7 – The Kiss

 

Seoul was drowning. Water had rose as high as one meter, putting down every activity in the city that morning. Yuri was

riding a police patrol car against the flood and they were circling around the city, looking for a drier road to take.

 

They reached the intersection to the shopping district but a police officer stopped them and told them to go around

because the road was covered with water.

 

“Where the hell should we go then?!” the driver shouted and he angrily spun the steering wheel into another direction.

 

There were four other cars behind Yuri and they were guarding her like she was a VIP to the country.

 

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

 

“We’re taking you to STV Station,” said the driver.

 

“The TV station? What’s in there?”

 

“We don’t know. Our orders are only to get you there as soon as possible,” said the driver again.

 

“What do you want with me?”

 

“We don’t know. Just sit back, Miss,” said the driver’s partner. His face was worried and sweating. Yuri could tell that the

man was not lying, he knew nothing of what was going on.

 

Yuri bit her lower lip. She was nervous, so nervous she felt like throwing up at any time. The world had just gotten so

weird for her. And as the car drove through the flood, she prayed that her choice of protecting Jessica from whatever was

happening was the right choice.

 

**

 

Hyoyeon burst into the door all soaked by the rain. She brushed her messy hair back and ran into the kitchen. Sunny and

Taeyeon were there, talking.

 

“Hyo?” asked Sunny. Her eyes were moist and she quickly wiped them with the back of her hand. “What’s going on?”

 

“The city’s drowning.”

 

“What?” Taeyeon gasped. “Is it her?”

 

“It’s her,” Byunghyun entered the kitchen. He was just as soaked as Hyoyeon. “We need to stop her.”

 

 Taeyeon turned to Sunny and then she walked to the living room. “Let’s go.”

 

“Wait!” Sunny stopped her. “You’re not going!”

 

“She’s going,” said Byunghyun. “We need her.”

 

“She can’t fight.”

 

Hyoyeon took Sunny’s hand. “She has too. I can’t fly in this storm.”

 

“Sunny, it’s fine,” said Taeyeon. “Let’s go, Oppa.”

 

“Taeyeon!” Sunny was about to run after Taeyeon but Hyoyeon pulled her back. “Hyo! She has no energy left!”

 

“Look,” said Hyoyeon. “We’re bringing Jessica to the scene.”

 

“Je-Jessica?”

 

“Yes. Taeyeon doesn’t know about this but we’re planning to force her to build a connection with Jessica.”

 

Sunny was too shocked to say anything.

 

“Let’s hope that this Jessica is the right one for her,” Hyoyeon walked to the door.

 

“No, wait. I’m coming too then!”

 

**

 

Jessica sat on the sofa alone while the bookstore became busier with people taking refuge from the storm. The owner of

the place was an old couple who kindheartedly tended to anyone coming to the store all soaked and traumatized. They

gave everyone blanket and when they ran out, they gave out thick jackets to wear. Besides the two elders, another

person was busy. It was Tiffany. The girl Jessica just met was like an angel. She assisted the owner of the book store in

helping everyone and she did it out of pure kindness.

 

Something was bothering Jessica, though, and it was how Tiffany giving off a sense of familiarity. It seemed like Jessica

had known the girl for a while even though she could swear that that day was the first time they see each other. The

crescent eye-smiles, the wavy black hair to the way she moved around, everything was so familiar to Jessica.

 

Thunder roared in the sky and it made Jessica jumped a little on the sofa. The storm was getting worse. It was only ten in

the morning yet the sky was so dark it felt like they were at the end of the day.

 

Yuri was out there, Jessica thought, posing herself as Jessica for some reason. Why did she do that? Jessica kept on

asking that question to herself. Why would she pretend to be her? And why did she lie about what happened yesterday?

Krystal had told Jessica everything and as absurd as it sounded, Jessica felt that all of those were true, she just couldn’t

remember it.

 

A lightning hit the water right in front of the store and sent a white bright light all over the place. Jessica closed her eyes

and in that instant darkness, she saw a face, Kim Taeyeon’s face.

 

“Gah,” she shook her head. “Taeyeon….”

 

Then the image flashed behind her eyes again. Something was happening to Taeyeon and it was not good. Jessica

shook her head harder, trying to rid of the images from her mind.

 

“Who are you? Why do I know you?” she whispered to herself, putting both hands on her head.

 

“Jessica?”

 

Jessica raised her face and found Tiffany was standing in front of her with a glass of water. “You okay?”

 

Jessica shook her head. “I don’t know.”

 

“You want some water?” Tiffany gently offered the water she was holding.

 

Jessica looked at the girl in confused. Her heart was pounding and her head was spinning out of control. She couldn’t tell

what made her like that but she was restless, worried for some reason. “I….”

