Capítulo 2: The promise

Approaching Yeon Jin was a man wearing a black suit and black sunglasses. He got to where Yeon Jin was and took off his glasses, revealing his deep dark violet eyes that seemed to be the only thing colorful in his entire body.

He had tanned skin, jet-black hair, and a jawline that looked chiseled to perfection. He was the exact definition of a handsome devil and like that name entailed, he was a complete devil.

Daniel worked for the Mafia and thus, he was an extremely dangerous man. His job, his lifestyle, his temper, and even his face. They were all dangerous.

He was a man with no emotions. Until he met Yeon Jin but even at the point when they first met, it seemed like he would shoot Yeon Jin on the spot and dispose of his body in the river nearby.

"I thought you said you'd dress simple." Yeon Jin fearlessly nagged.

"I did dress simple. Until I got called in to work." Daniel said, taking out a cigarette pack from his pocket. He pulled out a cigar and stuck it to his mouth but at that same moment, it flew from his mouth and landed in the river.

Daniel looked at Yeon Jin who boldly smiled after just throwing his cigarette away.

"No cigarettes today." He said and Daniel sighed.

Each time… He always kept forgetting that Yeon Jin was quite a handful. He was far from submissive and wasn't easy to handle.

"What's with the flowers?" Daniel finally asked, keeping the pack of cigarettes away in his pocket.

"Happy birthday." Yeon Jin said, smiling broadly, and for a moment, Daniel paused, trying to grasp the situation.

Then, he exclaimed lightly, looking aside to prevent Yeon Jin from seeing his squinted eyes, and then turned his gaze back to him. It was today.

"Alright." He said, trying hard to hide the distortion in his expression. "But when did roses...?"

"They're not for this." Yeon Jin quickly interrupted him and cleared his throat. "Here. Hold this." He handed the cake to him and held the bouquet up properly. "Daniel, there's something I've been wanting to tell you."

Daniel seemed to have a faint idea as to what Yeon Jin wanted to say and so he nodded and said,

"I know."

Confused, Yeon Jin blinked.

"What? You know what?"

"I know what you're about to say," Daniel said more clearly and in disbelief, Yeon Jin asked,

"You know that I'm about to confess to you? That I love you?" He admitted, still in disbelief. "You know that I want to move in with you, live with you like a married couple and spend the rest of my life with you?"

Daniel once again squinted his eyes. It was today. A really bad day. It was today.

Why? He thought the days were still far ahead. He thought his birthday wasn't till a month's time or so. He should've kept track. There were so many things he wanted to do. So many things he wanted to see with him.

Wait, maybe they could avoid it this time.

He looked from side to side. There were no incoming vehicles. No incoming danger.

Noticing that Daniel was suddenly absentminded and acting off, Yeon Jin immediately sensed that something was wrong.

"Daniel?" He called but Daniel was too anxious to pay attention. "Are you expecting someone to come?"

This caught Daniel's attention and the moment he turned to look at him, reality struck him. Things were going to unfold in the same way they did in the past. Why... Why couldn't he fight it? He did everything.

He even wanted to kill him at the beginning to avoid his feelings from developing in this life. He…

The sound of multiple car engines approaching from the distance from both sides of the bridge made Daniel tremble and Yeon Jin got scared.

This… This was Daniel. He was not one to get scared easily so what was so dangerous was that he was trembling.

"Yeon Jin." He called, gritting his teeth.

"Daniel." Yeon Jin called. "What's going on?"

"You have to promise me something." He said in a moment of desperation. "It's my birthday so I get to make one wish. Please, promise me that you will grant me this one wish."

Confused, Yeon Jin found himself nodding. He couldn't understand the situation or what was going on. He looked at both ends of the bridge, the cars had stopped but there was no sign of anyone alighting from the cars.

"Yeon Jin," Daniel called, almost screaming out his name, his grip tightening.

Yeon Jin looked at him but before he could say anything, Daniel hugged him tight, squeezing as he whispered his wish into his ear, the contents causing Yeon Jin's eyes to widen and in that state of shock, was carried up and thrown right into the river.

"Daniel." Yeon Jin yelled as he fell into the river, accompanied by the scattered flower petals, till he collided with the water's surface and sank.

At that moment when Yeon Jin sank deep into the river, he started hearing repeated gunfire.

Startled, he started swimming, trying to find his way to the surface. But just as he was about to reach it, there was a huge explosion that affected the water, sweeping him away and he fell unconscious.

'I have to go back to Daniel.' his consciousness rang. 'I still don't know what's going on. He's in danger. I need to make sure he's okay. I want to see him.'

That was all his consciousness sang since all he could think of was the look of sadness, desperation, and regret all mixed together in Daniel's face. And this, made him remember the dream he had.

'I have to open my eyes.'

Yeon Jin successfully opened his eyes as he stuck his head out of the water and coughed. While he had a short moment of relief that he survived and didn't drown, he was suddenly greeted by the tip of a sharp blade, pointed directly at his Adam apple.

Confused, he held his breath.

"So, are you ready to talk?" Someone's voice, very similar to that of Daniel's asked him and he blinked his eyes, trying to get his blurry vision clear and see if it was Daniel. "Do you plan to die in this torture room? Be my guest."

The man was sitting a few feet away from Yeon Jin and the blade wielder. The person sitting on the chair had a physique that looked exactly like that of Daniel's and this gave Yeon Jin hope but he suddenly stood up from his seat and approached.

"I didn't know that even a little blind rat from the holy empire could be so tight-lipped and know how to endure torture."

Yeon Jin recognized the threatening glare this man gave him. It reminded him of the same gaze Daniel had when he pointed his gun at him, attempting to end his life.

The man took out his own sword from its sheet and took over from the other guy.

"Any last words?" He asked, raising his sword to sever Yeon Jin's head from his body, at that moment, his eyes cleared up and he saw the face of the man.

His eyes widened.

"Daniel?" The man immediately paused after hearing that name.

"What?"