The One I Cannot Touch

String 15: The Shape of Memory

Sunday Morning — Jade's Penthouse, Makati

The morning sun poured into the room like honey, slipping between gauzy curtains and casting golden lines across the white marble floors. The scent of fresh linen and warm vanilla candles lingered in the air. Jade lay half-awake on her bed, her silk robe loosely draped over her, tangled in Egyptian cotton sheets.

Her phone buzzed on the bedside table.

A message.

Clara:
"Need to see you today. Bring Chase. It's time."

Jade blinked, rereading it. Her heart kicked in her chest.

Later — Drive to Antipolo

The black Porsche Cayenne sliced through city traffic, Chase at the wheel, his hand occasionally reaching for Jade's knee in silence.

Neither of them spoke much.

Jade stared out the window, heart racing, trying to process everything Elise had said the night before. About Lance, about reincarnation, about him.

Chase (softly):
"You've been quiet."

Jade (honest):
"I'm scared of what Clara's going to say."

Chase:
"Then let's face it together."

There it was again — that calm, gentle strength. The kind that Lance had. The kind that made her ache.

Afternoon — Clara's House, Antipolo

Nestled in a forested cliffside estate was Clara's retreat — part healing center, part ancestral home, part sanctuary for the emotionally deranged. That's what Jade called it, anyway.

Clara met them at the door, her long white dress flowing like smoke, eyes sharp as ever.

Clara:
"You both came. Good. Come. The answers have waited long enough."

Inside, the walls were covered in dried herbs, antique photographs, and scrolls of calligraphy. A fire crackled in the stone hearth.

Chase (whispering to Jade):
"It smells like a spellbook exploded."

Jade (suppressing a nervous laugh):
"Welcome to trauma therapy via incense."

Clara motioned for them to sit across from her, at a circular wooden table carved with ancient symbols.

She placed two objects in the center: a burnt velvet scarf and a faded photograph of Lance and Jade from five years ago.

Clara:
"Look at these, Chase."

He hesitated, then picked up the photo. He stared at it for a long time.

Chase:
"This was... us?"

Jade froze.
Us.

Clara (softly):
"Do you recognize anything?"

Chase looked at the scarf. Touched it. His fingers trembled.

Then — something shifted.

Flashback — Chase's POV (Unknown Time, Unknown Place)

A fire.

Smoke.

A voice calling his name — "Lance!"

A woman. Her face glowing like moonlight, her voice breaking.
"Promise me... if we don't make it, find me in the next life."

A burning ceiling. Her hand slipping from his.

The scent of burnt velvet.

"Jade..."

Back in the Present — Clara's House

Chase gasped. He dropped the scarf as if it burned him. Jade rushed to his side.

Chase (stammering):
"I—I saw it. I was... him. I think. I don't know how. But I saw it."

Clara (gently):
"You're remembering. It's beginning."

Jade:
"What do you mean beginning? What's happening to him?"

Clara turned to her, calm but fierce.

Clara:
"Your souls were tied by the Red String. He died too early. But the string... it doesn't cut. It waits. And it led him back."

Jade:
"But why now?"

Clara:
"Because love never truly dies. It only waits for a time it can finish its story."

Evening — Back at Jade's Penthouse

The ride back was silent.

Jade kept glancing at him — no longer unsure if she was with Chase or Lance or both.

In the living room, they sat in the glow of floor-to-ceiling city lights. She poured them both wine, though neither of them drank it.

Jade:
"Do you believe it now?"

Chase (quietly):
"I want to. And I think... I do. Because everything about you feels like déjà vu."

Jade (tears forming):
"Do you remember how you died?"

Chase (closing his eyes):
"A fire. Trying to protect you. But it wasn't enough."

Jade reached out and touched his face.

Jade:
"But maybe now, it is."

They leaned in — not with urgency, but with gravity.

And kissed.

Not a first kiss.

But a return.

Later That Night — On the Rooftop

Wrapped in a blanket under the stars, Jade rested her head on Chase's chest. The city buzzed far below, but their world had narrowed into this quiet moment.

Chase:
"If I am him... does that scare you?"

Jade:
"No. What scares me is losing you again."

Chase:
"Then we won't let that happen. No matter what the past says."

But even as he spoke, his hand unconsciously brushed the faint burn scar on his left shoulder — the same place Lance had been burned trying to shield Jade during the fire.

She noticed.

And swallowed hard.

Meanwhile — A Shadow in the Distance

In a dark, cold space far from the lights of Makati, someone else stirred.

A man.

Watching Jade from afar through a hidden photograph.

His fingers curled into a fist.

Unknown Man (softly):
"So you found him again. Let's see if fate is really on your side this time."