Chapter 15 - Ariadne Maciel

A sharp hiss echoes through the air before you yawn, bringing your hands above your head and letting your tense muscles relax as you stretch out in the comfort of your bed.

Moving your toes effortlessly, you hear faint cracking of your sleepy joints as they spring back to life, causing a light chuckle to reverberate through you. Feeling this rested became a luxury for you so you cherish every single moment of it.

You finally let your eyes open, but not before you rub the sleep away and yawn some more. You just really don't want to go back to reality right now.

The doors sliding open snaps you out of your sluggish stirring and you immediately turn your head towards the nurse who walks inside. As she gets closer to you, you blink confusingly and glance around you, realising where you are.

It's the intensive care unit. What are you doing here? And how do you know that the nurse will die in approximately twenty years by a stroke? Ah, you're still feeling drowsy, just shrug it off.

You try to sit up and open your mouth to ask the nurse what you're doing in a hospital bed, but she prevents you from doing so when she screams at you from the top of her lungs and gives it her all to keep you in place.

"What's wrong with you? Let me go!" You try to push her off, your eyes wandering over her terrified expression. She shakes her head vigorously, her eyes widening so much you start thinking they'll pop out of their sockets.

Is she out of her fucking mind? How can she try and move like that? Jesus, she's quite strong for someone who was literally on their deathbed minutes prior.

You breathe in deeply before you let your arms fall next to your body, succumbing to her intense stare. "You were in the OR less than an hour ago, the doctor said you were completely done for! Do not move a muscle, you need to heal!"

What the fuck is she talking about?

You remain silent as she checks up on you, digging through your memory and trying to recollect your thoughts. The last thing you remember is the rain and a sudden flash of bright lights before you were sent into oblivion.

Were you hit by a car? Not possible, you'd be in severe pain and you'd probably have some broken bones, maybe even worse injuries when you take the speed of the vehicle into the equation.

You clear your throat since it's still feeling tight due to your sleepy state, your curious glance flickering towards the nurse. "Can you tell me what happened? And where's Dr Kim?"

"You were hit by a car a couple of hours ago and underwent urgent surgery. You fractured your pelvis and also had several traumatic aortic disruptions as well as pneumothorax. I have no idea how you managed to survive."

She cocks her head to the side as she analyses your vitals, obviously confused by what she's seeing.

What's all this about? I've never seen anything like it before. Her vitals are good, but there's something really strange about them. Is it maybe her guardian angel that's looking over her? Gabriel, Raphael?

Can one you please tell my guardian to stop laughing at my misery and fucking come and help me?! I've been praying every single day and all of you freaking know it!

Her brows tie into a knot as she lets out a questioning hum. "Who is Dr Kim by the way? Your vitals are also very confusing."

She must be joking right now. You've seen her in the hospital before swooning over the same man she's asking you about, there's no way she doesn't know who he is.

You scoff at her as your mouth pops open, trying to catch her confused eyes. "How do you not know who Dr Kim is? Kim Taehyung, hospital's heartthrob? Rings a bell? Wait, who operated on me then?"

This conversation is getting more disconcerting by every passing moment. "I have no idea who you're talking about, Dr Lee operated on you. Okay, I seriously need to see him, this is insane. Do you feel any discomfort?"

Her voice is getting into higher octaves as she speaks, uncovering you and unwrapping the bandages that are constricting your bust. You observe her expression and see her facial muscles tightening at the sight in front of her.

Squirming under her gaze, you let your brows furrow since you're still definitely not used to being watched in such intensely scanning ways. "No, I'm completely fine."

You naturally place your hand over your chest as goosebumps adorn your skin, managing to retain a deadpan expression when you realise your fingers don't stumble upon a line of expected stitches.

Taking in a shaky breath, you feel the fine hairs at the back of your neck rising in pure dread as you slowly tilt your head down so that you can make sure you're not starting to go mad. What your eyes witness is impossible.

Not a single bruise is showing up on your skin. None.

You notice that you don't have metal bars protruding out of your pelvis area and are only bandaged, vividly remembering that just a couple of minutes ago, you were stretching out your whole body without any discomfort or pain.

