660 The wheels of time turning back (2)
Jin witnessed the events that followed what happened in the church. The dark atmosphere at the hospital, the looming, impending news of Jin’s death, Nana falling seriously ill and Jun…Jun who stood outside the hospital with a gaze that said that he had lost everything. His hand which held the gun was shivering, and his eyes were transfixed straight ahead.
“Bro…Bro I am here…! Why…can’t you see me…?”
Jin knew the answer to it, but he desperately wished for his presence to be felt. He could do nothing to stop his crumbling heart. At the very beginning, he indeed carried some animosity towards Jun who was able to shoot him for the sake of the woman he loved. Kill his own brother and their brotherhood.
But he couldn’t hold onto his bitterness and malice for long seeing that same brother realize the gravity of his sin. Jun’s eyes didn’t reflect the rejoice of the victory over killing him but the regret of becoming a monster being able to do so.
“Don’t…Don’t look like that Bro…I forgive you, Bro! It wasn’t your fault! I-It’s all Shui’s fault, Bro! She forced me to marry her…She forced me to agree to this wedding! Everything happened because of her. I-I don’t blame you, Bro…”
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“I am sorry. Mrs. Liu has passed away,” Zhan Yahui in the disguise of a nurse had said.
The news was the last straw that had completely broken any hint of semblance that Jun had been holding to. The last light of hope had also flickered.
“No…N-Not Mom…Mom cannot…She won’t leave us…This cannot be true!” Even his soul shuddered upon hearing it.
But somewhere in his heart, Jin knew that he was probably just creating an illusion for himself and Jun. Nana’s health had already weakened, and Jin’s death might have been the last trigger for it to decline even further and unable to hold on.
He saw Jun take a step back and slowly withdraw with a lifeless gaze.
“Bro, it’s not like that…I know you are blaming yourself, but it’s not like that! Please listen to me!” His cry echoed from the bottom of his heart.
An imminent and dark fear twisted his heart as if he knew something terrible was going to happen. That fear turned out to be true as he saw Jun in his car and started the engine with an empty look ahead. Though his gaze was vacant, it also held a strange and dangerous determination.
The resolve to repent for his sins through his own life. There was nothing he could do to pay for the crime he had committed other than giving up on his life.
Jin was there. He was right beside him when Jun reached that unshakeable decision.
“Bro, y-you cannot be serious, right?” He smiled tremblingly with fear laced in it. “You cannot do this, Bro. T-This is not the solution! Listen to me…You have to listen to me!”
The more the speed increased, the tighter of a knot he felt squeezing in his stomach. Jun had only one purpose and that was to crash his car. Jin’s soul could watch him throwing himself into fatal danger but other than begging and pleading with him, he was rendered helpless.
“Bro stop!” He cried. “Please don’t do this…Please think about Dad, Sis, the twins…our family…they will be miserable if you kill yourself! They don’t want you to die, Bro…Nobody wants you to die…! I know that they won’t blame you! Nobody will, so please…stop the car!”
Through his transparent state, he tried to grab the steering wheel and take control, but the effort was meaningless. He could touch nothing. He could hold onto nothing. He could only watch his brother driving himself towards death.
The heart wrenching moment arrived as a tear slipped out of Jun’s eyes and he shut them, bracing for the impact.
From the car crashing into Dream High building’s entrance to the impact hitting Jun fatally – Jin witnessed everything. He saw his head collapse on the steering wheel with blood streaming down his temples.
Pandemonium ensued around the place as people screamed and asked for help.
“Oh my God! The car just crashed!”
“S-somebody please call for an ambulance…The man is bleeding!
“Was he drinking and driving?”
“He must be! Seriously, these drunk people…Didn’t you see a cat getting under his car…?”
“Is that true? That’s horrible!”
“Bro…?” He stared at him hard, not wanting to believe that Jun would die. He raised his shaking hand towards him, but he stopped midway as another loud impact resounded from the top of Jun’s car. It froze Jin in his place, and he slowly lifted his gaze.
A woman fell from above and had just crashed on the car’s roof. A secondary bouncy tremor led her to fall on the car’s hood. He inhaled a sharp gasp. He didn’t understand what was happening.
Who was this woman? Why did she fall? What happened to her?
He looked up and only saw Dream High’s building standing tall. The terrace was way up, hidden in the dark.
Did she commit suicide…?
When he looked back at Jun, the moment that he witnessed completely shook him. Jun was staring at the woman and so was she. They held each other’s gazes as if there was something that only they could understand.
To Jin’s shock, Jun actually took the initiative of lifting his hand in an attempt to hold hers. This was something he never imagined would happen. Jun never thought about anybody else but Shui and now he wished to reach out towards this strange woman he had never met before. The woman similarly raised her hand, weakly and painfully but managed to hold Jun’s hand.
“Bro…”
Tears slipped from Jin’s eyes, and he stood still and quiet, simply watching their last moments unfold. But what made him tremble was Jun’s smile.
The very last and the very faint smile that lifted the curve of his lips.
Jun was smiling.
For the first time in five years, Jin had seen his brother smile and all because of a woman who was sharing her death with him.
You…smiled…You smiled Bro…
Ah you finally…smiled…
Something which I…couldn’t make you do for a long time…