Almost Lost You.
300 Into the Future
[-]
"I just don't want it to be taken away."
Dara sighed, placing her fingers on the cold wood of the tower. The ghost of Jiyong's voice still lingers in her mind. Who knows what sort of danger he's facing outside now? How sad is it for someone to be living in constant uncertainty and the fear of being happy? The way his voice sounded so vulnerable and truthful when he said that pricks her inside. Nobody deserve to live like this.
The sound of the conflict and chaos happening in the distance was muffled. There must still be some distance away from here and the direct combat zone. Dara rubbed her hands together in worry. He'll be alright, won't he? Deciding that she won't help the situation in any way like this, Dara decided to properly figure out the mystery behind the phantom fires that had ravaged the towers.
There was originally 6 towers, but only 4 were left standing now, and according to Jiyong, the losses weakened their visibility and defense towards the North side of the boarders. Dara knocked on the wooden pile that supported one side of the tower and frowned. It's hollow inside the wood, which makes it more flammable.
Dara turned away but almost looked back instantly. Something is glistening on the wood and she edged slowly closer to it. A streak of transparent, almost greasy looking liquid is silently running down the leg of the tower, nearly unnoticed. Dara tilted her head slightly, a frown etched on her as she reached the tip of her fingers towards the strange glossy fluid.
Before it could touch, something dripped onto the side of her neck. Surprised, Dara wiped it off with the back of her hand and brought it to her eyes. It seems just like the liquid on the tower and she suddenly realized the pungent smell that is slowly filling the air. The smell is familiar, yet foreign now... It has the odor that filled her room whenever Bom came over with a huge bag of manicure items or when they opened a bottle of badly manufactured nail polish....
Dara's mind stopped.
It's propanol.
Whatever that is burning the towers must be propanol, it's used in nail polishes and it's one of the most flammable agent in the world and....
Why is it dropping profusely on her?
Dara slowly looked up in fear, her mind and mouth frozen in time. On the tip of the tower, a masked, hooded black figure is clinging onto the wooden rods, tipping the contents of the liquid in his bottle down the infrastructure. Dara held her breath, too scared to make a sound as she moved her eyes to her left and right, realizing that the whole tower is drenched by now.
The figure had his eyes fixed in the direction of the distance conflict that's happening at the boarders, keeping a look out for himself. Realizing that the sound of fighting is dying down, the masked arsonist swiftly extracted a matchstick from the inside of his clothes and swiped it against the back of his hard leather glove.
Instantly, a small flame grew from the tip of the match, and upon contact with the air, turned a shade of light blue. Dara widened her eyes; her legs had seemed to lost their sense of feeling; the cobalt colored flame only proved her theory correct; but if it's dropped on the propanol drenched tower, it would flash burn, engulfing the whole tower in seconds-
"DARA!"
Dara turned her vision to her left, still frozen in shock, to see a horrified Jiyong, his eyes shifting from her to the exposed arsonist. Why the is she still standing there for?
The arsonist snapped his head up at the name and immediately turned to see the girl who was hidden under the massive pillars and the wooden structure, meeting Dara's fear filled eyes. For a momentary moment, the arsonist blinked, never expecting anyone to be underneath his target. He turned quickly to the Ice Lord, then back to the trapped girl, his eyes reflecting anguish for a fraction for a second before, (to Dara's shock) crushing the flame in his hand.
In the same exact second, Jiyong fired. The arrow ripped through the air and flew straight at the arsonist, whose eyes were fixed on Dara. He dodged to the side a little too late, and the arrow scraped past his shoulder, opening the black cloth he wore. Not caring if his shot had missed its target for the first time, Jiyong dropped his bow, running straight for Dara. The arsonist pressed his hand on his wound, and with one last, hard look at the girl who foiled his plans, leaped from the tower to another, and then effortlessly over the fence, disappearing into the night.
"Chase!" Sangchul barked at the soldiers behind him, who had just arrived at the scene.
A hand snatched Dara from underneath the tower, and she gasped, realising half a moment later that her voice had returned to her. She hits something metallic before two arms crushed her further towards it.
Beneath the armor, the frantic pounding of Jiyong heart made Dara stiffen in his arms.She can feel his ragged breath on her neck and the smell of him was overpowering. She blinks, slowly regaining the numbed senses of her body that were useless for her to escape from the fuel-drenched tower, and feebly moved her arms a little.
Jiyong pulled her away from him by her shoulders, his eyes reflecting those of a lost doe's and his face pale with the ghost of the earlier scare. For a moment back there, when he saw the small flame and Dara, completely defenseless, underneath wherever that man was going to burn, he almost thought that he was going to lose her. That sudden, very realistic thought set off a kind of fear and pain that he had never felt before.
With his wrist, Jiyong almost obsessively wiped away whatever the substance that was glistening on her forehead, certain that nothing about it is benevolent. Dara, weak with her earlier encounter, was speechless at this side of Jiyong that she haven't seen before. For once since she came to this world, the Crimson-hair, combat excellent and cold Ice Lord looks... afraid.. for the first time.
