A/N: Hello, guys~! I'm sorry for updating too late. Thanks for waiting, too ^^ I got sick and I'm busy suing a hospital so yeah..hehe..anyway, I'm fine now so I've updated..enjoy reading~!

-Chan Yeol’s POV-

“Chan Yeol,” she called, sounding far away yet I knew she was standing right behind me. Though it was like that, she sounded cheerful and carefree. Once more, she called my name, willing me to look at her, but I refused to, feeling my heart shatter over and over again at the sound of her voice, the look on her face, those gleaming green eyes that danced with mirth when she smiled. I didn’t want to see it all. There was no way I was going to witness it, feel gladness when in the end, it would be gone, out of reach, forever.

I stood stock still, looking at the tips of my shoes, maintaining my stance even as I felt like falling apart. I was frightened. I would never be able to see her again after the prophecy was fulfilled and it just gets closer to that as we all took our steps to retrieve the matters we would need to obtain the greater power of what we would inherit from Elyxo itself. We were another step closer as we sent the Water Noble off to his journey. The image of Suho hyung transforming into his water form was a bad omen for me. As he disappeared, I wanted to do nothing but stop him, make him stay. I wasn’t only worried about his welfare, but his success, which was sure, would mean we would have to move on until all else is done. Who would have known that fulfilling the prophecy would be this agonizing?

I didn’t want to see her for certain reasons. First, the idea of her leaving us was still unacceptable to me. I didn’t know why it was only me, but the others seemed to have accepted that fact. Even Baekhyun hyung, the one she was closest to, didn’t seem to have a hard time acknowledging the it despite of his initial reaction to it. I saw the loneliness in him, reflected in my own eyes when Shinhye told him about it. Sehun was the one who broke to us what her reasons were behind her decision to leave. We’ve known for a fact that she didn’t like it in Elyxo from the beginning, but after she started warming up to us, the idea seemed farfetched.

Lastly, I didn’t know what she was sounding so happy about at the moment when I just saw her moping upon Suho hyung’s departure. While he was still there, she was maintaining a smile and he mentioned something about a pact they made together and she just nodded. She tried her best to smile, exhaling loudly when hyung was gone. All the mirth in her eyes was gone and she decided she wanted to be alone. From time to time, she would look at all of us as if she would like to say something, but then, she would leave matters unsaid. She doesn’t even try to talk to me anymore and I didn’t know what scared me more.

I heard her carefree laughter. “Are you just going to ignore me?” she asked.

That was exactly what had been happening for the past weeks since Baekhyun hyung left for Lumus. What was wrong with me anyway, dragging her down? I knew how terrible she felt about it, how deathlessness was a curse to her instead of a blessing. Anybody who didn’t know what it entailed would be jumping for joy, but she wasn’t. The burden was on her to see us all expire before her eyes. She’d love, but with the fear that it wasn’t going to last for as long as she would. It pains me to know what her existence would become.

“Park Chan Yeol, look at me,” she implored, all the happiness gone from her tone. I heard her cry until it turned into violent sobs.

“No, Shinhye…” I whispered. “Please don’t cry and understand that it would only cause more pain. Bear with me. I don’t want to see you go.”

“You’re selfish!” she hissed.

I flinched at the aggression in her. “So are you,” I said, torn between smiling and hurting.

She continued to cry until I couldn’t take anymore. Finally, I turned around to face her, but as I did, she turned her back on me.

“Shinhye, please don’t cry anymore. Look at me.” It was my turn to beg. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

She suddenly laughed. “No, Chan Yeol. I’m done begging. I’m leaving.”

“No,” I said in a breathy whisper, sounding far away even to myself.

“But I am. Goodbye.”

Just like that, she vanished and my eyes flew open at that same instant. Instead of her retreating back, I was staring at the ceiling. I shifted my position and realized that I was lying on the divan in the water salon. I looked around me. It was still bright out. It must be early afternoon. I blinked slowly. It was a dream. I forced myself up and felt something hard in my left hand. I raised it and opened my hand and I saw the small trinket Shinhye gave me. Sephiroth, she called it. It was an image of a male with long, platinum hair, green eyes and strange black garb. I wondered what he was as I stared at it.

