Luhan can’t sleep and he doesn’t know why exactly.

Maybe he has gotten insomniac.

That’s crazy. He’s probably just anticipating the next morning where he’d find Yoona waiting for him at the riverside walk.

Im Yoona, waiting for him.

That’s even crazier.

Luhan isn’t even a second late, by the time the clock strikes nine, he’s there at the place they had been the previous night.

And Yoona is there, staring at the river without blinking, lost into a deep thought. Luhan doesn’t bother calling her, even if he did, he wouldn’t know how to start talking. He would have stayed there staring at her beautiful face all day if she hasn’t turned her head to catch him standing there a few feet away.

Yoona blinks, and purses her lips together. “You came.”

Luhan nods with a light smile. “I came.” He said. “I should be the one surprised that you came.”

A smile appears on her lips and she rolls her eyes- typical Yoona. “I was the one who asked you. Of course I’d come.” She receives a shrug from Luhan.

“So,” Luhan decides to drop the awkwardness and actually act how he normally does towards her. That’s the only way he could hide his rising feelings whenever he’s with her, talking to her. “Why are we here? Don’t tell me we’re going on a date until evening.”

The latter sighs helplessly. “I don’t know why we’re here, either.” She says, looking away from Luhan. “You were so stupid to actually go and do something so insane and make me feel like total crap. This is the only way I thought that I could repay.”

He smiles brightly at the thought that Im Yoona actually has been worried about him the previous night. Even if Im Yoona regrets calling out for a date, Luhan is actually never going to let the chance of spending time with her slip out of his hands.

He walks towards her while she blankly stares at him. “What?” She asks, clueless. Luhan smirks. “That’s all you had to do, actually. Leave the rest to me.” He winks and Yoona’s eyebrows crease in confusion. Luhan doesn’t explain much as he grabs her hand and starts walking to who-knows-where. “We’re going on a date, Im Yoona.”

…………………..

Luhan drags her into a bus first, and pushes her down onto a seat next to a window. He settles down next to him. Yoona stares at him, puzzled, and Luhan just smiles.

“Have you never gone on a date?” Luhan questions mockingly after seeing her expression. “I think that expression really tells me that this is a first time.” She returns to the stoic mode immediately, settling down on the seat, but Luhan senses the anxiety even then.

“I’m not such a loser you expect me to be.” Yoona mutters. “I have gone on dates… but this is the first, in a long time.” Luhan doesn’t see her face as she looks away, out of the window.

He doesn’t see the look of jittery painted in her expression.

“Where are we going, Donghae?” Yoona asks him excitedly as she takes a seat, looking outside the bus window in fascination.

“To places.” The man gives her a wonderful smile, and takes her hand. “There are lots of places that I want to take you to.”

Yoona returns a smile to her boyfriend and leans on his shoulder. “I’m counting on you, then. I want to go to all the places you want to take me to.”

“Leave it to me.” Donghae whispers, giving a kiss onto her hair. “I’m going to hold your hand and take you to all the beautiful places on earth.”

Yoona nods, snuggling as close as she can get to him right then. His warmth is enough to assure her that everything is okay. She is never alone, she’s always protected.

She’s always loved.

Yoona is shaken back to reality when she feels a teardrop escape onto her cheek. Luhan starts speaking just then and she quickly wipes the tear away before he could notice.

“Are you going to keep your face hidden from me until we arrive?” Luhan questions, and Yoona slowly turns around so that their eyes have met. She sees him give a playful smile. “You’re not being that annoying yet.” He remarks. “I hope you stay that way till the end today.”

“Where are we going?” Yoona asks, still looking into his eyes in anticipation. The latter purses his lips in a pondering manner. “Let’s grab ourselves some coffee and go to the aquarium. I went there last year and wondered how nice it would be to have someone accompany me next time.”

“Am I any good at accompanying?” Yoona an eyebrow. Luhan chuckles humorously.

“You can’t be any better.”

Luhan takes Yoona to almost all the great places starting from the aquarium, and he has been nothing but enthusiastic while Yoona has been nervous and edgy the most of the time. Luhan notices the obvious change in Yoona’s usually blunt personality- most of the time she’s silent and whenever Luhan tries to put her in the mood by mocking her once in a while, she would just do something to drop the subject or just simply ignore him.

She has been lost most of the time and this makes Luhan a bit curious, but knowing that he’ll reach nowhere by questioning, he just lets her be.

Yoona stares out at the perfect view of Seoul  from the cable car. Luhan stares at her, at the still face full of uneasiness and discomfort.

