"Jisung, I know you're excited, but please stop shoving me."

Jisung flashed an apologetic smile at a frowning Felix. Carefully pushing himself off Felix's back, he kept a hand on Felix's shoulder to steady his pained knees before poking his head between Felix and Hyunjin's arms to watch Seungmin enter the convenience store. Hyunjin nudged at Jisung's cheek in annoyance, but he made space for the enthusiastic boy by stepping to the side just enough to still be covered by the pedestrian bush.

Seungmin tried to hold back a hefty sigh when he approached the automatic doors. But between going inside and telling you his purpose of being here at this hour and turning back to watch Jisung's eyes fall flat for what would probably be the rest of his life, he chose this. He chose to give you the unasked push that everyone who was in the know needed. He chose to be the hand that brings the glue closer to the one missing piece.

The automatic doors slid open with the usual welcoming chime. He looked to the left to find the register counter vacant, so he turned and checked for the aisles. As expected, you were sitting at the window table having a dinner break, but he could tell you were keeping an eye out for whoever walked in the store just in case you had to ring a customer up. When you saw that it was just Seungmin, though, you relaxed.

"Hey!" You called with a wave. "What are you doing here?"

"Jisung is outside." Seungmin wasted no time.

You were chewing the remaining food in your mouth, the slow but steady movements of your mouth showing the reluctance you didn't with words. Your gaze followed suit with unease and distrust, the chopsticks in your hand falling.

It wasn't that you hated Jisung. You could never. All of this happened because your devotion to him was blind and faithful. It was the unknown that haunted you. Jisung's repulsed gaze reflected in the mirror every time you looked at yourself. Did they remain in his eyes until now? His violating words mirrored your judgment about yourself. Did he still think of you that way now? He hurt you because you hurt him first. You hurt him first. This was your fault.

You couldn't take the risk of spiraling. You had to avoid him at all costs. You needed to walk away from the chance of making another mistake, even if it meant bidding a silent farewell to him forever.

"I'm so sorry," Seungmin added. "But he's hurt. He's really hurt. He's bleeding."

Your brows furrowed sorrowfully, and you perked up from your seat. Your eyes darted out the window to look for any signs of people, but you saw none. Barely anyone walks by this area at this time of night. "What happened?"

Seungmin breathed a sign of relief upon your concern. He had been rigidly afraid of having to resort to violence, which just meant he would kick you off the chair and drag you outside by the ear. Jabbing a thumb behind his shoulder, he recounted what happened briefly. "Jisung tripped and fell on the ground when you teleported away. He stayed on the floor crying. He was hitting himself and everything."

What you felt reached beyond mere guilt. From the sound of it, he must have been crying because of you and hurt because of you. Huffing out a shivering breath, you allowed the pain in your abdomen to dissolve into acid and spread through your limbs. It was painful. Your feelings were painful. Everything was painful.

"Why do I keep doing this? Why do I keep hurting him?" you whispered, tongue filled with violent accusations. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

"Hey, nothing is wrong with you," Seungmin urged after he quickly approached you. "Nothing is wrong with you. What happened was a gross case of miscommunication. You two suffered the consequences. It's all done. Jisung is out there right now. He needs to be healed, and he wanted to see you, so please–"

He picked you up by your arm and shook your shoulders. He faked the motion of slapping your face twice before he huffed with determination. "Pull yourself together!"

You stared at him, wide-eyed and in disbelief. But, after a moment, you nodded and told him to bring Jisung inside. Meanwhile, you headed to the back room to get your handy pack of strings. There wasn't much left, which wasn't an issue for a small healing job. But you would need to have it refilled eventually. You usually did it by sneaking back to the city, but now that you've talked it out with Minho, perhaps you could arrange a delivery instead.

You pushed the door open with your shoulder as you were busy untangling the green string. An exhale brushed past your lips in exhaustion once you looked up and saw Jisung standing by the counter table. His palms were faced skyward, reddened with ground debris and blood scratches. His pants were rolled above his knees to air out his wounded knees. His eyes were puffy and teary as he stared at you, unsure if it was from the physical pain or seeing you.

