Echo of Dawn - Epilogue
Title: Echo of Dawn
Author: wild_terrain (ie.
fi_chan )
Special Banner (Made beautifully by:
love_cassiopeia )
Chapter: Epilogue
Rating: Overall NC17
Genre: AU [romance, FLANGST]
Summary: “Affairs of the heart that start out in the dark usually stay with the night - where no one can see them, at least not together…” - S. Nicks
JaeJoong and Yunho are seemingly a pair not even fate can break apart. They even survived through the war as forbidden lovers. But knowing this, it may not be enough to distill the waters of envy. As Yunho battles not only with the workplace politics of his job but with his admirers, JaeJoong soon starts to feel the burden of keeping their love a secret. But when JaeJoong’s possessiveness and Yunho’s over-protectiveness collide, will the secret they tried so hard to protect expose them to unimaginable consequences?
BETA = moon1084 <3
A/N: This is the aftershock of the fic ECHO OF DUSK.
A/N2: ....wow.....time for the epilogue already... It honestly doesn't feel like this is the end, ya know? It hasn't seemed to have sunk in yet that I have finally finished this fic.... Lordy..... I don't know what else to say right now... ^^;;
OST:
[You and Me Song - The Wannadies] - Listen and/or Download~~
Yunjae:
Now we watch TV til we fall asleep
Not very exciting, but it's you and me
And we'll always be together
You and me always, and forever...
About 'You and Me Song': Well who doesn't love the cuteness and care-free vibe of this song? It's so simpleeee - life may not always be exciting, but anything I do with my lover is fun and lasting forever. keke~
** Thirteen months later **
~~~~ JAEJOONG’S POV ~~~~
I could feel myself gaining consciousness under the warm blanket. I was dimly aware of being the only one left in bed, and the nice smells floating into the room caused my lips to curve into a smile despite my closed lids. That’s right, today is that day.
Soon enough I could hear scraping noises behind the door and cracked an eye open to gaze out at the door slowly opening up to a crack.
“Come on, TaeTae. Go on. Go get Umma.”
I smiled wider as I heard Yunho talking to our puppy, Taepoong, from outside of our bedroom. We’d almost had him for a year after I’d bought him for Yunho’s birthday. We had picked him out together and treated him as fondly as if he was our own child. In a way he was our child, except his little body was covered in soft black and white fur. I loved his pointy ears almost as much as I loved his piercing blue eyes. Often I found myself playing with his ears the most since he didn’t mind the touch - the cheeky thing appreciated any sort of attention. It was sure lucky that the apartment Yunho and I lived in allowed small dogs if they weren’t too noisy!
Taepoong suddenly leapt onto the bed having successfully slipped through the crack of the door at Yunho’s command. I instinctively screwed up my face as the energetic puppy ran all over my body, completely disregarding my sleepiness, until he was attacking my face with his warm, wet tongue. “I get the point, TaeTae,” I laughed, opening my eyes and trying to gently push his face away from me so that I could sit up properly.
To my surprise, Taepoong was looking quite different to normal. A gigantic pink bow was tied around his blue puppy-paws collar with a matching pink party hat propped up behind his ears.
“Oh, no, TaeTae!” I cooed in sympathy. “What has appa done to you?!” I tickled his neck affectionately, my ‘wedding’ ring clanging against the metal medallion hanging off his collar with mine and Yunho’s phone number inscribed into it. As I continued tickling my baby, I noticed a flash of white peeking out from under his collar.
With growing curiosity, I reached over to pull the slip of paper out and unfolded it.
“Oh Yunnie, you complete dag!” I laughed to myself.
I bent down to give Taepoong a big kiss on his snout as well as underneath his party hat, before sliding out of the messy bed. Taepoong sat obediently on my pillow, watching my every move as I bent down to slip my underwear back on.
I turned around to gaze at the curious puppy as I pulled a t-shirt over my head. “Stop looking at me like that,” I scolded, light-heartedly. “You’re taking after your pervy appa more and more each day!”
I walked back to the bed to scoop Taepoong into my arms and warily opened the bedroom door with my foot.
“Oi, hubby!” I called out. “You know that Taepoong’s party outfit is a form of animal cruelty!”
He turned around from the kitchen counter to gaze at the festive outfit he had given Taepoong. To my amusement, a baby-blue party hat was perched on top of his head as well.
“It looks cute!” he defended.
“Babe, if our pup was malicious he’d be scraping your eyes out by now.” I started walking over to where my husband was slaving away in the kitchen, but stopped in my tracks when I saw a third member coerced into wearing a yellow party hat. “Not the baby girl too!” I groaned, placing the energetic puppy onto the floor and flying over to the poor eight month-old baby girl waving her legs around in the highchair.
She wasn’t our child of course; she was Yunho’s new niece. His little sister had finally gone on a holiday with her husband and we’d agreed to look after the little cutie for a week.
