I walked up the stairs and knocked on his door. He didn't answer obviously, so I opened it myself. He was at his table, writing. Probably the plans for the invasion. "Daehyun." I called. He didn't reply. "Daehyun." I called again. Still nothing. I sighed. I sat down on the empty chair beside him. "Can you tell me what happened downstairs? Why did you suddenly storm off?"

Of course he didn't answer and I was getting pissed. I hated the way he would ignore me. I didn't want him to go back to the old Daehyun. Pissed, I stood up. "Whatever," I said. "If you're not going to talk again, I'm through with trying. If you're hungry, I left your food in the fridge. Just warm it up again." I walked out the door and closed it. I walked downstairs and tried to find a scary movie Jiho might've left behind. I felt like watching a scary movie so my anger can subside and be forgotten with fear. I hated being angry. The feeling wasn't right. I can never hold a grudge on someone for a long time. That's why I was grateful to the aliens for making me feel happy, lifting my grudges and hate towards my bullies. I've always hated the feeling of frustration but I couldn't get rid of it. It was constantly running through my mind, except for the weekends where I can relax and be with my family. Thankfully, the aliens showed me that I wasn't a bad person and helped me lift off the grudges on my shoulders. I've never felt 10 times lighter.

As I was watching the scary movie, I couldn't really handle it anymore so I turned it to mute and hid my face in my pillow. I was too scared to even stand up and turn off the TV so I ended up sleeping on the couch with the TV on mute.

While I was dreaming, I had a nightmare.

I opened my eyes. Fire. There was fire everywhere. The houses, the trees, and the roads. A wildfire. Screams of people pierced through my ears. I smelt something burning. I turned around and my own house was on fire. Horrified, I stepped back but then I suddenly heard someone. Someone so familiar. "Zelo!"

He was screaming for me and it sounded like he was in pain! Without thinking, I flung open the door. The weak door broke right down next to my feet. Suddenly, a burst of flames flew out the door and I jumped back just in time. Frantically, I looked around for another entrance and saw an open window. I ran over to it and it was clear so I climbed inside and landed with a thud but it didn't hurt. I heard Zelo again. He was calling for me - no - he was crying out my name. I ran upstairs, dodging the flames and the pieces of debris falling from the ceiling. I called out his name and he responded. He was in my room. 

I kicked down the door. My heart shattered at the sight. Zelo was trapped under a part of the ceiling. He had blood flowing down his head, mixed with his salty tears. He cried my name again so I quickly got to him. "Zelo, don't worry, I'll get you out." I tried to lift the ceiling off him, but it was too heavy. Zelo...he was dying right in front of my eyes. He held my arm and shook his head, signalling that it was useless.

I cried, "No, I'm going to get you out!" He was going to die. He was going to... 

His eyes suddenly changed color. It changed from dark brown to bright blue. He smirked. I suddenly felt hands around my two arms, holding me down. I looked behind me and saw Youngjae and Jongup. Their eyes were also blue like Zelo's. "We have to help Zelo! He's hurt!" I tried to pull out of their grasp but they had a strong grip. Zelo suddenly lifted the piece of the ceiling off his body like it was nothing. "You..." Yongguk and Himchan suddenly appeared beside him. They had weapons. They each had a laser gun. Zelo then took out a blade. It was too big to be either a sword or knife. I heard him chuckle evilly. "Stupid girl. Did you forget who I am? I'm Unit 258, from planet Mato. It was your destiny to die, along with your planet." In a flash, his blade swung towards me.

I shot up, with tears and sweat mixed on my face. I was breathing heavily. I've never had a nightmare in a long time. It was probably because of the movies I watched. "Hye Mi, are you okay?"

I turned to my right. Daehyun was sitting in my bed, rubbing his eyes. He had bed hair and when I trailed down his body, his legs were under my blanket. I screamed and pulled the blanket closer to my body. "Why were you sleeping in my bed?" I screamed.

He plugged his ears. "Calm down, I didn't do anything. When I carried you to your room, you suddenly grabbed my hand and wouldn't let go so I had to sleep here." He explained. "Did you have a bad dream?" His eyebrows pinched together and he frowned. "You're...crying." He tried to wipe my tears but I suddenly flinched away. I didn't know why I did. He pulled his hand away. "Sorry."

I felt an awkward silence coming up so I tried to get rid of it. "Let's eat breakfast!" I said too cheerfully, that it sounded fake. "Uh...I'll go wash up first." I got off the bed, ran towards the bathroom and closed the door. I looked into the mirror and sighed. "It was just a dream." I repeated. "It was just a...nightmare."

After I had breakfast with Daehyun, I took out my present I made for him. It was a painted picture of him. I didn't know what else to make, so I sketched him while he was working on his plans and painted then it afterwards. Of course, I didn't paint in the table and paper. The way his eyebrows furrowed a bit and the little frown on his face, made it seem he was concentrating hard.

