Please be advice that the story is not mine and I already ASK for permission to post it. Please visit her website at http://wattpad.com/thedispirit - the author of this story is thedispirit.

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 Sorry for the late update!

Chapter XXIII

He dropped me off in front of our house. My eyes looked at the pale, dull whiteness of the paint stained on my and Jiyong’s house. A wish of wanting a normal, married life occurred to me again. Sighing at the thought of life with a normal Jiyong, I slowly removed my hands from his neck but a sudden chill ran down along my spine as he held both of my hands, looking right through my eyes with concern and want.

“I’ll meet you tomorrow then?” Leeteuk asked in a hopeful manner. His face lit up along with the sunny day. An hour inside Ji Yul’s lair feels like a day but I guess being back in the real world also brings me back to the hostile reality.

I nodded subconsciously and forced a weak smile.

“Just say my name when you need me, okay?” He whispered after he planted a quick kiss on my forehead. I looked up at him like a little girl seeing his mommy after a long day at the park.

“Yeah, I will…”

Leeteuk flashed a sweet, caring smile before releasing my hands and gently my cheek. The touch of Leeteuk brings warmth to my entire body. His smile already makes up my day. His words fill the hole inside me. But still, this stupid cardiac organ in me keeps wanting for more. My throat feels sore even though I am not really shouting…the one that is shouting Jiyong’s name is simply my heart that he always neglects.

With a blink of an eye, Ice was gone in front of me, leaving only numbness on the parts where he touched and made contact in every part of me. My head turned halfway, meeting the empty lawn next to our house. Right now, there’s supposed to be a red car there and a warm greeting from a normal and non-Superman husband coming home from work.

But there’s nothing there except emptiness.

The room echoed with every footstep I took. The unlighted room sent down goose bumps all over my body but the stinging ail inside me snubbed the fear that there may be other beings lurking in the dark.

And I am all alone once again.

My body slumped down on a comfortable chair. My right arm covered my eyes, adding pile of darkness after darkness just to let me forget about every conflict I am in.

“I’ll be dead in five days.” I feebly sniggered to myself as I pictured out a girl hanging upside down or maybe being fed to the lions. With all the imaginations striking me, only one face flashed above everything.

Kwon Jiyong.

I quickly sat up and stared at the wooden floor that I can barely see. The red curtains tried to summon me so that I could open them for the lights to get in. But my mind wouldn’t listen to my neurons. My muscles wouldn’t do as my brain says. My whole body just followed the command to sit here and waste my time thinking about him. Thinking about what will he ever feel if I die?

I’m eighteen, I’m married, I have a husband, and my husband is a Superman.

But we don’t have kids.

Kids.

That’s where it all started.

“Hey there, little boy. Are you lost? Where’s your mother?” I bent down in front of him. His black hair shimmered in the sunlight. His sobs hummed along the splashing waves on the bay. He shook his head as he rubbed his eyes, wiping off the tears and causing redness of his baby brown eyes.

“Then why are you crying?” I sat down next to him and his hair. The softness of it feels like a bed of cotton under my hands.

He shook his head again, not responding to my question. “Come on; tell me what your problem is.” I remember my mother saying that ‘Smile and the whole world will smile with you’. I didn’t get it at first. I believed that if you smile, the whole world will just think you’re crazy for smiling without any reason. But I understood that smiles are a special power.

“Here now.” I tilted his chin up so he would be facing me…and then, I used my power.

I smiled.

I know it sounds stupid that smiles could brighten up someone else’s day or maybe it could cheer someone else but I wouldn’t want to judge the secret power that it possess…because honestly, it does work.

The little boy let out a sweet smile, showing his pearly white teeth. His cheeks turned red like apples along with his snow skin. The smile he showed me—it feels like the power that I casted bounced back and I was the one that got enchanted. I was the one that the power played at.

“You’re adorable.” I chuckled and pinched his cheeks, adoring his cute features. “So, mind telling me why were you crying?”

He nodded and rubbed both his eyes again. “My sister, she’s sick. She’s in the hospital for years already. No one knows why she won’t wake up. They say that she’s dead already but I don’t believe them. They’re all liars! She’s not yet dead! She…she made a promise…” he sobbed again, letting the tears flow down his sore cheeks.

“She made a promise she’ll live for me. She promised that we’ll pull pranks on our neighbors again. She promised. She did…”

Tears started flowing down my cheeks again. Seeing this stranger boy breaking down hurts me even though I hardly know him. It feels like a part of me sees what he’s trying to tell even though he can’t express it thoroughly.

“I also…made a promise. I promised her that I will bring her Superman and there she told me that if I did that, she’ll fight her sickness. After she said that, she smiled as if she’s not feeling weak. She smiled for me even though she knows she won’t last long. She smiled just to encourage me to believe in her.”

“What happened to your promise then?”

“I still haven’t accomplished it. And the doctor says she only has five days left. They will remove the stupid computers from her body and they said that she will then die after that! I can’t let that happen! We made a promise!”

He finally broke down. He started crying again. His shoulders trembled along with his small hands. His golden hair danced with the mourning wind. The aura that the little boy gave was sad and heartrending.  