Even though Yunho had been estranged from his family, his little sister had shone through like a bright beacon of hope and kept up her refusal to part with Yunho for any such reason as his sexuality. Thanks to her, Yunho still had some sort of family and it warmed my heart. His sister had even begged him to be her newborn daughter’s godfather, to which he had gladly accepted of course. The Christening had been absolutely beautiful, as was to be expected. Even though Yunho’s parents had been in attendance, and little words had been shared between ex-parents and son, no horrible arguments had sprung up during the day. After all, it was Yunho’s sister’s choice that Yunho should be the godfather of her child, and Yunho’s father had had no choice but to accept it.
I hadn’t tried interacting with them, and they certainly hadn’t tried interacting with me - the person who had tricked their only son into believing he was a homosexual… I didn’t really care as long as they didn’t try and upset Yunho in any way. I had kept a keen eye on them for most of the event to make sure they kept their discriminative selves away from my husband. Quite frankly, they could be as bitter and awkward as they wanted; the only important thing to me that day had been making sure Yunho’s happiness went unwavering during the Christening as he stood with the priest and Christening party, seemingly undisturbed by his ex-parents’ presence.
“Good morning, Sweetie-pie!” I cooed, bending down to tickle the little girl’s plump cheek. “Have you fed her yet?” I asked over my shoulder.
“Just about to. She refused to open her mouth when I first got her into the chair, so I’m hoping she’ll be more cooperative now…”
“Uh-huh,” I rolled my eyes. “What a convenient time to wake me up then, eh?”
I wandered over to the table where Yunho had placed the small bowl of baby food. As I tried my best to skip the tiny spoon into his uncooperative niece’s mouth, I listened to Yunho putting the finishing touches on the cake in front of him. “Uhh, Yunnie,” I called out, putting the small spoon down with a sigh. “I can smell something.”
“Yeh, yeh, you know I’ve got your birthday cake over here. I’m sorrrrrry that I couldn’t be subtle!”
“No, no, Yunnie, not that kind of smell…”
“Well babe, you know what to do.”
“I just fed her! It’s your turn to help!” I groaned out.
“I’m busy making your cake!”
“Exactly! It’s my birthday today! And it’s your niece who is swimming in her own poop!”
“I did the changing last night!”
“Oh my god!” I exclaimed in frustration, getting up to find a new diaper. “This is why we only have a puppy,” I drawled, making Yunho laugh.
I threw the offensive diaper into a plastic bag and cleaned my hands under the running water in the sink. Before I could turn back around I felt warm hands encompass me, cradling my body. I smiled as my husband started kissing my face all over with affection.
“Happy birthday, my love,” he whispered in my ear.
“Thank you.”
“For twelve days I get to brag about being in a relationship with someone in their thirties! Ooh, so kinky!”
“Twelve days will fly faster than you know it, sweetie!” I drawled.
He let out a deep chuckle and I shivered happily from the feel of his warm breath coating the side of my neck. A high-pitched wailing suddenly interrupted the peaceful interaction between my husband and myself.
“Now I know she’s got Jung blood in her,” I drawled. “Can’t stand any lack of attention for even five minutes!”
“Oh, shush you!” Yunho pouted, slipping away from me to pick up the bawling baby girl.
I watched with a small smile as I observed Yunho’s gentle handling of the tiny thing. The way he held her so carefully as if he was afraid he would somehow hurt her, and the way he bounced her gently up and down as if he was her real father… It was so beautiful.
“Yun…” I murmured, wandering over to the pair and wrapping my arms around him from behind, resting my chin on his shoulder. “If the two of us could have a kid of our own… If gay couples were allowed to adopt… I would have happily raised one with you…”
“I know… Thank you,” he smiled. “My gosh, she sure has a nice set of lungs on her doesn’t she!”
“No wonder your sister needed a vacation,” I agreed. “Maybe Eunbi wants her mother’s milk again… Did you want me to fetch a bottle from the fridge?”
“No, it’s okay for now. I think she’s just tired or something…”
“If she is tired wouldn’t she want to sleep instead of wasting all of her energy on screaming?”
“Good point. Could you warm up the milk for me?”
“Consider it done,” I chuckled, walking over to the fridge and peering through the many contents to find the shelf dedicated to milk. Honestly, I would never have foreseen that one day our fridge would be half full with my sister-in-law’s breast milk! It was quite surreal, I must say - not to mention creepy in theory!
I tested the temperature of the milk carefully with my elbow and brought the filled bottle over to Yunho. Eunbi stared at the bottle for a little while before eventually sucking a little bit of milk out. She didn’t drink that much though, and quickly abandoned the bottle altogether. “I guess she just wanted attention?” I sighed, taking the milk away. “Like I said, she’s already a typical Jung.”
As Yunho continued to soothe the energetic girl in his arms until she was softly making squeals and babbling nonsense syllables at Yunho, I laid my head down on his shoulder again to watch on with comfort. “I can see you in her,” I grinned proudly. “You resemble your sister quite a lot, after all. This gorgeous, noisy, needy bubby of hers has a lot of her uncle in her!”
“I suppose so…”
“Suppose so?! I feel like I’m staring into your eyes when I look at her. Well, a tinier version of your eyes, at least. She’s going to be a really pretty girl when she grows up. You’ll have to beat all the boys away with a stick.”
“Good thing I’ve been trained in the military,” he agreed whilst I erupted into giggles.