"You're so clumsy," you muttered when you were near.

"I'm sorry," he replied softly, his eyes shakily following your face.

You didn't say anything. Jisung trailed behind you and followed you to a seat. You took his hand in yours and did what you were most familiar with—using magic. He watched as your palm hovered over his, and his hand remained rigid in your other hand despite how gently you held him. He swallowed a gulp of saliva down his throat, realizing how empty he had felt in the past weeks once you touched him again. The unfulfillment had been so stagnant in the process of getting him used to not having you around he almost forgot about it. He was, with uncertainty, grateful to be reminded of it.

There were crickets of stinging pain when the soil and debris got sucked out of his flesh, and he recalled you telling him that healing magic was a reversal process rather than a magical process. The feelings of his skin closing together felt weirder with that knowledge in mind. You did the same thing to his other hand and his scraped knees in complete silence. There was not a single word nor eye contact between you both as it happened.

There was evident awkwardness in the air, but the tension was so wobbly and breakable it could cut neither of you. Since the last argument and the consequences of it, the atmosphere that would mold when you and Jisung were near each other grew softer, soft with fear and caution to keep history from repeating.

You looked up after his knees were healed up. Your eyes brushed past his above, just between the gaps of his hair, you noticed faint redness. Dismay grumbling out your lips, you reached up to hold his bangs out of his forehead. Jisung winced when your hand came in contact with the small cut he made when he was dragging his head against the backyard floor, but he didn't mind you touching his head.

"Did you fall face-first on the floor?" you asked as you hovered your stringed hand over the bruised cut.

Jisung nodded. "You can say that."

You huffed in annoyance not directed toward him, and he looked away from your face in the self-induced reflection. He should not have dragged his forehead through the mud. He didn't think you would be so upset over it. The lingering background pain faded before you leaned back into yourself on your seat. In a matter of a minute, his body was back to normal. If he weren't in such a sorry state, he would verbally suggest going on a fearless rampage with this kind of immediate healthcare coverage. He could do almost anything!

"This is not an invitation for you to go jumping around," you said pointedly when you saw the thoughtful spacing in his eyes.

Jisung perked up slowly, returning to the present. "I wasn't even thinking about that." He laughed a little and shook his head in denial. When he saw your prolonged glance, he shuddered timidly and shrugged. "I've never touched dry ice before."

His mother had some groceries delivered to the apartment the other day, and they came with a pack of dry ice to preserve some of the food that came in the box. The icy air surrounding it had felt refreshing to Jisung that all he wanted to do was touch it. He was advised against it multiple times, which only made him want to do it more.

"Oh jeez–please don't do that," you groaned.

"What the–you and Seungmin are so annoying! It's not like I'll die from it!" he slurred out animatedly.

"I'm sure it's not just me and Seungmin." You rolled your eyes.

"Well, yeah? Of course, my mom would tell me no. That is when you guys come in and encourage me to try it out! Parents say no; friends say yes!" he spilled confidently. "Hyunjin was in on it! He's the true ride-or-die, I guess."

You narrowed your eyes at him and leaned your body to the side. You looked out the convenience store doors. Felix perked up when he saw you looking by the wall. He clapped his hands with a bright smile, waved, and looked to the side to pull Hyunjin out from hiding. Hyunjin stumbled with a curse, but he let Felix hold on to his wrist in excitement from seeing you again. Looking up from the floor, Hyunjin searched for your eyes. He pulled a face at the deadpan glare you sent him from miles away; he knew there was a reason for it. He just wasn't sure what Jisung told you.

"The first thing he does is talk shit about us to [Name]," Hyunjin muttered.

Felix giggled, clearly not a care in the world now that his friends were making up with each other. Seungmin rolled his eyes with a scoff and made sure his comment about how Jisung was only talking about Hyunjin was loud enough to be heard. The two got into a minor hissy fit, where Seungmin remained still and Hyunjin looked more exhausted than ever. You could see the grimaces on Hyunjin's face from inside the store.

"Those two are at it again," you muttered to Jisung.

