Fundamentally Good

Loving You

Day 23 Cloytober: Red

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Green might have been the colour of their love in their past lives, but if the past few weeks since they regained their memories was anything to go by, red coloured the blissful, mind-whirling phase of Ri Jeong Hyeok and Yoon Seri's reunion.

As cliché as it might sound, red was the colour of their love now too.

Red because it was passion-filled, much like the adrenaline rush that one often got when they were chasing the red lights on an empty road.

Red because the heat of their love burned so strongly, so powerfully, that it took on a shade deeper than the usual amber flames, burning into the night.

Red because the rigorous vitality of their tender loving, was one that inspired and drove them to become an even better version of themselves.

Burning red, chasing red, driving red.

Love to them was like a drug, they couldn't break out of, nor did they wish to. They couldn't bear to part at the end of the day, and when they did part, their minds were occupied with thoughts about each other every single second.

These days, that usual fluttering feeling in their hearts was ever prominent whenever they thought about each other, as though they were teenagers experiencing love for the first time. It was dizzying to think about how far they had come since Yoon Seri crash-landed on Captain Ri, and even more surreal that their love lived on in the afterlife.

Memories or not, Yoon Seri and Ri Jeong Hyeok had already long fallen for each other.

No one knew when love begins, nor what made it start, but one truly doesn't need to know that to cherish what was inside their hearts.

And the best part about love?

It was gradual. Love changes someone even without them knowing that it was doing so. The second that love is planted in one's heart, it seizes full control and starts the gradual transformation of a beautiful soul.

Try to deny love, or try to protest, but there was no denying that love would never falter. Rather, love endured.

For our star-crossed lovers, love was no doubt alive inside their hearts, burning with a vibrant shade of red – the renewal of a love that had once been lost.

Perhaps that was why these days, they found themselves thinking so much about each other – more so than they did in their past lives. Just like that, those sweet thoughts that they had about each other slipped into their minds, whereas the boundless feelings that they felt infiltrated their souls.

Sometimes, those random surges of love happened so suddenly that it took them by surprise too.

They could be doing the most mundane of things – showering, walking, watching their human...you get the idea – but even then, they remembered each other.

They reckoned that was what happened when one finally remembered what they shouldn't have forgotten in the first place. Robbed by the memories in their afterlife, Ri Jeong Hyeok and Yoon Seri refused to forget each other again. And if heaven and hell promised them the time of their lives, they prayed that they would never have to part again.

As Seri and Jeong Hyeok's love continues to grow, their love would only take on a bigger form because now, their lives were bigger than their own once more.

It was painful to lose each other and find each other again. At one point in time, they both felt empty, for love had unknowingly driven them to the pits of despair. But the joy that they felt because they loved was also one that was more than they thought they could bear – overpowering, overwhelming, and overfilling.

Through it all, love brings pleasure unlike any other, but also pain like nothing one has experienced. Yet, when both were gone, love still remained, for once it has spoken, it was yours.

Beneath it all, the hearth of love was red.

The wounds that ran deep might be full of blood, but love was red too. Because of that, love never dies.

Yoon Seri and Ri Jeong Hyeok most certainly proved that.

That day, as the sun was setting over the horizon, Yoon Seri and Ri Jeong Hyeok flew up into the skies together, gliding with the clouds and laughing with the wind. They spiralled through the air together, their wings beating harmoniously with that of their hearts. At times, their hands would interlock between them, before Seri would get cheeky and try to drag him on a whole new adventure.

They flew past the vibrant green trees painted with the gentle golden hue of the setting sun. They flew past the running rivers and soaring waves, letting the tips of their wings brush the warm waters heated up by their love.

They were the picture of happiness and joy, for the unrestrained smiles that accompanied their laughter held a carefreeness that had once been lost to them both.

And as they flew, going onwards to their new journey ahead, they thought about everything they had been through together. Memories flashed in the back of their minds right as their hearts calmed with that of their ruffled feathers.

Settling themselves upon their bridge, Yoon Seri, and Ri Jeong Hyeok's wings naturally aligned as they embraced each other gently again.

"Ri Jeong Hyeok." Seri peered up at the love of her life with unbridled innocence on her face.

Tilting his head to the side adorably, Ri Jeong Hyeok stayed silent as he waited for Seri to continue.

"Our wings." Seri fluttered her raven black ones gently, tickling the edges of his thick, white ones. "They're the same size."

"That they are." Ri Jeong Hyeok smiled shyly as he looked at their wings. "In heaven, there's a saying that the size of our wings represents the size of our hearts."

Hearing that, Seri's nose scrunched up automatically, for she clearly disagreed with that saying.

"That can't be right. I'm pretty sure you have a bigger heart than me. It's not easy to love a devil."

"You're wrong. You have a beautiful soul, Yoon Seri. I know you and I know you have a compassionate heart. You literally rummaged through my house just to help a beggar child and his sister, didn't you?" Ri Jeong Hyeok reminded her gently.

Touché, but that still didn't make her a saint. The angel somehow always knew exactly what to say.

"You're a good person too, Ri Jeong Hyeok. I love you." Seri choked out emotionally.

"I love you too, Seri."

In the end, life may be fleeting, but love lives on.

And on their wings, they taught each other to fly once again.