Yoona cannot form words to describe the elation flowing inside her as she stares out at the city view in complete awe, mouth hanging open. She gazes delightfully at the sky that looks like a massive masterpiece of art, perfectly painted by the most wonderful shades of colors.

“So, what do you think?” Kyuhyun asks, folding his arms proudly after seeing the girl so amazed by the scenery.

“It’s…” Yoona gasps in astonishment. “It’s beautiful.” She murmurs, eyes sparkling.

“I told you.” The latter smiles, approaching Yoona from behind and hugging her. “It’s breath-taking, isn’t it?” The girl nods happily, placing her hands on the glass. “Thank you.” She whispers, feeling tears well up in her eyes. Kyuhyun kisses her cheek softly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Yoona blinks and she’s back in the present, staring out at a sky that’s not orange but blue. It’s still beautiful, still perfect.

“Yoona, are you okay?” The voice she hears is not that of him, it’s a voice just as soft and gentle as his used to be- it’s Luhan’s voice.

The girl looks at Luhan, and sees worry written all over his face. “Did something happen? You look… upset.” He says, but Yoona doesn’t answer.

She doesn’t seem like she knows what to say.

“Do you feel uncomfortable?” Luhan asks her. “Is something bothering you? Does it hurt somewhere?”

“I’m hungry.” Yoona concludes before Luhan becomes too worried over her. “Let’s go eat.”

The latter releases a gasp of relief. “Just that? You could have told me rather than sulk about it.” He chuckles. “Okay then, let’s go eat.”

It’s past afternoon and Luhan takes Yoona to an outdoor restaurant. Luhan realizes that even after the food has arrived, Yoona’s still sitting still like a statue with the unreadable expression on her face.

“Im Yoona. I think it’s about time you tell me what’s bothering you.” As much as Luhan wants to hold it in, he’s so unfamiliar to this sudden mood swing of the latter. He feels as if he’s being a bad person and he wants to know what exactly the matter is.

“I said I was hungry.”

“You lied.” Luhan says almost immediately. “If you were hungry, you wouldn’t still be like this.” He leans towards her with a serious face. “I’m not forcing you to be here on a date with me. If this makes you this disappointed, I don’t want to keep you here either.”

Yoona gazes into his eyes. “Why me?” She asks softly. “Why are you being like this with me when you don’t know me that well? When I’m nothing but rude and ignorant towards you, why would you still be like this?”

Luhan frowns in a confused manner. The question is unexpected, but he has to give an answer. It’s too early to tell her his true feelings, but he still needs to answer so he does.

“Because I still want to talk to you and know you more.” He says with a bit of reluctance. “What’s so wrong with that? I can cope up with whatever rudeness and ignorance you have. It’s my decision so there’s nothing wrong with what I’m doing.”

“What if I don’t want it?” Yoona asks, and Luhan is taken by surprise. “What if i don’t like talking with you and won’t let you know me better?” She continues. “Do you know how tired I am? I don’t want to be dragged anywhere by anyone, I’m too tired of this.” She sighs heavily. Luhan just stares at her in disbelief. Little does he know that Yoona’s not talking about being tired of Luhan or their so called date, and she’s not talking about Luhan dragging her anywhere. She’s not really tired of him, either.

She’s talking about her past. She’s in a trance, in a jumbled up world where she can’t distinguish between the past and present.

He opens his mouth to say something, but his phone rings. Glancing at a depressed Yoona, Luhan takes out his phone and stands up from his chair. “Alright then, I’ll take you home.” He says. “I’ll be back after a while and wait right here until I come back. Don’t be reckless.”

Then Luhan disappears.

“Are you taking me home? Because I don’t think I know any of these places that well.” Yoona asks Chungho while unsurely looking out of the car window.

There is a bit of silence and she turns to him, repeating the question. “Chungho, are we headed to my house?”

A smile creeps up his lips as he stares ahead at the road shadowed by the blackness of the night.

“We’re headed to my house.”  Yoona’s eyes widen upon hearing it. “We’re together, aren’t we? We should have some fun before you go home.”

Yoona pushes her chair back and stands up. She has heard Luhan’s words loud and clear, but she doesn’t want to wait for him.

She doesn’t want to spend even a single minute with him anymore. It scares her.

She’s an idiot to give in to his words and let herself be dragged far away from home by someone who she doesn’t even know well. Everyone she has been with is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

She cannot fall for the same tricks over and over again.

Yoona runs. She doesn’t know where she’s going, but being with herself is still safer than being with someone else.

