncertain but firm. Jaejoong could see the fear in the bodyguard’s eye but also the care and concern.
So Jaejoong brushed his fingers against the other’s palm.
“Thank you,” the bodyguard heard in his mind as a fleeting vision of a dark hair faired skinned man shot across his eyes.
The bodyguard looked down at Jaejoong and smiled, “It’s nothing. I’m Kim Junsu by the way.”
Jaejoong twitched his lips up and hoped it resembled a smile.
---
“Why did you pass out?” Changmin asked, not bothering with any formalities whatsoever. There was no statements of concern or questions of comfort. Just a cold chair and an equally cold table.
Jaejoong chose to take him time with the answer. He wrote about random things he observed-the sea, the palms, the city, the people-and the random things he did-walk along the beach, stare at the clock tower, argue with Jihye-and more things that didn’t answer the question. He wasn’t sure how much he should trust this man.
On one hand, it wasn’t really something that was so disturbingly secretive, but on the other hand, he wasn’t really willing to write it down.
So he rambled on about the girl and his target and that stupid pun on his name.
Every ten or so minutes, Changmin would take the notebook, read a bit and then give it back. After three or four of these intervals, the younger man seemed miffed and Jaejoong just gave an apathetic shrug of the shoulders.
“Are you actually going to answer the question or am I going to have to play twenty questions?”
Jaejoong shrugged.
“You’re not going to tell me regardless are you?”
Jaejoong shrugged.
“…”
Jaejoong was about to shrug again when his arm was seized. He blinked in surprise. No one has willingly touched him in so long. Looking down at the metallic reflection in the table, Jaejoong quizzically found himself the same. (Ugly and horrible and deformed and just like a monster-)
Changmin took his hand and everything went white.
When Jaejoong blinked again, he sees the concrete jungle building itself. Changmin, in all his adolescent glory, was still holding his hand.
“Are you going to tell me now?” Changmin asks, sounding more like a petulant child than a serious employer.
Jaejoong chuckles and Changmin seems to fume more at that.
“This is your job, treat it as such,” the younger scolds.
But it’s hard to take such a young face seriously, so Jaejoong bursts into laughter. Changmin’s soul might be young but he was cute. He had the seriousness of a middle aged man and the temper of a child which combined to the mentality of a teenager. It wasn’t healthy for a young man to have a soul of a teenager but it was amusing.
Jaejoong was just about to control his giggles when he realized Changmin was pouting. Of course, that sets him off once more.
“Is it really that funny?”
“No-its just that you-you’re-haha,” Jaejoong tries again and dissolves into laughter.
But this time when he tries to stop, he can’t. Jaejoong couldn’t stop laughing. The whole place seemed to be filled with laughing gas and he was powerless against it.
Remember, you can’t stay in the Landscape for too long, he remembers his mother saying, petting his dark hair. Too much of anything will drive a person insane.
But Changmin still tightly gripped his hand.
Jaejoong felt his eyes tearing up until he was sure he was going to cry. His sight fuzzed up and he wondered exactly what would happen once his vision goes black. It must not be something good.
“You shouldn’t stay in here any longer.”
Jaejoong felt his eyes tearing up until he was sure he was going to cry. His sight fuzzed up and he wondered exactly what would happen once his vision goes black. It must not be something that normal.
“I already told you, the longer you’re here the worst off you are.”
Jaejoong felt his eyes tearing up until he was sure he was going to cry. His sight fuzzed up and he wondered exactly what would happen once his vision goes black. It must not be something that-
“You’re really quite an idiot aren’t you?”
(He remembers someone saying that before. He remembers a man with a blinding smile with pants that didn’t get wet. He remembers Yunho.)
Jaejoong felt nothing.
---
“Will he be okay?” Kim Junsu asks, hesitant but sincere.
“He needs rest. At least that’s what hyung said,” Changmin responds coldly.
“…are we pushing him too hard?” Junsu asks.
