Chapter Text
Waking up from a coma was a thing that Go Ha-jin wouldn’t want to experience ever again. Her joints were all stiff, not to mention how weak and sluggish she felt every time she was awoken from sleep. She needed a whole month to make her body somewhat okay to do her usual routine and another whole month to make her unused leg for her to use it like normal again. The tortuous physiotherapy exercise was another thing that she didn’t want to experience again, ever . To summarize it all, being in a coma state sucks, big time.
But she never regretted her decision to jump into the lake and save the kid’s life. Even though it cost her a year in a coma state, to know that in her before-drown-hellish life that instead of doing something that was utterly idiot, like gave up on her life by committing suicide (which was her original thought), in the end, she did something that was worthy enough for her to feel that her world didn’t end yet. Not even that jerk ex-boyfriend of hers could haunt her life and dim her spirit to move on. Not anymore.
Speaking of someone that had been haunting her life, there was this man that kept appearing inside her dream for the past year since the second month she woke up from her coma. A very handsome man with piercing eyes that kept appearing in her dreams for almost every day since her coma incident. And not only that, every time she awoke from her dream of this man, she would always cry and she also felt that her heart clenched in tight. Plus the longing feeling that would always linger every time she dreamed of this man.
Who was he?
Why would she always cry after she dreamed about this man?
What’s this longing feeling?
Why would her heart clench in tight like there’s an invisible hand that made her suffocate to breathe?
These unanswerable questions were swirling in her mind for the past year. She never said this dream to anyone else, because really, she doubted that there’s someone that could give her a clear answer. It’s not like it hindered her from doing her everyday routines. It’s just… it’s rather unsettling not to know who was the man that could make her feel these strong emotions. Not even her ex-boyfriend could make her feel this way.
Every time she woke up from the dream, she could feel that the man’s name was on the tip of her tongue. Yet, before she could speak of his name, she already awoke from her sleep.
‘Who are you? ’
For almost a year now, her mind always went back to that one question every time she dreamed of the man. Nonetheless, the answer was nowhere to be found.
Anyway, she was doing great after she had awakened from her coma. There were no longer debtors that were chasing after her, no more a jerk and two-timing boyfriend that was hurting her feelings nor a backstabbing best friend that stole her boyfriend. Really, life was doing her a great job after her heroic acts of saving a kid’s life. As if it was giving her a reward after saving someone's life.
Except for ‘that’ dream, everything was superb.
Then again, she wondered if she would’ve ever got the answer that she was looking for. She didn’t mind waiting, but she hoped that the waiting wouldn’t stretch any further. Not that she had ever waited for something, but for some reason, she dreaded the ‘wait’ word very much.
She prayed for this reason that her answer would arrive in the near future. The sooner the better.
‘What has happened to me?’
It has been a month since her official day of going back to work. Being in a coma-state for a year had made her lose her previous job, whatever the reason was. She went back to live with her parents after the coma and even though it had dampened her mood (of losing a job), life must go on. Fortunately, she could find a job in another beauty center and just recently moved back to live by herself. On that day, she and her co-workers were supposed to promote their beauty product at the fair of the Goryeo event.
One thing happened after another, followed by meeting with a stranger (which she believed she had never met before but also felt very familiar), made her ask permission to leave early.
‘Where have those voices come from? Whose voice does it belong to? Why is my head pounding so much? What is this feeling?’
Ha-jin felt sorry that she had to leave early and made her co-worker cover her part of a job for the day. She would go and rest as soon as she got home, so that she could go back to work again tomorrow. Maybe it was because of the fatigue that was piling up in preparation for the event. Yes, that must be the reason she was hearing those voices out of nowhere.
Walking on the first floor toward the exit, Ha-jin came into a sign that said ‘Goryeo Era Paintings’ in one corner. For some unknown reason, she stopped in front of the sign; eyes lingering on some paintings that were displayed. A vivid scene slowly popped in her mind. The longer she looked at the painting, the clearer she could see the scene that appeared in her mind.
One scene.
Her feet moved unconsciously and brought her to another painting.
Two scenes.
She walked slowly to another painting.
Three scenes.
More scenes crossed her mind every time she changed to another painting that was hung on the wall. Scenes that appeared inside her dream of that man. Until she realized that those scenes that were crossing her mind were actually a memory of past life.
‘It’s not just a dream, ’ Ha-jin thought. Then she reached one painting about a banquet that happened inside Mangwoldae, Goryeo’s main palace where the royal family lived in Songak. Her eyes gazed on the painting and stopped to stare at one particular court lady that was pouring tea. Then one memory crossed in her mind, of the court lady in the painting serving the royal family in one banquet, like what the painting had been portrayed. And in that scene, she saw that the court lady had the exact same face as her.
No. The court lady was herself.
‘Oh heavens! How could I forget those memories?’
Tears welling in her eyes after the realization hit her. The guilty feelings of forgetting the past life overwhelmed her body and it spread inside her heart at frightening speed. She looked to another painting behind her and saw a portrait of someone. No, it's a portrait of a king.
Ha-jin stared at the portrait, particularly on the king’s face. Her eyes scrutinized it, and she stopped at the king’s eyes. Then, she sucked on her breath.
