Taehyung had entered Soojung's room with Jae following behind to see that she wasn't in bed. Where the heck is she at this time?
He walked around the hospital to find her, but she was no where to be seen. He looked high and low, but still no sign of her.
"Jae, go look around Seoul for her," Taehyung demanded.
"Why? She's perfectly fine where ever she is," Jae said, lounging around on the bed. "I'm pretty sure she's with her parents anyways, I mean, they are going to be spending this whole month with her."
"But she's my responsibility, she's under my supervision," Taehyung said, biting his bottom lip in concern. Jae narrowed his eyes at him and stood up on his long, thin legs.
"Something's off about you," Jae said, suspicious of him. "If a human under your supervision and in your care took off, you wouldn't care at all. So why are you so worried about Soojung?"
Taehyung himself didn't know why he was searching so hard for her, so he stayed quiet and glared at Jae.
"Just go look for her," he demanded once again when they heard Jae's collar bell ring.
A person has a limit of distance from being away from their God of Death, so the bell ringing was a sign that Soojung was too far away from them. It's nothing bad though, it's just a signal that they're too far apart and usually it's easier to track each other down.
Jae looked up at Taehyung and started walking off with Taehyung following behind. They searched up from the sky with the sun's light hitting their skin as well as blinding their vision of the buildings below them. Damn, I hate this sun. It's so bright and hot.
"I can sense her," Jae sniffed the air. "She's not too far from where we are. She's somewhere near the Seokchon Lake."
"Seokchon Lake? Isn't that where Lotte World is?" Taehyung asked, looking at Jae as he nodded. "Why the hell is she there? If she goes on any ride then it'll only worsen her heart."
"We don't know if they're really at Lotte World though. They could have gone for a nice walk-"
"Knowing Soojung, she's not going to go for a walk when there's an amusement park nearby," Taehyung said, worried. "She did say she wanted to go to an amusement park."
Taehyung and Jae hovered above the outdoor amusement park, searching at the tiny people below them for Soojung. Taehyung narrowed his eyes at every single little girl to get a clearer view of their faces, but none of them were her.
"Why don't we just walk instead?" Jae asked as Taehyung agreed and slowly headed down to the ground. Their feet lightly stepped onto the cement ground and they started wondering around the crowded park.
"Can you sense her?" Taehyung asked. Jae perked his ears up, turning them in different directions to get try and catch a bit of her voice, but it was useless in the sea of noises surrounding him.
"I can't hear her nor sense her," Jae said, looking up at him. "What if she really is walking around the Seokchon lake?"
"No, she's here," Taehyung said, furrowing his eyebrows with a head shake. "I can somewhat feel her presence getting closer. Almost as if she's standing right on front of me."
He kept walking forward, walking through anything that was in his way, including humans.
"What was that?" a man asked as Taehyung had just walked through him in the indoor par.
"What?" his spouse asked.
"I don't know. I felt something go through me and a cold breeze," the man shivered in horror. "It was weird."
"It's probably this wind," his spouse smiled and continued to walk while Taehyung had ignored them and continued to walk forward when he saw a girl skipping around in a yellow dress. Just at that time, Jae's collar bell rung and he knew that girl had to be her. It wasn't the bell that Taehyung knew, just the back of her body was enough to know it was Soojung.
Taehyung followed her with a faster pace as she ran towards a kiddie ride. He stopped, keeping his distance, and watched Soojung wait in line with her father.
"If she gets on that ride, it'll weaken her heart because of the excitement," Jae said, looking up at Taehyung with concern.
"What can I do?" Taehyung sighed, sticking his hands in his pants pockets. "Let her do what she wants."
"But-"
"Jae," he firmly said with a warning to not speak any further. Jae hung his head low and glanced at Soojung. He couldn't just stand there and watch, so he trotted towards her as the line got closer to the entrance.
"Soojung!" Jae called out her name as she had gotten to the entrance. "Soojung!"
She turned around to see who was calling her as she's never heard the voice before.
"Soojung-ah, it's our turn to ride," her father smiled and led her onto the ride; it was the kiddie pirate ship. Jae looked at Soojung in concern as Taehyung stood next to him also finding himself worried for once in his life. The ride slowly started as they watched.
"It doesn't look that bad," Taehyung said with a shrug. But it swung higher and higher as he heard Soojung's laughter.
There was something about her laughter that made his heart beat at an unusual pace. It was the first time he's felt like that about a human laughter, especially a child's. He couldn't help, but faintly smile at her laughter. I never thought a child's laughter could sound so...so beautiful in a my ears. Almost like a sweet melody.
Taehyung watched the pirate ship slow down to a stop and came out an ecstatic Soojung. She jumped around as she laughed with her father when she met eyes with Taehyung. Her smiled had grown bigger and ran towards Taehyung without hesitation when she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Taehyung widened his eyes and ran towards her as so did her father.
"Soojung!" her parents shouted along with Taehyung. Her father grabbed her shoulders, facing her.
