A/N

First and foremost I want to apologize to those who have read chapter 8 before it was finished. I swear I didn't mean to do it and was pretty panicked when I saw the status wasn't 'draft'. 

Good news is, nothing has been changed so far. Another good news is, that was only half of it. I wasn't planning on updating until next week but this happened xD

And sooooooooooo

As usual, thank you for reading, commenting, subscribing and upvoting. Please let me know if you are confused (because at this point I am xD) or if there are any mistakes so that I can edit it.

Without further ado, Enjoy.

Chapter 8

With squeezed shut eyes and a tight grip on the bars, Irene could do nothing more than hope the ride would end quickly. She didn't have any choice when Changsub dragged both herself and Sungjae to their eighth ride of the day: the drop tower. They were slowly being raised to about 100 metres, seeing the people turn into tiny ants and the full view of the grand amusement park built for Sungjae.

She took a glance towards her left and saw Changsub swinging his legs like a very excited child, On the other side, Sungjae was calm and collected. Was she the only one panicking if the ride suddenly stops in mid-air and they would be stuck there forever? Maybe yes. She was close to tears and just wants to go home. The rides they have tried so far were not of her liking. It was all scary to the point where she felt nauseous after every ride. But before she could throw up, Changsub would have pulled her to the next one.

"I want to go home," she muttered under her breath and the seats just stopped moving. Her stomach started churning and she could feel her soul leaving her body at any time. 

Sungjae peeked at the condition of Irene. She was pale and was clearly afraid. There were times he wondered why they believed this was scary when the right word to describe the rides were thrilling. There was nothing to be scared of. She wasn't going to get hurt due to their fast healing abilities since they were from a different species to humans. That was on his mind at that moment but he would back it up with 'Irene probably lived as human much more than a being from the sun'. With his hand, he took hers in his and let her squeeze that instead. She didn't notice the change texture of what she was holding nor what she was squeezing. All she was chanting in her head was 'Let this be done and over with'.

Five seconds of being stationary at the top, Irene wanted to shout like Changsub beside her. However, she would be shouting something completely different. Her heart was beating harder and she could feel the countdown for the drop was being set. 

A deep breath in and it suddenly dropped. Irene could feel her stomach rising up along with her heart. Her muscles tensed up to make sure her organs would stay inside and not leave her body. However, a shriek escaped her lips. It wasn't only her though. She could hear the loud screams from the men beside her.

When she could feel like they were not stopping falling, the ride suddenly bounced back up and dropped again like a boucing ball. The next consecutive ones weren't as bad as the first one but she wanted to cry. "I'm going to punch Changsub once this is over," she thought.

The seats descended slowly to the ground and the safety bars were released. Her knees were weak and had trouble walking if not for Sungjae accompanying her out of the ride. Changsub was at the back observing the two with a teasing grin. "So, when did you two start holding hands?"

Irene didn't realize what Changsub was saying. She was too shocked to comprehend the situation and clearly Sungjae ignored his right-hand man so it must not be so important, whoever held hands. Irene did not know where her legs were taking her. Her head started pounding and she could feel herself throwing up pretty soon. Her legs suddenly stopped walking and she was pushed down to sit. She glanced around and found herself seated in one of the many benches of the park. The one who pushed her down: Sungjae. 

"Wait here." He ran over to the booth and bought some bottles of water. Changsub followed but stayed a bit further, watching every movement. Sungjae jogged back and open a bottle before handing it over to Irene who gulped it all down. "Are you okay?" Sungjae rubbed her back.

"Eight rides, one after another, is no joke. Where is Changsub? I feel like I can kill him with my condition." She whipped her head around and spotted Changsub not far from them. Her headache mysteriously disappeared and adrenaline surged through her body. She sprinted towards the man who saw murder in her eyes and attempted to run away but was caught before he could fully escape. "Where are you going mister?" Dark flames enveloped her eyes. He was grabbed by his shirt and escaping could end him up in strangulation. 