 

“Is something wrong?” asked Tiffany.

 

Another imaged flashed in her mind and it was a lot more vivid than the rest before that. The pale face of Kim Taeyeon

and she was in agony.

 

Jessica jumped up the sofa and grunted. “Argh!”

 

“Jessica?” Tiffany took a step back.

 

“I have to go,” Jessica moved to the door.

 

“No, wait! It’s dangerous!”

 

Jessica knew Tiffany was calling her but her body moved on its own. She went out the door, into the storm and let her feet

led her somewhere she did not know where.

 

“Jessica!” Tiffany shouted for one last time but Jessica had run off so far her voice couldn’t reach her anymore.

 

**

 

”Kim Soohyun-ssi, do you take this woman, Park Shinhye, as your lawfully wedded wife?” asked the reverend with a

smile.

 

Soohyun nodded and with no doubt in his voice, he answered. “I do.”

 

“And you, Park Shinhye-ssi, do you take this man, Kim Soohyun, as your lawfully wedded husband?” the reverend to her

this time, still with a smile.

 

“I do,” she said as she turned to her soon-to-be-husband on the side. When their eyes met, they laughed and averted

their gazes away.

 

“No need to be shy,” said the reverend, catching the embarrassing scene in front of him. “After this you can look at each

other that way for the rest of your lives.”

 

The girl laughed bashfully. That moment, she was happy, the happiest being in the whole universe she dared to say, but

that moment didn’t last too long. Soon after the laughter and joy, the color of crimson enveloped the church. The next

thing she remembered was fire rising from the pillars so quickly and brought the roof down. On huge block of wood fell on

top the reverend, pinning him down to the floor.

 

She looked around, everyone in the church was running away so she turned to Soohyun. The man was helping the trapped reverend.

 

“Let’s go!” she said, begging Soohyun to leave the reverend.

 

“Help me!” Soohyun said.

 

Fire rose behind Soohyun. It was so huge it reached the high ceiling. And when the fire subsided, a woman was standing

in its place. Soohyun didn’t she her, he was too occupied on saving the reverend.

 

“No,” she said as she pulled her wedding dress up to her knees and ran towards the altar, running for her husband.

“Soohyun!” 

 

The girl saw her coming. Then without warning, the girl flicked her fingers and Soohyun’s body gone up in flame. He

screamed in pain as his flame engulfed body bent backward. Soohyun stumbled on the altar, roaring as his body was

engulfed in fire.

 

“No!” she tried to reach her husband but a pair of hands caught her and pulled her away. “Soohyun!”

 

She called out her husband’s name over and over again but nothing she could do. Fire had took Kim Soohyun’s body.

 

**

 

Park Shinhye opened her eyes and looked down to the drowning city. She was almost done, she thought to herself,

nothing left. She will reduce this city to nothingness and she could die in satisfaction.

 

Or will she?

 

Above Seoul’s roads she was hovering, controlling all the wind and all the rain so they will rage on the city; the city that

took her husband away.

 

“Hey!” she heard a voice. It came from the building to her left. Shinhye spun her body slowly and looked to that direction.

There were a few people on top of the building; three girls and a man. The girls she saw before and she remembered

them well, especially the petite one yelling at her. She was the one responsible for her broken arm.

 

“We’re not finished yet, you and me!”

 

**

 

Hyoyeon could barely keep her eyes open in the storm as she stood on top of the STV Station’s building, confronting a

flying girl in the wedding dress. Byunghyun was behind her, talking to his phone. Sunny was next to her, holding her hand

so tightly as she watched Taeyeon shouting at the flying girl.

 

“Where is she, Hyo?” Sunny asked. “You said Jessica would be here?”

 

“I don’t know,” Hyoyeon started to get worry.

 

“We might have to start without her and if we do… Taeyeon won’t survive,” said Sunny.

 

A few steps behind them, Byunghyun was shouting to his phone. “Get her here now!”

 

“Oppa?” asked Hyoyeon.

 

“They’re on their way, Hyo. Five minutes, they said,” Byunghyun said.

 

Hyoyeon saw Byunghyun was trying his best to bring Jessica over to the building but he couldn’t do much. “Fine,” she

said, “I’ll buy some time.”

 

“You what?”

 

Hyoyeon pushed Sunny back to the building, “Hide! Don’t get too close! Oppa!”

 

Byunghyun took Sunny and led her into the building.

 

“Be careful!” said Sunny.

 

“Taeyeon!” Hyoyeon ran to Taeyeon’s side. “I can’t fly with that girl messing up the flow of air, I can’t catch the wind. But I

can try to knock her down the sky if I can just level with her. Can you lift me up?”

