The atmosphere was very quiet and intense. Nobody uttered a word. Shindong’s gaze remained glued to Donghae’s outstretched hand and something in his eyes seemed to change. Instead of bitter anger, it seemed to change to confusion and, strangely enough, relief.

“Come on.” Donghae urged gently. “We need our blacksmith back.”

Shindong slowly met his eyes. In another couple seconds, he slowly lowered his pistol from the side of Ryeowook’s head. “…If you had said the same thing to Leeteuk…I don’t know if he would have forgiven you so easily. I guess we just have more history.” He said quietly.

“Where is he? I’ll go talk to him.” Donghae looked around.

“He’s dead.” Shindong replied.

The crowd of townsfolk let out short gasps and started murmuring to each other.

“How do you know that?” Siwon asked.

“I saw everything.” Shindong responded without looking at the sheriff. “And actually…I should be mad but I’m not. It’s more of a relief.”

“It is? Weren’t you too inseparable?”

“At first. But then our intentions became different. We wanted different things. But now that doesn’t matter. He’s gone.” Shindong said.

“So you’ll come back and live in our town? He can do that, right?” Donghae glanced at Siwon.

“I’ll have to go over some things with him, but I will allow it.” Siwon responded curtly.

“…fine.” Shindong responded quietly. He let go of Ryeowook and finally shook Donghae’s outstretched hand.

A wave of relief washed over the area and soon everyone went back to enjoying themselves. Donghae and Shindong went over to the bar to get drinks but once Donghae learned that Heechul was killed as well, decided to just hang around the bar and talk. They were gradually approached by other members of the town, including Siwon, who all spoke to him kindly. As for me, I tackled Ryeowook with a tight hug not even a second after Shindong said “fine”.

“Thank god…” I whispered.

He hugged me back just as tightly. “I’m sorry I made you worry.”

“I thought my heart was going to stop.” As much as it embarrassed me, tears started forming in my eyes.

“I didn’t know how that was going to go…so I was pretty scared too.” He pulled back to look at my face but I lowered my head. I didn’t want him to see my tears.

“It looks like everything’s going to be okay now.” I glanced in Shindong’s direction. He seemed a bit awkward being around a lot of people, but he was smiling and nodding politely.

“We need a new bartender.” Ryeowook said.

“Oh right. I guess you saw that.”

“I saw everything. I was watching nearby but Shindong grabbed me and pulled me away.”

I nodded. “I wonder who will become the new bartender.”

“Maybe Eunhyuk. He’s not making any money now, so it would be good for him.”

“Maybe.” I grinned and looked back at Ryeowook.

“Do you want to go somewhere quieter?” He asked.

I grinned and nodded. “Sure.”

In about a minute, we were standing a short distance away from the festival and right outside the entrance to Hill Valley. The sky had a patch of thin clouds framing the moon that lit up the entire horizon beautifully.

He took off his blue sweater and placed it down on the light sand. “Sit.” He motioned at it.

I stared at him surprised. “You’re alright with your sweater getting dirty like that?”

“I don’t mind.”

I sat down on it carefully and he sat down next to me. We didn’t speak for a while. I became a bit nervous and just watched the pretty night sky. The music and cheerful voices from the festival rang in the background faintly. Then I felt fingers lightly move around the locks of my hair.

“Even though I fixed your hair this morning, it’s still in pretty good shape.” He said.

I chuckled and lowered my head. “It must be because I have a lot of it.”

“How is it seeing without your glasses? Is it hard?”

“A little bit, but it’s okay.” I looked at him.

He nodded, keeping his hand lingering in my locks.

“What about you?” I asked.

“My glasses aren’t for seeing. Just for fashion.” He admitted.

I laughed. “Oh, okay. Then your vision must be really good.”

“Are you jealous?”

“A little bit. If I could, I would get some kind of procedure done where I could see without glasses. Wearing them all the time is a little annoying.”

“I’m sure some procedure will get discovered. In the meantime, you can wear your glasses less often so it’s not as annoying.”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

His hand lowered a bit so it was resting lightly on the back of my shoulder.  I let out a small breath and shifted my gaze back toward the festival.

“What time does the festival end?” I asked.

“Usually around midnight.”

“Wow. It really is a long day.” I looked back at him.

“Are you tired?”

“A little.” I paused. “…do you want to come to my apartment? I have some fruit juice.”

I saw something in his eyes lit up very slightly. “Sure. That’s sounds great.”

We both stood up and made our way to my apartment. After we stepped inside, I closed the door and all of the lights. He remained standing, looking around my small room.

“You can sit down.” I motioned toward my bed and went to the refrigerator to pull out a small glass pitcher of fruit juice.

“You don’t have a desk?” He slowly sat down.

“I don’t really need it, so it’s not a big deal that I don’t have it.” I pour two cups of juice and sat down on my bed next to him. “This small end table is just fine.” I pulled the end table over so we could place our cups down on it.

“You really live simply.” He gave me an impressed look and took a small sip of juice.

“It’s how I’ve always been.” I responded, taking a sip as well. “I don’t need a lot to make me happy.”

“That’s a really good way to live.”

I smiled and nodded.

We drank in silence for a while until both of our cups were empty.

“Do you want more?” I asked.

He slowly looked at me. “…yes.”

“Okay.” I nodded and got ready to stand up.

“I mean.” He placed his hand on mine. “Yes I want more…like last night.” He kept his gaze down.

I blushed and stared at him. “O-oh…okay.” I slowly relaxed and put my cup down on the end table.

“Unless you don’t want to.” He said quickly.

“No no!” I laughed. “I do.” I flushed and grinned.

After a moment, his hands traveled around my hand and pulled out the green butterfly pendent he put in my hair earlier. It glittered and sparkled in my lamp light. After putting it down on the end table, he moved a bit closer and straightened out my locks. I swallowed a little. His face was much closer to mine. Then he moved even closer, smoothing out my hair over my ears so my entire face was bare. With his hands supporting either side of the top of my neck, his lips met mine again. Everything he did was much more involved. Our breaths were caught and released as our lips touched and caressed each other. His hands moved down to my lower back and a soft moan escaped my lips. He pulled me closer and I wrapped my hands around his upper back. His fingers grazed the buttons on the backside of my dress, causing me to let out a small breath in between our kisses. He pulled back for a moment, much to my disappointment, and we met eyes. He was asking me for silent permission. I responded by continuing the kisses.

His kisses become deeper as he undid the buttons one-by-one on my dress. Soon it was hanging limply from my arms and we pulled away again so I could slowly brush the sleeves off. I could feel him taking in every part of me and it made me feel surprisingly powerful. Then my face was tilted back up so the kisses could continue. Then they slowly spread across my face to my neck, making me gasp and moan a little louder. All of my energy was lost in the upper half of my body and he helped me lay down gently. He got comfortable on top of me, staring into my eyes. My hand gently grazed either side of his face and we just looked at each other for a moment.

“I’ve wanted to do this all day.” He said quietly.

I chuckled. “It’s a good way to celebrate Friday.”

He kissed me. “We could celebrate this way the entire week too.”

“Sounds good to me.” I grinned.