It’s the morning Bridge shows up in front of your apartment block that you give Jaehwan a call.

“How the  does everyone know where I live?” you mutter to yourself, furiously shoving clothes into a small suitcase, phone in the crook of your shoulder merrily ringing away. Already dressed for work in slacks and a blouse, you hadn’t anticipated your typical morning routine being interrupted by a hasty getaway. You hear a click, and then Jaehwan’s raspy sleep-addled voice.

“Hello?”

“It’s me. We’re leaving.” You’ve thrown the phone on your bed on speakerphone, rummaging around for your work laptop.

“Princess?”

You roll your eyes at his epithet. “Yeah, we gotta go.”

That seems to wake him up. “I can be there in twenty minutes.”

“No!” Your shout startles even yourself, but the idea of a confrontation with the man outside terrifies you. “We can meet somewhere. Do you know where Kowen Vista is?” you ask. You give him directions to a park a couple blocks away and hang up, rushing through your apartment so as to keep yourself from thinking about what you’re doing.

You risk a peek out your window, where Bridge is still waiting, leaned up against the opposite apartment block. Cursing your misfortune, you hurry out your door, making a mental note to message your landlady later. You’re headed out the rear exit of the building, determined to avoid a meeting with your dreaded ex. It’s not to be, as a voice you’re all too familiar with calls out your name.

Spinning on your heel, you turn to face Bridge. He looks heart-clenchingly the same as he did when you left, with pale eyes and dark hair that you once loved.

“You’re a hard woman to track down, you know?” Still just as infuriatingly hard to read, his face betrays nothing.

“And yet here you are.” Your grip on your bags tightens, unsure of how to end this confrontation.

“Did you really throw out my scarf?” Bridge asks, his tone calculated and light. “It’s been getting colder and colder.”

You swallow heavily. “I’m a big girl now, Bridge, I can take care of myself.”

He cracks a small smile. “That you can. I heard you broke Ilsung’s finger.”

You grit your teeth, remembering the night in the alley. “He got handsy with me.”

“Poor kid didn’t know who he was dealing with,” he says almost proudly. His gaze upon you is hungry, making your skin crawl. Bridge runs a hand through his hair with bruised knuckles, and you know poor Ilsung has more than just a broken finger.

“Are you going somewhere?” he continues, nodding toward your packed suitcase and backpack.

“Just a business trip,” you respond as evenly as you can, grip on the straps ever tighter.

He shakes his head and steps closer. “You don’t travel, Birdy. Not without my knowing.”

Your heart hammers at his encroaching figure, every muscle straining not to turn tail and run. You’re spared from a poorly thought out lie by a shout behind you.

“There you are!”

To your horror, Jaehwan arrives like a knight in dark leather, huffing from having run the last block. Your shock only grows as he drops a kiss on your cheek and winds an arm around your waist.

“Running late as always, sweetheart? I expected you half an hour ago!”

What.

Through your confusion and the lingering warmth on your cheek, you notice Bridge’s clenched teeth as he raises his eyebrows at the newcomer.

“And you are?” he grinds out.

Jaehwan fixes him with a blinding smile and holds out a hand. “Lee Jaehwan, at your service.”

Bridge looks at the offered hand as if it’s diseased. “What is this?” he directs at you.

“Um, my new boyfriend?” you offer weakly.

“Aww, she’s still so shy about our relationship,” Jaehwan coos, and you kind of want to die right now. “We’re taking a weekend trip to visit my parents, they’re so excited to meet her!”

“Right.” Bridge’s disdain almost takes a life of its own.

“Well, must be off! We’re already late for the train as it is.” Jaehwan wheels you around, dragging you with him. “Very nice meeting you!” he calls back over his shoulder.

The second you round the corner from your apartment block, you spring from Jaehwan’s grasp as if burned.

“Think he bought it?” he says, giving you some space.

“Absolutely not. What were you thinking?!” you hiss, trying to keep your voice down.

Jaehwan shrugs. “I was thinking he looks like the kind of guy who won’t leave a girl alone unless she’s attached to another guy.”

You bristle at the thought of being attached to Jaehwan, or indeed any other man.

“You probably just made him mad.” You chew on your bottom lip, thinking of all the ways this could come back to haunt you. “Bridge isn’t the type to give up so easily. He found me again after all.” You glance over at Jaehwan who has been leading you toward the subway. “What happened to meeting me at the park?”

