I have to tell her. Baekhyun thought. I have to tell her everything.

 

He couldn’t stand living like this anymore. He couldn’t stand keeping such big secrets from her. He couldn’t stand being manipulated like a mere puppet by his father. He had to make a change.

But how? How on earth was he going to tell her that he was from Goguryeo?

 

“Oh and by the way, don’t be surprised but, I’m actually a spy from Goguryeo and I’m planning to kill your whole family.”

 

Definitely going to work. He thought.

 

 

“Stop looking at me like that, Minhyuk! The point I’m trying to make is that you came into my chambers without knocking, and hence, you caused this problem!” a too familiar voice echoed throughout the dojang.

 

“TELL ME THE TRUTH!” she yelled, gaining attention from all the young trainee soldiers who were just happening to walk by, and unluckily got caught up in the middle of an argument between their two leaders.

 

“I AIN’T LYING. I’M TELLING YA, I SAW NOTHING!” Minhyuk yelled back. He had enough of this too. He respected Chorong as his leader, but at times like this, he really found her annoying. Just how many times must he say that he did not see her until she believed him?

 

“NO, YOU’RE LYING!” she said as she waved her fist around in the air.

 

“I AM NOT!”

 

“YES, YOU ARE!”

 

“NAH!”

 

“YEA!”

 

The others looked back and forth at their “legendary” leaders like they were watching a tennis match. It was the most absurd conversation they had ever heard.

 

“Ooh, what’s this? A lovers’ quarrel?” Eunji said as she walked in on their argument.

The two generals faced away from each other and crossed their arms as they both sighed a “hmph!” like three year olds.

 

“Gosh guys, you two can be so childish sometimes.” she said and sat between them as they refused to sit next to each other.

 

“What are you kids staring at?!” Chorong raised her voice at the trainees.

 

“SCRAM!” And that was enough to scare them away.

 

“So, what brings you here anyways?” Minhyuk spoke up for the first time since the argument.

 

“Um, I wanted to speak with Chorong, privately,” Eunji replied with a guilty frown.

 

“Oh, right.”

 

“See, no one wants to talk to you, (sticks tongue out)” said Chorong as she walked off with Eunji.

 

*    *    *

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Chorong asked her best friend as they walked in the grand palace gardens.

 

“Don’t tell me. Is it about that Baekhyun guy?” she asked as she stopped in her tracks.

 

“How did you know?”

 

“You always talk about him. It’s so obvious that you like him you know,” Chorong said as she playfully rolled her eyes.

 

“So what is it this time?”

 

“He asked me to meet him today.” Eunji said.

 

“and…?”

 

“And I don’t know what to say.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I don’t know how I should confess my feelings.”

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

*    *    *

 

Eunji clutched her dress as she ran straight through the sea of villagers and as she climbed up the stoney stairs to the border tower. By the time she reached the top her heart was beating so fast as if it was a fish out of the water. Whether it was because of all the running or the gorgeous view of Baekhyun’s backside, she did not know. He was gazing down at the land of Goguryeo with his hands resting on his back. A smile appeared on her face as she walked towards him in quiet tip-toed steps. She stopped diagonally beside him.

 

“Have you heard of the legend of Gyun Woo and Jick Nyo?” Baekhyun suddenly spoke. His voice was unusually deep and had a sad ring to it.

 

“Of course. Everyone knows of that story. Don’t tell me you don’t know?”

 

 

“Let me tell you.” her soothing voice echoed throughout my head.

 

I closed my eyes to hold back the tears that I could feel in my eye sockets. A big lump of sorrow was building up in the back of my throat.

 

“The story begins like this…There was once was a great and powerful king in the heavens. He lived in a large palace and ruled over all nations of the heavens. Out of everything this king owned and cared for he had only one true delight, his daughter, Jik Nyo.

 

As the years went by she grew in beauty, until one day she became the most beautiful woman in all the kingdom. The time came when the king knew it was time for Jik Nyo to marry, so he made it his business to find her the most suitable husband, to live, work and inherit the kingdom beside her. Eventually the king found a young man called Gyun Woo.

 

Gyun Woo means a man who herds cattle, and like his name’s sake, he was a hard worker and a dedicated young man. The king knew that he was a good match for his daughter. With her honest sense of responsibility and respect, and his hard work and dedication they would make each other very happy, while leading the kings nations well.