I tried holding his hand but he shoves my hand away. He’s like a little fox that needs to be tamed first by keeping pace wherever he goes. A stray tear escaped my eyes as I saw his little face again.

“This time, let me promise you.” I patted his head. He looked up with swollen eyes and a hopeful, yet confused expression. “For your sister…I promise I will bring you Superman.”

The beeping sound woke me up from my dream. As the memories rushed back at me, same goes for the time devouring my remaining hours in my life.

I stood up and walked towards the ringing phone that brought me back to reality. My cold hands touched the plastic phone and slowly listened to the person on the other line.

“Who’s this?” I asked, playing a staring game with the wall in front of me.

“Dara? Are you okay? You’re still alive! Thank God!” her voice rang inside my ear like a long, lost melody. Her voice lifts a part of the burden in me; releasing it to nowhere and making me feel a bit of alive again.

My lips formed a curve that kept everything straight for awhile.

“Chaerin…” I whispered her name with gratefulness building up inside me.

“I heard about what will happen in five days time. Please tell me it isn’t true. Please.” She begged. This is the time that I don’t want to break her heart again after a cold war between us.

“I’m sorry.” It was all I can say.

“Oh no…” her voice was swallowed by the sudden silence.

No matter how much you get stubborn and prideful with your friends.

Even though you fight until the end, there is no way that they will abandon you in times you need them the most. They will be there at times you least expect them to be. And I know that’s what true friends are. Just like CL and I right now…its funny how there’s no ‘Sorry’ or ‘Forgive me’ thingy that’s happening between us.

It’s just that.

You hear each other voices and –poof—you suddenly forget everything that happened and you’re friends again.

“CL? Are you…crying?” my voice trembled as I heard sobs from the other line.

“Are you stupid? Of course I am crying! What do you want me to do? Laugh because you’re going to die?” she yelled, letting out every pain and fear inside her.

I smiled abstractedly at the thought that she still cares for me.

“She’s right…you are stupid.” CL added, keeping a low but angry voice.

“She?” the curiosity roused inside me.

“Yeah. There’s this person that told me about this. About everything that happened between you, Leeteuk, Jiyong and the upper league dudes. The funny thing is; we both agreed that you are really a stupid person because you keep fighting for Jiyong even though it is obvious that he doesn’t care. She says something about stupidity and love being the greatest power of all.” She stated slowly with her rough voice.

The time feels like it stopped to what I heard.

“What?” my voice croaked, breaking down a one word into lots of syllables.

“She kind of cares for you, too, you know?” CL sniffed. I could picture her carefully wiping the tears off her eyes just to not ruin her mascara.

“Is her name,” I stopped and readied myself to say her name,

“Seohyun?” my body shivered of the thought that Seohyun talked to CL. The one that confuses me whether she is an ally or not is the one who talked to CL and told her everything? 

“You know, I really liked her contacts. It’s gold. Yeah, that’s her name.” after CL confirmed it’s her, I quickly hung up and grabbed my jacket, rushing to the door and going to nowhere just to find out how to get to Ji Yul’s lair in a human way.

The knob bid me goodbye as I opened it, ready to get out of the house and rush to nowhere.

The sun’s setting already and the darkness will envelop the streets soon. A day will then be subtracted to my life—adding a painful rush in my heart as I imagined my upcoming death.

“Hey!” a low voice called from behind me.

I stopped on my tracks and turned around to see the person who caught up with me.

“You know, you’re under a tough decision right now. It’s either you live or die, maybe it’s either Jiyong will the one to live or die. It’s also whether Jiyong will save you or not, either you accept Leeteuk ‘s proposal or not, either you still trust a Bum or not—and lastly, it is either you’ll keep this or throw it away.” She tossed me a rectangular brown thing. It looks sturdy and old. One touch of it with my bare hands and it made a crumpling noise as if ready to break down.

The eye embossed on the cover blinked at the touch of my finger. I cringed and look up at the person in front of me.

“What are you trying to say, Jin Ah?” my voice roared with choler and restiveness.

She smiled sharply, slowly clearing the distance between us. “I’m just saying,” she paused and planted her emerald eyes on mine. Her beauty still looks everlasting. “Since you’ll die soon, and I am quite certain about that, how about a little competition to thrill your remaining days?”

“I have no time for this.” I my heels and started walking away from Jin Ah who gives off a cool presence as always.

“I’ll still tell you what the mechanics are. Within the remaining days of your life, whoever Jiyong kisses—between you and me—wins.” Her words made me stop and turn back at her.

Looking at her, she looks the same. But the thing she’s holding is new to me.

“Why do you have that too?” my disconcerted voice was squashed with Jin Ah’s.

The book of heroes.

The book that has the last page for Jiyong and my life has a duplicate. And that duplicate is in Jin Ah’s hands.

“Curdle the blood?” she smirked playfully as she showed me the exact book I am holding. She flipped on the exact page where I last looked at. “It’s the book that you were reading on Leeteuk’s library. Don’t you remember it?” her voice played inside my head.

“That’s why Leeteuk told me to remember it.” I whispered to myself in a frightened realization.

I looked back at Jin Ah then to the book she’s holding. This time, I won’t let fantasy boss me around. I won’t let it prevail.

“Challenge accepted.”