Seo-jun was sitting down on the window seat, peering out at the passing scenery as his chin rested on his hand. The bus was unusually empty, with only a few others scattered on various seats throughout, which was probably because he was taking it at a later time than usual.
"You are coming tonight, yeah?" His sister, Seo-yeon, asked him through the phone.
It was Friday evening and he was on the bus heading to his eldest sister's home for the weekend. Seo-jun stayed in the dorms during his time in college but made sure to visit home every other weekend.
"Yeah. I'll be a little late. I stopped by the bookstore first." The newest volume to one of the novels he liked to read in his spare time was released earlier that day. It was book number four in the series, and it was a series that he never thought that he would have read because the books took on a darker theme.
The books, which there was supposed to be a total of six altogether, was about a young woman who had been locked away by her obsessive fiancè who finally got the chance to escape. She then travels to an enemy kingdom where she makes a deal with the second prince. It was your typical romance story, and Seo-jun was a fan of the genre; he just wasn't fond of the obsessive and abusive fiance. He typically avoided reading books that had those types of characters in them.
Seo-yeon released a sigh. "I don't see how you and Seo-ah can read those things all the time." It was his second sister, Seo-ah, who had awakened his love for novels and manwhas. "They're all based on fantasy. It's not like one of those guys on those covers will walk out and suddenly become real."
When Seo-jun was three, his father passed away from cancer and his mother decided to remarry, leaving behind her three children. Seo-yeon had just turned nineteen while Seo-ah was fourteen. Seo-yeon had to start working to help support them, leaving Seo-ah to babysit the young Seo-jun. It basically meant that his second sister mainly read romance manhwas to him before bedtime. . .and yes, there were some bl mixed into them.
He would never complain though. His sisters made his life as easy and carefree as possible. Heck, they were even the ones who named him. His mother was unable to pull out of her depression when he was born, and his father was in the hospital because of a tumor, so Seo-yeon named him. Seo-ah had agreed to the name because it was the name of one of her favorite characters from an action-romance book that she had read.
Seo-jun chuckled. "You know Seo-ah will be saddened to hear you say that," he teased her. His sister, Seo-ah, would marry almost any one of the male leads from her books. . .and Seo-jun probably would too, depending on which male lead it was.
Growing up with a bl loving sister, Seo-jun had learned to be open-minded. He was so open-minded that he had dated both a girl and a guy in high school, though not at the same time. He wasn't that open-minded.
"I'll see you soon," Seo-yeon told him before hanging up.
The sound of tires squealing broke Seo-jun out of his thoughts. Since he was sitting toward the back of the bus, he couldn't see what was happening, but the bus started swerving hard to the left, making him slam his shoulder against the window.
Seo-jun bolted up from his seat just like the other passengers. The bus was angled sharply into the other lane, heading straight for the edge of the road, which was an overpass, meaning that it was roughly a five-meter drop.
A few of the passengers started panicking when the bus driver let a few curse words fly from his mouth. Thus bus showed no signs of slowing down or veering off its current course.
Seo-jun dropped his book bag and immediately started running his fingers along the window trying to find the release mechanism to open it. Before he could get the window open, a loud crash was heard. The bus had his the wall lining both sides of the road.
The bus started careening before tipping dangerously. A woman around his eldest sister's age fell on her stomach and started sliding toward the front of the bus.
Closing his eyes, Seo-jun sent up a prayer to his sisters along with a silent apology. He only hoped that his sisters could move on from the news of his death and that he was sorry that he never got the chance to pay them back for everything they had done for him. He was pessimistic about this situation because he believed it would be almost impossible to come out without any serious or fatal injuries. . .but maybe he should try to be a little hopeful. He squeezed his eyes even tighter and bit the inside of his mouth, sending a silent prayer up into the heavens.
The bus teeter-tottered before fully angling towards the ground. The metalwork on the bottom of the bus screeched as it scraped against the cement. Then the bus slid loose from its lodgings. Seo-jun, who had been desperately clinging onto the seat, felt himself slam up against it. A deafening noise soon filled his ears as the bus came to a sudden halt as it slammed into the road beneath it. A searing pain ripped through his body before everything turned dark.
His thoughts slowed down until they were almost nonexistent. Suddenly, his brain started working again and his thoughts went into overdrive.
A faded and watery image of a boy with shoulder-length blonde hair appeared behind his tightly closed lids. The boy's bright blue eyes looked sad and he looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't.
The image faded away and a dim light appeared behind his closed eyelids. Was this the afterlife? Is that how he was able to still think because his soul was now in some kind of purgatory? And who was that boy?
A burning pain returned to his back, making his skin feel hot and cold at the same time. Did he survive the crash?
The sound of a creaking door reached his pounding ears. The click of high heels sounded against the floor, pounding a new and painful throb into his skull with every step.
"Oh! Adrien!" A feminine voice called out, making his head pound. He started to feel dizzy even though his eyes were still closed. "My poor Adrien." The sound of heels clicking against the floor echoed, drawing closer. The clacking of the heels made him want to cry as the sound sent a stabbing pain through his skull that throbbed so hard that it made him see fuzzy lights sparking behind his closed eyelids.
Who's Adrien? Although a better question would be, who was this woman that was frantically calling out? She didn't sound like anyone he knew nor did she sound like a nurse. And it certainly didn't feel like a hospital since Seo-jun was pretty sure that he lying on the cold, hard floor.
Something cold and wet dropped against his forehead, the sensation a cooling touch that eased up some of the pain that he was feeling.
"Nadeline, give me the kit," that unfamiliar voice demanded.
"Yes, Madam."
The dizzying sensation increased. A faint image of a young girl with hazel eyes wearing a maid uniform was following behind a graceful woman with ivory skin and pale blonde hair appeared in his mind.
Seo-jun wasn't sure how he knew it, but he instinctively recognized the people in that image-no, memory? Something inside him was telling him that it was a memory.
The cooling touch on his forehead disappeared, only to be replaced by something warm, something that felt a lot like a hand.
"Oh, my poor Adrien," that sad voice breathed out heavily, sounding as if it were choking on a sob.