[1/2] DOUBLE UPDATE! Please start here~ :)

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4 A.M.

Outside the window, the garden that was once green and colourful was now covered beneath a thick layer of soft white snow. It seemed like a blizzard had hit the city overnight and it was still going strong when a pair of big, round eyes were locked onto the windows. Woken up by the fierce winds, the little boy watched the snow falling heavily, chanting in his head that he wasn’t scared, that he was a brave boy. Suddenly, he saw a silhouette flashing by his broad windows. Millions of thoughts of monsters and aliens sprinted through his mind as he held his breath.

*Don’t be scared. Don’t be scared. Mom and Dad said there are no mon–*

Yet another shadow appeared, followed by another, and another, and another. This time, the boy immediately jumped out of his bed, dashing towards the doors. Nervously, he peeked into the massive hallway. The darkness scared him, but he refused to stay in his big bedroom by himself any longer. Glancing left and right, he took a deep breath and made his way down the hallway. Using his memory, he tried to navigate in the dark through his majestic mansion. Luckily, his journey was safe and sound and the master bedroom was in sight at last. His eyes lit up as he dashed toward the door.

He yearned for his parents – his mother’s soothing voice, his father’s warm embrace. He had expected to be scolded by his father for waking them up. He had expected his mother to defend him and hold him close. He had expected his father to get jealous and try to separate him from his mother. He had expected everything to be as usual.

But it wasn’t.

Gunshots could be heard as soon as he opened the heavy doors. Not once, not twice. The bullets flew back and forth in front of his eyes as if they would never stop. However, the boy wasn’t scared. After all, he didn’t understand what was going on nor its danger.

However, his attention soon diverted from the fight when he noticed his mother on the floor, laying in the middle of a pool of blood. A cold chill ran through his spine as hot tears started swelling up his big eyes. He instinctively called out to his mother as he ran toward her.

“MOM!!”

The boy couldn’t remember anything the next morning but his mother’s cold dead face. The images were so vivid that he had confused reality with his memories at times. Her eyes were opened wide as blood dripped from the corner of her lips, and his father… His father looking at him ruthlessly, his blood-stained gun pointing at the boy.

He was only six years old.

↭↭↭↭↭↭↭↭

Slap!

“Damn it, old man!” The teenage boy cursed, glaring at his father.

“Shut your damn mouth!” The middle-aged man retorted, his eyes cold as if he was looking at an enemy not his own son. “How dare you tell me that you didn’t do it? What are these then?”

The man slapped the documents at the boy’s face, his voice raging. “Why are they in your room?”

Pieces of papers fell onto the ground as his words pierced the boy’s heart. He stared at the fallen documents, chuckling bitterly.

“Heh.” Scoffing, the boy looked at his indifferent father in the eyes, “I don’t know what is going on nor what these papers are about, but father, you would rather believe your secretary, an outsider, rather than me?” He knew it was wrong to accuse his father's loyal secretary but it still hurt him that his father would choose to believe another person's words over his. Glancing at the secretary, only then did he noticed that behind the secretary was another boy, smirking victoriously. He was stunned for a moment but everything became clear right at that moment. Whatever it was, he had been framed.

“Or is it your prideful adopted son that you have chosen to believe in rather than me, your own blood?” The boy asked bitterly, knowing the deadly answer in his heart. It was never him. His father would never choose him. He never did since that time.

“Young master…” The secretary called out to him nervously, her eyes full of worries.

She had never meant to blow things up this way. When the second son came to her saying that he suspected that the missing confidential documents, which could potentially lead to the corporation bankruptcy, might be hidden in the eldest son’s room. She immediately rushed to the house and broke into the room forcefully, disregarding the young master’s questioning, only to find the said documents hidden deep inside his drawers. However, she noticed that the young master had absolutely no clue what the documents were or why they were there in the first place, but the master walked into their conversation and misunderstood everything.

“I didn’t do it!” The boy screamed at the top of his lung. “Why won’t you believe me?! I didn’t do it! Not this nor the previous incidents. I’m telling you, it’s Hyun—”

Slap!