"I was going to- going .. uhh... going to grab our lunch?" A shiver ran down his spine. Did he mention Irene was scary?

"Alright, that's enough." Sungjae pulled Irene away and tucked her away from Changsub, safe in his arms. "You grab our lunch and we'll wait by the veranda over there." Sungjae pointed towards the veranda where some tables and chairs were provided for guests. It allowed fresh air to breeze through and protect people from the rays of the sun and pouring rain.

It finally came to Irene the meaning behind Changsub's words. The king of the sun was holding her, protecting her from anything that would come. "I'm fine." She distanced herself away and walked ahead to the veranda and sat. Sungjae's eyes were constantly on her. He had been feeling protective of Irene for a while now which was a great mystery. She was a woman, sure, but he was usually not this protective. It felt like an automatic response. 

"Who are you really, Irene?"

She was consious, again. Again? But it only felt like she had a very short nap after an exhausting day. Her body felt heavy but she was not cranky like any other women woken up from their beauty sleep. She tried moving her arms at first, it was heavy. She glanced at it and there were no restrictions. She tried again and finally succeeded in lifting one of her arms. She moved it around a bit until she was comfortable and she did all of this to all her other limbs.

Next, she tried sitting up. "Come on, Sooyoung. You can do this." Using her elbows as her support, she raised her head and turned sideways before pushing herself up. She got some dizzy spells but after a few minutes, it eased. She glanced around the room to see where she was and the familiarity gave her extra relief. 

She tried moving her legs next. She slowly swung it to the the side of the bed and let the soles of her feet feel the cold tiles of the floor. Using as much of her strength as possible, she pushed herself up to stand. She wobbled but regained her balance not long after. 

Sooyoung found it hard to put forward a step. It was like she had no control of her legs. It remained planted on the floor. Using her clenched fist, she hit her thigh a few times to wake it up and tried again. The moment her leg moved forward, she lost control and fell to the floor. The fall gave her another wave of dizziness and was accompanied by flashbacks: Flashbacks of the time just before she fell unconsious. 

Every single memory went through her mind like a series of images and one by one stabbed her in the chest. She felt scared and alone once again. She was going to feel this way for a very, very long time. Crying would not help the situation but she hoped it would make her feel better.

It was close to dark when the trio arrived home. The whole day was exhausting yet so fun. At least they had a bit of fun during a time where all they could do, especially Irene, was feel worried. They relaxed themselves on the sofa and let the TV play. They did not move for a few a good half an hour until Irene initiated and went to the kitchen to prepare food for Sooyoung. She did have thoughts where there was no need to cook as Sooyoung would highly unlikely be awake but nobody could ever know. Maybe Sooyoung was up there, looking to the stars up above and commented on how beautiful it looked. Of course, thinking like that was plain silly.

Irene was not feeling great. With the non-stop, scary rides and no rest made her feel tired. She cooked a simple meal of congee with kimchi. She shared some to the two men before heading up to where Sooyoung was with her share. 

She wasn't expecting anything. Once the door would open, Sooyoung would still be on the same position as when they left her and Irene would have to clean her and massage her muscles like usual. However, that wasn't what happened. As soon the door slid open, the tray of congee and kimchi dropped to the floor with the sound of glass breaking. Changsub and Sungjae heard the shatter loud and clear and dashed up.

Irene was frozen the whole time and when the two arrived what they saw was what they wanted to call a miracle. Sooyoung was standing by the window sill, looking towards the clear dark sky. After many attemps of getting her conscious, she had managed to do it when they were away.

"So-Sooyoung," Irene called her in a whisper. It seemed Sooyoung heard this because she turned around and faced us. When Irene was sure it was really Sooyoung and not just some mirage, she ran to her and gave her a tight hug. "Stop doing this to me idiot. Do you know how worried I was?"

