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Aiko & Heeseung
The sun hadn't fully risen yet. The sky outside was stained a soft pink, casting a dreamy, deceptive light over the compound as if nothing was wrong. As if today wasn't the day everything could fall apart—or finally be saved.
Aiko walked with quiet steps down the hall, the silence of the morning sinking deep into her bones. In her chest was a storm of nerves, fear, resolve. She had barely slept. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears with every step she took toward the lab, where Yuna and the others were waiting. Where she'd give everything she had—maybe literally.
Her hand was just about to push open the door—
"Don't."
A voice stopped her.
Firm. Broken.
She turned, and there he was.
Heeseung.
Blocking the door.
His eyes were rimmed with red, dark circles under them, hair a mess like he hadn't slept at all either. But more than anything, it was the look in his eyes that shattered her.
Raw. Pleading. Like a man trying to hold onto something already slipping through his fingers.
She whispered, "Heeseung..."
"You're not doing this," he said quietly, not moving from the door. "I'm not letting you."
She sighed softly, stepping closer. "We already talked about this."
"No," he said, voice sharp. "You talked. I shouted. And then you walked away."
His voice cracked a little. "You can't just walk into a room and offer your life like it's nothing, Aiko. Like it's just a piece of the plan."
She looked up at him, trying to stay strong even as her chest burned. "It's not nothing. It's everything. That's why I have to do it."
"You don't," he said, shaking his head. "Yuna can figure something else out. Or—or maybe we keep working on it, test something else, do it in stages—"
"There's no time," she said gently. "You know that."
His eyes searched hers. "Then we lose."
Aiko's voice softened as she touched his arm. "We've already lost too much. This—this could save thousands. Millions."
Heeseung bit the inside of his cheek. His voice was low, trembling. "What if it costs you?"
Aiko hesitated.
Her voice grew quieter. "It might. I don't know. No one knows for sure."
She stepped even closer now, standing right in front of him, barely inches away.