“Shut it!” The father shouted, his face red with anger. “Hyunwoo did this! Hyunwoo did that. Don’t blame everything on your brother just because you feel inferior. The evidence is right here!” The man kicked the papers on the floor angrily.

Unable to contend his wrath, he looked at the teenage boy and said in a malicious tone. “Even if you jump out the windows or drown yourself in the ocean, I won't believe you!”

The boy's eyes widened in shock at the father’s words as he tasted blood in his mouth. His mind was empty and his heart cold. His eyes wandered towards the opened windows on his side. The sky was blue and clear with soft breezes blowing. The sound of birds chirping echoed throughout the garden. Everything seemed so peaceful outside those frames, while he was left with nothing but chaos in here. What was he feeling? Was it sadness? Was it betrayal? He wasn’t sure. But one thing for sure was that, if he could never earn his father’s love again, then at the very least, he wanted to prove his innocence.

Slowly but surely, he dragged himself across the room, leaning against the window frames casually. Wiping the blood off his lips harshly, he took a deep breath and took a moment to look at the faces in his room. He saw concerns on the secretary’s face, triumph on his brother’s and… fury on his father’s. With a sorrowful smile, he asked once more with all his heart.

“Father,” the boy called out to his father for the first time in ages. “Will my death satisfy you?” Looking at his father’s cold eyes, a teardrop rolled down his cheek.

“Just why won’t you believe me? WHY?!” His voice cracked as he let go of his emotions. Screaming, everything he had been holding back up till now began to overflow through his luscious lips.

“I NEVER DID ANYTHING! NOT A SINGLE THING! IT WAS NEVER ME!” His voice was full of sincerity and despair.

“LOOK AT ME IN THE EYES! WHY CAN’T YOU SEE IT?”

He was secretly praying with all he had that maybe, just maybe, this time his father would stand by him. That his father would take his side despite all the odds against him. That even if he had no concrete evidence to back him up, his beloved father would be able to see honesty in his eyes. Yet in response to his desperate attempt was a stoic face. His father was a loving family man – the young man recalled – but everything went wrong the moment his mother died.

“Father…” his voice trailed off, as he looked into his father’s eyes once more. He noticed the wrinkles around them. He noticed the hair that used to be a beautiful black was now salt-and-pepper, perhaps from stress. He saw his father whom he loved so dearly, but at this very moment, it was also his beloved father that was pushing him onto the edge. It was at this moment that he decided to do what he originally planned.

“I’m off to see mother.” With a smile, the young man leaned dangerously far back, until all he could see was the clear blue sky.

“Young master!!”

“You fool!”

People shouted in shock, but the young man heard nothing. Feeling the winds, he pictured the happy family he used to have before his mother died.

He was 17 years old then.

Suddenly, just moments before his head landed on the ground, just moments before everything turned black, a face of a man he had never seen before, calling for him in a familiar sweet voice.

“Woo…”

Woohyun’s eyes shot opened. Staring at the ceiling, he could feel his entire body drenched in sweats. His heart was beating out of his chest as the scenes from the dream replayed in his head.

*Again.* Woohyun thought calmly as he sat up, wiping away the sweats on his forehead. It wasn’t the first time he dreamt about his past after all.

“Woohyun oppa— Oh my goodness! What happened to you?!” Mijoo gasped as she saw Woohyun looking completely beat up.

“I’m alright,” Woohyun said as he pulled back his hair, motioning her not to come too close.

“Did you dream about your past again?” Mijoo asked carefully. The Goddess of Water had been together with him since their early days as God and Goddess. While Woohyun never once told her what he dreamt about each time, she knew that none of them were ever a good dream, considering that the man always woke up in a bad state.

Woohyun nodded quietly. He had gotten used to the horrid dreams. However, something was off about this specific dream. It wasn't something new. He had seen these scenes before, multiple times to be specific. This wasn’t even the worse of them all, yet for some reasons, it lingered in his mind. It was as if there was something important that he had forgotten. He remembered seeing another face just moments before he woke up. That person seemed to be calling for him, yet no matter how much he tried, he couldn't recall what that person look like.

