Hyeon was shocked when the GPS said 10 minutes to the destination. Even a bit intoxicated, she knew there was no beachfront property 10 minutes away from midtown, and she was right as they pulled into a condo building. She was lost in figuring out what kind of security sensor opened the massive gate as Jae slowly started driving up the parking lot. The car’s slow drive went until floor six before Jae pulled it into the only empty parking.

" I can't take this car," he whispered as he turned off the engine. His voice was startling; both were aware of the quiet they drove in as nobody had said anything in the last five minutes. His silence hyeon hasn’t paid much attention to, as she was lost in the beautiful neighborhood they were driving though it didn’t bother her that much. She enjoyed the quiet drive across the beautiful city.

"we're changing," he added as he opened his door and slowly slid out of the leather seat. Following him, Hyeon unbuckled her belt and slid out of the car. Her shoes were left in the car as she started walking to get a good view of all the other cars parked on the floor. Her feet touching the cold pavement was grounding as she took more steps across the cold cement, her eyes glancing at each car parked across the lot. If she hadn’t known how rich this man was, she would have guessed the four cars were somebody else, but she knew it probably belonged to him.

" Where are we?" Hyeon asked, noticing all the only exits being the emergency exit, the road they drove up in, and the elevator. This is no regular building.

" Somewhere," Jae pulling her stuff from the backseat, responded. Her document was thrown into her bag; he closed the back seat before returning his eyes to hyeon walking across the parked cars. Her hands softly brushing against the line of cars was what caught his attention. She had never been into cars. Never shown any interest in any of his but her eyes scanning the cars look a bit fascinated now. If she had known all of these costs, her fascinated face would turn to anger real quick; Jae smiled at the realization.

“Do you live here or just park cars?” she asked but didn’t push when she didn’t get an answer.

" We're taking that one," Jae pointed at the car parked in the corner. Following his finger, Hyeon's eyes landed on the black jeep.

" wowww" her steps quickened as she started heading to the jeep. Although he caught her bare feet walking across the road, he was too lost in thinking about why he was even doing this to remember her shoes left in his car. Why on earth did he agree to this? How was he going to survive another couple of hours with her? All the questions floating around were minor compared to one, why he was bringing her to a place nobody had ever been to. How is it this easy to let her into places he wouldn't let anybody else even know of its existence?

" This is cool" hyeon was too busy admiring the car as Jae went past her and unlocked the car for her to get in. Her stuff was thrown into the car's back seat; they were out of the parking space in seconds.

" This feels like we're going camping or something" as the car slowly drove out of the building and joined the main road, hyeon spoke again.

"We're going out of the city," Adjusting his belt Jae turned his eyes her way to see if there was a reaction from hyeon. There was none. He seemed to be the only one unsure about what was going on. Her curious eyes were still amazed by the buildings they were passing by as she kept her eyes focused out the tinted window. Lost in his own thoughts, Jae was busy playing with his hair and figuring out why he had agreed to this and every possible thing that could go wrong. His therapist would call this a milestone moment for his mental helath but now all jae could think about was different scenarios of this girl losisng her mind and really killing him like she has pormised to do on so mnay occasions. In minutes they would join the empty highway, leaving the beautiful city behind. The tall trees across the empty highway swinging left and right, the big, bold signs signaling the city they were leaving behind, the straight and empty road ahead, Hyeon was taking everything in their view as she relaxed and sat back. Lost in her own world, she wasn’t even aware as she lifted her legs and brought them up to her seat. The late night drives she used to enjoy escaping to were old stories that have turned into past memories. Something about getting in a car and driving to nowhere offered her some calm. Lost in a trance, Hyeon wasn’t even aware of when the radio had started playing, nor was she aware of the window Jae opened as they left the last trace of the city and joined the long green highway. The cool air that came gushing in brushed against her exposed skin, floating away all the tension and stress every inch of her muscles were sitting with. “ huhh” taking a deep breath, Hyeon switched her legs and sat comfortably leaning against the window. Her head leaning out the window. Her tightly held back hair out of her way, her face was enjoying being smothered by the fresh air bruising against it before it moved to the rest of her body. Her right hand she laid against, she extended out the window as it slowly started air surfing to the calm beat of the soft song playing. He didn’t need her to say it for jae to realize how much she was enjoying the quiet ride. The fact that she was seating with her feet up on the seat was a great indication of how much she was relaxed. The small joy he felt knowing he was able to give her a moment of calm where she didn’t even care about who was sitting next to her as she was lost flying along the wind she was playing with as cute.

“Has he ever seen her like this?” Jae returned his eyes to the road as he started seracihng his foggy memory to find any trace of hyeon like this. All he recalled was how she alwasye sat up and that they had never been on a road trip alone before. But this wasn’t a road trip. At least to him, it wasn’t. The relaxed and at ease mode he always drive these roads with was no where to be found today as he was focused on figuring out what on earth hyeon was planning to do. His solo drives along these roads had been his getaway from everything, a space just to be by himself and his own thoughts but not anymore. The memory of today is going to top every other time he had driven past this road. Even while he was on the freeway where he could change directions and take her to the other he couldn’t make his mind up on why he was taking her to the only space that was his. “All she wants to do is see the house,” jae repeated to himself, trying to calm his worries about all the things that could go wrong and how he might probably ruin the only sanctuary he had. “ all she wants to see is the house’ he repeated as he turned his eyes to Hyeon. Her head resting on her arm, she seems to be the one relaxed and enjoying the ride as Jae traced the goosebumps across her neck down to her curved spine line.

“ ohh” hyeon sat up as her seat started moving. Her eyes finally returning to the car she glanced up at jae then at his hand pressing the buttons on her seat.

