Star-Crossed Lovers

Chapter XIII - Changes

Jaemin woke up to a sweet smell of freshly baked cookies from the kitchen. Once again, his head ached like it was hit by a giant hammer for the third time that day. He really needed to stop the habit of falling asleep after crying or the other way around.

Jaemin sat up on his bed and scanned the environment with his eyes. He realized that he was back in his room again. He tried to recall everything that had happened earlier and wondered if it was just a dream.

'Only one way to find out.'

With the thought in mind, Jaemin dashed his way to the attic and searched the wardrobe for the old diary. When he found what he had been looking for, he went through it in a rush but still quite delicately, trying not to cause any damage to the two hundred years old book.

Jaemin was searching for an entry of one particular date. When he found it, he read through it carefully, trying not to miss anything.

Jaemin had not read the diary before, so he would not know if there were any changes in the writing. However, the entries in the diary were exactly the same as how his granny had told him. So when he finished reading the entry of that particular day, he let out a sigh of relief.

There was nothing written about Lee Jeno's death on 23rd of March 1818.

Everything was real. He met Jeno that day, believe it or not. How he did, it was beyond any explanation, but what's new? He saved Jeno from ending his own life.

Jaemin almost shed a tear of joy at the thought. A smile started to form on his lips.

Jaemin was about to close the diary when a sudden realization struck him. His eyes widened and his heartbeat quickened involuntarily at the thought.

Jaemin did not cease from existing.

In which could only mean one thing, the past had not actually changed. Jaemin's mind began wondering on countless possibilities that could occur in the past. He failed to come out with any conclusion, so he kept on reading the diary to know what exactly had happened from that day onwards.

When he finished reading the diary, he just stared blankly at the opened wardrobe in front of him, hands still on the last page. He did not know how to feel about the things he discovered.

The two lovers were still separated from each other. Na Jaemin was still severely depressed after the incident and lost her memories of her first love. She was still married to Jung Jaehyun and left the town. She was still gave birth to a lovely daughter and lived a happy life. Sadly, she was still not in love and died at the age of twenty eight on 23rd April due to a broken heart syndrome.

As for Lee Jeno, nothing much was said about the young lad in the diary. The only thing that Jaemin learned was the Lee family did not move away and kept on living in the town. Both of the families had also ended their rivalry several years after the incident. However, it was still too late for the lovers to be together again because Jaemin was already married to another man.

Jaemin's granny heard the ruckus he made upstairs but was too busy and came later when she was done with her cookies. She was quite surprised to find Jaemin in the attic, sitting on the floor with the diary in his hands while staring at the wardrobe in front of him silently. His facial expression was too empty.

"Jaemin, my dear, what are doing sitting on the floor like this?"

Her voice was gentle. She stepped closer to Jaemin and sat beside him on the floor. Jaemin snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her, remembering something. Instead of answering, he asked a question.

"Granny, where is the painting that you showed me last night? The portrait of my ancestor, the one that had the same name as mine. I couldn't see it anywhere in the wardrobe."

Jaemin asked with a hoarse voice. His throat was dry.

"What do you mean, my dear? If you wanted to see her face, there were several photographs in the diary. But those were everything to it. There was never any painting of her in the first place. Not in this house, at least."

Jaemin looked at his granny, more puzzled than he already was. A frown was visible on his granny's face. But there were more worries and concerns to it than a mere confusion. How could she not? Jaemin had been acting strangely for the past few days and he did not even mention a word to her about what was in his mind.

"Jaemin, you've been behaving weirdly these days. Was there something that troubling you? You can tell me anything, you know."

Jaemin was not stupid enough not to sense his granny's concerns. But he also did not think that telling anyone about what he had been experiencing was wise too. Especially about the ghost he was in love with. Well, it's a GHOST!

"I'm sorry for worrying you, granny. I promise you that nothing is wrong. I want to take a little walk for a while. To clear my head. I'll be back before dinner."

Jaemin smiled, tried to reassure his granny. He got up from the floor and put back the diary where it belonged. He was about to step away towards the door when she grabbed his hand by the wrist. It was a firm but gentle grip.

"Be careful, my dear. And take some cookies with you. You haven't had your lunch either. You've been sleeping the whole afternoon."

Jaemin could sense the motherly love laced upon her tone when she spoke. Her eyes were full of adoration when she looked at him in the eyes.

"I will. Thanks a lot, granny."

Jaemin smiled fondly at his granny as he helped her to stand from her sitting position.