Pulsatilla | Chapter 8/? [Part Two]
Pulsatilla
Author: love_cassiopeia
Summary: A complete mess was what Jung Yunho became after his beloved wife’s death. Trapped in a permanent state of isolation and loneliness, Yunho summons his knowledge on biology in hopes of recreating his wife in the form of an artificial human. However, the experiment goes terribly wrong and instead creates a male who has all his wife’s looks and qualities, one who he eventually decides to name ‘Jaejoong.’ Coping with the idyllic memories Jaejoong brings back of his wife, Yunho tries his best not to fall in love with his creation, knowing that the love he brings along is not the real thing-or is it?
Rated: PG-13 - NC-17
Warning(s): NC-17 material, language
Genre: Romance/Angst
Pairing(s): YunJae
Chapter 8: Pesanteur (Part Two)
Definition: The Pulsatilla is a deciduous perennial flower native to Europe and Asia that grows in the leftover nutrients of a dead plant. It is usually grown to replace another plant. It is capable of curing diseases and may be used in remedies.
Back to Part 1
P e s a n t e u r
C o n t i n u e d
*
The warm, lustrous sun of a tiresome Thursday soon dissipated into thin air as night arrived in the suburban portion of east side Seoul. Filing a few papers into his drawers and going over his sales for the day, Junsu was overly fervid to leave the piano gallery to revisit his apartment where he planned to down a bottle of beer as he turned on the TV to watch the various comedy and variety shows that succumbed the television stations nowadays. Packing up his briefcase and carrying it within his arms, the petite male prepared to stroll out of the piano gallery, finally locking up for the night.
That was, until two customers came walking in.
The two men were towering-perhaps a whole head taller than Junsu himself, with a rough build and wide shoulders. Although Junsu had no intention to deal with the two strangers and wanted to go home as soon as possible, he tried to be as polite as he could as he approached them with apology.
“Sorry for the inconvenience, but I’m afraid we’re closing down for the night.” Junsu notified. “If you’d like to purchase one of our models, please don’t hesitate to revisit us tomorrow-or better, make an order on our website: www.kimjunsupiano.co.kr.” He advertised, hoping the two fierce-looking men would leave as soon as they could after his public service announcement.
The two men showed no interest in Junsu’s words, so they apathetically ignored them, revealing the real purpose why they had come here. Without hesitation, the two men pulled a badge out of their pockets, both inscribed with the letters ‘FBI’ upon them.
“Are you Kim Junsu?” One of the men asked, his deep voice making Junsu shiver in fear.
Having not the confidence to think, Junsu answered frankly and nervously, finally realizing that the two men worked for the police. “Y-yes… I’m Kim Junsu.”
Out of the two men, the taller one grabbed the shopkeeper by his wrist, forcefully hauling him out of the store. “Please come with us.” The towering man commanded.
“W-what?” Discovering that the two men were trying to drag him into a large van, Junsu attempted to free his wrist of the twosome’s tight holds. “Let me go! You have no idea what you’re doing-let me go! I’m tired, I’ve done nothing to deserve this!”
Wrong move. As Junsu’s cries continued, the two men tightened their grasps on him, trying to contain the energetic male as they approached the vehicle. Having no mercy, they opened the door to the vehicle and threw Junsu into the back seat pitilessly, hearing his cries and the sound of flesh and bones hitting the rough surface.
As the door barely closed behind Junsu, the vehicle immediately began to move, accelerating at an ungodly speed as Junsu tried to solace himself for being so utterly frightened and dumbfounded. Having no idea where the team of men were taking him, Junsu banged vociferously on the seat of his driver, trying to attain answers. “What do you think you’re doing?” Junsu cried out in panic. “You can’t just go waltzing into my store, and then abduct me for no reason!” His throat stung from his loud yelling. “What the hell?”
“You’ll know when you get to the station.” The man behind him uttered, getting a hold of his hands and putting a pair of handcuffs around them. Despite how hard Junsu tried to yell or free his hands from the handcuffs, he understood that he was dealing with the police here. And they, out of all people, had the right to put a cage over his head if they saw him acting out of place.
Terrified out of his skin, Junsu could feel hot tears taint the soft skin of his face. All his life, he had followed the rules, putting a constant warning in the back of his mind that prevented him from breaking any laws or regulations. If that was really the case, then why was he being hauled into the night by an ominous van filled with two of the most muscular men he had seen his entire life?
For lord’s sake, he just wanted to return to his apartment and relax. He had no intention of going to a place as dismal as the police station!
