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Seungcheol paced back-and-forth as Jeonghan stood still, nervous and unsure. Joshua sat a good distance from them, cross-legged, his lips pursed, and an otter keychain dangling from his fingers.
Seungcheol finally faces him, his brows knitted, and a scripture crumpled in his hand.
“Do you have even the slightest bit of idea of what this means, Jeonghan?” He says angrily and seething, almost unfitting for an angel.
“Of course, I do! I wouldn't have written that if I didn't know the consequences." Jeonghan answered, almost stuttering, but he stood firm. "And I mean it."
Joshua stood up from his chair and approached them. He held Jeonghan's hand in a firm grip, trying to pull him away, but the older doesn't budge. “Maybe it would be best if we should all just breathe and talk about this some other time.”
But Jeonghan shook his hand off from Joshua's grip. “No,” He says firmly. “I won't wait another five hundred or five hundred thousand years. You told me that before, and I lost him. I can't lose him again.” He turns to Seungcheol, dropping to his knees, his hands clasped and eyes pleading. “Please, hyung. I can’t lose him again—I don't want to lose him again."
Seungcheol heaves a deep sigh. "No." He shakes his head and says firmly, “I won't stand for it. I care for you, and you know that. You will disappear, Jeonghan. Like bubbles or smoke—hell! Nobody knows! You'll disappear the moment you touch him, Hannie. This isn't worth it.”
“I don't care! I don't care!” Tears started flowing from his eyes, desperate and persistent. "I have lived long enough, and I have waited long enough," his head drops as he sniffles, his tears soaking the clouds. "I would rather have one touch of his hand or one kiss from his lips—hell! I'd rather have a brief moment with him than to live over and over and over again just watching him. I can't... I can't do it, hyung, please."
Joshua slowly drops to his knees, rubbing circles on Jeonghan's back. "Hannie..."
"I just... I can't watch him fall in love with someone else while my heart breaks as I watch them from somewhere out of their sight." Jeonghan finally stands up, wiping the tears from his cheeks. "I've waited for hundreds of years, hyung. I'm tired."
“Fine, there is a way for you and Chan to meet again.” Seungcheol says as he hands the scripture back to him.
Jeonghan turns to him as fast as he can. "What is it?"
"This is not a hundred percent sure, and it may take hundreds of years for the both of you to meet again—
"I don't care! I've already waited for hundreds of years, what's another hundred?" Jeonghan says, his eyes bulging from excitement thaat Seungcheol couldn't help but just give in.
"Reincarnation," Seungcheol answers.
"Reincarnation," Jeonghan echoes.
"Reincarnation! Oh my god, how can we forget?" Joshua exclaims, flipping through an old book. "We learned that like—
"Thousands of years ago." Seungcheok cuts off.
Jeonghan then pulled of his best friends in a hug. “I really did have a great time with the two of you."
Seungcheol only taps his back. "Well, he's waiting for you down there."
Jeonghan mouths a quick thank you—making sure to properly take in the image of Joshua wrapped in Seungcheol's arms so that it burns in his mind forever, so he can take it in whatever life he lives—before jumping off a cloud, landing straight to the earth.
Jeonghan lands in the middle of a field, and there was Chan, his pretty hat tied firmly around his neck, and a basket in his hand. He doesn't know whether it's fortunate that he landed right in front of Chan because he might've startled the younger.
But Chan stood still, terrified.
It was Yoon Jeonghan. In all his glory, white, and his feathers falling out one by one, following the wind. Chan tears up and moves a little bit away from him, but Jeonghan only steps closer.
“Oh my god," Chan utters under his breath.
“I should've told you sooner.”
And with that, Chan falls on the ground; the flowers in his basket spilling on the soft soil like his heart bleeding out, crying out at the sight of Yoon Jeonghan, for reasons he does not even know.
But it feels heavy.
Like he's loved him all his life.
Jeonghan crouched down to pick up his basket and his flowers one by one. He smiles at him as he hands him the basket. The moment he reached for it, he was pulled into a tight hug, his basket neatly discarded on the ground.
His heart felt free yet insanely heavy, and he just couldn't understand.
And maybe it was the smell of grass that was making him tear up. Maybe it was the tears blurring his eyes, but Jeonghan looked almost transparent. Like bits of him are flying into the wind like dust. But Jeonghan didn't seem to mind. Was he imagining things?
Jeonghan lets go of him and kisses his forehead, tears tainting his beautiful face. Chan wonders why.
“I love you, I love you, I love you so much, Chan,” he whispers to him, their foreheads still pressed together. “I always have and I always will.”
"What's going on—"
"I'll find you in my next life... or the next one after that... or the one after," he says as he pressed his lips on Chan's. "I don't care. I'll find you in every lifetime."
Chan closed his eyes as Jeonghan kissed his forehead again. But when he opened them, gone were the soft hands holding him tightly and the forehead pressed against his. Even his throbbing heart and racing mind. It all felt empty. He felt empty except for the small handkerchief tucked in his hand, the feather embroidered on it slowly turning black.
Then he remembers everything.
Yoon Jeonghan.
He did love him all his life.