"They always are," he said mindlessly, playing with your fingers. "Did I tell you about what happened the other day at the library? It was so stupid. Hyunjin was–"

"Ow! Hey!"

Jisung looked up innocently when you winced after he pulled a hangnail off your index finger. A small apology threw up from his stomach when you glared at him. He smoothed over the sore spot with the tip of his finger, rubbing the redness gently and slowly erupting into laughter upon your persistent grumpy expression.

You didn't pull away from him. He thought that meant something. Forgiveness, perhaps. Forgiveness that was given without the presence of an actual apology; forgiveness reserved only for those who are the dearest to us; forgiveness that was strong enough to shape the air around you, making everything mellow and soft again. And you two would not hurt each other again. You two would never hurt each other again.

"We all missed you a lot," he said as he let go of your hand. "I missed you a lot."

"Enough to trip and fall?" You smirked in amusement.

Jisung sighed with a quirk on his lips, embarrassed. "Yeah."

It took one final stare—this time, both of you could see that it was longing eating away at your irises—before you two broke down. Silent tears fell down Jisung's cheeks as he reached for a hug. You returned the embrace with equal devotion in your strength, both of you doing your best to crush each other's bones and physically submerge yourselves into each other. Anything separating your bodies was a nuisance at this point; your clothes, flesh, skin, everything.

"I love you," he mumbled. "Let's never do that again."

"Okay," you nodded, "I love you too."

You two would not hurt each other again. You two would never hurt each other again.

Felix hopped on his spot when you showed up at the glass doors. He squealed in celebration and left Hyunjin's side to jog over to where you were. Jisung pursed his lips into a smile when Felix almost tackled you to the ground with a hug. His eyes trailed from his excited friend to behind his shoulders, where Hyunjin and Seungmin were approaching. When Jisung caught Seungmin's eyes, Seungmin breathed a relieved sigh that reflected how Jisung himself felt about the ending of this stoic period.

There was a newfound perspective that Jisung was too absorbed in his sorrow to see before. The way Seungmin looked like the weight of responsibility got lifted off his shoulders, how Felix immediately trapped you in a tight embrace, and the fond smirk seeping onto Hyunjin's face—the hostile tension impacted everyone, and everyone was glad to see you again.

It was no news that you have blended into becoming an inseparable component of this friend group. But, with the tightly-bounded relationship you and Jisung share, it would slip his mind sometimes how much you were sewn into his friends' lives, to a point where the lack of your presence had caused a strain in their routine. The affectionate stake to Hyunjin's ego, the partnered softness in Felix's life, and the permanence in Seungmin's loyalty. This was never just about Jisung. This was about everybody, about friends who would lie and die for each other.

Jisung smiled at Seungmin when he was near the quiet boy standing a few feet away from the commotion by the convenience store doors. There wasn't anything they had to say to each other. The purposeful brush on the back of their hands conveyed gratitude.

"What did Jisung say about me?" Hyunjin asked, standing tall before you.

There was a ringing in your ear, but you ignored it. You eyed him with a playful glare. "Did you actually agree to touch dry ice with Jisung?"

He giggled and opened his arms to hug you. You accepted it begrudgingly. When his head lowered enough to your ears, he replied, "I was never going to let him do it. I gotta take care of him when you're not here, you know?"

That was how it was, you supposed. Initially, you thought Seungmin would be the one to look after everyone, but being the decision-maker of the group did not come with the kind of life skills that Hyunjin grew up being taught by his family. Felix lived in wealth, Jisung's parents did everything for him, and Seungmin could negate most responsibilities in return for academic success. Hyunjin juggled every homely activity to support his parents' lack of presence at home.

From cooking to cleaning, fixing clothes to perfectly putting on a mattress cover, making a doctor's appointment to negotiating grocery prices—Hyunjin has always been the person to go to. You appreciated his help whenever you, surprisingly, needed it.