Jik Nyo and Gyun Woo got married in the palace and spent their first few weeks relaxing and settling into their new lives. They were madly in love.

The king grew more and more concerned as the couples short “honeymoon phase” of silly fun and playful, young love,  turned into many months of carelessness, love-struck behavior.

Instead of being responsible, dedicated and hard working the two of them played all day long and did not work at all, often leaving a trail of mess in their wake.

The king became angry. And in his rage decided that the couple needed to be punished and taught a lesson. They had become the worst example and completely careless in their comfort and self-indulgence.

“Everyone else is in the kingdom of heaven is working so hard, but you two are just playing, day in and day out. You have forgotten your duties and grown selfish in your love of one another, forgetting that the rest of the kingdom relies on you.” After saying this, the king announced the Gyun Woo’s punnishment. “You will be seperated from Jik Nyo and live far in the east. Jick Nyo, you must go and live in the west.” she said as she impersonated a thick King accent.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Hyun, don’t laugh. This is the serious part.” she said with a frown.

“He ordered them to live apart, despite their marriage and love for one another. Perhaps living a life so far from the one you love, would remind them of their respectful duties to their kingdom and their king.

Jick Nyo cried bitterly, she begged her father to reconsider his decision, but the king did not change his mind and they did as they were told, destined to live seperate lives forever.

There was one condition to their punishment, the king’s one small mercy, and that was they were allowed to meet each other only once a year.

“Go to the Milky Way river on the seventh day in July” the king said, “and there you will be able to meet, only one time per year.”

Gyun Woo and Jick Nyo lived in sadness. They loved each other so much and each day apart felt like their hearts were breaking. After what felt like a thousand years, finally the seventh day in July arrived. Both Gyun Woo and Jick Nyo hurried to the Milky Way, they were eager to see each other again and the anticipation was great. They called out from opposite side of the Milky Way, shouting each others names repeatedly, but they could not see one another, the distance was too far from one bank to the other.

They longed to speak, and tell one another how much they loved, missed and cherrished each other, but nothing could be done… there was no way to reach across the vast expanse between them.

Their tears fell in the Milky Way and poured down on the earth like a flood. The more their saddness grew and their tears fell, the stormier the weather became on the earth. Soon the birds of the air saw that they were in grave danger. If something didn’t happen to sooth the couples sorrow the earth would be washed away in their tears.

All of the birds worrying lead them to conjure up a solution for the two lovers to meet.

“We need to make a bridge that will stretch across the Milky Way”, they said.

“But it is so high up…” a little Sparrow said.

“Then we need the help of the Crows and the Jays, they have strong sturdy wings and can fly higher than the clouds, up to the Milky Way”, said the wise old Pigeon.

The Crows and Jays agreed to help, and all that was left to do now was to wait, for the seventh day in July, and hope that it came before Jcik Nyo and Gyun Woo’s hearts grew more weary.

One year passed again, and it became July seventh. All the Crows and the Jays in the world gathered and together, they flew high up to the Milky Way where they lined up across the river, creating a soft bridge that floated across the great divide.

At last Gyun Woo and Jick Nyo walked to meet each other, and their tears ceased as they professed their undying love.” she concluded.

“And from that day forth, every year, on the seventh day of July, Crows and Jays all over the world built a bridge across the Milky Way, and the earth was safe from floods. AND SPEAKING OF WHICH - today is the seventh of July!” she exclaimed quite happily as she looked up at the sky as if to look for any crows.

Silence filled the air.

“Eunji-ya…. “ I called.

“Yes?”

“I’m not of this place. I don’t belong here.” I finally said.

“What do you mean?” she was confused.

“Don’t tell me that Chorong and Minhyuk aren’t treating you well. I’ll go tell them!” she said as if to comfort me.

“No. That’s not what I mean.”

“Then, what are you trying to say?”

Baekhyun slowly pulled out his sword and sliced the head off of a crow which just coincidentally waddled past.

Eunji just stared at him in shock.

“I’m never going to see you again. Yes, I am leaving you, and there will not be a seventh of July for us.”

 

Thanks guys for reading this fanfic. It would be cool if you could leave a comment :) It means a lot to mee!

Thanks again :)