𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 (𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃)

Chapter 48.5 (bonus chapter): Ouroboros

That night, I lay awake under the silk sheets, staring at the canopy above my bed. The room was dark except for a single lamp and the moonlight pooling on the marble floor. My crown sat on the dresser, catching silver.

I couldn't sleep.

The conversation with Bella kept turning over in my mind. Transmigration. Reincarnation. The words had felt solid when she said them. Now they felt like wet paper.

And then, like a door opening in a quiet house, I remembered that one topic I shared with Kim Taeyang in my past life.

"What do you think happens when we die?" He had asked one day.

I hadn't even find the question strange, it was just his thing, always asking and talking about the most absurd topic. "I don't know. Though I do know that the people we left behind... will miss us dearly."

"That's true," he hummed. "I believe in rebirth though. I believe that when a body dies, the soul would go to sleep, and after time has passed, it would wake up again in a new body where we could experience a new life or experience the same life we had before."

"Like reincarnation?"

"Uh-huh."

"Like the one in the K-drama," I added dryly.

"Like physics," he had countered. "Energy doesn't disappear. It just changes form."

I had rolled my eyes. "And what? I come back as a CEO? A cat? A queen?"

"Maybe." He grinned. "Maybe you would be reborn in the same body you once had, maybe one or two things about you would be different, or maybe you would be reborn completely different. Such is the teaching of the ouroboros... that we are all connected by a force greater than any mind can comprehend."

"Ouroboros? The symbol of eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth, as well as infinite renewal?"

"I wonder though..." He drawled, "If our feelings would be strong enough to reunite us with whom we love in that new life..."

I closed my eyes, and for a second, I imagined Kim Taeyang and Arsen merged into one body.

"I'll probably remember you even if I die a thousand times, because you're the one I love enough to throw my life away."

"Idiot," I whispered to the empty air, to a friend of thirteen years and one lifetime away.

Sleep still didn't come, but I didn't need it. I closed my eyes and listened, half expecting to hear rain on a studio window, and the sound of a friend telling me about reincarnation.

***

Author's Note:

Just a bonus chapter and a little tidbit of Calypso/Hanbyeol's knowledge about reincarnation. Hope you guys enjoy it... ❤️

I think this song truly captures this chapter well.

Soul Mate - Flora Cash

feels like we've lived 100 lives before
together and then decided on one more
here on earth where everything is cruel
'cause no one knows that this is just a school

for what it's worth, i'd die with you again
100 more times multiplied by 10
i hope i'll always have you in my mind
so that i know to find you every time

soul mate
soul mate
soul mate
won't you dance here with me while it grows late

put your head
on my chest
that's your safe place
we'll fall deeper in love every day

from life
unto life
and for always
i'll be there when you need me around

when night finally comes
and the leaves have fallen from the tree
baby you'll have me
soul mate

maybe there's not a brightness in this dark
other than what is burning in this heart
but if we fight to keep this thing alive
pretty sure there's no end to us in sight

i'll follow you into whatever is next
or you can follow me, whatever's best
but first let's dance the dance that lovers do
before we go to sleep and start anew

i promise you that i'll find a way
to give you hope, to keep you close and safe
keep you no matter come what may
and then we'll sleep, in linen sheets of gray