[NOTICE] WHERE TO FIND ME SHOULD AFF SHUT DOWN. READ THIS.

{ EPILOGUE }

The sound of the crashing waves was surprisingly soothing to my ears. She was with me, right by my side. No more drama, no more heartbreaks, no more crying, no more goodbyes. I could feel her warmth as she nuzzled my neck, hugging my arm carelessly. I let my cheek gently brush against the crown of her head, inhaling that familiar scent of her shampoo.

"This feels almost surreal." Her words escaped her lips, together with a contented sigh.

"This is real. I'm right here." I held out my palm, before she slotted her fingers in between mine.

"I've yet to get even with you, you know?" It was meant to be a threat, but it didn't sound in the least threatening to me. Either way, I lifted my cheek off her head, turning to look at her with an absurd expression.

"What did I do?"

"How could you say those things to me the other time?"

"Oh... That." I laughed, before hugging the girl a little tighter.

"You said I was a burden." She sounded genuinely upset, and I couldn't help but to let out a hearty laugh yet again. Silence slowly crept in as my laugh faded, and I took a minute longer before I reached out to Jessica's face, guiding her to look back at me. Sending Jessica a soft, gentle look, I inched forward, subtly planting a kiss on her lips.

"That's me saying sorry for that." I said, pulling away, but I let my face linger a short distance in front of her.

"You said I was a complete stranger." Jessica's eyes sparkled, and the mischief was too obvious in those eyes of hers. Catching the hint, I did the exact same thing as before, landing another peck on her lips.

"I'm sorry for saying that." I pulled away once more.

"You didn't answer me when I asked you if you still loved me." She was enjoying this, wasn't she? I grinned a little, but I stayed where I was this time.

"But I remember telling you that I loved Jessica."

"Well, okay. Then you told me it was none of my business, but I can't remember what it was about."

"That..." I pondered for a moment.

"Well?" She was giving me that look again. A victorious look, I'd say. I swear that smile on her face was so adorable. It was as if she was telling me to kiss her already, and...I wasn't intending to do anything else, anyway. So I leaned in, capturing her lips, and I could feel her smile. Nibbling on her upper lip, my hand silently moved to cup her face. "I'm so..." She mumbled in between the kiss, and I waited for the rest of her sentence, not breaking contact. "...addicted to kissing you." She gently caught my lower lip with her teeth, and I laughed.

It wasn't too long after, when she fell asleep in my arms, leaving me alone, yet not so alone, to enjoy the sea breeze. A lot was going through my mind. Boy, wasn't my life exciting, or in some sense, overly dramatic? We used to be the most ordinary couple, or at least I thought we were. Then the accident happened, and my girl lost her memories, while I thought that I had lost her. Two years later, as if it wasn't dramatic enough, I met her again. And as if meeting her was not impossible enough, we fell in love with each other all over again. All those pushing and pulling after that... Well, coming to think of it, I was being so retarded, wasn't I?

And... Hwayoung. The first time we met... I guess it was probably in college. She was widely talked about in our school for a period of time when she first entered. She was a really talented kid who managed to enter college a few years earlier than people her age. We never really talked much, except when I met her in tennis lessons. I never thought much about her, although I had the impression that she was a sweet little junior. I never did suspect anything, but now that things had happened this way, perhaps I was just oblivious. She would buy me drinks after every tennis lesson, and once in a while, we would go out for dinner. There were a few occasions when she had asked for my help in her schoolwork and I had stayed back after class to help her. That few times, I had Butler Jo to drop her off at her house, and she had fallen asleep on my shoulder on the journey back. Was that it? The hint? I didn't know a single thing, at all. Afterall, people knew to not approach me because...well, I had Jessica. Plus, Jessica's presence alone was a huge enough deterrence. There was a time when Minzy, as in one of Jessica's "enemies", wanted to mess with me, and Jessica appeared out of nowhere and... I don't think I should go into details about how she had the girl beaten up...by herself... You know, I was actually scared of her for the next few days. Please do not tell her that.

I'm only glad that everything's fine now. At least, I hope so. I realised, that you can never force yourself to stop loving someone. Look at the countless times I tried to let her go. I only made things worse, didn't I? I'm incredibly thankful that she knew better to hold onto me. How foolish I was, to ever think of wanting to give up on our love. I'm still scared, to be honest. Hwayoung's gone, but what about the others? Business rivals? I don't know. But I do know one thing. I can die for her, without a doubt. If I can love her like this, then I should believe her when she said that she loved me this way too. If so, what's the problem? If we're meant to die, we can, and we will, die in a million ways. Who are we to give up on the love we're meant to have? I love that girl, and I'd die loving her, than to live without her.

"Done being emotional?" Jessica's voice that suddenly broke the silence had me turning to look at her. She lifted her head off my shoulder, before looking at me deeply in the eyes. I only laughed, before switching my vision to the sea in front of me.

"Did you sleep well?" I answered with a question.

"I was awake the whole while, stupid." She successfully got my attention once again, but I only looked at her mindlessly, knowing that she still had things to say. "I just wanted to stay here in your arms, to hold your hands. And here...is where I'll stay." I found myself landing a soft kiss on her forehead, before my head nuzzled hers.

"I'm just a broken puzzle without you, you know? I can't go anywhere, silly. Not like I even want to anyway."

[A/N] Firstly, a big thank you to all of you who left me heartwarming comments in the last chapter. I wish I could give all of you a warm fuzzy hug :)

I never intended to write an epilogue, but since a few of you asked for it... I just had to write it, for you :) I'll have to especially thank IcePrinceTabbie, taengsic22love, owlman and skylightn8 for the motivation. Also, irishjem asked for Hwayoung's point of view, but because I never developed her character, it's pretty hard for me to write it. However, I wrote about Hwayoung in Taeyeon's point of view instead, and that's for you, irishjem. It's not what you wanted, but it's the best I can do. I've never written an epilogue, so this is my first, but I'm almost sure that it won't be the last. Check out the story's description for a list of all my other stories, as well as TheEnigma's stories, if you can't get enough of The Broken Puzzle, okay? Remember to still vote for the story even if this story has ended, because every single vote still means a lot to me. :)

I'm off, for real. I'm gonna miss all of you :')

P.S. Yes, you're supposed to know that the epilogue's in Taeyeon's point of view. If you don't already know, I'm gonna hit your head with my knuckle. I'm not even kidding. *quotes Jessica in The Broken Puzzle*

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