3 months later

September in Santorini is pleasantly warm. Taeyeon breathes in the late afternoon air, brushing away the newly bleached hair from her face, and smoothing her flowy chiffon dress as it clings to her in the wind.

She steps down white stairs, the blue sea in larger view. The chapel on her left catches her attention as cheers and claps break out from a small gathering around it, and she turns just in time to find a newly married couple kissing.

She smiles, reminded all of a sudden of Seungwan, who she’d last talked to yesterday, after landing in the Greek island from Italy. When she thinks about how many months have passed since she’d left Korea, it feels unreal. Like she’s been living a sort of lucid dream.

She reaches the docks, and finds the yacht that she’s supposed to cruise on that day. Her phone rings just as she’s about to board, she fishes it out of her body bag and attends it.

“How’re you doing, sweetheart?”, The male asks in English and Taeyeon cringes. After everything, there are still some things the guy is not willing to compromise in, despite his initial promises to Taeyeon.

“Dad, do you really have to call me that?”, She asks, only half annoyed at the endearment.

“Yes, of course, obviously and definitely. Who else would I call these things?”, The male replies cheekily and Taeyeon is filled with this strange warmth. She can’t believe how far she and her father have come since….

“Taehyung, maybe? I’m sure he’ll love it. And there’s always Ahjumma too”, She rolls her eyes. Her step mother hates calling or being called such things, that was one of the first things she’d ever noticed about their relationship. And Taehyung would probably really love it, but she knows her father only says such things to get a response out of her and her stepmother, which he’s not going to get from Taehyung so it’s not worth his time.

“Oh come on, you know you love it, honey”, Taeyeon can picture the old man smirking. Really, why are the males in this family so embarrassing?

Even Taehyung was the same despite being a teenager. She’d just read his comment on her recent Instagram post which said ‘Noona, I miss you soooooo much!’ followed by Sehun’s ‘I miss you more noona, please come back to Korea soon’. Really, how were any girls going to take them seriously if they kept being such whiny little babies? (In Sehun’s case though, she could overlook it since he already had Yerim) She thanked God her father wasn’t on social media or she would have a whole lot more of these comments.

“I’m hanging up”, She fake warned.

“Wait up now, young lady. How’s your trip going? Hopefully no handsome guys have been bothering you?”

“Dad!”, She protested, burning up. Her father was really this frank with her now.

Months ago, when she’d taken the plane to Australia and landed to find her father in the hospital, she had been less than willing to show any emotion. He had been shocked to find her there too, and she’d just silently made her presence felt during those days without saying much. (“I was scared out of my wits to be honest, with the looks you gave me”, Her father had commented on it later).

Once he’d been sent home though, her patience had run out. How long could she keep up this pretense of someone who was visiting him due to his health? She was there for answers and that’s what she was going to get. So she’d confronted him.

And seeing him break down had broken away all her inhibitions too. He had told her how guilty he’d felt all these years, how once he’d stopped contacting her, it had felt too selfish to turn back even when he thought he should. He’d picked up the phone a thousand times to call her, but hadn’t been able to go through with it in the end.

“I was – I am a coward”, He’d admitted.

Taeyeon had been furious. Or maybe she’d pretended to be. After everything she’d thought, after all the evil things she’d conjured up about him in her mind, he was just going to redeem himself with such a bad excuse?

“Yes, yes you are”, She’d stormed off with those words, the pain of the past twelve years streaming down her face and buried herself under covers in her hotel room. For three days, she picked up no calls, didn’t do anything, except get up to eat. She thought and cried, tried to make herself hate him for everything he’d done or rather not done but she’d failed. She’d made herself vulnerable to getting hurt the moment she’d stepped on that plane and she had to deal with it now.

She’d planned to leave then, and she had. But once she reached the airport, the thought of leaving like that, like nothing had ever changed, made her feel such profound sense of loss that she’d actually felt her heart breaking. It had been his decision to leave, back when he’d been the one calling the shots, but now it would be her. And technically she could. She could leave, she didn’t have to be the bigger person when he hadn’t bothered to even be what he was expected to be. But she couldn’t, couldn’t bring herself to break that final thread that would cut her off from him forever.

So she’d gone back, not bothering to check into a hotel this time. He’d been surprised, rightfully so, seeing her show up with all her luggage at his house like that but he’d digressed. She hadn’t felt like explaining, and they’d all somehow understood and played the part of (guiltily) hospitable hosts. She was wary at first, fighting constant battles with herself, not fully convinced to stay neither to leave.