"Soojung-ah, are you okay?" he asked with worried eyes. She clenched her fist against her chest and slightly nodded.
"Idiot! You're not okay!" Taehyung shouted. "You have to go back to the hospital!"
"I. Want. To. Play. More," she heavily breathed from the chest pain.
"You can't," her mother said. "I knew it was a bad idea to take you here."
"Go back to the hospital now!" Taehyung shouted, but she shook her head. "Soojung! Listen to me!"
"Ahjussi, if I go back...I won't be able to do this ever again," she softly said, looking up at him. He swallowed hard and shook his head.
"Because of your heart rapidly beating at the excitement of the ride, you became like this," Taehyung stated. "If you continue on riding, you'll die! Your heart will overwork itself to a stop!"
Soojung stared up at him and slowly hung her head not wanting to leave.
"Soojung, we're going back to the hospital and to check up on your health," her father said, picking her up and without struggling to stay, Soojung obeyed and headed back to the hospital.
Taehyung arrived at the hospital earlier than her and waited in her room. A nurse brought her in and tucked her in the bed with a mask over the lower part of her face, then left without a word.
"You shouldn't have left," Taehyung said as he sat on the ledge of the window with his arms crossed. Soojung weakly looked at him and apologized with her eyes. "You worried your parents again."
"Sorry," she softly breathed. After a few minutes of talking to the doctor, her parents walked in and felt their tears fight to come out.
"We're sorry for being such careless parents," her father spoke. "We just wanted you to be happy and to have fun, but we had caused you so much trouble, Soojung-ah. We're sorry."
"It's okay," she smiled.
"Umma and appa will be careful from now on. We're sorry to say this, but we can't do exciting things anymore, okay?" her mother asked as Soojung nodded. "We're really sorry."
"I'm the one who's sorry," Soojung softly whispered. "I made you worried."
Her parents faintly smiled and hugged her without saying a word. Taehyung sighed pushed himself off the ledge, walking out of the room to give them some privacy.
Night had fallen and Soojung's parents fell fast asleep in the room while she was still awake, staring out the window from her bed. She looked at the starless sky when she heard footsteps entering the room.
"Soojung," she heard Taehyung's voice. She turned to face him as he slowly exhaled and reached his hand out. "Let's go."
"Go where?" she whispered to not wake her parents up.
"Lotte World," he answered as she smiled. She stretched her arm out to grab his hand and held it. Taehyung looked at the little hand in his and felt warmth for the first time. "Let's go."
Fully dressed and energy restored, the two walked around the indoor amusement park of Lotte World while Jae stayed behind to keep an eye on her parents.
"Ahjussi, will we be riding any rides today?" Soojung asked, skipping around while holding onto Taehyung's hand.
"Yep, but only one," he said.
"Eh? But my heart started hurting when I rode the ride," she said with fear. "Will I have that pain again?"
"You'll be fine, trust me," he faintly smiled and led her out of the indoor park to the outdoor park. Because she was still a child, he had revealed himself to the world and pretended to be her guardian for the night, so he led her to the Ferris wheel and stood in line with others. Soojung looked up at the Ferris wheel and smiled.
"Uwah~ it's so high up," she said, amazed. "Is that what we're riding?"
"Yep," he simply answered. The line got shorter and shorter as they moved forward.
"Ahjussi, I'm a bit scared," Soojung said, tightening her grip on his hand as they were about to enter. He looked down at her and ruffled her hair.
"It's not scary at all," he said, now fully smiling at her. "Because you'll be with ahjussi."
She looked at his smiling face and nodded. They both entered a cab and slowly it moved upwards until the Ferris wheel was full. Soojung sat next to Taehyung and continued to hold his hand tightly while looking down at the amusement park. She felt her heart beat faster than usual and was afraid of another heart pain. Taehyung had felt it too and gently pushed her head to face him.
"Don't be afraid, I'm right here," he assured her. She nodded and scooted closer to him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The ride officially started and they both looked out at the scenery passing by.
"Ahjussi," she spoke while pressing her palms against the window. "When I go up to Heaven, will I be able to see a view like this too?"
"I've never been to Heaven," he honestly answered. "So I wouldn't know, but I can guarantee you that what you'll see in Heaven will be a lot more beautiful."
"I hope so," she smiled. "But I don't want beauty...I want umma, appa and ahjussi."
He furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at her as she continued to look out at the scenery.
"But ahjussi is a God of Death and ahjussi told me before that God of Deaths don't go to Heaven nor can they enter Heaven," she sighed. "So it's fine if ahjussi doesn't come."
Taehyung swallowed and deeply exhaled, looking down at his wrist at the dandelion that had half its seedlings left when one suddenly fell and vanished. He felt his body grow heavy seeing the one-less dandelion on his wrist. I'm suddenly wondering why I'm carrying such a burden on my wrist. Will I be able to get the job done in time?
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