25: beyond the boundary

Mingi and Yunho shout at the top of their lungs as they are chased around by Byeol - who wants to play around with them, but in the form of a dragon - and it results in them almost being burned alive as she 'playfully' breathes out fire. Her body keeps slinking in between the arranged chairs outdoors, knocking them over as she doesn't realize she's currently in a different form, where cuddles and chasing games are different than when she's a cat.

"Byeol, why are you chasing us- AHHHHH!" Mingi jumps from side to side as he avoids the fire coming out of Byeol's mouth. "Have mercy on us!" But she doesn't listen as she keeps nudging them using her snout, urging them to be the mice in her modified version of a cat-and-mouse game.

Yunho has tears in his eyes as he lifts up his arms high up in the air, pleading for his life to be spared when Byeol shows no sign of stopping. "Where the frick is Choi San and Choi Jongho? They're letting their beast of a pet loose and we're about to become her next meal!"

Wooyoung watches from his seat as he shouts to answer him, "San and Jongho are eating, they say that they'll get back to Byeol once they're done. In the meantime, they ask for your kind hearts to look over her and entertain her. It doesn't take much to make Byeol happy, according to them."

"Well it does take much!" Mingi shouts angrily as he skitters and tries to outsmart Byeol by running to the other side. "Our bodies are about to be sacrificed!"

"Well this is definitely entertaining," Yeosang chuckles. "Byeol is the most perfect pet to have."

"Just play with her a little bit longer," San cups his mouth and shouts. "We're almost done." Then after a beat, he adds, "Thanks, we owe you a lot!"

"You definitely owe us a lot!" Yunho tumbles to the ground before he squeals, but not before Byeol wiggles her body and he widens his eyes. "No, no, no! Don't do that-" He gets squashed underneath her belly as she jumps over him, in an effort to cuddle with him. "This-" he gasps, trying to find air before getting squashed again, "-is not-" he gasps again, "-cuddling! This is murder!"

"Shhh," Jongho waves his fork around. "Don't mention about murders at a wedding. So disrespectful." Then he turns to his food again, happily chomping down on the last bit of cold noodles.

"Well we won't talk about it-" Mingi squeals as he ducks, him being targeted as Byeol's cuddling partner next, "-if Byeol isn't trying to kill us!" He screams another high-pitched one as he gets tackled the ground, Byeol assaulting him with her nose, as if prompting him to pet her head. With a shaking hand and defeated from being assaulted by the dragon, he pets her head and she lets out a puff of air in satisfaction.

When San and Jongho finally approach them, Byeol returns back to her cat form, whereas Yunho and Mingi look like they've been betrayed their whole lives.

"Byeol..." Yunho croaks, his eyes wide as his hair is tousled and his suit torn at the shoulder. "You could've... played with us... while being a cat..." He collapses to the ground, losing consciousness.

As if guilty, Byeol trots over to him and licks his face, pawing at him until he wakes up in a few minutes. She meows loudly before hitting his face repeatedly without mercy, and Yunho is almost crying while he tries to struggle free from the attacks coming from Byeol.

"Byeol seems to like both of you a lot," Jongho comments. "Look at her trying to show her affection to Yunho."

Mingi deadpans. "If that is what love feels like, I'd rather feel nothing for my whole life. I almost lost her life thanks to her."

"But she likes you!" San says cheerily as he pries away Byeol from Yunho. Byeol returns to her calm state as San holds her, and she snuggles cosily at the crook of his arm. "That's a compliment, to have a shapeshifting pet liking you. Gives you a lot of advantage and you can ask help from her anytime."

Yunho looks at Byeol slack-jawed as he compares the way Byeol acts around him and Mingi, with the way she acts around the twins. "Well, I do love being showed affection by Byeol," he replies sarcastically.

"Do you want more?" San asks innocently as he stretches out his arms with Byeol in his hands.

"No!" Yunho shouts in horror before retreating. "Get her away from me."

"Aw," Jongho coos. "You just offended the kitty. Byeol said she's mad at you and Mingi for not liking her show of affection. Look, she's crying- our baby is crying!" he says dramatically. His mouth is pouting as he tries to coax Byeol, who has her head tucked underneath San's armpit. "What was that?" he asks as he lowers down his head near Byeol's face.

Byeol meows and Jongho listens attentively, nodding once in a while.

"Alright, I'll relay the message to him." He straightens up his body then turns to Yunho. "She said that you'll be her first meal the next time she turns into a dragon." He turns to Mingi next, "You're the second."

Yunho and Mingi gasp before screaming in horror, hugging each other.