“You hear that, cutie? You better not make your uncle mad,” I teased, reaching over to tickle her plump, red cheek. “He’ll travel across the country to protect you from naughty boys with his masterful military skills.”
“JaeJoong, you keep making it seem as if I’m the only one who is family to her,” he sighed softly. “You are her family too! My sister has always seen you as little Eunbi’s uncle too. She loves you to death, after all. Remember the time when she first had Eunbi and Eunbi wouldn’t stop crying? She got so depressed about it thinking she was a terrible mother even though her husband and I kept insisting that she wasn’t. But in the end, it was you who convinced her that she was a great mother! Remember, you told her about your own sister? How her first child was such a well-behaved, quiet little thing, but then her second child would never stop crying and making a fuss? You made the point that the degree a baby cries doesn’t reflect the mother’s ability as a nurturer, because in the end, every baby is different. She’s never forgotten that, you know?”
I smiled happily, nodding at the memory.
“Here, hold her,” Yunho softly instructed, trying to carefully transfer the wiggling child into my own arms. “I need to finish decorating your cake before the icing gets all hard and unworkable.”
For a little while I was anxious that she’d start crying again like in the past when I had tried holding her, but it seemed that Yunho’s care had done the trick. Instead of scrunching up her eyes to shriek out ear-bursting screams, she merely gazed up at me in deep curiosity.
“Yes, I’m your uncle too,” I quietly informed her. “Because I’m banging your blood-uncle.”
“JaeJoong!” I heard Yunho warn from the kitchen. “Language, please!”
“She’d find out sooner or later,” I pouted.
“In nine or ten years maybe,” he rolled his eyes.
“Eunbi-yah,” I gently called, gazing back at her with determination. “Your uncle Yunho is being mean and keeping things hidden from you. So, I’ll give it to you straight. Your uncle Yunho and I are ‘married’, because love is unbounded. You’ll learn that love comes from many different places and is shared between many different people. Love has no limits. It sees no gender or age. Love does not discriminate - it’s one of the purest sensations in the world. The love I share with your uncle Yunho is no different than the love your own parents share. Never forget that. Let this be your first lesson from your Uncle JaeJoong.”
I looked away from her blinking eyes to find that Yunho had stopped fiddling with the cake to gaze at me. “That’s beautiful” he smiled affectionately at me.
I nodded, inspired by my husband’s approval to keep going. “Although the concept of love may seem confusing to you right now, don’t fret over it - you’ll recognize love when it’s your time. The moment you lay eyes on love, you’ll never be able to forget it. You may not of course realize straight away, but your subconscious will definitely see it. The minute you glimpse at that special someone, you will never be able to forget them, finding yourself constantly drawn to them like two gravitating objects. It’s near impossible to break that orbit as much as you may try. It is then that you’ll completely understand that you’re destined to be with that person forever and ever.”
“Uhh… I think you’ve lost her,” Yunho laughed, rubbing my shoulders from behind as he peered over my shoulder at the baby who was currently sucking her thumb, her eyes shifted away from my face to gaze at the complete opposite half of the room. “Don’t worry, Eunbi-yah,” he continued on. “Your Uncle Yunho will always save you from Uncle Joongie’s torturous stories.”
“Oi…” I growled darkly.
“It’s a good thing,” he insisted with a smirk. “At least she’s no longer scared to death of you - just bored to death.”
“Yah! You are getting dangerously close to breaking the birthday code! ‘Be nice to the birthday boy/girl or else!’”
“My apologies,” he murmured, leaning around me to caress my pouting lips carefully with his own.
As always, all of my annoyances completely dissolved as I immersed myself with his kiss. “Mmm,” I hummed against his lips, licking the tender skin slowly to relish the taste of him.
When we finally broke apart I was a little surprised by the feedback we were given. Eunbi had stopped gazing around the living room to focus all of her attention on the bizarre, new occurrences in front of her.
“That’s got her attention,” I smugly muttered to my husband. “Shall we give her an encore?”
”No, no,” he laughed awkwardly. “Put the baby down.”
“Aww, come on, she likes it!”
“This is worse than the time you made Taepoong sit through a session of our love making…”
“What? He needed to understand that the bed isn’t for him!”
“Has that ever stopped him from jumping onto it?!” Yunho demanded in loud laughter. “All you taught him was that the bed was for fun, energetic, playful activities! That would have encouraged him to jump onto it rather than stay away from it! He’s still a puppy; puppies’ thrive on things that look playful!”
“Yeh, well, it’s not exactly my fault that he wanted to join in…”
“Oh, don’t be so disgusting!” Yunho scolded. “Don’t teach our niece about bestiality.”
“Well, I just told her love doesn’t discriminate!”
“Do you want a smack?” he asked with a playful grin.
“Yes please,” I sung, beaming at him in encouragement.
“You little imp!” he sighed, planting a few more tender kisses against my lips.
It was hard for me to concentrate that night and force the noises creeping up at the back of my throat to remain unheard. Taepoong was curled up in sleep at the foot of my side of the bed, whilst Eunbi’s cot was temporarily resting near Yunho’s side. With so many visitors around us it was imperative to keep quiet as Yunho slowly and tenderly moved inside of me beneath the blanket’s concealment. I could barely breathe or think of anything else other than the circular motion my hips were moving in each time Yunho pushed into me. Of course, it was quite impossible to curb the passionate grunts and pants we let out as our climaxes washed over us, but neither the dog nor the baby woke up.
