Jessica stares at Tiffany in disbelief.

It had been a week since the accident and Tiffany had stepped back into normalcy as if nothing life-changing had happened (despite losing her sister, starting work in the hotel for the dead, almost losing her life all within a week) - her bright demeanour remained, her outfits became more bold, and her work efficiency increased.

Despite Taeyeon’s disapproval, Jessica had given Tiffany the choice on whether she would want to forget the traumatic accident – giving up the memory of seeing her sister, causing the crash, and almost having her soul ripped from her body by the rogue grim reaper. “You don’t have the right to decide, Taeyeon.” Jessica had warned, knowing that Taeyeon would back down. They had danced around their conflict from a century ago, and neither were ready for it to resurface. “Maybe not the right to decide, but the power to make people hurt less.” Taeyeon had responded, her expression sombre.

Jessica was replaying that conversation in her mind, thinking of the last fight that broke them more than a hundred years ago. Something did not seem right. The decision Taeyeon made was too selfish in retrospect. Maybe it made sense to Jessica at the time because deep down, Jessica wanted to think that the only selfish decision Taeyeon had ever made was because of her. Maybe Jessica wanted to believe that Taeyeon acted out of jealously because it meant she fought for her, despite doing it in the worst way.

“I think your supervising has gone a bit too far.” Tiffany chuckled, bringing Jessica back to the present. Jessica had mindlessly followed Tiffany from room to room as she checked on each guest, but the rounds had ended, and Jessica only just realised that she is now standing inside Tiffany’s room. “If you’re worried about Taeyeon, you should just be with Taeyeon,” Tiffany shrugged and sunk into her bed, the cheerfulness in her voice absent.

“I’m more worried about you,” Jessica admitted.

“Thank you, really,” Tiffany forced a smile, “But I’d much rather you be with Taeyeon.”

“Taeyeon’s fine.”

“If she were really fine, she would be here supervising me, no?” Tiffany’s voice cracked at the end; her eyes glued to the ground. “Why hasn’t she checked on me the past week and why won’t the elevator take me to her?” Tiffany breathed, as if all her strength had left her.

Jessica regretted her fashion choices as she struggled to take a seat next to Tiffany, her skirt severely limiting her movements on the low bed. She shifted towards the girl and gave her a hug, awkwardly, as Jessica generally did her utmost best to avoid physical contact with people she barely knew, earning her the nickname “Ice Princess” from Yoona.

“If Taeyeon wasn’t fine, I would not be here supervising you either, no? Taeyeon is my…” Jessica paused suddenly, mind blanking.

“Is she your girlfriend?” Tiffany interrupted without missing a beat, as if her worry for Taeyeon was yesterday’s news and she was moving onto the next hot gossip. “Would you like her to be?” Tiffany continued despite not receiving a response, her voice getting higher from excitement, which annoyed Jessica. “I think she likes you,” Tiffany added, not taking the hint. “Both of you are quite awkward around each other though… wait, is she your ex?”

“Are you well?” Jessica pressed her palm against Tiffany’s forehead (so much for avoiding physical contact), even though she would have rather place it against instead. “Your brain seems fried from the trauma. You’re sprouting nonsense.”

“It matters, Jess!” Tiffany protested, pushing Jessica’s hand away and turning to face her. “If her girlfriend chose to supervise me for the past week instead of staying by her side, it must mean she’s more than fine.” Tiffany has both hands on Jessica’s shoulder, lightly shaking her, and Jessica mentally gives up keeping her distance.

To be fair, Jessica had been spending her days keeping the hotel running, but her nights were spent keeping Taeyeon company, though Tiffany did not need to know that. It had also been the highlight of her days watching how Tiffany dealt with the guests, witnessing how their moods lifted in her presence. She wondered how someone who had gone through so much pain, bring so much light to others. Maybe this was why Taeyeon was drawn to her.