He scoffs out a laugh. “You call me out of nowhere to say we have to leave and you expect me not to investigate?”

“It’s not that absurd,” you mutter, taking the stairs underground. The two of you are quickly swallowed up by the crowd of commuters traveling to work.

“You had a very sudden change of heart,” he says pointedly.

You shake your head. In truth, the question of leaving had occupied your mind since the day Hakyeon arrived. The reappearance of Bridge had only spooked you into action.

“You don’t know Bridge. I will not be controlled by him again.” Your resolution is ironclad, but you wish your heart could be just as steady. You have stark memories of moving all around the city, being denied work because of Bridge’s blacklist, being tailed day in and day out. The fear makes your heart waver, but the memories make your mind resolute.

“Besides,” you continue. “Hakyeon is right.”

“Is he?” Jaehwan asks, skeptical.

You nod regretfully. “I owe him.” You would not be alive were it not for your cousin, a fact that haunts you to this day.

The wait at the subway platform is short, and soon the two of you are boarded on a line heading to the main transit hub of the city. You have no idea what the plan is, but you’re trusting Hakyeon to have laid everything out. Once in the city proper, you follow Jaehwan to the ticket kiosk for an international bullet train line.

You wait on a nearby bench and close your eyes briefly, exhausted from your life the past few weeks. You’re used to waking early for work, but the weeks of poor sleep are taking their toll. The world moves on around you, oblivious to the chaos of your life. The Armistice megacity never truly sleeps, but morning rush hour is when it is most alive, with office workers and college kids all rushing about, coffee in hand. You’re idly wondering if you should bother with caffeine yourself when you hear Jaehwan approach.

“The train leaves in half an hour. Look alive, Princess,” he says, handing you a laminated ticket and taking a seat next to you.

You examine the ticket, turning it over slowly. “Stop calling me that,” you say quietly, almost to yourself.

Jaehwan quirks an eyebrow. “Is that not what you are?”

“I haven’t been a princess in a very long time.” Now that the adrenaline is wearing down, your heart feels heavy and you have anxiety writhing in your stomach again. “This is a very expensive ticket,” you say absently.

He laughs and flashes you a conspiring smirk. “I’ve got the royal credit card on hand. Everything is on Hakyeon, so feel free to explore how far his balance goes.”

You crack a smile at the thought of your cousin’s face upon seeing the bill. The next half hour passes in a gently awkward silence, but before long you find yourself seated in one of the nicest trains you’ve ever been on. Jaehwan has booked a whole compartment, so you’re spared the disservice of having to interact with anyone else. He excuses himself briefly to take a stroll down the corridor, allowing you to sink into the plush leather seats and close your tired eyes.

You wake to the setting sun and Jaehwan across the compartment staring at you curiously.

“Have you been watching me sleep?”

He shakes his head. “Did you know you drool in your sleep?”

You sit up with a start and rub your mouth furiously, glaring at him. A glance outside shows you’re traveling on a high bridge over glittery waters. It only deepens your glare.

“Where are we?”

“Somewhere over the Strait of Thule,” he says, naming a thin body of water connecting the United Northern Federation to the Tuvan Republic in the west. “You’ve been out almost seven hours.” Arms crossed and leaning back, Jaehwan is the picture of nonchalance.

It’s more consecutive sleep than you’ve had in weeks, and farther away than you’ve traveled in years. You shouldn’t be, but you’re impressed by the speed of the high-tech bullet train that’s already started crossing over to the next continent. Ever closer to your homecoming.

You’re jolted out of your reverie by a miniature chocolate bar landing in your lap, thrown by Jaehwan.

“Hungry?” he says at your confused look, popping a chocolate of his own into his mouth.

“Please tell me there’s more food on this train than your candy stash.” You look down at the offending piece of candy in disdain, but slip it into your pocket for later anyway.

He responds by striding over to the compartment door. You think he’s about to leave, but instead he presses a small button that slides open a touchscreen panel.

“You can order anything you need through this. It’s essentially room service, which is super cool,” he says, grinning.

You tilt your head, once again impressed, trying to keep the wonder off your face.

“There’s also a bathroom in the next car if you need to brush your teeth or shower.”

Realizing your mouth feels decidedly un-fresh, you pull out your toothpaste and brush and are about to step out when you hear Jaehwan start to follow.

“You are not following me to the bathroom,” you say with a glare.