He tried his best to hold back his tears and complaints as the van drove deeper and deeper into the town square (Junsu could recognize some government buildings as he stared out of the opaque windows). It was policemen he was dealing with, and he made a note to himself to act accordingly.
After a fifteen-minute ride, the car came to an abrupt stop at an eerie-looking building. Junsu’s body tensed up as the two men wrapped their muscular arms around him once more, lifting him out of the van. Junsu tried to hold himself back from quivering hysterically, but alas, the surroundings were far too horrifying to assent to his requests.
The two men hauled him into the building, and then entered a dark investigation room with all the lights shut except for a dim lamp hanging coldly over an insignificant table.
The twosome set Junsu onto a chair pulled up next to the table, removing his handcuffs as three new men emerged, suspicious expressions on their hostile-looking faces.
Looking in to the men’s eyes, Junsu had no choice but to melt helplessly into a full-on panic attack.
“Please don’t hurt me!” Junsu closed his eyes and tried to hide away his face within his now-freed hands. “If this is about the time I stole bras and panties from the lingerie store in high school, then I am terribly sorry!”
Ignoring his loud and embarrassing confession, two of the three men pulled a chair up to the table, looking into Junsu’s eyes solemnly. “We’re not here to discuss such childish manners.” They declared emotionlessly. “We’re here to question you about a few particular friends of yours, Kim Jaejoong and Jung Yunho.”
Having the two familiar names resound in his mind, Junsu was finally able to feel a bit of comfort within the dark, cold, fear-provoking setting. “You came all the way to my piano store, abducted me, and brought me all the way here to question me about my two new friends?” Junsu was no doubt shocked at the fact that it was the two simple friends of his that brought about such turmoil on a peaceful Thursday evening. “Why didn’t you just ask me in my piano shop, to make things easier?”
The man wearing a business suit who wasn’t sitting at the table chuckled cruelly. “You actually think those two ‘friends’ of yours are as innocent as you assume?” He teased in a disrespectful fashion. “The reason why you’re at the police station is because this is top-secret information we’re discussing here. If anyone were to see or hear us, then our plan would be ruined.”
To add onto what he said, another man began speaking. “So, if you inform anyone about any matters we discuss here, we’ll have no choice but to contain you and keep you under control.” He remarked. “Understand?”
Shivering in fear, Junsu nodded, putting the officer’s words into his mind and exhorting himself not to do anything stupid. They were the government, after all. They could do numerous amounts of things to ruin his life.
“So… about this Kim Jaejoong.” A man with the badge reading ‘Shin SangHyuk’ trailed off. “Our spies have caught a glimpse of him at the charity concert you co-hosted. Tell me, how did you meet him?”
Having no choice but to answer, Junsu made sure there were no lies behind his words. “I met him at my piano store…” Junsu reported fretfully. “He came in with Yunho on a Saturday morning. H-he didn’t do anything else but play a song on one of my grand pianos.”
“Did you notice anything strange about him when you first met him?” Another man, with the nametag reading ‘Kang HyeSung’ continued “They don’t have to be tremendously significant details. Anything with a hint of obscurity will do.”
“Well… I guess there was a point where I got a bit confused by him.” Junsu reported doubtfully. “At one point, Jaejoong was asking Yunho what a piano was, the next, he was playing the instrument like an expert with years of experience.”
One of the men in the room-SangHyuk was his name-looked as if a light bulb had just been lighted up within his conscious. “Did you hear that, JoongYoung? Our little witness just said that Jaejoong had no idea what a piano was.”
The man referred to as ‘JoongYoung’ chuckled maliciously. “Oh, what useful information this is. Considering Jaejoong is artificially created with Seulki’s DNA, I’m sure that with the small amount of time he spent in this world, he didn’t have the background knowledge to know what some things were.” He proclaimed, ignoring the fact that Junsu was still in the room, listening to every single word. “Since Seulki was once a piano player in her early twenties, it makes sense that such traits were transmitted to him and nailed themselves perfectly into his mind.”
“That’s most likely the truth.” HyeSung agreed. “It seems that Yunho’s creation isn’t perfect after all… but still, the first of its kind.”
Although he really had no intention to, Junsu couldn’t help but listen in on their conversation, trying to detect the meaning behind their enigmatic words. There were so many questions that came to mind, as whether why he was being questioned in the first place about two congenial, everyday people. The three men discussed the matter solemnly, making Junsu realize the innocent couple he had once imagined was sincerely not who they seemed to be. Was there perhaps something so grave that Jaejoong had done to alert the government’s attention? If so, he really didn’t seem to fit the role of a criminal very well.