Jessica mimicked the other girl’s dramatic movements and squeezed both Tiffany’s shoulders. “The hotel would literally start falling apart if anything serious had happened to Taeyeon. She is just in a deep sleep. Think of Taeyeon as a mobile phone that ran out of juice. It’s much faster to charge if it’s off or on low power mode.” Taeyeon would be laughing at this analogy if she were here. “Also, the offer is still on the table if you’d like to forget… as much as you want, actually. A week, a month, a year… a lifetime.”

“Definitely not.” Tiffany’s answer remained unchanged. If anything, she was much more assertive.

“I didn’t ask this before… but why?” Jessica probed, strangely proud of the young girl.

“I learnt two things that day – one is that my sister isn’t trapped in some hellish prison in the underworld and two, that I have a friend looking out for me. Both good things that help me sleep well at night.” Tiffany beamed, the joy reaching her eyes.

“You have two.”

“Two?”

“I mean, you have two friends looking out for you. Three, if you count Yoona who is basically friends with everyone.”

Jessica rolled her eyes as she was pulled into a tight hug, resisting a smile.

_____________________________________

“You’re really boring company.” Jessica said to the sleeping figure.

She had started the habit of talking to Taeyeon for hours every night, telling her about the events of her day, while the other deity remained unresponsive, propped against the tree, warm blue light continuing to lightly pulse in intensity and emitting heat where Taeyeon’s body was in contact.

“Tiffany said we were awkward around each other. I thought we hid it well.” Jessica laughed, breaking the silence of the empty floor. “She asked if you were my girlfriend and the only thing, I could think of was that the label just seemed underwhelming, as if we hadn’t spent the length of a dozen human lifetimes together. Not sure why it bothers me, when we’re not even together together.” Jessica thinks that a week of talking to herself has messed with her sanity.

“Were you doing well the past hundred years without me? I always wanted to know.” As the words left her, an idea started developing in her head. “Actually, there’s one thing I want to know more.” There was no turning back now. The idea told hold, planted itself against her better judgement, and Jessica lost whatever self-control she had.

Jessica discovered that she was a muse after spending most of her lifetime thinking she was a generic deity. It was purely coincidental, the way she found out. Taeyeon and Jessica were visiting the Louvre Museum in the 1800s after hours when they bumped into another deity admiring one of the paintings.

“I can’t believe I helped create that. This job isn’t so bad, isn’t it?” she had said, full of pride. “Where’s yours?” The muse, which they later learnt was named Jeanne, assumed that Jessica was there to admire her own works. That was the beginning of the end – the moment Taeyeon and her started drifting apart.

Within the next few years, the cases of tree deities being hunted by a demon started emerging, forcing Taeyeon to go into hiding, just when Jessica had begun creating works of her own. “I don’t want you to miss another Renaissance. The work you create will inspire generations. Just come back to me when you’re done.” Taeyeon had said, during what had to be their most mature breakup.

The more Jessica thought about it, the less whatever Taeyeon did next made sense.

The way a muse inspired humans was by pulling up a memory, intensifying the emotions and senses associated with that particular image,and evolving it into creativity. It wasn’t that every person had the potential to become an artist, but those prone to genius had the power of attention and observation, making it easier for muses to sift through their memories and bringing forward one of impact.

Her powers were not meant for what she was about to do next, but as Jessica reached into the recesses of Taeyeon’s mind, consequences be damned.

_____________________________________

[Hotel del-Luna, 1913]

“I’m not getting you another car. That is an abuse of power at this point,” Taeyeon said as she looked up from her book to the restless Man Wol, who had just marched into her room with a stack of papers in her hands, which Taeyeon assumed were new car designs. Man Wol had been more demanding since the Industrial Revolution, wanting to modernise the hotel, as well as her car collection.

“I wish,” Man Wol exclaimed as she took a seat across Taeyeon. “It would be so much easier if it were that, then you could say no like the miserly pain-in-the- deity you are, and I would go on with my day, not thinking too much of your millionth rejection.” Instead of the usual defiance, Taeyeon could sense the despair that Man Wol felt, which made her put down her book immediately.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to regret this so, so much.” Man Wol thought aloud, seemingly gathering courage. “Have you been checking in on what Soo Yeon has been doing?”