Suddenly, Woohyun felt a sharp pain in his head, like it was being electrocuted. His vision turned white when a familiar voice echoed in his head.

“Woo…”

Who?

“Woo…”

Who are you?

Woohyun tried to see the source of the voice as he fought back the headache. Looking up, all he could see was a dark silhouette among the white light. Judging from the figure, it seemed like a young teenage boy. Before he could see the face of the boy, another sharp pain came causing him to groan in pain.

“Argh!” His vision darkened as he toppled over on the bed, holding onto his raging head.

“Woohyun oppa!” Mijoo shouted as she immediately casted a healing spell over him. This was the first time she had to interfere and heal Woohyun, the master of healing in Paradise. As a healer, Woohyun had an incredible healing speed with a great pain tolerance. He insisted on healing himself whenever he was in trouble and refused Mijoo’s help every time. It was to increase his pain tolerance he said. Ever since then, Mijoo had developed a habit of standing aside and wait for the God of Light to heal himself. However, this time she could no longer stand asides – not when Woohyun was hurting enough to groan out loud. He had never ever muttered one single sound before!

After a while, the pain finally subsided. Woohyun breathed heavily as he slowly sat back up with Mijoo fidgeting around, not knowing what to do. Without a word, she looked at him with concern.

Chuckling, Woohyun reassured her. “Don’t worry. I’m not in pain anymore.”

“Does this always happen whenever you had a nightmare?” Mijoo asked. Her heart saddened at the thought that Woohyun was in so much pain all this time and she was oblivious to it.

“Hmm… no, not exactly. It isn’t always this bad.” Woohyun thought about it for a moment as he casted a spell to clean up his messy appearance.

*Rather, why does this resemble the moment when I first met Darky?* Woohyun thought, recalling the raging headache that he had when he first met the God of Darkness at the Inheritance Party.

*Could it be…? It can’t be… right?* His suspicion arose as he thought about all the flashbacks that he would randomly have whenever he was with Sunggyu.

*No, there is no way that’s possible.* Woohyun shook his head vigorously, denying all the possibilities he came up in his mind.

*First of all, those flashbacks were very hazy. I can’t remember much except the voices, the background, and the blurred faces. Strangely enough, I can’t exactly make out the conversations and the setting is different every time! They are not related in any way. So this means none of the flashbacks is related to my past.* Woohyun concluded.

*Then… what are those ambiguous flashbacks all about?!* Despite his effort, the more Woohyun tried to analyse the situation, the more confusing it got.

“Argh! Whatever! I don’t know!” Frustrated, Woohyun scuffled his hair messily while Mijoo eyed him warily. As much as she loved him as a friend, she didn’t want to associate with a mad god.

“Have you finally gone–”

“Insane? Yeah, I think I'm about to.” Woohyun answered. Knowing Mijoo well, he knew she was about to throw out some sarcastic remark, but he didn’t expect it to end there so easily. When he expected another sarcasm coming his way, he was greeted with an awkward silence instead.

“What’s wrong?” Woohyun asked, breaking the tense air.

“Just… you know… a-are you really alright?” Mijoo couldn’t bring herself to ask what she wanted to. She already knew that she would be rejected anyways.

Woohyun stared at her for a while, before diverting his eyes away with a sigh. Of course, he knew what she wanted to ask, his dreams – or rather – his nightmares. Being the only god in the history who had memories of his previous life, he triggered many people’s curiosity. Regardless, Woohyun had never talked about his past to anyone before. He was not comfortable enough to do so, not even after Darky had told him about his grieving past.

[FLASHBACK]

“That was the first and the last time I remember crying.” The God of Darkness concluded his story.

“I didn’t recover right away, of course,” he chuckled as he remembered how pathetic he used to be. “It took a very long time and Jieun played a big part in it, even though she was hurting herself. Surely, she must have had it much worse than I did. Jiyeon was her beloved sister after all. Even so, she was looking out for me the entire time.” Sunggyu smiled as he recalled the memories.

