The future of Us?

300 Into the Future

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[-]

  "Dara Noona."

 
  Dara's hands halted mid way while packing the child-size clothes. A soft, runny feeling passed through her and she sighed.
 
  "Mm?" She answered without looking back, stuffing along some goodies and a few silvers.
 
  The catatonic Doodoong's sister, whose name Dara had since learned was Jinjoo, burst into tears when she saw her brother running into the yard crying as she was helped into the manor. She insisted on bringing her brother home, and even though Dara expected the goodbye, she hadn't thought that it would be this soon.
 
  "Dara Noona~" Doodoong whined, sounding with the lack of attention he's given. 
 
  Dara turned around in resignation, and there he was, at the door of the room they had shared for the past month. She had foreseen the pout that's going to be hanging on his lips, and it really was. He looked extremely small today, with his large, innocent eyes and the tiny belly that's sticking out. So young. So vulnerable.
 
  Dara sighed again and padded over to the child, slinging the oversized sack over him before picking him up.
 
 
  "Will you miss me?" Dara asked, pinching Doodoong's nose. He nodded vigorously, messing his head of soft curly hair. 
 
  She carried him out of the room in her arms to see that Jiyong had already returned with Sangchul from the letter writer's home and was conversing deeply in the yard with his brows deeply furrowed together. In front of them stood a cleaned up Jinjoo, who's face brightened up at the sight of the child who began to wave excitedly at her.
 
  Dara set him down gently on the ground, watching as he scurried her to his sister with a small smile on her face. Is it ever possible to measure how happy they must be feeling to be reunited? 
 
  Jinjoo lifted Dara's hands in hers, her misty, round hazel eyes searching the latter's ones, unable to put her gratitute into words, before reaching out her arm for the toddler.
 
  Jiyong gave Doodoong two very awkward pats on the head. His sister, who recognises the Ice Lord, kept her eyes on the floor, hardly believing that the cold general of their city was being even remotely friendly to her only kin.
 
  "Hey, they'll come back." Dara felt an arm on her shoulder before she could turn to Jiyong, who kept his eyes on the departing siblings.
 
  From a distance, they heard Jinjoo ask Sangchul in a shaky voice if "they" are gone and to which he replied with a curt nod. Looking visibly relieved, Jinjoo turned around for the last time and gave a low, deep bow. Dara returned the gesture and Doodoong waved merrily.
 
  "Bye Doodoong." Dara said quietly, unheard by the back views of the small boy as a small sadness tugged at her heartstrings, followed by a small squeeze on her shoulders.
 
  "Bye Cheondong." She added in a whisper.
 
 

[DARA]

 

  "A JOB?​​​"

  I nodded, throwing Seungri, who was staring at me as if I had asked to build a zoo here, a dirty look. Isn't he overreacting? Of course, why will his highness ever spare any thought to something as irrelevant to his life as jobs. Hah. Rich peoples problems. 

  "What job? What did you do before?" Seungri asked grudgingly.

  "A clerk." I began rather excitedly even though there was really nothing exciting about the job. But even the clerky lifestyle seems an eternity away now. Besides, no one really askes what a clerk does anyway in my time. They would just assume that it involves mundane boohoo office scribblings with no real contributions to the society. Such misconceptions.   "Contrary to popular beliefs, my job is actually rather great and important because I get to sort out the most...."

  "She's at it again...." Seungri muttered to himself under his breath as I continued my long recitatal of the nobility in document classifications. "HYUNG, SHE FORGOT TO TAKE HER NON-21st CENTURY TRANSFORMING MEDICINE TODAY."

  Jiyong stepped out of his room with his hair pulled neatly back and his sword in his hand, grinning at the antics his brother is throwing. At the sight of him being in his formal attire, the fifth prince sat up immediately in confusion.

  "Oh? Where're you up to?"

  "Pyul." Jiyong replied simply without looking up as he tucked his sword into the sword case strapped by his waist.

  Pyul?  ​ 

  Okay, that made me shut up.

  "You're going to Pyul?" Seungri asked with a raised brow and Jiyong nodded.

  But why? I couldn't think of any reasons or any other person that I know in Pyul except for....

  Oh.

