Tony Stark:  Things are different now, I have to protect the one thing
that I can’t live without. That’s you.

Sohee was about to get up to go after Sehun, but Luhan, who sat next to her, grabbed her hand and pulled her down. He didn’t want to go. He was being selfish, and he knew it, he knew that Sohee and Sehun were a lot closer and that she should go after him. He knew all of that, but a part of him wanted so badly for Sohee to go back with them so the two of them could be together.

He didn’t want her to have to worry about Sehun now, not when he’s the man in her life, not when he had spent so many years yearning over the love that he had lost to the oceans. It was not going to happen again, and he was going to do everything he can in his power to make sure of it.

He didn’t want to lose her again.

“Don’t go,” he said quietly so only she could hear. “Please . . . stay.”

She wasn’t really given much of a choice, not by the way he was gripping so tightly onto her hand. Sohee frowned and only watched as Sehun disappeared out of the burrow while she sat back down in her seat.

A soft sigh of defeat escaped from her lips as she turned back to her food. Suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore and only stirred the food on the plate with her fork absentmindedly. Finally she excused herself into her room.

Chen and XiuMin frowned at her reaction toward the news. They had thought she would be ecstatic, asking to leave at once. Suho and Kyungsoo glanced at each other and shrugged. They knew that she'd have a hard time deciding when the time came but they never expected for it to come so quickly.

Jongin was stricken with grief that he might have to say goodbye to his little sister tomorrow. Chanyeol and Baekhyun had mixed feelings. So did Yixing. Tao and Kris did not want to have any participation on this matter.

Inside the room, Sohee's thoughts were a whirlpool as she laid down in her bed and closed her eyes, heaving a troubled sigh. She wasn't sure what she should do and she only had less than twenty-four hours to decide. Should she follow her brother back to be reunited with her family again? Or should she stay here with the ones who had taken her in and had treated her like a little sister?

She wanted to see her parents as she had forgotten their faces, the sound of their voices; she’d missed them. She didn't want to have to separate from her brother again, she had missed how well he had taken care of him. And she wanted to be with Luhan; after so long, they are finally together.

But at the same time, she didn't want to leave the others here. They were just as much of family. She didn't want to say goodbye to the home she'd been in for years. Her heart ached when she recalled how Sehun had wordlessly walked out from the burrow earlier. She did not want to leave Sehun.

With a jolt, she sat up in her bed and wondered why of all people, it was Sehun she did not want to leave the most. Sohee didn't know why she did not feel like she could leave him. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Her heart was slamming against her ribcage and it hurt. She could not breathe and she wanted to cry.

Burying her face in her pillow as deep as she could, hot tears of confusion and frustration overwhelmed her intensely.  Her sobs were muffled from the pillows but the others outside could hear her.

XiuMin was frowning. Luhan was angry at Sehun for walking out like that to make Sohee feel guilty for wanting to leave. Baekhyun and Suho exchanged glanced but neither of them knew what to say nor do to make her feel better, not even knowing if they should. Kyungsoo started to get up to comfort the poor girl, but Jongin’s hand shot up faster, gripping him by the wrist and shook his head.

“Leave her alone,” Chanyeol murmured, fixing his eyes at the curtains of her room.

“I don’t think she wants to see any of us at the moment,” Chen murmured in agreement, nodding his head slightly.

“I think maybe we should leave the burrow for a while,” Suho said quietly and everyone shuffled their way out, letting Sohee to cry alone in despair.

XiuMin finally couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up and walked into his sister’s room despite the protests coming from the others. “Sohee, meet me at the beach in, about, half an hour,” he told her. “Please. I want to talk to you.”

Sohee hiccupped but nodded.

Her brother left the room, ignoring the stares received from the others, and walked out of the burrow just as Sehun had.

“Aghhh!”

With a frustrated sigh, Sehun threw a handful of pebbles out into the ocean, letting each pebble to drop heavily into the waters, causing ripples to rapidly break through the waves. For the past hour he’d been trying to calm himself down by attempting to skip stones by the beach, but the distraction was not helping at all.

“You probably scared all the fishes away.”

Startled, Sehun looked up to see who the intruder was, and scowled deeply when he saw XiuMin standing a feet away from him. “What do you want?” he asked spitefully. “Come here to gloat about taking Sohee away?”

“Nope.” Heaving a sigh, XiuMin propped himself down onto the sand and stared out into the horizon. He hummed softly, as if he was trying to find the right words to say. His silence was becoming heavy.