Jongho smirks. "Just kidding. She said that she's sorry because she's too excited that she forgot she was a dragon. She asked if it's okay if she were to play with you in the form of a cat instead."

Mingi narrows his eyes before turning to Yunho, them communicating silently. "Only when she's a cat. She can't be chasing us when she's a dragon and breathing fire. We're about to become human toast and we didn't appreciate that."

Byeol meows shortly before untucking her head from underneath San's armpit.

San nods while closing his eyes and a smile on his face. "She agrees, and she's sorry again."

Yunho and Mingi untangle themselves from each other before standing up, approaching Byeol warily. Tucked in San's arms, Byeol looks up at them with her sparkly eyes.

"Promise me that you won't chase us when you're a dragon," Yunho utters as he puts out a hand. Byeol nods once before putting out her paw, and Yunho shakes it. "That's a deal, okay? No more cuddling fests when you're a dragon." She licks Yunho's hand as a sign of agreement.

"Are you guys seriously making a deal with a cat?" Wooyoung goes over to them, joined in by Yeosang. When Byeol does a low growl and looks at him, he continues, "I swear Byeol hates me; she always has this look whenever I'm around."

"What do you mean look? She just naturally looks like that," Yeosang interjects. "Right, Byeol? Look at Wooyoung trying to blame you for something you didn't do." He pets her and she purrs, rubbing her head against his palm and looking at him lovingly.

"Uh-oh," San utters.

"What's wrong?" Yeosang frowns. "Did Byeol talk bad about me while giving me the cutest face ever? Is she insulting me?"

"No, no," Jongho says gravely. "She says that you're-" he stops.

"Handsome," San and Jongho say simultaneously.

"We think that she has... fallen in love with you, a human," San says with a hint of disgust. "Byeol, you can't do that! He's human and you're a cat!"

"I mean," Yeosang shrugs while smirking. "Who wouldn't fall in love with me, though? Did you guys forget? I always have to wear a mask because people will fall in love the moment they see me. I can't believe that cats think the same too- wait where are you guys going? Why are you running?"

"We're thinking about congratulating the brides and grooms today," San exclaims as he tries to restrain a wiggling Byeol. "You cannot fall in love with a human, Byeol!" he whispers furiously to his cat. "Hmm... I wonder where they are. Oooh, there's Seonghwa and Serim!"

He waves to them, and they approach him while beaming. Hongjoong and Narae join them next, looking equally bright as they gather at one table. San lets Byeol go, who immediately walks across the table to get to where Yeosang is before jumping onto his lap.

The siblings look at each other but Narae beats her brother to it as she claims, "Now that I'm married to Hongjoong," she lifts up their intertwined hands to show them to his brother, "your warning is no longer valid. The at-least-two-metres social distancing is obsolete." She sticks out her tongue.

Seonghwa does a face imitating her before he mimicks her voice, but in a higher-pitched tone. "As if you followed my warning." He sticks out his tongue and wiggles his shoulders, putting up his intertwined hands with Serim next. "I got married too."

Wooyoung groans before rolling his eyes. "Stop, you're making us feel the second-hand embarrassment. We get it, both of you are now married, congratulations!" He does a fake-cheer before his face falls to a poker face. "Narae, Jinju, whatever. I'm still waiting for my princess; you could've included the story about me meeting someone in the earlier parts."

Yeosang slaps a hand to the back of Wooyoung's head. "Nothing in the past can be changed anymore, and the story was supposed to be about Narae, not you, idiot."

Narae chuckles before lifting up her eyebrows. "I'm sure you'll find your one and only some time later. No worries, you're not in a rush to finish anything. We have all the time in the world."

Wooyoung's shoulders sag before he drops to the table and rests his chin on it. "I wonder when that time will come."

"I think one of my sisters is interested in you," Yeosang comments as his hand brushes over Byeol's body. "If you don't mind someone older than you."

"Really?" Wooyoung eyes light up as he straightens his body. "You know what, I'm ready to treat my princess right."

Yeosang crinkles his nose. "I don't think I'll ever approve of it though."

"Kang Yeosang," Wooyoung deadpans.

"I never thought that I'd see the day that both the prince and princess of Inis have their humble weddings in the palace compound," Yunho changes the topic. "Just a simple garden wedding with only the closest people as their guests." The rest of them nod in agreement.

"We always thought that the royals of the Inis Realm would have the grandest weddings ever, attended by people from all over the empire," Mingi adds.

