“Seohyun, please.”
 

“Luhan, but-” 
 

“I can’t.”
 

“Luhan, I-”
 

“No-”
 

“Luhan!”
 

“I don’t love you.”
 

Their conversation echoed throughout Suho’s head. Although he had only heard that small part, it was all he needed to hear in order to know that she had been hurt. A stroll in the garden was all he had come for, but he had gotten much more than he could have ever expected. 
 

After watching Seohyun escape from the scene, Suho had followed behind her but had not dared to speak or try to get caught. He had thought that the crunching of the grass beneath his feet would have given him away, but apparently the two had never noticed his presence. He took advantage of such a blessing and remained out of sight and out of earshot for as long as he could.
 

Now, Suho waited at the entrance. Everyone had gone home already either tired or a bit on the tipsy side; the only people left were the cleaning crew and security. He waited for Seohyun to hopefully come to him in one piece, for who knows where she was now or what she could be doing. His watch told him that it was almost three in the morning, but she had yet to show up. Time was ticking away and so had the night.
 

He looked at the night sky. All the stars that had twinkled brilliantly just before had now been enveloped by the clouds, swallowed whole by the darkness. He pitied the stars that had once shined so brightly, had gleamed with radiance. Maybe they were sad, and perhaps the clouds were their friends. Maybe the clouds just wanted to hide their fading light and coming tears. 
 

Rain started to pour down from the clouds. The stars were crying too hard - too hard for the clouds to catch them all - so their tears escaped from their grasp. It had dripped slowly and then came down all at once. Suho leaned against the wall and watched as the night cried itself to sleep. 
 

A glint of gold flashed from the empty lobby. He turned his head to see her walking towards him closer and closer, her dress still vividly gold, until she was in front of him. Perhaps the other stars were crying because they had lost a friend - a friend that had gone missing. They wanted her back; to shine with them again in the night sky; to dance brilliantly amongst the stars; to return to their world of carefree happiness. He pitied the star who had fallen from the sky.
 

Seohyun took his hand. “Suho, let’s go home.”
 

He nodded as he opened an umbrella. They stepped out of the palace and back onto the ground, heading towards the car that would take them away. It was a long walk from the entrance to the golden gates to their ride home, so Suho watched her carefully to make sure she wouldn’t shatter. Seohyun looked around her, at the water dripping beside her, and held out a hand to catch the rain. 
 

“The stars are crying,” she said simply. Her voice was faint and dissipated into the air.
 

“They’re crying for you.” 
 

She looked up at him with eyes that appeared to have had the soul out of them. They lacked life and vivacity, now an empty void of melancholy. Indeed, he pitied the star who had fallen from the sky.
 

“Well, their tears are wasted.”
 

______________________________________________________________________________________

“You what?” Sehun screamed.
 

“Can we not make a big deal out of this?”
 

Luhan threw his coat over the couch and ran his hand through his hair. He just wanted to be alone - to forget everything that happened that night - but Sehun blocked his way, his hand planted firmly on Luhan’s chest.
 

“No, we will make a big deal out of this,” he said, “because you’ve really screwed up this time.”
 

Luhan sighed. He knew Sehun well more than anyone, and he knew that his stubborn side always outweighed everything else. Once he wanted something, he would get it. If he wanted him to talk, he would talk. It was as simple as that. There would be no fighting it.
 

“Now, tell me,” he demanded, “why you did that to her.”
 

“I did it to protect her, okay?”
 

“No!” Sehun slammed his hand down on the table. “No, it is not okay! This is the same bull you feed me every time you do something. You say it’s for the sake of others, but really, Luhan, look at what you’re doing.”
 

“She’ll be happier-”
 

“Luhan.” He looked at him dead in the eyes. “Shut up.”
 

His wish would be granted because Luhan was left speechless. Sehun had always been the type to cheer him up, hold him high, and lighten the mood. It was a sudden transformation from the friend Luhan knew to a whole different persona of who might have been hiding underneath. Sehun wanted to speak, so he would let him speak.
 