Maybe this would forever be the new routine in our lives…
…Making love to each other every few nights as our beautiful niece slowly grows into an adult and discovers her own goals and desires in life…
…Trying not to forget to feed Taepoong and constantly push the little fur-ball off the bed whenever we crave some intimacy together…
…Caring for the little puppies we might have in the future with the same love and devotion as we would a human child…
…Drinking with Heechul every few weekends and exchanging stories about the crazy antics we-the marketing manager, the lawyer, and the chef-witness in our jobs… Mostly likely even with the company of Doctor Choi Siwon…
…Watching movies with Changmin and trying to finally beat him at cards once and for all, as his girlfriend watches on and laughs at us…
…Visiting Junsu, Yoochun and my family at least every Christmas and New Years in the town that once harbored and nurtured our love…
…Spending hours on the phone with Hangeng and trying to distract Yunho afterwards as he threatens to disconnect the phone line after receiving the shocking bill for my constant international calls…
…Simply being together everyday, knowing that despite all of the ups and downs life throws at us, we will always love each other unconditionally… All thanks to one newspaper stand, one silly boy with nothing to offer but naivety and wit, and one caring man who was simply willing to take a chance.
///The End///
A/N: Oh, the mourning!! I feel like my little baby is all grown up and leaving me for college! I can already sense the horrible withdrawal symptoms I’m gonna suffer after posting this up! T_T
Now, time for some thank yous!!! :D
It certainly hasn’t been the smoothest ride writing this fic - but then again, what portion of life is ever a smooth ride? Yet, I survived writing it and if you are reading this right now it is partially thanks to you that I was able to complete this lonnnnnng saga. Without people reading this fic, and constantly encouraging me when I was feeling down or lacking confidence in particular chapters, I would have had a much harder time getting through all of the chapters.
Many of you have been there with me from the start, and others have joined me a little later on, but however you got here, whenever you got here, thank you for merely being here! Throughout the weeks of updates I remember a lot of tears from readers, a lot of tantrums, a lot of rants and yet also a lot of love and hugs. We’ve sure been on quite the roller coaster together! It’s been a privilege to have been able to experience all of that with you guys! *Group hug!*
So, once again, a big, huge, gigantic, enormous, fricken huge thank you to all of you for reading the ECHO series and believing in me! It truly does mean a lot to this sappy ol’ humble heart. <33333
OKAY and now, the PDF files that a lot of you have been interested in downloading:
Because the complete DAWN fic turned out to be so effing long, I've had to actually split it into three volumes because my WORD was taking so long to load it everytime. I went through the fic and tried to edit out as many typos as I could (although there would be inevitable some still lurking, grrrr) and in some instances I even edit a few sentences here and there to make it flow better. wh00t!
However, because the fic is so long I would really prefer if the PDF version is enough to download rather than a WORD version, because there are soooooooooo many images throughout the fic that the images just take too long to load on WORD. It's really hard to have to sit there waiting when you are in the middle of the story because one of the letter images hasn't loaded, trust me... So at least with the PDF versions the whole page loads at a time. Much more conveniant for DAWN's length lol!
~Volume One download
~Volume Two download
~Volume Three download
About my next fanfic:
Oh lordy, where to even begin! I haven't even come up with a summary for it yet (reason being I am hopeless at writing summaries - the words 'short' and 'concise' are not a words in my dictionary hahahah.) I'm also still trying to iron out a few small details of the fic which is why I haven't gotten around to writing a decent summary for it. But I can give you some small facts!
Name: The Beacon; My siren
Genre: Slighty FLANGST-ish (but no where near the amount of the ECHO series lol!), a little mysterious, mystical/spiritual, etc. And most definitely an AU fic.
Setting: Ocean area with a few beaches and islands here and there.
Main characters:
- Yunho: a carefree camp instructor in his early 20s who loves to travel. A day cannot go by when he doesn't explore something or other. He's a real adventurer who is very down-to-earth, cheerful and sweet.
- JaeJoong: the owner of a cafe located in the town Yunho travels to in his holidays. JaeJoong is very friendly but often in a shy, timid way - because of this he often seems reserved and mysterious as he doesn't often talk a lot about himself. He's never travelled to any places apart from the town he was grew up in. And the bottom line is he is the usual adorable, caring JaeJoong we all love. ^^
Basically, mysterious consequences ensure after YunJae's meeting in the town and the two of them quickly realise that always yearn to be around each other for no explainable reason - it's called love, yah? XDDDD
Andddd to completely confuse you further with all of my vagueness, here is the trailer I made to try and explain the general mystery and plot of the fic a little better! ^___^
I won't be starting to post this fic immediately because I need a little bit of a break, and like I said before, I'm still trying to iron out a few details of the fic so I know with confidence what I want to achieve from each chapter. But I hope that I may see some of you guys again when I post it up in detox!!!