    I gazed at him, suddenly washed over by a sense of weariness. Why haven't anyone described love as draining? Jiyong mounted his horse with ease, and by now it's clear that he's avoiding my gaze. Why? Is she a friend? An acquaintance? Or simply another member of the royal family he has to see on a daily basis? I wish he would explain to me so I don't have this gnawing feeling inside me. It feels like I'm constantly stuck in a battle of feeling down and feeling bad for feeling down over this. How am I supposed to tell him that as girlfriends we get jealous, we get a little jittery and insecure whenever our boyfriends meet another girl, let alone someone who used to be his fiancée. Whatever unspoken rules that everyone is clear about in the 21st century obviously isn't so here. 

 
  I waited. I waited for him to turn around and say something, anything at all, to me. 'I'm just going there to check on something.', 'The princess has something to discuss.', 'There's an emergency there.' Anything all all. But he didn't. He turned around and our visions met for a brief moment, where he squeezed a small smile that I haven't got the time to return before he rode off.
 
  Just like that, leaving me with nothing but a small emptiness and a brain too tired to even feel anxious or insecure. Maybe eventually, I'll have to accept that she'll always be here in our lives without meaning to cause any harm, and that feeling in me will always be plastered there, ready to hurt at the slightest touch.
 
  "Something must have cropped up."  Seungri said to me lightly upon the expression on my face. Something in his voice tells me he isn't convinced by that either.
 
  There was a small sound at the gate and I looked up a little too hopefully. Did he perhaps remembered that he had forgotten to say goodbye? But he didn't. It wasn't him. In fact, it was a guest that even Seungri himself was surprised to see.
 
  Their third brother.
 
  "Donghae Hyung?" Seungri stuttered, utterly flustered. Isn't he the brother that they said had never really cared and basically just lived off his own when he came of age?
 
  "Hey Kid." Donghae, the third and the second-oldest of the surviving princes, smirked, sparing the surprised maknae a glance as he leaped off his stallion like a breeze. 
 
  A retreated a little, deciding that it's better to give them space and surveyed the prince whom I've only seen once in the palace, at the late-king's funeral. 
 
  Tall. That was the first word that lit up in my head. Although the family was blessed with exceptional height genes, he was especially so, almost as tall as the new King Taeil, who is the oldest. His features were sharp, although not so when compared to Seungri, who had rushed forward to greet the unexpected guest. He shared the same high nose bridge, nicely arched brows and chocolate brown eyes that Jiyong has. 
 
  There was something extraordinary about the brothers. While Jiyong's hair was Crimson, the King's a dark burnt sienna and Seungri's jet black, this one has a head of light ash brown hair.
 
  I inhaled sharply as the third prince turned his strong gaze to me. Wouh, here comes the same uncomfortable feeling that his staring gave me while we're at the funeral.
 
  "Dara, come over!" Seungri gestured.
 
  What? Hah hah. Nah, thats alright, I'm just about to go into my room. I grimaced at Seungri, pointing my thumb towards my back where my room was. Seungri hissed, squinting his eyes together while his brother just stood and watch me with the same bemused expression. Haha. Nope. Thats why I would prefer little interactions with unknown Mr. Tall. He gives off a weird kind of omnious feeling.

  At Seungri's third growl, I finally shifted my feet over.

  "This is Dara, hyung, but you really don't need to know too much about her. She's a ball of oddity." Seungri said unkindly. 

  "Hello, I'm Dara." I repeated dully, giving a small bow. And then-

  "I've seen you at the ball. You looked stunning."

  Ohyeah, the ball with seungri. Cream gown. I suppose he was there too. I might have- Wait, what?

  I raised my head and blinked at the handsome fellow, waiting for any laughter or sniggers to finish his joke, but there was none. I glanced tentatively at Seungri, who was staring at his hyung now with the same shocked look.

  "I- uh- Thank you." Well it is nice for him to compliment me. "I should get going- theres stuff that I-"

  "Do you have time for tea? " Donghae asked with his lips lifting slightly upwards.

  "Wait hyung, there seems to be a misunderstanding." Seungri reacted before I could. Great, I don't even know how to anyway. He pulled Donghae a little aside, but still close enough for me to hear.

  "She's Jiyong hyung's girl." Seungri said quietly.

  Hmmm.  His girl. Somehow, the reminder of being Jiyong reminded me that he is probably close to the Pyul boarders by now. 

 "How?" Donghae asked nonchalently. 

  My jaw dropped and so did Seungri's. Okay, that's enough socialising for a day. There was a very, very awkward pause between our third sided conversation which scarily enough, the third prince didn't seemed to mind at all. His eyes remained on my face with a brow raised in curiosity.