“You know. The one person in the entire world who I thought would stick by you for once is gone now. And it wasn’t even her fault - I don’t blame her. I’m blaming you. You say it’s for her own good, right? Well let me tell you something. Look at the people beside you right now. There’s only two. Your mother and me. That’s it. Don’t you think there’s something terribly wrong with this situation?
 

“You constantly drive people away because of yourself. You hurt others thinking you’re helping them in the long run. I hate to break it to you, Luhan, but look at the people you’ve hurt. Your own family doesn’t even acknowledge your existence. And the one girl in the entire world who I thought you’d end up with has run off.”
 

Sehun paused to breathe. He couldn’t look at his friend straight in the face, in fear that his words were more painful than he had hoped. But Luhan had the same expression as before, hardly moved by his rant so far. He was just waiting for more blows to come.
 

“Your father hates you - I know that. But for you to never even mention to your cousin, that man’s nephew, that you exist? You look at him from afar like some kind of vulture trying to protect his prey. Your cousin doesn’t even know who you really are, but you still look after Suho with caution. And then you have the audacity to steal the woman he loved just to protect him from getting hurt, you said. Couldn’t you have done it a little more subtly? A little less heartbreaking for him? Because of your recklessness, there’s one person in your life that hates you.
 

Sehun’s voice was gradually getting softer and softer, no longer angry but now concerned. He sat beside Luhan, still not looking at him, and stared out into the open. His words became more hesitant.
 

“All I ever wanted for you...was to find someone who could understand you. Your mom does, of course. And as for me, well, I try my best. But for Seohyun to have wanted to know you, to have wanted to be with you - that was like a blessing. I thought you would never come to love someone, but you did. And that was the happiest I had ever seen you. Ever. And for all that to go away and disappear in one night...it’s frustrating.”
 

Sehun’s eyes were watery, but his expression was firm. His rant wasn’t in vain, however, for it had struck a nerve in Luhan. He hadn’t known that his only friend had been this concerned about him. After a moment of silence, Luhan put his hand on the other’s shoulder.
 

“Sehun, am I selfish?”
 

He sighed. “Very.”
 

Luhan sat back in his seat, rethinking about his past incidents. “I don’t understand.”
 

“I’ll put it simply, Luhan,” he sighed. 
 

Sehun stared at the flickering streetlamp outside. It was flickering less boisterously now. They were faint flickers, but still there.
 

“Your intentions are good, but the decisions you make do nothing but hurt the ones you love. You’re not good at expressing yourself. You think you’re helping them, but you’re only hurting them. Luhan. I want you to think. I want you to think about how they would feel in a situation, not about how you would think they’d feel.” He got up and walked to the window, examining the streetlamp more closely. “Stop driving people away from your life and start accepting them into it. People will learn to like you, Luhan, but only if you let them.”
 

Luhan sighed. “I’m hopeless.”
 

“Yeah, you kinda are.”
 

Luhan ran his hand through his hair and absorbed Sehun’s words. They all made sense, but he had never known the impact of his decisions until now. The only people by his side at that very moment really were just his friend and his mother - no one else.  The only other family member he cared for was gone. The only woman he had ever loved was gone too.
 

“What now?” Luhan was worn out, almost desperate.
 

“Nothing. The damage has been done.” Sehun turned around and grabbed his coat. “The only thing you can do now is to not keep going on like you always have. Don’t repeat those mistakes, or else you’ll end up all alone one day.”
 

Sehun opened the front door, stepped outside, and looked back at his friend sulking on the couch. There was nothing he could do now. Everything was up to Luhan himself and no one else. 
 

“Say ‘good night’ to your mom for me,” Sehun said from the door. “I’ll see you.”
 

And with that, the door closed shut. Luhan got up and trudged down the hallway, passing by his mother’s bedroom. The door was always left ajar, so she had probably heard everything from Sehun’s rant. He peeked into the room only to see his mom looking at him with sorrowful eyes. He walked to her, sat at her bedside, and sighed over and over again.
 

“My son,” she finally said, “what have you done?”
 

“Something I shouldn’t have, Mom.”
 

“Well, is it too late to fix it?”
 

Luhan looked at the light flickering outside, making the curtains inside beat different colors of red. “I don’t know.”