"No fucking way," You murmur as you sit up, skillfully undoing the bandages and almost blacking out from the sight, grabbing the nurse's forearm for mental secureness.

There's no sign of bruising or swelling and you can move freely as if you weren't operated on at all. A tattoo of a phoenix is adorning your right hip.

The identical phoenix Taehyung has on the exact same spot on his body.

An ear-piercing shriek fills the room, aggravating you to a point where you want to tear the lungs out of the poor woman standing next to you that's still having her eyes fixated on your unharmed frame.

You inhale a sharp breath through your clenched jaw when you feel something stirring inside you, powerfully quaking your whole body and causing another wave of goosebumps to travel down your frame.

Covering your mouth with your hands to stifle a scream, you notice the dark aura swirling around you. No, that thing is now a part of you. You don't even have any time to react, feeling the pull of another, much fainter aura to your right.

Snapping your head towards the source, your breath hitches in your throat when you discern Taehyung casually leaning on the wall next to the window, his asymmetrical almond eyes fixated on your bare chest.

An amused hum leaves his throat as he watches you automatically cover yourself with the thin material of your patient attire, pushing himself off of the wall he's resting against.

"Taehyung, what the fuck is going on?" The nurse snaps her alarmed stare towards you when you speak, following your gaze towards the window and clenching the edge of your bed with her short fingers.

The trembling of her body is apparent as her shoulders rise from terror. "Who are you talking to? There's no one there," She whispers with her back still facing you, causing a menacing cold wave to wash over you.

Shit, she can't see him.

"Make her forget and get her the fuck out of here." He growls at you and takes a step forward, his arms tightly crossed over his wide chest as his eyes dart over to the nurse facing him but not being able to detect him.

You remain completely still, causing Taehyung to let out a long and very disappointing sigh. "She'll run away and send you to Dr Bang. I'm sure that's not a thing on your bucket list right now, is it?"

What the hell is he expecting from you? It's not like you can alter her memories, you're only able to read her thoughts, and those aren't exactly pleasant at the moment.

And what is the meaning of the tattoo and the aura, as well as the state of your whole being? What exactly happened to you during the time between you getting hit by a car and waking up here?

Let it do all the work for you, it only needs a gentle push. Yes, I'm talking about that new aura of yours. It knows exactly what to do.

His velvety voice echoes through your head, causing you to close your eyes and slide your tongue over your upper teeth. So, what he's telling you to do is try to get her to think she did a routine check up on you.

Fine, it can't hurt to try. You seriously don't want to face Dr Bang. Ever.

Taking her trembling fingers firmly in your grip, you make her turn around and meet your doe eyes. "Nothing is out of the ordinary, I'm recovering excellently and no further examining is necessary."

You can feel her succumbing to your voice, the dark aura surrounding you springing to life as it helps you erase her latest memories. The power you have over her is thrilling, almost addictive.

She holds eye contact with you as you see her gaze becoming glazed, her taking in all the new information and nodding gently before she pulls her hand out of your grasp and calmly walks out of the room.

You just completely altered someone's memory. Jesus Christ on a freaking bike, that is insane.

"Taehyung, you have exactly five minutes to explain everything that just happened." Your voice is abnormally ominous, surprising even you as Taehyung swiftly locks the door and walks over to you, placing his hands deep inside of the pockets of his robe.

He takes in a long breath before he sits at the edge of your bed, his unruly locks hiding his dark eyes from your inspecting gaze. His shoulders are slumped in defeat and overall, he looks like he survived a fucking zombie apocalypse.

"First of all, I gave you my aura at the OR. It's not true that Dr Lee operated on you, I was the one who did the surgery. I couldn't fathom the fact that you were dying, so I decided to do it no matter the consequences."

His low voice is barely audible, but every word he says is like a knife being stabbed through your heart. "What does that mean then? Don't beat around the bush, Taehyung, you know I fucking hate that," You sigh, watching him as he frustratingly pinches the bridge of his nose.

The silence filling the room is looming over you, threatening to snatch away the shallow breaths you're taking in as you're anticipating his well-deserved clarification.

"A long time ago, I was human. I'd been in the army, fighting and killing the so-called enemy of ours for years. I'd lost all hope of having a normal life, starting a family or even surviving until tomorrow.

