“It’s beautiful, but no, I don’t recognize this one either.”

   Kibum sighs in frustration and tosses the painting on the growing pile of similar scenes. After they’d brought me the objects yesterday, they’d moved on to pictures today but it was proving to be just as fruitless.

“Maybe if you told me what I was looking for or need to remember, I could do it faster,” I offer, readjusting my legs so they don’t go numb. I can feel the beginnings of a headache lurking.

“We can’t. It’s something you have to do on your own,” he answers, holding out yet another for me to take.

“But I can’t,” I reply in an annoyed tone, pushing the paper away like a petulant child and not caring if I sound like a brat. “Come on, we’ve been at this for hours. I obviously can’t do whatever it is you want me to so can’t you just let me go? I have so many better things than be stuck in this dream.”

“You know we can’t do that.”

“No, actually I don’t,” I retort, rubbing the web of skin between my thumb and pointer finger in an attempt to stave off the headache.

“Hyung, I think we need to let her take a break,” Minho says from the doorway where he’s been quietly watching. “Maybe it will help.”

“All right, all right....Do you need me to get Yixing?” Kibum asks me.

“What?” I ask distractedly.

“You keep doing that,” he says, pointing. “You do that whenever your head hurts.”

“Okay....that is really freaky you know that when you’ve only known me one day- excuse me three,” I say, staring at him.

“It’s been longer than that, Haeyoung.”

My pulse jumps. “What’d you call me?”

“Nothing,” Kibum shrugs, standing and walking to the door.

“That wasn’t nothing,” I call after him, but he ignores me. Looking at Minho, I ask, “Is he always like this?”

“He gets prickly when he’s worried,” Minho replies. “Don’t worry about what he called you; it’s nothing bad.”

“Then what is it?”

He hesitates. “It’s the name of someone we knew a long time ago, a human.”

“What happened to her?”

“She died.”

“Oh...Minho, could we open the window again?” I ask, glancing at the shutters hopefully. “I promise I won’t jump out or something. I’d probably end up doing a face plant on my floor if I did.”

“Of course.” With a wave of his hand, the bolt unlocks and the wood swings back, revealing the glimpse into the sea again.

Standing up, I go to lean against the windowsill, wistfully watching the fish and unconsciously starting to play with the necklace I still wear.

“Is there anything else I can get you?” Minho asks, coming to stand beside me.

“Can you get me home?” I lightly tease. When he opens his mouth, I hold up a hand. “Don’t answer that. I already know the answer... What about one of the books Jonghyun had? Could I have one of those?”

“I’ll go ask,” he says. “You’ll be all right if I leave you alone?”

I nod. “I won’t leave the room, I promise.”

“I’ll be back soon.”

    When he leaves, I let my arms fold and rest my head on top of them as I look outside, wondering at how my imagination is growing. As my fingers absently caress the jade on my neck, my eyelids start drooping until I almost smack my head on the windowsill.

“Who thought I’d sleep this much while I’m sleeping? Guess I need to stop staying up so late,” I yawn, stumbling over to the bed and falling onto it. Curling into a ball, I yawn again and close my eyes, promising myself it’s just a catnap.

A loud thump startles away the sleepiness and makes me bolt up.

    The person that caused the noise has his back turned to me, peeking out the window from behind the tapestry. With a low rumble of a chuckle, the tall man turns to lean against the wall, jumping when he notices me.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize this was someone’s room. I’m playing hide and seek with-” His mild surprise quickly turns to shock, both burned away by a gigantic smile. “Chingu!”

“Chingu?” I repeat, but that’s all I manage to get out as the giant swiftly crosses the room and sweeps me up into his arms, spinning me around.

With a joyful bubble of laughter, he holds me away to look at my face before crushing me to his chest again and cuddling me. “It really is you! I can’t believe you’re back!”

“Chanyeol, what’re you doing?” another deep voice asks from the window.

“Yifan hyung! Look, she’s back!” He turns me around, holding me out by my arms as if I were a kitten he was showing off.

    The young man jumps down from the window ledge and stands, revealing him to be as tall as the one holding me. Flipping glittering gold hair from his face, his intense eyes widen too as he looks at me closer.

I look back at him, too confused at what’s happening to protest.