“That is why I am forever in debt to her. I want her to be happy and I will do whatever it takes to help her achieve that.”

Sunggyu then turned to look at Woohyun, who unexpectedly did not look at him with pity as he expected. Instead, there was no emotion on his face as he stared into the air.

“What’s wrong?” Sunggyu asked.

“Hmm? Nothing!” Woohyun replied. Life had finally returned in his eyes.

“It can’t be… Were you not listening?!” Sunggyu raised his eyebrow, half in shock that the first person he confided with was actually not paying attention.

“H-Huh?” Woohyun stuttered, “No way! I was. I was! You said that was the first and the last time you ever cry.”

Sunggyu nodded in approval. “Then what’s with this reaction? I had expected you to be more…”

“More what?” Woohyun broke into a teasing smile. “Oh Darky, were you expecting me to be all emotional and cry my heart out because you cried once?”

“W-Well… Not exactly…” Sunggyu diverted his eyes away.

Woohyun laughed at the sight of the shy Sunggyu. His laughter completely diluted the heavy atmosphere.

*Does this guy even realize that he was the first to learn about my past? It was supposed to be a tragic story and look at him laughing…* Sunggyu was amused at the sight of Woohyun beaming. While he did not expect Woohyun to break into tears, he had expected him to at least look worried or showed some signs of sympathy. This was the main reason why he didn’t like to talk about his past. He didn’t want people to pity him. Maybe he was thinking too much.

“Well then, I told you my story. Shall we hear yours?” Sunggyu asked.

“W-What?” Woohyun stuttered once again. His smile instantly faded. “What do y-you mean–?”

“Well, you’ve got no interesting story?” Sunggyu questioned, “It’s only fair that you tell me yours after I told you mine, right?”

Woohyun’s expression immediately darkened. “No, I don’t have any.”

“…Alright then,” Sunggyu responded nonchalantly, completely oblivious to the sudden change in the other. Getting ready to leave, he stood up and patted the dust off his clothes.

“I think it is time for me to leave now. I have work to attend to. You?”

“I think I’ll stay here a little longer. You can go first. I’ll find you another day,” Woohyun replied, with his back to Sunggyu and his eyes locked onto the lake.

Sunggyu looked at Woohyun for a while before turning around and teleported in silence.

When Woohyun noticed a faint sight of purple smoke, he chuckled. “He didn’t even bother to say goodbye.”

When his weak laughter faded, Woohyun dropped back down on the grass and stared at the starry night sky.

“Sorry Darky but… I don’t think I’m ready to tell you about my past yet.”

What could he possibly say? His story was far worse, vicious and brutal. Both Mijoo and Sunggyu were better off not knowing his story.

“Mijoo-ah.”

“Y-Yeah?” Mijoo answered nervously.

“Have you ever been in a situation where someone close to you tells you about their sad past?” Woohyun asked.

“Huh? No, not really,” Mijo answered, half disappointed that Woohyun had avoided the topic once again. “I mean life as Gods and Goddesses, while there might be conflict, it usually is not much of a big deal.”

“Right?” Woohyun chuckled, “Yet there is a god who had such a tragic past, and another with a twisted one.”

Woohyun then looked at Mijoo, his eyes full of sorrow. “Say, when a god told another about his sad past, how could the latter possibly follow up with his story when it is a bloodthirsty tale? The other would be terrified, don’t you think?”

“Oppa…” Mijoo called out sadly. She wasn’t sure what exactly Woohyun dreamt about but she knew it was the memories of his previous life and judging his reactions, surely they weren’t that pleasant. Even so, she wished he had shared his story with someone to lessen the burden in his heart. Yet hundred years past and her beloved oppa was still struggling with his nightmares by himself.

“Enough about that,” Woohyun cut her off, “right now I think my feelings are pretty much hopeless. I don’t think I can ever get in between Sunggyu and Jieun. Those two go a really long way back.”

