“… Erase him entirely from my life.”

Jonghyun knew that she was being brash; he knew that he could easily deny the request, since it was outside of reasonable terms, but he remembered why he was with her in the first place. He needed to show her a new way of living—a new perspective—not just flick aside every other thing that bothered her; if he weren’t around, what would she do then? Jonghyun wanted to see his Phoenix rise from its ashes, reborn. He needed to teach her a lesson—give her a good hit on the head—every now and then, and he saw this as a prime opportunity to do so.

“Are you sure?” Jonghyun asked, in the off chance she’d change her mind.

“Did I sound like I wasn’t sure?” Taehyun retorted, “You’ve always given me what I wanted. This is a tall order, but since I desperately want it, you have to give it to me.” Jonghyun took a step back away from her. His demeanor suddenly took a hundred and eighty degree turn. He looked impassive, expressionless. There was an unmistakable storm brewing in his eyes.

‘I don’t have a choice then,’ he thought, ‘She desperately wants it, right? Looks like I’ll have to give it to her.’

The snap of his finger brought many little wonders into her world, but this time it was a far cry from anything joyful or miraculous. It was like the beginning of a very long bad dream. The snapping sound echoed against the walls, hitting her ears painfully like static. It ominously reverberated against her skull. Taehyun felt like her head was being stretched in a million different directions, as if someone were fighting to get a little piece of her while they could.

In just a mere second, her wish was granted, but the unpredictable pain seemed to last for hours. When it finally ceased, Taehyun felt like everything else in her left with it. Everything but an indescribable longing, that made every breath shallow; inside, she felt like a numb, hollow shell.

But the problem was that she still remembered him.

“Did you do it?” Taehyun asked, “I’m serious about this, just do it already.”  Jonghyun didn’t bother responding. He kept his lips tightly pressed into a thin line. He snapped his finger again—this time, without the immense pain. Oh, but the theatrics remained.

The walls around them warped and shrunk, swallowing itself into nothingness, before being replaced by plain cream colored walls. Wooden panels attached themselves to the floor beneath them in clean lines. The ceiling above them rose. The entire hall remade itself into an unfamiliar room, which expanded and contracted, much like it was alive and breathing. Furniture materialized, light bulbs flickered before coming to an abrupt stop, framed pictures littered the walls—all hinting to where they were. Then the room finally settled.

“Are we in Jinki’s house?” Taehyun asked, examining the area. The pictures on the walls were eerie, mirroring the house itself—chilly and lifeless; devoid of any characteristic that differentiated shelter from a home. Despite his shortcomings, Taehyun knew he grew up in a great household—something about him that Taehyun envied. However, this house didn’t seem to reflect that, making her question what had happened to make it this way. Unless, of course, ‘Jinki lied about that too.’

“What are we doing in here?” Taehyun further interrogated, “What did you do?” Jonghyun rose a brow.

“What did I do?” he reiterated, “I gave you exactly what you wanted. This was the only way to remove Lee Jinki from your life.” He walked away, disappearing; waiting for the right time to reappear before her. She was confused; her heart anxiously raced in her chest, struck by the vagueness of his statement.

Taehyun was abnormally hyperconscious of her surroundings; apprehensively making her way around, as the wooden panels beneath her creaked. The light that poured in through the many windows offered no warmth, and emphasized the dust suspended in the air. The deafening silence added to the consciousness she had over her breathing, or rather, the lack thereof. She held her breath in restless anticipation.

A melodious piano drew her further into the house; a slow, sad piece cut through the silence. When she finally found the source of the music, both her heartbeat and the tempo rapidly increased. On the stool, where the one responsible for the music should’ve been, an urn was placed atop of it, undisturbed.

“No,” Taehyun said in disbelief, “This isn’t funny. That can’t be…—”

“It is,” Jonghyun affirmed, coming into view from another corner of the room, “There’s only one person in this house that plays the piano.” Taehyun mindlessly made her way to the urn. As soon as she reached it, her knees buckled, and she fell to the ground.

