“It all makes sense now,” Kai said. He turned to Gillian. “Kang Dae only wants to hold Baek’s coronation when he turns nineteen – “

  “So by then, if he had not yet shown any signs of any ability, he would lose it forever, thus giving Kang Dae full power over him,” Gillian finished for him.

  “Baek is – “

  “A Stargazer.” Andrea’s hands were shaking. “He’s also a Stargazer, and a royal one to be exact. But he hasn’t realized his own abilities yet. A-and he needs to, before he turns nineteen, or the kingdom would forever be under Kang Dae’s wrath –“

  “Not if our princess vindicates,” Orion spoke up. “We can help you take back the throne."

  Andrea didn’t feel so comfortable when he had said ‘our princess’. “Then what about Baekhyun?” She asked.

  “He does not matter; once you expose Kang Dae’s ugly secrets and rightfully claim back the throne – “

  He’s everything that matters. “We can discuss this later.” By the look on Orion’s face, Andrea knew he was bewildered and extremely frustrated by her sudden statement.

  “You – “

  “I,” she looked him straight in the eyes and said, “am tired, Orion. Being chased by Guards and arrows and seeing your best friend bleed nonstop does not need no effort, you should know. And it is already late into the night.”

  “Why don’t you stay here tonight?” Yixing walked out of the room he had been healing Lucas in, looking tired but with a warm smile on his face. “Lucas might wake up in a few hours, and I am sure he would be delighted to see you beside him when he does.”

  Without hesitation (and with a sigh of relief for Lucas), Andrea nodded. The Stargazer village was practically her home now, so why say no? “Maybe I should just move to here. I remember you saying something about having an empty room here, Sehun?” She ignored Orion as he clenched his hands into fists and stomped out Hazel’s cottage. “I will go back and pack up my things, then.”

  “Let me go with you – “

  “Kai, we have some business to talk about,” Gillian said, stopping him from following Andrea. “Since you are one of us now, you have the right to know everything. Let me fill you in.”

  Kai looked reluctant to stay, but he nodded and went out with Gillian after giving Andrea a look she couldn’t decipher.

  She wasn’t in the mood to, anyway.

  “Looks like I’m stuck with you now, girly,” Sehun turned to her as Chen also walked out, mumbling something about reading more of the book in his hands.

  “Sehun, it’s alright – “

  Sehun shook his head. “I’m not risking you getting hurt again, especially at night in the Woods, alone. Come on now; we don’t want doggie crying when he wakes up without you by his bed, eh?”

***

  “I can hear and see more clearly. I can hear you telepathing with somebody else without letting you hear my thoughts. I can make objects out of hand’s reach appear in my hands with a single concentrated thought. I can somehow emit an invisible force in anger. I can even see so clearly now, in the dark, when I could barely see my own hands before! Sehun, that’s more than three. What does that make me, then?”

  “I sincerely do not know,” Sehun replied. “Every Stargazer can telepath with each other and block others from their thoughts, but only royals can do both simultaneously. Maybe your enhanced senses have something to do with your incredible hunting skills. And about invisibility stuff, you could go ask Lilie…”

  “Lilie?”

  Andrea couldn’t figure out if he was smiling or scowling. “She is... the best and only Stargazer I know who has the ability of blending herself into her surroundings. And she is… she is with Luhan.”

  She creased her eyebrows. “With –? Oh.” She understood what he meant. “I... bet they are a loving couple.”

  This time, she was sure he scowled. “They most definitely are.”

  Andrea poked Sehun in the ribs, causing him to jump slightly. “Jealous, Sehun?”

  “Of Luhan? Of course not; Lilie may be incredible, but – “

  “I meant of Lilie. You jealous of her?”

  Sehun stopped in his tracks. Andrea stopped, too, and as she turned to see the pearl-white moonlight illuminating every perfect feature of his face, the teasing smile on her face faded.

  “Tao told you that, didn’t he?”

  She gulped. “He just… said you have feelings toward Luhan – “

  “Yes, I do. But not like what you and him think.” His eyes suddenly seemed so distant, focused on somewhere faraway. “I love Luhan, but only as a tightly-bonded brother. I do not harbor any… romantic feelings for him.”

  “O-oh.” Embarrassed, Andrea bent her head down a little. “I’m, uh, sorry for misunderstanding you…”

  Sehun sighed, and proceeded back to walking, leaving Andrea no choice but to follow him. “It’s alright. Besides, Luhan knows I love him as nothing more than a brother. And, girly? You could have told me, you know.”

  “Tell you what?”

