Whispers and Promises VIII
Title: Whispers and Promises VIII
Author: 79_percent
Rating: PG-13
Form: Chaptered
Fandom: TVXQ
Pairing: JaeHo
Genre: Drama, Fluff, Angst
Whispers and Promises
VIII. Enchantment
He woke up with a start, feeling darkness being wrenched away, unconsciously stifling his breathing when life entered his mind. He stared at the ceiling, a blank look on his pale face, watching the fan rotating slowly, making repetitive circular motion with its blades. For a moment there and then, YunHo was lost, not knowing where he was, or how he ended up there exactly.
He felt the room stir, two voices calling his name. And yet he could not find the will in him to turn and acknowledge the other presence. His dark brown eyes fixed themselves on nothing in particular, darting across the room, as if searching for something. He tried to make sense of his surroundings but he found that all he could focus on was the scattered remnants of his dream. Something pulled so persistently at the back of his mind as an aftermath of his reverie he just could not ignore its beckon.
His dream was not as vivid as his previous premonition and yet this time, the sentiment was way more fervent than any other he ever had in the past. From that same smile he had grown to adore through their short days of acquaintance, to the comfortable friendship he had both cherished and missed; from the cool shade of the ancient oak tree at the cliff where they met in the dreamscape, to the lingering feeling of the other boy in his arms, telling him that everything would be alright - he could remember each and every one action and upshot just like he had experienced it first hand in flesh.
JaeJoong had returned to him in his dreams and knowing his strong belief in this one myth despite his logical and scientific upbringing, his reality would be the opposite of what he dreamt of. JaeJoong had left. For good. And he had no idea where to find him.
At that junction, YunHo gasped loudly, startling three including himself. Realisation rained on him in knife-like droplets, making him notice of its quaintness
JaeJoong!
YunHo immediately pushed himself up to a sitting position, the blanket carelessly thrown on the floor. He felt his world spin, momentarily having a blackout in his vision just as his head left the soft support of the pillow. Almost immediately, two people rushed to his side, steadying his faltering form.
“Hyung, are you okay?” ChangMin asked in worry.
The older black-head ignored the concern expressed, mind already too cluttered up with shattered bits and pieces from both his memory and his dream. The frantic calls and exclamations from his friends went through his ears without any process, coming out of the other lobe as raw as its original state. As he made a mad dash out of the room and towards the beach, all he could think of was JaeJoong.
“Yun- YunHo-hyung!!”
“Where’s he going?” JunSu bit his lips, trailing the rapidly retreating back with his eyes as his anxiety began to show on his demeanour. “How could he still have that much energy left in him after getting knocked out for a day and a half?”
The youngest with chestnut brown hair felt the urge to bite his fingernails. “Let’s get him back, hyung,” ChangMin implored, pulling the still-surprised blonde to his feet before rushing for the door together. “I’ll get YooChun-hyung too. He’ll scream at us if he knew we let YunHo-hyung out of bed.”
He combed through the mountains of people on the beach, desperation showing in his deep melanin irises as he wished for one person to appear. Fragments of lost memories began to overcome him in a sudden maelstrom, dragging his hope down with it. It was only the last shred of his stubbornness that prevented him from believing that his friend had indeed disappeared in front of his own eyes. But as he watched the sun set and the beach getting increasingly empty of people, YunHo felt his heart break. He knew his search would turn out futile, but it seemed like he just could not stop the disappointment from flowing.
As he scanned the random faces around him, feeling the slight throbbing within his skull, YunHo never stopped praying to all the entities above. He was not wishing for something complicated, he did not dare to; all he wanted was for him to be able to see JaeJoong again. To help the other boy, to ease him of his troubles, like how the other had him. Even if JaeJoong did not realise how much he had helped lighten the burden in YunHo’s heart, those encouraging words and smiles, plus the comforting companion were more than enough to give him the solace that he had been looking for when he ran away from his reality.
Those words JaeJoong said while listening to his problem; that endearing voice that seemed to linger in his ears; that heart-rending story that revealed the sacredness of this lagoon- YunHo let his thoughts come to an abrupt halt, suddenly remembering what JaeJoong had told him. And before he knew it himself, he was already rushing his way towards the hill.
