.hundred.

-

"His brother loved you, but would never admit it. He was always jealous of the bond you and his younger brother had. He wanted that kind of bond too, but not with just anyone."

-

Hajin moved in with Minji when she was released from the hospital and wanted to start working right away. But Minji insisted that she should take her time, her heart problems made her weak and tired, and Minji wanted her to get as much rest as possible before she could return to work at their news agency. Hajin felt bad though, that she was not contributing any income to the apartment. Minji assured her that it was fine. She had been saving up money for years, precisely for moments like this one in which she would need money. She was making pretty good money as a news assistant. But it still wasn't enough to cover all the bills and the rent considering that she lived in a nice apartment.

It was about a month before Minji talked to her boss at the agency. Hajin was a make-up artist with them before, and though her position was easier to replace, there was still always a need for make-up artists. When Minji was just starting out, the two of them had been a team. Minji was writing stories and very few times reporting them in front of a camera. But whenever she did, Hajin was her official stylist. 

Their boss heard about what happened to the two of them and agreed to let her work with them again. It hadn't been their fault that they had gotten into an accident and fallen into a coma after all.

Hajin was excited to start working again, since she was going to be partnered with Minji and the reporter she was working with. For many weeks, and even months, there wasn't a lot of work to do, since the group they were covering wasn't having their comeback yet. But as the comeback was approaching, they would have a lot of work to do and Minji would finally get to meet the idols she had been hearing about. The group of boys who she was going to be assigned to cover through their career path. But she had unfortunately had her accident the night before she was set to meet them. 

With her mind being preoccupied with learning about what was of everyone back in Goryeo, she hadn't even done her research on the group yet. She would probably have to do so before meeting with them so as not to look dumb in front of them. How could she not have heard of them already? EXO was apparently one of the most popular groups in the industry at the moment. 

With the day off from work, the two girls decided to go to a festival that was in town. An international festival. There would be rides, activities, and all kinds of food. Minji thought it would be a good idea to get a distraction. Especially for Hajin who was feeling a little bit down lately. She blamed herself for leaving So alone. She wanted to find him and apologize for letting pride and even fear get in the way of their love. But Minji understood her. From what her friend told her, it seemed that they needed some time to themselves. The only problem was that once she left him, he no longer wanted to hear from her. He was deeply hurt to the point that he almost hated her for it. 

The two walked into the festival and immediately Minji wanted to try all the foods. They had different types from about forty different countries. She wanted to try all of them. 

At one point during their visit of the festival, Hajin went to go use the restrooms. That left Minji waiting outside for her. She glanced around the festival where there were many tents. She wanted to make sure that they had tried everything and gone on all the rides when something caught her attention. It was a tent with a sign that read: Get your fortune read for six thousand won. Learn about your past life.

Minji was immediately curious. She knew that what she lived in Goryeo was probably her past life. That she was just probably a reincarnation of Park Hak Soon, or some kind of direct descendant. Her last name was Park in this life as well--Park Minji. But a fortune teller would probably be able to tell her if it was all real. If she could tell her what happened in her past life, without Minji ever mentioning any of it, then it had to be true. She needed more proof that it wasn't all just part of her imagination.

She walked into the tent hesitantly and looked around. There was no one in there at first and she walked up to the table where a glass crystal ball was sitting alone atop the table. As her fingers touched the strange object, little bolts of electricity and light tickled her fingers. She looked around the tent to see shelves with potions sitting on them. Ones for love, money, evil eye, and good luck. But the one that most caught her eye was the one for memory trigger. She picked the small bottle up in her hands and turned it around to read what exactly it was for.

Give to someone who can't remember something that they lived through.

That sounded like something she could give to her Eun. But she didn't want to force him to remember her. She wanted it to come to him on its own. What if in this life he wasn't interested in her? She wanted to give him the ability to choose, whether it be her or someone else.

She was startled when a voice called to her. "You must be Park Minji."

Minji had been taken off guard and dropped the glass potion bottle onto the ground. The bright blue liquid seeped into the grass below her feet. 

The fortune teller--an older woman with graying hair--looked at the broken bottle at the girl's feet and informed her. "You know those are worth twenty thousand won. And you'll still owe me six thousand for this session, and another six thousand for your husband's session too."

Minji eyed her with confusion. "...My husband?"

The older woman nodded her head slowly. "He came in here seeking for answers. But it was all too overwhelming for him and he ran out without paying me."

Still, Minji wasn't sure if they were talking about the same person. She asked for some clarification, anything that would tell her that they were talking about her Eun. "That boy you say is my husband...what was his name?"

