Seohyun, the reaper: JeTi
Title: Seohyun, the reaper (chapter I: JeTi)
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jessica/Tiffany
A/N: It's long lol
Friday:
-Waking Jessica up extra early for her to finish her college business;
-Leaving home early to avoid traffic when meeting friends at cafe after lunch;
-Stop by the drugs store on the way back home to get vitamins for Jessica (the girl slept too much for Tiffany's liking; maybe vitamins could help);
-Wearing pants during dinner at Jessica's parent's place so that they won't notice the love bite her girlfriend left on her thigh last night.
First day after finals were over.
A beautiful sun shone brightly in the sky as most people in the neighborhood were out having fun with friends or family, including Tiffany who decided to have some coffee with her long time friends from high school.
"Hey Yuri! Sooyoung! Yoona! Taeyeon!" Tiffany greeted her friends as she arrived at the not too crowded cafe. They had already ordered drinks and food, knowing one another's favorites perfectly.
All five of them plus some late or absent ones were pretty tight during high school and that didn't change even with the geographical distance between their universities. They still got together whenever time allowed them.
Tiffany put her bag down and quickly hugged all present at the table. It had been only a few weeks since their last reunion but she still missed them very much.
"Where's Sunny? And Hyo?" She asked, grabbing a piece of Yuri's croissant.
"Hyo said she won't make it. Her parents wanted to visit her grandma in the countryside." Sooyoung said before taking a bite of her large grilled chicken salad sandwich.
"Sunny's gonna be late; she wanted to take Tea Bag for a walk." Taeyeon answered, looking at a text she just got from her girlfriend.
Tea Bag was a puppy shiba-ken Taeyeon'd adopted when she saw him abandoned in a box not far from college. At first Sunny didn't want to keep it but in time she became very fond of the dog.
"Where's Sica? Don't tell me she overslept..."
They all had noticed the absence of Tiffany's high school crush and current lover, mainly because she was usually clinging on Tiffany 24/7.
"Jessi had to stop by a site with her group to do a last check on the construction materials for their project. She should be here soon."
"In that case I'll gladly eat her strawberry parfait."
Before anyone could protest, Sooyoung had already reached her long arms and taken the sweet into her hands. Feeling judging eyes on her she simply shrugged and continued eating.
"How rude!" Yoona said imitating Jar Jar Binks' voice and laughed by herself as the others simply stared at her in confusion.
Yuri just shook her head at her girlfriend's nerdy sense of humor.
"Anyway, I guess Jessica pretty much regrets choosing construction engineering whenever she has to stay away from Fany and go to a construction site. I mean.. no hugging, kissing and extras for a few hours~" She teased, moving her eyebrows up and down at the mention of the extras. All the girls laughing except for Tiffany whose face looked like a red tomato now.
It was true.
Jessica used to hate not being in the same class as Tiffany during high school and it didn't change now in college. Despite sharing a small house and going to the same university, they still chose different courses resulting in Tiffany struggling every morning to go to class without Jessica following her.
Just as they were happily chatting about their lives in college, Tiffany's phone rang. She stepped away from the table to answer the call.
The person on the other end of the line didn't have a creepy voice. On the contraire, it was a sweet woman's voice but what she said was unusual to say the least.
"Hello, Tiffany Hwang. God left me a post-it with your name on it this morning. You like planning things ahead so I'm curious about what you're going to do with the information I'm about to give you."
"...I'm sorry I don't understand. Do I know you?"
"Forgive me, I have not yet introduced myself. I am Seohyun, the reaper and you are now being notified. You have 66 hours, 12 minutes and 9 seconds left to live. I hope you learn to live the moment instead of planning everything because... let's say you have no time to plan anything anymore."
The line went dead soon afterwards and Tiffany was left there stunned.
Was that a prank or what? How did this person know her?
Just as Tiffany was lost on thoughts she felt arms snaking around her waist from behind. She froze for a second before realization hit her as she knew exactly who it was. Only one person had such almond-like smell and a pair or small soft hands that made her feel so safe.
"Jessi."
She smiled and turned around in Jessica's embrace to give her girlfriend a sweet kiss.
"Hey honey. Missed me? What are you doing outside the cafe?"
"I got this weird call and... nevermind. The girls are waiting for you."
*
"Tiff! Are you done showering? We have to leave soon or we'll be late for dinner at my parents' place."
"I'll be right out, Jessi!"
They were back at their own house and had a dinner to attend later on. Tiffany had just got out of shower and was about to put her clothes on when she looked at the mirror. There was something... different.
