Julia hadn’t slept well the night before. She stayed up all night, tossing and turning. What were the ‘places’ Dong Ho was talking about? Besides- she thought he said he didn’t want to be on good terms with her. Well- she was technically wrong. He had just asked a rhetorical question that implied he didn’t want to be- but of course, he didn’t say it outright.

She awoke the next morning when she heard a knock on her bedroom door and sprung out of bed to open it. Dong Ho stood outside, dressed and ready to head out, while she was still in her pajamas.

“Did I not tell you to wake up early?” She found herself looking down at her bare feet in embarrassment as she rubbed her eyes and nodded shamefully.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll just take a bit to get ready. Give me five.” She closed her bedroom door after giving a curt bow to show how apologetic she was as she darted over to her closet and threw it open. Ripping herself out of her pajamas and jumping into a simple white tee and jeans, she slipped into a pair of socks and bounced out of her bedroom.

Dong Ho was no longer in the halls and Julia made her way down the stairs to see him in the kitchen. He handed her what seemed to be a bread roll with fruits in the middle and brushed past her. Quizzically glancing at the bread roll, she quickly followed him out of the kitchen.

The two had made it past the gates of the house and were now walking on an unfamiliar path to Julia. She didn’t say a single word as she continued to hold onto the bread roll, causing Dong Ho to send a critical look in her direction.

“Aren’t you going to eat that?”

“Huh?” Julia looked up at him, their eyes meeting. Dong Ho immediately turned away and shook his head as he continued to move forward. Julia looked down at the bread roll, realizing that he had made it for her. “Oh.”

Struggling to catch up with Dong Ho, she bit into the bread roll, smiling as she ate it. Was this perhaps a sign that they were beginning to reach good terms? She didn’t know- but what she did know was that the bread roll was delicious- almost as delicious as the sweets Jinyoung had given her the day before. Of course, Jinyoung was a professional with sweets, so it was evident that Dong Ho wouldn’t be as good as he was when it came to food.

“Where are we going anyways?” Julia murmured quietly, not expecting Dong Ho to pick up on her question.

“To section twenty-nine. The section of ice. I have work to do,” he answered without turning to look at her.

“Why did you bring me along if you’re working?” She questioned. “Is it because of what I said yesterday?”

“No. Orders from Kibum.” Was all he said.

“Oh.” She nodded and kept her head down as they walked side by side. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed knowing that was the case. And to think they might be on their way to reaching good terms. She sighed.

It wasn’t long before Dong Ho had finished checking in on several people. After he had finished he moved towards a forest, leaving Julia to follow behind him. Trying to maneuver her way through the vines and the roots of the trees, she found herself tripping and landing onto the ground with an oof.

When Julia looked up from where she had fallen, Dong Ho was no longer in sight. With a sigh, she sat up, brushing the dirt from her fingers and inspected her ankle to make sure she was alright. Her ankle stung a bit, but it seemed to be fine otherwise. A hand popped up in front of her face, startling her as she looked up to see that Dong Ho was now in front of her.

“Don’t be an idiot and watch where you’re going.” His words were rough, but Julia didn’t mind because his actions seemed to say otherwise. “Get up. We can sit on a rock nearby for a bit.”

Nodding to agree with what he had said (including the part about her being an idiot), she took his hand and felt him pulling her up before he gruffly walked away, leaving her to run after him carefully. The two reached a giant boulder that had a flat surface and Dong Ho climbed up onto it first before stretching his hand out to help her up the boulder.

The two of them settled down on the top of the boulder with Dong Ho, lying on the top of it. Julia watched him for a bit before turning to look at her sneakers. It was awfully silent between them and Julia hadn’t had an idea to why they were here.

“Don’t tell anyone about this place.” His voice broke the silence between them and Julia nodded in response. Since he had broken the silence, Julia decided to keep it broken.

“Why did you bring me here if you don’t really want others to know about this place?” She asked quietly, watching his reaction carefully. He closed his eyes, letting the sunlight seep past the tree leaves and rest on his cheeks.

