“Joonmyun is nowhere to be seen. I’m tired of moving around,” I yawned. Jongin did not look so keen on continuing the race, either. His eyes wandered around aimlessly until he set his gaze on the rooftop. I was tired, thirsty and hungry, and I was in no mood to walk anymore. The football field was filled with fake grass that moved as if they were blown by the wind.

                  “Hey, Sena?” Jongin’s voice was strangely hopeful, his lips parted into a small smile. I did not follow his eyes and stood there, admiring his side profile instead. At one point in time, he started calling me by my real name instead of ‘Princess’ – just at the same time I started calling him by his full name. I did not know whether I liked this more than before, or why I felt how close we had come to since our starting point. “Don’t stare at me. Look up.”

                  “Wasn’t staring…” At least not blatantly. I pouted and looked up as he told me to.

                  The rooftop was translucent, and instead of the blue-black color of the ocean water, it was the vast sky, with stars and half-hidden moon. There were little to no clouds, and it was just magnificent how small I felt in that instant. Heart pounding against my chest, I tiptoed and reached out my hand to cover the light of the night. It was most definitely artificial – just like the many things we found here, but the view was so real, and so was the feeling in my chest. The last time I had seen a sky so clear was in Tibet; when I had nothing else to worry about and spent the nighttime with hot tea and wistful conversation.

                  Jongin’s eyes fell on me – that much I could tell, and he just kept quiet. Everything seemed to fall into place at that moment. I lied down on the grass, and Jongin wordlessly followed me. We were lying down facing opposite directions, but our faces were so close to each other. He stared at me and I gazed at him – and I realised in that moment, that not even the starlight could match the beauty of his eyes. It was not the way he was perfectly sculpted by God Himself, but the way he looked at me – like nothing else mattered.

                  “How old were you when you were chosen?”

                  “Five, right after my parents’ accident.” Jongin’s reply was short and clear, and it was obvious that he did not want to explain himself further.

                  “I was told that I would rule a clan of fifteen thousand people when I was five, too, and I didn’t understand what it meant back then,” I stifled a giggle as I went back to the time when I was still living in China with the branch family. Life was not as extravagant and complicated as it was now because I stayed in a farm – albeit large, still reek of poops and muds. It was simple and joyful. “Then I was taken away at six – when they thought that I would be smart enough to start learning. That was actually the first time I met Grandfather, and boy, was he scary.”  

                  Scary could not describe how frightening that old man was. He was intimidating, intense and demanding. I skipped the part where I was emotionally abused with words as a child, and how he would tell me inappropriate and age-sensitive things I did not and should not have heard. I also skipped the part where I had to kneel for hours outside of the walls whenever I did a mistake – however insignificant it might be. In Grandfather’s eyes, Seiryuu’s clan leader had to be perfect – and it was not something that I could do – not back then and definitely not now.

                  “What about you? Surely, you’ll have an impression of him, as well?”

                  “Grandfather… chose me and Sehun because we are orphans,” His tone started off bitter, but then it became lighter, until he sounded almost nonchalant about it. Unlike Joonmyun who was good at hiding his feelings, Jongin was impossible to read most of the time. When I thought he would be hurt and sad, he did not. He laughed it off. When I thought he would be happy and contented, he was almost always angry. I recalled that one time when I blamed him for the kidnapping incident, I had really thought he would be happy that I was wounded, but instead he was angry. I still did not know what happened afterwards.

                  There was loneliness in the way he spoke, but he said it in a carefree manner because he was used to it. Jongin felt so real, lying down beside me and talking about our pasts, and yet he was so far away, as if he was shouting a foreign echo from a distance away, and I could only hear it after a while. Cold. That was how I felt, and I was sure that he felt it, too. “Of course Oh Sehun still has his mother, but what good would that woman do to her child?”

                  I did not understand much about that part, but Jongin looked almost reluctant to talk about Sehun that way. Everyone had a past they did not want to talk about, and I, too felt that I should not ask more about Sehun. Jongin paused for a while, his gaze set on the sky as we watched the unblinking stars, “Because we are orphans, we have less to worry about. You would know what happen to the parents of the chosen Elites, wouldn’t you?”

                  Of course I knew. I would have known it better than anyone else. My parents were killed when I was born. They said it was for the clan. They did not get to hold me for a day and they were murdered brutally by the so-called Elders who were seeking justice for our good. They were afraid I would get attached and distracted. I called it bull. I had never seen my parents’ faces. Some of my Elites – most of them, actually – were lucky because they grew up in a normal family. They only followed normal training procedure and found their talents in it, like Yixing with medicine and Kyungsoo with IT.

                  “What did they say about your parents’ accident?” Heartless as it was, I needed to ask.

                  “Fire. Gas explosion, the usual stuff,” Jongin chuckled humorlessly. It was strange how detached we sounded. At least he had a bit of childhood. I did not even see my parents’ faces until I saw their photographs. “What about you? What kind of ridiculous lie did they provide for you?”