Taeyeon flinched, thinking she had been caught. She had been sending a hotel employee named Bo-ah to keep tabs on Soo Yeon every month for decades. Soo Yeon had been working with a talented musician named Kris for the past decade, a young genius whom she had inspired to create the greatest works on the 20th century. She must have fallen for the human, deciding to be part of his life by pretending to be human and going by the name “Jessica”.

“Me too.” Man Wol took Taeyeon’s silence as admission. “How could we not worry? I learnt that muses have the tendency to cross the line with their influences on humans, driving them to the brink of insanity, which as karma dictates turns the muses into demons as punishment,” she explained to Taeyeon as if she had not been obsessing over this fact herself. “And knowing you, you’ll join her at the dark side and I can’t have that kind of negative influence in my life.” Man Wol joked, though she failed to keep the situation light.

“Why are you so nervous? It’s unlike you.” Taeyeon asked, getting worried.

“I need to tell you this because you are my friend, but you have to promise me that you will let me handle it. Remember that I am not a deity, but a punished soul so I have little to lose.” Man Wol leaned backwards against her chair and crossed her arms, determination plastered in her expression. “Also, don’t forget that there is a sadistic demon out there trying to cleanse the world of tree deities so don’t even think about leaving this hotel.”

“Don’t be stupid, Man Wol, you still could lose your soul. Now stop stalling and tell me. If it’s about her new lover, spare me the details.” Taeyeon insisted, engaging in a stare-down that she would win.

“It’s not like that. I haven’t just been keeping tabs on Jessica, but every artist she works or has worked with. Just to see if any red flags showed up. Nothing for decades, until now.” Man Wol pushed the stack of papers towards Taeyeon.

“Kris dies today,” Man Wol stated as Taeyeon skimmed the pages.

“It’s suicide,” Taeyeon explained, “It has nothing to do with Jessica,”

“He hasn’t slept well in years, constantly driven to create while never feeling adequate. Don’t you think it’s odd that he hasn’t released any music in the 3 years since Jessica took a human form?” Man Wol sighed. “Jessica went too far. Even if we assume she didn’t, she would never forgive herself if he died.”

“What’s your plan?” Taeyeon asked, struggling to stay calm.

“I’ll run him over with the new car you’re getting me.”

“I really can’t tell if you’re serious.”

“Hear me out,” Man Wol stood up and adjusted her jacket, as if she were ready to execute the outrageous plan she had just shared. “I’ll crash into him right before he steps onto the bridge. His fate remains unchanged, Jessica grieves guilt-free, and I get a new car.”

“Cars are useless in hell, which is where you’ll end up if you do this – in literal hell.” Taeyeon kept her voice even, attempting to mask her anger over Man Wol’s recklessness. “Even if you pushed him down the bridge at the same time he intended to jump, you’ll still be punished for it.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You want to risk it?”

“Better than risking you doing something stupid.”

Taeyeon stood up and headed towards the door, and Man Wol rushed to block it with arms outstretched, as if Taeyeon could not easily teleport past the inconsequential barrier. To her surprise, Taeyeon enveloped Man Wol in an embrace.

“Thank you for being such a good friend,” Taeyeon whispered as Man Wol’s body went limp in her arms.

[Back to Present]

Jessica shuffled away from Taeyeon, tearing her skirt from the abrupt movement. Her hands were trembling, with tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. Jessica felt suffocated, as if the air in the open space were being away.

She knew what happened after. Taeyeon had decided to erase a lifetime of Kris’s memories, effectively removing both his genius and depression, as well as Jessica from his life. Taeyeon had decided that the truth was worse and went along with the narrative Jessica had built in her head – that she was jealous and spiteful and wanted Kris out of the picture. But Jessica never loved Kris, it was a set of misunderstanding that kept piling.

“You’re such an idiot,” Jessica murmured as she gradually crawled towards the resting form, leaned forward, and placed a gentle kiss on Taeyeon’s lips, her second violation of the day.

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Thank you for the comments :) 

Might be a bit rushed because I'm aiming for 12 chapters. 

Hope everyone is doing well.