"Ready?" he whispered softly- his voice so quiet that it quickly dispersed into the wind.

I nodded, swallowing the nervous lump in my dry throat, clutching my duffel bag full of neccessities in my right hand and wiping my sweat off with my left.

"Go."

I looked behind at my clean, somewhat vacant room, my empty eyes hovering over what I was to leave behind. I could faintly hear the sound of my parents' chit-chat, muffled by my closed door. My gaze moved back to Jongin, who was waiting on the other side of my window, his backpack and my duffel bag in his hands. A faint smile grew on my face. Nothing could hold me back.

I didn't think twice before opening my sliding window carefully, knowing that it would slam shut and shatter the fragile glass if I let go of it too quickly. One foot after the other, I hopped down from my room onto the moist, earthy ground where Jongin greeted me with a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Hana. Hana?"

Jongin and I whipped around to hear my dad's voice getting louder and louder as he approached my locked door. My heart decided on my actions before I could even think about it. I swiftly grabbed my bag out of Jongin's hand and sprinted towards the lone road that led to the town border line. I ran as hard as I could. My life depended on it. My future depended on it. I ignored my lungs begging and gasping for air, my heartbeat palpitating wildly, and the strong clench of my conscience holding me back. I only listened to the thud of Jongin's footsteps following behind me.

"Hana..." This time, it was Jongin's soft voice calling me, his hand reaching out to stop me from running any further. The worried creases that had formed on my forehead disappeared. I loved the way he said my name. Hana. It sounded safe in his mouth.

The only lights that I was able to see when I looked back at the town were the dim, flickering yellow street lights and the white light of my room streaking through the caliginous black darkness.

The dirt path had footprints of Jongin and I, our sneakers pounding hard into the earth.

We had come a long way already, the town far behind us. It was ridiculous how fast I could move when I was actually required to.

"I haven't even seen any of this before," I let out a small chuckle as I motioned to the unfamiliar path that lay ahead of us, "Isn't that sad? I haven't been out of that town for my whole life."

"I wouldn't say that it's sad- just unfortunate," Jongin replied, reaching out to carry my duffel bag for me.

"Same thing," I retorted, laying my hands on my knees to finish catching up my breath from the run.

"Totally different," he argued with a smile. He slung my duffel bag over his broad shoulder before patting me on the back. "Fast runner," Jongin commented before starting to head down the rest of that road, motioning for me to follow him.

A wide smile grew on my face as I quickened my steps to follow behind him.

Those last three days in Busan had passed by in a blur. Before I knew it, the day that Jongin and I decided on leaving had finally come. Every time I saw my parents, I felt guilty. And every time I decided to sit down at my desk and finish filling out applications, I felt as if I was going to hurl. But I never once reconsidered my decision on running away with Jongin. Every day he asked if I was still "up for it". He made it sound like we were commiting a huge crime or something. I'd laugh and nod, responding with a happy and certain "yes".

I wasn't sure where we were going but it didn't really matter as long as Jongin's hand was in mine and we were still in love. Besides, the only way to go from here was forward.

I slowly woke up to conciousness, the smell of gasoline and sound of dirt crunching under rolling tires filling my nose and ears. I rubbed my tired eyes and let out a yawn before opening my eyes.

The first thing that I saw was Jongin was sleeping peacefully, his arm wrapped around my shoulders as he was breathing softly.

The next thing I saw was the half disgusted looks of some of the adults on the bus we were on, and uniformed students poking each other and pointing at us. They were probably looking because we looked like we were homeless. The other, more polite bus riders were minding their own business.  I shrunk down in the bus seat, glancing at the watch on my hand.

5:15 pm. I looked outside the dirty bus window, trying to figure out what city we were in when my gaze averted to the name tag of a male student staring at some movie on his iPhone. Daejeon Science High School.

Daejeon? We were in Daejeon?

I looked outside again to see huge metal skyscrapers, street vendors, and smoke coming from all of the cars on the road and factories at work. People were talking into their smartphones and getting on buses and walking into subway stations in neat suits and crisp dresses. It wasn't Seoul, but it was beautiful.

