First to Reach | sihwa

Chapter 1

"And that was the story of how I met you," Sihyeon finishes, shifting her arms to a more comfortable position on the couch. From across the room, Seonghwa chuckles, with his right arm moving in an almost robotic motion from ironing the clothes back and forth, and back and forth.

Sihyeon thinks the smell of iron on clothes is nice. The heat feels like it's infiltrating the current atmosphere in a cozy manner, wrapping Sihyeon in a blanket.

It's definitely comforting.

"Was I correct?" She asks.

"Not really. You're gonna have to try harder."

"Still? I've tried to guess my whole life and even consulted magic people."

Seonghwa sticks his tongue out. "You're asking the wrong people."

"Who should I be asking?"

"Me." He finishes ironing the article of clothing, placing the iron carefully on the edge, with the heated surface facing forward. She stands up and takes the article of clothing away to put in the To Be Folded pile. "I'm with you since then, and I'm with you until now."

"Yeah, but you're not giving me any answers!"

"Mortality's gonna be mine, loser."

She takes this as a challenge. And it is, technically. Both Sihyeon and Seonghwa had been cursed of living immortally from one of their past lives, for some reason, and the only way to break the curse is to remember this -- what was their first life, and when did they first meet. Or at least, that's what they remembered what the witch from their past life told them.

Unfortunately, Seonghwa remembers the second one. He just doesn't remember himself in his first life.

But here's the biggest twist: the Curse Breaker is only for one person. This fuels the challenge between the two for various lives, times, and centuries, and up until now, none of them are winning. Okay, well, Seonghwa is on the lead.

"I remembered that we were from rival kingdoms from our past lives. And that we had a match when we were both lions. And that you hated me for dating your sister."

He raises an eyebrow. "You were pressuring her to come out."

"It was a mistake," she admitted. "I don't want to do it again."

"Good thing we're given another chance to live, huh?"

"No. Obviously no. You hate living nine lives as much as I do. Trust me, when I finally know when I first met you. . ."

He smiles, and to Sihyeon, it seems like the entire being of Seonghwa has softened. Despite the welcoming aura and comfort that radiated off of it, she thinks that it's fragile. The smile is fragile. One wrong move and she'll lose it.

"Ah!"

"Careful!"

Sihyeon retreats her hand. How lost was she in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed she touched the heated surface of the iron?

Oh, well. Maybe she hated irons after all.

Seonghwa gently pulls her hand, and then her thoughts from distracting her, examining the former. He's had this focused look on his face that she had grown all too familiar with.

However, familiarity breeds contempt. She laughs, pulling her hand back again, and sits on the couch. She's gonna win this. She's gonna beat Seonghwa from getting the curse broken. After all, the solution is only for one person.