A/N: Time flies so fast! It's February now (where I am) and I have to double time with the updates 'cause it will be Seulgi and Wendy's birthday soon. I might have to update twice this week. Just a heads up. Anyway, please do tell me what you think of this chapter or how things have developed if things did develop. Stuff like that. What I really mean to say is, please comment. Thanks so much for still staying with me :)  - Bluekimchi

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Who would have thought that a high school reunion trip to the mountains would bring so much trouble to them? The class of 2009 of the School of Performing Arts in Seoul was only supposed to retrieve time capsules that they had buried seven years ago, during their second year school trip but here they are, in great distress over the fact that their beloved star of the drama club has gone missing.

"I told you before, we've reported them missing but the police can't start with the search because of the weather!" Mark says, messes up his hair in frustration.

"I don't give a damn if it's raining or snowing! Seungwan is missing!" Taehyun rages.

"We're all worried about them, Taehyun! This, whatever this is, is not helping so settle the down!" Hyeri growls.

"Did you just cuss at me?"

"Dude! Does that even matter right now? Back off!" Jackson butts in, pushes Taehyun away to get him off Hyeri's tail.

"Alright! Alright! Arguing won't help us find Seungwan and Seulgi." Suzy the most level headed finally says. "We have two options: one, stay here and wait for them to turn up; two, screw what the rangers said and just look for them on our own."

"Number two... I'm not really sure about that." She hesitates at the last minute.

"I say we do number two! Who's with me?" Hyeri ignores her hesitation. The girl stands, fist raised in the air as she rallies for support and her former classmates don't bring her down. Everyone in hearing proximity stands at her call.

She beams proudly at the support for a moment, nods at everyone who took her side.

"Good. Everyone get ready. We have a friend to save."

People spring into action, producing flashlights, signal torches, walkie talkies, and first aid kits, arming themselves with makeshift weapons out of trowels and hand shovels. Within ten minutes, they were all ready for a rescue mission.

--

The two find themselves wrapped in a plastic sheet that Seulgi had procured from the depths of her backpack, cluelessly huddling together under a tree for the protection its canopy of branches offers against the downpour. Neither of them have any idea of what is going on back at the cabin. Neither of them know how everyone else is going on a crazy rescue mission for them.

Seungwan seems okay, Seulgi thinks. At least she doesn't look like she's having a meltdown compared to the last time it rained. She looks a bit scared, maybe? But there's a tinge of calmness in her eyes. The eye of the storm kind of thing.

The cold bites, Seulgi realizes so she tightens her arm that is wrapped around Seungwan. Is it even okay for her to touch her right now? Seungwan doesn't seem to mind so maybe it is.

Her thoughts are pretty much jumbled up at this point. Here and there and everywhere. Did Seungwan really say she was falling for her and that she needs her? And did she say she needs her too? How did all of that happen in the span of two hours? Did she really wake up from her sleep? Maybe she didn't. Would it be better if she didn't?

Seulgi's thinking hard and staring hard at Seungwan now. She'd probably melt under her gaze at this rate but Seungwan turns to her and they're looking at each other's eyes as Seungwan presses her body closer to Seulgi's. Seulgi tightens her one-armed hold around her even more, as if doing so would convince her that every thing is real, that she did wake up and that she's not dreaming.

"Don't think about anything." Seungwan starts, forehead creasing. Seulgi mirrors the expression. "I mean, we should talk about this... when we're in better condition. For now, just stay like this with me."

Seulgi could've argued that they were in no better condition than they are in now. When have they ever been fine since Joohyun left, since Soojung left? But she knows Seungwan has a point so she leans back until her head touches the ground, takes Seungwan with her so that they're both lying down, Seungwan's head resting on her chest, her arm still around her.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Inhales and exhales in a rhythmical pattern she learned in therapy. She listens closely for other sounds. The dripping rain falling on dry leaves. The rustling of the branches overhead. The whistling of the wind. Her own heartbeat. Seungwan's steady breathing.

You're the one who I'm going to help.

Help Seungwan. Seulgi swore she's going to help her. That's why she befriended her. How arrogant and naive of her to think she can help people when she was the one who needed help. Seungwan wasn't wrong to hate her at first. But now, Seungwan likes her? Loves her? One thing's for sure. Seungwan needs her. And she needs her too.

Seungwan. Son Seungwan. A girl so brave and so afraid at the same time. A conundrum Seulgi can't ever figure out. She wasn't scared to let people know of what she thinks, wasn't the least bit concerned of what other people think of her. She expressed herself and she did it well. She wore her pain like an armor and she also showed the side of her that was vulnerable, lonely, and everything that makes her human, that makes her beautiful.

Broken. Broken but still beautiful. She lost so much and gained so little out of this cruel world. She found the love of her life but she wasn't able to live out the forever they had promised each other. Now, she's left trying to make sense of what was left. Seungwan lost so much. Seungwan lost Joohyun.

Seulgi's eyes flutter open in a spark of sudden realization. Joohyun. The rain. She swallows, feels her heart pick up pace as she prepares herself to speak.

"It rained on that day, didn't it?" She threads on her words ever so carefully, so slowly.

"Hmm?" Seungwan looks up at her, curious. Maybe she didn't hear her.

"The day Joohyun unnie left... it was raining then." Seungwan's eyes grow wide in response to these words. She opens but no words come out, tries to look away from Seulgi but couldn't

So she curls into Seulgi's side more as her breathing becomes heavy and tears pool at her eyes. Seulgi waits patiently like she always have from the start and Seungwan knows it's time.

She swallows and finally says "Yes... it did. Now it just feels like I'm losing her all over again, every time it rains."

