[CONTENTID1]Escape[/CONTENTID1]

 [CONTENTID2]Chapter XIV [/CONTENTID2]

 [CONTENTID3]

         The plan is simple.

         The two of them head to their respective dorms per usual, Irene tells her manager and the girls that she would stay overnight with a long-time friend, while Mino rents a car for them to use.

         Wearing the most convincing disguise she could come up with, Irene walks a block away from where she lives and enters the car that had the same details as he texted her. The moment the door closes beside her, they stare at each other through masks and hoods, eyes both wide in disbelief at such a spontaneous trip. Five years of absence in each other's lives except for minor glances when on duty only to end back together out of impulse.

         "I still think this is crazy," Irene utters as she clutches her bag.

         “If it makes you feel better, I think we have gone mad too,” Mino replies, peering over the tinted window before his body inches closer to the female to pull the seatbelt on her. For a moment, their faces are mere inches apart and the man took this opportunity to gaze deeply into her honest eyes. "Should we stop? Just like before?"

         Just like before. When they were merely rookies, frightened to taint their images when they were just starting.

         Just like before. When they denied themselves of each other even when they knew what they had was good.

         "You know what I was most afraid of while I was preparing to meet up with you here? It's that I might come to realize that you are now different and I have only been clinging to the past. I adored the Minho I knew a lot." Her hand gingerly raises to his cheek, making Mino close his eyes and lean to her warmth. "However you never fail to exceed expectations. How come you still feel utterly familiar?"

         "I think you know the answer to that. I'm still the same stubborn guy you met at the rooftop." He dares to contest the small distance between them and presses their foreheads together, their noses almost brushing. "Now, it's your turn to answer my question. Should we stop?"

         "If you're still the same man who I used to know, then you definitely wouldn't take no for an answer," Irene whispers and the man grins to that.

         "I'm glad you are aware of that."

         "No, let's not stop. Take me away from here."

         "Gladly."

         Mino had a place in mind, somewhere remote enough not to be known as much. For a long while, they just drive away with the radio playing along. The main plan was to go as far as possible from the city, and just spend time through whatever awaits them.

         They drove enough for the tall buildings to turn into long tunnels, rice fields, and calm seas. They drove enough for their phone signals to die out and no one from Seoul could reach them anymore. Irene spends most of her time humming along with the song or staring at the passing scenes from her window. Mino does not push a conversat