"The skies do not provide me with names." The woman explained with a shake of her head, her demeanor calm and her aura filled Minji with peace. She did not feel afraid being there with her alone. "They provide me with stories and his past life was of a prince who married the beautiful daughter of a general. In your past I see the story of a general's daughter who married a handsome prince. That means the skies have brought both of you to me today."

Tears began to sting Minji's eyes. She hadn't mentioned anything to the fortune teller about herself, or Eun, or their past lives. Yet, she seemed to know all of it. She slowly walked forward and sat in the chair across from the fortune teller. Now she was interested to know just how much this woman knew about him. Just how much the skies were telling her about her and Eun.

Minji took out money from her purse. The twenty thousand for the potion she had broken, six thousand for her session, and six thousand for her husband. Perhaps he was remembering his past life too and he was searching for her. But it would be difficult to find each other in the big city. For the moment, she would like to hear about their lives and their relationship. Hearing someone else talk about it to her made her heart swell with nostalgia and a happiness that made tears brim her eyes.

She touched her crystal ball and the lightning disappeared. It was replaced by a deep purple fog. The fortune teller began, "Your memories of the past only go as far back as to you being fourteen years old." She said to her, and Minji nodded her head slowly. "You lived a comfortable life as the daughter of a grand general--with two sisters, mother, and father. You never met your older sister in the past life because she got married when you were far too young. You had been around princes and princesses your whole life, and you had a particular liking for a handsome prince with skills in martial arts."

Minji knew immediately that she must have been talking about Jung. Their relationship had been beautiful and she had loved him very much.

"The two of you almost got married. But a brother got in the way of that." She spoke slowly, as if the fog were telling her things and she were deciphering it. "His brother loved you, but would never admit it. He was always jealous of the bond you and his younger brother had. He wanted that kind of bond too, but not with just anyone. He asked you to marry him, and you declined because of your loyalties to your prince, and you deeply hurt the other prince's feelings."

To Minji, all of this information sounded so foreign. Eun had been mean to her from the very first moment that they met. She would have never imagined that he was only like that because he was jealous of her and Jung. He liked her and he wanted what they had. Minji always though that he hadn't fallen in love with her until just before they got married. Or perhaps the fortune teller was right and the tenth prince just didn't understand what his feelings were. He didn't understand that his jealousy was all because he loved her. He wanted to be the one by her side.

"You married your husband without being in love with him." The fortune teller said and Minji remembered that was true. She had still been in love with Jung when she married Eun. "But you grew to like him when you realized that his feelings were pure and that he was a good person." That was true as well. Minji started falling for Eun when his entire attitude shifted and he only lived to love her and take care of her. She soon decided she would do the same as well. 

She continued telling her the details of her life, with Minji only listening but knowing that it was all real. When their session was over, Minji walked out of the tent and when she looked back, the entire tent was gone. She felt like she had stumbled out of a dream. And she walked toward the direction of the toilets. 

She found Hajin nearby, frantically searching for her. When they found each other, Hajin scolded her. "Where were you? I thought you were playing a prank on me or something!" 

When they were kids and they used to go to the park together, they had a habit of playing pranks on each other like that. When one would go to the restroom, the others would hide from them. Minji especially liked doing that to Hajin. But when she really didn't find her for over ten minutes, she thought something was wrong.

Minji was in a bit of a daze. She told Hajin she would explain later what happened. The two girls then decided to head back to the apartment for the day.

That night, Minji got a phone call from her boss. 

"Minji," He said to her, voice filled with excitement. "I know its short notice, but I just landed an interview with EXO for you and Heemi tomorrow morning. Its about their upcoming come back. I'm trying to get a hold of Heemi since she's covering this group, but in case she can't you would have to take over. Take Hajin with you for make-up."

Minji felt her heart beat madly against her chest. This was going to potentially be her first interview in years. Also her first interview after the accident. This was the group she was going to be assigned to before everything happened. Now she felt like things were falling into place for her. She felt bad taking the assignment from Heemi, but this was Minji's assignment from the beginning. It had only been given to Heemi when it was thought Minji would not come back. Heemi was already covering two groups anyway--SHINee and f(x). She had a lot on her plate and it would take a bit of the load off if Minji could go back to covering EXO as was originally planned.

"Yeah, I'll be there. Just text me the details." She replied and they were off the phone.

Now she had to do some reading on the group. But she was really tired and it was late already. Perhaps she could squeeze in some reading on the way to the interview the next morning.

-

next up is the epilogue and then we can officially wrap up this story. 

thank you all so much for reading and supporting it. it had meant the entire world to me. i cant believe it is finally finished after three years, everyone. thank you again for everything. i will see you in the spin offs, and the sequel. 

please give those a nice read and support them as you have supported this book.

-clary