What the...
Numbers floating like a blue neon sign above her head in the reflection were certainly an unusual sight. They marked 60:44:09 and kept decreasing with every passing second.
She tried touching the numbers but her hands passed right through them as if they weren't even there.
I must be dreaming. She slapped herself but the numbers were still there along with an intense pain on her right cheek.
Tiffany wanted to find out more about those numbers but Jessica was waiting in the car and she didn't want them to be late so brushing off her thoughts for now seemed to be the most reasonable thing to do.
"Jessi, do you see anything... different in me?" She asked as they drove to Jessica's parents.
Jessica in the driver's seat turned her head to the side for a few seconds to look at her girlfriend trying really hard to find anything different about her, but found nothing. She pondered some more before answering.
The jeans and checkered shirt over a tank top are her usual clothes.
No new shoes or jewelry either.
Her hair looks the same.
...Her right cheek looks a bit red but it's probably the heat. I should turn the air conditioner on.
"... New underwear?" She tried guessing.
Obviously Jessica sucked at guessing.
"...Yeah. That's right." A small smile directed at Jessica.
Something was not right. Jessica thought. Her girlfriend was not someone who'd ask if she noticed her new underwear and most definitely not someone who kept quiet after getting such ridiculous answer.
"...Is everything ok? You don't really have a new underwear on, do you?" She asked. Concern obvious in her eyes as she carefully took Tiffany's hand and rubbed her thumb on its back. The action always put a smile on Tiffany's face and this time was no exception.
"I was just thinking how fortunate I am for having you by my side. You make my life complete, Jessi. And I do have new underwear on. Ha ha."
"Ugh. That's so cheesy, Tiff. Well, you make my life complete too and I don't know what I'd do without you around."
"...Thank you."
"You will show me this underwear when we go home, right?"
"Sure." Tiffany absentmindedly answered.
She didn't say much for the rest of that night.
*
Saturday:
-Grocery shopping in the morning;
-Cooking lunch while Jessica does laundry;
-Going to the movies after lunch;
-Call Hara and ask to borrow her notes from last class;
-Ordering pizza for dinner;
-Cuddling Jessica with while watching TV at night.
"47 hours, 28 minutes and 35 seconds. Time is ticking, Tiffany Hwang."
Tiffany was at the supermarket buying groceries for lunch while Jessica was still sleeping when she heard a voice mentioning her name. Turning around to find the source of the voice she tumbled upon a tall girl with long dark brown hair carrying a basket full of fruits and healthy food.
"Excuse me?"
"Do you not recognize my voice?" The girl asked, cutely turning her head.
Stopping for a second to think, Tiffany was shocked when she remembered where she'd heard that voice before.
"The phone... The reaper."
The girl nodded. A smile plastered on her face as Tiffany recognized her.
"Roughly two days left and you still have the time to go and do groceries? Tsk tsk. Disappointing, Tiffany Hwang."
The girl shook her head in a disapproving way.
"What are you talking about? You're crazy. Now if you'll excuse me..."
A shopping bag blocked her way as she tried passing by the girl.
"Not many people get the know when they're gonna die and here you are, wasting this opportunity. You certainly will regret it after God claims your soul and I don't want that to happen so please live your last moments to the fullest."
*
"Jessi."
Tiffany entered the living room with an unknown set of keys in hand.
"What's that?"
Jessica asked, pointing at the mysterious keys.
"...I've always wanted to learn how to ride a bike and I think I'm ready now. Do you think you can teach me now?"
Jessica smile and nodded.
She'd bought the pink bicycle for Tiffany's birthday a couple of years ago but the other girl was too afraid to ride it without Jessica's support so the poor vehicle had to be left abandoned in the garage.
They went to the park and spent the whole afternoon working hard to have Tiffany ride the bike for more than 10 meters without falling or Jessica catching her.
The moment Jessica let go and she was left by herself to control the bicycle panic stroke her but soon it was replaced with a feeling of freedom.
She did it.
One goal reached.
To celebrate Tiffany's success Jessica took her out to dinner at Tiffany's favorite restaurant. It was, in fact, the place they went to on their first official date right after Jessica's confession.
Poor Tiffany had scratches all over her body along with a sore butt from riding the bicycle for too long. Pants and a long-sleeved shirt were used to cover her wounds but it didn't stop her girlfriend's teasing.
It was all going fine until Tiffany excused herself to go to the restroom while the other girl ordered the desserts.
