Chapter 8- Give Me Time

Changmin's POV

I was walking back to the hotel and was only a couple steps away from our hotel room. I don’t know what to tell them but I guess Kyuhyun was right. I have to think through this logically and understand why Jaejoong is or was an important person in my life.

I was already by the hotel room and knocked on the door.

Yoochun was the one who answered the door and said, “Where the hell did you go?”

“Don’t ask... just listen. I need time to think this through. I would appreciate it if you don’t yell and be up on my face about this. Why can’t I remember the concert? I don’t know. Why can’t I remember Jaejoong? I don’t know. Give me time. I don’t know why everything became the way it is and it’s not my fault so stop blaming me because I’m so confused that I can’t think straight,” I told them straight up.

“But it is your fau-“ Yoochun began to say until he was interrupted by Jaejoong.

I didn’t notice that Jaejoong was behind Yoochun until Jaejoong said, “Open the door Chun. Let him in first, then talk to him... calmly.”

Yoochun obliged to Jaejoong’s suggestion and let me in the suite.

“What is it?” I asked Yoochun directly.

“It was your wish Min. That’s why. You wanted this. This was what you wished for and your wish came true,” Yoochun stated.

There it was again, the wish. Yoochun keeps on blaming the wish for everything that happened.

“What wish?” I asked him.

“The wish that you brought upon yourself,” he replied.

“Whatever you say Chun, just don’t blame me about it anymore because I’m confused about it myself,” I told him.

“But it is your fault,” he replied loudly.

“Chun, why don’t we take a walk...hmm?” Jaejoong suggested.

I forgot his presence until he spoke.

“What?” Yoochun replied.

“Let’s take a walk and get fresh air. We don’t have anything today and you seem like you need to take a breather,” Jaejoong suggested.

“Yeah Chun... take a walk and stop harassing me when I just told you that I need time,” I replied in a rude way. He was pissing me off. I just told him I need time and yet he keeps pestering me about it.

“Why you little...” Yoochun said as he lunged at me and was about to punch my already weak body.

“What? Are you going to punch and kick me again like you said you did? Go ahead,” I told him.

“Tell Junsu and Yunho that we are just taking a walk. Junsu’s sleeping and Yunho was taking a shower,” Jaejoong told me as he was directing Yoochun out of the hotel.

Jaejoong grabbed his and Yoochun’s sweater and the suite’s keys.

What wish is he talking about?

Yoochun’s POV

Why that little, ungrateful brat. I can’t believe he doesn’t believe anything I’m saying. I can’t believe that Jaejoong is just letting Changmin not know him. I can’t believe that all this is happening. Why on earth did that irresponsible child make a careless wish such as that?

“Chun...” I heard Jaejoong say my name. Jaejoong helped me go back to reality.

“Deh...” I answered.

“Talk to me,” Jaejoong said.

“About what?” I asked him.

“I don’t know. Humor me I guess,” he replied.

I don’t know what to say that could help lift the already dark mood.

I was quiet for a while, thinking of something that could help improve Jaejoong hyung’s mood, when he said, “Did I do something wrong? Is he pretending or not? I’m scared to ask him if he’s pretending or not because I fear the answer he might say.”

I never knew that this has been affecting Jaejoong hyung badly.

“Why am I like this?” Jaejoong continued as he let a sarcastic and dry laugh. “It’s like your best friend claims they don’t know you over night. Never mind... it’s like your own brother saying ‘who are you’ all of a sudden,” he said as tears slowly fell from his tears. “What’s wrong with me today?” he asked as he wiped away the tears that were soon replaced by fresh tears.

I looked at him and he just stopped walking and was just staring blankly on the pavement. “Nothing’s wrong with you hyung. I didn’t know that this has been affecting you by a lot. I can’t believe that you’re suffering by this much. I’ll help you hyung. If I need to beat some sense into that kid again, I will. He just has to realize that what he did was wrong and immoral,” I told Jaejoong hyung.

Jaejoong continued to cry and said in a weak voice, “What immoral thing are you talking about?”

“You may not believe me. Trust me, I didn’t believe him at first,” I warned him.

“Tell me,” he said in a weak voice.

“I’ll tell you soon, just not now. By the way hyung, while we’re already out, can we go check out this thing? I’ve been curious about it for a while,” I asked him.

I don’t know why but I have this gut feeling that tells me that it wasn’t time to tell Jaejoong hyung about any of this. I have a feeling that it’s better if Jaejoong finds out for himself.

“What is it?” Jaejoong asked.

“You’ll see. Follow me,” I said as I grabbed his hand and went to the nearest shop.

I went to a sandwich restaurant called ‘Subway’. The fast food restaurant was empty except for one customer eating on one of the tables.

I approached the cashier and asked in English, “Hi... may I ask if you know any tarot readers or psychic shops near the area?”

It’s been a while since I practiced my English and it sounds broken but understandable.

“Um... yeah... there’s one a few blocks from here. Just go straight and you’ll see a sign on your right,” the girl replied.

“Okay, thank you very much,” I replied.

“We’re going where?” Jaejoong asked.

“We’re going to see a fortune teller,” I replied.

“But going to see a psychic is risky and-“ Jaejoong began to say.

“I know,” I said simply.

“Then why...” he asked.

“Because I’m curious about something,” I replied.

“Curious about,” Jajeoong asked.

