A/N - not much to say, but another slowish chapter >< Sorry guys, this is how my mind functions! 

Chapter 17 – Guiltily, I enjoy my peace

Mir POV

I couldn’t believe it! Me, the one and only Bang Cheolyang was getting to perform with Nana! I couldn’t believe it but I had pinched myself seven times already, so I was certain this was reality.

When I told Jihoonie-hyung my plan, he had sorted things immediately. All that was left was to get a song planned out. Which meant quality time with Nana!

I was jumping up and down. It was midnight and Seungho had already come in five times to tell me off, but I couldn’t help it!

“Go to sleep!” Seungho shouted from behind the wall. Both Joon and G.O were out, meeting family I think. Well at least I knew where G.O was. And Seungho. But not really Cheondoong. By now we all knew he had left, but not where he had gone to.

I toppled over and lay on the bedsheets. Eventually I drifted off, dreaming. I grinned. I was dreaming of me and Nana singing.

By far the best dream for a long while.

G.O POV

I was stood outside her room watching her through the thick, paneled glass. Her small chest rose and fell rhythmically, the small movement reassuring me immensely. I stood there thinking about the last few chaotic weeks and how much peace I could glean from just being here.

“Our whole family is messed up.” I admitted, leaning my forehead against cold glass. “I want to patch things up…but…I don’t know how…”

There was only silence.

I smiled. Not like I expected anything else.

Then an idea came to my mind, a song and a harmony. I smiled at her.

“You always were my inspiration.” I said softly and left.

Seungho POV

The day after Jihoonie-hyung had announced our plans for the next mini-album, Cheondoong had disappeared and I had gone to visit Dara.

“Do you know where he is?” Dara asked from where she lay in my lap, playing with the strings of my hoodie.

“He didn’t tell us.” I admitted as I twirled her now-brown hair and kissed it. “You know he wouldn’t.”

She frowned and closed her eyes. “What am I going to do about him?” she sighed.

“Forget about him for a while.” I begged. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about Cheondoong, of course I did. But it was more that it was wearing Dara out and I wanted her to be happy. “Please.” I whispered and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

She giggled and leaned her head backwards to kiss me properly. Then she twisted like an eel in my lap and purred provocatively. “Distract me?” she whispered.

I shivered and my lips, then captured her lips in mine. She nibbled by lower lip and I moaned at the sensation. In turn I hers and she arched herself closer to me. I ran my fingers along her hair, pulling her closer and closer.

She purred again and ripped off my shirt. Then, running her fingers along my stomach, she pressed a string of kisses right over my belly button. I groaned at the nips she gave and the areas she . And then, I could resist it anymore.

I tugged off her shirt and her jeans, leaving her exposed but beautiful in her underwear. She leaned down and delicately ped my pants. I gave over to my dark cravings.

The rest you could say, is history.

Joon POV

I sat outside in the dark on some random bench. People passed me by without a second glance and I didn’t mind that. I was here for the stars and the silence. I was out here to clear his mind, to get rid of those hateful thoughts and that dark, shadowy figure.

“Is it that fun to be alone?” came a sudden voice from behind him, evidently female but soft and smoky as well.

I turned around. “I guess you could say everyone else was a little busy.” I blinked as I tried to get a better look at the girl who stood half in the shadows.

She took a step forward so that I could finally see her under the streetlight. She was breath-takingly beautiful and amazingly familiar.

“You-“ I choked out. But she stepped forwards and shyly sat down.

“Why?” I asked. “Why not him?”

She smiled at me coyly. “Why does it have to be him?"

Cheondoong POV

I stepped out of the taxi and my felt the crunch of gravel beneath my feet. All around me was blue skies and rolling mountains. The countryside felt like a brilliant change of pace and even the air tasted cleaner.

“Sanghyun!” came a cheerful voice as someone flew into my arms. I laughed, feeling soft black hair bury into my chest and I let go of my suitcase to hug her tightly. “You came!”

“Of course.” I chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “I promised didn’t I?”

She grinned up at me and then grabbed my suitcase. I protested, but she dragged the suitcase into the house and I followed her with a giddy smile on my face.