On the large mirror located in front of the sink inside the restroom Tiffany could see the numbers above her head.
35:58:25
"I see you've been following my advice. One and a half day left, huh?"
Seohyun came out of a stall, catching Tiffany by surprise.
"You can see those numbers? Are you really... you know?"
"Yup. Have been for about 12 years now and will be until God sends me back to the living." She washed her hands, Spying with the corner of her eye on Tiffany, who remained frozen on the spot.
"So I'm really going to die when this reaches zero?" Tiffany pointed at the numbers above her head, to which the other girl simply nodded.
"How am I going to die?"
Seohyun shrugged. "I don't know. We'll find out in 37 hours, 45 minutes and 41 seconds. Oh but usually when people die in accidents it happens a while before you actually die."
"And there's no way to avoid it?"
Seohyun shook her head.
"What if I shoot myself before the counter reaches zero?"
"That's cheating the system and I'm here to prevent that. People who kill themselves interfere with the balance of life and death."
"I'm sure you wouldn't do that though. That pretty blonde girl waiting for you by the table with two cups of chocolate chip mint ice cream wouldn't bear to have you killing yourself."
"Did my mom... you know?"
"She didn't. God thought she had accomplished all of her main goals in life and there was need for a notification. She died in peace."
Seohyun flashed one last smile before exiting the restroom. Tiffany just stood there for a few more minutes to understand it all before going back to the table.
*
Sunday:
-Doing whatever I feel like doing.
-No looking at the mirror.
A whole day passed and Tiffany had accomplished a lot already. She finished playing Final Fantasy XIII, bought her father a pair of gloves for him to wear during winter, visited her mother's grave and introduced Jessica officially as her girlfriend, defeated Jessica in a chess game and just cuddled with Jessica in bed for hours.
They were simple things. Things you could do any day of your life so you keep postponing them thinking there will always be tomorrow to do them but for Tiffany there was no time to waste.
"What would you do if I were to die tomorrow, Jessi?"
"Please don't say things like that."
"I'm serious here, what would you do?"
"...First of all I'd skip classes. Then I'd spend the whole day with you and when it finally happened I would cry until there were no more tears; I would hold your hand until there was no more warmth in your body; I would whisper in your ears how much I've loved you and promise I'll always carry you in my heart."
Tiffany smiled.
Jessica sure was perfect for her and overall her life was good greatly thanks to her girlfriend. She could go in peace.
"Let's skip classes tomorrow and go have some fun, ok?"
*
They woke up late on the next day and didn't even bothered getting out of bed so soon.
Just staying in each other's embrace was more than enough for them to have fun.
"Let's get out of bed, Jessi. It's past 9 already."
"Sleep."
"Come on I wanna eat breakfast at the cafe near college. Go shower, please?"
Pout.
Tiffany's secret weapon Jessica couldn't resist so she obediently headed for the shower but not without stealing a kiss from her girlfriend first.
After hearing the sound of water hitting the tiles on the floor, Tiffany quickly wrote a note on a post-it and left it glued in Jessica's wardrobe door.
Jessi~
I went ahead to stop by the market to get Tea Bag's food Taeyeon asked
us to bring to her place at lunch. See you at the cafe~ Loving you forever.
-Tiff <3
A lie.
She had no time to go get the dog food.
Tiffany headed straight to the cafe, immediately sitting down at an available table and taking a notebook and a pen out of her bag. She wanted to write goodbye letters to her friends and now was the time to do so.
Before she placed the tip of the pen on the paper though Seohyun appeared from behind and removed her stationary materials. She was formally dressed in a black suit and hair tightly tied in a ponytail.
"You can't leave traces that you knew about your death. You have 13 minutes left... You could've stayed in bed with Jessica and died a peaceful death at home."
"I don't want her to watch me die. She takes quite some time in the shower so I'm sure she won't get here before the time comes."
"Any regrets?"
Seohyun had ordered two cups of coffee and a piece of apple pie as they continued with their chat.
"Some. Nothing that could be solved in just a few days. Are you here to collect my soul after I die?"
Seohyun nodded.
"Do you get paid for doing this job?"
"Nope. Some people when they pass away end up being selected to do the job. We do get one wish to come true after we have done enough though."
"What do you plan on wishing?"
"Not sure yet."
The chatting subsided for a moment as Seohyun eyed the numbers on top of Tiffany's head.
00:02:50
"Will it hurt?"
"It won't."
