Hyesu was not strong, for a girl; in fact, she was rather frail. She shut her eyes in frustration as she gave up on trying to free herself, letting fate take over. Her father would get rid of the enemies and come to get her soon, either that, or she wouldn’t even want to live any longer.

Her legs parted and she was going to collapse to the ground when he caught her. She squeezed her eyes tight, dreading of what was coming. To her astonishment, she found herself easing off as gentle landed upon her cheek. How soft and familiar the touch felt, she felt so comfortable that she was reluctant to open her eyes.

Hyesu felt lighter, and lighter, as if she was floating in air. She forced her eyes open as she was starting to experience uneasiness, feeling imbalanced as if she would topple over anytime. Luckily, life wasn’t being cruel to her, Kris was the first thing-person she saw when she opened her eyes.

No, she regretted her thought as soon as she realized that Kris was standing on the edge of the window sill. Life was being cruel to her, she decided, there was nothing which terrified her more than heights.

Or there was - the fear of losing her parents. She managed to catch a glimpse of the goings-on in the turned-over room. The Queen was being held hostage and the King was desperately striving to save her – probably why he never noticed his only daughter was kidnapped, in a way.

Wanting to help her parents, Hyesu squirmed, until she remembered that Kris was going to commit suicide. Before she could voice her thoughts; her doubt was confirmed when he jumped off the window. Why did he have to bring me with him and deprive my right of possessing a life?

She was too perplexed to do anything, or to even scream. She was further bewildered when she found the both of them floating on thin air, lightly brushing pass the fluffy clouds. Obscured, helpless and mind-struck, Hyesu was unable to think straight as she stared at Kris agape for a good five minutes.

When she recovered from her daze state, the palace she used to call her home was nowhere to be seen.

“I want to save my parents!” She whined; Kris had no choice but to ignore her for the first time in his life. “Fly.Me.Back.Home.NOW.” Hyesu demanded; Kris who seemed stubborn, continued flying, away from where they escaped from.

As the both of them continued travelling across the sky, Hyesu kicked her legs in the air, whimpered and cried as she tentatively hit Kris, tentatively because she couldn’t bring herself to actually harm him.

“No.” The chaos stopped upon Kris’ firm tone; there was nothing Hyesu could do but to stare at him with her teary wide eyes in disbelief. After drawing in a deep breath, she lifted her chin in an aggressive manner, accusation and indignation showing in her eyes,

“Did you plan the sabotage?” Rhetorical and cold, Kris winced as the words pierced his soul.

“I’m sorry.” With a short reply, Kris precisely hit her point of acupuncture before she could further overreact. He tightened his grip on her as she fainted.

As the sun rose, the surrounding darkness faded; its place overtaken by radiance and hope. However, the rays of sunlight illuminated Kris’ moist lashes, pure misery exposing itself as he tried hard to keep his vision clear. Hyesu accused him of executing sabotage… He couldn’t imagine living with her loathing him, couldn’t imagine existing with her being unhappy, couldn’t imagining breathing unable to shield her from harm. 

Then a thought struck him - perhaps he wouldn’t even be here, yeah, he wouldn’t have to endure his fear – her hatred if he could give his life in return for her safe-being. A dejected smile formed on Kris’ face as he sped up higher, through the thin atmosphere surrounding Earth and into the surreal dimension with swiveling planets and stars…

The splashing of the waves on the shore and the chirpings of the birds made up a soothing melody, Hyesu rapidly blinked to adapt to the bright surroundings as she woke up. As the gentle breeze caressed her face, her blinking slowed and she started losing consciousness once again.

As a shadow was casted over her face, Hyesu’s eyes flew open. Kris was squatting by her side, considerately shielding the blinding sunlight. Her lips parted; nonetheless, before any word escaped , she pursed them up as memories from the dawn returned. Hyesu sat upright and curled up with her arms around her chest, connoting her refusal to talk to Kris.

Kris heaved a sigh hardly audible before stating, “We’re going to live on this planet named EXO Planet with eleven young men, not counting myself in.”

His gaze lingered on Hyesu’s features, worried that she would feel uneasy. Nevertheless, her facial expression remained composed as she pretended the plain beach caught her full attention.

They were on an island, or more like a planet which looked like a deserted island. Hyesu had never been away from her home which promised her safety, she felt jittery being in a place she was unfamiliar with; she felt even antsy about eleven strangers whom she would be staying with. Hyesu had always felt uncomfortable around men, except for her father and Kris, because her father was, well, her father; while Kris had been her only childhood companion for as long as she remembered. She was dying to talk to Kris – there was so much she wanted to ask, wanted to confide, she wasn’t exactly furious at him either; it was plainly her stubbornness that held her from forgiving him – though he did nothing wrong in the first place, to be exact.

How I wish for the dawn when the palace would be a hustle bustle and father and mother wouldn’t be free to play with me; at least they would be alive. Hyesu spent the next few hours staring into nothingness as her grief drained inwards; Kris still squatting a few inches away watching her…

 “Whoosh!” Out of the blue, a lot of figures landed on the sandy ground in one quick movement. A lot of figures, because Hyesu couldn’t tell how many there were. As she was halfway counting the figures, they converged into a small group and she lost count.

As the group of people approached her, she flittered backwards and hid behind Kris like a frightened child. Kris lightly chuckled towards her cute behavior before courteously bowing at their new companies.

With her hands gingerly tugging the back of Kris’ shirt, Hyesu tiptoed and cautiously stole a peek at the group. There must be eleven of them, according to what Kris said earlier, she concluded without bothering to count over. Most of them had delicate milky skin; she saw an awful lot of brunettes; the remaining two with original black hair and one honey blond whose appearance stood out the most amongst the youths…