-Jinhae’s POV-

We were leaving Orodia soon again. Still, I haven’t done anything to tell anyone else about my situation with Lu Han. I wasn’t as determined to tell them as I was dreaming of and I certainly do not want to tell Lay. I didn’t want to be the one to break the bad news to him. Well, it wasn’t really bad news, but it would be for him. I’m just so sorry that I would have to hurt him in the process, but what can I do when it was Lu Han my heart beats for? Yes, that’s how I felt despite of the pain he caused me. I felt that because I loved him and I yearned to be with him.

I was feeling guiltier as I watched him from where I was by the window. He was the only one who hadn’t joined us, insisting that he wanted to have a solitary walk by the tree line. I offered to come to him, but he said he wanted to be alone. It somehow made me wonder if Kris had told him or something. I had the hunch that he was avoiding me for some reason, but then again, Lay would be Lay – reserved and valued his privacy and solitude. Shinhye and Yi Xing could make a good pair as well.

I shrugged. There was that, too. I was worried about my sister and her status, caught between the most aggressive nobles of Korinthia, wind versus flame. I felt her pain when those two began fighting, well, mostly Chan Yeol. I didn’t experience seeing Sehun firsthand when Chan Yeol punched him on the face, but just the way Shinhye worried about the two of them was enough to tear at me as well. I didn’t want her to be going through something like that, because I knew how it affects her. I wouldn’t blame her if one day, she decides to just leave the two of them and settle for someone else. She loves them, too, and that always makes things complicated for the both of us. Shinhye may look like she doesn’t care and keep things inside. I was actually surprised when she said that to Sehun. I was just glad that Chan Yeol wasn’t ignoring her again like he did before.

I wanted to help Shinhye, but I had bigger problems, personally speaking. Lu Han wanted to tell Lay, too, but he thought it best if I did it. Of course, there was the possibility that Lay will not believe him or they may end up like Oh Sehun and Park Chan Yeol. I didn’t want that to happen, but the irony of it was that I needed to tell him soon or it would be chaotic in the end. Besides, even if I decide no to tell him, in the end, he will find out and that would be messy. I didn’t want him to expect anymore. I didn’t want to give him hope when there isn’t any. He’s very dear to me, but like Shinhye, I would have to choose as well. We must be the cursed twins to have to go through things like these.

“Jinhae, are you listening?” Tao asked, stealing me away from my reverie.

I wrenched my gaze away from Lay and looked at him, moving very slowly which made my inability to pay attention to most things lately more evident. Kris had been giving me strange looks as well, probably waiting for me to admit it to everyone.

“What were you saying?” I asked, admitting to it.

He pouted like he’d usually do when he was telling me about something and I wasn’t listening. “You weren’t listening again. That’s the third time today,” he complained.

I smiled ruefully at him. “Sorry, Tao. I’m just preoccupied.”

He shrugged. “You’ve been looking like it lately. Is that how you welcome someone who just came out of the sickbed?”

“I’m just thinking about something,” I said and I heard someone clear his throat loudly behind us. I didn’t have to turn around to know that it was Kris. I just rolled my eyes. Good thing no one noticed him. I glanced behind him and shot him a dirty look. Kris could be a good big brother most of the time, but sometimes, he could be very annoying.

“What are you thinking about anyway? I’d like to help,” Tao offered.

I just smiled awkwardly at him. “Well…”

“Yes?”

Before I could speak, Kris did. “Mei-mei, I think it’s time you told us the truth,” he said.

I turned around with a horrified look on my face. What the heck was he playing at? I literally gaped at him, but he still maintained that calm, brooding look about his face as if he was faultless. On the other hand, Lu Han jerked up from his seat, exchanging glances with me. Of course, that got the attention of the other two.

Though Chen wasn’t looking up from the scroll he was reading, he said, “I’m listening.”

“W-what are you talking about?” I stammered.

“You know well what I am saying, Jinhae, and I think it’s high time you told everyone else.”

“Wu Fan!” Lu Han chastised.

“What are you saying? Not everyone is here. Lay is missing,” I countered with a silly laugh.

“I’d be glad to snatch him off the ground if you’d wish me to do just that.”

“No!”

Chen finally set his scroll down. “What are we discussing about here?”

“Nothing!” Lu Han and I said in chorus.

Xiu Min arched a brow at us.

“So much for that, huh, Jinhae?” Kris taunted.

The eldest noble stood up. “Wait a minute. What’s going on?” He eyed me pointedly. “Jinhae, what is Kris saying?”

“Don’t listen to him,” I instructed.

Kris rolled his eyes. “I’m making it easier for you, Jinhae. Now’s your chance so spill.”

Really? What the hell was he trying to do? I glared at him. “I thought I explained matters to you.”

“You did, but I realized that it would be easier for you to do the easier task first before going through the hard one. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“This wasn’t how I planned it.”

“But you’ve got to admit that this is better.”

