Lovers in the Night II | Yang Jungwon

XXXI

Yona knelt down on the dewy grass as a way to express her respect for the dead. She clasps her hands together to whisper to the universe, "May the Heavens be merciful when they put you in your next life."

Minji, who was right behind her, sets down the bouquet of flowers before the gravestone. "I'm sorry I didn't get to visit you before you passed, Wony." The two girls ran out of tears and were now in the acceptance stage of mourning; in contrast to the pools of tears they shed previously. Their visits were more peaceful, they were like hangouts.

It had been a couple days since Jang Wonyoung's memorial. "You too, Sullyoon," Yona lectures toward the grave two spots to the left away. "I hope your current life is amazing. Also, to the both of you, don't choose to remember your past lives. It's troublesome. Neither of you have a reason to remember, anyway."

A grin escapes Minji's closed lips. She squats beside the kneeling Yona, "This is such a cute reunion, isn't it?"

Yona drops her hands to the side, sighing. "When we join them six feet under the ground, it'll be an official reunion. And that is going to happen to us in a couple of decades. You know, I still can't believe you chose to be a Human. Aren't you scared of dying? I know I am, though I've consciously experienced death once already."

"Is it really that scary?" Minji playfully asks, a bit amused. It looked like she wasn't scared of the thought. It was unlike of a Vampire to not be uneasy toward death since they lived forever. Somehow, Minji already accepted the idea of passing away.

"Yes!" Yona exclaims in a pout. "I have nightmares about Danah's death almost every night. This is the universe's method to punish me for remembering my past life, I swear."

"Let's just hope our upcoming deaths are as peaceful as Wonyoung and Sullyoon's." Minji gets up and looks around. "Someone's coming this way."

From afar, they see Yona's father walking through the graveyard, dodging all the spread out gravestones. "It's my dad," Yona gets up as well.

"Is it?" Minji widens her eyes. This would be the first time they'd directly meet since he had work during the memorial. "Wonyoung's son? That's weird to say- but wow! He looks almost exactly like Wonyoung. Too bad you look more like your mom, Yona."

Yona shoots daggers at Minji, knowing she was only saying that to play around with her. Yona basically has the same face as Danah but a little different after all. She walks away to meet her dad, "Hi, dad. How was work?"

"Tiring, as per usual," he responds, and they begin walking back to the graves. He notices Minji and whispers to Yona, "This a friend of yours?"

"More than that," she whispers back. In a louder voice, she exclaims, "This is Minji!"

Respectfully, Wonjae bows. "Nice to meet you, Minji."

"Wonjae," Minji informally says. "Wow, you're as beautiful as Wonyoung! I've heard so much about you from Yona. Nice to see you! I've been looking forward to meeting you."

Wonjae's jaw drops horror, wondering why his daughter's friend was casually talking to him. He looks at his daughter in a questioning manner, and she mouths 'she's older than she looks' with a smile. Wonjae skeptically decides to shrug it off, "Who are you? Do you know my mother? If so, I don't recognize you."

"Don't be intimidated, Mr Jang. I know a lot about you and your mother. I knew your mother very well." Oh, Minji. She had been quite whimsical lately.

Yona's father narrows her eyes at Minji with a lot of questions in his mind. Yona notices and awkwardly clears her throat, "Uh, anyway! We're off!" She hooks her arms around Minji's and drags her away.

Wonjae's facial expression changes, startled by the sudden exit. "You're leaving already? Where are you going, Yo?" he queries.

"To have fun," Yona smiles and Wonjae widens his eyes, somewhat appalled. Clearly, Yona took her grandmother's last words seriously. "Grandmama would be heartbroken if she found out we'd be mourning over her for too long. I bet she would also be sad if she found out you'd be single for the rest of your life. Find a girlfriend, dad."

"Yona!" It wasn't common for Wonjae to use her actual name, and it was usually to lecture her if he did. He scoffs in disbelief, but then he lets out a laugh right after. This girl, I swear, he says to himself. ...Maybe she's right. He decides to have a one-on-one conversation with his mother's tomb.

"You're telling him to get a girlfriend but you can't even talk to your boyfriend," Minji knits her eyebrows together as they casually fled the scene.

"We're not even together." The now two waited at the parking lot of the graveyard for another person to come pick them up. They planned to go to an amusement park together like the old times.

"That can be helped," Minji points out. "You know, you can't avoid him forever."

She sighs, "I know."

"Well, you should think about talking to him soon... before he does anything reckless," she scolds. Just then, Minji gets a text message from her phone. With her free hand, she reaches for it in her pocket. "Anyway, Leehan said he's on the way."

=

It was the middle of the night, right after the fun amusement park date they just had. It was so fun that all three of them were exhausted by the end of it. Yona and Minji felt like the old times... plus Leehan.

Yona had collapsed into her bed, and this was the first peaceful and healthy slumber she has had in a long time. She hadn't had enough REM cycles for the past couple days due to everything that had happened.

Unfortunately, her rest is interrupted by her loud ringtone. Yona groans as she hears it ring and shifts her position on her bed. She attempts to let it ring until it'd end, and it did, but then the caller decides to call a second time.

Who decides to dial someone up at this time? She gets up and grabs her phone from her night stand. She reads the name and scoffs at realizing who it was. "Hey, Minji. Missed me already? Why are you calling at three in the morning?" Yona groggily asks.

"Shit, Yona. Something is up. I don't know what happened or why it happened, but I have a feeling it's bad. Like, really bad. When I got home, he wasn't here." Minji sounded wide awake and frantic. Yona could barely listen to her nor process anything as her eyes were giving up. "My entire family and I are worried. We're outside right now, debating if we should call the police or not."

What the hell is she talking about? "Can you get straight to the point?" Yona annoyedly raises her voice.

"Jungwon's gone."