007 — you belong to our world.
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I blinked nervously a few times. The room I was in looked nothing like my bedroom. Only after about a minute I realized it was Heeseung's living room.
I was lying on a couch, covered with a blanket. There was no one around. I only heard the voices of my nervous friends from the kitchen. Without moving from the prone position, I listened more closely to what they were saying.
"It hasn't happened yet.." Kai said, "Is that the only thing you have to say?" Heeseung said indignantly, "Yah.. nobody since the beginning of our race has found their second half in a human!" Kai replied, raising his voice a bit.
"And what should I do? She is Jungwon's second half, and we won't or more like we can't do anything about it." Heeseung assured.
"But can't you understand, that I don't want her?" Jungwon growled, and even though I didn't see him, I could imagine exactly how his face looked at that moment. However, what he said hurt so damn much. "I've never believed in that shit. It's just a stupid legend." he added after a while.
"You still think it's just a legend?" Chae whispered, "I know you feel it. I know you love her." she said, "Stop pretending you don't."
"No," he immediately denied, "This idiotic legend forces me to love her, and I'm not going to do that just because it tells me to. I have Yeeun, and I won't turn my life upside down because of some human girl." I couldn't take it anymore. The pain I felt that moment was too strong.
I got up from the couch, still swaying a little. I entered the kitchen where everyone looked at me surprised.
"Jaeun.. are you okay?" Chae asked, rushing up to me immediately, "I.. I want to go home," I whispered, holding back tears, "Can someone give me a ride? Or at least walk with me to the nearest bus stop..?"
At this point, I made up my mind. I didn't want to destroy Jungwon's well-organized life. If you love someone, you do everything you can to make them happy. So I decided, despite the pain and suffering, to give it to him. Since he loved his girlfriend, I couldn't push myself in between them.
"Jaeun.." Jiwon wanted to say something, but I didn't have the strength anymore. "Please," I groaned, with tears already shining in my eyes.
I felt weak, and exhausted. How was I supposed to endure something like this?
A moment later, I was already sitting in Jake's car. It was just us. Jungmi and Jiwon wanted to come with me, but Heeseung quickly stopped them. I was grateful, that Jake didn't ask about anything, and didn't try to explain anything. He just drove, focusing on the road.
As soon as I entered the house, I immediately disappeared in my room. I grabbed the blanket from my bed, and sat on my windowsill, staring at the forest.
From the moment Jungwon and I touched, the forest became even more important to me. There was something that was pushing me into it, and I couldn't suppress that feeling.
However, I was a little angry. I got sucked into some kind of game, that shouldn't be about me. It wasn't my world, I shouldn't have known about it at all. I couldn't tell anyone about it, and I was forced to keep it a secret.
The next day, I didn't want to leave the house, so I didn't. Mom saw that something was wrong, so I managed to convince her to let me stay at home, and asuured her that I just caught a cold. My parents never made me go to school when I didn't feel like it, so she let me stay with making me promise to take care of myself.
I spent half the day in bed, buried deeply in the duvet. I didn't even get dressed, I just layed in my pajamas, and cried. It wasn't heavy sobbing anymore, it was just tears streaming down uncontrollably. I couldn't focus on anything.
In the afternoon, there was loud knocking to the front door. I wasn't going to open it, I didn't want to see anyone for now. However, that person was very intrusive. The pounding on the door grew louder and louder, and finally after some time I couldn't stand it anymore.
I wrapped myself angrily in my blanket, and went down to open it. And as I thought, I found Jiwon and Jungmi outside the door. They both looked serious, and a little bit nervous. The two of them went inside without waiting for my invitation. But I somehow felt better when they were with me.
"I'm sorry about what happened.." Jungmi said, looking into my eyes. I couldn't stand it and just hugged her tightly, just as if she was my older sister. I felt Jiwon hugging my waist from behind. I felt happy that I could recieve this amount of support from them. Something, that I've never got from anyone before.
''Why me?" I groaned as I sat down on the floor, "We cannot explain this.. You are the first human to become the second half of one of us. Nothing like this has ever happened before." Jiwon said carefully.
"But why does it have to hurt like that? I feel like I cannot take it anymore.." I placed my hand on forehead, and sighed.
"We are really sorry.. our brother is just an asshole!" Jungmi exclaimed, tightening the hug.
They sat with me for a long time. Thanks to them, at least to some extent, I stopped thinking about what happened. The girls were effective in distracting me, and I was very grateful to them for that.
At my request, they spoke a little about who they really are. I wanted to know more about them. I don't know why it was so important to me, but I just needed to know.
"Women of our race can't turn into the black wolf form. This is for men only." Jungmi said as she sipped her tea.
Whenever she said anything, Jiwon always listened to her calmly, and didn't interfere with what she said. You could see immediately what respect she had for her older sister. Even though the age difference was small.
"But of course we too can do a little more than humans. We have very sensetive senses. We are also more agile and faster," a proud smile appeared on her face, "Although it's so terribly unfair that only they can change!"
"Somehow I don't think so. I would not want to spit the fur every time I transform back to my human side." Jiwon shrugged and both of us burst out laughing loudly.
"Why are you all living together?" I asked being just curious, "Generations live separately. Each group creates its own clan. Our leader is Heeseung, and our parents are ruled by his father. After turning 18, apart from the possibility of finding a second half, each of us leaves to a new clan. This is like a transition to our adulthood." Jungmi explained.
"So you have no control?" I asked, being a bit intrested.
"You know.. It depends what you mean by that. Sometimes, Heeseung can be worse than our parents.." they snorted at the same time, and I laughed softly. Heeseung really did seem like the one who likes it when things go his way.
"It's all.. so amazing," I whispered, "And people live with no idea that such things are happening in the world." I shook my head softly, "But they probably wouldn't understand it anyway. I don't quite understand it myself." I let out a small chuckle at the end.
"From now on you belong to our world. We still don't understand how, but you were just born to become one of us. And it's really amazing. This has never happened before." Jungmi spoke again, and sent me a cute smile.
"Is it not possible, that it was just a mistake? Can't Jungwon find different second half?" I asked hopefully. I wanted it to go away, and at the same time I felt the pain that I might not love him. It was scary.
Jungmi sighed, "There can only be two halves of one soul."
"But he doesn't want me.." I whined, looking away. "Because he's an idiot," Jiwon muttered.
"Why does it hurt so much?" I asked, "Well.. Souls cannot be separated. Once you are connected, there is no way you can be apart anymore. When one half of the soul hurts, the second half hurts too. What you are feeling now is the same as what Jungwon is feeling right now. Because of him, you both suffer in the same way." Jangmi took another sip of her tea while playing with Jiwon's hair.
"I don't want him to feel the same.. It hurts so much." I muttered, while staring at the ceiling.
"It's his fault, Jaeun. He hurts himself and you through his stubbornness. He believed that he would never find his second half, and even if he did, he would be able to resist his destiny. This, however, is stronger than it can handle mind." It really was something that couldn't be described. My little human mind couldn't understand it. A feeling so strong it was tearing me apart from the inside.
"It's a bit sad that you have to love the person that destiny chooses for you. It's like you don't have a choice." when I said that, Jiwon made a strange face.
Suddenly, from the woods behind the house, we heard a loud howl. I jumped up, scared, not knowing what was going on. "It's Jake," Jungmi explained as she saw how I reacted, "He came to take us home." they both got up, and headed to the doors. Each of them hugged me tightly, and then left me alone.
The pain grew stronger again. There was nothing in my head but the face of angry Jungwon.
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