Damage control

Dae Jung was perturbed after getting this sudden reaction from Ji-hun , all of a sudden alarmed that something was bothering his best friend so much.

He asked impatiently, "What happened, Ji-hun? Tell me , what's hurting you? Do I need to call the doctor again , or do you want me to bring something to you or has someone told you some kind of rubbish? Whom do I need to beat up? Just say a word and I will fulfill it , I promise…"

Ji-hun tighten his grip around Dae Jung's waist , as if he would run away after listening to whatever he was going to say , and then spoke out.

"It's hurting me so much DJ , I think…I think I am in love. I love her so much...it hurts Dae Jung , save me please. It's making me feel like I am going insane without her; and I can't live without her. Help me please , take these feelings away please; I don't want to disappoint you guys anymore...please!" Tears started falling from his eyes; at that moment, even he didn't know exactly what he was doing. He was feeling as if someone else was controlling him , as if someone was highlighting the feelings of his dreams in his mind , making it impossible for him to ignore them or move past them.

Dae Jung was taken aback by the flurry of emotion released by him. 'Ji-hun is in love?! But with whom?' This was the first question that arose in his mind , and after that a train of thoughts continued to gather speed.

He wiped Ji-hun's tears and cupped his face in his hands. "Ji-hun, do you trust me? If you do , let me make it very clear that you don't have to think that you are not allowed to love; just forget the scandal of last year , it was not your fault. But if you are in love , then please tell me who the girl is , and where does she live? I promise you that I will handle everything , just trust me , okay?"

"I don't know , I don't remember meeting her in person. But I think Ho-jin does know her as wel-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Dae Jung stopped him in the middle , incredulous. "What do you mean by you don't know her! Did you see her in one of the fan sign events?" Dae Jung asked but after taking a short pause, he then again continued by himself "That could be , but you are telling me that you don't remember meeting her in person...I am not understanding anything , do you know her through the internet ?! Oh God , Hun, how could you be so careless?! It can be someone with a fake ID , or a scammer! There's no way to know for sure! " Dae Jung was panicking himself and trying to console Ji-hun at the same time.

Ji-hun said , trying to stop DJ's spiral about something that wasn't even the correct scenario in the first place. "No , you know for a fact that I rarely use social media , I have seen her in those dreams so far. And now I am in desperate need to know something , just anything about her. The uncertainty is killing me…"

Dae Jung's mouth hung open. "What did you say?!" He leaned to the side while tapping his ear vigorously , as if to get some debris out of his ear canal. "You are in love with a girl whom you have only dreamt of !? Are you sure you are feeling okay ?"

******************

Aldrick found Reneé siting by the lake , appearing to be gazing at the water's surface but her mind was lost somewhere else. He walked up and quickly briefed her on everything that just happened and Reneé 's panic rose with every minute. She stood up quickly , saying "Now I understand why my emotions were in such turbulence! Now tell me quickly if you know where Zacharie is, before he can do anything stupid; meanwhile, you keep an eye on Amélie and tell her to wait for me as what she has done is already enough!"

Having instructed Aldrick to control further damage on that end , Reneé rushed towards the jungle , navigating through the wilderness to the place she knew to look for him first. She had a feeling that Zacharie would be found in the cave; after all that had happened, the cave had became his go-to place for whenever his emotions were in an upheaval. 'This was the place he had realized how important Amélie was to him and how much he loved her,' Reneé recalled as she tried to reach him as soon as she could.

She found him in the cave as expected , doing the same thing she had been fearing . She roared out "Come back here , now; and let the poor boy breathe! He is not mature enough ; nor is he as powerful as you."

Zacharie immediately looked in the direction of the sound; and standing in front of him was someone he really respected. He couldn't afford to disobey her, but he also knew that he needed to explain his actions to her now. He gulped, trying to stall in order to choose the correct words to start the conversation. His dilemma was cut short when Reneé spoke up first.

"Tell me, what was that? Are you really trying to challenge the deity, despite knowing for a fact that you can't! You can't change your destiny, nor can you change theirs; so please explain what you were trying to do!? How can you make him feel your pain when he has no clue what is going on! You know very well that he is not as strong as you, nor has he even met her yet. What was the purpose you were trying to achieve by making him feel the overwhelming pain, when you are unable to bear it yourself, even though you are so much more powerful and know everything already. He is just a kid, for God's sake!"

Zacharie realized that what he was doing was extremely wrong; but there was this nagging voice in his head that kept reminding him that Amélie was more powerful than him. 'And after what she had told him, he knew what she was going to do and it was clear what he had to do as well. He couldn't take the risk of waiting for their encounter and letting them fall in love after that; he had to do something! But he had not allowed himself to get swept away in the enormity of that task; he was also well aware that the boy was not capable of tolerating the unbearable pain, no one was! This was why he had made him experience only a small fragment of the intense torment that he had been living with for all these years.'

After segregating his thoughts and having come up with a way to justify himself, he finally spoke.

"She had almost succeeded in convincing him to not to fall in love with her, how is it okay for her to do that?! You know she is more powerful than me, and I fear- I fear that she will block his heart somehow, so it will not open up after encountering her…"

Reneé was shaken by Zacharie's confession. 'She had allowed the two of them to visit only in their dreams, but they had flouted that rule by meeting them.'

She almost burst out in anger "What! You guys already broke the most important rule? What had I told you- you guys can't meet them, it requires them to leave their original reality in their dreams! Now I am not going to listen to anything you have to say! I am going to block Ji-hun's dream sequence, he won't be dreaming anything further before meeting Nitya. How many times do I need to tell you that it's their story, not yours; you can't manipulate and try to completely change their lives! Just because of you guys, Nitya will now have to go through the dreams alone, because I can't stop her dreams- she still remembers some of her power subconsciously. But Amélie is going to hear from me about this as well !

*************************