Star-Crossed Lovers

Chapter VII - Her Beauty

"Granny, her first love name, was it Lee Jeno?"

Jaemin asked at the end of the story, gaze drifted from the diary in his granny's hands to her eyes. Her jaw dropped in shock and she lifted her right hand to cover her opened mouth.

"My dear, how did you know?"

Jaemin rubbed his nape with his left palm and slowly looked up to face his granny.

"Lucky guess?"

His granny gave Jaemin a stern questioning look that scared the shit out of him.

"It's true! Remember when I roamed around the cemetery the other day? He was the only Lee buried there."

Jaemin's voice was firm, so she believed him. It was the truth though. Maybe half of it.

"You really should stop your habit of roaming around weird places, Jaemin. You could get in trouble. You're right though, it was Lee Jeno. It was mentioned in the diary that he was a fine young man, but there was never any photos of him available, so I couldn't really tell."

Jaemin's granny smiled at him regretfully. Jaemin just nodded in reply.

'Well, he was fine. Like really really fine.'

Jaemin smiled at the thought of Jeno. Then, he remembered something crucial.

"Granny, was there any photos of this girl? I mean, this ancestor of mine."

Jaemin asked, trying hard not to pronounce her name. He felt really awkward trying to say his own name but was meant for another person.

His granny got up from her seat and headed to the old wardrobe again. She seemed to be searching for something before taking out what looked like a framed parchment wrapped in black cloth.

"There were some photographs in the diary but I really wanted to show you this."

She unwrapped the framed parchment and held it upwards, displaying a portrait of a demure and lovely young lady.

"Beautiful, wasn't she? This painting was given by the second son of the Lee's before they left the town. He said it was his youngest brother's."

Jaemin's jaw dropped, speechless. He reached out his fingers to touch the parchment, trailing every details of the painting.

The lady in the painting was wearing a white dress with a matching white hair ribbon. Her soft pink hair fell perfectly on her shoulder and almost reached her waist. Her red lips curved into a perfect smile that could light up the whole world. Her eyes were shining brilliantly in between her long lashes. Her protruding cheekbones and heart shape face were the completion of her angelic look. She was a true definition of perfection.

Jaemin wondered how someone could be so beautiful. Somehow, she looked really familiar to Jaemin.

"Jaemin, haven't you realize it yet?"

His granny broke the long silence. Jaemin looked at her confusedly, failed to understand what she meant.

"Huh?"

"My dear, she looked almost exactly like you. You got the traces of her beauty for God knows why, Jaemin. I've been dying to tell you since the first time I saw you, but I'm afraid that I might scared you away."

Jaemin almost fell to his knees and cried his heart out. The sudden realization really stabbed Jaemin hard through his heart. He could not believe at how the Universe actually had the audacity to play with their fate like that.

He understood now how Jeno was able to recognize his face and even knew his name in the first place. Jaemin's heart was crushed at the thought of how Jeno would felt whenever he looked at him and realized that he was not the first love that he had been longing to see.

Jaemin finally broke into tears, which was quite sudden and surprising his granny because she never expected this kind of reaction from him. She pulled Jaemin into an embrace and rocked him back and forth to calm him down. She never asked why he cried, as if she already knew.

"There, there. Let's get you to bed, okay?"

It was almost midnight and Jaemin was still sobbing quietly when his granny tucked him up in his bed.

"For an eighteen years old teenager, I have no doubt now on why your mother said you were such a baby."

She chuckled a little and Jaemin replied with a sad smile.

"Wait, I have something for you."

His granny left the room for a while and came back with a silver necklace held between her fingers. The necklace was holding a heart-shaped rose quartz locket. Jaemin looked at her, puzzled.

"It was hers. From her lover. You are the rightful owner now. I have no right to keep it with me anymore. It was mentioned that she left it with her brother before she moved away from the town because she couldn't remember where it came from and her brother couldn't tell her either."

Jaemin froze and no words came out from his mouth. His granny put the necklace in his right palm and closed it into a fist. She kissed his forehead and switched the lamp off, before leaving the room.

Jaemin was too overwhelmed with his own emotions and thoughts of Jeno. The unfortunate and pitiful Jeno. How could fate be this cruel?

He also could not understand why he felt so sad and heartbroken for the male ghost. Until he finally realized that he was falling deeply in love with him.

He clutched the necklace tightly and pressed his fist on his throbbing chest. His cheeks were wet with tears again before he finally fell asleep, dreaming of Jeno.