And besides, who was the ‘Seulki’ that the three men kept on mentioning? Along with the talk of DNA and traits he could barely comprehend? Last but not least, what were these men trying to discover?
Noticing that he was only here to answer questions as a witness, not to be sent to jail, Junsu heaved a sigh, telling himself to calm down and that everything was going to be all right.
After the discussion ended, the inquiries continued. “Junsu... this is where you come in.” The one standing up, JoongYoung implied. “Have you… noticed any particular relationship between the two gentlemen? You know… how they look at each other and how they act around each other?”
Junsu was irritated by the question, considering he had no motive whatsoever to divulge anything about their relationship-which was really their own business to begin with (but was still too interesting for Junsu to ignore). After the conversation he shared with Yunho on the day of the concert, Junsu had the power to leak all sorts of information. Despite his background knowledge however, Junsu was still anxious about revealing things that remained in Yunho and Jaejoong’s private lives. Since he was locked inside a dark room in a police station however, Junsu had to do what was asked of him.
“The two of them are indeed very close.” Junsu claimed, rewinding to the day of the concert when Yunho had his arm around Jaejoong’s waist. “Perhaps… even closer than the best of friends. Yunho claims that he shares an apartment with Jaejoong where he stays home and cooks, does the laundry, and cleans up the house. On the day of the concert, I was even told that Jaejoong borrowed Yunho’s evening suit because he didn’t have such apparel in his closet."
The three men exchanged looks luridly, finally grasping onto a solid concept. “So Jaejoong was been living with Yunho all this time.” The man named SangHyuk emphasized. “Makes sense… considering he doesn’t want to reveal his creation to be public just yet.”
“That bastard.” JoongYoung responded resentfully. “Jung Yunho honestly deserves what we’re sending his way by the way he hides all of his experiments from the rest of us.”
HyeSung still wasn’t in accord with the other two. “You guys, I’m still not sure about it all…” He uttered dubiously. “Kim Junsu-sshi, do you have any more information regarding their relationship to give to us?”
There were bundles of other various information, but Junsu chose to reveal the one which was the most insignificant-one he thought was insignificant, to be exact. “Yunho told me that Jaejoong reminded him of someone he loved years ago-his wife to be exact.” Junsu hinted. “He told me that even though she’s been dead and that he’s been trying to forget about her, Jaejoong still reminded him strongly of her.”
“Bingo!” JoongYoung announced, still unaware of Junsu’s prying eyes and ears. “Everything makes perfect sense now.”
The other two men showed the consent. “With this information, we can now start our investigation.”
“Yes, after we run tests on Jaejoong, we shall create more his kind for whatever purpose.”
Junsu’s fear and uncertainty continued to ravish him as such words were said. Pretending not to listen to the three men, Junsu focused his eyes onto the large table, refusing to look up.
“Kim Junsu, you may go now.” The man standing up stated. “Thank you for your help, but if we ever find any fractions of our conversation leaked, we won’t hesitate to arrest you.”
What was there to leak? He couldn’t understand a word they said, after all. “Will do.” Junsu affirmed and bowed as one man opened up the door which led him outside. ‘My lips are sealed.” He added confidently, sensing the continuous phobia he felt stomping on every inch of him.
Upon leaving the station, Junsu felt relieved yet utterly nervous as the fresh air hit his lungs. Putting aside the matter, Junsu was fortunate that finally, he was able to go home for the night to rest up and prepare for the upcoming day.
In spite of how relieved he felt, a thought in the back of his mind reminded him that perhaps, after tonight, he would never look upon Yunho and Jaejoong in the same way ever again. He didn’t enjoy the ominous sensation, but he clearly knew that some people in the world were better to be left un-dealt with.
Sorry once again for the late update. I’ve been feeling terribly shiftless nowadays, which is probably why I have the chapter written but was too reluctant to update it. But rest assured, I haven’t forgotten about you guys at all! I’ll try to update this fic on a weekly basis as much as I can.
Please leave a comment. Your words really mean a lot to me.
-Cindy
Back to Part 1
Previous Chapters:
R é s u l t a t | A l i é n é | D é s o l é | B a i g n o i r e | M u s i q u e | N o c t u r n e 1 | N o c t u r n e 2 | J a l o u x | P e s a n t e u r 1 | P e s a n t e u r 2
Want more? For a list of chapters and stories, please don’t hesitate to visit my fanfiction archive