“What do you want?” Sehun asked a little testily. His mood was awful and he didn’t want to be around anyone when he felt like he was a ticking bomb waiting to explode.

“What do you think Sohee is going to choose?”

“Sohee belongs here. This island is her home,” Sehun snapped heatedly but he sat down beside the older boy. “I don’t want Sohee to go.”

“And I don’t want Sohee to stay here because I want her to come home with me.” XiuMin looked at him blankly and Sehun appreciated the fact that he was being honest. But that didn’t make him hate XiuMin any less. “Look, we both have different desires in what we want Sohee to do, but at the end of the day, we can’t do anything about it. This is her choice. She gets to decide what she wants to do.”

Sehun kept quiet, still seething.

A sigh drew out from XiuMin, and it sounded like it was filled with heavy burden. “You want to know a secret?” he asked, peeping at the young lad. However, without waiting for Sehun to response, he continued, “The thing is . . . I want her to come home with me, but I think she should stay.”

His head jerked up, eyes wide in surprised at Sohee’s brother’s sudden statement. He was confused and suddenly wasn’t sure if he liked XiuMin or what. “Wh – what — but I thought you wanted —” he stammered.

XiuMin took a deep breath, looking down to the sand as he fiddled with his fingers. “She’s happy here,” he said quietly. “You’re right, this island is her home. Besides, after all these years of growing up here on this island, it’s going to be hard for her to adapt to the life back in the city.”

“Sohee’s pretty quick to adapt to new surroundings. I mean, she was even better than Baekhyun hyung in swinging vines on her second week here on the island,” Sehun blabbered but stopped himself when he realized he wasn’t making it any easier for XiuMin to confess Sohee should stay. He kept quiet for a while. “What would you do if Sohee decides to leave with you?”

“Hmm, that’s a tough question.”

Sehun waited.

“I’ll try to talk my sister out of it.” XiuMin looked up to the younger lad. “Look, Luhan’s gonna be pretty wrecked about it if Sohee decides to stay because they’re finally together and he’s always loved her, never liked anyone after her,” XiuMin went on, “and he’s not going to understand. He’s going to try change Sohee’s mind. I need you to make sure she is firm with her decision in staying.”

“But . . . why me?”

“You’re in love with her, aren’t you?” XiuMin asked bluntly. “That’s why you’re so dead against her coming back home with me.”

“What — no! I don’t love her, what ridiculous idea . . .” Sehun faltered when XiuMin cocked an eyebrow at him. Colors rose to his cheeks and he knew he couldn’t deny it, but he didn’t want to admit it, either. “. . . Well, maybe a little.”

XiuMin only snorted and folded his arms across his chest. “Somehow I doubt that. But either way, try to convince her to stay.” He got up, checking the time on his wristwatch. “I gotta go. Sohee’s about to come any minute. Talk to her while you can, and if you get the opportunity, tell her how you feel about her.”

Sehun’s eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as he scrambled to his feet, suddenly in a state of panic as his heart hammered wildly against his chest. “Wait — I don’t understand. Why is she coming now?”

“I told my sister I wanted to have a talk with her so I asked her to come down to the beach in twenty minutes,” XiuMin explained. “I knew that she’d come because, well, it’s a hunch, and I was originally going to talk to her myself but I think she needs to be truly convinced she should stay if she talks to you instead.”

Without waiting for Sehun’s response, leaving him to stand there in a spluttering mess, he walked away with a slight wave of dismissal of his hand.

Sehun heaved a huge sigh as he sat back down on the sand, burying his toes between the earth. His face was buried in his hands as well. What was he going to do?

What was he going to say to convince her to stay?

“Sehun?”

At the sound of his name in that soft-spoken, familiar voice of hers, Sehun automatically jerked his head up to see Sohee towering above him, her face a picture of worry as well as confusion, seeing as she was expecting her brother to be here instead.

“H – hey,” he managed, standing up to her. “Your brother left, saying he was tired and wanted to get some rest for tomorrow.”

“But —” Confusion flittered across her pretty face as she glanced around as if looking for her brother. “He told me to come out to talk to him in half an hour. If he was going to sleep, why would he tell me to come out instead?”

Sehun sighed softly and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him, when he noticed the slight shivers she was having due to the cold breeze the tide of the waves was bringing. “He wants us to talk,” he replied. “Shall we take a walk?”

Sohee still looked confused but nodded.

He chuckled quietly, unable to contain himself, and leaned over to peck her forehead. He felt Sohee’s stiffening at his sudden display of affection, but if he was going to lose her, he might as well be honest with his feelings.

