The tears wouldn’t stop falling and Kyungsoo had stopped counting them.

“I just wonder how many pieces are left”, he whispered as he sat in front of the mirror watching his reflection.

“Are there so many pieces left that I still can’t break and follow you? How long have you cried, Jongin? How many nights have you stayed awake and cried in front of the same mirror?”, he asked.

But his room stayed silent and Jongin didn’t appear.

On the next day, Kyunghwa forced Kyungsoo to leave his room and to go back to school. Kyungsoo had problems to concentrate on the lesson, because all his thoughts were with Jongin. Why wasn’t he showing himself anymore?

After he had told him about the letter, he had disappeared and then everything… just had been a dream. Just a damn dream.

Kyungsoo looked down and clenched his hands to fists.

“Are you ok?”, a voice asked. He looked up. The girl who had told him on his first day the story about Jongin looked at him. Her brown eyes pierced through him.

“Have you seen him?”, she asked and chuckled. Kyungsoo stared at her.

She laughed out loud. “Of course you did. And now you’re even deeper in love and geez, you can’t be with him. And then there’s the problem that cold-hearted Jongin cannot feel love and that’s why he is locked in that mirror. That’s his punishment”, she said.

Kyungsoo got up. “His punishment?”, he asked. The girl raised one eyebrow.

“Look, there’s a legend about the World of Mirrors. Ever heard of that?”, she asked and sat onto the table. Kyungsoo hesitated.

He knew the few words that had been written on the back of the mirror, but the girl started telling him the story without waiting for his answer.

“The legend says that there is a world behind the glass, so stunningly beautiful and peaceful. It is even compared to Heaven. But only few may enter this world, only those who deserve it. If you try to force entry you will be into it, but end up in Hell and pay for your sin to intrude such a peaceful world. Your reflection is the guardian of this world, on the one hand it is hindering you from entering it forcefully and on the other hand it protects you”, she told.

Kyungsoo frowned.

“It protects me?”, he asked. She nodded and her hair bounced around her head.

“If you enter the Mirror World, you will see your true self. The last truth about you. Most people cannot bear this truth and would die, they would suffer horrible pain. That’s what is basically meant by you will end up in Hell for entering forcefully. And only those who can stand the truth or have a pure heart will end up in Heaven”, she said.

With a sigh she leaned back and shook her head.

“Surely Jongin forced his entry, obsessed from the beauty of the other world. He sure knew this legend, he wanted to enter this world so badly that he forced the entry. But he didn’t find what he was looking for. He couldn’t deal with the truth, but he was too strong to die by this pain, he fought and fought and withstood the pain. He is still caught in this intermediate world, not able to go on and die, neither can he go on and find Heaven and peace”, she ended.

Kyungsoo frowned. “In this legend… is there something said about liberation?”, he asked. She laughed again.

“You want to save him, huh?”, she asked. He didn’t answer.

“Well, indeed there is something said. In order to be freed from the glass prison, he has to find peace, meaning everything he had done wrong before has to be corrected and balanced out. But that’s impossible, the people he had done bad things to, are already dead and he will never find someone he truly loves and even then the one has to love him back”, she said.

Kyungsoo bit his lip. Sehun had forgiven him…

I love Jongin, Kyungsoo thought, but would he love me back? Would it be enough?

“So if everything was made up, he could go on to Heaven?”, he asked. The girl hesitated.

“Maybe”, she said. Kyungsoo frowned.

“What do you mean?”

She took a deep breath. “Either you go on to Heaven, or you die”, she said.

Kyungsoo gulped. “Going to Heaven means dying, doesn’t it?”, he asked. The girl wrapped her hair around her index finger and took her time to answer that question.

“Well, there’s still a difference in just dying and being in Heaven, right?”, she said and jumped down from the table she was sitting on.

The teacher entered the classroom, but she turned around one last time and whispered:

“You can’t save him”.

Kyungsoo frowned.

When he got home, his aunt was sitting in the living room with a cup of tea in her hand.

“Oh dear, Jongin, you don’t look good. Has something happened?”, she asked.

Kyungsoo shook his head, he almost got used to being called Jongin.

“Don’t lie to me. Come here and sit with me”, she ordered and patted onto the space next to her on the sofa. Kyungsoo hesitated but obeyed and sat down.

He slowly let his school bag sink to the floor, he had wanted to talk with Jongin, but maybe he could ask his aunt more about the mirror.

“Auntie, can you tell me why you want to remove the mirror?”, he asked straight away. Her face darkened.

“I’ve told you a hundred times that it’s evil. I can feel it, something’s wrong about that mirror. I know that you like it a lot…”, she said and shook her head.