“You still have it,” someone suddenly spoke from my side and there was no mistaking that voice.

Though I was reluctant to, I looked up and saw Shinhye standing a few paces from where I was, dressed in the traditional clothes of Hydrians, her long hair which was usually tied up, flowing down her back and shoulders like a dark, silk curtain, held back with ornate pins from her face. I didn’t speak and just glanced at the item on my hand.

She took a step closer. “I was afraid you’ve thrown it away,” she said and when I looked at her again, she was awkwardly toying with her fingers, looking down at them.

I stood up and motioned for the door when she suddenly spoke.

“Are you just going to ignore me?” she said, repeating the exact same words she said while I was dreaming, but unlike the tone she used there, she sounded sterner as if she was challenging me.

I stopped walking and just stood there. It was happening again.

I heard her footsteps drawing nearer. “Won’t you at least listen to what I have to say before you perpetually ostracize me from you?”

“I’ve heard enough.”

She chuckled. “Wow. You actually said something.”

I turned to look at her. “What do you want?”

She had that smug look on her face again. “Since you’re asking me, I’d say I want you to listen to me and stop acting like I’m some kind of pariah you don’t want to see or talk to. That’s actually insulting, you know.”

“What’s your point?”

“I was actually convinced that it’s my fault, but this is just annoying, you know. You’re being melodramatic with the entire ‘I don’t want to talk to Shinhye’ scheme. It’s not going to work…”

“Are you done?” I snapped.

She finally looked at me, a smile playing at the corners of her lips despite of her grieving eyes. “It also hurts when you do that,” she said gently.

I frowned. “I’m not even doing any –”

“That’s exactly what hurts.” She turned away. “I’d rather have you yelling at me all day, but ignoring me is just…I don’t even know how to explain it, but just know how I feel about it.”

I strode towards her, turning her to face me. “I know what your reasons are, but I don’t understand why you won’t let us help you,” I argued.

She looked away. “Don’t you?”

“Are you going to tell me?” I demanded.

“You already know why.”

I exhaled slowly. “Fine. I’m done talking here.” I turned around, but she pulled me back and the turn of events just startled me…in a good way.

Without warning, Shinhye took me by my forearm, pulling with force until I was facing her again. It all happened so abruptly, but when I finally got to my senses, I realized that her lips were pressed against mine while her hands held onto the sides of my face. I was hypnotized immediately, my senses turning into a murky puddle at her feet as my eye slowly drooped down, ready to take dominance, but as I was about to, she took a step back and parted from me.

I slowly blinked at her. “Did you just –”

She folded her arms across her chest, raising a brow at me. “Now you’re interested about what I have to say?”

“Well –”

She cut me off again. “Good. Now can we talk?”

I swallowed and nodded. I sat down and looked at her. “I’m listening.” I looked away, still unable to get the feel of her lips from my mind.

“I’d just like to ask you one question before I tell you,” she said.

“What is it?”

“Why do you want me to stay?” she demanded.

I shrugged. “Isn’t it evident?”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Would I be asking if it was?”

I smirked at her. “That’s for you to figure out then.”

She scoffed. “That’s fine with me, but if I do not find out about it until the prophecy is fulfilled, don’t blame me.”

“You’re smart. You’ll know,” I said. I trusted her on this one.

“Aside from the obvious reasons though?”

“Like I said, you’ll know.”

She looked frustrated already and raised her hands slightly in defeat. “Okay. Have it your way. I guess it’s not important anymore. I can’t promise to stay, do you understand?”

It made me feel bleak again. “I know. You told us even if you weren’t initially intending to.”

“I was to!” she retorted.

“Don’t patronize me, Shinhye.”

“So you’re mad at me again?”

“Again?” I chuckled. “Who says I’ve forgiven you?”

She waved me aside, my sarcasm not working its way through her. What in the world was I thinking anyway?