“The servant buried all of them in a box under the tree at the cliff where they both fell, hoping that both souls would be able to reconcile when they read the letters in the netherworld.”
He knew he was speculating, but when desperation reached its limits, he could not help but read in between the lines.
“You can try digging if you want to, YunHo-yah.”
He could not explain why either, even as he started digging at one shaded spot beneath the sacred oak tree, but somehow he felt like there was an unexplainable willpower in him that forced him to do so. More than that, he thought bitterly, letting his hands claw madly at the brown soil, somehow he felt that JaeJoong wanted him to. Like the missing raven-head was leading him to doing this with that innocent narration. When all logical rationale failed him, YunHo relied solely on his instinct.
“Hyung, what are you doing?” JunSu asked, panting just as he reached the hill. He had chased YunHo from the house to the beach and up the cliff with all his might, following the frantic footsteps with his own worried ones, desperately trying to catch up. When YunHo only told him to help with the seemingly meaningless excavation, JunSu was torn between helping and thinking that the summer heat had burned his hyung’s mind charcoal black.
YunHo ignored the blonde, keeping his concentration on the sole task in his hand and continued to dig. JunSu, who crouched beside him, was trying to make him stop lest he injure himself even more, but he only avoided the advances. His fingers began to hurt from the menial work, his nails tearing deep into the hard soil, and yet he could not seem to bring himself to stop.
One loud sound of nails hitting wood startled both boys and two pairs of eyes looked down to see one corner of a wooden box jutting out, exposing the russet container among brown soil. YunHo dug deeper, apprehension filled his mind, immediately bringing it out with his soiled hands. He trembled slightly, looking intently at the well-crafted surface. Dusting bits of earth off to reveal an intricately carved design on its cover, YunHo could imagine the story unfurling into life before him.
“Wh- what’s that?” He heard JunSu ask quietly, his curiosity displayed.
He was not sure either, but he would know the answer to that question in a moment. Gritting his teeth in determination, YunHo brought a hesitant hand towards the latch and unfastened it.
The box opened, a slight reek of mould hit his nose, making him recoil subconsciously. There, folded in a neat stack, were pages of papers, their edges yellow from age and yet it was obvious that they were preserved carefully during their times. With a tentative pick, he unfolded one and scanned its contents. Like JaeJoong had recited, it was a love letter, words of devotion and everlasting promises filled the sheet in neat handwriting. Somehow, at the sight of the words, the familiar script was tugging in his mind. He knew he had seen something like that somewhere.
Shaking his head, he put the letters aside, giving the curious JunSu a short look before rummaging the rest of the contents. Among other intricate mementos, what caught his eyes was a torn page whose texture seemed very familiar to him.
“... would. I would do anything for you, only to let you know how I feel for you. I love you.”
The next stanza was written by another person, so he deduced from the different handwriting. He widened his eyes even as he read further, knowing where it came from.
“But you never knew that your departure wouldn’t make me happier. I couldn’t live if you aren’t here by my side. There’s no meaning in going on if we aren’t together. I would do anything for you, only to let you know how I feel for you. I love you too.”
His mind was blank, unable to process the overload of information. There was something missing, he noticed. Something important to connect all the inklings that he had gathered. He knew something was forming deep in his mind, but he just needed the last link to weave everything into a complete picture.
He fumbled, delving deeper into the wooden box. And he did not rest, until he reached its bottom when something made him stop and stare. Placed neatly for him to gawk was a photograph. It was old and black-and-white, printed on a low quality paper but the resulting image was amazingly clear despite the evidently aging surface. He picked it up, trembling as he refused to acknowledge what he had seen, but the solid feeling of the picture against his fingertips forced him to believe his eyes, making them mist.
He was staring at JaeJoong. And himself. Or at least, someone who looked so alike himself that the resemblance was uncanny. In the picture, JaeJoong had his arms around the other figure with black hair; a blissful expression that he never witnessed graced that porcelain-perfect face. Something pulled at him when he looked at the impression of the two and the small, scribbled note at one of the edges in writing similar to the second paragraph he had read earlier confirmed his suspicion.