She recognized that piercing eyes. Those eyes were the same eyes that always appeared inside her dream. Belonged to the man that had continuously haunted her dream for almost a year.
An explanation was put beside the portrait. Ha-jin skimmed the explanation and stopped at the king’s name at the end of it.
“Wang… So…”
The 4th King of Goryeo, also known by Gwangjong. His real name was So, with Wang as his family name.
While reading the name, she was attacked by varying emotions. Her eyes were getting blurry, and the feelings that erupted inside were something she never had before. Her lips trembled, and unconsciously she raised her hand to reach the king's face.
The face of her most beloved person.
But before she could touch the painting, from the corner of her eyes, it caught another painting next to the king’s portrait. She turned her head slowly, but she didn’t prepare for what the painting was portraying for others to see.
A lone figure of a man stood in front of a majestic palace, facing the grand building. Ha-jin couldn’t see the man’s face, the painting only showed the look from his back. But she knew who he was.
“No…” Tears that had been welling were slowly cascading down her cheeks. “No… No…” A lump began to form in her throat and she swallowed it back with difficulty. “I… I’m sorry.” She cupped her mouth with her hand, which both were trembling from the realization. “I’m… I’m sorry for leaving you behind… Sorry…”
For a minute Ha-jin just stood looking at the painting, while her tears were streaming down fast down her cheek. Then, her body couldn’t hold the anguish any longer, of looking at her beloved person to be left alone in that cruel place. Her feet began to take a step back.
One step….
Two steps….
She bumped into something on her third step. Startled, she almost fell because of the sudden impact. But her arms were gripped from behind and instead she was leaning on a person’s body. A sturdy and strong one.
She froze for a moment but after realizing what had happened, she hastily pulled away from her captor and bowed her body to apologize.
“I’m- I’m sorry,” she said in distraught. “Excuse me.”
Ha-jin wanted to run. To run from all these… these things. She wasn’t prepared to face what had been displayed around her now. The longing, the heartache, the guilt, the sadness… and many other various feelings were gnawing inside her small body. Feelings that very much suffocated and made her choke inwardly.
She got her answer at last. Her questions were no longer bothering her now. Something else had replaced it with other things that were beyond what she had expected.
She needed to move, to move far away from this… at least until she had made a preparation to be able to face all of these memories of her again. While still bowing to the other person, her feet started to move toward the exit in quick steps.
Yes, she had to-
“Do you want to leave me again?”
She halted her step.
“Will you leave me again?”
Then, slowly, she straightened her body.
“Hae Soo.”
At last, she turned her head to look at the man that was asking her question. The same man that she had bumped into and captured her before she fell. The man, who before was facing the other side, was turning to face Ha-jin now. He wore black sunglasses, covering his eyes.
That voice… those questions… the call of that name...
She edged toward the man. Tears had blurred her eyes but she walked steadily to the man with a small step. She stopped at an arm’s length in front of him. The man didn’t move or do anything while waiting for Ha-jin to reach her destination. But Ha-jin could feel that the man’s eyes were following every move that she made from the moment they were facing each other.
Her hands moved inch by inch until she reached the man’s sunglasses. When she removed it, the eyes that stared back at her were the very same eyes that haunted her dream for almost a year, also the eyes that she had just seen in that portrait of the king.
“Pye...ha.”
At that word, the man pulled Ha-jin into his embrace and crushed her with a tight grip.
“Finally,” he said the word while exhaling a sigh of relief. “Found you. I’ve found you, Soo.”
“Am I dreaming?” Ha-jin asked hoarsely. The man didn’t answer, instead, he hugged Ha-jin tighter, not giving any indication to release his hugging. That was enough for Ha-jin. She replied back to the man’s answer by putting her arms around his torso and also hugging it tightly.
“You are real,” said Ha-jin. “You are here.”
“I’ve found you,” said the man. “Finally, I found you.”
The two of them stood in each other embrace in silence, basking in each other's presence. Slowly, Ha-jin pulled a bit from the hug to look properly at the man. “You are really here.”
“Yes, it’s me, Soo.” The man caressed Ha-jin’s cheek while wiping her tears away.
“I… I’m sorry for leaving you behind.”
“Sssttt,” the man cut Ha-jin before she could continue her self-blaming. “It isn’t the right time to talk about that.” The man leaned his forehead and placed it on Ha-jin’s. “Just promise me that you won’t leave me ever again.”
“Never again will I leave you alone,” Ha-jin said her promise and she would do anything to keep it until her last breath. “I will stay with you, always. I can’t be with another except you.”
“There won’t be another for me, except you,” said the man. “Because you are the one for me .”
“As you for me.”
They sealed their promise with a kiss that was long overdue.
The two lovers, separated by thousands of years, could finally find each other back. Words were failing them both of how they longed for each other. They were just a lone dog-wolf and a heartbroken girl when they met for the first time in unusual circumstances.
It’s the fate that brought them to meet each other.
It’s the fate that separated them.
In the end, fate was also the one that brought them to meet each other and be together again.
Their story as moon lovers had ended for one part, but the other part had started. It began with their promise and vow to never leave each other, to stay always by each other.
The one for each other.
The one for you.
The one for me.