He’s worried. Worried about the man on the bed. And Changmin’s not being the usual Changmin. Not that Junsu doesn’t understand. Changmin has his own stress and problems he has to deal with.
Working under one of the most influential politicians. Keeping their whole operation a secret. Heck, paying Junsu and Yoochun (“No, I will not allow you to do this uncompensated.”) And of course, trying to kill his best friend.
Kim Junsu looked at the potential murderer, ugly, mute and deformed-but so beautiful with a melodic voice inside-and wondered why Kim Jaejoong would bother with such a task.
“I’m leaving,” Changmin says. “I’ll call you before I get back.”
As the door shuts, he reached over and placed a palm over the man’s forehead to check for fever. Most people would recoil and flinch at the impossibly disgusting deed. Not only was Kim Jaejoong gifted, he was ugly and mute.
But Junsu couldn’t judge a person off their looks or their gift. Not when his own twin brother was gifted. He smiled at the thought of his older twin. His lovely older brother who could talk to cats. Believe it or not, Junsu was quite jealous.
Having a gift was a wonderful thing and Junsu was only more sure of that when he caught a glimpse of Kim Jaejoong.
That beautiful man must be his inner self, Junsu thought happily. If he didn’t have this gift, no one would have been able to see it or hear his soothing voice.
He let his fingers lay on the other man’s hair, dirty and mussed up. Junsu closed his eyes and wonders how his inner self would look then quickly retracts his hand.
He turns away from the bedridden man and waits for the trembling to subside.
It was this whole inner self thing that got them into this mess in the first place.
---
Mom, why can’t I stay in the Landscape long?
Didn’t I tell this to you before, son?
But it didn’t quite make sense that time…
Listen closely, I’m not going to repeat this again.
Uh-huh!
We don’t have our own Landscapes as a sacrifice to see others. You remember at least that much right? Because of that, we are susceptible to others’ mind’s.
Su-suscep-huh?
If we stay in someone’s Landscape for too long, their mind tries to bind our soul to them. We become merely another figment of their mind. Melded into them forever.
So they would just eat us up!
Exactly son. So remember, if you suddenly can’t control your thoughts or actions, leave immediately. Promise me that.
“You really are quite an idiot aren’t you?”
Promise me that.
“It’s Yunho, you know?”
---
Jaejoong blinked.
It was dark. He was sandwiched between a blanket and a mattress. It was warm. He was feeling listless and tired. It was safe. So he fell back asleep.
He didn’t realize the man sitting next to the door. If he did, he probably wouldn’t have felt so safe. But he didn’t, so he fell back asleep.
It was silent for a moment as Jaejoong’s breathing evened out. A soft click as a laptop was opened and the screen glowed blue.
“It wore him out,” a voice says in the darkness.
“Why didn’t he just tell me that?” Changmin asks, his face illuminated by the laptop’s light.
“He doesn’t trust you of course,” the voice laughs, mindful of the sleeping man. “I wouldn’t trust you either.”
“Hyung,” Changmin warns. He looks into the dark room and only the outline of the sleeping man could be seen.
“Changmin, I know you want to ask something,” the voice says. “Just ask.”
“…Why did you help him?” Changmin asks, his gaze focused on the dark lump on the bed.
“Would you believe me if I said I thought he was interesting?” the voice says hesitantly.
“No.”
“But I do think he is,” the voice sighs. “His soul…”
“It’s beautiful,” Changmin finishes.
“It’s perfect.”
Changmin rolls his eyes but responds rather seriously, “You do remember why he’s here.”
“How could I ever forget?”
“Good,” Changmin says. He clicks his laptop shut and exits the dark room into the bright hallway. He clicks the door shut behind him. Jaejoong’s room would be as empty as the hallway. Changmin knows this. “Keep it that way, Yunho-hyung.”
But he knows Yunho can’t hear him anymore.
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A/N: More things happen! :D