by Con Template
. . . and he was never coming back.
A voiceless sob escaped her tormented chest as the force of a volcano erupted from her once peaceful state. She shook and shook for a moment. An ocean of tears gathered in her eyes before the wall broke, the flood came in, and the destruction began . . .
“Taeeeeee Hyuunnn! Oh God, no! Taeeeee Hyunnnnnnnn! Please wake up! Please don’t leave me!”
She was dying.
Every part of her heart, her body, and her entire soul was dying.
Cops, who somehow appeared without her noticing, made themselves known when they surrounded her and did their best to calmly pull her from Tae Hyun. They tried to separate her from Tae Hyun, but Yoori wouldn’t have any of it.
“Taeee Hyunnn!” she sobbed uncontrollably. Her voice and body trembled as she crawled back to him, wrapped herself around him, and hugged his body with all the strength she had.
Every time they tried to pull her away, she would push them off of her and tighten her grasp on him. Desperate to feel his warmth before they took him from her, she greedily held onto him and cried her sorrow into his chest.
“Tae Hyun . . . Tae Hyun . . .” she sobbed in pure agony, wrapping herself tighter around him.
She buried her tears into his chest. Her body shook from the pain of being so badly injured from the battle and from the unequivocal pain of losing Tae Hyun.
As Yoori trembled and cried harder than she had ever cried in her life, she felt herself dying. She felt her vision dim, her lips grow dry, her skin rip apart, and her entire being go numb as it strained to hold onto the one person who made it feel so alive.
“Tae Hyun, please come back,” she pleaded into his chest, hugging him one last time before her own body gave up on her, before her own tears blinded her eyes, before her own broken heart weakened, and before her world blackened in despair. “Please come back to me. Please come back to me,” she begged softly. Her quiet pleas echoed throughout the amphitheater. “Please come back to me. Please come back to me . . .”
As her words swam around the last of his warmth, Yoori felt her entire world darken as one last thought invaded her mind, bringing to light that one final, agonizing and heart-wrenching truth that she could no longer deny.
Gone.
Her once-in-a-lifetime love was gone.
“What’s your one wish tonight, Yoori?”
Epilogue: Until Paris Fades
The country of South Korea was in disarray the days following Tae Hyun’s death.
Tae Hyun, Ji Hoon, Ju Won, and a score of other Underworld soldiers were all pronounced dead at the amphitheater upon the arrival of the police officers. The announcement of their deaths—and where and how they died—sent shockwaves throughout the country that such horrific and ghastly murders could take place.
In this state of disorder, the Underworld found itself in pandemonium as it tried to absorb the enormity of what took place.
An Young Jae, though critically injured, had flown back to Japan to answer to the “inconvenience” he had caused in the Korean Underworld. The elders and Royals in Japan were already questioning their decision in making him the Lord of their Underworld. The fact that he caused such a big catastrophe by using an Advisor in the Korean Underworld as his human shield was infuriating to them. The Underworld’s most important relationships were those with their allies. Now that the new Lord had just effectively caused a rift between the two Underworlds, it was an understatement to say that this important relationship had been severed, so much so that the extremists within the Korean Underworld wanted to go to war with Japan to make Young Jae pay for his offenses.
In adjunction to this, as the world began to question the existence of an underground society powerful enough to perpetuate a crime on such a grand scale, the Korean Underworld was facing more pandemonium than any other entity.
Once considered the most powerful Underworld in the world, Korea’s Underworld had found itself divided after the death of two Kings and an exiled Queen. The 3rd layer was without a monarch. Ultimately, with no King or Queen to govern the biggest layer in the Underworld pyramid, the Korean Underworld had now found itself at an impasse. It was completely unsure of its standing for the future as it attempted to ride out its anarchy.
As this pandemonium took place, Hae Jin, Kang Min, Jae Won, Chae Young, and Chae Young’s father were all safely out of the country. Unfathomable grief plagued them the moment they found out about Tae Hyun’s death and about Yoori’s condition in the hospital. Helpless as they couldn’t attend Tae Hyun’s funeral and powerless as they didn’t know where Yoori was, all they could do was cry to themselves as they sat by the phone, praying for a phone call from the lone survivor found at the scene of the unspeakable crime—the lone survivor who was rushed to the hospital and was waiting to be taken into custody.
“I need to question her,” the investigator announced to the doctor standing outside her hospital ward. He stood tall in his black suit, his dark eyes challenging the doctor to stand in his way.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the meek doctor replied. Dressed in a white overcoat over his black suit, there was pity in his voice as he went on. “Her body had been badly assaulted, and she’s been through a substantial amount of emotional stress. She’s in no condition to speak to anyone.”