"Well, that's what our characters would do," Seonghwa says as he glances at Serim. "But it's a whole different story now, literally. If we're still in that story, I wouldn't even dream of holding Serim's hand in public. I'm glad that it's different now," he puts up his hand and twists it so that he'll be able to land a kiss on the back of her hand. "Now this is a whole fairytale I like living in."

"Oh my gosh," Jongho cringes. "I think I'm getting diabetes."

Narae chuckles before she utters, "Both you and Serim in the other world are the same. The two of you always make the others around you feel like the loneliest person on the planet."

"I'm glad that's the case. Even if we're in different worlds we're still made for each other," Seonghwa says dreamily before planting a kiss on a blushing Serim's cheek.

"Stop," San whines as he slaps his hands on both his eyes, rubbing them furiously. "I think my eyes are burning!"

"Isn't that the case for both of you too, then?" Mingi drags the attention to Narae and Hongjoong. "Soulmates who find each other even in different worlds."

"Well technically," Narae looks guilty. "I kind of made that part up, since I wrote that story... about Hongjoong... falling in love with Narae..."

"You must be really lonely," Wooyoung shakes his head. "Sounds kind of delusional to me."

"Well technically," she shoots back, "firstly, I didn't think of Narae as myself-"

"Sure you did not," Yeosang refutes.

She retreats, "Maybe a little bit, and secondly, but most importantly, I had no idea that I'll literally be living in the dream I made up. So I just wrote a story that was up to my imagination, without having a thought that I would somehow wake up in it. So in my defense, it was simply a story I made with characters based off people I know. I had no clue that I'd wake up as Narae."

"Fair point," Wooyoung sticks out his lower lip. "Buttttttt," he narrows his eyes, "you must've really liked that Kim Hongjoong-" he corrects himself as he refers to Hongjoong, "-you, of course, a lot. For you to write a love story with him as the main character's love interest."

"I mean," Narae feels her cheeks getting hotter from the interrogation, "he was the reason I started writing again. Plus I was a lonely girl with cancer and no hopes of a love life, so you could have given me a little bit of a free pass."

"Fine," Wooyoung shrugs. "Explanation accepted."

"What about you writing that part about you having dated Yunho and the twins, though?" Yeosang butts in. "It never happened, but the description was wild."

Narae takes a moment to think before throwing her hair over her shoulders. "Well, for once, that was my best friend's idea. She told me 'Since you're making a character who's really bitchy and whiny, why don't you make her a player? Something to spice it up.'" Narae tries to do her best impression of Serim. "It was just something we came up while trying to have fun with the story. Well..." She trails off before grimacing, "At least we now know that it's not true... is it? I've never dated any of you in the past."

"Because the past literally doesn't exist," Yunho adds. He pretends to be offended, "I can't believe you made me into someone who would cry for a week because you broke up with me." He shakes his head while closing his eyes. "That's not me."

"Sorry, but it was actually Yunho's idea," Narae winces. "We just had a little bit too much fun while crafting Narae's character. We wanted to come up with someone who apparently is loved even though her attitude is shit."

"But now we know that you're not like that," Mingi utters. "You didn't change after you woke up from the coma- that is who you are. Plus, Hongjoong is the only one made for you."

"Even if she didn't write about that part of me falling in love with her," Hongjoong speaks up, breaking his silence. "I would anyway, no matter here," he rubs his thumb on the back of her palm, "or there. When she is Oh Jinju, or when she is Park Narae."

"Wait," Yunho stops them as he clutches his chest. "That was so damn sweet. That means you really look at who she is inside, instead of only focusing on her appearance. You have my utmost respect, Your Majesty." Yunho does a slight bow.

They laugh as Hongjoong lifts up his eyebrows with a smug look on his face while Seonghwa immediately wails, as if he's remembered of something suddenly.

"Why are you suddenly screeching like a bird?" Yeosang winces.

"I just remembered something," Seonghwa pouts. "I just remembered that Narae won't be in the Inis palace anymore, because she'll follow her husband back to Natur." He pretends to look like as if he's crying, wiping fake tears from his eyes. Then he pauses for dramatic effect before continuing, "I'm so happy my annoying sister won't be here anymore, I definitely won't miss her."

"Park Seonghwa!" Narae shouts before attempting to reach over Serim and twisting his ear until its red. Serim only watches on, trying to subdue her laughter at the expense of Seonghwa's suffering. "I'll make sure I'll visit every single day simply to annoy you. After you rise on the throne, I'll make sure your life is living hell." She crosses her arms.

"I'm kidding," Seonghwa drawls. "Of course I'll miss you. Kim Hongjoong, even though you're married to her now, remember the fact that I'm still her older brother. I won't hesitate to uproot and wreak havoc in your realm if you ever hurt my sister." He puts up an 'OK' sign, "Okay?"

