Chaewon POV

Raeix is almost exactly how you imagined it to be. Bright, sunny, and the blue sky almost being too much for your eyes. You’ve read about blue skies in a book from the Yimrell Library, and you’ve wanted to see it ever since then. Except now that you see it, they seem slightly gray to the eye. To yours, at least.

Paridian skies were covered with the gray of the clouds during the day, and they never dissipated. Only during the night did the sky clear and let the Moon and Luna shine. Raeix differs in that aspect.

Everything is bright. The white buildings, the shiny gold plating, the glass windows that reflect the sun's brilliant glowing light, everything. Even Sakura glows, her smile widening as she watches the commotion going on outside from inside her room.

Sakura did as she promised, returning to her room after the ship landed. The first thing she did was ask if you were all right during the process, and while you didn’t want to answer, you were forced to say that everything was fine. It is the truth, but it bothers you that she’s become so caring after you let her see you so vulnerable so quickly.

In all honesty, you didn’t know you would react in such a manner. You didn’t know that entering an atmosphere would be so… unsteady. With the things that happened to Paridiy, the rumbling and humming of the planet being destroyed, the entrance reminded you too much of those fresh memories, and it hurt.

You didn’t have your comfort then, and you don’t have your comfort now. You suppose that you’re the slightest bit grateful for Sakura to have been there to calm you down, but it’s not what you wanted. Even in the midst of your panic, the only person you want is Minju. You yearn for her, for her warmth, her soft voice, but she’s not here. She will never be here. Not anymore.

“Hey, you okay?” Sakura looks at you, concern written on her face. You sigh. You weren’t being as discreet as you wanted to be.

“Yeah, I’m good,” You lie, lifting your hands in front of you and playing with them. It’s the perfect distraction, because your planet is almost gone from your thoughts in an instant.

“We may have just met today, but I think I’m a pretty good listener,” Sakura says softly, and you realize how wrong you were about your change of thoughts.

Sakura’s eyes focus on you while yours focus on your hands. You know how much she helped earlier, and you really are thankful, but you can’t ignore what she did. Her actions are there, the pieces of Paridiy still float in the cosmos, and there isn’t a way you can turn your head away from actions as big as that.

You tear your gaze away from your hands, preferring to look at the wall. “I’ll tell you soon, Sakura.”

It’s only after your mouth closes when you realize what your words imply. Do you plan on staying with her long enough to reveal the truth? Or do you mean the truth about Minju? You’re not sure of your own words, and you feel regret beginning to take over.

“Soon, hm?” You can hear the grin on her face, but she doesn’t push for an answer. “I’ll be sure to be there when you decide to tell me.”

Just like before, a small smile forces itself onto your face.

Sakura sighs as she picks herself up from her bed. “I think we’ve spent enough time lazing around. We have to help unload the cargo too.”

The smile on your face quickly goes away as you look at her in disbelief from your position on her bed. “I’m helping too?”

You don’t mean to sound like a snob. You’re the opposite, actually. You hate the feeling of being useless more than anything, you think, but how are you supposed to carry things with broken ribs? 

Sakura chuckles at your confusion. “You’re going to help just by being there. I can’t let you out of my sight, I did that one too many times during the flight here.”

You frown, watching the captain begin to gather her things from the vanity into a box.

“So you’re going to be my babysitter? I’m not a kid, I can watch over myself.”

Feeling useless and helpless may be the feeling you despise the most, but having someone watch over you as if you're some troublemaker child? That might just be worse, especially if the person watching you is the reason why you’re here in the first place.

“Not a babysitter, I wouldn’t be getting paid enough for that,” You hear the smirk on her face as she speaks, and you scoff. “The Council doesn’t trust you, they want someone to make sure that you don’t try anything.”

You raise a brow. Does she mean–

“What does that mean for you? Do you trust me?”

The question that costs millions. Based on how she’s treating you, you can assume that she trusts you at least a little bit. If she does, then maybe it will make your job run more smoothly.

Sakura’s muscles visibly tense for a few seconds before she picks up a box that contains her belongings. She turns around and sets the box in the spot next to the door. Without turning her head, she aims her hand towards the corner of her room where other boxes lay and uses serapha to bring one in front of you.

“If you don’t mind, I need some help putting my stuff in here.”

So that’s how it is. She’s going to ignore your question?

You stare at the plastic box before you. When Sakura first brought them out, you were perplexed. With how much more advanced Raeix is in technology, you would have thought they came up with a better solution for the use of plastic.

