“You know me?” Jackson said as he looked at the elderly woman just standing at the edge of the door frame. Jinyoung’s grandmother nodded.

 

“He isn’t lying. He really is Lee Ahn. You can even test him. Ask him any question that only Lee Ahn would know and you’ll see.”

 

Jackson didn’t trust the woman one bit. But he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. What did he have to lose anyway? He thought for a few minutes about everything he had ever told Lee Ahn. After fighting with himself over which question to ask he settled on one only the real Lee Ahn would know.

 

“The night that you were killed, what were the last words I said to you before you ran into the maze?” Jackson asked, confident that Jinyoung wouldn’t know.

 

Jinyoung blinked a few times, trying to recall what Jackson had said that terrible night. That night that his mind had forced him to forget for years. And then he remembered.

 

“Before I ran off into the maze you said, ‘I know you don’t understand, but I would become a monster one hundred times. I would lose my mortality a thousand times. I would do anything it takes to become one of the royal guards.’ I didn’t want to hear the rest of what you had to say, so I ran into the maze in the garden. And that was when I was attacked.”

 

Jackson turned pale as a ghost. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. There was no way. Jinyoung was spot on. Every word he said was true. 

 

“Lee Ahn?”

 

Jinyoung smiled widely.

 

“Yes Jia Er. It’s really me.” 

 

Jinyoung slowly stood up. Once he was eye level with Jackson he wrapped his arms around the other man. The hug was gentle at first. Jackson couldn’t really feel Jinyoung hugging him. But soon it had fully hit him. This was his Lee Ahn. This was the prince that haunted his dreams almost every night. This was the man he had been pining over for the last two hundred and seventy six years. And now that man was holding him. When the information finally sank in Jackson returned the hug tenfold. He squeezed the other man, sobbing into his shoulder. Jinyoung, despite being a little fearful that Jackson was going to break him in half, returned the hug. He whispered soothing words into Jackson’s ear. He rubbed comforting circles into the man’s back, letting him cry it out. 

 

When Jackson had stopped crying he refused to let go of Jinyoung. It was almost like he was afraid Jinyoung was going to fly away from him. That didn’t stop him from asking the new question that was plaguing him. 

 

“How?”

 

Jinyoung’s grandmother looked confused. 

 

“How what my dear boy?”

 

“How is Jinyoung alive? I saw him get murdered right in front of me. I even felt for a pulse! And you! How are you alive? If you’re really Jinyoung’s grandmother how are you alive?”

 

Jinyoung’s grandmother sighed. “You might want to sit down for this one. It’s a little difficult to explain.”

 

Jackson sat on the inflatable mattress, and he settled Jinyoung on his lap. 

 

Jinyoung’s grandmother sat on the other mattress, ready to tell the story of her ancestors.

 

“You see Jackson, my grandfather was a general in a terrible war. He was one of the cruelest generals from what I had heard growing up. He was heartless, destroying villages he deemed to be the enemy. Some of those villages were filled with innocent people, but that never stopped him. One day during the war he was stopped by a woman in the woods. The woman warned him not to destroy the village he was heading towards. He was asked to show mercy to the little village, which was filled with healers. My grandfather didn’t listen to her. In fact, he burned the entire village to the ground.”

 

Jinyoung’s grandmother looked sad, as if she had some sort of hand in what her grandfather did. Jackson placed a hand on her knee to try and comfort her. It seemed to work since she took a deep breath and continued her story.

 

“The woman from the woods turned out to be a witch. The village seemed to mean a lot to her. So when my grandfather did what he did she cursed him.”

 

Jinyoung’s grandmother scoffed.

 

“Of all the things she could have cursed him and his bloodline with, she chose immortality. She took away the one thing he wanted the most, to die with honor. He was forced to watch everyone he ever loved die. He had to bury his wife, and most of his offspring. Every battle he had to watch his men get slaughtered in front of him. Eventually he gave up living. He spent the rest of his days laying in bed, regretting his choices. Eventually he had children with his second wife, and one of those children was my mother. My grandfather didn’t know that his new offspring were cursed as well. And that is what has led us to today. Jinyoung, his mother, his sister, and I are cursed because of my grandfather’s actions.”

 

Jackson’s eyebrows furrowed.

 

“But I don’t understand. Where is your grandfather now? If he is immortal than shouldn’t he be here?”

 

Jinyoung’s grandmother shook her head.

 

“My grandfather is dead now. A few hundred years ago we learned that if you drive a stake through our hearts and leave them there we can achieve something close to death. As long as the stake isn’t removed of course. That was how Jinyoung survived the attack. The leader of the other army left the dagger in Jinyoung’s heart, and you were too distraught to remove it, so we waited until we were in a safe place to bring Jinyoung back.”

 

There was silence as the two other people in the room processed what they had been told. 

 

Jackson thought it now made sense why Jinyoung and his sister were taking so long to heal. It was because their bodies probably healed differently from those who were mortal. But there were still so many questions he had. Like, why was Jinyoung still so young looking while Jinyoung’s grandmother looked elderly? He didn’t realize he had asked that question out loud until he received an answer.

 

“We do still age, but we age a lot slower than mortals. For example, I’ve been alive for at least a thousand years now, but I look no older than ninety five.”

 

Jackson was amazed to say the least. 

 

There was a question that was bothering Jinyoung about this entire situation.

 

“If this is all true why did you never tell me? And how do you remember all of this so well and I just got my memories back because of Jackson?”

 

Jinyoung’s grandmother smiled sweetly at her grandson.

 

“We didn’t tell you because we wanted you to live a normal life. Our family ages normally until our twenty fifth birthday. And before you ask my grandfather was twenty five when he was cursed which is why that happens. So we wanted you to be as normal as possible before it happened. We were going to tell you, but there never seemed to be a good time since you were always hanging around with a certain royal guard.”

 

Jinyoung’s grandmother sent a smug look Jackson’s way.

 

“As for your memories I’m afraid that was our fault as well. You were basically catatonic for such a long time. You didn’t eat, you didn’t sleep, and you never left your bed unless someone carried you out. You didn’t even realize that two hundred and seventy five years had passed. And it was all because you thought you lost Jackson in the battle. So we had to lock away those memories to get you back to us. We were lucky to find a witch that was willing to do that for us.”

 

Jinyoung looked shocked. He remembered that time, but had he really just laid in bed for that long? It only felt like a year had passed during that time. 

 

Jackson was just as shocked. Jinyoung had been that distraught over losing him? Jinyoung was so upset by the thought of losing Jackson that he didn’t move for more than two hundred years? Wasn’t it painful? He may be immortal but he had to still feel the pain that comes from not taking care of himself, right? His grip on Jinyoung tightened a little bit. 

 

Jinyoung’s grandmother stood up then.

 

“You two have a lot you need to talk about. I’m going to go and make some food since it’s almost time for breakfast anyway.” She said as she walked over to the door.

 

There was silence in the room as the door closed with a click.