Sohee POV

This shouldn't be possible! My tails are gone! I should be dead! How am I still alive?

As I sat up, I noticed that we were not alone.

"My Lady Sohee" Head Monk Seungmin addressed me. "I am relieved to see you well."

"Thanks Seungmin" I smiled.

"May I ask..." he looked between Hoya and me.

"No" I quickly said.

His eyes widened for a moment, then he said "I understand. We will take our leave. If you need anything, please let us know." He bowed slightly, then turned and gestured for the other monks to leave.

Once they were gone, Hoya turned to the people remaining and asked "Could you give us a moment?"

"S...sure" the one with small eyes stuttered. "Let's go" he addressed the other and they all left.

After they were all gone, Hoya turned and hugged me tightly. 

"Hoya, what is going on?" I began to freak out. "How am I still alive?"

He pulled away, looked down at me and asked "Did you know that you were going to die once you had brought me back down the mountain?"

I couldn't bear to look him in the eye. "Yes" I replied simply.

"Why? Why didn't you tell me?" he was understandably upset.

"How could I tell you that?" Tears formed in my eyes. "I never expected to fall in love again. So how could I possibly tell the man I loved that I was going to die!" I couldn't help but blurt it out.

"I don't understand. Why would you have to die?"

"Remember how I told you that not all Gumihos have nine tails?"

"Yeah" he nodded.

"Well" I took a deep breath before continuing. "Each of our tails represent a destined meeting." Hoya looked at me in shock. "I was only born with two tails, so everyone thought I would die at a very young age. No one, not even myself, had expected me to live as long as I have."

"I still don't understand!"

"Every time we have a destined meeting, we loose a tail." I paused and swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat before saying "When a Gumiho looses all their tails, they die. A Gumiho can't survive without a tail. That is why I don't understand how this is possible. I should have died."

Howon/Hoya POV

I showed her the necklace I was wearing. "Do you remember this?"

She looked a bit confused but said "Yes, I gave that to you before we arrived at the temple."

"This is your tail, isn't it?"

She blushed a little "Yes." She took a deep breath and then said "I did a lot of research about our tails. That is how I learned that they were the source of our life and that we loose our tails after a destined meeting ends. With this new information, I managed to devise a way of transforming my tail into a physical object that could be given to someone."

"You did this for Howon, didn't you?"

"Yes" she lowered her head. "I loved him and didn't want him to die. I figured I would be able to share my life with him if I could give him one of my tails."

"Did it work?" I asked nervously.

"Not the way I had hoped" she shook her head.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"I had hoped that the power of life within my tail would help to cure him of his illness, so he could live to an old age. Instead, it merely masked the symptoms of his disease, so he would not suffer. In the end, he still died at a young age" a tear fell from her eye.

I pulled her close to me and comforted her. "I can't say I know how he felt, but I'm sure he was happy being by your side." I pulled away from her and gently lifted the necklace she was wearing so she could see it. "This is also your tail, right?"

"What? How? Where did this come from?" she was confused.

"Twenty years ago, I got lost on this very mountain and met a pretty noona who helped me. When she brought me back down the mountain, to the temple, she gave me this necklace. That was you, right?"

Sohee POV

I thought about what he said. "I remember a young boy who got lost on the mountain, but his name was..." My hands immediately covered my mouth in shock. Howon! His name was Howon! Tears began to fill my eyes. "That little boy was you?"

"Yes" he smiled.

"How is this possible?"

"I don't know" he chuckled. "When Sungjong told me that the necklaces I was wearing were identical, I kind of just started putting the pieces together. I had two necklaces. You said you had two tails. Somehow it made sense to me."

"How did you know that I would come back to life?"

"I didn't" he honestly replied. "I just hoped that you would."

As I was trying to process what was happening, there came a knock on the door. Hoya looked at me and I nodded. "Come in" he called out to them.

"The monks brought some food. Are you guys hungry? We could bring you a couple of servings" he cheerily spoke.

Hoya looked at me and I smiled. "I think I've been in bed long enough. Let's go outside and eat."

"Okay" the young man at the door happily said as he rushed off to, I assume, tell the others.

"Are you sure about this? The guys..." he rubbed the back of his head "They can be a bit nosy."

"I have nothing to be ashamed of, so why would I fear their questions?" I chuckled.

"Okay" he said as he helped me up. 

We walked outside and were greeted by six relatively good looking young men. "Come have a seat" the one with small eyes said kindly.

"Thank you" I replied as I took a seat beside him. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't know your names."

They all chuckled a little. "That's okay" small eyes said. "My name is Sunggyu" he pointed to himself and then he started to point around the table "This is Woohyun, Dongwoo, Sungyeol, Myungsoo and Sungjong."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all" I bowed my head slightly.

"What is your name?" Sungjong asked excitedly.

"My name is Sohee" I smiled. 

"How old are you?" Sunggyu asked and I nearly choked on my first bite of food.

"Approximately one thousand one hundred and twenty years old" I replied honestly, causing all of them to sit there slack-jawed.

Shaking his head, Myungsoo was the first to speak "I think I heard you wrong. You're how old?"

"One thousand one hundred and twenty years old" I replied again.

They all looked at Hoya and he just chuckled. "Don't look at me" he raised his hands. "You were the one who asked the question."