⊱"La vie est un sommeil, l'amour en est le rêve" — Alfred de Musset⊰

Life is a long sleep and love is its dream

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"So you've been a Sin for decades, huh?"

Jungkook jumped at the sudden appearance of God in his room and whirled around before covering the paintings of her and himself. The canvases were worn out by time but he was still trying to preserve them using every means.

"Oh! I- How do you do?" The Sin spluttered, widening his eyes at him. "I mean, yeah, I guess..."

God chuckled softly, seeing his nervousness to hide the paintings as endearing. "And how have these decades been for you?"

Jungkook scratched his head. "Normal? Same? Why are you asking me that?"

"Normal? I'm sure you felt less than normal, disgruntled, tired, aimless," God sighed before placing a hand on his shoulder. "Now... It's time for you to be free from hell."

The Sin locked gazes with him and waited for a punchline that never came. "I'm not here for forever?"

"You wanted the former Lust to be reborn when coming here and that's ending soon. Her new life depends on her current one."

"And she's...?"

"As you've seen, she'll definitely go to heaven and get reborn soon," God explained with a soft smile. "With that, your sacrifice ends as well."

Jungkook's eyebrows furrowed deeply. "What do you mean?"

"As I said, time for you to live your next life as you were supposed to."

With a firm stance, he stretched out his hand for the stupefied boy to hold.

"As a human."

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The cocoa-colored haired man watched a boy and a girl sitting a few seats away from each other in the ice cream cafe. They looked and seemed awfully familiar to him and yet, what he was told wasn't in line of what he was thinking about them.

He wondered if he was lied to.

"They won't meet each other."

A voice startled him and he whipped his head to find Humility beside him.

"Souls like them never run into each other."

Pride stared at him in uncertainty. "What?"

"You figured it out, didn't you?" Humility pointed at the two. "They're the former Sins of Lust. Eunsook and Jungkook, I recall?"

The Sin gawked at him. "You think so, too? But that can't be. Eunsook was supposed to be erased and Jungkook was taken away by God. Were those lies?"

"Of course they lied. This could change everything if they're not cautious."

Pride nodded. "The agreements and wagers... They can do anything..."

"And that's dangerous. We can't have the others doing what Chastity and Lust did."

Pride and Humility were agreeing on something for once. As the leaders of their family, they had to do what was right and act accordingly.

"Still, their souls will never meet in all of their lives and- Wait, is that Temperance walking up to them?"

Their eyes widened at the sapphire blue haired woman approaching the purple haired girl before offering her a bowl of ice cream and saying something about new product.

"Does she know?" Pride turned to the Virtue who was watching the scene with narrowed eyes. "Why aren't you stopping her?"

"It's likely she knows. She's very quick witted and God's favorite so I wouldn't be surprised if she learnt about it. And I don't have to interfere..."

Temperance moved on to the male and grinned at him. "Sir, pardon me but would you like to sample our newest ice cream? It's called 'Sweetest constellation'."

He looked up from his phone. "Oh, sure. Thank you."

"Then, please go to that young lady to have a taste." She pointed at where the girl was sitting, scooping the ice cream Temperance placed before her. "Unfortunately, that's the last we have for sample."

The boy instantly shook his head with a small smile. "Then I'll pass. Thanks."

"Oh, but it'll be our highest level product which means it's the most expensive we'll have," she quickly said, clearly trying to make them meet.

But the boy was only thinking about the opportunity to taste the flavor of such expensive dessert, so he couldn't help his curiosity and sweet tooth. He stood up from his table and approached the lone girl with hesitant steps.

"Um... excuse me?"

A brief smile appeared on her face. "Yes?"

"Well," he stammered, his eyes falling on the bowl of ice cream before her, "that ice cream..."

"Ah, you wanted to taste the sample, too? Please sit down."

The vivacious girl gestured for the timid boy to sit before her and handed him a spare spoon with a warm smile. He thanked her, nervousness dissipating at how friendly she was, and scooped the bowl before relishing the heavenly flavor.

Silence ensued as they took turns taking spoonfuls and sneaked glances at each other. Though strangers, it somehow felt comfortable to sit across each other and share an ice cream.

"How old are you?" The girl broke the silence, curiously overruling her. "You look around my age. I'm nineteen."

The boy widened his eyes before smiling. "Wow, you really guessed it. I'm nineteen, too."

Question after question, they started talking about various topics and exchanged laughs with a few jokes in between. They realized that they came to the cafe from the other sides of the city, lived far away from each other.

Temperance watched them in delight while Pride and Humility in sorrow. The Sin was deeper in sadness.

"I don't have to go there since Bada won't be able to interfere further," Humility continued, sighing. "Virtues must not interfere with humans' lives and souls like them... They end up bringing bad luck and burning each other, as you should know."

Star-crossed lovers.

Pride knew the term, but apparently, Temperance didn't fully know it.

The girl grabbed her phone that was vibrating on the table and took the call as the boy watched her.

"Yeah?"

Suddenly, her face visibly paled, worrying him.

"Okay, I'm coming right now."

She quickly ended the call and abruptly stood up from her chair, startling the boy.

"Is everything okay?"

"Ah." She forced a smile, waving her hand even when her heart was hammering against her chest. "Of course! Just an urgent business came up. Thanks for chatting with me."

He returned the smile with a genuine one. "Thank you, too. Be safe."

She nodded, appreciating his company even if it was so short. They both knew they wouldn't run into each other again, but they enjoyed their time together.

Temperance was about to walk to them until a voice in her mind stopped her.

"What are you trying to do?" God demanded. "Did you ask me about them to do this?"

"I... Not exactly..."

"There are rules, Temperance. And I expect you to follow them as a Virtue."

Her eyes followed the girl as she dashed out of the cafe, leaving the boy, and darted to Pride and Humility who held her gaze before disappearing along with God's voice. Their expressions tugged something in her chest and she turned to the boy aimlessly moving his spoon around the bowl.

"And what if I want to break them?"

Fin.

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This is finally the end~
Thank you all so much for reading this story 💜💜💜

Please read the next chapter, 'Afterword'