One of his men stepped forward, eyes cold but careful, and guided me into a chair draped in deep crimson velvet. My wrists trembled, my chest tightened, and my heart felt like it had stopped.
"Sit," he said simply.
I froze. My body betrayed me, stiff with fear, disbelief, and exhaustion. My wedding… my family… all the plans I had made… gone.
Another man rolled out a crisp white sheet. My name: Aish. Beside it: Kim Tae-hyun. My stomach twisted.
"What… what is this?" I whispered.
Taehyun stepped forward, calm, terrifying. "Our wedding certificate. Everything is ready."
"Our… wedding?" My voice cracked. "This isn't… I—I didn't—"
"You don't get a say," he said softly. His gaze cut through me like a knife. "Not today. Not in front of them."
He opened a black velvet box. Inside rested two jade rings. One brown, one pale grey. Opposites. Yin and Yang.
"Jade?" I whispered, my voice barely audible.
"Because jade remembers," he said quietly.
"Remembers… what?"
He held the ring closer, the candlelight catching on its smooth surface. "There's a story," he said, voice low but steady. "A tale about two forces: Yin and Yang. One dark, one light. Opposites. Forever entwined. No matter how much they clash, they cannot exist separately. One cannot dominate without the other falling apart."
"A story?" I echoed, voice trembling. "What does that have to do with… with us?"
"Everything," he said, kneeling before me, taking my hand. His grip was firm, almost painfully steady. "Balance. That's what it's about. Yin and Yang, light and darkness. Sometimes one destroys. Sometimes one saves. But one cannot exist fully without the other. That's why the rings. Opposites. Entwined. Bound by consequence."
I swallowed hard, staring at the cold brown jade on his finger. "And the… killing? The guns? All this chaos?"
"Sometimes balance demands sacrifice," he said softly, almost reverently. "Sometimes people must bend before the storm to survive it. You don't need to understand now… only accept."
"Accept?" I shouted, rising halfway. "You call this… accept? This is madness! People could die! You're insane!"
"Then save them," he said, calm, unshaken. "Say the words. Do it. Stop the blood from spilling."
Tears streamed down my face. My voice cracked.
"I… I do," I whispered.
I slid the brown jade onto his finger. My hand shook so violently I barely managed it. Then I picked up the pen, trembling, and signed the certificate.
"Good," he murmured, standing and letting a small, satisfied smile touch his lips. "Now the balance is set. But don't think this ends here."
"What do you mean?" I asked softly.
"The story doesn't end with the rings, Aish," he said. "Yin and Yang… they are tested. Pulled apart. One destroys, one heals. Only when both are perfectly balanced does the world survive the storm they bring."
"So… what are we then?" My voice barely above a whisper.
"We are the story in motion," he said, stepping closer. "One of us is darkness. One of us is light. One will challenge, one will protect. Opposites. Forever bound. That's what these rings mean. That's what we are. Balance. Inevitability. Fate."
I looked at the rings again, cold and heavy, eternal. "And… if I refuse to accept this?"
"Then the balance will break," he said, eyes darkening, almost dangerous. "And everyone around us will suffer. That's the law of it. That's why I brought you here. Not to scare you… but to make sure you understand the consequences of defiance."
"You're insane," I whispered, voice shaking.
"And yet necessary," he said, tilting my chin up with one hand. His gaze was almost tender, almost dangerous. "Yin and Yang. Chaos and order. I destroy, I protect. You resist, you endure. That's how balance works."
I shook my head. "And… you expect me to just… go along with this? To… to be part of your story?"
"I expect you to survive," he said softly. "And sometimes, surviving means walking into the storm."
"And if I hate you?" I whispered, tears brimming.
"Then you'll hate me," he said quietly, voice low and deliberate, "and still stand by me. Because balance does not ask for love. It asks for necessity."
I swallowed hard. "So… we're trapped?"
"Not trapped," he said, softer now. "Bound. By consequence. By choice. By fate. The legend isn't about happiness or love… it's about survival, about equilibrium. And now… we are that story."
I pressed my palm against the cold jade. Cold, heavy, eternal. Brown. Green. Opposites.
"And you… what are you?"
"I am the storm," he whispered, leaning closer, almost brushing my lips. "And you… are the calm. Together, we will tip the scales… or break them entirely."
I trembled. I hated him. I feared him. And yet… the weight of inevitability pressed down so hard I realized he was right. Balance required us.
"And if the story fails?" I asked softly.
"Then we rebuild," he said, voice dark, unwavering. "Like the legend. Balance is never perfect. The world bends and breaks around us, and still… the forces must meet again. Yin and Yang. Opposites. Forever entwined."
I looked at the rings one last time. The pale green gleamed faintly, twin to the brown on my finger. Heavy. Cold. Eternal.
"So… this is it," I whispered. "We're part of a story written long before we came here."
"Exactly," he said, leaning in, his breath brushing my cheek. "And now… we play our parts. One destroys, one protects. One challenges, one endures. One day… maybe we'll even find peace. But for now… balance demands action. And that starts with this."
He lifted my hand, his fingers brushing mine as if sealing fate with touch alone. I didn't move. I didn't resist. Somehow, I didn't want to.
Yin and Yang. Brown and Grey. Bound by jade. Bound by fate.
Yin & Yang.
Jade-bound. Blood-bound.
Two souls... balanced by madness.
And I knew-whether I wanted it or not...
Aish & Kim Tae-hyun
Forever. ♡
/A love story bounded by fate and sealed by marriage?