“Sunggyu and Jieun… You don’t mean the God of Darkness and the Goddess of Death, do you?!” Mijoo gasped.

“What are you getting all surprised for?” Woohyun was taken aback by Mijoo’s exaggerated reaction.

“Oppa! You can never get in between them. Jieun-ssi is very pretty, I know, but her relationship with the God of Darkness is tightly knitted!”

*The one I like is Sunggyu, which makes the whole situation worse.* Woohyun thought as he nodded.

“Oppa, did you hear about that horrible incident? The one where a group of seven successors died under Jieun’s hand.”

“SEVEN?! HOLY SH–”

“One of them was her twin sister Jiyeon, the successor of Life. Together with Sunggyu, the trio was pretty famous back then, the twins of opposite elements and the beast. Rumour has it that Sunggyu was in love with the older sister Jiyeon. Wait… that doesn't make any sense. Seeing that he is now engaged to Jieun, maybe it was a mistake after all? Or maybe they got together afterward. Woah, that would really be something.”

“No, it was Jiyeon.” Woohyun corrected. His heart stinging at the realization of truth.

“Oh my, really?! Then how did Sunggyu and Jieun ended up together?” Mijoo questioned.

“I don’t know…”

“Well, considering that it has been a few hundred years–” Mijoo’s voice faded into the background as Woohyun’s mind began to drift away once more.

*How Jieun and Sunggyu got together doesn’t matter now. Since that very moment, Jiyeon had already taken his heart with her forever.* Woohyun could tell that much just from hearing how Sunggyu described Jiyeon so dearly. It was then that he realized his love may never be returned.

↭↭↭↭↭↭↭↭

[The Goddess of Fate’s castle]

“That day was the first day ever since I became the Goddess of Fate that I lost control of my emotion. What the young Woohyun saw when he entered my castle was terrific, but that was barely anything compared to his long history with Sunggyu.” The Goddess of Fate’s voice was noticeably shaking as she recalled the memory that seemed almost traumatizing.

“All the sorrow and despair from those memories were just… so overwhelming,” Eunji sighed heavily.

Speechless, both Nyx and Aether stared at the Goddess of Fate bewildered. Who would have known that those two had such a tragic history? When Jongwan and Kibum had asked the two to watch over their successors, they already had a hunch that things weren’t looking so good. But never did they, not even once, imagine that The Great would come into the play. They came here hoping for a solution, yet what awaited them was an insolvable problem.

Only soft breathing could be heard as the silence took over the white hall.

“So what happened next?” Aether was the first to speak up.

Eunji hesitated for a while before replying. “Once I, no, all of us, had regained our composure, Kibum and Jongwan had asked me for help.”

Nyx frowned; her hands tensed around the armrest.

*No way…* She thought as her heart sunk.

Eunji continued, her voice despondent. “There was no way I could lift The Great’s curse. The best I could do was to put a seal on the children, another curse to be exact, to delay the progress of His curse.”

“…And the price?” Aether asked. His tone was much deeper than usual, as he thought of the worst possible scenarios.

“The price…” Eunji sighed, “the price they had to pay was that until the next time they became gods again, their lifespan as human beings would never exceed 20.”

Nyx closed her eyes tight, while Aether’s fist tightened in anger.

“20 years…” Nyx murmured. “I hope they lived it to the fullest.”

“I very much hope so as well,” Eunji nodded.

“Tell us,” Aether demanded, his voice heavy with grief. The usual, happy-going Aether was long gone and in place was one that looked like a soldier on the front line.

“Tell us about the curse you put on them.”

“As I said, the only thing I could do was to delay The Great’s curse. And in order to do that, I put another curse on them. First, I wiped off their memories of one another. Although they only had a few encounters during their training days, but even another second together is deadly for the boys. The longer they are separated, the longer it will take for The Great’s curse to be activated.” Eunji explained, “Then together with Jongwan’s and Kibum’s power, the curse was one such that should they ever come into physical contact, it will generate a force strong enough to repel the two apart.”