To my Estelle. I love you too. ~JaeJoong
He rose from his spot hastily; the wooden box that grabbed his entire attention for the past ten minutes left on the ground. YunHo took off in a sprint and headed for the sacred lagoon, a confused mixture of worry, disbelief and anxiety glowed in his eyes.
JunSu who was left beneath the comforting canopy of the ancient oak tree could only give YunHo’s retreating back a bewildered glance. He picked up the photograph in the forgotten box and gasped when he recognised the two figures imprinted.
“When did YunHo-hyung and JaeJoong-hyung take this picture?”
By the time he reached the beach where he and JaeJoong usually had their unplanned night rendezvous, he was exhausted, more psychologically than anything else. He caught sight of ChangMin and YooChun rushing towards him and the faint holler from JunSu from his back, but all he could do was to focus at his will to explicate the mystery that befuddled him for so long.
When he saw that picture, everything seemed to fall perfectly into place like finding a missing jigsaw piece. As his physique ran, his mind let all the oddities scramble through his cerebral space, assembling themselves into forming the greater embodiment.
From how JaeJoong seemed to always appear out of nowhere, to the ever present mysterious air around the raven-haired teenager; from how JaeJoong seemed to know so much of the legend that it seemed peculiar even if he was native, to the impression the other gave him that he was talking about himself when he recited the story about the lost love between the two lovers; and then there was that atypical look akin to affection that JaeJoong always had when looking at him...
Suddenly everything made sense to him.
JaeJoong was not talking about anyone else but him when he told YunHo of the legend. The love between him and his Estelle was renounced not because of different social class like JaeJoong had claimed, but it was because their love was not typical. His Estelle was no common lass; Estelle was a boy, just like JaeJoong himself. And the boy who earned JaeJoong’s affection just happened to be very similar to himself, which explained why JaeJoong always had that look of adoration in his eyes whenever he look at him. YunHo bit his lip. He must have reminded JaeJoong of his lost love every time they met, reopening aching wounds with bitter memory.
Now he understood why JaeJoong insisted for YunHo to go with him that night within the embrace of the sea. He was not joking when he said the apparition guarding the sacred lagoon was looking for company, waiting for his love to return - JaeJoong had indeed planned to take him away as a companion.
That bastard. YunHo felt the pressure at the back of his eyes increase. He could have just told him so.
“Wait, YunHo, where are you going?”
YunHo struggled against the strong grip on his shoulders and pushed YooChun’s hands away. “Let me go, YooChun,” he growled, eyes flashing with both anger and disappointment. “I need to drill some sense into his head.”
“By jumping into the sea?” YooChun yelled, shaking YunHo harder. “I should be the one drilling sense into your head! Are you out of your mind? You’re sick, YunHo! You can’t just happily go diving into the sea!”
“Let me, YooChun, just let me go!” YunHo fought back. When he managed to disengage himself from his friend’s vice grip, YunHo immediately jumped into the same part of the sea that almost took his life once and dove. There and then, as the cold water hit his senses, YunHo recalled how the soft voice told him not to go there, not to lose himself. He should have known, he should have trusted his intuition; after all, who else would have a distinct voice like that if not for JaeJoong?
There must be something in there, something that made JaeJoong so vehement in not wanting to let him go there. Something that he knew he would need to reveal the rest of the mystery.
YunHo braved himself for the cyclone in front of him, similar to the one that he had faced before. If the last time it was his determination to save his friend that cloaked over his fear, this time it was the burning feeling in his heart that screamed for JaeJoong. He went through the wall of the liquid-twister, feeling the hard impact of the spiral hitting his chest. The clothes he wore absorbed water, making himself heavier, dragging him down and deeper. As he felt himself sunk lower, he screamed in desperation, willing the voice to return, for JaeJoong to come back.
But it never did.
He almost gave up in his search as he found navigation getting increasingly arduous, when the very thing he was looking for entered his vision. He had no mind to cheer even as he swam against the current to the mass of dark green deep in the recesses of the seabed. The vine-like plants had caught his attention the first time he laid eyes on it, and he should have been suspicious when it lingered a little too long in his mind, but too occupied with other affairs, he shoved it deep inside his brain and left it rot there, forgotten.