The two of them quietly walked over to a huge flat rock slightly in the ocean. The rock was huge enough to fit the both of them and they had to wade over a bit to reach it. Sohee was still able to wade through it despite her fear. Beside, Sehun was with her and she felt safe whenever she was with him.

As the two of them sat on the rock, the waves gently crashing against them below, they looked up to the moon shining brilliantly down on them.

“Sohee-yah,” Sehun said in a soft voice, making Sohee go weak in the heart. When he looked up to her, she felt like it was the first time she saw him and she forgot how to breathe. “Have you thought of the difficulties in adjusting to your new life once you get back? Do you think you’ll be able to get used to the loud noises, the city, and so many people?”

Sohee kept quiet, unsure of what to say. She knew that would be a hindrance for her, but she couldn’t deny the fact that she wanted to go back.

“Kim Sohee, I love you. I love you, I’m in love with you. And I don’t want you to go, I want you to stay with me.”

Her head snapped upward to Sehun, eyes widening when she found herself staring right into the other’s pair of eyes, and saw sincerity and truth in them. Heart skipping a beat, she forgot how to breathe once more.

Sehun took this opportunity to lean in and pressed his lips against hers, hands slowly reaching up to cup her cheeks, the sides of her face with his thumbs. Sohee sat there, frozen. She knew she should push him away and she slipped her arms up to place on his shoulder. She had meant to push him away, but instead she found herself pulling him closer, head tilting as her lips moved just as ardently with his, returning the kiss with much more passion.

This.

This feels right.

“YAH!”

Startled, they broke apart and glanced back at the shore to find a furious Luhan being held back from coming over by Kris and Chen.

Flustered, Sohee remembered she was still Luhan’s girlfriend and pulled away from Sehun. She turned to him, looking apologetic, her heart aching with so much she wanted to die. She stood up and began to get off the rock, wanting to make her way back. “I’m so sorry,” she cried repeatedly. “I – I’m sorry —”

But Sehun held her wrist, refusing to let her go after coming this far with her. “Say it,” his voice croaked with desperation, gripping tightly onto her. “Say it, Sohee, you and I both know how you really feel.”

Tears streamed down her face as she did her best to break free from his grasp, ignoring the yells Luhan was throwing from the shore. She wanted to say it. She badly wanted to, but she felt so guilty. How could she ever forgive herself for hurting both Sehun and Luhan? By betraying Luhan, and for lying to herself she didn’t realize just how much she was so in love with Sehun after all these years?

“I’m sorry,” was all she managed.

“Sohee, don’t do this. I love you. Please, we can —”

Finally, with a hard yank, she broke free from his grasp. She was about to slide into the waters to wade back when she heard a small cry from behind her. Sohee turned to see Sehun falling backward, balance off from the sudden yank, and to her horror, he slipped off from the rocks and into the ocean, hitting his head by the side of the rock.

There was this silence, and then —

An earsplitting scream coming from Sohee, panicking, as she watched Sehun float out into the ocean, the waves carrying him over. When did the waves get so rough? When did the moon hide behind the clouds? It was almost impossible to see anything other than a distinct figure swimming away from the shore.

“Sohee!’ Kris yelled from the shore as Sohee stood there, horrorstruck. “You have to go in and save him! You have to!”

I can’t swim . . .

By then, everyone else had arrived by the shore to see what was going on. They would go in to save Sehun, but the waves were too rough, and Sohee was the closest, even as his limbless body drifted further than she had ever swam in her entire life. Despite all the swimming lessons Sehun gave her, she was not confident.

“Sohee!” Chanyeol’s voice suddenly roared. “Don’t you ing dare forget who saved your all those years ago when you were drifted away from XiuMin! Sehun did! He ing saved you! Now you have to save him!”

Jolting back to reality, and realizing that Chanyeol was right, Sohee turned to the limbless body floating away, and dived into the dark waters. Without hesitation, she began to swim.

Sehun, I love you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*smiles weakly*

Soooooooo. Who remembers this? HAHAHA I'M SORRY, I DISAPPEARED FOR UM. ONE YEAR AND FEW MONTHS.

I'M SORRY OMG BUT THANK YOU FOR NOT UNSUBSCRIBING, SINCERELY LOVING Y'ALL. I JUST-- UM. I LOST MOTIVATION FOR THIS STORY BUT RECENTLY I WAS READING THIS STORY AGAIN AND THE MOTIVATION CAME BACK SO HOPEFULLY I CAN FINISH IT SOON BY THIS MONTH BECAUSE I'M FREE AND YEAH UM. I LOVE YOU.