Eternal Love

Moonchild

September 28th, 2021

"Ye Rin"

She glances back at Namjoon who's distractedly sifting through a pile of mail. His round spectacles are hanging off of his nose precariously and she finds it endearing.
He doesn't wait for a response as he holds out an off-white colored envelope towards her.

"There's mail for you".

This catches her off guard, in all her years she had never received mail.
It's not like she had any living relatives to write to her.

Taking the envelope from him she flips it over to find her name written neatly in script across the front.

It's sealed tightly with black wax. There's a familiar crest along with a little blue flower stamped into it.

Her heart stops at the sight of the seal, she'd recognize it anywhere.

It takes her back to the endless days she spent in that cursed castle, lying in bed with that monster. His eyes hungrily drinking in the sight of her sleeping figure.

Tearing open the letter she's hit with the scent of vanilla and sandalwood. Her hands tremble as she pulls the letter out and unfolds it.

Written neatly at the center of the page in perfect cursive are two words.

"Found you".

Her heart sinks as dread pools into her stomach.

It couldn't be.

There's no way...

A shiver wracks her entire body and she nearly sprints out of the shop in a state of panic when Namjoon's concerned face comes into view.

He's craning his neck down to meet her at eye level, his hands are places atop her shoulder and his mouth is moving but she can't hear a single word. There's blood rushing loudly in her ears as reality settles in.

Her body jolts as he shakes her softly, the faintest echo of her name finally registers in her head and she pulls herself into focus at his lips.

"Are you okay?"

She hadn't realized how tight she'd been holding onto the letter until he pries it from her grip. He examines it, a frown marring his beautiful lips before he's speaking again.

"Who sent this?" he takes the envelope before she can pull it away and examines it.

"There's no sender, how did this even get here?"

Forcing herself out of her shock she clears her throat. "Maybe it was a mistake?".

He examines the envelope once more, as he does something slips out of it and falls to the floor.

Picking it up, his face morphs into confusion.

"Who is this?"

He flips the small paper around and holds it up to her face. She nearly faints when she recognizes it.

It's a photo, an old, black and white, murky photo with small rips around the edges.

Within the photo is her, seated in a wooden chair she recalled as being uncomfortable and posing stiffly for the camera. Beside her, a grin plastered upon his thick lips and a hand resting upon her knee is Park Jimin.

She recalls the day it was taken, he had grabbed her hand and tugged her into the photo studio the moment he spotted it, excitement overflowing from him.

"Ye Rin?" Namjoon once again brings her back to reality with concern etched into his voice.

Her eyes were foggy and she realizes that tears had gathered around them.

"What's wrong love?"

Blinking the tears away she forces a smile.
"It's no one important".

He gives her a look of disbelief, eyes going back and forth from the photo to her.
He flips the photo over and peers closely at something written small in faded ink.

"Doesn't seem like it was someone unimportant" he says showing her the words.

"My heart" is inscribed at the very bottom of the photo dated back to May 14th.

Sighing she takes the photo from him and crumples it.

"It's just an old friend I once knew"

He raises an eyebrow "Captioning a photo with my heart seems a bit closer than a friend, also why are you both dressed like you're from the 16th century?".

It's cause we are, she wants to say as she sighs.
"It was a dare from one of our friends, he liked putting us in ridiculous situations".

He seems to believe it as he nods in amusement, "so what happened between you two? If you don't mind me asking".

She shrugs, "It didn't work out, we parted ways mutually".

"Ah, but then... who sent this and why?"

"Maybe it's a prank from one of my friends, I'll figure it out eventually, for now, it's nothing you need to worry about. It's been years since I last saw him" she smiles in an attempt to reassure both himself and her.

He nods before going off on a rant about a topic she can't quite place as her mind is drifting back to the moment her life changed.

The day she finally rid herself of Park Jimin.