When he was close enough, what he saw made him stare, his eyes widened in shock and horror at the sight. There, within the gentle embrace of green and emerald, was JaeJoong; his body held immobile by the water-plants in splashes of pink and white. At first he could not be sure of the identity, but when he recognised the floating silver pendant hanging from the other’s lifeless neck, he could only gasp. The expression on that pale face was surprisingly serene and despite the bad lighting and his even worse angle of view, he could still make out those distinct features that he would never forget. It was indeed his friend, the one that gave him solace when he needed it the most.
Jae- JaeJoong...
He felt himself whimper inwardly. Out of spontaneous reflex, YunHo began making his way closer to his vision, deeper into the sea. There was no way he could leave JaeJoong there now that he knew of his whereabouts. He did not care if what he saw was a remnant from years down the history, he did not care about anything else besides JaeJoong.
A conspicuous noise from his back and a hard grip on his arms diverted his attention, making him look back. ChangMin and YooChun had grabbed his exhausted physique and began to drag him back to the surface. From the random hand signal in which YooChun tried to convey his message, YunHo understood that they had to return to the shore immediately as another cyclone would be forming. And if they stayed there longer, delaying, they would not get any chance to escape.
YunHo shook his head, wrestling his arms away as he tried to swim further. He could not leave the other in the lurch like that, not when he knew how much it must have hurt the raven-haired disposition, especially when he, himself, had a taste of how hurtful love could be at times. He could not leave him there, YunHo fought with himself, struggling to get away from his friend’s determined pull. He felt his eyes warm even under water. It was all nonsense when JaeJoong said he was used to loneliness; everyone needed company. JaeJoong said he did not want to be alone anymore; he could not leave him all by himself like this. JaeJoong had helped him in the course of their short friendship; it was his turn to return the favour. JaeJoong was in pain, he had to save him. He had to.
He had to...
“YunHo!”
As he felt the last sliver of his energy seeping out, as he helplessly watched JaeJoong’s inert remains retreat steadily, as he broke down before his completed composition, that was the last thing he heard, and remembered - YooChun’s voice calling for his name, the thunderous voice dampened by the sea water.
"Whispers and Promises"
Part VIII
-end-
Previous chapters can be found here.
Author: 79_percent
Rating: PG-13
Form: Chaptered
Fandom: TVXQ
Pairing: JaeHo
Genre: Drama, Fluff, Angst
Whispers and Promises
VIII. Enchantment
He woke up with a start, feeling darkness being wrenched away, unconsciously stifling his breathing when life entered his mind. He stared at the ceiling, a blank look on his pale face, watching the fan rotating slowly, making repetitive circular motion with its blades. For a moment there and then, YunHo was lost, not knowing where he was, or how he ended up there exactly.
He felt the room stir, two voices calling his name. And yet he could not find the will in him to turn and acknowledge the other presence. His dark brown eyes fixed themselves on nothing in particular, darting across the room, as if searching for something. He tried to make sense of his surroundings but he found that all he could focus on was the scattered remnants of his dream. Something pulled so persistently at the back of his mind as an aftermath of his reverie he just could not ignore its beckon.
His dream was not as vivid as his previous premonition and yet this time, the sentiment was way more fervent than any other he ever had in the past. From that same smile he had grown to adore through their short days of acquaintance, to the comfortable friendship he had both cherished and missed; from the cool shade of the ancient oak tree at the cliff where they met in the dreamscape, to the lingering feeling of the other boy in his arms, telling him that everything would be alright - he could remember each and every one action and upshot just like he had experienced it first hand in flesh.
JaeJoong had returned to him in his dreams and knowing his strong belief in this one myth despite his logical and scientific upbringing, his reality would be the opposite of what he dreamt of. JaeJoong had left. For good. And he had no idea where to find him.
At that junction, YunHo gasped loudly, startling three including himself. Realisation rained on him in knife-like droplets, making him notice of its quaintness
JaeJoong!
YunHo immediately pushed himself up to a sitting position, the blanket carelessly thrown on the floor. He felt his world spin, momentarily having a blackout in his vision just as his head left the soft support of the pillow. Almost immediately, two people rushed to his side, steadying his faltering form.
“Hyung, are you okay?” ChangMin asked in worry.