Of what they thought was a happilly ever after was soon crushed. "Leave me alone."

"What?" Irene let go and looked Sooyoung in the eyes. She was serious. 

"Just leave me alone! Can't you hear me?" Sooyoung shrieked despite having a very sore throat. "I want to stay in that dark place and remain there forever. Why can't you grant me that single wish, huh Irene?"

"After everything I have done for you and this is how you repay me?"

"I didn't ask you to do this. In fact, I asked you something completely different yet you ignored it. You chose to do the opposite. You are my only trusted friend Irene and you broke that trust."

The two men remained at the door, just in case something else started.

"Have you ever thought what I feel?" Irene's tears that was pooling in her eyes gently flowed down her cheeks. "I am your friend, yes that is true. But is that all of what you think of me? Sooyoung, you are an important person in my life. So important that if I lose you, everything I have done so far is of no value. I want to be my side for as long as time will allow because I love you. Without you, my life is incomplete. Without you, I feel no happiness. So don't ever tell me to assist you to sleep forever because I am not doing it. Losing you once was enough. I don't want to be alone Sooyoung."

Sooyoung scoffed, looking like Irene's words were plain stupid. As if Irene had an extremely long lifespan for her to say those words. Living for a long time gave Sooyoung a deeper understanding of humans. Their life span was very short yet they live to the fullness. Some obstacles bogged them down but most humans continue to live, because they only had one lives. There were beliefs of reincarnation however, Sooyoung had never met such a case. They would look alike but they led a completely different set of lives. There were no links between them.

 "As if you understand how I feel," Sooyoung muttered under her breath. Rage started to envelop her. Angry because nobody could understand her pain. Seeing a vase filled with fresh flowers at the bedside, she grabbed it and threw it across the room, nearly hitting the two men, and shattered into pieces. The flowers laid beautifully on the floor and brought color to the dull looking floor. The next target was the pillow and she threw it towards Irene. "Leave me alone!" Sooyoung grabbed whatever her hand landed on and threw it, not caring if Irene could get hurt. Irene used her hand to shield herself until Sungjae came along and hugged her so his back was towards the raging Sooyoung. On the other hand, Changsub held Sooyoung tight. Once Sooyoung was of less of a threat, Irene opened a box which contained vials and syringes. She grabbed one and draw it up before charging to Changsub who was having a hard time holding her and injected it right into her arm. Three seconds later, Sooyoung passed out and was caught by Changsub who then placed her back to bed.

"So what now?" asked Changsub to the other two after they tucked in Sooyoung and cleaned up the mess.

"We have to quicken our hunt. I thought they were coming in a week at least but they are much more closer than that after that lady's tantrum." Sungjae let out a sigh. 

A short silence filled the room. "She would definitely have to be erased after what happened," commented Changsub and Sungjae nodded. "And they don't know what she is so the safest option for them is to remove her."

Hearing them talk of erasing or removing Sooyoung made Irene disgusted of the two like they were taking everything so lightly. Sooyoung was going to be taken away from her soon and all they were doing was sit around and do nothing. "How much time do we have left?" she asked Sungjae. 

"Less than a day, maybe. The change in her aura quickened their pace thinking she might be trying to cause harm. They call themselves 'Guardians of the Universe' but all they are are aliens who think they are the most important beings in this galaxy," Sungjae answered. 

Changsub added, "And the only way to prevent her getting erased is to provide proof of her origins. She doesn't have the power but she is immortal. We just need to find that for now and quick."

"The real question is where do we start." Sungjae placed his hands into his pockets.

Irene was scratching her nails, looking very nervous. She knew there was a way but it was difficult to open it when the one who was leading the case was the sun king himself. There would be trouble if this gets out and she was pretty loyal to her family. She promised not to tell but what other choice did she have. She would risk everything just to keep Sooyoung by her side. It was the only way and she knew it would cause a terrifying consequence.

"I know someone who can help."