Natalie’s POV:

It was cold and I was shivering violently. I blindly reached down towards my legs, hoping that there was a blanket somewhere there, but there wasn’t one. Still too exhausted to open my eyes, I hugged myself for warmth. I continued to sleep—although not for any much longer due to the familiar blaring beeping sound in the distance that sounded just like my alarm. I rolled onto my side and placed my pillow over my head, hoping that I’d be able to block out the aggravating noise. Soon, the sound stopped, and I was able to fall back into slumber.

After snoozing for a while, I felt myself being gently lifted up into the air. Although afraid at first, I felt myself falling back into comfort and ease when I smelled the familiar scent of faint cologne and fresh laundry. I kept my eyes closed, knowing that I was safe and secure.

I woke up to the sound of violent waves crashing onto the shore. I slightly opened my eyes to find myself on what seemed to be a boat. The sky along with the ocean was pitch dark, and I couldn’t make out much of my surroundings. However, there was one thing I couldn’t keep out of notice—the city of Gangnam was slowly shrinking and moving further and further away from me as the boat continued to rock forward along with the speed of time.

Still groggy and tired, I found myself gradually falling back asleep. The last thing I remembered was the tightening of someone’s arms around me, keeping me cozy and warm against the cold dawning air. 

Yongguk’s POV:

I opened my eyes to find the gloomy sky surrounding me. Standing at the very end of the boat was Natalie. Her hair was blowing wildly in the harsh wind as she continued to stare off into the distant horizon. Only wearing a thin t-shirt and a pair of leggings, I could tell that she was cold by the way her arms wrapped around herself for warmth. The blanket I had wrapped around her last night was now on me.

I came up from behind her and placed my leather jacket on her shoulder, causing her to turn around in surprise.

She chuckled teasingly before looping her arms through the armholes, “You know, if you give a girl your jacket, you’re never going to get it back.”

“That’s cool. I never really thought of you as a girl anyways,” I joked, getting a hard slap on my arm in return by the scowling Natalie beside me.

“You are so not funny,” she attempted to frown as she crossed her arms and looked away, but it was obvious that she was holding back a smile.

“Sir, we’re here!” the pilot hollered from inside the cabin as he steadied the boat for us to get off.

Natalie looked at me with a fusion of excitement and fear in her eyes. I nodded at her reassuringly, implying that everything will be fine as I helped her off the boat.

As we stepped on the island, I was taken aback at how breathtakingly beautiful it was. Although we were far from the mountains, I could see the millions of golden flowers sprinkled gracefully all over them. I looked over to find Natalie’s mouth slightly open in surprise as well.

After coming back to our senses, Natalie and I finally took a taxicab to our destination.

Natalie’s POV:

Yongguk asked the taxi driver to drop us off off a bit before we arrived to my house, just to be safe. Grabbing my duffel bag with everything we needed inside it, I began walking down the sidewalk, scanning the houses and their numbers as I passed by. Surprisingly, there weren’t many. The houses were extremely scattered and built widely apart. One house was about a few hundred meters apart from the next one.

1894… 1895… 1896…

…1897. It should be here…

I looked up to find a house standing before me at the very end of the street. It was painted with a beige color like most of the others, but stuck out from the rest due to its abnormally large size. It was a three-story house, and there was a balcony built into the second one. In the front yard was a delicate birdbath, although it had seemed to be dried up for a long period of time. As beautiful as this house was, something about it seemed gloomy and unwelcoming.

“Ready?” Yongguk suddenly asked. I nodded nervously in reply as we began walking towards the door.

When it came into view, the first thing I caught notice of was the unordinary lock. It did not have a normal keyhole—or even a keypad like those high-tech houses I saw on TV—but had a weirdly shaped mold designated for the key to be placed in.

I looked at Yongguk, hoping that he would know what to do, but he looked just as puzzled as I was.

I groaned disappointingly as I sat onto the doorstep.

“Great. Now that we’ve found the house, we can’t get in…” Yongguk sighed as he sat down next to me. “Do you remember seeing a key or anything in the box?”

I began tracing back my memory.

I walked over to the chest and picked it up—surprised at how light it was—and brought it over to the table.