The older black-head ignored the concern expressed, mind already too cluttered up with shattered bits and pieces from both his memory and his dream. The frantic calls and exclamations from his friends went through his ears without any process, coming out of the other lobe as raw as its original state. As he made a mad dash out of the room and towards the beach, all he could think of was JaeJoong.
“Yun- YunHo-hyung!!”
“Where’s he going?” JunSu bit his lips, trailing the rapidly retreating back with his eyes as his anxiety began to show on his demeanour. “How could he still have that much energy left in him after getting knocked out for a day and a half?”
The youngest with chestnut brown hair felt the urge to bite his fingernails. “Let’s get him back, hyung,” ChangMin implored, pulling the still-surprised blonde to his feet before rushing for the door together. “I’ll get YooChun-hyung too. He’ll scream at us if he knew we let YunHo-hyung out of bed.”
He combed through the mountains of people on the beach, desperation showing in his deep melanin irises as he wished for one person to appear. Fragments of lost memories began to overcome him in a sudden maelstrom, dragging his hope down with it. It was only the last shred of his stubbornness that prevented him from believing that his friend had indeed disappeared in front of his own eyes. But as he watched the sun set and the beach getting increasingly empty of people, YunHo felt his heart break. He knew his search would turn out futile, but it seemed like he just could not stop the disappointment from flowing.
As he scanned the random faces around him, feeling the slight throbbing within his skull, YunHo never stopped praying to all the entities above. He was not wishing for something complicated, he did not dare to; all he wanted was for him to be able to see JaeJoong again. To help the other boy, to ease him of his troubles, like how the other had him. Even if JaeJoong did not realise how much he had helped lighten the burden in YunHo’s heart, those encouraging words and smiles, plus the comforting companion were more than enough to give him the solace that he had been looking for when he ran away from his reality.
Those words JaeJoong said while listening to his problem; that endearing voice that seemed to linger in his ears; that heart-rending story that revealed the sacredness of this lagoon- YunHo let his thoughts come to an abrupt halt, suddenly remembering what JaeJoong had told him. And before he knew it himself, he was already rushing his way towards the hill.
“The servant buried all of them in a box under the tree at the cliff where they both fell, hoping that both souls would be able to reconcile when they read the letters in the netherworld.”
He knew he was speculating, but when desperation reached its limits, he could not help but read in between the lines.
“You can try digging if you want to, YunHo-yah.”
He could not explain why either, even as he started digging at one shaded spot beneath the sacred oak tree, but somehow he felt like there was an unexplainable willpower in him that forced him to do so. More than that, he thought bitterly, letting his hands claw madly at the brown soil, somehow he felt that JaeJoong wanted him to. Like the missing raven-head was leading him to doing this with that innocent narration. When all logical rationale failed him, YunHo relied solely on his instinct.
“Hyung, what are you doing?” JunSu asked, panting just as he reached the hill. He had chased YunHo from the house to the beach and up the cliff with all his might, following the frantic footsteps with his own worried ones, desperately trying to catch up. When YunHo only told him to help with the seemingly meaningless excavation, JunSu was torn between helping and thinking that the summer heat had burned his hyung’s mind charcoal black.
YunHo ignored the blonde, keeping his concentration on the sole task in his hand and continued to dig. JunSu, who crouched beside him, was trying to make him stop lest he injure himself even more, but he only avoided the advances. His fingers began to hurt from the menial work, his nails tearing deep into the hard soil, and yet he could not seem to bring himself to stop.
One loud sound of nails hitting wood startled both boys and two pairs of eyes looked down to see one corner of a wooden box jutting out, exposing the russet container among brown soil. YunHo dug deeper, apprehension filled his mind, immediately bringing it out with his soiled hands. He trembled slightly, looking intently at the well-crafted surface. Dusting bits of earth off to reveal an intricately carved design on its cover, YunHo could imagine the story unfurling into life before him.
“Wh- what’s that?” He heard JunSu ask quietly, his curiosity displayed.
He was not sure either, but he would know the answer to that question in a moment. Gritting his teeth in determination, YunHo brought a hesitant hand towards the latch and unfastened it.
