"When you walk to the edge of all the light you have and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown, you must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for you to stand upon or you will be taught to fly."
— Patrick Overton

Weeks passed and fortunately, her schedule conflicted with both Kai's and Chanyeol's. Though she knew it was wrong to keep them in the dark, she didn't have the courage to face either men—or rather, she had no face to show.

All this time, her mind had been wrapped around what happened, and the possible consequences it could bring. Yet with everything that she had thought of and planned for, she failed to consider the biggest, and most life changing consequence of all.

|| SM Entertainment ||

For the past three weeks, Su Min had gotten away with her endless requests to work with any other members aside for Kai and Chanyeol. No questions asked. And she couldn’t have been more thankful. It felt as if all the higher beings were on her side, supporting her through this challenging time.

Though she knew she'd eventually ran out of luck, she never expected the "in exchange" for her selfish wishes would so unforgiving.

"So that’s the schedule for today. I’ll go ahead and take the seven to their film sites, and we’ll just meet you three later," Woojin informed her without taking his eyes off the clipboard.

Su Min stared blankly ahead. Nothing else registered in her brain after the words, "you’ll be in charge of Kai and Chanyeol today" came out of their manager's mouth.

Nothing at all.

She stood there with her mind half-empty and half-panicked, if that was possible. It was already hard for her to face either one of them…and now, she had to confront both at the same time.

|| …………… ||

While the eight piled inside EXO's usual van, Kai, Chanyeol, and Su Min boarded a smaller car.

"You can take front," Chanyeol offered nicely, "Su Min and I will sit in the back."

"No, you can have it," Kai replied, keeping a straight face. Without another word, he switched his gaze over to Su Min and met her eyes, relaying a message she had no intention of decoding.

Su Min turned her head away to avoid making another eye contact and cleared . "I’ll sit up front and you two take the back," she instructed, trying to sound as casual as possible. Before either one could protest, she faked a smile and got in the car.

She had been different with her best friend. She had been ignoring her ex-boyfriend’s calls and messages. Both men were aware she had been avoiding them, but she was certain neither knew why.

As she closed the passenger door, Chanyeol turned his attention to her, while Kai’s never wavered. For the entire trip, their pair of eyes remained fixed on her reflection, trying their best to read her thoughts.

|| …………… ||

As soon as they arrived at the photoshoot site, the two were fortunately whisked away to hair and make-up.

For the rest of the day, Su Min managed to get away with minimal interaction and limited communication that were all work related.

But of course, her luck wasn’t going to last forever.

The first of the two was Kai, who succeeded in cornering her into a room during one of their breaks.  

Su Min kept her head lowered as he stood in front of her, saying nothing. Whatever was on his mind, Kai couldn’t find the right words to say it. Like her, he didn’t know where to begin.

And so, they remained frozen in place, silent.

Silly boy. I was the one who left that day. Su Min thought. It's me who owes you an explanation, yet you're the one struggling to talk.

Finding the courage, she eventually looked up and met his gaze with tears lining her eyes, threatening to fall at any moment.

Kai's eyes gradually widened at the sight and right there and then, he knew. She had seen his interview.

Su Min cracked a sad smile just as a tear finally cascaded down the side of her face, "I guess six years wasn't not long enough." 

"Su Min…" he called in a whisper.

The sound of his voice rang sweetly in her ears, yet at the same time, it was accompanied by an unbearable pain that went straight to her heart.

With no words left to say, she stepped aside and headed for the door, leaving him with just as much tears flowing down his face as there were on hers.

She exited the room and wiped any trace of heartache away, failing to notice two familiar figures observing some distance away.

"O—isn’t that Su Min?" the older of the two asked.

His companion remained quiet, keeping his eyes trained ahead, watching her leave. Without responding, the maknae put an arm around his hyung and turned the opposite direction just as Kai exited the room. "We should go," he stated, taking the fruit lover with him.

|| …………… ||

For the past half hour, Su Min had been walking. Turning left then right, going up then down. She didn’t know where she was. She didn’t know where she was going. She didn’t care.

No matter how many steps she took, it felt like she wasn’t moving.

She knew fate had a way with playing with emotions, but did it need to be this cruel? It sent her half way around the world to forget and move on, only to bring her back to the same place she was in six years ago. To make her realize she never actually changed. And that she was the same naïve, scared, and self-doubting girl she was back then.

"Park Su Min!" his loud familiar voice called, disrupting her thoughts.

Su Min raised her head and there he was, dashing towards her…her knight errant in his forever shining armor.

Chanyeol stopped just a foot away from her and crossed his arms with an angry sigh. "If you apologize now, I’ll forgive you for whatever it is you did," he told her playfully.

Hearing those words, the tears she barely managed to stop resurrected on the spot. She quickly turned her head away and refrained from responding.

Though she prayed he would leave, she knew the possibility of that happening was close to zero.

"Aigoo," Chanyeol breathed out. Despite his attempts to keep the fake frown on his face, his pouted lips eventually contorted into a sweet smile. He took Su Min into his arms and her hair gently. "Our Su-M