Nichkhun held his breath as he closed the cabin door, praying that it wouldn't creak too loudly. It was so dark outside that he could hardly see his hands even when he tried holding them up right in front of his nose. As he slowly, carefully navigated across the porch, trying to find the stairs, he cursed himself for not thinking of taking a flashlight with him, since the key part of his plan had been to leave in the dark.

Most of all, he wanted to leave before Chansung transformed into his human form again, it was much easier to pet a sleeping tiger goodbye, than to face Chansung's teary puppy eyes, accusing him of not keeping his promises. No, he couldn't face that. Much better to do the cowardly thing and sneak out in the early hours of the morning. Secondly, he wanted to escape this most wonderful of dreamworlds before the sun had the chance to poke its rays through it. He wanted it to stay intact forever, tucked in safely, deep within his heart.

They could never make it work for real, right? They had just been too caught up in the moment, the both of them. They didn't even know each other, was there a chance in hell they could make it last? Doubtful. Could he really leave civilization behind with all its convenience and human contact to live out in the woods, completely isolated? He wasn't sure. Maybe Chansung wouldn't be enough for him, and what then? Wasn't it better to leave now, when they could still turn back to their original lives without much difficulty? If he would get too lonely, would Chansung be able to move with him to the city? It was safer this way. He was saving them both a mountain of heartache.

He thought of the woman in the story and what must have been going through her head when she decided to go to the shaman. Had she not also considered all the possibilities, being forced to choose the only one that made any kind of sense? If there had been the slightest sliver of a chance for them to create their own little world, wouldn't she have done it? Where? How? She didn't fit in his world, and he didn't fit in hers. There were no happy endings in sight for her, so she did the best she could do, to protect her loved one.

He got a pang of guilt. He knew he wasn't really doing this to protect Chansung, Chansung didn't need protecting, he was a tough little tiger. It was to protect himself. One might say he was protecting Chansung from later finding out how selfish and cowardly he really was. He had promised him he would come right back the very next weekend, after having wrapped up his old life, as if that was so easy. He had really meant it when he said it though. He had gotten caught up in the moment, getting all excited and giddy over their exciting future together. But as a new day was dawning on them, he could hear how absurd and far out their plan sounded. They had only known each other for one weekend, deciding to spend all of eternity together was probably a bit too premature to say the least.

He didn't trust himself to withstand the social pressure of his family, his sister, and society as a whole. He needed the appreciation of other people, he always had. It was no secret that he had had the good fortune of being born a 'flower boy' as they said, and that came with perks, a lot of them. And he hadn't hesitated in collecting the benefits either. Was the appreciation of Chansung alone going to be enough to sustain him? He wanted it to be, but he was vain, he knew that. And how was he going to call off the wedding and tell his family he was moving far away, all at the same time. That was too much. If they didn't end up disowning him on the spot, he would leave them behind completely cheated and brokenhearted. His stomach churned at the thought.

And was Chansung even going to be here if he did return? Was he going to abandon his whole life, everything he had spent his entire life building, for a big, fat 'maybe'? His gut told him he would definitely be here, waiting for him, believing in him. A pang of guilt shot through his heart, making him hesitate as he opened the car door. No, he had made his mind up. This was too risky. He quickly threw his stuff in the front seat and got in as quietly as he could, softly pushing the door to the frame until he heard a low *click*, indicating it was closed. He felt as if he was closing the door to his own heart, condemning himself to a life of misery and loneliness. He would probably never see Chansung ever again. His cute little snout sniffing around, his beautiful eyes looking at him like he was his whole world, that bright kindness, always finding the positive side to everything, even though his life had been nothing but one big crap storm, through and through.

The tears started flowing as he put the car in gear and started it, full on bawling as he pressed down the gas pedal despite every cell in his body pleading with him not to. 'Don't go.' a voice in his head told him. 'Turn around.' another joined in. 'You're making a mistake.' his heart added, his gut contracting in agreement. He stopped the car. He could feel his heart as it marched in protest, boom-boom-boom. More tears threw themselves to their death, trickling down his cheeks. He wiped them determinedly away, starting the car again. The car hadn't moved more than half a meter before he stopped it again. It was getting hard to breathe, feeling as if there was an anvil pressing down on his lungs, keeping them from letting any air in. He felt dizzy. He looked back in the direction of the cabin. It had just disappeared from view. It was almost light out, if he was going to go through with this, he had to leave now. He was out of time.

“Meeauww.”.

He started. Two big, round tiger eyes were staring at him from under a blanket in the back seat.

“Heh... what are you doing here, you rascal!” he quickly wiped the tears so he wouldn't catch on to what he had been thinking, but they were continually replaced by new ones, apparently there was no end to his tear reservoir, a lifetime's worth fighting to get out all at the same time.

A ray of sunlight broke free from the tree tops, shining through the car window, revealing sparkling dust particles all around them, floating in the air. A moment later, there was a very , very handsome, and extremely sad boy in his back seat.

“You weren't even going to say goodbye?” Chansung's eyes filled with water, looking at him like he was the first person to ever break his heart. After everything, how could he find it in himself to be so trusting and love so unconditionally? A total stranger, no less. Would he never learn? Nichkhun got the urge to be there to protect him, to hit him on the head every time he gave people an unjust second chance. After he had given him a second chance, that was.

Suddenly, it was so clear. Without a second thought, he climbed into the back, knowing exactly what he wanted. He couldn't understand how he could have doubted it. This was it. There was no question about it. It felt so right, it hurt.

He faced a solemn Chansung, sporting the cutest pout there ever was. Sometimes he was just like a little kid, while other times he was the wisest person he had ever met. There was so much he wanted to say, but no words came out. The moment their eyes met, all of his remaining defenses broke down. He lunged forward and kissed those pouting lips of his, kissed them and kissed them until he had turned the frown upside down. He kissed his nose. He kissed his cheeks, He kissed his forehead and his eyes. Chansung chuckled, the joy filling his honest eyes once again. An explosion of warmth overtook Nichkhun's chest as he gave him a proper kiss this time, entwining their tongues together, hoping they would never again be pried apart. He was very aware of the fact that there was but a thin blanket separating him from Chansung's body, but he tore himself away before he got too distracted.

“I'm sorry. I was an idiot. I was a coward.” he looked down, too ashamed to meet Chansung's beautiful eyes.

“...can you forgive me?” he added in a near whisper.

Chansung reached out and took him into his arms.

“Only if you take me with you.” he said as he tightened his hold on him, leaving little space to breathe.

Nichkhun looked him right in the eyes, and before he lost himself in another of their enchanting kisses, he murmured:

“Everywhere.”.

__________________________________________________________________

AN: The End.

Thank you to everyone that went on this journey with me. I'm going to miss this story, aigoo that cutie tiger-chan kills me kkkk >.<

Thank you so much for reading ♥