"Su...re..." Hongjoong says carefully. "I'll keep that in mind."

"And you," Narae turns the attention to her brother next, "if you ever hurt my best friend, I won't hesitate to kick you. No mercy."

Seonghwa and Narae stare at each other before both of them break into laughter and the former stops laughing first, this time his voice softening. "I really would miss you, my sister. I hope that your new life in Natur is as amazing as here, or even better."

Narae glances at Hongjoong, who nods at her in assurance. "Well, I'm sure that I'll enjoy anywhere I'm at, as long as I'm with the right people." She looks at the rest of them, "With you guys. And especially... my new sister-in-law, my best friend, Serim. I can never thank you enough, without you... this wouldn't happen."

"Not me," Serim reminds her as she taps Narae's hands with hers. "But my counterpart, in your previous life."

"I wrote about you while thinking of my best friend. And I know this sounds really funny, but you, Jo Serim, reminds me a lot of my best friend, Jo Serim. I'm grateful for that. The rest of you too... I'm grateful to have all of you, because it feels like I never actually left. I still have the same people I love here." She feels Hongjoong slightly gripping her shoulder. "It still feels like a dream to me, right now and I'm scared that the next day it'll all be gone again."

"But it's not," Jongho says softly. "We might not have the best beginnings, but we'll pave our own story from now on. We might not have memories of the past because we literally were created like, this." He gestures to himself. "But we're more than grateful to exist, to be more than just characters in a story."

"Since you didn't know what the Arcus is, and none of us do now," Yeosang enunciates. "The best bet is that the Arcus is the book. Quite frankly, it's magic that came alive and now sustained."

"Where did you get the book from your real world?" Wooyoung sticks out his lower lip, mulling over the fact. "Since you said that from your previous world, you don't have all this... magic or powers like we possess. Wouldn't it be an anomaly to have something like this back in your world?"

Narae exhales, then puts her elbows on the table and rests her chin on her palm. "Well... I got the book from Seonghwa-" Seonghwa glances at her, "-the other Seonghwa. He's not my real brother but since we met he treats me like one. He didn't tell me where he bought it, and he gave it to me because he said that he just found out that I liked to write. It just seemed like a plain black book, to be honest. You're right, it's something... magical?" She shrugs, "It all definitely started from the book."

They nod as some of them have their mouths slightly hanging open. Despite them knowing their point of existence, it's still hard for them to wrap their heads around the fact that somewhere at this exact moment, someone else who look the same as them exist in their own world.

"The most simple explanation is," Yunho grins, "magic."

"Or from what I read," Mingi starts to explain, "how there are such things called as parallel universes-"

"Mingi, Mingi," Wooyoung waves his hand in front of the prince of ice's face. "No one wants to hear that now, we're already in a relaxed mood, so no need for that heavy stuff. What I want right now is another round of food. Now," he stands up, "congratulations to both the grooms and brides today, your cousin is now off to the banquet table. Anyone wants to follow?"

Yunho, San and Jongho's hands immediately shoot up. The twins then disappear in a cloud of black smoke before materializing next to the banquet table, hands already reaching for some desserts while Wooyoung appears not long after. Yunho grumbles about having to walk over like a normal person as he pushes his chair in, whereas Mingi is pouting as he was interrupted. Yeosang is still busy with Byeol who is currently playing around with him and pawing at his hair, purring with contempt.

Seeing everyone else is spending time by themselves, Hongjoong pulls Narae with him to get away from the wedding crowd. They get on the pavilion; a place where it's supposed to be her place of solitary, but now that she'll move to Natur, she'll have to leave it behind.

Narae takes the opportunity to take off her high heels, massaging the area around her ankles as she takes a seat on the bench. She sighs, "I'm not used to wearing heels."

Hongjoong kneels down and inspects her feet, noting that it's slightly swollen and he frowns, but when he turns to look at her she's smiling. He gets taken by surprise as he utters, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing. I find it funny how we're both a princess and a king here when back then I was a patient and you're a volunteer at the hospital. How fast things took a turn."

He takes a seat next to her on the bench, facing nothing worth noting. "You're a queen now, and I wasn't just a volunteer at the hospital. I was a patient too, even though I hated being called that."

"You were?" She sounds really surprised that Hongjoong has to take a look at her face to make sure she's not mad at him for not telling it to her earlier.

"I needed to do dialysis on three days every week, so those were the days that I got to see you."

"Ahh..." she trails off. "Was that why you're always there on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays?"