  “About you and Baekhyun.”

  Andrea almost tripped over a twig. “P-pardon?”

  “I had suspected that the relationship between you and him was more than merely friendship before, and then you confirmed it when you were previously yelling at me. Then when you said to Jongin that he and Baekhyun had ‘ruined your heart’, and seemed so disturbed when Orion said Baekhyun ‘didn’t matter’… I should’ve noticed earlier that you and he had something more going on.” Sehun turned to look at Andrea. “I’m right, aren’t I? You and Baekhyun had… a thing. But it didn’t go well, or something happened, and your heart’s broken because you still lo – “

  “That’s enough.” She didn’t mean to sound so harsh. Her footsteps slowed. “That’s enough…” she managed to swallow back the choked sob.

  “Andrea – “

  “You’re right. You’re completely right, Sehun. And yes, something happened that broke us apart.” She flung her arms around. “This happened. Me finding out my true identity happened. His stupid engagement happened. And then… and then Orion said ‘he didn’t matter’ when although I keep trying to expel it, I still have these stupid and painful feelings for him…”

  Sehun contemplated if he should hug Andrea again or pat her on the head to stop crying – well, she was on the brink of crying. And he always hated it when people cried. “Andrea…” he called her name gently, feeling like treading on thin ice. “Do you… do you not want to do this – “

  “No.” Andrea wiped her nose with the back of her left hand and let out a shaky breath. “I want to do this. I want to bring Kang Dae down, Sehun; he’s the one who murdered my father. That is a goal we all have in common.

  “But I never said I wanted the crown. I never said I wanted the responsibility of ruling the whole realm. Look at me: seventeen, in charge of the Southern Commonwealth, alone? No way. Even if you all think I have that ability within me, I don’t have confidence in myself. I’m… I’m afraid, Sehun. No one has ever relied on me before, only when Rick and I went hunting, but that was different. And now…

  “I’ve been thinking,” Andrea confessed, as she slid her hand across a tree trunk. “That maybe I should still let Baekhyun take the throne.”

  “Gir – “

  “Hear me out, first, please. Kang Dae has to go down; that is something that's not going to change. But I don’t want the throne! And Baekhyun isn’t evil like his uncle; you can trust me on that. There is nothing ‘evil’ in him, and I know that he’ll be a great king, greater than me becoming a queen. He and Princess Celeste are fit to rule this realm. Not… not me.”

  “So that’s why you changed the topic with Orion,” Sehun realized. "You don’t want the throne.”

  They had already arrived at the place where, one more step, and they would be out of the shadows of the trees of The Forbidden Woods and into the wide clearing of grass behind Rick’s cottage. Andrea and Sehun stood and stared at the clearing, the night sky so black it seemed dark blue, and far, far away.

  “You should tell them, Andrea.” Sehun’s voice took on a gentler tone.

  Andrea looked to the side. “I will tell them nothing. It… it is not for them to say what I will do.”

  “But – “

  “Like I said, let’s discuss this later, alright?” She took a step forward, expecting that Sehun wouldn’t do the same. She was right. “I’ll be back soon.”

  Then she ran.

***

  He didn’t mean to.

  It hadn’t been his intention to barge into her cottage without permission, but… he thought he had heard a sound inside. He had thought Andrea was inside. And the front door was unlocked.

  Nothing seemed to have changed since the last time Baekhyun had been here – to be exact, in her bed. But he could sense a different vibe around, as if a cloud of loneliness and absolute sadness had decided to fill up the whole cottage.

  It was suffocating. Very suffocating. And it made him want to punch himself when merely imagining leaving Andrea to live underneath this whole depressing atmosphere, all by herself.

  Something a few feet away glinted. Baekhyun narrowed his eyes, and realized that a cabinet door wasn’t fully closed – maybe Andrea hadn’t used enough force to close it shut – and something in it, made of metal, was reflecting the moonlight. At first, he approached it just to close the cabinet door. But then the thing captured his attention, and when he figured out what is was, instead of closing the doors shut, he pulled both of them wide open.

  And was so beyond shocked that he couldn’t do anything but stare.

**

  “Don’t move, or I will shoot you straight in the head.”

  Andrea held her weapon in position, at the stranger’s cloaked back. “I’m not bluffing – “ a sudden gush of wind rustled into the cottage, and it was gentle just to slightly pick up the stranger’s brown hair – as if dancing with the breeze – but it was enough.

  “Baekhyun?!”

  Immediately, she put down her bow and ran forwards, as Baekhyun turned around. “Baek, what are you – “ she stopped when she saw what he was holding in his hands, feeling the blood in her veins run cold.