Taehyung though, had been another story. The minute the guy had found out she was his half-sister (he’d taken the whole thing pretty nicely for a teenager), he was on her case twenty-four seven, badgering her with everyday stories from school when he returned home (even when she showed the least interest in them), bringing her random stuff, asking her to recommend him books, even going as far to tell her about the girls he was crushing on.  Despite her clear discomfort at his overly familial gestures and ignorance of him initially, he’d persisted and had succeeded in his mission. She could only not respond to a guy as full of life as him for so long. It was because of him that after weeks of living like an uninvited guest, she finally started to feel at home. And that had finally given her the resolve to make an effort with her father too.

Though it was impossible to make up for the years lost, her father had given her his best. He would wake up early during the days he was recovering when her step-mother had to leave for her job, and make breakfast for her, though she’d told him not to. Sometimes when he knew she’d slept in for the day, and wouldn’t go to sleep soon at night, he would stay up under the pretense of working on some office related things and would then suggest they make cookies and drink them with milk. It had become a habit then, even when they were both sleepy, they wouldn’t sleep until they’d eaten cookies (she was the only one doing much of the eating though, since he didn’t need the extra carbs in his condition). They talked, and talked and talked, and over the course of those three months, she’d come to know much about him if not everything.

Two months ago when he’d gone back to his office work, she’d started getting bored so he’d suggested she travel, since it was the last few weeks of her freedom before she’d have to go back for her convocation, and officially start her professional life as a journalist. Though, it hadn’t appealed to her at first, she wanted to spend time with him before going back to Korea, she’d made the decision to do it eventually. She had never travelled, not much anyway, and with everyone encouraging her the idea had started sounding more and more attractive. She decided on Europe, all the money that her father had been sending her these years that she hadn’t used coming in handy now. She’d started with Istanbul, followed by London, Paris and Rome before ending up in Santorini.

“So I hope that means no guys?”, He prods.

Taeyeon rolls her eyes, as she steps onto the deck above. Seeing the strangely familiar back of a male standing at the far end, she has an idea. “Well, not for long. There’s one very handsome guy standing not too far from me, I think I’m gonna go and strike up a conversation, who knows where it might lead?”

He makes a grunting sound, and Taeyen smiles. No matter how liberal minded he pretends to be, he’s still her father. “Well, make sure you have your spray with you at all times, okay? Can’t trust anyone these days. Eat lots of good things and send Taehyung pictures, that guy’s been so whiny since you left, it’s getting on my nerves!”

She laughs. She’s still getting used to this protective version of him, but she isn’t complaining. “I will, Dad. You take care too, okay? Don’t strain yourself too much. Remember, health always comes first”

“Yes, Ma’am! Anything else?”

“Say Hi to Ahjumma and Taehyung!”

“Bye, I love you!”

Her breath hitches. Hearing it from him often enough now, she is starting to believe it. “I love you too, Dad”

…………………………………………………………….

She looks out at the open expanse of blue for a few more minutes, before turning to go inside the cabin once they start sailing.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

His voice is a murmur carried through the breeze, and she halts, her heart thrumming. The wind ruffles her hair, and she closes her eyes and smiles, trying to live in the moment.

“It is, indeed”, She turns around with a soft smile, to find the guy she’d been calling ‘handsome’ a few minutes ago, facing her now, with a smile of his own. It reaches his eyes…..and her heart.

“How are you?”, The guy asks, his eyes deep.

“I’m good. How about you?”

“I’m good too. How are you liking Santorini?”, He gestures to the edge, and she walks towards it and him, her hands curling around the railing as she gazes out the sea.

“Very much. How about you? Have you travelled anywhere else in Europe?”

“Well, I was in Lyon up until yesterday. It was beautiful too”

“That’s nice”, They quiet down for a few moments, and the silence is one of the most comfortable Taeyeon has ever experienced.

She looks at him then, his side profile anyway, for a long moment before he turns and meets her gaze. She doesn’t look away. His orbs hold the same warmth, the same longing, but a greater intensity.

“How long has it been?”, She asks without breaking eye contact.

“A thousand years, I think”, He replies in a heartbeat. “I feel like I’ve missed you for a thousand years”

She swallows, because she believes him, this time with all her heart. “Have you?”

He holds out his hand, and she places her’s in it without any inhibitions. They fit together perfectly, as they had many times before. “Let’s go home, Taeyeon”

She smiles. “Let’s”

When she and the boy with the rectangular smile walk away together, she knows it’s for forever this time.

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A/N: *squeals for 5 minutes* I can't believe this is over! :(( I have such mixed feelings. I am happy at having reached a milestone in my writing work, but it's a bittersweet feeling, ending a fiction that started me as a writer.

I am so, so thankful to each and everyone of you who followed my work through this. Come find me @luminous0602 on insta if you ever want to. 

I do have another special chapter planned for this, but let's see when I'm able to upload it. That is if you guys want it?

Adios for now. I'll be back soon hopefully.

May you all stay blessed and stress free!