Where Futures Begin (Saeran x Reader x Saeyoung) COMPLETED

XVII: Saeran's Route (Y/N)

Physical pain was familiar to you.

At this point, it was like an annoying friend that you never wished to speak with or see again, but always seemed to cross paths with you. You had hated it at first, resented and feared the very thought of an Elixir forcing your body through that kind of torture: but now, you had honestly grown used to it.

Sad, isn't it?

But perhaps what was sadder was the fact that while you could finally handle physical pain, your heart simply couldn't take the emotional stress anymore.

Despite having taken the Elixir into your bloodstream, you managed to retain consciousness. You weren't sure if that was a blessing or a curse, because even though your physical pain seemed to shrink with each passing second, the heavy weight on your heart felt like it was suffocating you.

When did it all go wrong? You wondered.

Just two months ago, your life had been as perfect as could be.

You had Saeran. Saeran had you. There was never any intimation of anything going wrong. The two of you had almost kissed, that one night so long ago, the very day you found out that you were to be raised to the Savior's inner council.

Life had been good. Life had been happy. We had been happy, you mused.

If only you could erase the past two months...then things could go back to the way they were before.

Saeran's fingers ran through your hair like dolphins cutting through water, smooth and unobstructed.

The day was a slow one at the Mint Eye: Saeran had met with the Savior early in the morning and had finished his work off before you had even been awake, and all disciples had been given the day off after a particularly successful recruitment ceremony.

For once, your schedules had overlapped so that the two of you were free at the same time.

Under normal circumstances, Saeran would have pulled you off to the flower garden and the two of you would have spent your afternoon talking and watering flowers. But the weather had taken a turn for the worse, and it was now leading into the third day of thunderstorms.

See, it wasn't that either of you were scared of thunder, but the constant booms were amplified by the dome structure of the greenhouse garden. Simply put, the roaring sounds made conversation impossible.

And so the two of you sat in your room, not quite talking about anything but instead simply enjoying each other's presence.

At times like this, that was all you needed.

"Are you going to do anything with my hair, or will you just play with it?" You asked Saeran, giggling as a light blush crept onto his cheeks.

"I-I thought you were asleep!" Saeran exclaimed, startled.

That was fair. You had been lying on his lap for the past half hour with your eyes closed, never saying a word. There was small surprise in the fact that Saeran had assumed you were asleep. Still, though, you would never back out of an opportunity to tease the white-haired male.

"Never assume, Saeran," You told the boy with a wink. "Girls are filled with secrets."

You pulled yourself into a seated position and sat across from Saeran, barely a foot away from him.

"Oh?" Saeran asked with a light smile. "And what secrets could you have, Princess?"

"I'll tell you if you catch me!" You jumped off the bed with an excited laugh.