Until then, LOVE TO YOU ALL!! <333333
Author: wild_terrain (ie.
fi_chan )
Special Banner (Made beautifully by:
love_cassiopeia )
Chapter: Epilogue
Rating: Overall NC17
Genre: AU [romance, FLANGST]
Summary: “Affairs of the heart that start out in the dark usually stay with the night - where no one can see them, at least not together…” - S. Nicks
JaeJoong and Yunho are seemingly a pair not even fate can break apart. They even survived through the war as forbidden lovers. But knowing this, it may not be enough to distill the waters of envy. As Yunho battles not only with the workplace politics of his job but with his admirers, JaeJoong soon starts to feel the burden of keeping their love a secret. But when JaeJoong’s possessiveness and Yunho’s over-protectiveness collide, will the secret they tried so hard to protect expose them to unimaginable consequences?
BETA = moon1084 <3
A/N: This is the aftershock of the fic ECHO OF DUSK.
A/N2: ....wow.....time for the epilogue already... It honestly doesn't feel like this is the end, ya know? It hasn't seemed to have sunk in yet that I have finally finished this fic.... Lordy..... I don't know what else to say right now... ^^;;
OST:
[You and Me Song - The Wannadies] - Listen and/or Download~~
Yunjae:
Now we watch TV til we fall asleep
Not very exciting, but it's you and me
And we'll always be together
You and me always, and forever...
About 'You and Me Song': Well who doesn't love the cuteness and care-free vibe of this song? It's so simpleeee - life may not always be exciting, but anything I do with my lover is fun and lasting forever. keke~
** Thirteen months later **
~~~~ JAEJOONG’S POV ~~~~
I could feel myself gaining consciousness under the warm blanket. I was dimly aware of being the only one left in bed, and the nice smells floating into the room caused my lips to curve into a smile despite my closed lids. That’s right, today is that day.
Soon enough I could hear scraping noises behind the door and cracked an eye open to gaze out at the door slowly opening up to a crack.
“Come on, TaeTae. Go on. Go get Umma.”
I smiled wider as I heard Yunho talking to our puppy, Taepoong, from outside of our bedroom. We’d almost had him for a year after I’d bought him for Yunho’s birthday. We had picked him out together and treated him as fondly as if he was our own child. In a way he was our child, except his little body was covered in soft black and white fur. I loved his pointy ears almost as much as I loved his piercing blue eyes. Often I found myself playing with his ears the most since he didn’t mind the touch - the cheeky thing appreciated any sort of attention. It was sure lucky that the apartment Yunho and I lived in allowed small dogs if they weren’t too noisy!
Taepoong suddenly leapt onto the bed having successfully slipped through the crack of the door at Yunho’s command. I instinctively screwed up my face as the energetic puppy ran all over my body, completely disregarding my sleepiness, until he was attacking my face with his warm, wet tongue. “I get the point, TaeTae,” I laughed, opening my eyes and trying to gently push his face away from me so that I could sit up properly.
To my surprise, Taepoong was looking quite different to normal. A gigantic pink bow was tied around his blue puppy-paws collar with a matching pink party hat propped up behind his ears.
“Oh, no, TaeTae!” I cooed in sympathy. “What has appa done to you?!” I tickled his neck affectionately, my ‘wedding’ ring clanging against the metal medallion hanging off his collar with mine and Yunho’s phone number inscribed into it. As I continued tickling my baby, I noticed a flash of white peeking out from under his collar.
With growing curiosity, I reached over to pull the slip of paper out and unfolded it.
“Oh Yunnie, you complete dag!” I laughed to myself.
I bent down to give Taepoong a big kiss on his snout as well as underneath his party hat, before sliding out of the messy bed. Taepoong sat obediently on my pillow, watching my every move as I bent down to slip my underwear back on.
I turned around to gaze at the curious puppy as I pulled a t-shirt over my head. “Stop looking at me like that,” I scolded, light-heartedly. “You’re taking after your pervy appa more and more each day!”
I walked back to the bed to scoop Taepoong into my arms and warily opened the bedroom door with my foot.
“Oi, hubby!” I called out. “You know that Taepoong’s party outfit is a form of animal cruelty!”
He turned around from the kitchen counter to gaze at the festive outfit he had given Taepoong. To my amusement, a baby-blue party hat was perched on top of his head as well.
“It looks cute!” he defended.
“Babe, if our pup was malicious he’d be scraping your eyes out by now.” I started walking over to where my husband was slaving away in the kitchen, but stopped in my tracks when I saw a third member coerced into wearing a yellow party hat. “Not the baby girl too!” I groaned, placing the energetic puppy onto the floor and flying over to the poor eight month-old baby girl waving her legs around in the highchair.
She wasn’t our child of course; she was Yunho’s new niece. His little sister had finally gone on a holiday with her husband and we’d agreed to look after the little cutie for a week.
Even though Yunho had been estranged from his family, his little sister had shone through like a bright beacon of hope and kept up her refusal to part with Yunho for any such reason as his sexuality. Thanks to her, Yunho still had some sort of family and it warmed my heart. His sister had even begged him to be her newborn daughter’s godfather, to which he had gladly accepted of course. The Christening had been absolutely beautiful, as was to be expected. Even though Yunho’s parents had been in attendance, and little words had been shared between ex-parents and son, no horrible arguments had sprung up during the day. After all, it was Yunho’s sister’s choice that Yunho should be the godfather of her child, and Yunho’s father had had no choice but to accept it.
