“We go in, buy the asset and leave. Pure, simple business, right?” you remind the Venusian delegation consisting of you, the senator’s daughter, a few guards and robots. Nobody answers, nobody even looks at you as you try to reassure yourself that everything is going to be alright. You won’t disappoint your father by failing such an easy task with intergalactical importance.

“Alright, miss,” your translator robot saves you from the embarrassment of talking to yourself and you smile at the human-like artificial intelligent just before the entire ship shakes because of turbulence. You let out a surprised yelp and jog back to your seat when the pilot shouts back:

“We are gonna have a rough landing, everybody get a grip!” he warns from behind the control panel and fly the spacecraft over the red lights hidden in the green wildness that overgrown the entire planet. The young man in uniform curses under his breath as he catches a sight of the old-fashioned, unpractical but pretty landing site. “Eyy those fancy Earth2 stations. No wonder nobody wanted set a foot in here in centuries.”

Well, it isn’t the only reason, you all know. The planet is famous for its humidity that’s sometimes too much to bear, the constant rain and hot air are both uncomfortable for most beings so the combination of all these are probably why Earth2 hasn’t gotten a lot of visitors lately. Not to mention its gravity that plays tricks on any machine set for other atmosphere. For instant, your spaceship.

“What the hell is going on?” you shouted at the pilot as the vehicle kept shaking and you felt the descent of height in the pressure on your chest. When you didn’t get an answer, you got up and trotted forward to the control panel against all protests coming from your guards.

“What’s happening, Jung?” you question the pilot in annoyance and you utter curses in your head. You should have known not to trust your father’s decision in pilots, especially if this certain mission required a long, long journey and diplomatic sweet talks. The guy you know from Venusian Interstellar Academy is most likely the worst choice, you vouched for it.

“Sit back to your seat, princess, I have everything under control,” he retorts using the nickname you dislike on purpose.

“I’m not a princess and you can’t tell me what to do,” you argue and lose a bit of your footing when ship’s unpredictable movements mess up your balance. The pilot casually grabs your elbow and keeps you right there without any know-it-all comment. You hold onto him as if he was an anchor and you clear your throat. “You should lower the atmospheric pressure by 60.000, you idiot.”

You have never learnt how to control a spaceship properly but you know the theory. They taught all of it in your Intergalactical Travel Methods class at the Academy… that you took together.

“I know! I’m the pilot, not y-” Jung snorts.

“Venusian Fjordian, model number FG-404, identify yourself,” the radio crackles out of blue as the control tower notices your intention of landing, interrupting the pilot’s heated comment.

“Poor Star Lady, why can’t they learn your name already?” he pats the control panel lovingly and you scoff at his childish acts. Of course, he named his spaceship. It was his ’baby’ ever since he got it and talked about it so much, you just wanted to roll your eyes whenever you heard its cheesy name.

“Here is FG-404, delegation of Venusian, staff of eight humans and three robots, asking for a landing permit,” the guy switches to an official, serious tone, one you never hear from him outside of work.

A pause of silence follows and then the radio crackles again.

“Permission given, please land on A5, thank you and welcome to Earth2.”

“Home, sweet home,” the pilot mutters under his breath almost inaudible when the log ends. He presses a few buttons, changing some settings and lowers the machine legs over the landing area. The spaceship’s engine stops as soon as the legs set foot on the ground, steadying the vehicle.

“Any complaint or request, princess? We arrived safely,” Jung Hoseok, as his name tag on his uniform says, turns towards you with a -eating grin on his irritatingly handsome face.

He makes you want to scream.

“Oh just shut up already!” you scoff not too mature.

You stand up to lead the delegation off the ship and greet your business partners on the mainland of this wild planet. While discussing politics and trade affairs, you finally managed to get rid of your disturbing thoughts about the boy whose eyes hold galaxies as he was born to travel through the universe. Funny how life works, you never thought you would see him after graduating from the Academy. He went on his way, free like a bird as always while you were bound to rules and protocols, under constant surveillance and protection. It’s something he always teases you about and the reason why he calls you princess mockingly all the time. It really angers you because he has no idea about the struggles you had, because just like everybody else he thinks that you are the perfect girl, daddy’s beloved daughter who got everything on silver planet. Not like you knew a lot about him, that much becomes painfully obvious as soon as you are escorted to the meeting room of Earthian monarchs and the lady speaks up in a highborn accent:

“Where’s Hoseok?”