He quirks his mouth in a lopsided frown, apparently taking his job as your bodyguard very seriously. “Hakyeon said to keep an eye on you.”

“No.” You refuse to be followed around everywhere, least of all to the bathroom.

He shrugs and gives up, sitting back down.

“It’s on the left!” you hear him call out behind you as you step out into the hall.

Following his directions, you walk down the corridor to the left. The automatic door to the next car slides open and you walk through, only to run directly into a man coming through the other side.

“Sorry!” you say quickly, stepping back to give the man some space.

“Ack, I’m sorry miss.” The man’s voice is a low rumble in his chest as he turns to the side to let you through. “Are you okay?”

Embarrassed, you quickly walk past him, noting his close-cropped black hair and considerable height before bowing your head in apology.

“I’m fine. I should have been looking where I was going, I’m sorry.”

“It’s all good!” He chuckles in a just-as-low booming way before heading down the way you came.

The bathroom turns out to be nicer than the one you have in your apartment, with stainless steel faucets and even a small tiled shower. You quickly brush your teeth and wash your face, feeling a little readier to handle life. Satisfied with your minty fresh breath, you return to the compartment and pull out your laptop, settling down to be productive despite the circumstances.

Jaehwan is fiddling with the service screen as you open your emails, grateful for the abundant internet access. You’re starting to compose some sort of explanation for your landlady when Jaehwan interrupts your thoughts.

“When’s the last time you ate, Princess?”

A quick glance over shows that he’s swiping through some sort of menu, but you’re more interested in your email. “I thought I asked you to stop calling me that,” you mumble half-heartedly.

“Hakyeon’s gonna kill me if you die of starvation before we get you to him,” he retorts. “I’m ordering food, what do you want?”

You’re about to tell him to surprise you with anything, but ultimately realizing you don’t trust him not to order more candy, you give up and make your way over to the screen.

“The train’s also about to make its first stop, if you wanna hop off and find something there,” Jaehwan says. “We won’t have a lot of time though.”

You shake your head and poke at the screen, picking out an entree for yourself. Leaving Jaehwan to make his own selection, you busy yourself with your laptop again, wondering just how much of your work you can actually do remotely. Explaining your situation to your supervisor is going to be a headache and you feel bad for dropping out on the rest of your team, but you’d worked way too hard to get this position to just give it up now.

You’re looking through some code, accompanied by the sounds of a game Jaehwan is playing on his phone. Try as you might, the characters all swim in front of your eyes as you lose your concentration, lost in anxiety about going back to Asadal. Ten years is a long time, and you’re not sure what you’ll find when you return.

The food eventually arrives, carted in by a courier. Delicious smells of noodles and rice fill the compartment as your attention is finally torn from your work. Looking at the cart though, you realize that there are about ten dishes extra from what you ordered.

“Royal credit card!” Jaehwan exclaims, grinning from ear to ear.

“You can’t possibly eat all this,” you say, fixing him with an incredulous look.

“You’re going to help me, of course,” he responds matter-of-factly, grabbing a pair of chopsticks.

You cross your arms in defiance. “I did not sign up for that.”

“Sit down, Princess.” He pats the seat next to him and shoves a dumpling in his mouth. “You’re just as stubborn as Hakyeon, you know that?”

Mildly offended, you take the seat opposite him and pick up some chopsticks of your own. Living on your own for so long, you had few opportunities to eat out, and your own cooking skills are limited, to put it kindly. The spread of dishes in front of you is almost overwhelming in comparison.

You load up a plate of rice and the entree you chose, but Jaehwan keeps adding to your plate, looking away and munching on his food innocently when you glare. Resisting the urge to fling something at him, you begin to eat quietly. It’s all so very delicious, and you have to work hard not to show Jaehwan how much you’re enjoying it, lest he be too proud of himself.

The meal passes in silence, punctuated only with Jaehwan’s insistence you try something. Your full stomach makes you feel sleepy again, and you officially give up on work, leaning back against the seats and staring out the window. You’re on dark land now, the stars illuminating the blurry landscape. Being surrounded by city lights for most of your life, the star-studded sky is an unfamiliar but unforgettable sight. You close your eyes again, trying to prepare yourself for the coming days as best as possible.

Hours later, you’re shaken awake by Jaehwan who is kneeling next to you and sporting a serious look you’ve never seen before on him.

“Rise and shine, we have to go.”