“She’s the primary, sole, and key witness in giving us information about a secret underground society that had been the cause of massacres that have taken place all over our country,” the investigator said impatiently. “It doesn’t matter if she’s in no condition to speak to anyone,” he went on, brushing past the doctor. He walked into the high-security hospital ward of the young, unidentified woman. “It’s been two and a half weeks. I need to talk to her, and I need to talk to her now—”
The investigator was abruptly silenced when he laid eyes on the room before him. His breath caught in his throat. His dark eyes widened as he stared at the empty bed and the opened hospital window. He moved to assess the white drapes that were dancing in the wind. A look of doom overcame his face. Realization hit him that his key witness—his only witness—had escaped from custody. And if the simple fact that she was able to escape from a high-security hospital wasn’t enough, the fact that she was also able to escape without so much as alerting an officer was astounding.
The investigator let out a curse.
He knew all too well how skillful she must be to be able to escape with such ease, even in spite of her extensive injuries. Another curse escaped from him. Although he radioed for back up to find her, he knew in the back of his mind that if she was gone, then much like the wind, she was never going to be found again.
■ ■ ■
The world was quiet when the soles of her boots met the wooden structure of the dock.
Stepping forward while the dark lake glittered under the glow of the full moon, all that she could hear was the sound of wind blowing in the cool night. Its calm chill swept over the slumberous lake, the sleeping grass, and the soothing world around her.
As her emotionless eyes stared into a space of nothingness, she continued to tread down the creaking dock. Her fatigued face grew paler and paler as the seconds ticked away. Though she was quiet as could be, the device pressed against her ear was overflowing with frantic worry.
“Boss?” Jae Won’s concerned voice came over the line, streaming out of the cellphone. “Boss, please tell us where you are. We’ll come get you. We’ll come get you, then we’ll all leave together again.”
“I can’t leave him,” she breathed out, her voice barely audible over the wind. Undeterred by their imploring voices, she continued to walk down the dock. Her dazed eyes continued to gaze at the dark lake while wind streamed through her hair.
“Yoori!” She could hear Chae Young’s desperate cries after she grabbed the phone from Jae Won. “Yoori, please! Tell us where you are!”
“Boss, please,” came Kang Min’s pleading voice.
In the background, soft sobs emanated from Hae Jin.
“Yoori, please,” Hae Jin begged. “Don’t do this!”
The worry in Hae Jin’s voice—in all their voices—was a pain that she could not bear, especially given that she couldn’t give them what they wanted. Their presence, their worry, and their love—they only served to remind her of the one who was no longer there . . .
“Please just tell us where you are,” Kang Min implored, concern undulating in his voice. “Jae Won and I will come for you. We’ll bring you back here so that you can be with us.”
“It is safer for all of you to no longer be around me,” she told them, knowing very well about all the events that were transpiring in the Underworld. “The chaos I created isn’t forgotten, nor will it be forgiven. Some gave their words that they won’t come after me, but others will come looking for me. They will not give up until they find me.”
She knew her Underworld far too well. Albeit there was a high probability that the majority would keep their words, all it took was one individual to break the agreement. And because of this small chance alone, she could never go back to her loved ones. She would never risk the lives of the people she loved again—she would never let anyone die for her again.
“Boss—”
“Please don’t come looking for me,” she said with finality, her decision set. “Just stay out of the country and be safe.” She briefly closed her eyes to prepare for the despair in her next words. “Just forget about me.”
“Yoori, what are you doing?” Hae Jin whispered, horrified. “Why are you talking like that?” Pained emotions swelled in Hae Jin’s voice as she desperately went on. “Please just tell us where you are. I want you here with us. Please be here with us.”
“I can’t leave him,” Yoori said again, her voice completely broken as she reached the end of the dock. “I can’t leave him. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She bit her lips to keep the tears from inundating her voice. She had to save her composure to bid her final goodbye to them. That was the only reason why she called them. She wanted to hear their voices for the very last time.
“I love you, all of you,” she whispered before finally ending the call, before finally taking her cursed self out of their lives. “Please . . . be safe.”
“No! Don’t—!”
Yoori closed her eyes in agony and allowed her cellphone to slip from her grasp, and along with it, the life with the loved ones she would never put in danger again. The phone pierced the air and plunged into the lake with a soft splash, silencing the voice of her friends, while inviting the company of silence to drown out her ears and bring peace to her mind.
Silence.
Finally silence.
Standing at the edge of that dock, she held the black hoodie that she wore during the arena battle—the hoodie that belonged to the person she loved most in this world. With her hand clutching tightly onto the fabric, she allowed her quiet eyes to take in the horizon that stretched ahead of her.
She gazed at the glorious moon, the stars that bejeweled the night’s sky, the twinkling crystals reflecting atop the tranquil lake, and the vast world in the distance. While she did this, birds flew overhead, giving out an ambiance of unpolluted peace.
How odd it felt for Yoori. It felt odd to watch as this world continued to revolve so beautifully, so lightheartedly. Such peace made her wonder how the world around her could be so calm and beautiful when she was so tired, so broken. How could this part of the world still feel so magical . . . when nothing but darkness had spread over her life?
Yoori remained stoic until a sudden breeze swept past her, running over the bandaged bare arms that couldn’t be covered by the black blouse she was wearing. Shivers raked her body, reminding her with simple realization that she was alive, that she didn’t die at the arena like she thought she would. The simple shiver painfully reminded her that the one who always kept her warm was no longer with her.