00:02:36
The loud sound of metal hitting a wall and glass shattering echoed through the street on a quiet Monday morning.
Opening her eyes, Tiffany found herself lying on the floor along with a few more people around her, Seohyun standing with no apparent injures a few meters away.
There were people screaming and crying around but Tiffany knew no help would arrive in time for her at least. She could feel the blood in her mouth as well as on her clothes but oddly enough felt no physical pain.
00:01:38
Feeling weak she dug into her pants pocket and took out her phone. Not wanting Jessica to think she died in pain, she recorded a goodbye video and took a picture of her smiling before everything went dark.
*
"A lot of crying and sobbing with lots of beautiful pink flowers around my cast."
Those were the words Tiffany used to describe how her funeral would likely be in the video she recorded for Jessica.
She got that one right. Jessica thought to herself as she sat next to the casket. Tiffany's father on the seat right next to her, dealing with the lost on their own way and Yuri and the gang stood not too far as well. Sniffling and sobbing sounds were constant as more people arrived for the funeral.
Just like she'd told Tiffany, Jessica cried for hours and hours until there were no more tears to cry; she held Tiffany's hand at the hospital until there was no more warmth in her body and regretted nothing by loving Tiffany for the last 4 years and next who knows how many.
"It's a little embarrassing to record myself in this conditions but I have some final things to say, Jessi."
You would look beautiful dressed in a hobbit costume, silly.
"I wish we could've had more time together."
Me too.
"I've loved you so much and I hope we can meet on the other side. Please continue being the amazing person you are, I'm sure you'll be the best construction engineer in the whole world. Don't forget you promised to build our house and name it 'Totoro Heaven."
You're so stupid.
"My parents will probably be pretty sad so please stay by their side. Our friends too I think... You were always the strong one but I know you better than anyone so stop playing strong and do not hesitate in asking them for help. Promise me you'll help each other."
Anything for you.
"Thank you for everything, Jessi. Because you were there with me I've lived my life very well and can go in peace now, no pain and... almost no regrets. I regret a lot of things but loving you is not one of them."
And what happens to me without you here?
Tears were strolling down her cheeks once again as she continued recalling Tiffany's words in the video. Unlike what she'd thought there were still lots of tears left to spill for her late girlfriend.
"If you find someone who makes you happy grab them and don't ever let go, I'll be jealous of course but not mad. Your happiness is above everything else so go after it. Don't hesitate in reaching out for your goals like I did."
No one could ever make me as happy as I was with you. You took my happiness away the moment your heart stopped beating.
"I'll wait for you on the other side. Smile every day, work hard, have fun and don't forget I love you and will always watch over you. Until we meet again, bye bye~"
The video ended with Tiffany's eye smile and a weak wave of hands before the screen went black. There were no tears, only her peaceful smile.
...Bye bye, Tiff.
*
Jessica dated other people along the next years but never got married or got deeply involved with someone else.
She'd given up on love a long time ago, not meaning she gave up on life as well; she became a successful engineer and had fun building people's future homes.
Every day was the same except for weekends. She'd go to work in the morning, go home in the afternoon and spend the rest of the day reading or watching TV.
Whenever loneliness got to her she'd stay over at her friends and talk all night long about silly things like the new drama that was on or some new book they'd like to recommend to the others. Tiffany's name rarely mentioned in the conversations.
In her house there was a special room she only entered in difficult times when she missed Tiffany too much. She had placed photos and most of Tiffany's belongings there. It smelled like Tiffany, It looked just like Tiffany had requested her to make her room, It was all proof that she never got over Tiffany's death.
Yuri and Yoona often stopped by her place to pay her a visit when the whole gang couldn't make it for their weekly gathering. Her sister frequently paid visits too, always reminding her how stupid it was to name a house, even more naming it Totoro Heaven.
Overall she could say her life was never the same after Tiffany passed away but it didn't mean she didn't enjoy the life she had led so far. 44 years old and a successful person, she was proud of her accomplishments. However, when a tall girl with long dark brown hair knocked on her door she couldn't help but feel a slight hint of happiness in her heart as she heard those words.
"Miss Jessica Jung. My name is Seohyun, the reaper and I'm here to notify you of your death in 11 hours, 10 minutes and 44 seconds."
"Miss Tiffany Hwang has been waiting for 22 years now. Are you ready to finally meet her?"
Jessica could've called the girl a nut job; she could've just slammed the door right in her face yet she decided to believe it. Any chance she could see Tiffany again, she would take it.
"So we'll finally meet again."