16 What If...?

"So tell me, Shaman," Jinhyun said as he sat down opposite her. "How will you change my fate?"

His tone was mocking her as a smile played on his lips. Seeing his devilish smirk made Cherry feel like ripping his face off. It was bad enough that he had reincarnated with the same face but why was she tasked to change his fate? Of all the people in the world, she would have been happy not to see his face again. Her 500 years worth of existence was much happier without this loathsome man.

Why did he have to turn up in the very end? Sometimes, Cherry felt that her late husband was laughing at her from his grave. He took away everything from her when he was alive. And now, when she was finally destined to die, he rose from the grave and slapped her good fortune away.

Holding down a retort, she coolly replied, "Your disbelief will be the end of you."

"How can you be so sure?" he challenged her.

"Fates are fixed," she said. "Your fate has been sealed. All I can do is lead you there."

"So what does my fate say?" Jinhyun asked. He waited in anticipation for her next words.

Cherry stared into his eyes. Usually, she was able to tell the future of a person just by looking into their eyes. She could tell what will happen if they go down a certain path. That was how she managed to change the fates of the other 499 couples.

But his eyes were blank. There was nothing to see. She could not see his future at all! What the hell?

She cleared her throat. "You will meet someone," she said. "Someone who will be your soulmate. Her name will start with the letter Y."

Jinhyun was amused. "Will she be pretty?" he snickered.

Cherry gritted her teeth in annoyance. She really hated this. If he was not the 500th person, she would have ripped his tongue out.

"Unfortunately, I prefer to defy fate," he said as he stood up. "I don't know if whatever you said was true or not. All I will say is this."

He gave a wide smile and looked directly into her brown eyes.

"I will choose my own soulmate," he promised. "And I know who she is already."

He was about to exit the room when she spoke up. "Your past will haunt you forever if you don't accept your fate."

Jinhyun was about to refute that but she held up her hand. She knows what he did. His hands were stained with blood. No matter how many births he took, he can never be freed from it.

"The sword you swung," she said cryptically. "Will strike you back. The sins you have committed will come back to haunt you. The fates have given you a chance. Don't run from it. Don't defy it. Otherwise the blood you have on your hands will kill your loved ones."

Her voice came in a harsh whisper which made Jinhyun's blood chill. Was she interpreting the dreams he had been seeing?

"Accept your fate, Shin Jinhyun," she said. It was not a plea. It was a threat.

The smile from his face disappeared. In its place was a cold and aloof aura. He scrutinized her. The humor he felt was gone and its place was pure indifference to her words.

The change in his gentle demeanor did not surprise her. His facade was falling and his true feelings were coming out. After all, Emperor Seyoung never knew an ounce of happiness and nor does his reincarnation.

At that moment, he was haughty and arrogant. Just like the Emperor.

"Not even a million misfortunes will keep me from forging my own path," he stated. "No one knows what the future holds. People desperately try to hold on to false hopes. They want to change their futures to avoid a terrible fate. What they really do is create new regrets. What if they had taken the path not chosen? What if they had taken something different. What if? What if? Humans seem to be stuck on this question."

He walked towards her and sat down to lean closer.

"When you dwell on that question, you have resigned yourself to a fate crueler than death," he whispered. Their faces were really close. She looked at him with indifference while he gave her a sympathetic gaze.

"So, I choose to believe in myself," he said. "Not in fate. Let it come at me for I have nothing to lose. Not anymore."

With that he stood up once again and left the shop, leaving a stunned Cherry behind.

She sat there for several minutes, unable to move. What just happened? Did he just reject her offer?

Even though she had faced skeptics before, this was different. She could not see his fate at all. How was this even possible? Her powers were not working on him. He even defied her claims. Was he really going to go against his own fate?

That is impossible. In her 500 years, no one was able to change their fates. Even those who changed timelines, eventually got the ending written in their destinies.

But this guy…he had no fate. She could not see it. And yet her last task was to change his and Sung Yoona's fates.

What does it mean?

For the first time in decades, Shina felt confused and unsure.

….

Yoona was soaking in her swimming pool, reading a book.

"Mistress Yoona."

She looked up to see their maid, Lim Sojin, standing there. She was one of their oldest maids who had been raising Yoona ever since she was a baby. Kind and soft spoken, Sojin always treated Yoona like her own daughter.

She was carrying a tray of snacks and juice for her.

"Please have some snacks, young mistress," Sojin said, laying the tray on the edge of the pool.

"Thanks ahjumma," Yoona smiled as she took a piece of cake. "Yummy! As usual ahjumma, you make the best cakes."

She giggled. Sojin smiled as she watched Yoona bite into the cakes.

"Ahjumma, I'm really happy," she exclaimed.

"Why so, dear?"

"Jinhyun is back!" Yoona said. "He's finally back! Can you believe it? I even met him at the park. He signed an autograph for me."

Sojin smiled as Yoona excitedly told her about the meeting.

"That is very nice, dear," she smiled. "I should head back inside. It's time to give today's menu to the chef."

"Okay!"

She waved Yoona goodbye and headed back inside. Instead of going into the kitchen, Sojin headed to her room.

It was a small, simple room with only a bed, a closet and a desk. She did not have many possessions except for a few clothes. But there was one valuable thing she had kept hidden away. She opened the closet to take out a small box.

Sojin unlocked the box. In it were newspaper articles on EXOTIC along with pictures of Jinhyun. Sojin looked at them lovingly as she caressed the still pictures.

"Did you study well?" she asked, as tears formed in her eyes. "You were gone for such a long time. I hope you ate properly. You looked so thin at the airport…"

She clutched the pictures to her chest and sobbed. "Welcome back, my son," she whispered.