JANS was breathing hard when they reached the entrance. There were a couple of cabs that were outside, waiting for regular bar-hoppers to ride them. Lucky.

“Where are we going?” she had to ask him.

“Somewhere where my dad can't tell us what to do.” Sungmin knew that if he went back to Korea that would be news. And that was what his father would expect him to do.

“Where is that?” Jans didn't know if this was technically eloping but it felt that way.

“Do you have your passport? We could go somewhere, anywhere but here.” Sungmin asked her.

“No, I don't bring my passport everywhere. My living quarters are either my parent's house or the sleeping area at the bar. My passport is at home.” she answered.

“Tell the driver where that is. We need to get that. We need options.” Sungmin was confused but determined to get away.

“Look. We can go to Boracay. Just like you told your friends we would do. You have a house there, right?” Jans was trying to help out. She didn't want to go to Korea or out of the country out of the blue. It was way too drastic. And this was not a drama, they needed to keep their heads out of the clouds and think straight.

“MY FATHER would find us there.” Sungmin leaned back and sighed. There was nowhere they could go. If they came back now, she'd be registered into the family registry before they even knew it. He wanted to regain a semblance of control over his life. He needed to be sure that Jans was worth all the effort of keeping her. He barely had four weeks to do that. Then he had to go back to a crazy busy life. She was not going to be able to handle that. He can't ask her to leave her family and her life here. But if she can't go with him on a whim anywhere, can't even make the leap of going to Korea with him, things were not going to work out in the long run.

“I have an idea.” Jans gave the name of the hotel to the driver then faced him. “You are staying in the hotel now, right? We can move your things at the other guy's room, take just a few things that can fit in a backpack, then go somewhere that no one knows we would go to. After a couple of days, we can come back and talk to them about what we want to do.” she was beaming. He could see that she had a plan in her head.

“Where do you plan to take me?” Sungmin asked.

“I have this friend who lives in Batangas. That's a couple of hours from the city. We can take the bus and go there. She told me that I can call in a favor she owes me any time. She lives near the beach so you would love it there. They have a farm near the ocean so we can stay with her. Don't worry about it. I'll give her a call now.” he listened to her talk to someone named Tasha. The latter sounded like a noona so Sungmin just relaxed.

When they arrived at the hotel, he paid for the cab and they got off. Jans was still on the phone with Tasha when she finally said, “Thanks, unni. You are an angel!” she finished the call then faced him.

“Put this on.” she removed the berret that she was wearing and made him wear it. It didn't help much but since there were less people around that night, it was not too difficult for them to get in unharrassed.

When the got to his room, he called Donghae. “Where in God's green Earth are you two? The parentals are freaking out here!” Donghae snarled at him.

“I am eloping.” he teased.

“What?!?” his hyung was cute when he was genuinely freaked out about something.

“Just for a couple of days. I won't even check-out. Jans wanted to leave my things in your room. But I think my parents might kick me out completely when I tell them we can't get married so I think I should keep this room. I'll see you when I get back. Tell my mom that Jans has everything under control. Tell Jans' mom that I won't do anything to hurt her daughter. Don't tell anything to my father. He's intervined with my life for the last time.” he was really determined to come to some kind of decision about his father's dictatorial ways. He sat down on the bed and sighed.

“Hey.” Jans rubbed his back and tried to soothe him.

He slowly looked up and faced her. “I have to ask you something.” she looked scared of what he might ask so he said it with a smile. “I want to know what you think is going on between us. Do you think we should really get married? We don't have announce it to the world or anything. But I don't know all of the consequences. There are going to be a lot of those.”

“I can't marry you.” Jans said. He felt the stab in his chest but understood.

“I want you to go to Korea with me. To see my life. To find out if you can live there and be with me.” he was pushing it, he knew that