"Jongin," I whispered, shaking him gently.

He stirred a little before getting up quickly.

"Jongin," I called again.

"Huh?" his tired voice was cracking. "Is there something wrong?"

I shook my head, a smile growing on my face, "Look, we're out of Busan."

Jongin stared at me, giving me a look as if to say 'you woke me up for that?' but then he just shook his head and chuckled, wrapping his arm around me a little tighter, "You're so happy."

I nodded, grinning widely. I felt a sense of freedom. Freedom that I had never felt before.

Jongin played with my hair, my head laying on his shoulder.

"I'm just kind of curious," I started, "How did we got on this bus again?"

Jongin laughed heartily, "We kept walking until we got to the train station and then we rode that for 3 hours or so and you fell asleep. So then I had to carry you to the bus and we're now in Daejeon, I guess."

I stared at him, "I fell asleep?"

"Yeah. You totally knocked out," he laughed.

I groaned, "So you had to carry me, your backpack and my bag?"

He shrugged, "It's not a huge deal, it was only like a ten minute walk anyway."

I stared at Jongin's unchanging face some longer before sighing and burying my head in my hands, "You should've woken me up."

I could practically feel Jongin's glare at the back of my head, before he let out a soft chuckle, wrapping his arm around me and squeezing my shoulder, a wide smile forming on his handsome face, "Hey, I'm here to carry you when you're tired as hell, okay? Don't groan, it made me happy being so close to you."

My head was still buried in my hands but my frown had turned into a wide smile. How could he be so perfect?

"Student?"

I felt Jongin tense up beside me, removing his arm from my shoulder. I looked up from my hands, my smile fading as I saw the dissaproving look of the bus driver. We were parked on the side of the road next to a bus stop. The bus was vacant except for the thick parka of the bus driver that hung over his seat and trash remnants of the passengers. I looked over at Jongin, who was staring at the driver with cold eyes. It was scary how much he could change in a matter of a second. I noticed that he was never comfortable around adults. Or authority. Authoritative adults.

"Yes?" I responded, knowing that Jongin wouldn't say a word unless directly spoken to. I felt Jongin's hand sneak over to mine, squeezing it and not letting go.

"You two need to get off of the bus now," the bus driver said, glancing over at our hands intertwined before raising an eyebrow, "Don't you two have to go to school?"

"School didn't start yet," I replied.

"All of the schools in Daejeon have started school already-"

"We're not from here," I cut in with my sweetest smile.

"Whatever," the bus driver grunted before turning around and making his way through the narrow aisle of blue seats, "Get off of my bus."

I glanced over at Jongin who's teeth were gritted. "I hate old people. I hope I die before I become a middle-aged man," he shook his head, "They ruin everything." Jongin grabbed his bag and mine in one hand, taking my hand in the other and stalked out of the bus with heavy steps. Immediately as we got out of the bus, the wind whipped both of our hair back, the sudden contact with sunlight making us squint and cover our eyes.

"Oh my goodness," I said, covering the bright streak of light with my hand. The bus left a trail of smoke behind as it made it's way into the war of traffic.

"Look, pretty," Jongin tugged on my sleeve and pointed to the huge buildings and towers that reached into the heavens. I lowered my hand as I let my mouth drop.

"I would pay to see your reaction again," he teased as he planted a kiss on my cheek.

"I've only seen buildings this big in books and pictures," I gaped. It felt like a whole new country, no, a whole new world, now that I was out of Busan's rural farmlands and dull fishing piers. I stood on the middle of the sidewalk, just awed by the new atmosphere. I didn't even notice the hundreds of people that walked past me, avoiding the possibility of running into me as they hurried their way to wherever they were going.

Jongin stood beside me, glancing at me occasionally and smiling as he watched my amazed eyes taking in all of the beautiful city.

"This isn't even Seoul," he laughed.

I quickly turned to face Jongin, "Is Seoul... bigger?'

