Yifan doesn’t mean any of it. Kyungsoo is not a burden to him. In fact, Kyungsoo is the center of his galaxy, the reason he breathes, the reason he lives. It gives him great pain to hurt Kyungsoo like this but it’s better than having to live in a world without Kyungsoo in it. One of these days, he might not be there in time to save Kyungsoo and just imagining that has Yifan already dying. And to think it’s hard for him to die.

He is of royal blood, descendant of the dragon race. He can’t be easily hurt or killed. The only instance that a descendant of the dragon race is killed is if he is stabbed in the heart with a knife made out of a rare stone that can only be found in their planet. It’s so rare that only a few of those knives existed, to which kings before his father had already hidden to protect their race. No one knows where they hid them though until Sekru used one to kill Yifan’s father. If the king was not caught off-guard, Sekru wouldn’t have successfully ended the king’s life. But the king was attacked unexpectedly and the rest as they say is history, making Yifan abandon his own planet.

Kyungsoo is speechless after hearing what Yifan said.  His heart feels like it’s going to explode because of too much hurt.

Selfishly, Kyungsoo wants to be with Yifan. What he feels for him is something amazing and out of this world. He doesn’t even have an explanation for it. It’s like some invisible force is drawing them to each other that they need to be together in order to make the world function properly. That’s the extent of how badly they need to be with each other.

Hearing Yifan say those words to him, Kyungsoo doesn’t know what to feel anymore. Sure, he knows that what he feels for Yifan is love, a world-shaking love that is neither simple nor ordinary. But if that love is not good for Yifan, then he needs to try to stop it if that is what Yifan wants. He can’t be a burden to Yifan because that is not love at all if he is.

With a dying heart, Kyungsoo looks away from Yifan and directs his eyes to the ground. He exhales heavily before he picks up his gaze to look at Yifan again. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize I’m putting a burden on you by wanting to be together,” Kyungsoo says. “I, I just thought that, well, um, I’m just, I’m sorry,” he can’t formulate a decent sentence after that because there’s a lump in his throat that’s distracting him. He doesn’t say anything more and takes a few steps back before turning around to go out of Zitao’s room.

Kyungsoo doesn’t answer Yixing when he greets him. He makes a run for the front door passing Yixing who is sporting a confused face and continues to run once he’s out. He wipes the tears the stain his cheeks while his feet move faster away from Yifan’s house. He needs to be as far away as possible.

As soon as Kyungsoo is out of the room, Yifan’s mind starts a war of its own. One part wants him to go after Kyungsoo, to apologize, to kneel in front of Kyungsoo and beg him to be with him. The other part is keeping him rooted to his spot,