Jamsil — — 2025

“What do you think?” 

Haeun walked behind Taeyong as he led her around a cozy two-story house. It was beautiful, with a cute backyard, large windows, and natural light flooding every corner. All the rooms were empty, the previous owners had just moved out a few days earlier when Taeyong invited her to look around. 

He had mentioned looking for another place since his lease was ending but she had assumed he’d pick a modest apartment close to work but he had picked a bigger place that was much further away. Maybe he was getting roommates that worked nearby because it was way too big for him to live in by himself. 

“It’s beautiful.” She commented, stepping into the large master bedroom. It was huge, her jaw dropped as she paced across the room and peeked into the closet. A gasp escaped . She should probably set up a bed in the closet and call it a room if she wanted. “This place is amazing.”

He stepped in behind her, pressing his chest into her back, “Yeah? So, you like it?”

“Of course. I’m surprised you even found this place.” She mentioned, “Even the bathrooms are gorgeous and I didn’t even think that was possible.”

He laughed, “Trust me, it took a lot of research and few realtors to find it. There’s enough room for two offices and the fireplace in the living room is fully functional too.”

“Wait, why would you convert those rooms into offices? Wouldn't it make more sense to make them bedrooms.” She said.

He furrowed his brows, following her as she moved to the hallway, “Why would we need two bedrooms? Are we sleeping in separate rooms, now?”

Haeun paused before turning to look at him with wide eyes, “What?”

“Baby, did you think I was getting this place so that I can open up the NCT Frat Alumni Edition? I brought you here because I wanted your approval.” He said with a slow smile. 

She laughed and hugged him, “You’re right, I’m going to be staying here all the time once you move in, I deserve a say.”

“No. Baby. I don’t think you’re hearing what I’m saying. I don’t want you to stay over here. I want you to live here. With me. If that's something you want.” He said softly.

She jerked back, her eyes wide as she stared up at him, “You want me to move in?”

“Yeah, in fact, I’ve wanted you to move in for ages but my old apartment wasn’t nice enough, I waited out the lease first. I want us to live together, I want to see you in the morning and have you at night without having to plan it out in advance. The house is in the middle of both of our jobs so I know it’s not as close as your place but I was hoping you’d still be okay here.” He said, running his fingers through her hair lovingly. 

“I love it.” She whispered.

He grinned, relieved, and pressed a kiss against her cheek before peppering some all over her face, “This is going to be home for us, soon.”

Seoul — — 2026

Jaehyun could only watch Taeyong and Haeun together from across the room. 

He and Nayoon were throwing a housewarming party for the new house they had moved into and even though there were a lot of people milling around, his eyes were only on them. 

“Mimosa?”

He turned to see Nayoon holding up two glasses with a smile. He took one out of her hand and kissed her before sliding it around her shoulder. “Thanks, little bird.”

“What are you looking at?” She asked. 

“Them.”

Nayoon followed his nod to see Taeyong and Haeun huddled together in the corner, ignoring all the other guests, just consumed with each other. Taeyong was leaned close to her, mumbling in her ear, making her laugh before lacing his fingers with hers. He was smiling at her, just as enamoured with her laugh as he was the first time Jaehyun had seen them together as a couple.

“What about them?” Nayoon asked. 

He sighed, “Six years ago, I would've been over the moon if they were that lovesick with each other. But they’ve been dating for years, they’re completely happy and in love. More in love than I’ve ever seen but now what?”

“Now you wait.”

Nayoon and Jaehyun flinched, turning to see the shaman standing behind them holding onto a cookie. Her long silver hair was braided tightly and her ancient robes had been traded in for a flowy linen dress, “I didn’t invite you.”

“Don’t be so rude, Your Highness.” She mumbled. 

He winced, “Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I’m just surprised. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to check on the guard. It’s hard to keep away. I want to see how the couple is holding up.” She mused. 

Jaehyun stared at her for a long minute, “Can I ask you something?”