The box opened, a slight reek of mould hit his nose, making him recoil subconsciously. There, folded in a neat stack, were pages of papers, their edges yellow from age and yet it was obvious that they were preserved carefully during their times. With a tentative pick, he unfolded one and scanned its contents. Like JaeJoong had recited, it was a love letter, words of devotion and everlasting promises filled the sheet in neat handwriting. Somehow, at the sight of the words, the familiar script was tugging in his mind. He knew he had seen something like that somewhere.
Shaking his head, he put the letters aside, giving the curious JunSu a short look before rummaging the rest of the contents. Among other intricate mementos, what caught his eyes was a torn page whose texture seemed very familiar to him.
“... would. I would do anything for you, only to let you know how I feel for you. I love you.”
The next stanza was written by another person, so he deduced from the different handwriting. He widened his eyes even as he read further, knowing where it came from.
“But you never knew that your departure wouldn’t make me happier. I couldn’t live if you aren’t here by my side. There’s no meaning in going on if we aren’t together. I would do anything for you, only to let you know how I feel for you. I love you too.”
His mind was blank, unable to process the overload of information. There was something missing, he noticed. Something important to connect all the inklings that he had gathered. He knew something was forming deep in his mind, but he just needed the last link to weave everything into a complete picture.
He fumbled, delving deeper into the wooden box. And he did not rest, until he reached its bottom when something made him stop and stare. Placed neatly for him to gawk was a photograph. It was old and black-and-white, printed on a low quality paper but the resulting image was amazingly clear despite the evidently aging surface. He picked it up, trembling as he refused to acknowledge what he had seen, but the solid feeling of the picture against his fingertips forced him to believe his eyes, making them mist.
He was staring at JaeJoong. And himself. Or at least, someone who looked so alike himself that the resemblance was uncanny. In the picture, JaeJoong had his arms around the other figure with black hair; a blissful expression that he never witnessed graced that porcelain-perfect face. Something pulled at him when he looked at the impression of the two and the small, scribbled note at one of the edges in writing similar to the second paragraph he had read earlier confirmed his suspicion.
To my Estelle. I love you too. ~JaeJoong
He rose from his spot hastily; the wooden box that grabbed his entire attention for the past ten minutes left on the ground. YunHo took off in a sprint and headed for the sacred lagoon, a confused mixture of worry, disbelief and anxiety glowed in his eyes.
JunSu who was left beneath the comforting canopy of the ancient oak tree could only give YunHo’s retreating back a bewildered glance. He picked up the photograph in the forgotten box and gasped when he recognised the two figures imprinted.
“When did YunHo-hyung and JaeJoong-hyung take this picture?”
By the time he reached the beach where he and JaeJoong usually had their unplanned night rendezvous, he was exhausted, more psychologically than anything else. He caught sight of ChangMin and YooChun rushing towards him and the faint holler from JunSu from his back, but all he could do was to focus at his will to explicate the mystery that befuddled him for so long.
When he saw that picture, everything seemed to fall perfectly into place like finding a missing jigsaw piece. As his physique ran, his mind let all the oddities scramble through his cerebral space, assembling themselves into forming the greater embodiment.
From how JaeJoong seemed to always appear out of nowhere, to the ever present mysterious air around the raven-haired teenager; from how JaeJoong seemed to know so much of the legend that it seemed peculiar even if he was native, to the impression the other gave him that he was talking about himself when he recited the story about the lost love between the two lovers; and then there was that atypical look akin to affection that JaeJoong always had when looking at him...
Suddenly everything made sense to him.
JaeJoong was not talking about anyone else but him when he told YunHo of the legend. The love between him and his Estelle was renounced not because of different social class like JaeJoong had claimed, but it was because their love was not typical. His Estelle was no common lass; Estelle was a boy, just like JaeJoong himself. And the boy who earned JaeJoong’s affection just happened to be very similar to himself, which explained why JaeJoong always had that look of adoration in his eyes whenever he look at him. YunHo bit his lip. He must have reminded JaeJoong of his lost love every time they met, reopening aching wounds with bitter memory.
Now he understood why JaeJoong insisted for YunHo to go with him that night within the embrace of the sea. He was not joking when he said the apparition guarding the sacred lagoon was looking for company, waiting for his love to return - JaeJoong had indeed planned to take him away as a companion.