All those thoughts from the past has come rushing to her like a nightmare and Yoona feels so, so frightened that she feels dizzy and light-headed.

She doesn’t have money to pay for anything, so there’s no other way for her to go home other than just run. However, she has never been familiar with this area and she doesn’t know which path out of the complicated roads to take to go back home, to go back to safety.

Im Yoona keeps on running, further away from the restaurant, further away from the street, further away from Luhan. At least if she could disappear from his sight, that’s enough for now.

The sad part is that everything doesn’t turn out the way we expect.

She ends up in somewhere so far, and she doesn’t even realize it until she meets with the unfamiliar pattern of the area. The walls are all covered in graffiti and it looks so different from places in Seoul that Yoona has seen before. The houses are nearby and there are alleys surrounding her. She stops running and observes the silence around her, realizing that she has gotten very exhausted and needs to rest.

Looking at the very few people walking around, she heavily walks into a narrow alleyway, and slowly sits herself down on the ground, leaning onto the dirty wall behind her.

She doesn’t know where she is. What has she done?

Yoona tiredly pulls her legs up to her chest and buries her head in between. She could only stay that way for a minute or so, because soon, there are voices approaching- voices that Yoona doesn’t think are too pleasant.

“Hello, Miss.” A voice that seems to belong to a man around his mid-thirties calls out to her. By the sudden spread of pungent smell around her, she could already feel something is not right.

She slowly raises her head, and what she sees are a couple of huge men staring predatorily down at her. They reek of alcohol, and they look as if they haven’t taken a shower for days. The girl can’t help but scrunch up her face in disgust.

“Who are you, miss?” The same drunk from before leans down a bit with a smug grin on his face, making Yoona move away immediately. “We are not bad people.” He says, faking innocence. “We are very good people, and if you are lost, you can come with us so that we can take you home.”

Yoona stands herself up and stares at them in distaste. “I’m not lost, and I don’t want your help.” She says back to them. “Now if you’ll be kind enough to excuse me…” Yoona quickly turns to make a run for it, but they’re faster to grab a hold of her wrist. She angrily glares at them, trying to pry her hands off.

“Quite a tough girl, aren’t you, miss?” The other person from the duo taunts her. “You look upset. Did you fight with your boyfriend? Did your mother yell at you?”

“Let go of my hand, you disgusting person!” She bites out at him while thrashing desperately but to no avail. Her struggle only makes the people more annoyed.

“Why don’t you try breaking free?” He yells out at her. “Do all you can, and it’ll still be of no use. You’re coming with us, we’ll play with you!” He laughs devilishly and Yoona feels like throwing up at the disgusting smell emerging from his mouth. She has never seen humans this vulgar before and she badly wants to puke at the sight.

She’s soon being dragged away further into the alley, and all her struggles become futile as she feels herself slowly losing strength. She starts shouting out of fear, but nobody comes to help because no one’s probably around where they could hear her. She wants to call somebody for help but-

Luhan.

He must be out there searching for her. She needs to go to him.

Between all the terror and panic, a thought comes to her. There’s only one thing to do.

Run back.

She stops screaming for help immediately, and grabs the wrist of the drunk who’s pulling onto her arm.

“Wait.” She says, and the duo stops, looking at her in a flustered manner. Yoona keeps a straight face, and just stares into nowhere, waiting for them to get distracted.

“What?” One of them asks impatiently, and they exchange looks with each other. She takes the moment as a chance to throw a mighty kick onto the balls of the one grabbing onto her hand. She hears the loud roar of a scream from him before he lands on the ground. She doesn’t wait another second and runs.

“You brat!” The other one yells out fiercely at her and starts chasing her, but he cannot run as effectively as the latter does because of his helpless state. Yoona decides to only look ahead as she shuts her eyes tight and just runs as fast as her legs could carry her, and there are streaks of tears falling out of her eyes.

Yoona hears someone calling her name and she can’t recognize whose voice it even is, so she doesn’t stop until she runs into something solid- a body.

“Yoona!” Arms are instantly wrapped around her, sealing her in a tight embrace.

Luhan.

It is Luhan’s voice.

“L-Lu…han…” She stammers  in a broken voice, and Luhan pulls her away to grab her arm and take her away.

He drags her back to somewhere safe where it looks more like Seoul and where there are people who look more like humans. He stops at a nearby bench and sits Yoona down on it.

“Why did you run away?” Luhan asks, and as Yoona looks into his eyes, she knows there’s nothing akin to joking on his face.