 

“I can do more than that,” Taeyeon said.

 

“No. Just lift me up so I can throw some wind at her. Don’t waste your energy.”

 

Taeyeon gritted her jaw, wanting to protest, but she nodded anyway. “Fine.”

 

With her power, Taeyeon lifted Hyoyeon into the air and leveled her with the girl in the wedding dress. Hyoyeon

concentrated, trying to get a hold of the wind around her but she couldn’t control it. The girl she was looking at was too

powerful for her.

 

“Why are you doing this?” asked Hyoyeon.

 

The girl didn’t say anything, she simply looked at Hyoyeon in anger.

 

“I need to stop you.”

 

Suddenly the wind gotten stronger and Hyoyeon swayed in the air.

 

Hyoyeon gritted her jaw and clenched her fists. The wind was moving so wild it was hard for her to use her power. Then

the girl in the wedding dress coughed and swayed in the air. In that short amount of time, Hyoyeon could feel the wind

calmed a little and she used the chance to push a gust of wind to her. When the wind touched her body, it exploded, but

the girl was unaffected.

 

“What?”

 

The girl stretched out an arm and from the dark cloud, a lightning came down and hit Hyoyeon on the chest. Taeyeon

couldn’t maintain her telekinesis grip on the girl and she plummeted down the earth.

 

“Hyoyeon!” Taeyeon screamed.

 

 

In the building, Sunny felt an immense amount of pain on her chest. “Argh!” she screamed and fell on both knees.

 

“Sunny!” Byunghyun grabbed Sunny’s body.

 

Hyoyeon’s body fell 28 stories high into the flooded road. She managed to made wind to break fall before hitting the

flooded street. Her hands were on her chest where the lightning hit her. It left a severe burn mark but the wound faded

and disappear within seconds.

 

 

She touched her chest and looked up. “Sunny…,” she said.

 

Sunny was squirming in pain in Byunghyun’s arms, clawing on her own chest. “Hang on, Sunny. Hang on.”

 

“Taeyeon…,” Sunny stuttered.

 

“What?” Byunghyun leaned closer to Sunny’s lips.

 

“Taeyeon…,” Sunny said. “Don’t let her… fight….”

 

On the street, Hyoyeon tried to use her power to control the wind and lift her back up to the sky. But the wind was too

strong she got swayed away and fell back to the earth instead. “Damn it!”

 

Hitting the flood with her hand in frustration, she looked up to the sky. The flying girl was looking at the roof top and from

the building, Hyoyeon saw Taeyeon jumping off the ledge and rammed the girl.

 

“No! Taeyeon!”

 

**

 

Taeyeon jumped off the roof top and hit the girl. They flew across the sky into the window of the next building. They went

through the glass and rolled on the floor. Taeyeon stood up as fast as she could but then her body protested, she

coughed up blood and fell on one knee.

 

The girl in the wedding dress screamed in anger and floated in mid air. “You!” she roared and lightning came down the

sky, hitting the building.

 

Taeyeon stood up. It was a good decision crashing her into the building, that way she couldn’t hit her with the lightning

from the sky. But her body suddenly lost its strength, her visions blurred and spun out of control. The taste of blood

reached her tongue; forcing her into a fit of blood spewing cough.

 

“Oh, crap….”

 

**

 

On the street, Hyoyeon was fighting the storm to get to the building right across the STV Station. When she reached the

curb, five police cars breached through the flood. Hyoyeon saw the girl she had been waiting for stepped down one of

them.

 

“Jessica… Jessica!” she said.

 

The confused girl retreated back into the car but Hyoyeon grabbed her hand and led her into the building.

 

“Let me go!” she said.

 

“Listen, listen! I need your help!” Hyoyeon shouted.

 

“No! Why did you bring me here?!”

 

“No time to explain,” said Hyoyeon. “Just do as I say or the city will drown.”

 

**

 

Park Shinhye watched her opponent lied helplessly on the floor. After stopping the thunder storm on the building, she

brought herself forward to the girl.

 

“You’re like me…,” said Shinhye.

 

Taeyeon looked at her with a weak gaze. “Heh. Don’t put me in the same shoes. I’m not trying to drown this city and-.”

 

“You don’t know what I’ve been through!” the girl shouted. Then, her feet trembled and she swayed back, moving a few

steps away. It seemed that her body had reached its limit. “You don’t know anything.”

 

Taeyeon wiped the blood off her lips. “That’s right. I don’t know anything…. And I don’t want to know what’s inside a

murderer’s mind.”

 

The remark angered Shinhye. She floated in mid-air, flew across the room and grabbed Taeyeon’s on her neck. “Shut

up!”