I just couldn’t win against this person, can I? “Fine. You win, but I want you all to promise to pretend to not know anything until I tell Lay.”

Chen looked at Lu Han then shifted his gaze to me. “I think I know what you’re going to tell us,” he said.

“What?” Tao asked. “What is it?”

I walked over to Lu Han. “I have decided…”

“What?” Xiu Min asked. “Decided about what?”

“I chose Lu Han! Sheesh!”

“Oh…”

Silence.

I shrugged and looked at Lu Han who gave my hand a light squeeze.

“Good for you, but what took you so long?” Tao asked.

I rolled my eyes at him. “You knew?”

Kris suddenly laughed. “Great actors, aren’t they?”

“What did you say?” I hissed.

“I didn’t have to tell them, you know.”

“WHAT?!”

“The two of you were just too obvious for words,” he said, leisurely leaning back on his seat.

Lu Han and I exchanged shocked glances. Still, he couldn’t speak.

“What the hell, Kris?”

“You’ve been skipping your classes with everyone except for Lu Han’s. Now what does that say?” Xiu Min said in between laughter, shaking his head.

Chen grinned cheekily at me.

I eyed Tao. “Not you, too.”

“That’s right,” he said to me. “They didn’t tell me until I just figured it out for myself.”

Kris burst into guffaws.

God! I’m going to kill this person. It didn’t matter if he was the Flight Noble or what. “You brat!” I yelled at him then walked out of the room. I gave them all a sweeping glare before I closed the door. What the hell was that Kris all about? He’s the worst gege in the world! I went to my room and gazed outside, looking for Lay’s familiar figure, but he was nowhere in sight.

-Lay’s POV-

I’ve heard it…every single word, each one slashing through my being and my heart. I have never dreamt of this day to come in such a way, but I have surmised that in whichever way it would, it was going to make me die a thousand times, suffer through the loss and ache over and over again until I couldn’t take anymore. It was like seeing all that I’ve lived for lost in just a snap of a finger. It was inevitable, but I knew I would have a hard time accepting it. I couldn’t really explain in words how I felt the moment I heard it, not in the way I have expected, but it hurt just the same. I couldn’t even move from my spot by the door, rooted on the floor with my eyes fixed on the wall across me. It got harder to breathe for some time, but then, I was able to fill my lungs with air once more, painful yet relieving gasps.

Still, it was as if I have been expecting it to happen for the past months. I guess I knew whom she would choose from the moment she admitted her admiration for Lu Han when we were still in the capital. I remembered that day clearly. It was the day I pledged my love for her to myself, it was the day she saw through me, saw what was amiss when everyone else would never see it or mistake it for something else. It was too early to say back then, but I saw how she moved around Lu Han, glowing and radiating with warmth. It was why I made my move before he did. I wanted to dissuade her from her feelings for him, but I guess I failed on that.

I vowed to make it a difficult task for Lu Han to reclaim her affection, but it all just came naturally. Even if I’ve monopolized her time, kept her away from him, it was of no use. I’ve never dared to fuel her ire for him before. That would be cruel of me. I let things ran their course while just providing obstacles for Lu Han. He knew well that he couldn’t come near Jinhae whenever I was around and he respected that space, but chances always brought them back together as if they were destined to be together from the beginning. Though she told me all about her loathing towards him when he returned to Orodia, I knew she had been saying the opposite. I just wished the prophecy had been more specific with which element would tame the gale that was the maiden. That way, I never would have dared to love her the way I did. I never would have fallen in love with her, but then again, I don’t regret anything.

Jinhae chose him. She didn’t choose me. It was plain and clear. That was how things would be. It would never change no matter what happens. I had my hopes up when I was the one she recognized in Elatus the moment she was trapped in time with Tao. I reveled on that, relished the moment when she looked into my eyes with a smile despite of her tears. I reveled upon the fact that I was the one who found her, rejoiced upon the fact that she existed. From the moment I first laid eyes on her, I have been the happiest person in Elyxo. Those emerald eyes gave me hope for a happy life, opposite to the lonely one I have been living. She gave me hope from the moment she placed her hand in mine and at the same time laid her trust on me which I bore with confidence.

I love Jinhae more than life itself. She could be the only one I would give that level of affection to aside from my mother. I have never been a believer of miracles and love, but she was the one who gave me the confidence to believe in whatever possibility I could conjure. She was the one who drove me to do what I had to for Hailesia and the whole of Elyxo. It wasn’t just me. I knew that. If it weren’t for her, maybe none of us would have progressed through fulfilling the prophecy. We wouldn’t have gotten to where we were and above all that, I wouldn’t have felt the happiness she had given me. Tao was right before. If anything, she had been a blessing to us and though her decisions in the end will affect us all tremendously, bad or good, she will remain to be. I’d always be around for her no matter what – that was my vow and that wouldn’t change.

The first time I met her, I thought she was the kind of person who anyone would be drawn to and want to do good things for, someone one would want to do anything for with just one word from . I felt that char