  It was a bow. The first hand-made bow she had ever made. And he was standing in front of the cabinet she and Rick stored all their weapons in, both of the doors wide open.

  The look on his face was unreadable. “Your father, Rick Archer, was a hunter.”

  She gulped. “You already know that. Those – “

  “Are his?” Baekhyun finished for her, in an unbelieving tone. “Then what about those in your hands? And ‘I will shoot you straight in the head, I am not bluffing?’”

  The bow and arrow in Andrea’s hands seemed to start burning her, threatening her to throw them down. She held on tight, her hands slightly shaking.

  “You’re the trespasser we couldn’t catch for these past few months, aren’t you?” She could feel Baekhyun’s gaze on her with a deadly weight, her own on his shadow on the floor, conjured by the pearl-white moonlight. “The one who goes into the Forbidden Woods. It’s you.”

  Remaining silent was the best and only thing Andrea could do without showing him that she was shaking. Oh, Baek…

  Frustrated, he let out a growl. “Who are you, Andrea? Or is that not even your real name? You lied to me about your ‘job.’ Maybe you’ve also lied about everything else – “

  “No – “

  “What are you?” His voice turned into a whisper. “A fraud? A thief? A… hunter? And I saw you escape the palace, in a way that wasn’t… normal.”

  “Bae – “

  “I am not a fool, Andrea! Answer me!”

  Andrea tightened her grip on her bow, feeling her knuckles go white, and blinked back tears. “If that is so,” she said in a controlled but strained voice, while lifting her head up to stare straight into the brown pools of his illuminated by the moonlight streaming in from the window. “Then you should know. You are not a fool, Baekhyun; I am completely aware of that. The answer is there, deep down in you. You can stop… denying it.”

  Silence as thick as fog surrounded the both of them for a while, and to Andrea who was trying very hard not to break down, it felt like an eternity.

  “You are a Stargazer, aren’t you?"

  The disgust in his voice made her want to instantly tear herself apart.

  “Baek – “

  “NO!” Backing a few feet away, Baekhyun’s face twisted, in anger, in disgust, in… her heart shriveled even knowing what the emotions on his face were. “Don’t… don’t call me that anymore, Stargazer!”

  It felt as if her heart had just been ruthlessly ripped out of her…

  “I am the prince of the Southern Commonwealth.” His voice trembled. “You are supposed to call me by my title, never by my name – “

  And shredded into pieces…

  “You should be grateful I am not throwing you into the dungeon, you… member of those people whose leader had killed my father – “

  And burned into ashes…

  “Listen to me, Baekhyun, the truth is – “

  “The truth is you lied to me!” He flung her hand off his arm with a violent force. “And it is ‘Your Highness’ to you – ‘Your Majesty’ from tomorrow on!”

  As Baekhyun ran out and mounted his horse, he gave Andrea – who had rushed out behind him – one last look that meant everything had ended between them. “From now on, you leave me alone!”

***

  Sehun would be so mad at me for missing the chance to tell Baek the truth about his uncle, and the fact that he is also a Stargazer.

  Luke would be so mad at me for letting Baek find out my lie.

  A dry chuckle escaped her lips, making the tears on her face splatter to the grass beneath her crumpled body. Why am I even thinking about these right now?

  Andrea didn’t remember at which exact moment had her knees, palms and head made contact with the ground. She didn’t really care. One minute she was watching a particular boy galloping away on his horse as if fleeing a monster; next, her vision was all blurred by the big, fat tears in her eyes.

  Nothing could describe how she felt. As if her heart had flown out of existence? Not even close. As if all the stars above her – that were starting to fade into a gentle, white dawn light – were drooping and bleeding white blood for her? As if her heart was still beating in her rib cage, but she’d rather have it ripped out because it hurt so much even when breathing?

  For a ridiculous moment, all she wanted to do was die.

  Why not? She thought to herself. Why can’t Mother Nature just take me away and turn me into a part of this cool breeze against my face?

  I lost him.

  To be honest, Andrea had hoped. She had hoped that, if she could’ve successfully expose the ugly truth of Kang Dae to Baekhyun and he helped bring him down, and he knew she was a princess… they could actually be together.

  A prince and a princess. It was a perfect match, right? All she needed to do was hope Baekhyun would call off the engagement between him and Princess Celeste, after his uncle went down. It had all seemed so perfect.

  But now, all her hope had turned to foam.

  I just want to turn into foam, too.

