Echo || NCTau ||

25 - About the milky way

It was well past midnight when Haechan finally parked the car outside the village of Anbandegi. The village was asleep and other than the occasional street lamp and light from the windows, it was completely dark once the car headlights were turned off.

Yeoreum squinted and tilted her head sideways while looking out the window. Haechan had been talking about this and that for the past three hours, telling her all about the adventures of his high school dance club. It made no sense to her how easy it was for him to talk about himself.

She also couldn't understand what kind of momentary stroke had come over her and made her agree to join him on this insane road trip to begin with. She needed to get a grip of herself and stop her brain from being swayed whenever he touched her hands.

"This is where we get off", Haechan announced, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. He sounded excited. "Let's get our stuff. If you bring the snacks, I can check if there's anything in the back that we could use."

Yeoreum frowned when Haechan jumped out of the car like a little kid on his way to an amusement park. She remained seated, unsure about what to do and, while she was still figuring it out, Haechan had already circled around the car and opened the door for her.

"Well, aren't you coming?" His smile was pure enthusiasm.

Yeoreum looked around once more. The village ahead was quiet and there appeared to be no other people around. She turned to Haechan. She knew that, if the situation required it, she could take him down with ease – after all, he was a dancer and she was a killer.

Haechan offered his hand to her to help her but she ignored it and got out of the car on her own. "Why did we even come here? We're in the middle of nowhere, you didn't – "

Yeoreum forgot the rest of her complaint because Haechan had nodded upwards, signaling for her to look around, and that's when she finally saw it.

Haechan had said that he would bring her to the stars but she hadn't realized that he was serious.

Now all she could do was stare.

The dark purple, almost black night sky was littered with an immeasurable number of stars, overwhelming Yeoreum and rendering her speechless. She had never seen so many before.

The stars sparkled even more than the most expensive diamonds she had seen when she was sent to assassinate an Italian mafioso who had grown too power-hungry for his own good.

The stars shone even brighter than the ocean surrounding the island where the organization's training center was located.

Yeoreum's breathing was caught in her throat. She had never seen anything like it and the uncounted number of stars made her heart ache. Haechan was saying something behind her but she was too distracted to listen, looking up and clutching the hem of her coat as if she needed to hold onto something to stay grounded.

She was so distracted that she didn't even notice it when Haechan stepped closer behind her until his careful hands touched her cheeks in order to turn her head to the side and up.

A gasp escaped Yeoreum when she saw what he wanted her to see – the streak crossing through the sky up right above them. It was lighter in color from the rest of the sky and surrounded with different hues of blue and white. She staggered a step backwards, in awe, and her back was met with Haechan's chest. For a second, the warmth of his body enveloped hers and she could sense his breath in her hair before she jumped away, pushing his hands off her face in the process.

Her body felt overheated and she didn't know what to do with her hands so she crossed them over her chest in order to compress her heart that was still aching but, this time, with a different kind of pain. She turned to look at the streak in the sky hurriedly because the way Haechan stared at her made her feel naked – like there was nothing she could hide from him. It was unnerving.