VOLUME XXVI: Fate Thread ~ Birds in Spring Collection: Waiting Grass

Late spring.

Behind the rotting factory, wild grass grew without limitation in the abandoned fields. It was too much like his love for her. He collapsed on to his back and watched the spring birds fly by, dancing and singing as the arrival of summer drew near. Even though the atmosphere above the field was polluted, dark with smog, the pair of birds paid no attention to it as they chased one another. They had each other. That was all that mattered to them.

Jae sighed heavily.

They were probably mocking him because unlike them, he had no one.

Like a man late for work, the warm breeze hurried through the fields. The tall, swaying grass brushed up against his bruised hand.

He held a small, crumpled piece of parchment scented with lavender oil. Despite the throbbing, he brought the parchment to his lips and inhaled its aroma. The lingering essence of her filled him with yearning. Jae could not bear to look at the words written on it and yet, his heart refused to throw it away.

He told her he loved her. He told her he’d wait. Even through a thousand lives, he would wait for her without remorse. All she did was shake her head. His love hid herself under the cloak, refusing to meet his gaze. She had come to the field to deliver the last letter and he was there, waiting.

He had endangered himself.

“You’ve broken your promise, Jae… we are never to meet like this in the field. You promised me…” She was half angry at him and half afraid for him.

“Don’t worry, princess. They cannot inflict more pain than what my heart had endured by your hand.”

His words were like a thousand daggers through the heart. She turned away from him, afraid of crying. She never allowed anyone to see her cry. Her whole life had been decided and there was no point in going against it. This was no fairytale where she would be rescued by her knight in shining armour. The harsh truth: she was trapped without the slightest chance of escape.

Jae caught the end of her cloak, “Cyndi… come with me…”

She pulled away coldly, “You will address me by my title.” Her voice was calm and indifferent.

Cyndi called for her guards and they appeared.

“Give this poor fool a beating for touching me.” She turned and walked away in silence. The black stone pendant felt cold against her skin. She wondered if his black stone was as cold. He might be a fool but she loved him all the same. He was her only one truelove. Her heart would whisper his name for an eternity.

She was only a vessel, a weapon of destruction. Jae loved her unconditionally but didn’t he understand loving her would bring him nothing but pain and suffering?

As a princess, she was skilled in diplomacy and foreign affairs. Cyndi was not allowed to love any one man, she was trained to juggle the princes of all the other nations. Cyndi was forced to manipulate them until they fought each other, leading their kingdoms to its own death.

Annihilate all other nations, one by on, this was the plan of Queen Jolin. She was a selfish witch, always envious of Cyndi’s natural charms and innocent looks. She wanted Cyndi to suffer a life with no light. Indeed, Jolin had achieved her goal. Cyndi lived in fear. She feared that one day, they would find out about Jae. If they knew her everyday walks in the fields were to complete her promise to him, if they knew she secretly left him letters in the grass, he would be hunted down and terminated without fail. They were afraid that such a man in her life would affect her performance in carrying out Queen Jolin’s sinister plan. 

Cyndi decided to stop coming to the fields. She couldn’t risk killing him. She wanted to see him alive and well. Perhaps he would forget about her and move on. Cyndi wanted to wish him happiness and above all... love. This was the first selfless love the world had ever known.

Jolin was the definition of selfish. She was allowed to love. She would capture all the men she fancied and forced them to like her. They followed her around like hungry dogs in the plaza. There was only one man who escaped her seduction and she had fallen so deeply in love with his handsome face, she refused to enslave him like all the others.

He was the same Jae. He was Cyndi’s Jae.

Jae was willing to give up his freedom to Jolin just to be closer to his princess… just to see her from a closer distance. But it would have made things difficult for her and so he waited.

He waited in the tall grass they use to play in together. The same tall grass they hid letters to each other. What he held in his hand was her last…

[This is my last little gift to you. Don’t wait for me, Jae. Farewell. Good bye.]

Her last gift was a series of nine photos that could be rearranged to spell out her deepest secret.

J-A-E –I—L-O-V-E—U

“I’m afraid I cannot fulfill your last wish, princess. I will wait here for you until I become part of the earth you walk upon.” He whispered her name to the wild grass. He shouted out his love in the wind. He continued until the wild grass grew around him, covering up his blistered lips.

Jae's love rode on the wind...

She heard him call.