  The mere thought of Baekhyun hating her and recalling the look of pure disgust in his face caused Andrea to cry out in pain – mental pain - and curl into a ball.

  Nothing matters anymore.

  Andrea?!

  Stop… she thought in her head. I don’t want all this anymore… just let me die…

  “Andrea!”

  She chuckled to herself again, and her tears had stopped flowing down her forehead. “I’m hallucinating. I’m actually hallucinating that I’m hearing Sehun’s voice as if he’s right next to me – “

  “I am really here, stupid.” A pair of boots appeared in her sight, noisily crunching the grass beneath, as if the owner was walking somewhat awkwardly. A warm hand tucked Andrea’s hair around her face behind her left ear as she heard the following sound of someone dropping to his knees. “Hey. Look at me, girly.”

  Slowly, Andrea turned her head – which the top was still on the ground sideways - and then she saw him.

  An upside-down Sehun.

  “You’re not real.” She laughed half-heartedly to herself, but starting to be doubtful. “The Sehun I know would never walk upon the land of the Southern Commonwealth.”

  The upside-down Sehun smirked slightly. “You caught me. I’m actually the body of Oh Sehun running around and starting to regret overcoming his past shadow and entering this realm just for a crying girl.”

  Andrea straightened up, her red and puffy eyes widening. “Sehun! I-it really is you!”

  “That’s what I said,” Sehun mumbled as Andrea threw her arms around him. His own arms immediately did the same, and held on tight.

  “What… how… why are you here?!”

  “I heard you,” he confessed. “In my head. You said you wanted to die after I felt an excruciating pain in my heart.”

  Ashamed, she hid her face in his chest. “Sehun, I…”

  He sighed. “I think we must have formed something like a bond, girly. So when you were feeling… mental pain, I could, too. So could some others in the village; Luhan telepathed me and said that he and Jongin felt it, too. And then thinking that I had to come to comfort you, I… came. As fast as I could,” he added as-a-matter-of-factly. “You’re welcome.”

  “… You don’t even know what happened.”

  “Then let me. Put that wall around your mind down for me. Let me know. We’re in this together, Andrea; can’t you see? You are now the most important thing to me. I want to know… I want to help you.”

  Slowly, she did what he asked. She trusted him, this witty, annoying boy who always made her feel safe, like a haven. Besides, she had nothing to lose anymore.

  Using what Gillian had taught her a few days ago, she let the bricks of her mind wall fall, one by one. She felt Sehun turn rigid as he breached into her mind and saw what had just happened… in the cottage… with Baekhyun.

  “Andrea…” Sehun’s eyes and tone softened to an extent he never knew he had it in him. It was inevitable, this ache in his heart; he was feeling what she was feeling, and he was truly stunned at how she could still hold herself up under this much pain, which felt like someone was twisting his heart with all his might and showed no signs of letting go.

  How could a teenage girl endure this much pain?

  “I don’t want to do this anymore,” Andrea whispered, exhaustion creeping into her voice. “I don’t – “

  “Andrea.” Pushing her back a little to stare her in the eyes – her violet, brimmed-with-tear eyes – Sehun tried to frown. “You can’t back out right now. Not when you have such a once-a-lifetime opportunity to avenge your family. Not after what I had just learned from Gillian and Jongin that you also must know.” Without pausing to prevent her from cutting him off, he continued. “I know you feel like nothing in this world is worth for you living anymore. I know how it feels losing the one you love, with the possibility of not seeing the other one again. Trust me; I’ve been there before. But you also have to trust me on this: Baekhyun would never hate you, Andrea. Never.”

  She shook her head. “You didn’t see his face – “

  “It was just a rush of his emotions. He didn’t really mean it. It’s because… this is also something we’ve just found out, and I need to explain to you. So come on; let’s go get your stuff and go back to the village.”

  Andrea stood up slowly, with Sehun holding her hand. “If only…” she sighed. “If only I could fall in love with you…”

  An emotion appeared on his face, but it was too difficult for her to read. Something like… regret? Pity? Longing?

  “If only.” Sehun put an arm around Andrea’s shoulder as they walked into the cottage. “That would make things so much more simpler.”

[A/N]  /FLIPS EVERYTHING AND WAILS ON THE DESK/

P.S. There will be an ultimate filler on Sehun's own story ("Trust me; I've been there before.") in the next chapter... hehe <3 AND AGAIN. THANK YOU ALL FOR COMMENTING AND SUBSCRIBING OHKAI OMG <3<3<3 I SMELL A REVOLUTION BREWING AND ABOUT TO EXPLODEEEEE.