Modern Prince (Chapter 8: Escaped)

Chapter 7 recap
Phelia wanted to be with Craedon for the night but she knew she had to get help to save him from disappearing. Madame Cyprine was disappointed in her as she expected her to know what will happened if Joo Yoon got drawn to the real world. She gave her a final warning which left Phelia indecisive on whether she should tell Craedon the truth or not. The next day, Phelia and Craedon saw the girl who flirted with Craedon fell down. Phelia helped with the files, but was jealous when seeing the girl clinging on Craedon. She pushed her off, used her aegyo to grab Craedon's attention, and watched the girl leave. She then met Bobby Allen once again and asked him to keep an eye of Craedon while she attended an unexpected meeting. Jordan who was out of his mind, decided to thrash "The Sapphire Key" and replaced it with an idea of exposing Craedon's real self. Wanting to defend Craedon, Phelia told Jordan not to make a new movie but he refused. He immediately fired her and replaced her with Cynthia, a new colleague who happened to be the one who had been trying to steal Craedon from Phelia. Phelia heard footsteps from outside and saw that Craedon had overheard their conversation and he ran away, leaving her guilty. 

Modern Prince
Written by: Michele Hii
Chapter 8: Escaped 

A sea of people swarmed around me as I searched and searched all over the four-way intersection for Craedon. However, not even a single glimpse of his dark hair or his tall figure could be seen. I walked to my car which was parked near the cafe where Craedon and I first met. A quick flashback was in my head.

"What happened?"
"You fainted sir." 
"Ah...I see...thank you."

"Thank you, peasants, for saving me. Now if you excuse me, I have to go back to my kingdom." 

As I got in my car, I realized that he didn't even had a phone. I didn't even had the money to put a chip on his clothes and use a GPS to track him down like a spy. The notebook which stuck out from my opened purse caught me eye.
What if he wrote something here?
I went through the pages and to my surprise, new lines appeared on the next page of Craedon's chapter.

Here I am, wandering at the top of this cliff, with the view in front of me, I wonder what is happening to me, or what actually am I? 

Top of this cliff? With the view...wait...I think I know where he is!

It didn't take a while for me to find a shortcut that led up to his new hiding place. When I arrived at the infamous spot, I recognized his lean back. He turned and saw me. This time, he was not smiling.

"Craedon!" I sighed in relief.
"Don't come close!" he growled.
"But Oppa, just let me explain!" I walked forward.
"Just stay there!"
I stopped and looked at him pitifully.
"I'm sorry. I'm really really really sorry."
"Sorry for what? Not telling me? That I'm actually not a human, but a character from a book that you wrote?"
"I know...I should have told you earlier. But please just listen!"
"Oh, there's no need for you to explain. Because I've heard it all."

I took a couple more steps. He backed away a little, almost close to the edge of the cliff.
"Oppa," I tried again, "back there where Jordan wants to reveal you to the whole world in his new film, I try to stop him but he won't listen."
Craedon: "I know, I've told you I heard it all. I was wondering what is wrong with you."
"Me?" I asked, confused.
"Yeah, you! All this time I thought I was brought here for a purpose. To learn to be a human. To be one of the people here. But...you never told me that I'm a character from a story."
"What? You think that I wrote the story of you on purpose?" I snapped back, "At first I had no idea that the magic notebook actually granted my wish to turn you into a human."
"Oh! So you're the one who's behind all this? You asked this so-called 'magic notebook' to give me life so that you can pretend that you don't know who I really came from. And you want me to forget about where I really came from so that I can enjoy living here forever?"
"Oppa, it's not like that!"
"Then what is it? Huh? What's more there to hide from me?"

I took a deep breath to refrain from crying.
"At first...I didn't intend to keep an eye of you. To keep your memories limited. I wanted to finish the story as soon as possible so that I can send you back to Sun Yang."
He was about to speak but I stopped him, "However...deep inside my heart, I didn't even want to finish the story. Because if I keep writing, I'll make you lose your love on me. But I feel like...I was being controlled to finish it, and I don't know who or what did it."
He listened with a neutral look on his face, but I could see that his eyes were shaded with puzzlement and misery.
"I love you, Craedon. I love you so much. But it seems that you're no longer gonna live as a human. So I've been trying to find a way to save you. But the only way to set you free, to see you no longer in pain without you noticing, is to finish the story."
"Phelia..." he said. Suddenly, his right sneaker lost colour and it went up to his leg. Worst of all, he was standing at the edge of the cliff. He lost his balance and flailed his arms.
"Craedon!" I gasped.
His other leg disappeared right after. His whole body dropped down. As I scrambled to the edge, I was relieved when he caught onto a branch sticking out a couple of meters away. I quickly lied on my stomach and stretched my hand as far as I could.
"Oppa! Grab my hand!"
He sealed his eyes shut as he tried not to look down. His two hands were wrapped tightly around that branch, and I had a feeling that it would break at any second.
"Oppa!"
"I can't!"
"Just grab on!"
He finally opened his eyes and let go off one hand, reaching to grasp mine. He then released his other hand and wrapped over. As I tried to pull him up, it was like his body was made of metal. I reached out my other hand and forced every inch of strength in me to pull him up. As I spoke too soon, my hands immediately felt weak and I almost lost my grip. I dropped my hands back down. Luckily, his hands still hadn't slip.
"Phelia!" he yelped.
"Just hold on!" I shouted determinedly. I flexed my arms and pulled him up again.
"Oppa! Can you put your leg up?"
He managed to extend his left leg up and pinned his foot on the cliff.
"Push your way up if you can!" I pulled him up a little more. My muscles were screaming in pain but I didn't give a damn. To my relief, I dragged his body up and he rolled onto his back to lie down.