“Who?” you blink at her in confusion.

“The pilot. We only agreed to this meeting on the condition he was coming too.”

Ah, this explains why your father was so relentless about the identity of the pilot but you still don’t understand why he’s so important. But as if he knew what was going on, in that moment Jung Hoseok waltzes into the room like he owns the place with a glass of wine (or maybe gin?) in his right hand and plops down on the chair across from the welcoming committee.

“Hello everyone, what did I miss?”

Afraid of him humiliating you and your nation, you grab the front of his collars hastily.

“Get up, Jung and show some respect to our lovely hosts,” you hiss only for his ears to hear and unlike the pilot, you don’t find the situation amusing at all. He merely flashes you a smug smirk and hurries to stand up as you wished.

“Sorry, you are right, my bad,” he bows a bit forced towards the Earthians. Something dangerous flashes in his eyes and you gulp nervously, fingers playing with your latex uniform’s edge. On the other hand, Hoseok is absolutely relaxed like he never felt more home… and you don’t even suspect how true it is. “How are you, mother? Stepdad is still drinking?”

Your eyes widen and mouth hang open in astonishment when you hear his questions and suddenly you don’t know where to look. It takes a whole minute to process the meaning behind his words.

“You should come home more often, son,” the woman scolds Hoseok who can’t help but laugh it off.

“Thank you for the invitation but no, I would rather not,” he answers without hesitation, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he settles back onto the chair seeking comfort.

“Do you really care about the Venusian Republic more than your home? Is this why you came here? You need that stupid plant so bad?”

Calling the keypoint of your survival a ‘stupid plant’ is a bit too much since the planet you came from lacks water and no matter how advanced your technology is, you can’t grow plants so you have to import them which takes a lot on the budget. Not to mention, it’s a dangerous situation because food can’t be stocked for a long time and what if you get yourself into an interstellar war without a trade partner? How are you going to live then only on meat? So that’s why this new survivor plant of Earth2, this experienced agriculture colony, can be a lot of help for you because it’s said to be able to grow and become fruitful even under the harshest conditions.

“It’s strictly business, mom. They want that freaking botanical stuff and in exchange they offer technology. It has nothing to do with me,” Jung shakes his head as he puts both his elbows on the able, leaning towards his mother. Now that you look closer, you see the similarities between them, the same slope of nose, those coffee brown eyes and the crinkles next to their mouth. But in contrary of the pilot’s sassy, smiley personality, his parent seems like the definition of stiffness and gloominess.

"Then we won’t agree,” she raises her chin high up, obviously feeling in a more advantageous position in this deal since you want something from her and not the other way around. You have been taught techniques of how to handle negotiations but you felt like you ended up in the middle of a family dispute and it wasn’t about business anymore at all. You had no right to interrupt. “We don’t need your superior technology, we have our own and there’s not enough gold you can pay us to give the to you.”

A deep, knowing sigh escapes Hoseok. His features harden as he stares ahead at his bossy mother.

“Then what do you want?”

“You,” the woman replies without an ounce of kindness, in a tone which allow of no reply.

However, at this point, you need to step in.

“No! All due respect my lady, but Ju… Hoseok isn’t a property who is to be bought. We don’t want a deal that includes creatures with their own will,” you state the indisputable fact you are not willing to change. Maybe, you Venusians aren’t the best people out there but you don’t keep slaves and you don’t trade with humans. You and Jung might not have been on the greatest terms but there’s no way you leave him here on his own if he doesn’t want to stay. Even if his family was here. He probably had a very good reason to leave.

“Then the business is off,” the woman says, voice thick with anticipation and the way she intertwines her pointy fingers, she clearly thinks she is in the winning position. It makes you want to show her a stylish goodbye.

“Well I would say it had been a pleasure to meet you but that would be a lie. Bye,” you turn on your heels abruptly and rush out of the room. You don’t get to see but Hoseok stares after you quite impressed.

