Red String (Series #1) \\ Ateez ✔

la revedere

liii. la revedere.

[IU- Love Wins All]

THIRD POV

Death.

The silent, relentless tide that sweeps us away; the final note in life's symphony.

The first time she felt death was when the car collided with her figure, and the second time she almost felt it... it was different.

It wasn't a sudden collision. It was slow, insidious, like a deliberate suffering- the poison in her body.

But now, as she lay there, her body wracked with pain, she realized that she had been wrong. The poison that could only kill her was not the one coursing through her veins, but one that takes root in the heart.

It was love.

The poison that could only kill her was love.

There were two of them, two poisons that threatened to consume her. The first was love by a Princess, a suffocating force that choked the breath in her lungs instead of letting her breathe. It was a love that had twisted and warped over a short matter of time. But the second poison, the one that burned the brightest.

It was her love for Seonghwa.

It was a love that had been born in the willow tree, a flame that had flickered to life in the darkest corners of her heart. It is a whispered promise of forever in a world where nothing lasts.

It was a love that had grown and flourished, despite it being short-lived.

And now because of the love she has for him, she finds herself in the embrace of the inevitable.

But also in the same arms of his.

Seonghwa cradles her as blood seeps out of her back, mingling with the raindrops that fall softly around them. His hands are gentle, his touch tender as if he could take away the pain with his love alone.

The sharp arrow dug deep within her flesh, the pain being too unbearable but somehow, in his arms, it doesn't seem so frightening.

"Jangmi!"

His voice cracked with anguish, her name escaping his trembling lips.

Jangmi's once vibrant dress was now stained with crimson, the deep red of her blood stark against the pale fabric. It was a cruel contrast to the beauty she had always possessed, a reminder that life is something you can lose- whether it may be now or tomorrow.

"Seonghwa," Jangmi's hoarse voice cut through the chaos, her breaths shallow and strained.

"I'm sorry I came too late." Seonghwa regretfully says as he angles her body that the arrow may not be able to dig deeper into her flesh. "Breathe for me Jangmi, please. Don't close your eyes alright?"

Her eyes, once filled with the light of a thousand stars, now met his gaze that carried the depths of sorrow.

"Seonghwa," She croaked. Each breath was a struggle, her lungs burning with each inhale.

"Don't take it out," Jangmi pleaded, she knew the weapon was still lodged in her back and she also knew that taking it out would only make things worse.

"Why did you do it?" Seonghwa's voice broke, his cry barely audible amidst the roar of the storm. "It could've been me instead! Not you," He sobbed as he felt the weight of her pain, and it tore him apart. "I'm sorry, Mimi," He regretfully says. "I'm sorry for coming too late, please hold on for me... please."