“Secret,” I answered. “Come on, let’s go,” I told him.

“I don’t know,” he said cautiously.

We were walking for a few minutes and sure enough, there was a sign for the fortune teller. It was still open and there were barely anyone in the shop except for a teenage girl in a desk, in what seems like a reception desk.

“Hi... we would,” I began to say in English.

“Madam Merlee is ready to see you,” the girl stated.

I gave her a small bow and told Jaejoong, “Stay here okay hyung? I’ll be back.”

“I’ll come with you,” he offered.

“It’s okay. Stay here. I would prefer going alone,” I explained.

“Okay... I’ll stay here,” Jaejoong said as he sat in one of the chairs and began to flip the magazine pages.

I began to enter a small pathway that was covered by a red velvet curtain. Behind the curtain, small rays of pink light were illuminating from a narrow room. Once I reached the end of the narrow hallway, it lead to a dark room with only pink lights as its only source of light.

The room looks completely different from the waiting area. The room was illuminated by a pink light that brightened the dark room. There were some weird stuff that was decorated around the room but the thing that caught my attention was the woman sitting in front of the crystal ball who was dressed differently. I’m guessing she was the fortune teller.

“Welcome child, what is it that you want Madam Merlee to foresee?” the psychic asked.

“There’s been trouble. A friend of mine used something called an ultimate wish to wish something and his wish came true,” I said in English.

“I see... the infamous Ultimate Wish. Have you ever heard the story of the Monkey’s Paw?” the psychic asked.

“I’m not sure, why?” I asked.

“Anyways the Monkey’s Paw is about a story about being granted three wishes but received consequences for interfering with fate. The main point is that once you interfere with fate, you have to deal with its consequences. Although the Monkey’s Paw is still used through dark magic, up until today, the Ultimate Wish is not as extreme. The Ultimate Wish has the same idea as the Monkey’s Paw except the fact that it doesn’t have as extreme consequence and that the Ultimate Wish can only happen on certain times like 1911, 2011, 2111 and so on along with three other wishing superstition on the same day. Do you understand what I’m saying?” the psychic asked.

I nod my head as I carefully processed what she has said.

“Good. The thing I have to tell you is that unlike the Monkey’s Paw where your wishes have no limit, the Ultimate Wish does. For example, you can’t make someone fall in love with you, make someone dead, make someone come back from the dead and so on and so forth. However, there are some loop holes; for example, you can forget someone completely. That is by having all the memories of that person, with the person who wish that wish, being erased and forgotten-“ the fortune teller began to say.

“Hold on for a second,” I asked. “What happens is the person’s ultimate wish was to forget another person,” I asked again.

“The person who made the wish would completely forget the person that they wish to forget,” the fortune teller answered.

“How do you reverse it?” I asked her.

“Nothing. It’s irreversible. There’s nothing you or the person who made the wish can do to reverse the wish. The memories of those people are gone. Except in rare cases,” the fortune teller explains.

“What are the rare cases?” I asked her.

“When the two people who the wish was about fall in love with each other, that’s the only time it can reverse the wish. As you can see, the Ultimate Wish has many restrictions that it can and can’t do while the Monkey’s Paw has a few to no restrictions but with a greater consequence,” the fortune teller explains further.

“Is there no other way?” I asked her.

“No... There isn’t. Since most people wish to forget a person that didn’t like them back, the chances of them regaining their memories are slim to none because if the person that they like liked them back, they wouldn’t have gone to the extremes and made the Ultimate Wish in the first place,” the fortune teller explains.

“Oh okay, thank you,” I said as I gave her a 10 dollar bill.

“Excuse me,” she said as she stopped me.

“My fees range from 10 plus, depending on the topic and how long our discussion is. Your fee for today if $45 because it took more than 20 minutes and it was a different topic other than reading the tarot,” she explained.

I nod my head and gave her the last of my money and muttered some Korean curse words.

“Thank you and I wish you and your friend luck,” she said as I head outside to where Jaejoong was.

Jaejoong was still outside on the waiting area and continued to flip the pages on the magazines.

“What took you so long,” he asked.

“Longer than I expected,” I answered.

“Did you get what you wanted to know,” Jaejoong asked.

“Unfortunately... yes,” I answered.

“What is it? Is it good or bad,” Jaejoong asked.

“It’s something worse than I expected,” I answered.

“What is?” Jaejoong asked.

I didn’t notice the fortune teller entering the waiting area.

“And one more thing,” she yelled as she got my attention. I turned back to where she was and approached her. Once I was close enough, she whispered, “Neither the person who wished, and the person who the wish was about, should know that they should fall in love with each other. It should happen naturally without them knowing.”

She waved at me and said goodbye.

“What did she say?” Jaejoong asked.

Neither the person who wished should know.

“Nothing. She just gave me back 10 dollars,” I lied.

“Oh okay. I didn’t see her give you the money though,” he replied.

“She didn’t? Wow what a rip off,” I said.

“Want to go back?” Jaejoong asked.

“Nah... It’s okay. Her business is slow so I hope that 10 dollars can help,” I reasoned.

“That makes sense. You’re nice Chun... sometimes too nice,” Jaejoong complimented me.

“I know... Let’s go home. It’s getting dark already,” I stated.

Neither the person who wished, nor the person who the wish was about, should know that they should fall in love with each other. It should happen naturally without them knowing.