“I-I…” She starts, but pauses when she sees Luhan’s annoyed expression. He looks so upset, so disappointed. Among all the times when she had turned him down, he has never seen him this upset before.

“I knew you were impatient to get away.” Luhan says, his voice still gentle even in that state. “But I told you to wait for me because I know this place isn’t safe enough. I’ve been here before. I know this place.” Yoona just swallows out of guilt.

“Why don’t you do once as I say, Im Yoona?” Luhan looks desperately into her eyes and she could feel the despair radiating from his face. “Who knows what would have happened if I didn’t come?” There’s a helpless sigh that follows.

“Why don’t you trust me?”

Yoona’s palms clench into fists as she begins hearing those words from all the people from before.

“Trust me, Yoona.”

“I’ll never leave you. Take my word for it.”

“You should trust me that I only love you.”

“Why don’t you trust me?”

She doesn’t realize that her eyes are shut tight and she’s gripping her hair until Luhan shakes her away from those terrifying voices. When she looks up, he’s staring concernedly down at her. Luhan looks so gentle, he looks so… kind. “Are you okay, Yoona?”

“You should stop, Luhan.” She says quietly, lowering her gaze onto the ground. “No matter how much you want my trust, I can’t give it to you. In fact, I’ve thrown every last bit of my trust away.” She says brokenly. “You should stop approaching me, I’ll just probably push you away. After you appeared, my life has started getting more difficult again, so please, just take me home and stop seeing me anymore.”

Luhan ends up not being able to utter a word. He hears a crack somewhere very sensitive in his heart, and he thinks it’s probably the reason why it is aching so badly right now.

Trying and not being able to succeed is discouraging; Luhan knows it now.

……………………………….

There ride back home is silent, with no word being exchanged between the two. Luhan just sits there lost into a thought, avoiding even a glance at Yoona’s direction when the latter just stares out of the bus window, looking extremely exhausted. Unlike that morning where there were quite a moderate amount of people on the bus, right now it’s just the both of them and a very old man.

The silence enveloping them makes the situation even more awkward.

They both get off the bus and they both look at each other after a long time.

“I’ll be going now.” Is all Yoona says to Luhan before turning around and starting to walk away. Luhan stares at her back, disheartened. He wants to say something to make her look back at him but he can’t find the right words.

He needs time and patience. He can’t just give up now when he has come this far because if he doesn’t like her this much, he must have given up a long time ago. But there’s something he’s sure of.

Letting go of Im Yoona is impossible.

………………………….

And so, Luhan ends up in Byun Baekhyun’s working place, resting his head on the counter table. Baekhyun comes over with something for him to drink. “So, what is it you’re feeling so down about?”

Luhan lifts his head up and accepts Baekhyun’s offer, taking a sip from the coffee. He sighs heavily.

“I don’t know.” He says, and it’s partly truth. He doesn’t know what exactly he’s feeling so down in the dumps, but he knows it’s about Yoona. “I’ve had a disappointing day.”

So much for trying. That’s probably why he’s feeling gutted.

The latter sits down across him with a smile. He can read faces easily, but he chooses not to urge from Luhan to tell him the truth. He just lets it go.

“Oh, I’m glad you thought of coming to me after such a bad day.” He says humorously. “Do you need my advice? My mother is a therapist, and I think I’ve got a bit of influence.” He laughs, and Luhan smiles too. Baekhyun does know how to make the mood.

Gaining a bit of confidence, Luhan bites his lips and thinks for a while. “Actually, I do have something to ask from you.” He says, and Baekhyun leans towards him in concentration, anticipating it. “Go ahead.”

The Chinese male purses his lips together. “There’s something I want to pursue. It took me a long time to find it, and it’s at my reach now. But somehow, I’m always being reminded that it’s no use trying to get it and that I should give up.” He explains and raises an eyebrow at Baekhyun. “What should I do?”

Baekhyun chuckles when he’s done, surprising him.

“What?” Luhan frowns.

The latter tries to suppress his laughter. “I thought you’d ask a tougher one, Luhan.” He says. “Anyone who watches romance movies and reads novels will know the answer.”

Luhan waits, observing the smile on Baekhyun’s face.

“A person who gives up on something so precious when it’s at his reach is an idiot.” He says. “Go with it to the very end, Luhan.”

...........................................................

A/N:

I was in a rush, so I'm really sorry for any typos or any other mistakes.

Hope you all enjoy this part too :D

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the comments and wonderful subscribers :) 

Love you!~ <3 

~Exo-Hime27~