“Well, Kibum expects me to help you out with your missing element issue. I don’t know how, so we might as well waste away our time here. Kibum and Alexander would never think to look here for us anyways.” He moved his hands to the back of his head, to prop it up a bit as he laid on the rock. “I really don’t have anywhere else I’d like to go to as well.”

“Oh.” Was all she could say as she continued to stare at her shoes. The two continued to sit around in complete silence. She wanted to ask him a few questions that she worried would be a little too personal and hesitated for a bit.

“I...” Julia started off her sentence. Shaking her head, she decided against asking the question. Biting her lip, she turned her attentions back to her shoes.

“What?” He questioned, his voice low and drowsy from nearly falling asleep.

“It’s nothing,” she said, shaking her head. He grunted in irritation.

“I can literally feel the amount of energy you’re spending right now by not saying it. Just say it, will you? You’re kind of getting jittery and it’s annoying me.”

“Well... it’s kind of a personal question,” she explained nervously. He didn’t say anything and she took it as a cue to ask it. “I just wanted to know... if I really look like her.”

He didn’t say anything for a while and then he opened his eyes and stared up at the tree leaves. He shifted a bit and then answered.

“You really do. It’s uncanny. Your resemblance to her.” His chest moved up and down in an irregular pattern- indicating his breathing was uneven. Julia noticed and her eyebrows furrowed together.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” He questioned, finally looking at her.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I just- feel like I owe a lot to you. I feel bad- the way I pushed you away the other day without knowing why you had pulled me into a hug. I feel bad for... reminding you of her.”

Silence took over once more and Julia didn’t dare look at him. She could feel him staring at her and after a long while, he sighed.

“It’s alright. The guys were right. I need to learn to accept it. She’s gone now. There’s nothing I can do.” Julia’s mind immediately wandered over to the memory of her younger sister, Grace and her mother. Nothing was ever the same- but had she learned to accept it just yet?

“I guess that’s something everyone can learn,” Julia murmured. Dong Ho tilted his head as he looked at her. Julia laid down next to him on the rock and stared up at the leaves. “I feel like Neverland doesn’t allow you to do that, don’t you? It’s like- our time over there- on Earth, stays the same. As people, won’t be stay the same? Because we know our life down there has been put on pause.”

“I guess.” Was all Dong Ho could say. The two of them laid on the rock silently staring upwards.

Julia woke up with Dong Ho standing up on the rock. The sun had set and the moon was up. The moonlight highlighted Dong Ho’s figure as he bent down to wake her up.

“, we shouldn’t have stayed here for too long. Kibum’s going to be suspicious,” he muttered as he tapped her shoulder.

“Suspicious of what?” She asked, her voice laced with sleep. “It’s not like we’re doing anything bad in Neverland- which is that even possible?” Her mind still wasn’t functioning properly as Dong Ho jumped off the boulder. Standing up on her wobbly legs, she peered down the boulder, realizing she couldn’t really make anything out.

“Kibum wanted me to help you find your element, remember? Now jump,” Dong Ho instructed. Julia wobbled over to the edge, about to jump. “Wait- don’t jump.”

“Why not?” Julia questioned and at that moment, she slipped. Falling down, she felt a piece of her arm burn as she had scraped her arm against the side of the boulder. She felt her fall being cushioned and opened her eyes to see that Dong Ho had caught her just in time.

“Didn’t I tell you not to jump?” Irritation was evident in his voice and Julia found herself biting her lips.

“I didn’t!” She protested. “I was at the edge and my legs were wobbly because the surface of the boulder isn’t exactly smooth.” Even though she couldn’t see his face, she knew that he was rolling his eyes.

“You’re an idiot for standing on the edge of the boulder,” he growled, setting Julia on the floor. “Anyways, let’s go. We don’t have much time left before Kibum interrogates me.”