The inside of the cabin she had rented was warm and well-furnished with plush chairs and a rug underneath. Whilst the weather had only turned slightly chillier, there was no need for winter-gear yet and I expected there would be plenty of outdoor times to share.

“So your room is there.” Ji-eun pointed to the left. “And mine is opposite.”

I smiled as I began to imagine what fun this month was going to be.

Ji-eun POV

Over the last two weeks, we had been doing nothing but singing and dancing around the mountain village. It was a beautiful and quiet place, filled mostly with people who didn’t know either of us.

We changed locations from time to time from whether it was a picnic blanket by the bridge or a bench in the backyard greeneries. Sometimes it was just the two of us singing with my guitar that Cheondoong learned to play properly and sometimes it was him teaching me how to dance which often ended with me falling over.

“No Ji-eun!” Sanghyun corrected me again with a laugh. “You’ve got to turn more smoothly.”

Gritting my teeth, I twisted too violently and suddenly fell over. But strong hands quickly caught me and Sanghyun’s face was suddenly right in front of mine. We both stared at each other and then fell over laughing on the floor.

I leaned in close to his shoulder, giggling hard.

“What was that!?” Sanghyun complained whilst laughing. “There was some sort of crane dance in your movements.” He stood up and mimicked my flapping hands and awkward leg positions.

I swatted his leg from where I lay sprawled on the ground. “I wasn’t that bad!” I retorted at his exaggerated movements.

He bent over with laughter. “No, you were worse!” he joked. Then he fell down next to me so that both of us were laughing on the wooden floor of the gazebo again. We leaned back to back and I could feel the reverberations of his laughter vibrate through me.

“Lunch time!” Sanghyun declared when we had both stopped laughing. Now it was my turn to make fun of him. I remembered how hopeless he was at cooking back in the kitchen this morning. His cooking repertoire was ridiculously lacking! Basically it just consisted of ramen, ramen and uh…prawn ramen?

“Here!” I had instructed him firmly. “You put the rock sugars in first, then you put in the garlic and then the oil and lastly the other ingredients!” Then i turned around to see him about to drop a slab of meat into the pot and whacked him with the ladle in my hand before the incrimiating evidence could enter. "Oi!"

“Huh?” he gave me a confused expression. “But I’m pretty sure it’d be better if we just have meat.”

I groaned. Trust this boy to think only of meat.

And now he was opening the tin with our stew in and pulled out packets of fresh bread. “I’m pretty sure it tastes so good because I made it!” he declared proudly.

I flicked one stew covered spoon at him. “You wish!” I said indignantly and then burst out laughing as bits of the stew flecked him cheek. “Sorry!” I giggled as I wiped away the stew. Only then did I realize how close I was leaning to his face when he did not respond.

“Oppa?” I whispered feeling his breath tickle my nose. But he just leaned closer and closer until our noses touched and his lips were just a baby’s breath away from mine.

“Ji-eun…” he whispered back to me. “You know…only around you…do I feel this…peaceful?”

I giggled. “Why do you sound so unsure?” I . “If you like me then say it firmly!”

Sanghyun’s eyes widened at my sudden demand. “Because,” I told him. “I like you!” And then, as if to prove my confession I leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips.

I drew back even though I wanted to linger in that kiss for a while longer, but I wasn’t sure how Sanghyun would take the kiss. I shouldn’t have worried because the second I pulled back ever so slightly, his hand sneaked around the back of my head and tugged me forwards so that our lips touched again.

This time, he controlled the kiss. It was more passionate, more like two people dancing in sync with one another than just touching and pushing away. It was his mouth enveloping mine and his arms enfolding me. He was warm like living coal, heating me up from the inside. I leaned forwards more, eager to get closer and closer despite the fact we were already touching and suddenly we toppled over.

Sanghyun fell over, sprawled on the picnic blanket with me on top of him. I stared at him for a second and then we both cracked up laughing again. He put his hand on my back and held me close. I snuggled into his warmth, the chilly air not bothering me one bit.

Then Sanghyun spoke. “I guess,” he said. “We should finish the stew I made before it gets cold.”

“You made?” I raised an eyebrow.

He grinned at me wickedly with eyes that made me want to kiss him some more. “Of course!" 

I swatted him and then kissed his cheek. I could get used to this life.