I hadn’t tried interacting with them, and they certainly hadn’t tried interacting with me - the person who had tricked their only son into believing he was a homosexual… I didn’t really care as long as they didn’t try and upset Yunho in any way. I had kept a keen eye on them for most of the event to make sure they kept their discriminative selves away from my husband. Quite frankly, they could be as bitter and awkward as they wanted; the only important thing to me that day had been making sure Yunho’s happiness went unwavering during the Christening as he stood with the priest and Christening party, seemingly undisturbed by his ex-parents’ presence.
“Good morning, Sweetie-pie!” I cooed, bending down to tickle the little girl’s plump cheek. “Have you fed her yet?” I asked over my shoulder.
“Just about to. She refused to open her mouth when I first got her into the chair, so I’m hoping she’ll be more cooperative now…”
“Uh-huh,” I rolled my eyes. “What a convenient time to wake me up then, eh?”
I wandered over to the table where Yunho had placed the small bowl of baby food. As I tried my best to skip the tiny spoon into his uncooperative niece’s mouth, I listened to Yunho putting the finishing touches on the cake in front of him. “Uhh, Yunnie,” I called out, putting the small spoon down with a sigh. “I can smell something.”
“Yeh, yeh, you know I’ve got your birthday cake over here. I’m sorrrrrry that I couldn’t be subtle!”
“No, no, Yunnie, not that kind of smell…”
“Well babe, you know what to do.”
“I just fed her! It’s your turn to help!” I groaned out.
“I’m busy making your cake!”
“Exactly! It’s my birthday today! And it’s your niece who is swimming in her own poop!”
“I did the changing last night!”
“Oh my god!” I exclaimed in frustration, getting up to find a new diaper. “This is why we only have a puppy,” I drawled, making Yunho laugh.
I threw the offensive diaper into a plastic bag and cleaned my hands under the running water in the sink. Before I could turn back around I felt warm hands encompass me, cradling my body. I smiled as my husband started kissing my face all over with affection.
“Happy birthday, my love,” he whispered in my ear.
“Thank you.”
“For twelve days I get to brag about being in a relationship with someone in their thirties! Ooh, so kinky!”
“Twelve days will fly faster than you know it, sweetie!” I drawled.
He let out a deep chuckle and I shivered happily from the feel of his warm breath coating the side of my neck. A high-pitched wailing suddenly interrupted the peaceful interaction between my husband and myself.
“Now I know she’s got Jung blood in her,” I drawled. “Can’t stand any lack of attention for even five minutes!”
“Oh, shush you!” Yunho pouted, slipping away from me to pick up the bawling baby girl.
I watched with a small smile as I observed Yunho’s gentle handling of the tiny thing. The way he held her so carefully as if he was afraid he would somehow hurt her, and the way he bounced her gently up and down as if he was her real father… It was so beautiful.
“Yun…” I murmured, wandering over to the pair and wrapping my arms around him from behind, resting my chin on his shoulder. “If the two of us could have a kid of our own… If gay couples were allowed to adopt… I would have happily raised one with you…”
“I know… Thank you,” he smiled. “My gosh, she sure has a nice set of lungs on her doesn’t she!”
“No wonder your sister needed a vacation,” I agreed. “Maybe Eunbi wants her mother’s milk again… Did you want me to fetch a bottle from the fridge?”
“No, it’s okay for now. I think she’s just tired or something…”
“If she is tired wouldn’t she want to sleep instead of wasting all of her energy on screaming?”
“Good point. Could you warm up the milk for me?”
“Consider it done,” I chuckled, walking over to the fridge and peering through the many contents to find the shelf dedicated to milk. Honestly, I would never have foreseen that one day our fridge would be half full with my sister-in-law’s breast milk! It was quite surreal, I must say - not to mention creepy in theory!
I tested the temperature of the milk carefully with my elbow and brought the filled bottle over to Yunho. Eunbi stared at the bottle for a little while before eventually sucking a little bit of milk out. She didn’t drink that much though, and quickly abandoned the bottle altogether. “I guess she just wanted attention?” I sighed, taking the milk away. “Like I said, she’s already a typical Jung.”
As Yunho continued to soothe the energetic girl in his arms until she was softly making squeals and babbling nonsense syllables at Yunho, I laid my head down on his shoulder again to watch on with comfort. “I can see you in her,” I grinned proudly. “You resemble your sister quite a lot, after all. This gorgeous, noisy, needy bubby of hers has a lot of her uncle in her!”
“I suppose so…”
“Suppose so?! I feel like I’m staring into your eyes when I look at her. Well, a tinier version of your eyes, at least. She’s going to be a really pretty girl when she grows up. You’ll have to beat all the boys away with a stick.”
“Good thing I’ve been trained in the military,” he agreed whilst I erupted into giggles.