“And since it is common sense to stay away from your opposition once you became God, there would be even fewer chances of them meeting one another.” Nyx added, “Not a bad plan.”

“I see. Now I understand why Kibum made Woohyun stayed on Earth until the Coronation Day,” Aether said, recalling the last few decades when Kibum suddenly decided to move all the training to Earth. He had always questioned the man but as grumpy as he was, he didn’t say a word.

“However, this curse weakened every time they come into contact.” Eunji continued, “What was originally a shocking impact, enough to push the two gods meters apart, might reduce to a mere light spark over time. It’s been more than 300 years since then, I don’t know how many times they have met.”

*Even if they never met… even so… I doubt the curse can be stopped.* Eunji closed her eyes as she thought about Sunggyu’s and Woohyun’s heart-breaking situation.

Suddenly, Jongwan’s and Kibum’s words appeared in her head. It was when they had successfully with difficulty placed the second curse on the unconscious boys.

[FLASHBACK]

“I apologised,” Eunji said dejectedly the moment she finished casting the curse. “I can only do this much for them.”

The Goddess of Fate then stumbled over her throne, looking clearly tired. While Jongwan and Kibum had aided her with their power, it was still mostly her that did the hectic job. To suddenly use a big junk of her power had finally taken its toll on her body.

“I don’t know how long this curse will last,” Eunji casted her eyes down sadly. “It could be years, months or even just a mere day.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over this.” Kibum gasped for breath as he laid flat on the floor, forgoing his image completely. Although they had contributed only a little into the curse, it was beyond exhaustion for the two gods. This showed just how hard it was for Eunji alone.

“We have done our best,” Kibum said.

Jongwan patted her in the back, mustering all the energy he had left to do so. With a beaming grin, he said. “Even if it is just one more day, even so, I would like them to live.”

“Maybe 300 years are more than enough. Have I done well?” Eunji muttered to herself; a soft smile ever so slowly emerged on her beautiful face. Her heart felt warm as if her dear friends were still by her side, encouraging her little by little when she lost her confidence just like their successor days.

Her little happiness was short-lived, however, as Nyx raised a taboo question – a question to which not even the Goddess of Fate had an absolute answer.

“Say, don’t you suppose this curse… might have changed their actual fate?” Nyx said as Aether looked at her confused.

“The Great cursed them to love one another but can never attain happiness in the end, right?” Nyx continued, “What if they weren’t originally meant for one another? What if Sunggyu’s soulmate was someone else and not Woohyun, but because of this curse, their fate became entangled and forced to become lovers?”

Aether frowned. “But no one can mess with fate, not even The Great. Once it is altered, there will be destructive consequences. Such as–”

↭↭↭↭↭↭↭↭

It was a bright morning with birds chirping happily in the background – a usual sight on this peaceful Paradise. Mijoo, the Goddess of Water, was seen sipping her favourite morning tea in her small garden laid deep inside her palace. The garden was not as impressive or marvelous as the Holy Garden, nor did it have an extraordinary, distinctive atmosphere like the gloomy Thana Garden. It was tranquil and relaxing. On one corner you can see a small lake full of small yet breath-taking colorful aquatic animals swimming about. Surrounding the lake were small bushes of different kind of flowers. They weren’t strongly passionate like the roses nor were they radiating with elegance like the lilies. Instead, they were small and delightful like the hydrangeas. For the final touch, soft chirpings could be heard harmonizing through the garden.

Mijoo liked to have her own escape space engulf in a beauty of simplicity. Her beloved garden was a place where she could indulge herself in peace, but at the very moment, her peace was being disrupted by the presence of a depressed God of Light.

“Just until when are you planning to mop around with that dumb face?” Putting down her cup of tea with a loud clink, Mijoo glowered at Woohyun irritably.