 

She dragged Taeyeon to the broken window. “This world is unjust, rotten. It’s better to reset everything. Reduce it to

nothing!”

 

Taeyeon couldn’t move, she was too weak to even say anything. She didn’t want this to end like this, without giving a

proper fight to stop the girl from drowning Seoul but her body refused to act according to her will. Shinhye shoved

Taeyeon out of the building through the broken window, throwing her out. The petite girl was too weak to resist and all

she could was let the gravity pulled her body down.

 

Reality struck the back of her mind; convincing her that it was her time to die and when the thought came, Taeyeon bit her lower

lip. It was then that she realized that she was not ready to die, no matter how much she said she wanted to. Now that she

was looking straight at death’s eyes, she was scared. She didn’t want to die.

 

**

 

Yuri was scared, unsure, when Hyoyeon held her hand and begged her to come into the building. Was it really okay for

her to trust Hyoyeon? To trust a stranger with weird ability?

 

“I need you! We need you!” said Hyoyeon, “this city needs you, Jessica!”

 

“Whoa!” a police officer looked up and pointed to the sky.

 

Hyoyeon followed his line of sight to find a figure falling down from the building. It was Taeyeon.

 

“Taeyeon!” Hyoyeon ran a few meters ahead to the spot where Taeyeon would fall. She forced herself to catch some wind

and exploded it around her just in time when Taeyeon fell so she would bounce back up before finally hitting the water on

the flooded street.

 

Hyoyeon quickly grabbed Taeyeon. “Tae! Taeyeon!”

 

The girl was breathing but her eyes were closed and Hyoyeon had to shake her body so hard to keep her awake. “No!

No! Stay with me!” she said when Taeyeon coughed up blood.

 

“Jessica’s here! She wants to become your Host! Make a connection, Tae! Wake up!” Hyoyeon yelled.

 

Hearing that, Taeyeon slowly opened her eyes.

 

“Look,” Hyoyeon pointed her finger to the confused Yuri. “She’s here. Please, make her your Host, Taeyeon.”

 

Yuri was worried. This Taeyeon girl surely knew Jessica. She will blow everything and broke her lies.

 

“Je -,” Taeyeon stuttered, “Jessica….”

 

Yuri gasped. Did Taeyeon really think of her as Jessica?

 

“Taeyeon!” a voice called out and Yuri turned her head around.

 

In the raging storm, half drowned by the flood, stood a panting Jessica.

 

“No,” Yuri shook her head. “Don’t come here!”

 

Jessica made her way toward them, battling against the fierce wind and rain.

 

“Wha-,” Hyoyeon was confused. “Which one is – is she?”

 

Taeyeon gently pushed Hyoyeon away, letting herself fall into the water. With her last bit of strength, she pushed her

weak body up, walking toward the running girl.

 

“Go away, Sica!” Yuri started to move forward, reaching for Jessica.

 

Jessica kept on running. She didn’t know what had gotten into her, her body was moving against her will. There was a

force, a force she couldn’t fathom, that drove her to go to Taeyeon. Yuri took a hold of her, pushing her back, shouting

for her to go back. She pushed her best friend to the side and kept on moving. Taeyeon was doing the same, crawling in

the water to get close to her.

 

When there was no more distance between them, Jessica quickly put her arms around Taeyeon, supporting her failing

body.

 

“I’m here…,” said Jessica. A massive feeling of sad and relieve struck her, made her eyes teary and then she cried for a

reason she couldn’t even understand. All she knew that she was glad to be with Taeyeon and seeing her alive. “I’m here.”

 

“Jessica,” Taeyeon looked deeply into Jessica’s eyes and cried. “I’m scared.”

 

Yuri was back on her feet, she was about to go to Jessica when Hyoyeon charged at her, pushing her to the wall. “No!

No!” she said. She had no idea what was going on nor what would happen but she was sure, she was convinced, that it

would drag Jessica into another world, different from hers, and break them apart.

 

Taeyeon placed her fingers on Jessica’s lips, rubbing them gently. “Bring me to life.”

 

Jessica pulled Taeyeon’s body closer to her, putting one hand on her cheek and pressed her lips against hers. A swirling

sensation appeared in Jessica’s stomach, a suffocating pain came through and a painful heat knocked the

back of her eyes. Her head became heavy and it seemed like her every bit of strength was out through the kiss

but she couldn’t break it, she didn’t want to.

 

After a painful three seconds, Taeyeon pushed her away. Jessica was in daze, confused. Her body was trembling. In front

of her, Taeyeon was looking at her in a complex expression of guilt and sadness.

 

Jessica became so dizzy she couldn’t focus on anything and the next thing she remembered was falling into Taeyeon’s

arms before everything went black.

 

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