The Cupid Complex

64. Face Off

"So if it isn't the source of my greatest disappointment," said Cupid as he turned to face him, removing the hood from his head.

Jungkook smirked as he looked at the man before him. Now that he remembered everything, his hatred towards the other was just intensified.

"You have a problem with me," Jungkook said, "So you need to leave everyone else alone."

"And why would I do that when it's everyone else that is responsible for you remembering? For reuniting you with that woman you chose to not forget?"

"As I've told you before, this woman has a name. Her name is Ame," said Jungkook. "They should not be punished for saving me. You're the one that needs to be punished. You're supposed to exemplify love, and you're not anywhere close to doing so."

"It's funny to me how you think you know what love is."

"I know more than you think," said Jungkook, crossing his arms. "I know the truth."

"The truth?"

"You were once like me," said Jungkook. "You had a woman that you once loved."

"Love is a weakness," growled Cupid in a weak attempt at a denial.

"Love is a strength," said Jungkook, "And in cursing me, you showed me just how true that is. I don't regret my decision. If anyone is living with regret right now, that's you."

"The only regret that I have is you," he said. "I'm not living with you now either. I'm about to make sure that I never have to deal with you again."

Taehyung - who sat in the backseat of the car - tried to roll onto his side to grip the handle of the door. Even though he knew he was dying, he knew that he needed to get out there and support Jungkook in any way that he still could. Taehyung threw his body against the door as his hand weakly closed about the handle. He was hoping he had enough strength to force the door open. As the car door came open, Taehyung fell out of the car and onto the ground. He didn't have the strength to keep his body upright. He landed on his side on the pavement, helpless to get up or move. The entire world about him felt like it were slanted as if he were on a seesaw. Haneul - upon seeing that Taehyung was lying on the ground on his side - moved to get out of the car to try and help him. She knelt down next to him, slipping her arms about Taehyung to try to help him up. Junghyun saw the struggle and mumbled under his breath, getting out of the car too to go help his mother.

Cupid could see what was going on behind Jungkook. His eyes narrowed on the scene before widening in shock when he saw the woman there. Though she had changed due to age, he saw in her the woman that he had once fallen for all those years ago.
That was way back when he had let a weakness almost derail everything he had worked for over the centuries. He had almost thrown it all away for her.

Haneul could tell that someone was staring in her direction. Looking away from Taehyung, she saw Cupid staring straight at her. Rising slowly to her feet, she walked over to him until she was standing right beside Jungkook.

"Cue," she said, causing his eyes to focus solely on her.

"Haneul," he said in return.

All the love that he had felt for her had evaporated over the years. The more he watched her fall in love with Kujo and start a family, the more he despised the whole idea of love. He thought that love was patient. That love was kind. However, she was unwilling to wait for him. In Cupid's mind, that had been a betrayal, but now he was glad she didn't wait. She was right about one thing. He may be immortal, but she had aged. What would it look like now to have a man that looked as young as him - a man forever stuck in his mid-twenties - with a woman that looked like she could be his mother?

Haneul could see the judgment in Cupid's eyes without him ever saying anything. She wasn't surprised to see it. It was obvious that he had changed for the worse since they last met. She knew he had a thing for having the last word when they were together, but this was absolutely ridiculous.

"You should stop this, Cue. This isn't love and you know it."

"Sometimes love is cruel," said Cupid.

Haneul knew that comment was directed at her even though he didn't outright say it. Taehyung tried to paint Cupid as redeemable, and she knew that she had half hoped he would be too, but there was no saving this man from himself.

"I didn't make the choice to move on," said Haneul. "You're the one who left. You knew I couldn't wait."

"And I'm glad I left," said Cupid. "It would have made me soft. Weak. Don't you see that people need my help to fall in love? You needed my help to fall for your husband in the first place even."

"And maybe that's the problem," she said softly. "Maybe that's why..."

"Why what?"

"Why you're without love yourself. You're so busy trying to meddle in everyone else's love life that you aren't worried about your own."

"And why would I want love for myself?"

"You know you do. You're just afraid."

"You know nothing about me. We spent one evening together. It's a speck on the timeline for me."

A speck on the timeline. Those words were familiar to Jungkook as he stood there, gritting his teeth.

Haneul could tell that her words were in vain. Nothing she would say to Cupid would make any sort of difference now. The man was incapable of listening to reason. Cupid was too far gone to be saved.

But was the same true of all of them now?