"That's when I met her. Your grandmother.

"She was a nurse in the field, saving the lives of the soldiers who were injured in the battles, or at least that's what I thought at first. Of course, at the time I had no idea she was there to devour their souls.

"She told me that she had a daughter and later on, I always wondered how was she able to have a child. That is until I realised she actually had your mother months before she was turned.

"We got accustomed to each other's company and soon after, I realised that I'd started to love her. Every day I would come from the field and go straight to the nursery with a cigarette loosely hanging between my lips.

"She would always yell at me for smoking, so we consistently had to go out and find a peaceful place where we could be together. One day, she told me about her true nature and expected me to flee, but I couldn't.

"She found her place in my heart and I had no strength to leave her. Neither did she.

"A couple of months later, I was in the field as always, but a strong feeling in my gut was telling me something wasn't right. I ignored it and the next thing I remember, I'm in the nursery being operated on while still conscious.

"I've never experienced greater pain in my life, they were literally cutting me in half. She couldn't see me suffer so she did the same thing I did to you.

"She sacrificed herself for my own sake, disappeared from other people's memories because she was a supernatural being and left behind a journal you still keep by you as the only evidence of her existence. The man she had been writing about in it is me.

"I continued living on as a grim reaper, watching over your mother. No matter how strange it was, I couldn't help but fall in love with her when she got older. I didn't want your mother to suffer, so I left her before things could've gotten more than just platonic between us.

"Your mum tried to forget me and found a husband, your father, soon bearing his child and seemingly living a happy life. Destiny didn't allow her to live and as you already know, she died while giving birth to you and at that moment, her soul transferred into you.

"I despised myself. Always wondering if she would still be alive if I hadn't left her on that day. I just couldn't handle the thought of her being hurt and it all being my fault.

"I swore to myself that this vicious cycle needed to be stopped. I only had my mind fixated on one thing - killing you off and finally breaking the curse. Huh, I guess you could say that I failed miserably."

A sour chuckle leaves his throat as he tilts his head backwards, closing his eyes and breathing in steadily, finally getting the burden off of his chest.

All of the information that Taehyung hits you with leaves you speechless. You curl your legs up and place your elbows on your knees, breathing slowly as you massage your sore temples.

"What does that mean then?" You have no idea where you manage to find your shaky voice, not daring to lift your head and face Taehyung. He inhales a deep breath and blows it out slowly.

"It means that I love you. It also means that I'll disappear from the face of the Earth in a couple of hours and leave you to bear the curse of being a grim reaper. Until you find my reincarnation and transfer it to him, that is."

You're finally able to anchor your attention on him, observing him as he places his large hand on your skin, the contact causing the all too familiar tingles to appear and take over your body.

Trying to imagine an immortal life where you watch your loved ones pass away as you take the souls of dying humans just to be forgotten by all at the end sends an uncomfortable shiver down your spine.

That's the reason he was so awful to you, desperately trying to push you away. He couldn't force himself to end your life. He was attempting to make you hate him in any way possible, especially with his episodes with Dr Ko.

He was still very possessive of you because he couldn't imagine you being with Jimin, his emotions and ruthlessness clouding his rationality. It didn't matter to him how painful the cost of Jimin's death was nor how great of a toll it would take on you.

The curse he's carrying on his shoulders is much more wicked than you could've ever imagined.

You start chewing on your bottom lip as your eyes well up with tears, your gaze fixated on his unwavering stare. "Taehyung," You trail off, the tremble in your voice so apparent that it causes the corners of his lips to pull up in a dignified smile.

He leans over to you, letting his long fingers glide over your cheek and wipe away the silent tears finding their path down your skin. "Please don't cry. I don't regret anything if it means I get to spend time with you."

Even though he's trying to sound reassuring, you can't help but notice the insecureness in his low voice.

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Finally, the truth is placed upon you! Please tell me what you think, I have a feeling this is the crappiest chapter I've ever written in my life. I promise I'm not asking for attention, these are my honest feelings. Anyway, the next chapter will be the last one! As you already know, every opinion and vote you leave is greatly appreciated!

Lots of love, Dorami

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