Chapter 15

Jaejoong sat on the edge of Yuri’s bed, holding her warm hands in his own, ‘Should I tell her?’ This was one of the questions he had been struggling with for days. He hated lying to Yuri, for it made his conscience ashamed to keep even the littlest things from her & the fact that he was immortal was no small thing, ‘But how much will I have to hurt her for the truth to be set free?’

Jaejoong clenched his fists in anger, only to find his palms were glistening & slippery with sweat. It was as if god had put them on opposite ends of the spectrum of life, with a wide, un-navigateable distance between them, ‘Can the distance be so far that not even love can breech it?’ Surely, god wouldn’t let that happen, he had to intervene, he just had to.

In his desperate musings, a tear fell unnoticed from Jaejoong’s already blood-shot eye to land on Yuri’s cheek. She stirred & her eyelids fluttered open. She ran her tongue over her cracked, dry lips to moisten them until they were gleaming in the dark, soft & inviting. Smiling tentatively, Yuri blinked at him a couple of times in a bemused sort of way, as if she had forgotten where she was before struggling & pulling herself up into a sitting position.

Jaejoong realized he had been holding his breath & let it out slowly, easing it between his lips, “Yuri, I...you are awake.” He looked away. That wasn’t what he wanted to say, he had been on the verge of blurting out the truth but managed to shut his mouth just in time.

“Jaejoong Oppa? Why are you still here?” Yuri murmured sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her fists, obviously not catching his slight slip of the tongue. Jaejoong noticed with an unpleasant shock how fragile & delicate her small hand really was. She sat up more alertly, “It’s in the middle of the night. You should be getting some rest. Plus.” Yuri bit her bottom lips to stop a smile from escaping, “This is immodest because people will think we were up to something.”

‘Only you can make me laugh at a time like this.’ Jaejoong thought, chuckling “Well.” He smiled mischievously, “We were.” Catching her hands as Yuri made to swat him playfully, he brought them up to his lips & dropped a butterfly kiss on each finger. He couldn’t keep a grin away as he remembered when he had claimed her body with his own, loving her with all he had.

“You really should be getting some rest though.” Yuri detangled her hands away from Jaejoong’s & gently traced the curve of his strong jaw line. He hadn’t shaved for a few days & she could feel the beginning of a rough stubble under her hands, “Or you are going to get sick then what am I supposed to do?” She smiled impishly, gazing at him with eloquent eyes.

Jaejoong recaptured those shapely hands of hers, even as he felt himself drowning in her alluring eyes. How could he resists its purity? Its innocence? “Yuri, I want to tell you something.” Even as he fought, the walls of his defenses began to crumble, as he felt himself surrendering under her innocent gazes, “I...I can live forever. I’m immortal.” Those words, so insufficient to cover what he wanted to say, seemed to have been drawn out of him unwillingly.

Immediately, Jaejoong wanted to kick himself. Well, he did mentally, quite a few times, ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid!’ He cursed silently, ‘Why did I just blurted out the truth so brazenly like that? After all these years, why couldn’t I just kept my mouth zipped?’ He stole a glance at Yuri, almost afraid to see her reaction.

There was none. She didn’t faint or start accusing him of lying to her or any other thing a typical person would have done in the same situation. Yuri just simply stared at him, as if trying to decide whether he was joking or not. She was inclined to think he was. The idea of Jaejoong, her Jaejoong, being immortal was too alien to think about. If only he didn’t sound so serious, so earnest about it.

“That’s not funny.” Yuri frowned, searching his face intently, hoping against hope to see his eyes twinkle & hear, ‘I’m just kidding’, in that low, tenor voice of his.

“Of course, its not funny.” Jaejoong said softly, afraid to startled her even more. He didn’t even think about the indignation of Yuri not believing him, for he could only guess how he would feel if he was her, “It’s the truth.” Jaejoong would have given everything for it not to be the truth, for it to be nothing but a hellish nightmare but nothing can change the past.

Life doesn’t come with erasers.

Yuri just continued to blink at him, her gaze wavering only slightly. It was all too un-comprehendible.

She tilted her head, assessing him. After the initial shock, her mind began to reel. Knowing her the way he did, Jaejoong guessed she was putting the pieces together. It was all too absurd, yet it all made perfect senses. Why he didn’t die after he got hit by the car when no ordinary person could have possibly survived it. Why he never mentioned anything about his past, why his store was named everlasting boutique.

Jaejoong was immortal.