"Oh, Daejeon is nothing comparing to Seoul," he replied proudly.

"Wow..."

"I know that it looks amazing and stuff but you need to get off of the middle of the sidewalk," Jongin chuckled. He took my shoulders and moved me over to the side where street vendors were already selling cream and apple jam waffles and fish cakes.

Jongin noticed me staring at the food and reached into his bag, "Want one?"

"Can I?" I asked, my lips.

"Of course." He quickly ordered both of us a waffle before taking my hand, "I'm sorry that this isn't your idea of a wonderful breakfast."

"No, I love it!" I refuted, taking another huge bite of the delicious waffle.

Jongin laughed, taking a bite of his waffle also. "We need to get a hotel. I don't think that you want to get on another bus so we'll just wait until tomorrow so we can get some rest."

"Sounds good," I replied with my mouth full.

Jongin got on his smart phone to search up hotels. I didn't notice how well he fit in with the city. All of his weight was on one leg, the other slightly bent as he stared at his phone. He was gorgeous. Sure, the feeling of being part of a city was great too, but if I had to choose, I would live with Jongin in the middle of nowhere if I had to. The middle of nowhere was where I had spent my whole life, anyway.

Soon enough, we navigated our way to a high rise hotel in the middle of Daejeon.

"How did you pay for this, again?" I muttered as we stood in the lofty, fancy lift. The elegant elevator music filled our ears.

"I have my credit card with me, remember? And my family always stays in this chain of hotels so we have a bunch of free nights stacked up," Jongin replied with a shrug. I almost let myself forget for a moment that Jongin was so well-off. I would randomly get reminded though, whenever he whipped out his high-tech phone and pulled out designer clothes from his leather suitcase. I took his hand, drawing in a breath of air.

The elevator dinged open and we walked out hand in hand, until we reached the end of the hallway of door where our room was located.

Jongin took out the room card from his back pocket after a little fumbling, and opened the mahogany door to reveal a chic and refined hotel room. The bed was smack in the middle of the "living room" that led to a commodious bathroom.

"They would give us a ty room just because it's free," Jongin rolled his eyes and let out a huff.

I turned to stare at him, "Jongin. It's perfect, don't worry about it." I touched his hand and the frustrated creases that had formed on his forehead disappeared. Jongin turned and smiled to me.

"If you're happy."

We rolled in all of our luggage and hopped onto the spacious bed as is under the white linen blankets, turning on the TV. We propped up pillows against the large headboard and watched a drama on TV until room service came in with dinner.

It was simple. We didn't do anything but lay down and watch TV and eat whatever could fit into our stomachs, but the simplicity of it was what made our day together so great.

By the time it was midnight, we had watched a whole 10 episode sitcom, drank seven cans of soda, and platters upon platters of chocolate strawberries and various finger foods. We were stuffed, happy, and that's all that really mattered.

"Hana?" Jongin crooked his face to look at me.

"Mhmm?"

"Is it just me or was that the worst sitcom you've ever watched?" he asked with wide eyes.

I turned to face him and laugh, "It's not just you. It ."

"Then why were we watching it for so long?" Jongin asked with a confused look on his face.

"I don't know. I'm not really sure what the last episodes were about, we were just joking around and barely paying attention anyway," I replied with a chuckle. Jongin shrugged, but nodded in agreement.

There was a silence. The TV had finally shut up and heaven was declaring that it was time to sleep, but both of us were wide awake as the stars twinkling outside.

"Hana?" Jongin asked again.

"Yeah?"

I turned to face him this time and Jongin gave me a soft smile. He raised his hand to caress my cheek, staring into my orbs giving me this feeling of everything perfect in the world. The moment felt so right. And if my life depended on it, I just couldn't explain what took place in the next couple of minutes. But soon enough, we were under the covers, panting, hands all over.

And no matter what we did, the clock kept ticking, those stars outside kept on twinkling, all those busybodys kept on living, and we kept on loving.

Even if it felt as if we were in our own world where nothing and nobody else existed.