“You heard her,” he shrugs with a cheeky smile and follows you gleefully.

The confused translator robot and another member of the delegation comes by with him but he waves them off, telling them to meet on the ship later, and he goes after you to the gardens.

It’s been a while since he came here. It feels like a lifetime and maybe it really is. When he decided to leave behind Earth2 with all of its unhealthy quantity of flora and humid air that makes it hard to breath sometimes, he started a new life. At the Academy on Venus, he decided he wanted to travel the universe, to never settle down, to see as much as humanly possible. Now, he is home in the galaxy, among the stars.

And you? You are a girl born to live on land with a mouth bigger than it should have been and at first, he only liked teasing you to see your reactions but now, now he knows all of them by heart. He memorised the way you crunch your nose when you are mad, the way you squint your eyes at him when you are about to tell him off and he absolutely loves your comebacks. However, even though he enjoys your little interactions, most of the times you seem fed up with him so he never expected you to stand up for him. You could have agreed to the condition, telling him to stay, that the plant is more important for your country but you didn’t, you didn’t even hesitate. Even if it meant to disappoint your proud family.

“My dad will kill me,” you whisper mostly to yourself and you jump in surprise when Hoseok speaks up from behind you.

“No he won’t. He loves you. And we have that ugly thing anyway,” he says as he sits down next to you on the bench as casually as ever while swinging a leg over another. He reaches for your hand turning it upwards and then slips a single seed onto your palm. “I have more.”

You gape at tiny, life-changing seed and close your fist around it. When you look up, you narrow your eyes at Hoseok. So that’s why he was late!

“You did not steal this, right?”

The suspicion in your voice makes the boy laugh. He knows it’s an important asset for Venus since the country doesn’t leave nothing to chance either. They wouldn’t have made such a long journey just to return with empty hands.

“Oh sweetie they might have told you to buy it but to me they said to take it either way,” he confesses and even though he thought you would protest more feverishly, you just laugh as you resigned yourself to the inevitable and his unpredictable personality. It reminds him that he owns you something.

“Thank you. You know… for what you did back there,” he mutters a bit sheepishly, scratching his nape and you blink at him in confusion.

“I didn’t do anything special.”

Hoseok apparently doesn’t agree. How would it have looked in his mother’s eye that the country he chose over his own pushes him back into her arms for some plant?

“But you did. I know you kinda hate my guts but you still stood up for me and…”

“I don’t hate you,” you can’t help but blurt out and you have to look away from the questioning glance he’s sending to you. Still, the intensity and genuine interest in his eyes make you blush. “It’s just that you make me so mad sometimes. You are infuriating and I don’t know what to do with myself so I act on impulse.”

“Ah I know it’s because of my devilishly good looks, you can admit it,” he winks at you that makes you roll your eyes. He is back at his usual self.

“Aaand the moment is gone,” you sigh but don’t want to let go. You kind of enjoy this fragile intimacy between you. “Why did you leave this place?”

And Hoseok could joke, make it funny and say because of the atmosphere or something like that but he sticks to the truth. Well, a part of it.

“My mom used to read me a lot when I was a kid about other planets and galaxies. Growing up I wanted to discover it all,” he explains staring out to the distance, at the two moon of this planet.

"I hope you will get the chance to,” you tell him because Hoseok is really somebody who belongs out there, out of the cages, so you can only hope your father’s orders won’t weight him down too much.

“Me too,” he nods with an uncharacteristically shy smile and when he looks at you, he thinks he sees the universe in your eyes, too.

A minute of silence follows until the sound of footsteps coming from outside disturb them.

“I think we should get back to the spaceship before they-”

The alarms go off as soon as the pilot tentatively makes the suggestion and the red lights leave them no choice.

“Let’s go,” he jumps to his feet and grabs your arm hastily yanking you forward.

He knows this planet way better so you trust and follow him without questioning. Hand in hand you ran towards Star Lady and the whole situation is so absurd, you break into a fit of giggles. Without asking what you laugh at Hoseok joins you. Jogging on the ramp, he pulls you close to get you both on the spacecraft in one piece in time and somehow, in-between of heavy breath and secret smiles, you realize it wouldn’t be too hard to fell for him.