“Evil?”, Kyungsoo asked. His aunt nodded.

“Oh yes, indeed. When your heart turns as cold as the glass it will you into it and lock you within. You won’t be able to escape it, you can’t die, but neither are you fully living”, she said.

Kyungsoo’s hands clenched. “Is there no possibility to escape the mirror? What if you found someone you love?”, he asked.

She sighed. “If you found someone, but do you really think there would one day come someone and spend days in front of the mirror and talk to you, would stand this pain of never being together?”, she asked.

“But if I found that person, I would be free so we could be together right?”, Kyungsoo asked tensed.

She looked at him, for a moment something in her eyes changed.

“Kyungsoo”, she said surprised.

“Yes”, Kyungsoo murmured disappointed that she obviously switched back to reality.

He wanted to pick up his bag and leave as she suddenly grabbed his arm.

“Have you removed the blanket off the mirror?”, she asked sharply. Her dull dark eyes pierced through him and Kyungsoo’s heartbeat increased. She looked a little scary like this.

“W-Why?”, he stuttered.

“Don’t let him out, don’t free him”, she whispered and her grip tightened painfully.

“Why not?”, Kyungsoo asked, but she didn’t answer. She let go of his arm and took a sip of her tea.

She hummed quietly and then she looked up. “Kyungsoo, how nice that you visit me. How are you doing?”, she asked with a smile.

Kyungsoo breathed out. “I’m fine”, he whispered and picked up his bag.

He left the room and slowly climbed the stairs.

Obviously, I can free him, if he loved me back, but something bad will happen if I do it, Kyungsoo thought.

He opened his room door and locked it behind him.

He heard a quiet sound and immediately turned around. There he was.

“Jongin”, he whispered and stormed towards the mirror.

Desperately he pressed his palms against the glass. “I’ve missed you so badly”, he breathed out.

Jongin looked down.

“I’m sorry”, he whispered. “Kyungsoo listen”, he started.

He stopped and bit his lip, he fought with the words he wanted to say.

“I will spend this entire day with you, ok. But then… I will go”, he said. Kyungsoo opened his mouth and frowned.

“Go? What do you mean?”, he asked.

“I won’t come back again”, Jongin said. Kyungsoo shook his head.

“No, no… w-why?”, he asked and pressed his palms harder against the glass. But the coldness against his skin was insurmountable and reminded him that he could never grab Jongin’s arm to hold him back, to make him stay.

The pain of never being together…

Jongin opened his mouth, but he couldn’t say a word. Both cried in silence and Kyungsoo wished he could turn as cold as Jongin so that the pain would stop and the mirror would lock him up as well.

“I don’t care if I would be locked inside, I don’t care”, Kyungsoo cried.

Jongin shook his head and placed his hand at the height of Kyungsoo’s mouth.

“You would never be locked inside here. There are so many different stories and legends about the mirror, but only one is true. If you force your entry although you don’t deserve it, you’ll be locked up. But one mirror can only lock up one person, otherwise its purpose would be pointless”, Jongin said.

“Its purpose?”, Kyungsoo asked.

“The mirror doesn’t do anything to me, but isolating me. It just does what I always wanted, I wanted to be alone. Isolating a human being equals hell, being forever alone makes you lonely, staring at a white blanket that covers the only window to the other world cuts you out more”, Jongin said and looked away.

Another tear rolled down his cheek.

“The stories about being saved-“, Kyungsoo started.

“Are not true. You can’t escape the mirror”, Jongin interrupted him.

“But it is said that only if you found true love you can escape, in those 30 years have you found someone you love and it didn’t work? Or why are you so sure that it doesn’t work?”, Kyungsoo asked.

“I have”, Jongin answered. Kyungsoo flinched, but tried to hide that he was hurt.

Jongin raised his hand and placed his palm against the glass.

“You”, he said. Kyungsoo raised his head and stared at Jongin.

“The person I love has to love me back, otherwise it wouldn’t work”, Jongin started.

“But I do!”, Kyungsoo called. A weak smile appeared on Jongin’s face, but faded again.

“You don’t understand…”, he whispered and looked down.

“What do I not understand?”, Kyungsoo asked.

“I don’t want it to work… If you save me, you will probably die”, Jongin finally said.

okay, don't hate me >___<

sorry that it took so long to update and sorry that I stopped this chapter with a cliffhanger...

ugh I hope you didn't get all too confused with those many different versions of the legend of the Mirror World (=__=)

but the next chapter will actually be the end.

so wow O___O

thanks for following this story. it's almost over...

thank you for your lovely comments <3

Since it's a cliffhanger, I will hurry up and update quickly ^__~