"Here," I gave him the canvas. Unlike yesterday, his face brightened. "It's... beautiful."

"Hey, don't get too cocky about yourself." I joked. He laughed, "You made me so handsome, how can I not be cocky?" I melted at his sweet words.

He put the canvas down on the floor, leaning on the wall. "Hey, do you know what my Christmas gift for you is?" he asked. I shook my head, not bothering to guess. "Your list." He said.

I tilted my head in confusion. "What list?"

"That winter list you made." He said. "I told you before that I was going to finish it by Christmas, didn't I? I finished it yesterday. We did the things that were remaining. We went skating, sledding and baked some cookies."

A wide smile appeared on my face. He actually remembered his promise. If he keeps making me smile like this, my mouth will rip off. "You're the best." I told him.

He just smiled and showed off his pearly whites. I was going to bring up yesterday but his smile made me forget about the situation last night.

At night, I opened the telescope box Jiho gave me and placed it near the window in my room. Daehyun came in with a plate of sliced fruits. "What's that?" he asked.

"It's a telescope that Jiho oppa got for me on Christmas." I answered. All Daehyun said was, "Oh."

I continued to set it up until he asked me, "What did that other guy give you?"

"Zico oppa? He gave me pink socks. They're really warm."

"I see. How long have you known him?" He asked me.

I stopped what I was doing to answer his question. "I met him two years ago actually. I met him the day you walked to my house in the snow."

"You've been meeting him ever since?"

"Actually, this is the second time I've met him. What's with all these questions?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Just wondering." I didn't think much of his answer so I turned back to the telescope which was almost ready.

"HyeMi?" I hummed in response. "Sorry...about what happened at dinner yesterday." I turned around and immediately saw his glum expression. "I didn't know why I suddenly did that. I was being immature. I was just..." I waited for him to continue. "...never mind." He changed his mind. "I'm just sorry."

I gave him an assuring smile. "Don't worry about it. I forgive you. I just thought something was wrong. I'm glad nothing happened." 

Daehyun stood up and walked over. He did what I least expected. He gave me a hug out of nowhere. "Daehyun..." 

"Let me stay like this." He interrupted. "You don't have to hug me back. You can if you want, I mean - just...let me hug you." I followed his orders. I stayed still while he hugged me. I don't know what he was trying to do, but it made me confused. My heart was beating fast. I don't know what the reason was. Was it because I wasn’t used to the new Daehyun? Was it because I didn't get over the fact that he was standing right in front of me when I thought I lost the aliens forever? Or was it because I like him? It was really confusing. 

He lightly chuckled and whispered, "Idiot." "What?" 

He let go. That safe feeling I had in his arms flew away.  "Are you really that innocent and obedient?" 

I blinked. I didn't understand what he meant. He chuckled again and patted my head. "It's okay. Don't think too much of it." I nodded in response. He asked me if he could help me with my telescope and I let him. While he was setting it up, I couldn't get rid of this feeling I had.

 It was like he was trying to give up something. By his expression and actions, it looked like he felt hurt and pained. Was he expecting me to do something? I sighed and held my head. All the confusion was hurting my head. I should listen to him and not think too much of it.

"Done!" he announced. We were done setting up the telescope. "Give it a try." Daehyun encouraged. I looked through the eyepiece with an excited smile on my face. The view was unbelievable. There were hundreds of stars out there. Some were bigger and some were shining brighter than others. "Wow... Daehyun, you should come see this." I moved aside so he could look through it. 

He bent down and closed one eye, looking through the eyepiece. "That's amazing..."

I giggled, "Isn't it?" He was still looking at the stars. "I wonder if we could really see the spaceships when the day comes." He wondered. I looked down in disappointment. I didn't want him to be stuck in that room any longer.

"Daehyun." I called. He looked up at me and hummed. "Stop planning." I said. "They are coming to earth in 6 months, not 6 days. You spend the whole day in that room. It's getting really annoying. Ever since you came back, I had so many plans for you and I to do but that room always got in the way. Please, stop planning. You can do it later. I wanted to go shopping with you tomorrow. How about that?" He didn't reply. "How about a movie? You've never been in a theater, right? It'll be fun!"

Again, Daehyun was silent. My hopes were rising; I thought he was thinking about it but then he suddenly said, "Sorry. I can't."

My face fell and my hopes shattered. He still wanted to plan, no matter what. He walked towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I stared at his hand. "Understand me, HyeMi. I'm sorry." With that, he left my room and closed the door.

How long is he going to keep this up? Don't you know you're hurting me, Daehyun? You're making it go back to the empty house it was before. Why can't it be the same as before you left?