The press has a field day reporting Seventeen's return to safety – there are about a million reporters waiting at the docks, but the nine of you quickly get escorted away into some office for some official missing person paperwork, then to the hospital, just in case. No one's injured badly, mostly a few bruises and scratches here and there, but most of you are dehydrated, so the doctor's visit doesn't take up too much time. Seventeen is whisked away as the head of staff dismisses you for a few days of rest, so you don't get to say goodbye to the boys.

You spend your rest days at home resting, regaining your strength, anxiously avoiding the news, hoping that it would all go away and return to normal soon enough. Seventeen is practically everywhere on the media at this point, and the company had to release an official statement to quench all the rumours. All the Seventeen members are well and healthy, and the five boys who weren't with you on the island – Jeonghan, Mingyu, Dokyeom, Vernon and Dino – had their own ordeal when the group was separated, or so you've heard.

Of course, the headlines don't die down for a couple of weeks, even when you're back at work – now confined to a desk job; the amount of paperwork horrifies you – and you haven't seen Seventeen in the flesh ever since, only in press photos when they make an appearance somewhere (the boys, always hardworking, return to work after three days of rest, and news articles quotes them saying 'being back better than ever, castaway on an island opened their minds' or something among those lines).

It's your lunch break, and you're more than glad to be away from your desk, traipsing through the mountain of paperwork that no one cares about. Soon, it'll all be over, and you'll be back at university for another trying semester, so you're trying to juice out all the fun from it, but there seems to be none.

You close the office door gently behind you, relieved to be out of the stuffy room that's almost suffocating you, and turn around, only to crash into a solid human body that somehow materialized out of nowhere.

"Sorry. You okay?" That deep voice can only belong to S. Coups, Seventeen's general leader who looks much better than he did when he was castaway. He's smiling at you, like he's glad to see you after a while, and it makes your heart flutter a little. "I was looking for you."

"You found me." You shrug nonchalantly. "What's up?"

He's hiding his hands behind his back, awkwardly fidgeting with something. "Thank you for being stranded with us."

You let out a laugh. It sounds ridiculous; those words coming out from his mouth.

"I'm sorry, I swear it sounded better in my head..." He slaps his forehead at his poor choice of words. "Uh, I meant that you were cool enough to get stranded with us..."

"Stop. I get what you're trying to say." You say, to save him from further embarrassment. He's not making sense, but you get the gist of what he's trying to say: he's grateful that you were there when all of you were stranded on that island, though you feel like you did nothing, but you figure that your presence must've been invaluable to the boys to some extent.

"This is for you." He pulls out something from his pocket and hands it to you. It's a bracelet - a tiny beige seashell on a faux leather strap.

"Isn't this seashell from that island?" You ask, as you accept the gift with a smile. You remember beachcombing with the boys; Woozi's eyes always trained onto the golden sand for a shell to pick up.

"It's all about the little things," The producer had said on the final sleepless night, when the two of you were looking for shells.

S. Coups nods. "It was Woozi's idea to give it to you, Shua's idea to turn it into a bracelet, and The8 designed it. A thank-you gift, I guess. In a 'we're glad you survived with us' kind of way?" He helps you fasten the bracelet around your wrist, although unnecessary.

"It's nice. Thank you. Thank the boys for me, too." You smile, examining the bracelet on your wrist. It's a loose fit, and seeing the tiny shell reminds you of the hot sand on the tiny island. Just one touch, and you're transported back to the castaway life with those boys. It wasn't the best experience, but it was definitely memorable.

"Yeah, sure." He shoves his hands into his pockets.

"Give Seungkwannie a squishy hug."

"Don't I get one too?" He grins cheekily at you.

You look at him straight in the eyes and firmly say: "Nope."

His face falls slightly. "Oh well. I gotta go, though. I'll see you around?"

"Maybe." You shrug.

"Alright then. See ya." He leaves with a smile and a wave, and you watch him disappear down the corridor.

Possibly for the last time.

You don't tell him that it's already your last day at work, so that last request would be near impossible. You finger the thoughtful gift around your wrist, thinking that it's the most precious thing to you right now: symbolizing the surreal experience of being stranded on a deserted island with Seventeen, which now seems like an eternity ago.

You smile to yourself; relieving the memories in your mind: like Joshua said, it's been a wild ride. 

- the end -