She breaks, walls crashing down, dust stirring up into a storm. And Seulgi just holds her, arms wrap even tighter around her, warm and strong. Seungwan feels soft lips press on the top of her head, hands brush against her cheek, and fingers latching on her neck, keeping her face close to Seulgi's.

"For whatever it's worth, you won't ever lose me. That's a promise." Seulgi says, voice clear above all the noise.

"Really?" Seungwan pulls back slightly so she can see Seulgi, so she can look at her with those searching eyes.

And in that one word, Seulgi understood.

Seungwan has been so afraid the whole time to love again, to open up her heart because she feared that if she did, she would only end up losing so much again. She would end up losing whoever it is again. That's why she pushed everyone away, that's why she pushed Seulgi away. So when Seulgi answers, she hopes it would be enough to let Seungwan know that she's here and she's here to stay.

"I'm here. I won't disappear."

Seungwan calms a little, just enough to speak.

"This isn't a dream, right, Seulgi?"

Seulgi closes her eyes, takes a deep breath.

"I keep on thinking of that too." She pauses, opens her eyes. "But it's not. And even if it is, I never want to wake up."

Seulgi looks at Seungwan and she knows she has never seen anyone as beautiful as her. She looks at her and she knows that letting her go would be foolish, more foolish than anything and everything she's ever done. It matters not if she's unsure of how it all came to be or how scared she is that everything is not real and will fly away like a butterfly or dissolve in the dark night sky like fireworks, here for a moment and gone in the next (like how all beautiful things last) because there's something about holding Seungwan like this and lying down in the heart of a mountain with her, in the middle of a storm that gets Seulgi thinking.

She can't ever imagine herself holding another girl in her arms like this. Any girl other than Seungwan. Yes, not even Soojung. Why? Because Seungwan knows her and knows how messed up her life is and how fragile everything is but she lets her hold her anyway, risks so much in doing so. Even goes so far to say that she needs her when she doesn't have much to offer.

Maybe that's it. Maybe that isn't it. The reason why they both need each other. But Seulgi knows now that Seungwan sees beauty in her brokeness just as much as she sees it in Seungwan's.

--

Seungwan doesn't remember much about being rescued. Seulgi had already carried her back to the campsite when her friends found them. Some rescue mission it was. To top it off, they we're being immature and noisy. They didn't do much except carry their backpacks for them. Although Jackson did offer to carry her for Seulgi. Except that Seulgi refused and made sure that she stayed glued to her back until they reached the cabin, much to her fluttering heart's content.

Taehyun didn't look too happy about that unlike all her other friends who practically skipped down the mountain in glee, but it doesn't really matter, does it? They're both safe.

Don't get her wrong. Seungwan does appreciate her friends' effort. Even if they're giving Seulgi a bit of a hard time because they won't leave either of them alone to rest in their shared room peacefully. At the end of the day, they're still her friends who would go anywhere for her, do anything for her (and they still continue to prove that after all these years).

"They're something, huh?" Seulgi says, finally getting them to give them some privacy after dinner.

"They're kind of crazy but they're good people." Seungwan says, smiles at her apologetically.

"I can see that." Seulgi smiles, one hand coming up to rub the back of her neck in an expression of fatigue. "You should probably take a shower and change into warm clothes quickly. You're still in wet clothes. I don't want you to catch a cold."

Seungwan nods obediently, takes the towel and the clothes that Seulgi hands her. She showers quickly, knowing that Seulgi would have to use the bathroom too.

When they're done washing up and snuggly fitted into pajamas, Seulgi carefully rolls out her sleeping bag on the floor. Seungwan watches her silently, torn between asking her to talk and putting things off for later because they're both so tired.

"I'll let you get some sleep now, Seungwan. Good night." Seulgi turns to her with a smile before she goes to turn off the lights and slips inside her sleeping bag.

The silence lingers in the air, heavy with questions and uncertainity. And something else as well.

Seulgi starts counting the minutes passing by in her head but not even five passed when she feels Seungwan get off the bed, take the sheets with her, and lie down next to her on the floor. Seungwan's head automatically rests on Seulgi's arm as if it was a pillow. One arm drapes around Seulgi's body, their positions similar to that of a few hours ago in the mountains, under the tree.

"There's a bed, you know." Seulgi starts. Her tone light and easy, making Seungwan feel foolish for having doubts about how Seulgi feels about her, about this.

"I'm very well aware." She replies, presses her body closer to Seulgi's, meaning to say that she would trade all the beds in the world for a cold hard floor if that means having Seulgi's arms around her.

"You might catch a cold-"

"I don't care if I get a cold for this." She pauses. "Let's just stay like this for a long, long time." She looks at her and tries her hardest to make Seulgi understand in one look.

And Seulgi does.

"Hmm, I'd like that too."

She doesn't even know how those words sound better than 'I like you too' and convey the feel of 'I really mean what I said before' but she's in awe.

So this is Seulgi finally giving up all rational thinking. If it feels right, then it must be right, right? They can worry about the mundane things tomorrow. All that matters is that tonight, she will hold Seungwan and Seungwan will keep her sane.

"Seungwan-ah?" For a moment, she savors how good that name sounds coming from her lips.

"Yes?" And that voice responding to her call.

"This isn't a dream, right? This is real, right?" Seulgi asks it the same way Seungwan asked her, trying so desperately to grasp that this is real because this reality is even better than their dreams.

"Of course, it is."

"Okay." Seulgi breathes deeply and finally says what's really going on in her mind. "I won't disappear on you so don't even think about getting out of my sight. I won't let you. I need you, Son Seungwan. I really do."

"Hmm." Seungwan smiles, finally knowing that they're on the exact same page. "I need you too, Kang Seulgi."