Apparently, they don’t have time for that.

With a huff, you decide to stay on the bed and begin to lift a couple of her belongings that are on her nightstand into the box without a care about how they land. You hear their clutters as they fall in the box as you pick up more, before dumping more things on top. They make clutter noises too. Soon enough, the box is full of Sakura’s things that are severely unorganized.

You feel a pair of eyes watching you, but you continue to push the lid of the box shut.

“Petty now, are we?”

You ignore her, choosing to lift the box up and toss it in the direction of the rest of the full boxes instead, knowing that nothing that can break easily is in it. You take another box and set it in front of you, beginning to fill it with belongings.

A few hair ties, a book, and some folders overloaded with papers, so much that you think they might explode with the amount that is in it. A metal bottle, another book, and a few plastic bottles that you think are medicine float into the box, one after the other.

As you fill the box, the thoughts you pushed back are brought to the front of your mind. This reminds you of when Minju helped you pack to move out from Yuri’s home. Your heart hurts from the memory, from whispers of affection and touches of warmth, and it’s all too much.

Something runs down your cheek. You go to wipe it, and when did you start crying?

Then, a hand meets your shoulder. Your head turns to meet the owner of the hand and– she’s too close.

Black eyes meet your brown ones, and you can feel her breath hit your lips. The captain’s eyebrows press into a frown. You don’t notice her reaching to take away the box in front of you until it appears next to her.

opens, about to speak, but she presses her lips to a close. “I’ll take it from here, actually,” she says lowly before turning her head away from your gaze. Sakura is back to packing her things while you’re stuck in the same position you were in a few seconds ago.

Your mind goes back to Minju, and tears start to fall more freely because you know that if Sakura were her, you would have kissed her. Your heart stings, because for a moment, you forgot about Minju and all in your head was Sakura.

Your head hangs low, shameful. Your hands find each other to fidget with.

You can’t stop thinking about her, and in all honesty, you want it to stop. You want the pain you feel to stop, the feeling of yearning for her to stop, because it only pains you more. Minju is out of reach, and you’ll never be able to get to her.

A hand lands on your shoulder again and it pulls you away from your thoughts. Sakura stands in front of you, gazing at you. You don’t have any mind as to why she’s doing this.

“Chaewon, I can help you.”

Your muscles tense. What did she just say?

“With– What?”

“Anything you need here, anything you want to know, I’ll help you with.”

You can’t believe what you’re hearing.

This is the woman you just met today, the one who just destroyed your planet. She shouldn’t trust you, even if you have the slightest feeling that she does.

She shouldn’t help you at all.

“What’s the catch?” You ask after a few seconds of silence, continuing to fidget with your fingers.

Sakura inhales deeply, staring out the window now. “You have to comply with the Council, answer any questions they ask, and trust me at least a little bit.”

Your mouth is agape, and you’re speechless. That sounds too easy, too good to be true.

“Sakura, wha–” You breathe out, and you can’t find any words to say.

The captain shouldn’t be helping you, she doesn’t even know you. You don’t even know her. How can you trust her, someone you just met today, someone that ruined your life? You think that’s impossible. 

“I can’t do that, that’s too much– I can’t.”

“I’ll get you home, I’ll make sure they don’t ask that many bothersome questions, just trust me,” She responds quickly, taking a hold of one of your fidgeting hands.

You avert your gaze from hers and your lips tighten. Your home. Where is that? 

“I…” You let out a shaky breath and you mutter the words you wish weren’t true. “I don’t know where ‘home’ is.”

Silence engulfs you. You stare at the white floor, but you feel Sakura’s stare on you. She says nothing when she pulls you in and wraps her arms around you. Your breath hitches and you freeze. Sakura tightens her hold and it’s like— it’s like she’s telling you that she’s here, that maybe you have someone?

Here the captain is, comforting you once more. The problem is that you’re starting to feel yourself enjoying it. You can’t have that. You can’t get used to her comfort.

“I’ll help you find one, then. First thing we do is that, I promise.”

Your muscles relax, and you let out a breath.

Trusting her is going to be easier than you want it to be.

“State your name.”

You stand a few meters away from an elevated platform. It’s curved inward, made of a wood native to Raeix or some other planet that you can’t recognize. The pillars on both sides of the platform are made of a cream-colored stone, most likely marble. Each side is plated with a crimson r