She couldn't believe it was for her.
"He- it's propanol, Jiyong- the thing he used to burn the- the tower-" Dara stuttered. It was still hard for her to speak and articulate well, but she was suddenly reminded of what she was even there for.
What the hell, all these just to help him catch the culprit? Jiyong thought exasperatedly. He doesn't know what on earth a propanol is and he doesn't want to know currently either. Does she knows that she was almost set ablaze?
"You're so stupid..." Jiyong muttered, pulling her into his chest again, burying his forehead on her shoulder. "You're so stupid, Dara."
Nobody had any idea how much time had passed by and the sky was turning slowly into a faded, dusty shade of dirty blue, symbolizing an imminent dawn. Dara and Jiyong didn't knew how long had they been siting there on the ground with their back leaned against the fence, with the girl's head on the boy's shoulder and his hand holding onto hers.
The breaking of the dawn looked exactly the same as it had did back home. Back in her home. Some part of Dara was glad that even after so many changes in this world, at least the sky she had knew remained the same. She had lost track of the time that she had been here. She knew it had been a while. A while that's long enough for her to develop feeling for the people here. She shifted her head a little to look at Jiyong, and he had his tired eyes casted straight ahead, as if he's asleep with his eyes open. Dara closed her eyes and breathed in his scent.
The reality is always present no matter how much she tries to delay thinking about it. The day will come when she will finally realize her decision to stay here, with Jiyong, who didn't even belonged to her, or to go back the way she came from. The latter would definitely be hard as hell, but she isn't sure either that the reason for her to stay is strong enough for her to abandon the life that she knew. The people and things that existed back home.
Dara silently confessed to herself that she had always held on to the possibility that there must be a way for her to get back home whenever she wants, but is there really? She thought of what Soo Hyuk said, to go back the same way she came from. That would be the river. If somehow it caused her to be transported to this world within that few frozen seconds that she thought was death when she drowned at the Han river, there must be some sort of portal within it that can take her back, right?
Thinking of all these made her head hurt, and Dara, as usual, cowardly pushed away the need to properly think and make a decision. She wasn't ready yet, but she had promised herself that one day she'll be strong enough to tell herself out loud what she really wants.
"Dara,"
Dara looked up at Jiyong's soft voice, and was met with his down-casted gaze at the girl on her shoulder, his thumb unconsciously the back of her hand.
"Hmm?"
"How exactly did you get here?" Jiyong asked. He had never really asked her seriously about it before. He knew she doesn't belong anywhere that is within a calculable distance from Dal, or anywhere they exist now, but he had never bothered to ask how exactly did she end up here. Or rather, he didn't want himself to seem like he cares.
"I.. fell." Dara answered slowly. That fateful day seemed so faraway now. "I was on a bridge, a bridge in Seoul that was really high, and I was trying to stop a fight." Dara said, and Jiyong chuckled softly. That must be how Park Dara is even back in the 21st century, always putting herself in dangerous situations without needing to.
"I fell into the Han River and I remember drowning..." Dara recalled. The actual events had became blurry even to herself. "The next thing I see was you in the water and pulling me up, and then I'm here."
Jiyong listened in silence. Should he be thankful that she fell into the river? He doesn't know how much she misses home, but he's thankful, no matter how much he tries to deny it to himself, of her entrance into his life. He has to admit that his well routined and strategized life was jeopardized by her in the most troublesome, yet amazing way ever. He didn't even know that he is capable of feeling these kind of emotions that she causes him to have. He didn't even know how much meaning life has when he has someone that he wants to protect and wants to see everyday when he wakes up, even though he tries not to show it, even though he tries not to endanger her life more by associating someone like him to someone as precious like her.
It has become harder and harder for Jiyong to hide his emotions as the days past, and it has become harder and harder for him to deny it to himself. He knows it's a battle long lost, but he's afraid. He's afraid of the consequences he'll have to face if she gets into an inkling of harm because of him. Like just now, he nearly died at her encounter. What if he isn't capable to protecting her like he did just now? What if one day, he just couldn't react fast enough? Will he be strong enough to face the aftermath? He felt like he has already lost too much, he couldn't afford to add her to the list.
"You're not safe with me, Dara." Jiyong admits with a deep exhale, resting his face on the side of her head as he shuts his eyes.
"Where else can I be safer at?" Dara asked softly, her sight fixed on the sky that is turning less dim by the minute.
Jiyong didn't have an answer for that. He had always just considered the dangers and potential threats she'll face with him, but not the protection she'll get without him. Who else will he trust her with? Who else can he leave her with; with the her who had slowly but surely became a part of his life.
"Who is that friend you hang out with? What does he do for a living?" Jiyong asked instead when he doesn't know how to answer her.
"Soo Hyuk." Dara replied, playing with the hem of his sleeve. "He changes jobs frequently- just can't stay at any particular work." she shrugs, smiling a little at the reminder of how Soo Hyuk will complain loudly about the disadvantages of his most recently quitted jobs in an attempt to justify it. "But nowadays he's working at the historian's. Who knows how long he'll stay there."