“That’s what I’m here for, your Majesty.”  

“How do we know if they’ve truly changed their path? If they’ll end up together in their future lives?” He asked. 

She quirked a brow, “An act of selfless love.”

“What does that even mean?” Nayoon grumbled.

She smiled and glanced at her, “It’s like when the Prince gave up a life with you to protect your career. Or when he stayed unwed to be loyal to your love. If an act of selfless love is committed, the God of Love will allow their love and your love to last eternity. All their real memories, including Taeyong's early death with return and lock into place permanently.” 

Nayoon’s face softened as she reached out to hold Jaehyun’s hand. He squeezed back with a loving smile. She turned to the shaman, “So, can anyone be reincarnated? I know a lot of Taeyong and Haeun’s friends came back, even some other people who existed in the Joseon Dynasty came back. Does that mean everyone in the world has been reincarnated and can remember their past lives?”

“No, it’s not a luxury that everyone is afforded.” She replied. 

Jaehyun frowned, “So why us? Why do we all come back every time as ourselves? What makes us special?”

“I don’t have that answer. I am not the God of Life. I don’t make that decision.” She said calmly. 

Nayoon hadn’t yet given up, “Is it because they’re soulmates?”

“Soulmates aren’t real, dear. It what we tell ourselves when we witness a beautiful, everlasting love story but that’s all it is. A name we give couples who are meant to be. The Gods don't believe in such colloquialisms, so it certainly isn't why the God of Life would’ve granted them the power of reincarnation.” 

“You must’ve prayed to the Gods before.” Jaehyun said accusingly. 

“I prayed to the Gods of Life and Death to save and guide the soul of the guard who would inevitably die."

Nayoon looked hard-pressed, "But how else would you have known that he'd die over and over again? Why give him a charm that protects him for 100 lives if you didn't know he'd have 100 lives?"

"I told you, I am not the God of Life, I can't control the universe. My talisman was preventative. It's purpose was to protect Taeyong if he was reincarnated. All I knew was that death was coming for him. My philosophy is to assume that everyone gets reborn, that's why I charmed him, that's why I watch over everyone because you never know who will last one lifetime and who will last an eternity of lifetimes. I had no way of knowing if he or Haeun would actually be reincarnated. I just knew that if he was to be granted reincarnation by the Gods, he'd spend eternity dying too soon. I didn't want that for him."

Jaehyun frowned, "So, we have no idea why we've been reincarnated?"

"I can promise you, I am not the one who prayed for this. Someone else must’ve.” 

Seoul — — 2027

The seven year itch. 

That’s what it’s called. 

It sounds more like a curse. If you were the type to believe in curses. 

The origin of the phrase was a Marilyn Monroe film, the iconic one, you know it even if you think you don’t. It’s the one with the white dress, the gust of air from the subways grate, the modest attempt of holding her fluttering dress down. The whole shebang. 

The idea is that if you’re married to someone for 7 years, it’s the sweet spot for people to start getting bored, stagnant and unhappy in their relationships. They had friends of friends who got a divorce after seven years, they had coworkers break up after 7 years. 

They weren’t even dating for seven years, but maybe it was just symbolic, the fact that they knew each other for seven years was enough.

It wasn’t anything thoroughly heartbreaking or devastating. 

He wasn’t cheating, she wasn’t bored. He wasn’t under-appreciated, she wasn’t ignored. 

They just felt off-sync. 

The days he wanted to come home from work and go on a spontaneous date out with her, she’d be too tired or needed to wake up early the next morning. 

The nights where she was found herself missing him and needing his hands on her skin, his breath on her neck, he’d be spending the night at the lab to monitor an experiment. 

After a while, it felt like they just stopped trying. Stopped trying to make their lives work for the other person because their schedules were too demanding. He stopped asking her on dates, she stopped trying to convince him to stay in bed longer. It was easier to stop asking when you knew the answer would be a guilt-ridden 'no, maybe next time'.