She was one of the rare goddesses that did not see Woohyun as a love interest. She couldn’t understand why other goddesses would die left and right for this dummy of a god. Mijoo was normally very well tempered with a great deal of patience. However, even the ever-so-gentle Goddess of Water had reached her limit when Woohyun kept hovering all over her palace with a miserable expression. One day, he came crashing at her place only to wake up in a terrible nightmare the next morning, scaring her poor heart. The last conversation they had ended with him blabbing on about the past and what not. It had been a week ever since then. She tried everything to cheer him up to no avail. Ultimately, patience had turned into anger, as Mijoo was now ranting nonstop at the God of Light.

Unfortunately, her complaints fell on deaf ears as Woohyun was lost in deep thought. Hearing Sunggyu’s past had answered a lot of questions, for example, his attachment to the Thana Garden and the Bayan Tree, the look in his eyes when he stared into the distance, the sad smile he put on when he saw fireflies at the lake that night. Everything became clear but at the same time, another riddle was revealed. If he knew that this would happen, maybe it would have been better not to know his story at all.

He thought Jieun would be his biggest obstacle, but no, it was not her. Jieun and him, the two of them were actually in the same position. In this game of love, both of them already lost.

Chuckling bitterly, Woohyun muttered. “Jiyeon… even in death you still…”

His voice trailed off as he thought of a girl he couldn’t recall. Her death was unfortunate. No, the whole story itself was tragic. So devastating that he couldn’t bring himself to be happy about having one less rival. In fact, he might have had a better chance if she were still alive. But now that she was dead, along with her came Sunggyu’s heart.

Suddenly, Woohyun spoke up. “Hey, Mijoo.”

“What?” The goddess answered, gritting her teeth knowing that the other man had not been listening to a single word she said.

“What if… I’m just saying what if… someone you really, really, reeaaaally love die in front of you. What would you do?” Woohyun asked.

“Huh? Did someone die?” Mijoo asked in surprise.

“No, no, no. I’m saying ‘what if’!” Woohyun emphasised once more.

“Hmm…” Mijoo thought hard for a while. “I guess I would probably avenge that person’s death.”

Woohyun continued, scooting closer to Mijoo with a serious face. “What if you can’t kill that person? What if the culprit is also someone very close to you?”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Mijoo exclaimed. “How can the murder of your loved one be close to you?!”

Woohyun smiled sadly. “Right? How can it be?”

*I can’t even begin to fathom what Sunggyu had been dealing with all these years.*

Woohyun remembered how miserable and twisted Sunggyu’s face was as he dwelled on the past. Woohyun didn’t hear anything about the famous twins for he spent most of his time training down in Earth as a successor. He didn’t even know about Jieun’s power. Even though everyone knew, no one talked about it since it was a taboo topic. It was then that he looked back on the first time he met Jieun.

[FLASHBACK]

“I don’t care who you are or what you like. Just know this. I hate flirty, skirt chasing guys like you. As long as the target is somewhat attractive, you will dive in for her, and then immediately get bored once you obtain her. I won’t be one of them. You don’t know me.” Jieun said in a very serious tone, "One more word from you and you shall die."

“Hah. I dare you. Did I not say it before? I am God of Light. Light, not Life. You, Jieun, are Goddess of Death. You can’t kill me who is Light.” Woohyun challenged her.

Upon hearing his words, Jieun smirked and pulled her hands away from his throat, “You’ve got guts boy.”

Gasping for air that was finally flowing into his lungs, Woohyun replied while soothing his throat that was throbbing in pain, “I’m just stating common sense. I don’t understand why people are so scared of you just because you’re Death. As long as they are not Life, they will be fine, won’t they?”

“And that’s where you’re wrong. Like I said, you don’t know me. If you do, you would have known what I am capable of.”

*So that’s what she meant. She really could have killed me on spot.* Woohyun sniggered at his own foolishness back then.

He could still remember the eyes Sunggyu had when talking about Jiyeon. They were warm and full of love yet at the same time so distant. If that was all it took for Woohyun to see his love for this unknown successor he never seen or heard of before, imagined how Jieun felt being right by their side all these years. From Sunggyu’s story, he could guess just how much Jieun loved Sunggyu, though one-sidedly.