Jiyong notices the small smile hanging on her lips as she said that, and the thought of her friend Soo Hyuk is starting to irk him a little.
"Sometimes you're the fourth prince and sometimes you're Jiyong." Dara muttered unconsciously, sighing. She knew that he has his responsibility and commitments as someone holding a status, and that everything from his outer coldness to her, to his engagement with the Pyul Princess are all part of it, and a small part of her wishes that he was just a common Jiyong, or even better, if he had existed in her time.
"What's the difference?" Jiyong whispers calmly. "They're one of a same kind. Both ruthless, both stone-like, both alone. They're both monsters."
Dara got up from his shoulder and straighten up, facing him with an astonished expression, shocked that he would've thought of himself like this.
"No!" She frowned with worry. "You as the fourth prince isn't ruthless or stone hearted- You had your duties and responsibilities as someone like that and things to be done. And I know you, as Jiyong, is warm hearted. You're not alone, either. You're just lonely. And scared."
"You're scared of yourself and who you think you are. You're scared of your past and you're scared of your future. You're scared of being happy or hopeful at all, because that's what everyone that held hopes and had them destroyed feels. You're scared of life and you're scared of love. You're scared of everything that makes you feel more than emotionless." Dara went on agitatedly.
Jiyong blinks blankly at Dara, who's breathing heavily. Never once had anyone pointed him out like this. The fears that he had so hard tried to conceal; he wasn't even aware that some of them existed until she mentions it. She sees all of it- all these flaws. Why would she still like him?
"You know everything." Jiyong said, with a ghost of a sad smile on his lips.
"Of course..." Dara murmured, leaning back down.
"Then why would you still like someone like that?" Jiyong questioned, tilting his head a little to glance at her.
"Because you're not like that. I know it'll go away, it must, and one day it will. Because you are brave despite all these. Because you spend your days living selflessly for others without regards for f yourself. Because I know you care for me and I know you are the only one who's able to make me feel safe in this foreign place. Because I trust you and because I realized you're the reason that I don't bear to leave this place behind and just head back home and because I-"
Dara was cut off mid sentence as Jiyong slammed his lips on hers, his hands gripping tightly on her shoulders. He knew he had reached his breaking point way before her fifth 'because' and he had never felt that sudden explosion of affection and love for this woman that he had so long been trying to conceal.
Dara blinked rapidly as she was locked in position, her eyes fixed on his closed lids, her mind unable to respond from his sudden advance. It was her first kiss, and she didn't know how to react. Her heart thudded so hard in her chest that she feels like she's going to hyperventilate any second from now, but at the same time, a small eruption of happiness had occurred inside her.
He loves her back.
She has never felt something more reassuring than this before. And slowly, slowly, her eyelids fluttered close too.
Jiyong's clench on her shoulders slackened as she sunk into the kiss, sliding an arm around her waist and the other's palm pressed on the wall behind them for support as he shifted closer to her. He's aware of what he's doing but he can't stop himself. He guess he'll figure out how to explain this later. For now, for once, he just want to go out of plan. He didn't want her to seem like a fool explaining a thousand and one reasons of why she loved him without letting her know that he feels the same; She didn't deserved to be treated like that.
Jiyong slowly pulled away and opened his eyes, to see Dara's fists clenched together on her lap, her eyes closed tightly shut with a nervous look on her face. He stifled a soft laugh at how adorable she looked, and gave her nose a small peck, which made her cautiously open her eyes.
"Get it?" Jiyong asked Dara softly.
Dara nodded, her lips gently arching upwards before she nodded again, this time more definitely. Jiyong grinned a little at her reply, and she was sure that she had never seen someone as beautiful as he is, and probably never will.
"My half-brother and father should know about the towers by now." Jiyong noted as the sky is stained a light orange by the sun that has yet to rise. "We need to go." He said, getting up and dusting himself off before turning back to her, and stretching out a hand.
It's like the time where she had attempted to run away from this place on her own during her first few days here, where she escaped into the trap-filled forbidden bamboo forest, and when he had pushed her to the ground and out of danger before offering his hand to help her up. Dara smiled at the memory, grabbing his hand and stood up.
To her small surprise, he didn't let go after she was on her feet.
He almost lost her today and no one has any idea how relieved and thankful he is for her to be well and alive beside him now. Everything else seemed so unimportant. He was so afraid to see her directly in the path of the attacker and out of his reach that for a moment, he was scared that he wouldn't get the chance to let her know that he actually loves her and was hiding it all along because he was such a wimp and a coward. Nothing else seems to matter at this moment. The world and his insecurities can wait.
Behind them, the sun rose, painting the sky into a vivid shade of orange which shone down on them, but none of them look back at the majestic sight of nature before them.
Because for now, this moment was more beautiful than anything else.
Author unavailable because she's running around screaming in her highest pitch
and unglamourously fangirling over her own writing
Comment something and talk to me my babies~ Anything will do, for example,
where're you guys from? I'll try to reply to yaall!
(Maybe I should come up with something to call you guys, my lovely readersss)
For now, Hasta La Vista
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