He would no longer be able to keep her warm again; she would no longer feel his warmth—never again.
She was alive . . . and he wasn’t.
Then, without any warning, as the magnitude of this realization fell upon her, her knees buckled, triggering her to fall to the ground. Her legs collapsed into a kneeling position with a loud crash. While pain shot up and down her legs, tear after tear flowed out as she was reminded of all the pain she felt—all the agony that would never leave her for as long as she lived.
Tae Hyun.
Her Tae Hyun, her Snob . . . was no longer alive.
He left her.
He left her, and he was never coming back to her.
“. . . Tae Hyun,” she sobbed brokenly. Tears dripped into the lake as she pleaded for him to come back for her, to take her away from this place and save her from the misery of being without him. The necklace she wore hung from her neck, the silver ring crying with her as her tears kissed over it.
“Please,” she pleaded agonizingly. Her hand rose to the moon in longing, in desperation. She reached out to it as though she was reaching out to her beloved. “Please take me with you . . .” She shook and shook, despair washing over her and drowning her in her own ocean of tears. “Please let me be with you . . .” she continued past the sobs in her pained chest.
Crippled with heartache, she pressed her forehead against the dock and cried her sorrow into the wooden foundation. She was unable to do anything but cry for the love of her life.
The pain she felt was unbearable, unimaginable.
It hurt to breathe.
It hurt to live.
It hurt to exist . . .
Lifting her head up, she leaned over the dock to lifelessly stare at the lake. Her glistening eyes numbly followed the trail of her trickling tears. Envy ensued within her once she saw her tears drown into the mercy of the lake beneath her.
She felt envy for the tears that were shed; she felt envy for how easily they disappeared unto the clemency of the lake, unto the leniency of oblivion where they didn’t have to feel pain ever again—where they could be with Tae Hyun again.
A powerful gust of wind came over the world, whipping her hair and clothes about. With a sense of clarity filling her eyes, she numbly pressed her hands on the ground and pushed herself up. She stood unsteadily at the end of the creaking dock, her anguished eyes gazing at the peaceful lake like it was a salvation, like it held the key to freeing her from all this torture.
She wasn’t strong enough for this. She wasn’t strong enough to live like this, to spend every second of forever missing Tae Hyun. She wasn’t strong enough for the pain. She wanted it to end. She just wanted it all to end so she could be with him again.
I want to be with you again . . .
With broken-hearted tears still slipping from her eyes, Yoori lifted her left foot up. She was ready to allow the wind to carry her into the dark lake when another violent breeze whipped over her, causing the hoodie to slam into the pocket of her jeans. The wind hit it with such impact that it was able to free something that was stuck to the top edge of her pocket. Freed from its captivity was a rolled up piece of paper that fell onto the wooden dock.
Distracted momentarily, her eyes followed the descent of the innocuous object. Yoori stared at it numbly, watching as the small object hid in the nook of the dock to keep itself from being blown away. Unable to help herself, as something deep within her was urging her to inspect it, she crouched down. She retrieved the rolled up paper from the ground and unraveled it to appraise its contents.
Her eyes widened.
Yoori felt her heart expand after she read the contents and realized what this piece of paper was.
A mentor is in town.
I'll be out all day.
You probably didn't remember and
I didn't want to wake you
but have fun on your day off.
Don't do anything I would do.
--TH
It was the note that Tae Hyun wrote to her during their “boss-and-assistant” days.
Overcome with its sudden appearance, Yoor
i covered her mouth in disbelief. Warmth suspended over her as she held onto a note that Tae Hyun wrote to her so long ago. She held his note in her hand like it was a priceless artifact. Tears bubbled in her eyes as she greedily soaked in his writing. The note only served to remind her of how far they had come and how much she loved him.
She loved him so much.
So much so that even a simple note from him from months ago could make her feel warm inside and quell the storm brewing within her, if only for a fleeting moment. She cried softly, her tears trickling onto the piece of paper. As her tears moistened the note, it revealed a shadow of something on the back of the letter.
Holding her breath, she flipped the note over.
Yoori felt her world stop in its revolution when she read what was written on the back. It was a piece of writing so small that she had never noticed it before. She desperately read the contents of the words. Her heart rate accelerated while she read a message that was meant to pertain to him and Yoori separating that day when she took her day off.
P.S.
Don’t miss me too much, Brat.
Below it, in a smudged up area that appeared to have been erased by Tae Hyun, she could read the additional message he left her a lifetime ago. It affected her more today than it could ever affect her months back.
P.P.S.
I’ll miss you.
As soon as she read this, Yoori then remembered one of his last words to her before he left her. Words that haunted her—words that would prevent her from doing what she wanted to do to escape from the misery of missing him every second of every day.
“. . . Please don’t go,” Yoori begged as she trembled uncontrollably. Hot tears glided down her cheeks. Hopelessness filled her hollow and aching heart. “You know I can’t do this without you. You know that I can’t live without you.” She bit her lips at the thought of something so unimaginable. “I can’t be without you.”
Misery filled his eyes as he shook his head at what she said.