  "Ah-hah-hah!" I was the first one to broke the silence with a laughter that sounded like a dying chicken. Seungri spared me a what-are-you-doing kind of glare. I bowed quickly and scurried back into my room, almost trippig over my own feet. As I shut the doors, the third prince was still having his eyes fixed on me. 

  Okay, that was really out of the blue. I exhaled heavily and sat down on my bed. That guy out there is really out to taunt me. What on earth is he saying? It doesnt even make sense. I didnt even see him at the ball! That makes this only the second time we met. 

  Feeling entirely vexed and confused with the absurd situation, I soon fell into a fitful sleep, my mind haunted by a pair of chocolate brown eyes that didnt belong to the man outside and a beautiful lady who was crying in the former's arms.

 

[-]

 

  Dara was awoken by the feeling of a hand pressing gently on her back. She knew who it would be before her eyes even fluttered open. It wasnt a good sleep and her eyes surveyed  the blankets around her without turning around. The sun had long risen.

  "Awake?"

  Her chest throbbed a little at that voice that she had been longing for before she drifted off.

  "Did you just got back?" Dara croaked in a small voice which made the young general behind him melt a little, filled with a sudden urge to just crawl in to cuddle with her. The night was dark, but he had refused the Pyul's offer to rest till the day. Still, it took him this long to get back.

  "Yeah." He said.

  Dara exhaled heavily , weariness flooding her system once again despite just waking up. She shut her eyes.

  The silence extends, but he knows. Something is off about her, about them and he's not blind to it. She would have leaped onto him in joy like how she always do or poke his cheek playfully but there wasn't even a greeting this time. Drained from the night-long journey, Jiyong just stared at her blankly, unsure of what to do with her or with himself, or with Donghae hyung whom Seungri had only just told him about.

  He knows she has no lack of suitors but here she is with someone who can't even be always around her.

  Dara held her breath as there was nothing in between them to tear through this torturing silence. He could've said something. Anything. She knows Jiyong isnt someone who expresses his thoughts much but at least tell her anything. She knows she would just let this horrible feeling of lonliness and insecurity into the wind in no time if he talks to her because thats just how much she's into this man. But the silence stretches. 

  "Get more sleep then." Jiyong said in a soft voice. "I'm going to get some rest. I'm exhausted."

  "Yeah." Dara whispered, "Me too."

  Jiyong inhaled at her quiet voice, her back still facing him. He runs his hand through his hair, frustrated with how incapable he is with communicating with her, and how she just couldn't understand that he just couldn't speak or even handle this kind of situations well. Because he was so used to every and any situations to be solely "I", he doesn't know how to deal with a plural unit now. 

  "I don't know how to handle us, Dara." Jiyong admitted in a sigh. Dara clutched her blankets tightly upon that.

  

  We are drifting further apart.

I am so sorry for the overdue. 

To be very honest, I am experiencing the writers block where

at this point of time I am a little lost on how to direct their relationship as well as the plot.

Well, Ill continue praying to the deity of creativity and writing for now.

Updates may take longer as I am literally buried with work for the past few days.

Will talk again the next time we meet, and till then 

please leave me a lot of comments.

XO

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Tariki_inday #1
Chapter 40: Love it...how about the update in gangs in etawon...
peppapig16 #2
Chapter 40: author is there season 2 for this?
Jdynnbrv #3
Epilouge juseyooo?
ilymz_drgn #4
Chapter 40: Where's the epilogue author?
puspitaken #5
Chapter 40: After those angsty is done, would u mind give us some hilarious and embarassing moment of jiyong adapting in dara's world. Like using gadget or driving car? Awww he must be so cuteeeeeeeee
kwonty #6
Chapter 30: I need the epilog author nim.. jeball....
elsidenvino #7
Chapter 40: This is beautiful :) this was created before the kdrama scarlet heart.. And a lot of moments felt so much better than the kdrama... This is absolutely worth being made into a series hehe... Me and my delusional mind wishes this so :)
hyukniss #8
Chapter 40: OMG!!!! This is the best time-travel story i ever read. Omg!!! Thank you for this beautiful story. Im so happy that its happy ending, although i'll still prefer the happy ending in dal but i think i'd compromise with any happy ending. Thank you again! Hope youcan post the epilogue :))
Ikkin09-23 #9
Chapter 40: Really love this fic.. Cried a lot when dara died..
Pls epilogue just want to know how jiyong would do in dara's tym..
hyukniss #10
Update juseyo
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