“You hear that, cutie? You better not make your uncle mad,” I teased, reaching over to tickle her plump, red cheek. “He’ll travel across the country to protect you from naughty boys with his masterful military skills.”
“JaeJoong, you keep making it seem as if I’m the only one who is family to her,” he sighed softly. “You are her family too! My sister has always seen you as little Eunbi’s uncle too. She loves you to death, after all. Remember the time when she first had Eunbi and Eunbi wouldn’t stop crying? She got so depressed about it thinking she was a terrible mother even though her husband and I kept insisting that she wasn’t. But in the end, it was you who convinced her that she was a great mother! Remember, you told her about your own sister? How her first child was such a well-behaved, quiet little thing, but then her second child would never stop crying and making a fuss? You made the point that the degree a baby cries doesn’t reflect the mother’s ability as a nurturer, because in the end, every baby is different. She’s never forgotten that, you know?”
I smiled happily, nodding at the memory.
“Here, hold her,” Yunho softly instructed, trying to carefully transfer the wiggling child into my own arms. “I need to finish decorating your cake before the icing gets all hard and unworkable.”
For a little while I was anxious that she’d start crying again like in the past when I had tried holding her, but it seemed that Yunho’s care had done the trick. Instead of scrunching up her eyes to shriek out ear-bursting screams, she merely gazed up at me in deep curiosity.
“Yes, I’m your uncle too,” I quietly informed her. “Because I’m banging your blood-uncle.”
“JaeJoong!” I heard Yunho warn from the kitchen. “Language, please!”
“She’d find out sooner or later,” I pouted.
“In nine or ten years maybe,” he rolled his eyes.
“Eunbi-yah,” I gently called, gazing back at her with determination. “Your uncle Yunho is being mean and keeping things hidden from you. So, I’ll give it to you straight. Your uncle Yunho and I are ‘married’, because love is unbounded. You’ll learn that love comes from many different places and is shared between many different people. Love has no limits. It sees no gender or age. Love does not discriminate - it’s one of the purest sensations in the world. The love I share with your uncle Yunho is no different than the love your own parents share. Never forget that. Let this be your first lesson from your Uncle JaeJoong.”
I looked away from her blinking eyes to find that Yunho had stopped fiddling with the cake to gaze at me. “That’s beautiful” he smiled affectionately at me.
I nodded, inspired by my husband’s approval to keep going. “Although the concept of love may seem confusing to you right now, don’t fret over it - you’ll recognize love when it’s your time. The moment you lay eyes on love, you’ll never be able to forget it. You may not of course realize straight away, but your subconscious will definitely see it. The minute you glimpse at that special someone, you will never be able to forget them, finding yourself constantly drawn to them like two gravitating objects. It’s near impossible to break that orbit as much as you may try. It is then that you’ll completely understand that you’re destined to be with that person forever and ever.”
“Uhh… I think you’ve lost her,” Yunho laughed, rubbing my shoulders from behind as he peered over my shoulder at the baby who was currently sucking her thumb, her eyes shifted away from my face to gaze at the complete opposite half of the room. “Don’t worry, Eunbi-yah,” he continued on. “Your Uncle Yunho will always save you from Uncle Joongie’s torturous stories.”
“Oi…” I growled darkly.
“It’s a good thing,” he insisted with a smirk. “At least she’s no longer scared to death of you - just bored to death.”
“Yah! You are getting dangerously close to breaking the birthday code! ‘Be nice to the birthday boy/girl or else!’”
“My apologies,” he murmured, leaning around me to caress my pouting lips carefully with his own.
As always, all of my annoyances completely dissolved as I immersed myself with his kiss. “Mmm,” I hummed against his lips, licking the tender skin slowly to relish the taste of him.
When we finally broke apart I was a little surprised by the feedback we were given. Eunbi had stopped gazing around the living room to focus all of her attention on the bizarre, new occurrences in front of her.
“That’s got her attention,” I smugly muttered to my husband. “Shall we give her an encore?”
”No, no,” he laughed awkwardly. “Put the baby down.”
“Aww, come on, she likes it!”
“This is worse than the time you made Taepoong sit through a session of our love making…”
“What? He needed to understand that the bed isn’t for him!”
“Has that ever stopped him from jumping onto it?!” Yunho demanded in loud laughter. “All you taught him was that the bed was for fun, energetic, playful activities! That would have encouraged him to jump onto it rather than stay away from it! He’s still a puppy; puppies’ thrive on things that look playful!”
“Yeh, well, it’s not exactly my fault that he wanted to join in…”
“Oh, don’t be so disgusting!” Yunho scolded. “Don’t teach our niece about bestiality.”
“Well, I just told her love doesn’t discriminate!”
“Do you want a smack?” he asked with a playful grin.
“Yes please,” I sung, beaming at him in encouragement.
“You little imp!” he sighed, planting a few more tender kisses against my lips.
It was hard for me to concentrate that night and force the noises creeping up at the back of my throat to remain unheard. Taepoong was curled up in sleep at the foot of my side of the bed, whilst Eunbi’s cot was temporarily resting near Yunho’s side. With so many visitors around us it was imperative to keep quiet as Yunho slowly and tenderly moved inside of me beneath the blanket’s concealment. I could barely breathe or think of anything else other than the circular motion my hips were moving in each time Yunho pushed into me. Of course, it was quite impossible to curb the passionate grunts and pants we let out as our climaxes washed over us, but neither the dog nor the baby woke up.
