First to Reach | sihwa

Chapter 3

hey, woo. i'm here. are the books ready?
[Message Sent]

The subway that Seonghwa's taking stops at the same station where he last saw the witch who cursed them. It was decades ago, if remembers correctly, and there was no subway station. The witch only glared at him then, and he was a small bunny in that life.

(Sihyeon was a male newscaster back then. Seonghwa as a bunny used to watch Sihyeon's shows because his owner kept up with them.)

A glare and that was it. He hadn't heard from her since, even thinking that the spell was finally broken. As a bunny, he made stupid celebrations before he finally rests in peace... until he was reborn again. This time as a tall, many-characters-looking male who grew up to be a teacher.

The witch is still pretty mad, then. For some stupid mistake ages ago. Talk about petty.

Seonghwa shakes the thought off and heads out of the subway station. He had to pick up some books today to make lectures about. His class isn't until tomorrow, anyways.

(Thank God for Mondays off for the semester.)

He opens the rusty green door, and the bell above it makes a sound. The school supplies-slash-bookstore isn't that busy at this time around, so the only person inside, Wooyoung, is busy laughing at something from the counter.

"Hi, Wooyoung!"

The person in question stops mid-laughter and sits properly on his stool. "You're pretty early, hyung."

"You're acting surprised. Didn't you see my text message?"

"I did," Jongho pops out of nowhere, looking annoyed. "It was so loud I thought I would never be able to hear again."

"You're exaggerating!" Wooyoung protested.

"Like phone, like owner I guess."

Seonghwa raises his hands. "Kids, just— calm down. Professionalism."

"Oh, we don't have that! Sorry."

"You have CCTV cameras." He pointed to the one at the corner of the ceiling. "Your boss is gonna be stressed."

"Hey, I can be cooperative. I just don't know about the little bear."

Jongho ignores the both of them (especially Wooyoung's teasing smirk) and heads to the back of the store where he can resume organizing the sets of glue on the shelf.

"Whatever now." Wooyoung waves a hand, as if dismissing. He takes out a box of books from underneath a counter and pushes it to Seonghwa. "Now pay up, sir."

A feeling of nostalgia sparks up in Seonghwa's chest. It was the same line that Sihyeon told him when they first met—

Wait.

Wait.

If they were able to be cursed with immortality by the witch together, then that must mean that that was their first life.

As he pays for the books, he tries to contain his happiness from the epiphany.

Holy shit, holy shit. He's gonna win this.

But wait! No. It can't be. He knew Sihyeon before, but he never met her until then. They were separately cursed, right?

God, why does he keep on forgetting?

Wait. This isn't the time to think about this. Seonghwa pulls himself back together and thanks Wooyoung for the books.

"Take good care of the books, hyung." He smiles softly.

-

He first (and officially) met Sihyeon like this: when Seonghwa was a male monarch, and his younger sister, Aisha, had regular rendezvous trips every night.

As it turns out, Aisha was dating someone and that was Sihyeon. It was alright at first. More than okay. It was a homophobic society on where they grew up, but Seonghwa learned to tolerate the "deviance." It made Aisha happy, so who was he to take his sister's happiness away from her?

He didn't know Sihyeon. He didn't know how she looked like. All he knew was that she's a commoner.

However, on one of the nights that Seonghwa was strolling through the castle, he heard a conversation in loud voices from one of the secluded places — like an argument — and long story short, Sihyeon wanted Aisha to meet her family, while Aisha opposed the idea. Seonghwa had to butt in the conversation then, and he never missed the surprised and scared look both girls had in their expressions.

"I cannot help but overhear your conversation, but here is my advice, Miss. . ." he didn't know her name! "Um, respect my sister's decision, please."

"I'm sorry," was the only thing Sihyeon had said then, with her head down.

-

Later that week, as Seonghwa is preparing his lecture for next week's class, Sihyeon glides inside the room and blocks the laptop screen with a notebook.

Shit, he almost curses. Then it dawns on him — wasn't she supposed to be doing stuff on her computer or something?

"God, Sihyeon, what are you doing now?" Seonghwa tries not to sound annoyed, so as not to hurt the other's feelings. "It's 3 a.m."

"And it's my place," she replies, turning the notebook cover. "Besides, I can't help but notice you glaring at your books," they both look at the books he got from Wooyoung, "So I have a solution! Okay, check this word out."

It has the word Lion written on it with her all-too familiar handwriting.

"G-Idle?"

"Other than G-Idle, does this word ring any bell to you? In the past?"

Seonghwa lifts one side of his lips in amusement. "Are you trying to get answers out of me?"

She takes the notebook back. "It was worth a try since you looked out of it."

"I'm sleep-deprived but I can still function, so I guess that's a loss for you."

"I guess it is."

"I know you badly hate working robotically and having education every few centuries, but hey, I do too. Remember, we're competing."

Sihyeon raises an eyebrow. "You said I can get answers if I asked you. Or I just remembered incorrectly?"

"Just go to sleep, Sihyeonnie. I'll wake you up in the morning."

When Sihyeon smiles out of gratitude, Seonghwa feels himself getting a little bit motivated. It's amazing on how interactions make an impact.