CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR | LIFE & DEATH

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I am Death. Someone who's feared and hated on by everyone. Whenever I try to love, I always lose them – they died in the same arms that had killed them. Death who tried his best to be cold and distant for he was afraid of getting attached but then here I am.

Death met life.

The life I met wasn't the usual life everyone thought it was. The truth is hidden under the sugarcoated lies. She was life, she resembled life itself.

Chae Dallia was life itself – my counterpart. When I first met Life, she looked so dull and empty. But then I realized, Life is always dull and empty. Life was plain, hard, annoying, and a pain in the back that you'd rather be dead instead.

The Life I met was just like that. Dallia was like life itself.

Dead. For she believed she had no heart. She was so dull and colorless.

Painful. For all the straightforward words that emitted from her mouth. She didn't care about humans, she thought they were selfish beings and liars.

Annoying. For she kept pestering everyone about her weird antics. She kept pushing everyone into believing what she saw, they didn't understand, no one did.

Everyone knows how Life is. It isn't always rainbows and sparkles, not always laughs and giggles.

I met Life that day Seirus gave me a new job. He didn't ask me to kill her, but that's what I thought he did. I spent almost all of my life telling people they were going to die that I never noticed how he didn't ask for her soul.

But then when I met her, it's like the world had shifted.

She wasn't scared of me.

She didn't hate me.

She wanted to be my friend. I don't like friends.

Ever since I met her, I always wondered. What was wrong with her? Why does she keep on stitching herself up? Why does she act like she was dead when she isn't?

And then I found out. She was sick – Life was ill. She strongly believed she was dead, that her body was all ragged and full of cuts, but no, it wasn't. It was as if Life got stuck in the past. With people tormenting life itself that she begins to ask herself, what was wrong with her? Did she need stitching up? Did she need to repair herself for people to believe in her?

Each day that passes, I found it hard to kill her. It was impossible. I had no idea why I couldn't kill her before, though now I had my answer.

I, Death, called for Life.

I, Mark, called for Dallia.

Death called and she answered. We were both looking for each other. Dallia looked for death while I looked for life.

The more I spent time with her the more I felt connected. We were like what some humans called it – soulmates. I felt so alive whenever I was with her and looking into her eyes that no longer held death, I knew she felt the same.

Every time she tried to hurt herself – to kill her self, I always thought, "Your grave is not here." She didn't deserve death – she never called for me, it was all an act from Seirus to grab my attention.

Now, do you ever wonder? What if death called you? Will you answer it?

You have a choice. Everyone does. I, Death, teach everyone the truth about life. How cruel it was, how dreadful it was, how real it was. Life shouldn't be sugarcoated with lies for how will you learn to live in such a society?

I embrace people with all I have, telling them that it's okay, they've done enough. Although before, I was cruel. I took souls greedily and without remorse for I thought they deserved it – when in reality, I was just scared.

Scared of life.

Please, don't call for me, instead, wait for me. Life may be full of challenges and hardships that you may think the only solution to those problems is to call for me – but no. It is not the only solution.

Look at Life itself. Despite how much pain she went through with people abhorred her every being, somehow she continued, even if she felt so dead each day that passed.

And then the day finally came, the day I called for her and she answered. Now, live your life and always remember that when death loves you... when I love you... it's forever.

— LM

"Never thought Death was such a loving person." Dallia chuckled after she finished reading the last entry Mark had wrote in his diary.

Mark scoffed and snatched his diary from her grasp, skimming through the pages before stopping at the last page. It had been years since they met each other and they were still going strong.

Throughout those years they had their ups and downs, but they always learn to come back to each other, for that's what the Dahlias always remind them. They educated each other, they supported each other, and most importantly, they loved each other.

"Hey, you should be thankful you have me as your partner." Mark murmured, rolling his eyes at her.

Dallia looked at him baffled, a laugh following afterward before giving him a light peck. "Where's the hot-headed reaper I met before?"

Mark deadpanned before pushing her against the wall, trapping her in between him and the wall. His cold fingers held her chin gently as he looked down on her. He drew his face closer, their noses touching and lips centimeters apart.

"You don't know how troublesome you are." He said leaning down to capture her lips with his. After a few seconds of pure bliss, they pulled away. "Come on, we still have work to do."

Dallia laughed and followed suit, wearing full-on white clothing that contrasted from the black clothing Mark wore.

"Do you ever wonder what it would've been like if..." Dallia trailed off, fiddling with her fingers. Mark hummed, glancing at her with a raised brow. "If what?"

"If Death didn't call."

Mark sniggered, "Death will always call, Lia. It's your choice to either answer or not, and I make you realize that choice of yours." He stopped walking and stood in front of her making her stop as well. Mark tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and whispered, "Just know...that when I love you..." he trailed off, connecting their foreheads before completing the sentence as one – like life and death itself, "...it is forever."

• • •

the end.

the ending shows how mark and dallia become as one. i used life and death itself to symbolize both of them as you may see in mark's ending letter. the letter represents his feelings and thoughts about himself and dallia.

the saying about how death loves forever came from how i see death in my perspective. as mark explained, a lot of people don't like the idea of dying – people are scared of it but even so, some think it's the only escape they have from the pains of reality. however, when they perceive that death is the only escape, they would start to forget the importance of life. they would start to forget that there are still people who care for them.

and that's what seirus has been hinting mark, that everyone, including death, has a choice. mark is there to reach out to those who call for death, to show them and make them realize that they made a wrong choice, as well as they should cherish the life given to them.

dallia is an example of someone who desires death and that's when seirus averts mark's attention to the girl. he eventually accepts papa's order and headed to kill her.

though both finally made the right choice in the end, mark still had to kill her since jaemin sold his soul in exchange to keep dallia's soul safe.

again, like what mark said when death loves... it is forever. that is because death embraces us the moment our time comes and when death loves the person dies. death welcomes us and allows us to see a new beginning. death brings us to rest and that explains how he loves forever.

honestly, that's all for death calls

if you have any more questions feel free to ask me! i don't bite ~

i would like to thank all of you for supporting this book, it has been another fun long ass ride with you all and our reapers :))

to be honest, this was supposed to end with mark killing her and that was it, but i decided to add a little twist to it cuz why not

also, i need to stop writing so many long chapters in one-day sksksjsk
n e waysss

to more stories and crazy long-ass rides with y'all

- love, jibin ♡