You hummed, attempting to relish in Hyunjin's lanky figure, but the ringing in your ears bothered you. There was nothing in the atmosphere. The ringing came from a sense of sudden dread, a downcast of paranoia. Something was coming. Something was coming directly at you. You raised your hand, the green strings you felt glad you hadn't taken off yet, and you discreetly muttered a chant under your breath just as the convenience store collapsed onto you and Hyunjin.

A hammering in Felix's ears came from witnessing a natural hazard. The dust drowned his eyes, but he found looking away from the fallen building impossible. He shook his head and attempted to steady his heavy breathing. No, this wasn't a natural hazard. He did not feel anything. The ground did not shake under his feet, the ocean had not covered the city, and the wind did not pick up across the map. The convenience store collapsed onto his friends because something he couldn't clearly pick out crashed into it.

Seungmin grabbed Felix's hand and pulled the stunted boy to his side. His other hand restricted Jisung's haphazard and impulsive movement. The tightness of his hands wrapped around his friends' helped cease the tremors traveling across his arms, but the clear suspicion of what could have possibly caused such a commotion struck a permanent fear in Seungmin's chest. It would be best to wait it out. It would be best to trust you and wait it out in case someone none of them can deal with comes into the picture.

The green string was generous with your usage of it. With shaking arms, you shoved off the rubbles on your body and cleared a space to sit up. You could feel Hyunjin under your knees. Before you even looked for your other friends, you gazed downward to find him lying beneath you.

Anything below his waist should be fine. You suspected that since most of the damage you took were done unto your arms, torso, and head. That would make sense. The building collapsed on you mid-chant, meaning the protection spell you were casting was done halfway from the ground up, protecting your legs and lower body. Hyunjin seemed to have gotten the short end of the stick with the heavy rubbles as blood trickled down the side of his face from an invisible spot on his head. The back of his palms was bruised with red; you swore you could feel them near your head when it all went down.

You called his name, and he responded with silence. "It's okay," you said to yourself as you hastily pushed off the cement blocks covering his body so you could pull him out from under the weight.

Preoccupied, you did not notice the floating figure descending from skyward. When he called out your name, you finally looked up, and you froze at the recognizable face—the councilman who took charge of you after your family's murder. There was no concrete evidence of his involvement, but from his forceful way of care and blatant distaste for you, it was evident to you, even as a child, that he was part of the plan to take your family down.

Jisung watched with praying eyes as you scrambled to pull Hyunjin's unconscious body toward your chest as if protecting him. He followed Felix and Seungmin's gaze toward the councilman, who finally reached the ground with his feet and mumbled, "Who is that?"

"Nobody good," Seungmin replied.

The councilman observed the destruction he caused with disinterest. His mind was focused on accessing the group of children he saw—one he wanted and the other four disposables. A sparkle in the air caught his keen and experienced eyes, which he soon realized was the red string of fate. It tied between you and the scrawny-looking boy wearing a dirtied school uniform. He clicked his tongue; he disliked unkempt clothing, but what mattered now was the string and its meaning. So it was one child he wanted, one child he could exploit, and the remaining three (or two) were disposable.

"What are you doing here?" you asked aloud to gain the elder's attention. When he shot a sharp glance at you, your glare deafened into a flinch, and you unconsciously cradled Hyunjin closer to you. You were still afraid of him. No matter how many years have passed, you would always be more afraid of him than you could hate him, and you hated him a great deal.

"Pointless question, [Name]," he replied calmly. "What other purpose would I have other than to bring you back to the city."

Felix could piece two and two together much more quickly this time. The severity of the situation and the fearful adrenaline burning in his chest could have forced his brain to react so quickly. The second he heard the councilman speak of taking you away to where you escaped from, he knew he could not listen to a single word that man had to say. He shouldn't already, considering what happened to you and Hyunjin—a whole building? Was that necessary?

Snatching his hand away from Seungmin, Felix bolted toward you and knelt beside you. He crossed his arm through yours, holding you tightly, and glared at the councilman. "They're not going anywhere with you! Leave us alone!"

Seungmin watched defeatedly when Jisung escaped his grasp to follow Felix's lead. He genuinely could not tell the thought process, but supposed he could not be the odd one