~I spent the afternoon wandering around the Aryan village. I couldn't go to Jooheon's cave and I had no desire to talk to my family and sharing my sad tale with anyone else would have been embarrassing to say the least.

 Besides, the longer I stayed in one place the more my mind dwelled on my conversation of the morning, and suddenly it seemed like the only place that had ever felt like home to me had become a place that I wasn't welcome- and the only place I was welcomed didn't feel like home.

 Thinking about where to go next at least occupied part of my mind enough that I could try and push some of the more self-depressing thoughts I was feeling aside.

That being said, when the sun began to fade in the sky I had no idea what I was supposed to do. But my stomach was growling with hunger and the wind had become so sharp with chill that I feared illness if I stayed out in it any longer.

Thinking that Talia's house would have at least been preferable to my own cottage at the moment I trudged towards it, still somewhat reluctantly. Climbing the rope ladder into the trees I was amazed by how easy the action had become since I'd first arrived, and I knocked on her door.

Her mother answered with a surprised smile, but she invited me inside quite eagerly.

"You're always welcome for dinner Rose, but I thought you would surely wish to spend more time with your family," she said, her eyes asking a louder question than her voice was.

"My sisters' cooking is rubbish, so I'd much rather eat here," I attempted to joke, and thankfully she didn't press the matter further.

Talia clearly wasn't expecting me either, and as she jumped down from the lofted sleeping area, her eyes were as wide as plates.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, not waltzing around the question as her mother had.

I didn't exactly want to complain to her about the problem with my family, and I definitely couldn't tell her about Jooheon.

She was his friend after all, and I wouldn't want to make her uncomfortable or force her to choose sides in such a matter.

Plus, being rejected in love was far more embarrassing than I had ever imagined that it would be.

 I wasn't exactly keen on sharing my humiliation with anyone, even someone as supportive and endearing as Talia was.

"Just visiting of course. Is that alright?" I tried to tease nonchalantly, though I was fairly sure that my attempt to sound normal failed as my voice faltered near the end of my joke.

 It was clear that my friend knew that something was quite wrong with me, but chose not to vocalize her suspicions- to which I was very grateful.

Talia's mother served dinner a little while later, and I began to wonder if it wouldn't have been better for me to have just kept wandering around.

 Although I was certain they weren't meaning to make me uncomfortable, both of the women hadn't stopped with their concerned glances through the entire meal.

Awkwardly I helped tidy up, offering to go fetch water from the well in order to hide from scrutiny, if only for a little while. I took my time with it, being careful to avoid anyone who might have reported my presence to my family if they asked- or to Jooheon.

Despite the fact he made it clear that I was nothing more than a nuisance to him now, and I'd doubted he'd be even looking for me, I couldn't help but hope that perhaps he would.

But of course I was fooling myself.

He would have found me already if he'd wished to apologize, but I was certain he had no desire to. He obviously believed just as my family had.

 How did one fall in love with someone who wasn't even human? I didn't know how it was possible, but I was fairly sure that I'd actually known the truth for quite some time- only secretly understanding the implications of such a love myself somehow I'd wound up denying the truth.

I wished now that I'd never understood that what I felt for Jooheon was a sort of impossible love, or at least that I'd never admitted it to him.

Without realizing it, I had stopped walking. The bucket of water I'd fetched hung at my side, and it was growing gradually heavier until, defeated, I decided to slump on the ground behind a particularly thick tree. I'd no idea who lived in the house above me, but I doubted I'd be bothering anyone in my solitude, especially now that it was growing dark.

Tucking my knees tightly against my chest I struggled to stop crying, fighting tooth and nail against the person that love had forced me to become. I wasn't the kind of person to cry, I was the kind of person who took action. But now I felt no motivation to do anything, and I wondered why anyone would want to fall in love if this awful feeling was its result.

I must have sat for longer than I'd thought. I didn't hear Talia's footsteps as she approached me, and her face in front of my own was the first sign I had of her arrival.

"You were taking so long I was worried about you, and now I've found you here like this. You've been acting so strangely Rose. Won't you tell me what's troubling you?"

I got to my feet abruptly, brushing myself off.