Maybe this would forever be the new routine in our lives…
…Making love to each other every few nights as our beautiful niece slowly grows into an adult and discovers her own goals and desires in life…
…Trying not to forget to feed Taepoong and constantly push the little fur-ball off the bed whenever we crave some intimacy together…
…Caring for the little puppies we might have in the future with the same love and devotion as we would a human child…
…Drinking with Heechul every few weekends and exchanging stories about the crazy antics we-the marketing manager, the lawyer, and the chef-witness in our jobs… Mostly likely even with the company of Doctor Choi Siwon…
…Watching movies with Changmin and trying to finally beat him at cards once and for all, as his girlfriend watches on and laughs at us…
…Visiting Junsu, Yoochun and my family at least every Christmas and New Years in the town that once harbored and nurtured our love…
…Spending hours on the phone with Hangeng and trying to distract Yunho afterwards as he threatens to disconnect the phone line after receiving the shocking bill for my constant international calls…
…Simply being together everyday, knowing that despite all of the ups and downs life throws at us, we will always love each other unconditionally… All thanks to one newspaper stand, one silly boy with nothing to offer but naivety and wit, and one caring man who was simply willing to take a chance.
///The End///
A/N: Oh, the mourning!! I feel like my little baby is all grown up and leaving me for college! I can already sense the horrible withdrawal symptoms I’m gonna suffer after posting this up! T_T
Now, time for some thank yous!!! :D
It certainly hasn’t been the smoothest ride writing this fic - but then again, what portion of life is ever a smooth ride? Yet, I survived writing it and if you are reading this right now it is partially thanks to you that I was able to complete this lonnnnnng saga. Without people reading this fic, and constantly encouraging me when I was feeling down or lacking confidence in particular chapters, I would have had a much harder time getting through all of the chapters.
Many of you have been there with me from the start, and others have joined me a little later on, but however you got here, whenever you got here, thank you for merely being here! Throughout the weeks of updates I remember a lot of tears from readers, a lot of tantrums, a lot of rants and yet also a lot of love and hugs. We’ve sure been on quite the roller coaster together! It’s been a privilege to have been able to experience all of that with you guys! *Group hug!*
So, once again, a big, huge, gigantic, enormous, fricken huge thank you to all of you for reading the ECHO series and believing in me! It truly does mean a lot to this sappy ol’ humble heart. <33333
OKAY and now, the PDF files that a lot of you have been interested in downloading:
Because the complete DAWN fic turned out to be so effing long, I've had to actually split it into three volumes because my WORD was taking so long to load it everytime. I went through the fic and tried to edit out as many typos as I could (although there would be inevitable some still lurking, grrrr) and in some instances I even edit a few sentences here and there to make it flow better. wh00t!
However, because the fic is so long I would really prefer if the PDF version is enough to download rather than a WORD version, because there are soooooooooo many images throughout the fic that the images just take too long to load on WORD. It's really hard to have to sit there waiting when you are in the middle of the story because one of the letter images hasn't loaded, trust me... So at least with the PDF versions the whole page loads at a time. Much more conveniant for DAWN's length lol!
~Volume One download
~Volume Two download
~Volume Three download
About my next fanfic:
Oh lordy, where to even begin! I haven't even come up with a summary for it yet (reason being I am hopeless at writing summaries - the words 'short' and 'concise' are not a words in my dictionary hahahah.) I'm also still trying to iron out a few small details of the fic which is why I haven't gotten around to writing a decent summary for it. But I can give you some small facts!
Name: The Beacon; My siren
Genre: Slighty FLANGST-ish (but no where near the amount of the ECHO series lol!), a little mysterious, mystical/spiritual, etc. And most definitely an AU fic.
Setting: Ocean area with a few beaches and islands here and there.
Main characters:
- Yunho: a carefree camp instructor in his early 20s who loves to travel. A day cannot go by when he doesn't explore something or other. He's a real adventurer who is very down-to-earth, cheerful and sweet.
- JaeJoong: the owner of a cafe located in the town Yunho travels to in his holidays. JaeJoong is very friendly but often in a shy, timid way - because of this he often seems reserved and mysterious as he doesn't often talk a lot about himself. He's never travelled to any places apart from the town he was grew up in. And the bottom line is he is the usual adorable, caring JaeJoong we all love. ^^
Basically, mysterious consequences ensure after YunJae's meeting in the town and the two of them quickly realise that always yearn to be around each other for no explainable reason - it's called love, yah? XDDDD
Andddd to completely confuse you further with all of my vagueness, here is the trailer I made to try and explain the general mystery and plot of the fic a little better! ^___^
Click to viewI won't be starting to post this fic immediately because I need a little bit of a break, and like I said before, I'm still trying to iron out a few details of the fic so I know with confidence what I want to achieve from each chapter. But I hope that I may see some of you guys again when I post it up in detox!!!
Until then, LOVE TO YOU ALL!! <333333