He nods. "I wanted to go on other days too but I didn't want to seem too eager." He scratches his head, "I didn't want you to notice that I was waiting so eagerly for you to come down to the piano. I was pretending to not notice whenever you creep behind me as if you're going to scare me."

"But now you're stuck with me every day, and you have to deal with me." She puts up her left hand to show her wedding ring. "Sorry."

He chuckles before pulling her into a hug. "Looks like I am, but this is the happiest day of my life. For both the lives I'm living. I love you, my princess, my angel, my queen."

"Stop, that's making me cringe so hard," she winces as she pulls away. Not long after her expression changes as her face breaks into a naughty smile and she nudges him, "Now that we're married..."

"What?"

"How many kids do you want to have?"

Hongjoong looks like he's choking as he gets asked the question, and she cackles beside him like an evil witch. He blinks before he tries to form a sentence, "Are you... always this... brave?"

She knits her eyebrows as she claims, "We're married, and that's a natural thing to ask. Are you," she gasps, "thinking of none?"

"Well..." he challenges her, "I was thinking of at least 5."

Her eyes go wide as her cheeks turn red, realizing how Hongjoong has turned her game against her. "At... least...?" she croaks.

"Hmm," he nods seriously, "at least. We have a lot of time in our hands..."

She bares her teeth and giving him an awkward smile, she scoots away from him slowly.

"Where are you going?" he asks casually.

"What do you mean where I'm going? I'm not even moving," she says as she scoots further.

"I feel like you're getting farther away from me."

"I think you're only imagining things."

"Oh really?" he smirks as he stands up and before she can say anything, he scoops her up to bring her out of the pavilion.

He carries her all the way into the palace, leaving behind the wedding reception and she closes her eyes when her mind is starting to go places. Several of the maids bow their heads and hide their smiles at the sight of Hongjoong carrying his bride with ease. As soon as he uses his shoulder to open the door, he places her down, with her still having her eyes closed.

"Wait, you're thinking of doing it now?!" she exclaims in horror.

"Do what?" Hongjoong blinks. "And why are you closing your eyes?"

Still with her eyes closed, she stammers, "I- I- know that I kept poking fun at you but I'm not ready. I've never been with a man before-"

"Narae, what are you talking about? What do you think we're doing at the palace's library?"

"Oh." She opens one eye before opening the other, heaving a loud sigh of relief. "Ah, I didn't know where we were going."

"That's because you were closing your eyes-" he narrows his eyes, "What were you thinking of?"

"Nothing." Her eyes dart away from him as she presses her lips together. She quickly changes the subject. "What are we doing in the library?" She stands up from the couch as she traces her hands on the books. "The Arcus?"

He nods. Taking his hands from behind his back he walks over to the display where they have stored the book in a glass case. It has now become something precious, something that they have to protect in case the balance of this world is tilted yet again.

He opens them to the page where Serim had written for the story to continue. Automatically Narae's eyes read the last line written.

As they have found their reason of existence, the people go on to craft and create stories of their own, watching as their lives take shape the way they have planned to, even without having it written down.

"Thanks to her, we're here right now."

"But indirectly," Narae pauses. "That caused you to lose on the other side."

"Didn't seem like a loss to me when I woke up here."

She thinks over for a moment before she gets up to find something to write with. She takes a deep breath and he looks over her shoulder to know what she's doing.

She mutters, "You know how I wrote a letter on the last pages of this book and it also appeared here, in this world?" When he gives an agreement, she says, "I wonder if the reverse would be the same. If I write something down here, whether those on the other side will get to see it or not."

She starts writing, but it's only a short message. After she's done, she gets up and places back the book in the display.

"Now that it's done and we really are not turning back now, there are a lot of stuff that I need to learn. I don't know how I'd be a queen to a realm that I created, I still haven't gotten back my powers but I feel like I won't and this world still feels like a mystery to me."

Hongjoong hugs her from behind and rests his chin on her shoulder. "We can figure it out together." He kisses her cheek, whispering, "We'll be busy from now on."

She sinks into his embrace, resting her head against his shoulder and closing her eyes. She drowns in his scent, a strong reminder of what sparked her realization, connecting the music that she was so desperate to find the meaning behind. What lies ahead of them remains a mystery, but at least now they know that the story they're about to craft together will see no limit.

I found the Arcus and got my memories back. Looks like the story did go in the direction I wanted it to, even though I didn't get to finish writing it. But, Im glad that I didn't make it until the end of the book, because if I did, this would probably not happen.

Thanks to the Arcus, I finally know what it feels like to be happy.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top