Mr and Mrs Kim came home to see So Eun watching television alone in the living room.

Mrs Kim raised her brows when she heard the familiar pacing of footsteps from upstairs. What the hell had happened when they were gone?

"So Eun, did anything funny happen while your Appa and I were out?" She asked, Daehyun's heavy steps resonating in the background.

So Eun tapped her chin. "Define funny." She scratched her head. "Well firstly, Daehyun wanted to go for a walk so I went with him and brought him to a toy store."

"A toy store?" Mr Kim repeated, puzzled.

So Eun laughed at the memory. "Yes a toy store. You cannot believe how Daehyun changed when he went in. He was like a child in heaven and he darted about the place, playing and exploring. He raced cars with this little boy for half an hour straight and even bought that two bags of toys." She pointed.

"Really?" Mr Kim looked through the bag. "Oh toy trucks! Man, I always wanted one of these when I was young." He started fiddling with the stuff Daehyun bought.

So Eun shook her head in amusement at her father and Mrs Kim nodded at So Eun to urge her to continue. "So after the toy store, I told Daehyun we should buy something back for lunch. What I had in mind was instant curry, instant noodles, instant rice cakes..."

"So Eun..." Mrs Kim frowned at her examples.

"They're easy to manage!" So Eun protested. "Anyway I wanted those but Daehyun didn't. He bought vegetables and meat and cooked kimchi stew and spicy stir fried chicken. There's some left on the table."

Mrs Kim turned and she saw her husband already slurping the remaining soup. "Wow So Eun, where did you buy this from? It's good."

"Oh Il Hyun!" Mrs Kim shook her head in disapproval. She turned to So Eun for her to continue.

"So after he finished cooking, he was still in a pretty good mood. I think it was the toy store." So Eun laughed lightly. "Even when he cut his finger slightly, he didn't seem to be out of the ordinary Daehyun. Just grumpy as usual." She recalled.

"But when I started praising his food, he suddenly became like this." So Eun pointed upstairs. "I don't know what happened to him, umma. He suddenly became guarded and tensed and he went upstairs, pacing around till now. I tried dragging him down to watch tv with me but he wouldn't budge." She sulked.

Mrs Kim frowned. "What were your exact words, so Eun?"

"Uhm..." So Eun tapped her chin. "Have I told you how much I love you? You cook even better than-"

"Oh So Eun." Mrs Kim shook her head. "You shouldn't have said that."

"Said what?" So Eun looked puzzled.

"Love." Mrs Kim to her wisely. "It's a sensitive topic I guess, for someone like Daehyun. We don't know what kind of life he has been living before he came here so he might not have experienced love much. And you, really. Love is a sacred feeling, you shouldn't just throw words so casually around." She shook her head. *And maybe perhaps he was shy.* she inwardly thought. *After all, a girl he liked jokingly said she loved him.*

"I didn't mean it literally." So Eun exclaimed exasperatedly. "It was an expression! And I do love him alright!"

Mrs Kim's eyes widened hopefully.

"I mean, like how I love you and Appa and the rest of the BAP boys." So Eun quickly amended.

Mrs Kim made a face. "Just give him some time I guess. He'll come round."

So Eun nodded and gazed up. Was Daehyun really bothered because she said she loved him? But why?

-----

During dinner, Daehyun ate a lot because he missed lunch. Because of all the pacing he was doing for the entire afternoon, he was also pretty tired after that and he fell asleep when it was only 8:30pm that evening.

He slipped into dreamland where all his wishes were fulfilled and worried were discarded.

~~~

"Daehyun! There you are!" So Eun smiled and waved, running towards him with a bright smile.

Daehyun blinked in surprise as So Eun threw her hands around him and hugged him tightly. "I missed you." She took a deep breath as she buried her face in his chest.

Daehyun swallowed, trying not to hug her back. "What are you doing, Kim So Eun?" He said in a strained voice. "We're not that familiar to be hugging each other-"

"Oh Daehyun." So Eun laughed. "What are you talking about? Familiar? Of course we're familiar! We're dating!"

Daehyun's eyes widened. "Dating?"

So Eun took his hand and swung their hands as they walked. "Yeah. We've been dating properly since my eighteenth birthday remember? You almost brought up the topic of marriage to my parents and I almost died of shock-"

"Eighteenth?" Daehyun stopped and stared at her. "You mean your eighteenth birthday passed?"

So Eun laughed and smiled at him. "Yeah! Don't you remember? You managed to save me this time, Daehyun. We can be together for the rest of our lives." She hugged his arm.

Daehyun's heart skipped a beat. "You're telling the truth?" He whispered.

So Eun nodded with a small smile. Daehyun tugged on her arm and embraced her tightly, burying his face in her hair. "You're serious. We're saved for this life? You need not die again before eighteen next time?" He held her tightly. "I can't believe it, it finally came true."

So Eun nodded and hugged him back. "Yes. Yes it did."

