"Well, I mean— you are from Mars, so I guess."

He suddenly gasps, and I look up faster than I've ever looked up before in my life.

"Y-You admitted to it." He stutters, and I can't help but release a laugh when he looks down on the grass in shock. "Now you really believe me?"

"No, I'm just kidding."

He shoots me a glare as I burst into helpless laughter, nearly crumpling my homework when I roll on the grass.

"That's not funny." He says seriously, and I'm still laughing when he suddenly pulls me up from the grass.

My lips press tight in surprise when he pushes me against the trunk of the tree, his face so close it takes my breath away.

His eyes look even more beautiful closer.

"Admit it." He repeats, and his eyes blink slowly. I'm afraid to move a single inch as the laughter fades away from my lips.

"Admit that I'm from Mars."

"I-I mean..." My words cut off by itself when he tilts his face downwards, hand tightening on my shoulder.

"No excuses."

I can't even breathe.

"Okay!" I shout, my heart racing as I finally shove him back. "Okay— I believe you, you're from Mars. Gosh, Taehyung, too close."

"You better believe it." He sniffs when I turn my flaming cheeks away. My heart's in my throat— blood roaring in my ears as I take a deep breath.

When I think I've finally calmed down enough to breathe normally without looking like I'm hyperventilating, he suddenly pokes his head exactly two inches from my eyes.

"Need help with your homework—"

"Pause!" I yelp, the racing in my chest back again as I scramble backwards with two hands outstretched. "Pause right there."

He looks hurt.

"I was just trying to see if you needed help with your homework..." He mumbles as I stare at him with widened eyes.

"S-Sorry." I say quickly, my mind spinning. "Promise I'll buy you a burger later, okay?"

That's all it takes to turn his mood upside down.

"Hamburgers?!" His lips split into a smile as he falls back to the grass. "I can't believe you have hamburgers here, too."

See— he's just a kid. I convince myself as I laugh along forcefully. -Hamburgers make him this happy.

"S-Sian?"

"My hand is red again."

The pencil I'm holding slips from my hand when I see Taehyung look at me, his gaze wavering as he glances back at his bloodstained palm.

He's bleeding.

For the second time in just a few days.

Immediately abandoning my papers, I quickly shrug off my cardigan and give it to him, alarmed at how fast the red was soaking through the fabric.

I can see scarlet on the grass.

"Come with me." I say, gripping his wrist and pulling him towards the infirmary. I knew that the nurse was out for lunch break, so it would be empty.

The moment we get there, I quickly sit him down on the bed and search for gauze.

My mind whirls with worry.

Why was he bleeding so much?

When I turn back to him with a roll of white gauze in my fingers, I nearly scream when I find him passed out on the thin bed.

"Tae!"

Words don't describe the relief I feel when he opens his eyes to my shocked call, his eyes dazed and lost as my scarlet cardigan slips from his hands.

The blood has stopped, but my breath still comes in short gasps.

"Hey." I try to say in the most soothing voice I can come up with at the moment. "Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

When he doesn't reply, I just keep talking.

"You know, it's okay. It's just a nosebleed— people have those all the time when they don't get enough sleep or something like that. And we'll go to the hospital today, okay? Just make sure everything's fine—"

"Sian-ah..."

Something gleams in the corners of his eyes, and my heart crumbles when I realize they are tears.

"I am sick, aren't I?"

________________________

???'s POV

"You lost him?"

The air in the room seems to run colder than usual as my fists clench at his stiff words, my breaths shaky.

"I-I promise I'll find him, sir." I quickly say, urgent and desperate. "I promise I'll bring—"

"Do you even realize what you've done?" He exclaims, tearing his fingers through his snow-white hair, peppered with dark strands. "You had one job— one damn job. Take care of him, make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

"You failed."

The words clamp at my throat as he continues, tone harsh and brutal.

"He went to Earth, didn't he? You know as well what'll happen to him if he stays there— his body's not used to its gravity. He was damn born on Mars!"

"His heart can't take it." I confirm, and the man shoots me a hateful look. My eyes instantly meet the ground— I should've just kept my mouth quiet.

"Thanks for stating the obvious." He grinds his teeth, fists clenching. "How much time do we have? When did he leave?"

My head snaps up.

"About five days ago, sir."

His dejected sigh shakes the room, and I swallow when his brows cross furiously.

"Perfect. So the boy's dead in a week."

"I promise I'll get him back before the week ends." I say almost desperately as he turns away with a huge, dejected sigh. "I've tracked the location—"

"Yeah, yes. In the bottom of Han River."

"It's empty, sir."

"The spacecraft was empty."

________________________

KANG SIAN

"Tae?"

"Sian-ah." He says, his face looking pale in the moonlight. His voice is pleading as he tugs at my wrist under the blanket, fingers gentle as they glide over my half-closed eyes.

"Can you just stop sleeping out here from now on?"

"You can't sleep?" I murmur dazedly as I let him pull me up from the couch, sagging into his chest. I was so much more exhausted than usual— it had to be the working shifts that were getting to me.

"I don't want to be alone."

He whispers, and I smile softly as I latch my arms around his neck. I can see his presses lips relax a bit as he lifts me from the floor.

"You're too light." He chides, and I mumble sleepily as he carries me all the way to the room. "You're so light even I can pick you up."

"That's 'cause I'm short." I mumble, and he laughs quietly when I tug at his sleeve. "Did you drink the medicine the doctor gave you?"

His eyes curve in sadness.

"About that..."

"I don't think it's working."

You'll get better." I assure him, noticing the weight in his deep brown eyes. It seems out of place to see that kind of heaviness in him. "Don't worry too much, okay?"

"I don't want to die."

"What?" I say sharply, pressing a hand against his lips. "Don't say stuff like that. You're not going to die."

"It feels like it."

"And everyone dies anyway, in the end."

It's wrong to hear these words come out of his lips— it feels so wrong. He shouldn't be thinking like that in the first place.

"I won't let you, I promise."

"Even if I have to give my heart for yours."