                  “Car accident. Said they were driving in a slippery road and fell off the cliff,” I snickered. “And that they never found my mother’s body. I only found out through Internet, can you believe that?” I chuckled.

                  “Typical,” He replied shortly. We were almost nonchalant about that matter – I, even more so, because I had never known my parents at all. Photographs of them served as nothing but a reminder that I was brought over to the world by someone else. That it was fate I could not escape. Pity I had to be born into this family. Pity that I got a strict, psychopathic man for a Grandfather.

                  “Oh, right, before I forget,” I cut the silence off and sat up facing him. He blinked his dull, grey eyes at me. “When did you start calling me by my first name, and why?”

                  He scoffed and replied none-too-gently, “Then why would you call me by my full name? Even Kim Joonmyun was freed from that privilege.”

                  That was when I had to remind myself not to like Joonmyun too much, but now I had to restrain from Jongin. I only ever called the person that I had a crush on with their full names, and it was a strange coincidence that both had the same surname and were distant relatives. Restraining myself from Jongin was much harder because everytime I tried to put a distance between us, I ended up taking one step closer to knowing him better, and with that – I could not help but fall harder than I already was.

                  “How about you answer me first, Mr. Smarty-pants?” I threw a smirk with both of my fists clenched. I was aware of how close were, even though I was sitting down with my face facing him while he was lying down. There was no trace of nervousness on his fair face when his eyes gazed at me. His stare alone was ready to swallow me whole, so I lied back down with heart beating like a drum against my chest. How could he have this effect on me and why did I allow it to happen?

                  “Then look at me,” His voice was playful. He shifted sideways to meet my face and I moved uncomfortably. We were now facing directly, eyes to eyes, breathing in the same pace as the other, and I swore he was tempting me to another sinful kiss at that moment. We shared something magical – that I could not deny. , frustration – everyone had different opinions but I knew what I felt, and it was not lust like I did to Joonmyun, or pity like my feelings to Luhan. With Jongin, you could never know what type of flame he would incite, and when it would happen. It just burnt.

                  “I am looking at you,” I whispered softly. I had always been looking at you the way you might never look at me…

                  “Tell me what you see,” Eyes searching for answer, lips biting in temptation. My heart was racing against my brain and neither would win until I reacted. Somehow, when I was with him, I forgot that we were forbidden – that I was meant for another, and he was only supposed to be my protector. Sometimes I forgot that he wanted to kill me, because his eyes told me otherwise when his lips spoke so many lies.

                  “I see…” I saw myself reflected in your eyes. My curious and flustered gaze in that deep, melancholic stare. And how he looked at me like he needed me. “I…” I stuttered to find my words, but chose to reply in the most honest way possible, “I think you want to kiss me… again…”

                  Damn right I want to, Jongin chuckled. He shifted a little bit more.

                  “And I’m against that idea because…” I hated stuttering because I sounded like an idiot.

                  “Because?” He threw the bait and I happily and foolishly bit onto it.

                  “Because you can’t…” I bit my lips. The longer I looked into his eyes, the more irrational I became. Blood rushed to my cheeks and all I could see right now was him. Kim Jongin, with all his imperfection and flaws, looking so beautiful and surreal. I wanted to touch him to make sure that he was there and this was not a dream.

                  “And why can’t I?”

                  “Because I don’t want you to kiss me,” But only God knew the truth. Bless this creature, for he had bewitched me to insanity. The star was the witness; the night sky was our horizon. Ours, and no one else’s. Kim Jongin had managed to evoke something I thought I would never feel. Love. He made me feel alive, not just breathing air, but truly alive. And it was a wonderful feeling, especially when he was there to accompany me.

                  “Sena…” He paused and I swallowed. “Do you think that this is real? You and me, like this together?”

                  He got up and supported his body with his hands. I could no longer avert my eyes. Again and again, I marveled at this man in front of me, and I could never get enough. His skin brushed against my cheeks and I flinched, “I am real. I am here, Kim Jongin. And if you still can’t believe it, you can hold me like this.” I put his hands on my face.

                  “I like it when you are being honest like this,” He chuckled softly and casted his gaze downwards. There was a long, comfortable silence between the two of us that was broken by him, “Can you… trust me now? I would never hurt you, Yoon Sena. I swear it,” He was so sincere in his words that there could be no lie. I just blinked once, and with a heavy voice, I replied – my words carrying the weight of my heart, and possibly, my soul,

                  “I trust you…” Not to break my heart.

Trusting someone was a dangerous game. Especially if that man was Kim Jongin.

A/N: Yo peeps. Can't help this chapter. Romance is too awkward for me. And I'm not even sorry. Oh btw, if I don't answer your question(s) in the comment section, that means that the reply is probably a major spoiler. And I can't let that happen, can I? LOL.