“ thank you” she gave him a small smile as she started adjusting her body across the seat he adjusted. Finally pulled out of the zone she had escaped to hyeon focused her attention on jae as she sat facing the front view.

“ Do you drive there a lot?” she asked as she leaned closer to her door and returned her right hand to what it was doing, air suffering and dancing along the wind. The softness of her voice, the calm and sincerity behind it, had forced jae to turn his gaze her way and what waited for him was the same thing. Tender and curious eyes waiting for an honest response. As alwasye, those beautiful eyes of hers have forced him to open up and be honest. He didn’t have a choice not to be.

“ Whenever I am stressed “ he returned his eyes to the empty road.

“ What do you do there?” as she finished her question, his eyes returned to her again.

“ depends” his response was short as hyeon, who should really be thankful that she was a bit tipsy, focused her eyes on his face. His hair flying along the window, which he had forced to stay behind his ears, she had a good view of his right side profile. Her eyes zooming in on his face were noticed by Jae, who turned her way in response to her next question.

“ on what?” her eyes zooming on his face she asked. Lost in admiring his features, she wasn’t even worried that the man looking at her could tell what her eyes were glued to,

“ whichever house I got to,” his eyes, the moment they recognized her stare, returned to the road. His right hand was quick as it left the steering wheel and brushed his hair away from the ear that was holding it back. The thick dark hair resting against his face was quick as it hid most of his face way. Even intoxicated, more so because of it, it was beyond easy to figure out how he had just used his hair to hide. All the worries, what ifs, and boundaries having evaporated into the soft wind brushing against her skin, hyeon sat there for the first time in a long, long, long time, not afraid to do everything and say anything that was crossing her mind.

“ Which one do you like escaping to?” her words had gone in one ear and out the other as his full attention turned to Hyeon who moved his way, and her right hand that leaned his way. Her slender fingers softly started brushing his hair behind his ear as her eyes zoomed in on every strand of hair that didn’t stay put behind his ear. she buried her fingers in his hair she brushed back for a fraction of a second before she pulled them back to herself. His lean back to avoid her touch wasn’t surprising, but the startled look in his eyes was what forced her attention from his black lushes hair to his eyes. He looked more confused about his own reaction to her fingers buried in his hair than what she just did.

“ Sorry,” she apologized as she stayed there, closer than ever, holding his gaze and searching for the answer as to why he was this reactionary to her touch. This was nothing compared to her hands that used to explore every inch of his body. He never had reacted like this let alone move away from her touch. He actually used to move closer and lean in when her fingers touched him, his eyes asking her to not let go. As the thought crossed her mind, hyeon quickly turned her eyes to the road and moved back to her seat. Her hands folded, she sat back on her seat leaning back, quickly shutting down every memory of the past that crossed her mind.

“ Just asking to know what you do,” she whispered to ensure the conversation stayed on the current topic.

“ huh,” as he took a deep breath, she stole a glance catching his right hand that brushed his hair back and softly brushed his face right where her fingers had touched him. They were really back to square one as hyeon immediately recalled how he used to hate it when she touched him back when she was just a stranger to him. He is back to hating even the slightest touch.

“ He doesn’t like people touching him,” had been Joons explanation back then. With the story of his stepmother and all the beating he received from her, hyeon was fully aware of why he doesn’t like being touched and people invading his personal space. Despite the justified reason, hyeon had been one of the only people in his life that was given access to his personal space in such a short time. The moment he fully trusted her, she was quickly given full privilege to touch him whenever and however how much she wanted, which she had taken some advantage of but now sitting here without those privileges, now when even her slights touch forces him to move away from her was when she was reminded of that fact that she should have taken full advantage of the privilege she had back then. No matter how natural it still feels to want to touch him. she can’t touch this man anymore. She has lost her access and wasn’t allowed to anymore. That was a thing of the past.

“ I swim in the ocean,” his raspy voice brought her out of mind she was lost in.

“ It’s cold, dark, quiet, and I find it calming,” he added

“ You swim in the ocean at night?” her hands still crossed, her curious eyes turned his way

“ Yeah”

“ that doesn’t sound fun.”

“I don't do it for fun. It's to get some peace of mind.” his response seemed reasonable.

“ Isn’t it dangerous?” she had asked as she wondered about the dangerous of being in the water at night alone, but the response she got was something else.

“ I think I find peace in that,” his eyes focused on the road he responded. The soft music, the dancing wind, the empty road ahead. It was the mood they were slowly sinking into that had made it so easy to whisper out his true feeling.

“ you find peace in danger?”

“ the fact that I could just stop swimming, sink into the abyss, and disappear.” How scary the dark voice that whispers in his ear was, hyeon had no idea, but the glimpse she got into it had always been terrifying.

“ Is it the voice?” her boldness came from the same space as his honesty. Having some alone time wasn’t the only reason. The fact that there were no expectations or rules to the weird friendship they were creating. The intense but broken relationship they had experienced. The alcohol she had consumed, the pills, and the alcohol he had been avoiding. The wonderful early evening road trip they were in . . .it was everything that has led to this alone time and their true selves they were unmaking.

“ That tells you to do that?” She asked, not even sure she would get an honest response. His eyes turned her way, searching for a hint of why she was asking, but there was nothing more than honest curiosity and her undying wish to get to know him for who he truly was.

“ You know I've never seen you with it,” she added, hoping her explanation of her curiosity would make him open up.

“ I always heard about it from Joon. That you're suicidal,” she added, adjusting her strap that started falling down, giving her fingers something to do.

“I've never seen you when you’re like that” her eyes returned to him.

“ I never got to see you in any of the dark