She stared at the urn with wide, alert eyes. Jonghyun expected her to start cursing him out, to start thrashing at him—maybe even throw the urn at him with her usual deadly accuracy—but to his surprise, she cradled the urn tightly in her arms. As she did so, she began sobbing.

“Why is it always my fault?” she whimpered, “Why do they always die?” Her long hair covered her face as she continued to weep. Jonghyun was at a loss for words, but he watched her earnestly. A phoenix must die before it can reinvent itself.

“You,” she said, referring to the urn, “You’re horrible. You lied, you hid things from me, and now you’re a bunch of ash? You’re so unfair. Unfair. You’re dead and you’re still doing this to me.” Her voice was shaky and guttural, her whole body ached as she hyperventilated. Her insides twisted, and she felt drown under her own agony. Her head pounded as she bawled.

“No more urns,” she wailed, “No more death, no more funerals, no more abandonment, no more, no more… Stop. Stop it. Please. I wanted him gone, I didn’t want to see him dead.”

“That’s the thing, Cho Taehyun,” Jonghyun said, maintaining his distance, “Your paths were meant to cross. You were meant to know each other. I can’t change the fact that your lives were meant to intersect. It’s beyond my control. His death is also the death of a chunk of your future, and you must’ve felt that. It’s the only way to take him out for good.”

Taehyun listened, and instead of rejecting his reasoning, she accepted it wholeheartedly. She’d given him all her trust in exchange for his service, and his company.

“But that doesn’t mean you’ll be freed from your pain,” he continued, “It’ll hurt. Forever. Even if that silly man was forced into seeing you, it was… fate. Destiny. A small piece in the grand scheme of life. Now, the only person who can save you is yourself. You’re the only one who can ease the pain. So tell me, what do you want, Taehyun? And don’t abuse my gift. I only want what you want, but I don’t want you to use me selfishly.”

Taehyun felt a pang of guilt. She asked herself for how long she’d keep allowing her past to shape her future. All this time, her life had revolved around her—her suffering, her woes. She’d used the word ‘I’ so frequently, that she felt the need to change. She needed change, and Jonghyun’s arrival was just the beginning. Ultimately, it ended with her.

“First,” Taehyun said, calmer, “Tell me if I’m stupid for still caring.”

“You’re stupid,” Jonghyun answered, deadpan, “But that stupidity is what I like about you.”

“Way to rub salt in my wounds,” Taehyun commented. She let out a shaky sigh, before pushing her hair back behind her ears. She wiped away any traces of tears, or snot. She tried her best to separate her feelings, with what she had to do. After all, she had people now that she didn’t want to disappoint. Before anything else, she did her best to recompose herself, which is easier said than done—but Taehyun did her best anyway.

“It’s scary what you can do,” Taehyun admitted, “It’s scarier to think what more you’re capable of.” Jonghyun shrugged.

“If you’re scared,” he said, “Then I’m terrified.” He helped her up.

“You can let the urn go now,” Jonghyun added, “Let it go.” Taehyun was about to rest it back on the stool, but Jonghyun stopped her.

“Drop it,” he instructed her. Taehyun shot him a confused look.

“What?” she asked.

“I said to just let it go,” he replied, “Drop it.” Hesitantly, she did. Taehyun expected the ashes to scatter messily on the floor, but instead, the exact moment it hit the floor, darkness quickly spread and surrounded them in water-like waves. Just as quickly as it did, small lights hovered around them. They were still for only so long before lively dancing and flickering, swirling whimsically around Taehyun and then around Jonghyun. Her face glowed—not just literally—but a small, bright, smile crept its way onto her face.

Jonghyun smiled; because he’d deliberately put her through a forced reflection, he promised himself he’d show her as many beautiful things as he could before that pesky time constraint would get in the way.

Taehyun walked closer towards Jonghyun, looping her arm around his. Jonghyun blushed.

“Undo what you did, Jjong,” she said, “I know what I want now.”