That bastard. YunHo felt the pressure at the back of his eyes increase. He could have just told him so.
“Wait, YunHo, where are you going?”
YunHo struggled against the strong grip on his shoulders and pushed YooChun’s hands away. “Let me go, YooChun,” he growled, eyes flashing with both anger and disappointment. “I need to drill some sense into his head.”
“By jumping into the sea?” YooChun yelled, shaking YunHo harder. “I should be the one drilling sense into your head! Are you out of your mind? You’re sick, YunHo! You can’t just happily go diving into the sea!”
“Let me, YooChun, just let me go!” YunHo fought back. When he managed to disengage himself from his friend’s vice grip, YunHo immediately jumped into the same part of the sea that almost took his life once and dove. There and then, as the cold water hit his senses, YunHo recalled how the soft voice told him not to go there, not to lose himself. He should have known, he should have trusted his intuition; after all, who else would have a distinct voice like that if not for JaeJoong?
There must be something in there, something that made JaeJoong so vehement in not wanting to let him go there. Something that he knew he would need to reveal the rest of the mystery.
YunHo braved himself for the cyclone in front of him, similar to the one that he had faced before. If the last time it was his determination to save his friend that cloaked over his fear, this time it was the burning feeling in his heart that screamed for JaeJoong. He went through the wall of the liquid-twister, feeling the hard impact of the spiral hitting his chest. The clothes he wore absorbed water, making himself heavier, dragging him down and deeper. As he felt himself sunk lower, he screamed in desperation, willing the voice to return, for JaeJoong to come back.
But it never did.
He almost gave up in his search as he found navigation getting increasingly arduous, when the very thing he was looking for entered his vision. He had no mind to cheer even as he swam against the current to the mass of dark green deep in the recesses of the seabed. The vine-like plants had caught his attention the first time he laid eyes on it, and he should have been suspicious when it lingered a little too long in his mind, but too occupied with other affairs, he shoved it deep inside his brain and left it rot there, forgotten.
When he was close enough, what he saw made him stare, his eyes widened in shock and horror at the sight. There, within the gentle embrace of green and emerald, was JaeJoong; his body held immobile by the water-plants in splashes of pink and white. At first he could not be sure of the identity, but when he recognised the floating silver pendant hanging from the other’s lifeless neck, he could only gasp. The expression on that pale face was surprisingly serene and despite the bad lighting and his even worse angle of view, he could still make out those distinct features that he would never forget. It was indeed his friend, the one that gave him solace when he needed it the most.
Jae- JaeJoong...
He felt himself whimper inwardly. Out of spontaneous reflex, YunHo began making his way closer to his vision, deeper into the sea. There was no way he could leave JaeJoong there now that he knew of his whereabouts. He did not care if what he saw was a remnant from years down the history, he did not care about anything else besides JaeJoong.
A conspicuous noise from his back and a hard grip on his arms diverted his attention, making him look back. ChangMin and YooChun had grabbed his exhausted physique and began to drag him back to the surface. From the random hand signal in which YooChun tried to convey his message, YunHo understood that they had to return to the shore immediately as another cyclone would be forming. And if they stayed there longer, delaying, they would not get any chance to escape.
YunHo shook his head, wrestling his arms away as he tried to swim further. He could not leave the other in the lurch like that, not when he knew how much it must have hurt the raven-haired disposition, especially when he, himself, had a taste of how hurtful love could be at times. He could not leave him there, YunHo fought with himself, struggling to get away from his friend’s determined pull. He felt his eyes warm even under water. It was all nonsense when JaeJoong said he was used to loneliness; everyone needed company. JaeJoong said he did not want to be alone anymore; he could not leave him all by himself like this. JaeJoong had helped him in the course of their short friendship; it was his turn to return the favour. JaeJoong was in pain, he had to save him. He had to.
He had to...
“YunHo!”
As he felt the last sliver of his energy seeping out, as he helplessly watched JaeJoong’s inert remains retreat steadily, as he broke down before his completed composition, that was the last thing he heard, and remembered - YooChun’s voice calling for his name, the thunderous voice dampened by the sea water.
"Whispers and Promises"
Part VIII
-end-
Previous chapters can be found here.