I sat on my knees as I caught my breath. It didn't take long for me to be fully recovered from the shock. As I looked at him, he stared blankly at the sky while panting. And then to my surprise, my eyes started to water. I covered my face with my hands as I immersed into my own pool of guilt. If only I wouldn't have wrote the story or even bought the notebook, none of this would have happened. I'd caused a fiction character to suffer even more, and that made me an enemy...

Suddenly, I felt his arms wrapped around me. I was thinking of pushing him away, since he didn't deserve me for making him suffer like this, to be blind from the ugly truth I was hiding all along. But he was rocking me in his wingless barrier, so I gave in and allowed my tears to dissolve into his sweaty black polo shirt.
"I'm so terribly sorry, Oppa...this is all my fault...I'm just glad that you're still in one piece." I hiccuped.
"I know, Phelia...I know..." he whispered, smoothing my hair.
He sounded like he was actually forgiving me, but my tears which never seemed to end forced me to repeat "sorry" to fill up the gaps between my sobbing and hiccups.
"That's enough, my dear. You're forgiven." he said.

He continued to hold me till the droplets were finally subsided. I instantly took out the notebook from my purse which strap was still slung over my left shoulder. He looked at me with a puzzled look as he loosened his hug, "What's this?"
""The magic notebook I've told you earlier." I replied.
He gradually flipped it open page by page. I watched his mouth hanging half-open as he scanned through my story.
"So that's where my first few memories came from." he exclaimed. His eyes were still glued to the book.
"Neh." I nodded, "And...now that you've lived your life here more than you've lived in Sun Yang, you've created your own memories. All by your own mind. It's more powerful that I myself can't even handle, or even magic itself."
He stopped at the last few pages where he spotted the familiar handwriting, "Is this..."
"Yeah." I mumbled, "I should have showed you earlier."
"I remember saying these in my head, but..." he touched the pages, "I never know that my sentences would ended up here."
"I think it's the notebook's tricks."
"So...if I'm the one who writes this automatically from my head, then what happens to your story?"  he asked as he closed the book.
"The story will go on in a different way. That means the story has to be continued according to the alternative plot. I'll have to write it differently before it gets worse...not only to the plot but also to the characters."

He looked up into the approaching grey clouds for a moment, "So...maybe the reason why I turn invisible...is because of me writing the rest of the story instead of you."
I nodded and spotted more words forming on paper. The last two pages were left blank. Craedon saw it too and he stared in bewilderment.
"I just thought..."
"Yeah, " I muttered, "now you've seen it."
"How to stop this?" his brow furrowed.
I shrugged while taking the notebook back, "Finish it up, that's the only way. I'll have to think of an ending."
My peripheral vision caught him shaking his head, "No...this can't be happening. I don't want you to end it because of me."
I looked into his eyes which were a darker shade of brown. More like a ghostly black colour. "Oppa, I know you're worried, but there's no other option. I want to save you from this, to get you back to where you belong."
He put his hands on my shoulders, "But I belong here, with you."
I shook my head as tears started to blur my vision again. Wow...I never knew that I'm this emotional.
"You don't understand! It's my fault for starting all this. I've created someone who I fell deep in love with, yet breaks my heart."
He snaked his arms round me once more, "Don't blame yourself, Phelia. I'm blessed to be a human. I've learnt so much here. You've given me a new life, and I thank you to the uttermost."
"But," I croaked, "I've turned you into a victim..."
He quickly cupped my cold, wet cheeks with his big, smooth palms, "No, I made you suffer as well, I caused you to hide such a cruel fate away from me. But we stand together."
I closed my eyes and hung my head down. He lifted my chin up, "Look, you've given me a chance to breathe like a human, to eat like a human, to live like a human, and to enjoy life like a human. I love being one, especially being with you."
I looked back at him,"It's just that I don't want to be greedy anymore. All this time I wanted you all by myself instead of giving you Seul Eun."
"People change." he smiled, "You've taught me that. And I choose you. My heart chooses you, not Seul Eun. And I accept that. You taught me to make decisions, and I did what's best to make myself happy."
I let him wipe my eyes dry and press his forehead against mine. He went on, "You're not selfish. You've cared so much for me to be a whole new person., and I love you doing so."
I sighed, "I just don't want to lose you."
And before I knew it, he cushioned his lips onto mine before saying, "Even if I disappear, I'll always be by your side."
I smiled back, "Okay."

I was about to kiss him in return when suddenly I noticed a couple of people whom I was afraid of approached from a silver Nexus. The boss who fired me not long ago strutted with his new lady. Their eyes were targeting at us.
"Oppa!" I shivered. He looked back and saw them, looking surprised.
"Run!" I grabbed his hand and charged to my car.

They seemed to be quick because as I drove as fast but careful as I could ever possibly be, the Nexus was literally one car behind my Toyota no matter what route I took. To my luck, I found the narrow alleyway and saw the Nexus stopped by a freshly-lit red light. I took a sharp turn while ignoring one of the front lights almost bumped into a fire hydrant.

"We're here!" I said, killing the engine.
"Kaboom?" he read the window sign.
"Yeah, this is where I got the notebook. The only person who we can get help is Madame Cyprine, the owner. Come on!"
Once we entered into the store, no one was guarding the counter. There wasn't even a single person wandering at the shelves.
"You two..." a cold voice made the hair on my skin rise. I turned back and gasped in front of Cynthia who had her arms akimbo at the entrance.
Oh boy...