What about him?

What about his love for Sunggyu?

What about this God of Light’s love?

“Jiyeon… Even in death, you still have his love.” Woohyun laughed bitterly. “Oh Jieun, how pitiful we are.”

One killed his first love.

The other was his opposition.

Was it impossible after all?

“I guess it is…” Woohyun answered his own question.

“What the heck are you mumbling to yourself about?!” Mijoo slapped Woohyun so hard in the back of the head that he tumbled forward.

“Ouch!”

“Come on! Where is my cheerful, prideful as hell oppa?” Mijoo shouted, “Why have you been so depressed lately?! At this rate, your only charm will be lost and no one will like you anymore!”

When all else failed, Mijoo knew that this trick would always work to help Woohyun get back on his feet for he loved fame more than anything.

Unknowingly, the trick did work but for a very different reason.

“Sunggyu…” Woohyun whispered his name. As if a light bulb had just popped up on top of his head, Woohyun jumped and gave himself a few slap on the cheeks.

“No, no, no. I can’t be like this. Gotta pull myself together!” Woohyun cheered.

“Who am I?! I AM WOOHYUN!! THE ALMIGHTY GOD OF LIGHT NEVER GIVE UP— Ouch!”

“Shush! You’re too loud!!” Mijoo hissed.

Only then did Woohyun realize he was shouting like a madman in the middle of Mijoo’s private Garden. He knew how much she valued this place and her ridiculous rules about being quiet and graceful in the garden. Sometimes, he would sneak in and screamed at the top of his lung on purpose to anger Mijoo out of boredom.

“Oppsie~” Woohyun scratched his head. “Sorry for being loud,” he then gave Mijoo a few pats on the back before flying off.

“Bye Mijoo. Thanks for today!” Woohyun shouted as he jumped over the teleportation hole.

“JUST TODAY?! YA! You’ve been freeloading for a week!!” Mijoo shouted until Woohyun disappeared.

Chuckling, Mijoo shook her head. “I gave up. The moment he’s back to his usual self, the first thing he does is running off to who knows where. Aigoo, why do I have such a big baby to take care of? Aigoo. Poor me. Poor me. When will you ever get a guy Mijoo-ah?”

“Ayyyyy-la-hee!” Woohyun chanted the moment he jumped off the teleportation hole. Standing above the Banyan tree, Woohyun was looking around for Sunggyu when a voice came out of nowhere, startling him.

“You really need to work on your manner when teleporting.”

“Oh my goodness! You scared me!” Woohyun shouted when he found Sunggyu lying right by his feet.

“Says the guy that almost stepped on my face,” Sunggyu teased.

Hearing his voice, seeing his face, everything that Woohyun had been agonizing over the week instant dissipated. He felt stupid for being so worried over nothing. So what if his feelings won’t be reciprocated. So what if Jieun was his fiancée. If he couldn’t have his heart nor his body, then at the very least, he could still stay by his side as a friend. Even if it meant locking away his feelings at the bottom of the ocean, so long as he could remain by his side just like this, then so be it.

*That’s right. That’s all I need. I won’t ask for more. So please… please just let me have at least this much.* Woohyun thought as his eyes became slightly teary, looking at Sunggyu’s face.

“So… are you going to move asides or not?”

“DARKY~ I MISS YOU!”

“Stay away before I hit you– Ya. Ya!”

⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰⊱⊰

I apologise for the SUPER late update. To my defense, I had two reasons.

#1 – I had been working on other chapters since I was more inspired by them. That said, I have decided to pick some readers for some exciting spoiler. Check the next chapter for more info. Hint: Woohyun bias would not want to miss this *wink wink* 

#2 – My beta didn't respond to me for 2 weeks and since she is an incredible beta, I wanted to wait for her. I finally got a hold of her today and unfortunately, she won't be available for a while. Her return is unconfirmed so please bear with my writing from here on since I  at checking my own (ty) grammars/spellings T^T I think I will need to find a new beta in the meantime. Any recommendation? 

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