That next day you kept your jacket, satchel and Minghao’s scarf on as you made your way back to the rooftop. For some reason, being up higher made you feel much better about the whole situation with Emjae. Joshua was definitely correct about the rooftop being a nice place to relieve hurtful feelings.

Although you were functioning, truthfully, the hours seemed to continue to drag by slowly. And while you were finding strength to carry on, it wasn’t like it was easy. Most of the time you were moping about the empty feelings that still hung heavy inside your chest.

You had gone to sleep the night before hoping you would wake up from this horrible nightmare. But when your eyes opened this morning, there was nothing false about Emjae leaving you.

In fact, he had left you three years ago. You were just too naïve to realize it.

You stood out on the rooftop and stared at the sun-setting sky. The familiar hues of blue and pink made you gloomy inside. The clashing colors were beautiful and soft, yet you had no one to share it with. Didn’t Jun’s cocky self say that he would share another evening with you? Where was he at?

You caught yourself thinking about Jun and almost felt ridiculous. Why did you even expect his presence?

You glanced over to the railing and wondered how far up you really were. Since you grew up in the mountains; heights shouldn’t be a problem. However, truth be told, you still found yourself slightly afraid of elevations. Either way, you were still too curious to let the idea go.

You made your way over to the metal railing and placed your hands onto it, gripping it tightly. You placed your foot on top of the 10 inches of cement the railing was mounted to and pulled yourself up. The wind was much stronger, drying your eyes and swinging your hair around your face. You took a breath, allowing the air to circulate through your lungs and closed your eyes to remove the nervous feelings of being on edge.

When you finally opened your eyes, you slowly glanced down to peek at the view below you. Your body tingled, and you blinked to remind yourself that unlike Emjae, the railing would never let you fall.

Someone shouted your name and before you knew it he grabbed you from behind, pulling you into a tight grip around your waist. He lifted you off the concrete and carried you back over to the center of the rooftop while your legs kicked in the air. After he planted you back onto the cement, you struggled to remove yourself, however, when you were unable to succeed, you turned your head to look at who it was. You realized his hair color had changed from the dark shade you knew to a red that shined a lighter hue from the evening sun.

Hoshi didn’t let go. His arms were wrapped around you firmly, clinging onto your body as if you were going to vanish at any moment. You gritted your teeth as the feel of his arms pressing you against him forcefully was so constricting that it almost hurt.

“What the heck are you doing?” you questioned as you tried to remove yourself from his arms.

“What do you think YOU’RE doing?” he scolded.

“I’m not doing anything,” you pulled at his arms, “let go of me,”

“No…I’m not letting go. I won’t let go until you tell me why you were leaning over like that,”

Completely confused as to why Hoshi was acting so ridiculous, you ignored his words and continued to fight him. When you didn’t respond, Hoshi proclaimed furiously, “You can do whatever you want, but you can’t leave me!”

His blunt words shocked you, pausing you in your fight for freedom. Your eyes met his, catching his worried look in a silent stare. However, it didn’t take long before your eyebrows scrunched at his words and you returned to battling his overbearing strength.

At the sight of you struggling to unrestrict yourself from him, Hoshi’s heart appeased itself in his chest. Once you finally gave up squirming, he loosened his grip; yet his hands continued to stay clasped, locking you in between his arms.

Aggravated, you stared at him and announced, “Let go of me! I wasn’t going to jump off or anything, I was just looking at the ground!”

“Promise me that you won’t hurt yourself,” Hoshi stated firmly, his eyes still locked onto yours, “If you promise me, I’ll let you go,”

“What kind of…that’s blackmail,” you criticized.

As if he didn’t hear a word you said he demanded, “Promise me!”

“Ok! I promise!” you shouted and pushed his arms off, “goodness!”

You stepped away from Hoshi and fixed your jacket, brushing the front as if he had been the one to cause it to have wrinkles. When you caught Hoshi’s eyes staring at you, you sighed away your fumes of irritation.

“Do you really think I was going to kill myself? He isn’t even worth that,” you deducted and turned around to head over to a bench. Hoshi watched you take a seat in silence while his body remained slightly stuck in the of shock.

He watched you from where he stood and heard you inquire, “I already promised you. Do