I opened it to find a blank piece of paper lying on the top. Taking it out, I flipped it back and forth several times, hoping to find a clue or a note, but there was completely nothing on it. I placed it aside and began rummaging through the rest of the box.

I found an old-fashioned pocket knife, a pocket watch, two black masks that were identical to Yongguk’s, and two black body suits that I assumed to be my parents’ old uniform from when they were still part of Children of Fang. At the very bottom of the box, I found a large silver bracelet with a geometric shape bead in the center, and I slipped it on.

That was it. There was nothing else. Nothing resembled a key that was able to fit into the unordinary keyhole of this house…

Except, maybe…

 THE BRACELET!

I abruptly stood up and looked down at my wrist, feeling super relieved that the bracelet was still there. I looked at the geometric bead shape on the wristlet, and then back at the keyhole. They corresponded! I took it off and placed it into the keyhole, hearing a light click as the door opened. I looked back to see Yongguk eye smiling at me proudly.

We stepped inside to find everything completely covered in white sheets to prevent dust from collecting over the years. Yongguk and I thoroughly explored the place, noting that there were seven bedrooms, four bathrooms, a humungous kitchen, an extensive backyard, and a large pool. When I was done, I went back downstairs.

Too exhausted to do anything else, I slumped onto the couch and pulled out my newest monthly subscription of Seventeen from my duffel bag and began flipping through it. I stopped when I reached the quiz section. The heading read, “Does He Like You More Than A Friend?” I began to blush as Yongguk suddenly flashed into my mind.

Out of nowhere, Yongguk plopped onto the couch beside me and watched me as I read.

“Uh, may I help you?” I glared at him as he leaned in extremely closely to me, trying to keep my cool although I could feel my heart beating right out of my chest.

“What are you reading?” he questioned as he began squinting at the page. “Does He Like You More Than A—“

I immediately closed the magazine in embarrassment and held it close to my chest. “W-What? I’m not reading a-anything,” I stuttered.

“HOLY NAT THERE’S A SPIDER ON YOUR HEAD!” he suddenly screamed and began backing away from me, horrified.

“W-WHAT?! WHERE?! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF!” I shrieked ever louder than him and began brushing at the top of my head, hoping that the Satan-like creature would leave me the hell alone.

Taking advantage of the moment that I dropped the magazine in fear, the sly Yongguk grabbed it off the ground and began skimming through the pages.

“Y-YAH! YOU FRICKIN’ LIAR I HATE YOU!” I wailed and kicked him repeatedly in the thigh as he began laughing uncontrollably at the magazine.

“DOES HE LIKE YOU MORE THAN A FRIEND, NAT?! DOES HE? HAHAHAHAH!” he snorted obnoxiously, making my cheeks burn up even more.

I looked away, embarrassed.

“You’re an ...” I cursed under my breath.

Suddenly, Yongguk scooted closer to me, inching in closely to my face as he whispered into my ear, “Could it be that the guy you were thinking about… Was me?”

My heart skipped at beat.

NATALIE! GET YOURSELF TOGETHER GIRL!!!

“N-No,” I stuttered.

“Good,” he quickly pulled away. “Because I would never like someone like you.”

For some strange reason, his words stung whether they were genuine or not. And for that same strange reason, I couldn’t allow him to see the vulnerable side of me.

“Aw, well, NO ONE WOULD WANT TO LIKE SOMEONE WHO TRIES TO ACT TOUGH AND MYSTERIOUS WHEN IN REALITY HE’S JUST A COCKY LIKE YOU EITHER OK!” I spat before stomping upstairs and locking myself up in a random bedroom.

I let out a sigh as I fell backwards onto the bed—still covered in a white sheet.

Forget about it, Natalie. He’s nothing but a cocky that thinks he can get any girl he wants because he’s oh so ing mysterious and secretive. People like that aren’t even worth your time.

But for whatever reason, I couldn’t bring myself to believe that.

Yongguk’s POV:

I hear Natalie slam the door behind her upstairs, leaving me alone in remorseful silence.

I knew I shouldn’t have said that—and I most definitely didn’t mean it—but I had to keep the boundary line visible between us.

Because if we were to fall for each other, blood will be shed.