"I'm fine, I simply didn't expect how tired I was before I volunteered to fetch the water that's all," I said, but with an annoyed grimace she rejected my excuse.

"It's Jooheon isn't it? Did you two argue again? He's been brooding since this morning too," she said.

My heart lurched at the mention of his name but I refused to acknowledge whether she was right or not.

Still, it was obvious that she didn't need me to agree with her to know that what she'd said was right.

"I know it isn't my place to speak aloud that which has been confided in me, and I know Jooheon will be very angry with me if he learns that I have- but I can't let him go on like this," she sighed, exasperated.

 "He probably fought with you so that you'll leave this place."

"Well that was obvious when he asked me to get out. It is no secret that he no longer wishes me to remain here anymore, and by hoping I could I've only made a fool of myself. He's made it clear that I don't belong here and I never will," I said, bitterness staining my voice.

 Talia placed a hand on my shoulder as if she knew exactly what I must be feeling though I doubted she could.

"Do you really believe that's the true reason? That he wants you to go because he dislikes you so?" she asked, and I shrugged my answer.

I wasn't sure what else he could have meant by such words since they seemed pretty straightforward to me.

"If you honestly think that he would say those things and mean them then I've misjudged you Rose," she chastised, catching me by surprise.

Picking up the bucket of water she beckoned me to follow her, and so curious was I at her implication that I couldn't help but follow.

Instead of leading me back home we went to the pasture. The sheep were grazing in the pale light of the night. The moon was barely a sliver anymore, like it was as disheartened as I felt, and in the darkness it took me a while before I realized what it was my friend had been trying to show me.

I didn't see him at first, but as my eyes adjusted to the lack of light away from the village I saw the lone silver figure as he stared up at the stars above.

Though I wasn't nearly close enough to get a good look at him, his demeanor was only a shadow of the proud beast I'd come to know.

 He was slumped over, and looked at the sky like he felt utterly defeated. I couldn't help but ponder the fact that perhaps he was feeling as horrible as I was about the things that were said earlier, though he had a number of other worries at present as well I supposed he could have been brooding over.

We watched him in silence for a time, and though he didn't move I began to understand what Talia had intended by bringing me here.

Yet, unable to look any longer I turned away. Talia chased after me back towards her home and didn't speak until we'd returned. Her eyes were narrowed and regarded me with more frustration than I'd expected.

"Since you came here you've changed Jooheon more than I could ever have hoped for him. He's always been alone, suffering in silence. But with you he's been genuinely happy! I thought you were smart enough to understand him better than this, and if you can't then you don't deserve him! It's unfair that you should mope when he's far worse off than you are!"

I was rendered speechless at Talia's protestation, my hand had unconsciously risen to cover my mouth in my shock. I'd thought that Talia would support Jooheon in such a thing, but her words were not what I expected.

"I'm sorry," I answered simply, knowing not what else to say to her.

 She was obviously upset for the one she considered her brother, so of course she would support him.

But I was forced to wonder just how much she thought she knew about the situation. I decided to approach the subject gently.

"Tell me Talia, do you love anyone?" I asked, to which she turned a deep, red color before murmuring an unconvincing denial.

"Well if that person told you that they were unable to accept your feelings, how would you respond? Would you not give up?"

Her big eyes grew even larger and she quickly grasped my shoulders, almost as if she couldn't believe what she'd heard.

"He finally told you he loved you then? And you rejected him? Oh poor Jooheon," she said, tears actually running down her face, but it was my turn to act surprised.

"Certainly not! I was the one who was rejected!" I cried out. My friend had no response to that argument, and practically fell onto the chair in her sitting room.

"You really told him that?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes, and I was told that he cannot and will not accept my feelings. Those were his very words. So please, tell me again why I haven't the right to be upset," I asked, the tears I'd tried since this morning to conceal had begun to drip down my face again.

Wiping them away, maddened by their presence, I slumped into the chair next to her.

"I didn't realize. I thought it was you who'd turned him down and now you felt guilty for staying here. I'm so sorry," she whispered.

 In that moment I finally understood what she must have thought of me, that I was cruel