Soon, they were just coexisting, kissing each other goodbye and going off on their own days, hoping that their orbits would finally cross if they just waited long enough. 

Haeun didn’t think much of it, figured that it was just a long stretch of bad timing and eventually things would fall in place. She was busy with work after a couple of successive promotions that came with increased duties. He was just as slammed having taken on a new research project and sometimes it felt like there wasn’t room in their lives for anything else. It was okay, they’d work it out with time. She was sure. 

Until she had casually let the state of her relationship slip to some girls at work.

The grave look on their faces was enough for her palms to get sweaty, “What is it?”

“It’s just…that’s what happened to my sister and her boyfriend. They broke up a month after because it just got worse.” 

Haeun blinked before laughing incredulously, the mere idea sounding absurd, “Taeyong and I aren’t going to break up.”

“Of course not, but honestly that’s what I thought when me and my ex started having the same problems. We broke up after too.” Another girl piped up. “We cared a lot about work and less about each other. Soon we just forgot why we even loved each other in the first place. The feelings faded which was why it was so easy to let our distance grow without trying to do anything to fix it.”

Now that made her uneasy. 

“It’s just off-timing. Everyone has rough patches.” Haeun said nervously. 

Her assistant rocked on her heels, “Yeah, you’re probably right. It’s just…if you guys can’t even make time for each other because of work, what are you going to do when you get married or have kids? I know you love your job but it shouldn’t be that hard to spend time together.”

"I mean, we do spend time together. We live together for crying out loud." Haeun said in exasperation.

“Just because you live together doesn’t mean that you don’t have to make an effort to spend time together.” 

Haeun was stunned, “I didn’t think it was this serious. I figured we just needed time for things to slow down. That it would work itself out.”

“If he only sees you in the morning and at night, you’re not a couple, you’re roommates who share a bed. You don’t want him to start to forget he has a girlfriend when he’s working late nights with some cute science-y girl who has a secret crush on him.” An intern said off-handedly.

“What?” Haeun breathed out, with wide eyes. Her heart dropped to her feet.

Her assistant smacked her folder at the intern with a stern look. Haeun felt her heart race, “He’d never cheat on me. He loves me.”

“Of course. I-I didn’t mean it like that. I’m so sorry.” 

Haeun shut her eyes, trying to resist the urge to cry. She loved Taeyong so much to the point where sometimes she couldn't begin to describe the feeling he'd give her. Words lacked the depth she felt.

Even if they weren’t on the same page lately, her heart still felt full when she’d wake up with his breath against her neck and his arm against her body. There was nowhere else she'd rather be than with him. 

She didn’t know what she’d do if he left her. 

Or if someone else got to have him the way she did. 

But he would never cheat. She knew him. She trusted him. 

That didn't mean that her insecurities weren't being poked and unravelled.

“Excuse me?”

Haeun opened her eyes to see an older woman standing by her door, wispy silver hair tied up in a neat braid and a long draped skirt flowing around her. Her assistant gasped and glanced at her watch, “Oh gosh, that’s your 2 o’clock appointment.”

Haeun quickly waved all the girls off, dismissing them. While they scurried off, she stood, smoothing her blazer down and willing the red heat that probably splashed across her face from fighting tears would evaporate. She quickly grabbed a ribbon and tied her hair up and out of her face.

“So sorry.” Haeun said with an embarrassed laugh before holding her hand out. 

The woman returned the gesture, her skin weathered with age but warm. “No problem. Is now a good time? Should I come back?”

“Oh of course not, please, take a seat.” Haeun said, guiding her to the chair across from her desk. “So, you sent in a proposal to host a special exhibit at our museum for February, correct? I skimmed over it, there weren’t many details listed in it, but I was curious and wanted to meet to discuss it further. You mentioned wanting to host through February because of Valentine’s Day.”

The woman pulled a thick file out of her bag and handed it to Haeun, “Yes, the entire exhibit is based on different artifacts found and the stories attached to the pieces, all of which involve various stories about love and romance.”