The two of them make their way out of the forest with Julia struggling to keep up with Dong Ho’s pace. As they were nearing the house, Dong Ho turned back to confirm that Julia was still following him and noticed her wincing. His eyes darted to her arm where she had scraped herself as she fell and Dong Ho released a harsh sigh. Pulling the black sweater off of himself, he waited for her to catch up.

“Put this on.” He held his sweater out to her and she looked at it, puzzled. Irritation took over once more as he opened his mouth to spell it out for her. “Kibum and Alexander would throw a fit if they saw your arm like that and we don’t have much time to even go and get a bandage.”

“But I’ll just tell them that it wasn’t your fault,” Julia said. “I’ll explain it to them. Besides, I don’t want to stain your jacket with my blood.” Dong Ho rolled his eyes and shoved the sweater in her direction.

“Kibum and Alexander would still throw a fit. According to them, it is my responsibility to return with you unscathed. It doesn’t matter if I hurt you or not. All that matters is that during the time I was responsible for you, you got hurt. Got it?” Julia hesitated and Dong Ho felt the need to add, “It’s just a sweater. It’s meant to be worn. If it gets dirty- just wash it or throw it out, it doesn’t matter.”

Finally relenting, Julia found herself taking the sweater from his hands and then putting it on. Dong Ho turned away the moment she did and continued towards the house, his footsteps a lot quicker than they had been. It figured- since they had already spent more time trying to resolve the whole gash- on-her-arm issue.

When they had both stepped foot into the house, all the guys rushed over to them, a relieved expression plastered on their face. Dong Ho knew what they had been thinking- that he might’ve done something to her because he still believed that she was So Li. Once they saw how relaxed the air was between the two, everyone seemed to push those thoughts of their mind.

“You guys are back! What took you guys so long?” Kiseop questioned, immediately sticking to Julia’s side. He noticed the sweater on Julia and immediately asked another question. “Why are you wearing Dong Ho’s sweater?” His hand reached out to touch the sleeve of the sweater and Julia winced a little, as his fingers had brushed the exact area she had scraped herself.

“Julia, are you okay?” Kevin asked, noticing her wince. It was so like Kevin to notice as he was always the most observant out of everyone in the group. Julia nodded her head and scrunched her nose up a little.

“I’m fine. I just felt like I needed to sneeze- that’s all.” Julia coughed a couple of times and smiled at Kevin. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Well, if you’re okay, dinner is ready.” Eli motioned towards the kitchen and headed over there first himself.

“Dong Ho and Julia, why don’t you guys go wash up first?” Soohyun asked. “Don’t worry- I’ll make sure Hoon and Kiseop don’t down the dishes right away.” Kiseop and Hoon shot a look over at Soohyun, but didn’t say anything as they knew how scary Soohyun could be.

“Alright.” Julia headed to her room. Closing the bedroom door she let out a long sigh, walking up to the full length mirror by her desk. Taking Dong Ho’s jacket off, she placed it on the chair next to her and examined the gash on her arm, wincing at the sight of how bloody it was. A knock sounded on her door and she moved over to open it slightly, to see who it was.

“Dong Ho?” She couldn’t help but express her surprise as Dong Ho pushed past her into the room.

“Close the door,” he ordered. Feeling just a little doubtful, Julia closed the door gingerly and faced him. His eyes landed on her gash and he immediately pulled her over to the bathroom and took a towel, dabbing it with a little bit of water. Cleaning the blood from and around her gash, he pulled out a bandage and stuck it on. “Next time, when you get hurt- you need to tell me. If I didn’t see it before, the guys would’ve blamed me.”

“I just... didn’t want to bother you,” Julia replied silently. “We were in a rush too. I didn’t want to waste any time getting back.” Dong Ho had finished sticking the band aid onto her and he stood up and straightened his posture.

“Well, I’d rather be late. I could’ve gotten into more trouble if I didn’t notice you were hurt.” Julia bit her lip as he headed for the bathroom door. “If you’re done here, let’s go downstairs for dinner. I’ll be going first so they don’t suspect anything.”

“Alright.”