Shore To Be || Hong Eunchae

And Last |Chapter 10|

"It doesn't matter. I refuse to go anywhere with you." – Baek Hyun Woo

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"A dispatch Article was released this morning. . . they've found me and HYBE want me back."

The sun had just begun to dip below the horizon, casting a warm, golden light over the beach. The sound of waves gently lapping against the shore was a soothing contrast to the storm brewing inside me. I stood there, staring at Eunchae, who looked back at me with eyes full of sorrow. Her words still echoed in my mind, heavy with a finality that I wasn't ready to accept.

"I won't be able to see you, Y/N."

Those words felt like a knife twisting in my gut, and I struggled to keep my composure. My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was trying to escape my chest. This couldn't be happening—not now, not when everything was just starting to make sense. The world felt like it was crumbling around me, and all I could do was stand there, helpless.

I swallowed hard, trying to force down the panic that was rising within me. "We can just meet back in Seoul, right? I study at Yonsei... we could just meet up..."

My voice trailed off as I saw the look on her face. She couldn't even meet my eyes. The silence between us was deafening, filled with all the things we couldn't say. I felt like I was grasping at straws, trying to find some way, any way, to keep her from slipping through my fingers.

Eunchae took a deep breath, and I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. When she finally looked up at me, the pain in her gaze was almost too much to bear. "I won't be able to see you, Y/N," she repeated, her voice breaking as she spoke.

I felt like the ground had been ripped out from under me. My knees threatened to buckle, but I forced myself to stand tall, to stay strong for her, even as everything inside me was screaming to break down. I wanted to reach out, to hold her, to promise her that everything would be okay. But the words wouldn't come. They felt hollow, meaningless in the face of what she was telling me.

She looked away, blinking back her tears as she continued, " They want me back."

The name HYBE felt like a shadow looming over us, a reminder of the world she belonged to—a world that I wasn't part of, and never would be. I knew what that meant, even if I didn't want to admit it to myself. HYBE wasn't just a company; it was a machine, one that controlled every aspect of its artists' lives. Once she went back, she would be caught in its gears, and I would be left behind.

I took a step closer to her, desperate to close the distance between us, both physically and emotionally. "But we can still meet in Seoul, right?" I repeated, my voice trembling. "I mean, I live there too. We can see each other on weekends, or whenever you have a break. It doesn't have to end like this."

She shook her head, and the sight of her doing so shattered the last bit of hope I had been clinging to. "It's not that simple," she whispered, her voice full of regret. "Once I'm back with HYBE, I won't have the same freedom I have now. Everything will change... I'll be under constant supervision. They control everything—my schedule, my image, my life. And... and I'll be busy with comebacks, rehearsals, promotions... I won't have time for anything else."

Her words hung in the air like a death sentence. I felt my chest tighten, the realization settling in like a heavy weight on my shoulders. I had known, deep down, that this day might come, but I had never imagined it would hurt this much.

Eunchae looked down at the sand beneath her feet, her tears now falling freely. "I'm so sorry, Y/N," she said, her voice cracking. "I didn't want it to end like this. I didn't want to hurt you. I wish we had more time... but this is the reality of my life."