The concept finally sunk in like heavy concrete. Yuri had no idea what to think, her tired mind felt like lead, burdened with the absurd but true concept. She decided to start with the simplest part of the problem & work her way up from there, “So, you have been lying to me then?” Her voice held no traces of anger, just a resigned, desperate note.

Jaejoong, beyond relieved to finally get a responses from the silent Yuri, knew he owned her an explanation. Slowly, painfully, he told her everything that he had buried deep within his soul, starting from Bitna, to the betrayal. How Bitna’s father had shot him. The meeting with the goddess. Everything. Jaejoong extracted all he could recall, painting a vivid picture of his past life for her. It cost him every ounce of energy & determination to do so, yet he sensed he would feel better after he had finished, it was sort of like extracting poison. He spoke non-stop for at least half an hour until his sore throat screamed for water.

“Then you should have never spent so much time with me!” Yuri cried in anguish, as he finished before she could help herself. He had listened in almost unbroken silence, only exclaiming when Jaejoong described how the bullet had tore through his chest but his prophecy from the goddess had been too much, as pain & sorrow rolled over her like a wave in the storm, “You should have been looking for the right woman to break your spell.”

Jaejoong tightened his grip on both of her hands as Yuri tried to draw them away, causing her to cry out in pain, “No! Don’t you understand?! I don’t care about that anymore!” His vehement voice softened, “I only want you by my side. That’s enough for me.”

“That’s the problem. I can’t be by your side for much longer.” Shaking her head fiercely, Yuri’s eyes filled with tears & constricted painfully. What she wouldn’t give to be the one that Jaejoong needed but fate didn’t will it that way. Their stars were crossed & there was nothing she could do about it, “I’m not your true love, I can’t break the…”

“I don’t give a damn about that!” Jaejoong yelled, frustration etched into every word, “I don’t care about what the goddess said!” Again, he lowered his voice to barely above a whisper so Yuri had to strain to hear him, “Yuri, even if what we have isn’t true love, its an eternal love one thousand times more powerful than that. Nothing can tear us apart, not even death.” The words came out in a fast rush, in his agonization to make her understand. Jaejoong deeply regretted what he had thought not an hour ago, about not being able to breach the distance between them. He knew he had underestimated the force & power of love, “It doesn’t matter that we are on opposite ends of the spectrum, our love will make it. You know it will.”

Yuri sat in silence as Jaejoong’s hands reached out to brush a tear away from her cheek. A thousand reasons of why their love wouldn’t make it ran through her mind but even as Yuri opened to retort his point, she knew she had lost. She had lost the battle the day she walked into everlasting boutique.

“Oppa, I.” She didn’t have anymore energy & willpower left to continue her fight, ‘You know it will.’ His voice echoed in her mind. How could she know that? All she knew was that she had cost Jaejoong the chance for mortality. She didn’t know but she would try. God, she would try.

Yuri looked straight into Jaejoong’s searching eyes & he knew she had accepted his immortality, knew she had accepted his love for her. It was as clear as if she had spoken, “Promise me something then, Yuri.” Jaejoong whispered, that low, soothing voice playing havoc with her nerves. He tilted his head towards her, “Promise with the world as our witness.”

They were only millimeters apart, with nothing between them but a thin veil of air. Yuri could feel his shallow breaths tickling her cheek & could smell the fresh scent of Jaejoong’s light cologne.

Everything had gone absolutely still & eerily silent. The soft curtains stopped rustling & swaying, instead hanging limply to frame the sides of the window. A solitary sliver of moonlight found its way through the window, hitting the tiles of the ceramic floor & reflecting on Yuri’s form. The whole universe seemed to stop in its course as it waited for her answer.

Yuri shivered slightly but not from the cold. So much depended on those few words she was supposed to say but how could she say them? She wasn’t going to get better & that was a known fact. So how could she utter a promise, knowing it was less of a promise & more of a desperate plea for hope? A hope that the heavens would notice them & take pity on them but Jaejoong, Jaejoong had so little. He had an eternity of time but no family, no love, nothing that mattered to him. Yuri could give him all she had; love, companionship, the rest of her life but that wouldn’t be enough to get him through his eternity of time. If she could give him hope then hell, she would. If there were consequences, so be it.

Jaejoong’s face swam before her, still passionate in his desperation, still waiting for her to speak. Yuri parted her lips with effort but when she spoke, it was clear & melodic, “I promise Oppa, to be by your side until eternity comes to an end, until the end of time & beyond.”

The moon suddenly vanished behind a cloud & a fierce, cold wind blew into the room, rustling the curtains.

“I love yo.” Her one fateful sentence was cut short as she fell into Jaejoong’s chest. Motionless, still.