One and then Two [Tale of The Nine Tailed]

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Summary:

With the clear laughter from the three people who walk ahead of them echoed in their ear and how both of them could see the see through figure laughing alongside them as if that person never leaves.

Notes:

Muehehehe.

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The sun was shining. The birds are singing, the sound of cicadas and the breeze of the wind as well as the sound of the wave from the sea. The vast blue sky that strewn across the horizon is a sight to behold and the laughter from the people Yeon unknowingly grown close to is a priceless memory.

This is not his first time walking alongside his beloved Ji Ah on the beach. But it is his first time being here with all the people who leave a significant mark in his life.

As their hand intertwined with each other and their heart beat in sync. The breeze of the ocean between them is the witness that accompanied their walk.

However their gaze is focused on the people who walk ahead of them, seeing Shin Joo and Yu ri walk side by side with Soo Ah between them.

Yeon can't help but remember Rang whenever he saw them after watching video recording that given to him by Shin Joo. He always remember how gentle his brother smile was, how content his brother look and how bright his eyes.

Because beside himself who are mourning his lost, they were also the people who are closest to his brother this past year and the people who Rang call family.

Sometimes Yeon can't help but saw Rang shadow beside Yu Ri and Soo Ah, standing beside them quietly with soft smile on his lips or just observing them before he vanish into thin air.

"Do you regret your choice?" Ji Ah voice startled Yeon who spaced out.

Ji Ah looking at the man beside her, whose eyes lost in his own mind. She know what Yeon thinking right now after seeing the familiar look in his eyes in these past few month.

She didn't really know the full story of those two brothers, but she's also someone who's very observant. Even if she's not that skilled in reading someone expression or intention it's enough to guess that her boyfriend has a very long history with his brother.

Since the first time she meet with those two, how both of them sometimes walking on eggshells around each other and how both of them also willed double edged sword that aimed at each other. However the feeling of love from Yeon and Rang also very much visible from her eyes.

She only heard from the snipped and unconnected words from Yeon. How, ever since that time he choose to go to his little brother instead of her, his voice almost always filled with despair and regret.

"What?"

"For waiting for your first love to be reincarnated again, to be with me?" Ji Ah voice was very soft as she uttered her question.

Yeon widened his eyes, looking at her eyes searching for something behind that question. They stopped at their tracks for a moment, letting the ocean wave brush their shoe a little.

Yeon then closed his eyes, taking a soft breath as his hands tightened at Ji Ah.

"I would never" his voice was slightly shaky.

"Are you happy?" Yeon didn't expect that question.

"I am" Ji Ah slowly raise her hand to wipe the tears that unknowingly fall from Yeon eyes.

"But why you still look sad?" instead of answering her question, Yeon turn his head away, looking at people who walked ahead of them and hoping to see just a glimpse of that person smile or hair, searching for someone who will never be there anymore.

"I didn't regret my choice. I would never. But sometimes I still wish I could turn back the time and given a chance to mend this broken glass before it's destroyed completely...My little brother is a victim of my own choice, I know everyone always says that his sin is his own doing but none of that will happen if I've never leave him"

"I was too occupied with my grief that I forgot I still have someone who was waiting for my return"

Ji Ah quietly listened, at first she didn't understand why the brothers have a very weird dynamic. With Rang who always take any chance to annoy and fight with his brother, and Yeon who still play along with the younger man, rarely get angry. But as she listened from Yeon point, she thinks Rang is like a child who demands their parents' attention, a lonely child.

Yeon eyes stare at the vast horizon as if he was seeing beyond the ocean in front of him "I will pray and wish for his happiness whenever he is"

"There's nothing I could when I finally really wish I could do something"

Ji Ah could understand, because she lose her parents when she were a child and she's praying day to day for years for her parents to come back and thinking younger her thought how lonely she was.

Silently, deep inside her heart, Ji Ah still carry the heavy weight of guilt. Even if Yeon reassure her that it's not her fault. She was the last person who see Rang, seeing him alive and well, she seated beside him trying to offer her precious memories in exchange of Yeon.

She didn't expect Rang to be angry with her for offering her memories, telling her how long his brother waiting for her to return and saying how cruel it would be if Yeon come back and she couldn't remember him anymore.

She was scared when the old man demand a life for a life, there so many thing that tied her to this world and she didn't want to let go.

She said she will do it but the old man saying only something that given without regret can be accepted as the deal.

In the end Rang offered himself.

Ji Ah is not really close to Rang, and all their interaction is them bickering and insulting each other whenever they meet. But hearing the people around them talk about the man make her slowly understands who was Rang, how he put mask to conceal his emotion and thought. How everything that shows on the surface is just façade he put on him and how she realized that she already see the kindness and gentleness that buried deep inside his heart multiple times.

"We live a very long life, but sometimes I still wish it can be longer" she heard Yeon whispered beside her, the longing in his voice is lost by the ocean breeze. With the clear laughter from the three people who walk ahead of them echoed in their ear and how both of them could see the see through figure laughing alongside them as if that person never leaves