Take her away?
My head whipped towards Jimin who clenched his jaw at his mother's words. Hoseok looked as surprised and in shock as I was, but it was my sister's face which remained emotionless. It was as if she had expected this to happen.
"Jimin" I turned to face my man, but he only grabbed my hand and tightened his grip. Shaking his head, he looked straight ahead refusing to make eye contact with me.
"Open the portal and get rid of her" the goddess spoke , as if disgusted with the person she was looking at, who happened to be my sister.
"Mother, stop!" Hoseok's voice was waves above his own. "Why are you doing this?" He hurried forward, shielding his girl.
I furrowed my brows as all eyes shifted to the mother of all.
"She is not the one for you, Hobi." She spoke, his nickname falling off her lips with concern "she isn't worthy".
The next thing I expected was for Hoseok to drag me in. When Lani's eyes shifted to mine, I expected Hoseok to notice and ask his mother about what made me worthy. But, that never happened. Hobi did notice the way his girl was staring at me, her eyes asking a million questions but he spoke as if I had nothing to do with the matter. It was as if he didn't want to involve me or Jimin. He subtly held us off the issue.
"I want to know why", Hoseok demanded, agitating his own mother.
"Are you questioning my decisions, Jung Hoseok?" She snapped and Jimin's grip on my hand loosened.
"Yes, I am. I bring her to you with hope and belief that you will see the good in her and accept her for what she is.." He exhaled, "but look at you" His voice rising, "rejection? You don't even want to know why i love her and how nice of a person she is!".
"Hoseok-ah!" her voice echoed around the room as she stood up and took a step away from the throne and closer to Hobi. The room fell even quieter and we were all holding our breaths.
"Do you want to see what I saw?" She asked, her voice loud and clear, "do you?" She descended down the steps until she stood on the same ground as Hoseok.
"Yes" he answered. I looked at Lani who stood silent, looking down at her own two feet and nothing else. I wanted to go hug her and tell her I was there, but Jimin's fingers was still wound around my wrist.
The goddess reached out and Hobi held onto his mother's hand. It was as if she was showing him something and as seconds passed, Hoseok's expression..which started out as that of impatience and wrath, transformed into different things. A small smile framed his lips as he looked down at their connected hands, meaning he was looking at something endearing, then his eye brows furrowed and he narrowed his eyes, he bit his lip the next second and at one point, he took in a deep, deep breath, tears welling up in his eyes and flowing down his cheek, before he yanked his hand away from his mother's.
"Enough!" Was all he said.
I watched him closely as he turned towards Lani and approached her ever so slowly. I hadn't realized how my own breathing was in sync with that of Hobi, wanting to know what he knew.
"Lani.." Her name escaped his lips in a desperate plea, his eyes were red and swollen, even though it had only been a few seconds since he started tearing up.
I felt a pang in my chest when he reached out to stroke her cheek lightly. I bit my lip, waiting for something to happen. "You know why I never read your mind?" Hoseok asked, his eyes trained on her face. "You know why I never questioned you?"
"Why?" Lani responded.
Hoseok took in a deep breath, his flaming orange hair matching the color of his eyes. He was angry but also extremely disappointed.
"Because I trusted you. I did not want to look into you. I wanted to love you for whatever you gave me but-" he paused, "you.."
I narrowed my eyes, what was he even accusing my sister of?
"You decided to betray me.." the man trailed off making a tear roll out of Lani's eyes. The only woman to stand by me and the one I loved with all my heart. Looking at her breakdown, triggered something in me, which made me yank my hand away from Jimin's and take quick steps until I stood beside her. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and brought her close; parting my lips, I tried to defend her but Hoseok beat me to it.
"Stay out of this, Yoona!"
"I can't. She's my sister. You're accusing her of betrayal. Do you even know how much she loves you?"
"I said, stay out of this" he spoke through gritted teeth.
"I don't know what you saw Hobi. I don't care what you saw. She's my sister and I can't just watch you disrespect her and talk to her like this" I snapped.
"Oh? Disrespect?" He scoffed, "walk away, Yoona".
"I won't!"
"take her away, please " Hoseok commanded and the goddess's Knights surrounded my sister, "to the world of humans and filth"..pushing me away from her they pulled her towards the portal to earth.
"Stop them, Jimin!" I yelled, but there was no response from anybody.
I turned to look at Lani whose body racked with sobs as the Knights had their chains and gloved hands on her body. Pulling her away from Hoseok, no matter how hard she tried to resist.
"Stop!" I ran across until I reached the portal, my hand instinctively reaching out to grab one of the Knight's sword, which was securely hung from his belt. Yanking it out, I attacked every single man who had his hand on my sister. It was all a reflex and all my brain could think of was, 'attack'.
The Knights refused to counterattack, probably because I was now Jimin's to be wife, but I attacked them without wasting a second. My blade slammed against their sheilds and armor, filling the once pin drop silent room with the sound of metal crashing against metal.
Seconds passed and it was like the goddess had hit her breaking point after running out of all the patience she had for the day. Because the next thing i knew, I was pulled away from the mess, by a force so strong, I landed on my back, on the floor, leaving only my sister out in the open..so so close to the portal, one wrong step and she could fall into the gaping open hole.
"Lani.." The goddess spoke, "leave" She commanded.
My sister looked up at me and I quickly scrambled onto my feet, "No!".
"Can I hold you one last time?" She looked at Hoseok who looked angry and disgusted. I had never seen him with a face like that, it broke my heart and even angered me to a whole new level.
Lani staggered forward, until she stood in front of Hobi, her hands reaching out to stroke his cheek, to which he looked away and distanced himself. She closed the gap again, this time, her hands wrapped around his trunk with her lips close to his ear and he looked so affected, his hands trembled on his side before clenching into fists.
"I love you" She mumbled loud enough for all of us to hear and I teared up at the sight.
She held him close for a few seconds as if her life depended on it and pulled away quietly. She turned to me and I ran upto her again before wrapping my arms around her in a tight hug.
"Lani!" I cried into her shoulder, unwilling to let her go.
The moment she broke away, I looked up at the goddess with pleading eyes, hoping she'd change her mind, but her expression remained stern.
"Is there any way she can come back here?" I asked.
Hoseok, for once, turned to his mother with a softened expression. His cheeks wet with tears and his jaw clenched. He was trying so so hard not to collapse.
"There is" the goddess answered after a few minutes of silence, "The portal shall remain open to anyone who proves themselves worthy of this world and worthy of marrying my son" She stated and a small smile of hope formed on my lips.
I bowed to the lady out of pure thankfulness before grabbing my sister's hand, "Come back soon" I mumbled.
She nodded before taking another step back. For a second, her eyes landed on Hoseok, then the goddess and then back to me. She was ready to step back and fall into the portal and take birth as a human. The human years were shorter compared to ours and Hoseok was a God, he wouldn't age. So, I was confident enough that whatever made her unworthy, wouldn't be there when she showed up the next time.
"Remember.." I spoke softly, "I love you..".
"I know" She said, tears forming in her eyes again which shattered my already broken heart. She looked at Jimin who stood far behind me once before reaching out to me and curling her fingers around my wrist, "I'm sorry" was all she said.
I was confused for a second as to who it was addressed to. Why was she apologizing to Jimin? But before I could ponder any further, Lani fell back into the portal, her grip on my hand so tight, she pulled me along easily without giving me a chance to resist and the last thing I heard before losing myself completely was Park Jimin, calling out to me in his loud, panicked and for once scared voice, "Yoona!".
And that was it.
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AN
That my friends, is the end of the past. From the next chapter, we ll get back to the present. I love yall so much for sticking by all this time and reading this story ❤️