~~~~

So Eun grinned as she crept into Daehyun's room. Who knew he slept so early? Hehe.

She tip toed over to Daehyun's bed and smiled at his sleeping form. He really looked pretty cute when he was sleeping like this.

Daehyun was hugging his pillow so tightly that if the pillow had been a person, that person would have suffocated.

Daehyun buried his face in the pillow and murmured under his breath. "I love you.."

So Eun raised her brows. Just what was he dreaming about?

She leaned closer and poked his arm. "What are you dreaming of, Daehyun?"

"I'll never let you go." Daehyun hugged the pillow and tossed and turned. So Eun cracked a small smile. "I really really wonder what you're dreaming of."

So Eun pried one of his hands away from the pillow he was hugging and eyes the band aid on his finger. "I knew it. You didn't change." She murmured.

She got out a new band aid she brought from her pocket and slowly tried to tear the used band aid from his finger.

Daehyun tossed once on his bed and So Eun froze, her heart thudding hard. What would he think if he saw her here, really.

Daehyun stopped moving again and So Eun sighed in relief. She tore off the entire band aid and was about to put on another one when she frowned at his perfectly fine finger.

Smooth. Scarless. Woundless.

The cut was only a few hours ago, it couldn't have disappeared.

So Eun looked through his every finger and even from his other hand, but all of them were perfectly fine. She scratched her head, puzzled.

What was happening? She saw the blood, no doubt.

She remembered when Daehyun just arrived and he saved her from the falling plates, he also suffered a bruise and it disappeared.

Her stomach gave a lurch and she shook it off. "Just what are you thinking about, Kim So Eun?" She whispered.

So Eun stood up to go, trying to clear her mind of all her weird suspicious thoughts when she accidentally bumped against Daehyun's bed.

She froze and stared at him as he stirred and she wondered how she was supposed to explain her presence in his room.

Daehyun slowly opened his eyes and squinted up at her in the softest and most tender expression she had ever seen him wear. "So Eun?"

"Daehyun." So Eun swallowed. "I can explain why I'm in your room, really. I was just predicting how you wouldn't have bothered to change your band aid so I came up with one and wanted to help you change while you were sleeping but then I didn't see any wound and I swear I'm just about to go but-"

"I couldn't catch a thing." Daehyun sat up on his bed, rubbing his temples. He still seemed unfocused and a little too gentle and nice to be the Daehyun she knew.

"Just Uhm, you know, sorry for barging into your room." So Eun blabbered on, flustered. "I didn't mean to invade your privacy or anything-"

"Privacy?" Daehyun chuckled. "You were the one talking about us being familiar."

"Familiar?" So Eun looked at him. "I didn't say anything like that before this. You were sleeping remember?"

Daehyun stared at her for a few moments before his face fell. , it was just a dream.

"Oh." He cleared his throat. "I mixed up." He frowned at her. "Then what were you doing in my room again?"

So Eun swallowed. "Didn't you hear? I said I wanted to help fix your wound and well I..." She stared at his flawless thumb again. She didn't imagine the blood just now did she?

Daehyun raked his fingers through his hair. "If you're done creeping up on people, you may go and not bother me reading my book." He took out a book and reached out to on his bedside lamp.

He was still too unfocused from trying to differentiate from his dream and reality and he didn't see were he put his finger. He stabbed his finger into a lose wiring and it probed deep into his flesh.

"." Daehyun retracted it, hissing.

So Eun gasped and she quickly the light. "Quick, let me see."

Daehyun shook his head and his his finger away from her. No way. No way in hell.

Small cuts were okay because they healed slow. The bigger the cuts, the faster they healed.

Daehyun could already feel his blood stop flowing and drying on his hand. He had tried stabbing himself in the heart ages ago and watched the wound close in front of his eyes.

"Daehyun, you've got to let me see. The metal wiring might be rusty." So Eun urged, frowning.

"No. It's okay." Daehyun denied. "Go out. I need time to myself."

"To what? Stop your bleeding with the blanket?" So Eun pulled at his arm. "Apply some medication to stop infection and..." She faltered when she saw his hand.

The cut which was pretty deep initially had already healed halfway, the blood running back into his skin. The cut was closing at a visible rate, the skin patching and healing to its initial flawless state.

So Eun gasped and dropped his arm.

Daehyun paled and snapped his gaze to her. "Wait So Eun-"

"AHHHHHHH!!!!" So Eun squeezed her eyes shut and clamped her hands to her ears.

She ran out of the room without a backward glance and ran into her room, slamming the door and locking it with a click.

Daehyun leaned against his door frame, staring at his wound which was still closing and closed his eyes.

"."