A sudden rush of warmth floods his eyes as he smiles, taking me surprise. “So she is. You’re also probably hurting her by holding her that way.”
Chanyeol immediately sets me down and looks at my face worriedly. “Did I hurt you? I’m so sorry. I forget my own strength sometimes. But you’re okay, right? Right?”

“I’m fine,” I tell him, feeling strangely relieved when his childish smile returns.

“That’s good,” he laughs. “I don’t have to worry about Jinki hyung hunting me down then. Remember that time I scared Taemin when he was giving you rides around the field and you fell off? Me and Taemin both thought we’d be dead. But why’d it take so long for you to wake up? Hyung’s been miserable without you.”

“Humans can’t control their reincarnation,” Yifan reminds him. Glancing down at me, he adds, “It is strange though that it took so long for them to find you.”

“Find her? Who was looking for her?”

“His Majesty’s been searching for her for ages, ever since he realized Jinki hyung couldn’t forget her. Everyone but Jinki hyung knows that.”

“Really? That means he’s accepted her!” Chanyeol’s smile gets wider. “Does that mean you get to stay here this time and marry hyung and live happily ever after? Is that why I haven’t seen him for a few days? Why didn’t they tell anyone? Do I get to be an uncle?”

“M-marry?” I stutter, my mind stuck on that single, seemingly innocent word.

“Like you wanted to last time, but-”

Someone curses under their breath. “What’re you two doing in here?”

“Minho hyung!” Chanyeol shouts, rushing over to hug him. “You knew about this too and didn’t tell us? That’s not fair, keeping Haeyoung away! Is Jinki hyung with you?”

“No, he’s not, but you two shouldn’t be in here.”

“And why’s that?” Yifan asks, raising an eyebrow.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Kibum groans as he comes in the room as well, Yixing trailing after. “Who let these idiots in?”

“You both knew too?” Chanyeol pouts, letting go of Minho to cling to me again.

“I’m sure they have their reasons,” Yifan tells him, looking between Minho and Kibum. “And I look forward to hearing them.”

“You can ask your questions after I take care of Lilly,” Yixing says, coming forward and trying to take me from Chanyeol.

“Who’s Lilly?” he asks, tightening his grip. “This is Haeyoung.”

“We’ll explain in a minute. Lilly, look at me.”

    Grasping onto his reasonable voice, I do as he says and quickly find my earlier sleepiness swamping my body. I slip easily into the dark, glad to be leaving the chaos of unknowns behind.

    When I wake up again, they’re all gone again and I’m headache free. With a grateful sigh, I roll to my other side and almost bump my head against a small bowl lying on top of the blankets. Sitting up, I peek under the light cloth before pulling it off and revealing a juicy looking peach, its fiery skin almost glowing.

“Taemin,” I smile, remembering how I’d told him it was one of my favorite fruits. I’ll have to thank him if I see him again.

     my lips in anticipation, I pick it up, pleasantly surprised to find it as warm as if it’d just been picked from a summer orchard. I bite into it, delighting in the ticklish feeling as the delicious juice trickles down my throat.

“Noona?”

I smile, turning towards the door.

“Where’d you get that?” Kibum asks, eyeing the peach.

“Taemin gave it to me. Thank you so much, Taemin. It’s amazing!” I take another bite and giggle as I wipe away some juice that spilled down my chin.

“When’d you give her a peach?” Minho asks, giving Taemin a confused look.

“I didn’t,” he answers, looking just as confused. “I’ve been playing with the seals all day.”

“Really?” I ask, shrugging. “That’s weird. It was sitting on the bed when I woke up.”

“Let me see that.” Kibum takes it from my hand and sniffs it, some of the juice. He looks back and forth between me and the peach with an expressionless face. “He wouldn’t....”

“Is that what I think it is?” Minho asks, comprehension slowly dawning across his face.

I cough, gesturing to myself and Taemin, who looks as bewildered as I feel about all the fuss over a peach. “Want to include us in the loop here?”

“You’ve just eaten one of the Peaches of Immortality from the Queen of Heaven’s garden,” Kibum says softly.

“Doesn’t sound bad to me,” I shrug. “It’s pretty tasty.”

“You don’t understand. If a mortal eats one of these, they can never leave our realm again. The instant their foot touches the earth, they die...He must’ve changed his mind.”

My stomach twists. “That’s not funny.”

The three of them just look at me with pitying eyes, making me sicker. All of us jump when someone knocks on the door.