Haeun flipped through the file, her eyes excitedly drinking in the details that the proposal didn’t include, “And all these pieces fall within in the Joseon Era, you mentioned?”

“Yes. They fall within the Jung Regime.”

Haeun nodded with a hum as she continued to read through the file, “It’s very difficult to trace back such detailed narratives of specific lives that far back. How did you manage to do it?”

“You can find everything with a little research. The amount of work I did, it feels like I’ve lived through it myself.” 

Haeun lifted her head and met eyes with the woman who just smiled pleasantly at her. There was something so unnerving about her stare, where most people would look away, she just maintained eye contact. 

Haeun cleared and looked back at the file, flipping to a new page. “What’s this?”

“Ah, it’s an unworn robe buried with King Yoon Oh when he eventually passed away at the end of his reign.” 

Haeun blinked at the description, “I’m sorry, the abstract is claiming that this is the last robe that his robe maker had ever made for him. His robe maker that he had apparently been in love with? This entire piece claims that while he was Prince he had an affair with her and she was banished from his Kingdom when the affair was discovered. This…This is quite the claim. What do you have to support this? King Yoon Oh had been famously single, even in his days as the Crown Prince.”

“It’s on the next page.” The woman replied. 

Haeun flipped it, her eyes wide as she stared at scans of ancient scrolls detailing the exact story, including his love for the robe maker. This had to be the King’s personal journals.

“How on earth did you find these?” She gaped. “And in such good condition?”

The woman had that smile on her face again, “A solo expedition. As you can see, he stated that he wanted to be buried with the robes.”

Haeun was stunned at the vagueness in her response. Most historians would be boasting about such abundant finds that essentially uncovered a previously unknown piece of history.

“This is amazing. Will his robes be the centre piece of the exhibit?” Haeun asked. 

“No.” 

Haeun raised her brows, “Really? I think it would be perfect. We could display the robes in the center since the entire exhibit is under his and his family’s reign. It would tie everything together.”

“There’s something I find more fitting. It’s on the last page.” She explained. 

Haeun was a bit hesitant and considered pushing the woman on using the robes before looking back at the file and flipping to the end. Her eyes widened at the familiar picture, her heart thudding excitedly. 

“Oh my god.” She whispered, pulling the photo out of the plastic sheet cover so that she could get a closer look. 

For the first time since she sat down, the woman looked taken aback at her reaction, “D-Do you recognize that?”

Haeun went to her computer and clicked through folders dating back a few years before turning the screen to the woman, “I’ve been obsessed with this necklace for years. I tried searching everywhere for its origin but I couldn’t find it anywhere.”

“Ah.” The woman said with an understanding nod. She looked at the picture Haeun was holding in her hand, the same one on her computer of a long chain with a wooden sunflower pendant. 

Haeun picked up the file and greedily read the origin, “There’s not much here.”

“It’s a beautiful story, really.” The woman started, “It’s of a young woman who had fallen in love with the Crown Prince’s guard. They met when she was visiting the palace to deliver baked goods to the King. He had called her sunflower, as a nickname, as it was her favourite flower. She had returned from a trip and brought him that chain as a gift. Everyone in town knew of their love, even the King and Queen at the time had approved of their relationship. It was said that King Yoon Oh had demanded that their wedding be held at the palace. There are stories of the guard taking her on trips around the country and bringing her gifts whenever she couldn’t come with him.”

Haeun’s lips parted, not just from the story but the warmth that pooled in the woman’s eyes. Subconsciously, her hand drifted to the delicate gold sunflower pendant that was currently sitting in between her collarbones. “Then what happened?”

“They married, they were happy, but the guard had died much too young, protecting the King and palace from a rebel raid, he wore that necklace every day, even on the day he died. Because of him, the King was saved and the rebels were captured. It was said that the King mourned for 60 days and that the guard’s wife had vanished from the town, leaving everythi