KANG SIAN

"N-No."

Taehyung stutters as he steps back, eyes wide and alarmed. The bunny he's holding slips to the ground, running off down the sleek floors.

"No."

But the woman looks at me, crossing her arms firmly together. The prospect of two hundred dollars per hour echo through my mind when Taehyung's shaking fingers grip the back of my shirt.

No.

What the hell am I thinking?

"Sorry." I reply stiffly as I hand my bunnies to the woman, my face pale as I bow again. "I'm really sorry for the bunnies, ma'am. Could I work off the cost at your shop, maybe?"

"I guess so," The store owner huffs as she snatches the struggling bunnies into her arms. "So it would be six hundred and fifty in total."

Does she think I'm stupid?

But I nod in defeat, wincing. No doubt I was going to get kicked out of the apartment by the end of the week if I had to pay off this cost and the dumb rent as well.

I'm starting to consider about working a second shift at the convenience store when Taehyung's fingers release my shirt.

"Wait." He says, and the woman turns back with a hopeful light in her eyes. "Hold on."

My mouth drops open at what he says next.

"I'll do it."

"And she won't have to work for her."

________________________

KANG SIAN

"Taehyung, you don't have to do this." I say as I watch his shaking gaze. He seems genuinely afraid for his life when someone tightens a measuring tape over his waist.

"I'm not stupid." He says, lips pursed together. "I've seen you leave at night to work— and this is my fault. I won't let you work more because of something I did."

My heart warms, and I cross my arms over my chest as I watch someone pull a confused Taehyung over to a set of flashing lights.

"He seems like someone from another world." A voice echoes behind me, and I look back in surprise to the nice neighbor's face. "Doesn't he?"

"He—"

"I'm from Mars."

The sentence that he'd said with such sparkling eyes float back up into my memory as I purse my lips.

But that can't be true.

It just can't.

"He is pretty unique." I finally admit as my eyes drift back to Taehyung wrapping a winter scarf around his head. "Really unique, actually."

"I never got your name."

"Sian." I say with a smile. "And thanks again for helping me out— all I can say is that I'm sorry about what happened earlier. You were trying to buy a rabbit, weren't you?"

"Jeon Jungkook! Set 3, please."

He gives me a nod before disappearing back into the maze of clicking cameras and bustling stylists, and I look back at Taehyung when my eyes narrow.

He's not there anymore.

The first thing that flashes through my mind is a smiling Taehyung happily letting birds out of their cages, and panic blinds my mind when a hand grips my shoulder.

"Sian-ah."

"Are you done?" I ask him, noticing that he'd changed into a dark knit with gray sweatpants. Shadows blush around his silver-tinted eyes.

"They colored my eyes." He points at his lenses, blinking rapidly. "See? It felt really weird when they painted it, though. Do you think it's going to hurt when they erase it?"

"They're lenses." I say, giggling. "It's not colored, don't worry. They're not permanent, either."

"I'm not done yet." He says, looking worried as he leans closer. "This will help you, right? Me doing this?"

My breath chills in my throat as I laugh nervously, taking a step back.

Too close.

"Yeah— this is a lot of help, Taehyung." I say, a bright smile on my face to hide my blush. His eyes literally blinking inches from mine had startled me a little.

"Don't go around freeing animals from cages though, okay? And I'm never taking you to the zoo. Never."

"...."

"Taehyung?"

When I look back, I see him on the ground. His back is pressed tightly against the wall, and his eyes are wide and confused as it stares into mine.

The laughter erases from my face.

"What's wrong?" I ask as I quickly crouch down next to him. "What happened—"

"T-This is weird." He mumbles to himself, taking a deep breath. "It wasn't like this back at base..."

"Base? What base?"

"Is this supposed to be normal here?" He asks, and I can't help but become even more confused at what he say next.

"I've heard that the gravity's different and all, but—"

Sweat beads at the side of his head, and my eyes flicker with worry. Considering it was blasting air conditioning in here at seventy degrees, he should not be sweating even with the knit.

And why was he talking like that?

"This wasn't a good idea." I interrupt as I quickly look around for someone. "Let's go to a hospital— there's something wrong with you."

He suddenly gets up, and I can feel something has changed even before I look.

"There isn't anything wrong with me."

"Wait, I didn't mean it like that—" I start, my mind spinning as I realize I'd worded that wrong. "Taehyung?"

Sadness curves the tips of my eyelids downwards when I see him back at the set, his face tight as he stares literal daggers into the camera.

Did I make him angry?

________________________

KIM TAEHYUNG

It's not her fault.

But I still can't look at her forlorn eyes beyond the clicking lights as I squeeze my fingers together, because I know that she's right.

There is something wrong with me.

Just now the entire world had flashed white— and that wasn't normal. I knew I couldn't run more than a few meters without breathing like I'd just run a marathon and I also knew that my abnormal heart hurt like crazy every once in a while, but not this.

Never this.

There is something wrong with me, but I can't accept it. Because I was knew enough to know that being on Earth was doing things to me— things that might make things a lot worse than they already are.

I was someone that didn't belong.

My eyes sting as I tilt my head backwards, trying my hardest to pay attention to the person who'd kept calling out orders to me for the last hour.

I can picture Mars in front of me, and all I can see is dark red dust for miles and miles.

I'd rather die than go back there.

Then my eyes return to Sian, who's sitting blankly on the cold floor with her eyes fixed into space. It wasn't right to treat her like this— it wasn't her fault.

And even though I didn't think she still believed me that I'd really come from Mars, she was my favorite person in the world.

The first thing I was going to do once these stupid lights stopped flashing at me and that red-faced man quit yelling at me was going to be apologizing to her.