"Fun night, Ollie?" Lukas asked as he sat down next to me, a spoon of cereal midway to my mouth.

"Excuse me?" I replied.

But he wiggled his eyebrows at me in response.

Absolutely mortified and face so red you could probably fry an egg on it, I hit him on the arm.

"Ow! Zappy! Watch what you do with that."

"Don't make embarrassing comments," I warned him.

"Then keep your moans down in future."

"Lukas!"

He snickered at me, but it didn't quite meet his eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, noticing the tinge of sadness to his gaze.

His eyebrows furrowed momentarily, but then he shook his head. "Glad to see you're happy, is all." He placed a hand on my shoulder, eyes scrunching up at the painful touch before he got up, and walked over to the kitchen to take some pills. On his way out of the kitchen, he paused in the doorway, turning back to me. "And glad to hear you'll be moving in with us, Ollie."

If I thought my face was red before, it was even more red now. "You heard everything..."

He touched his ear. "Vampire hearing, remember?"

"Oh my gosh!" I buried my face in my hands, and listened to his laugh echo down the hallway and stairwell as he walked away.

· · ───── ∘☽༓☾∘ ───── · ·

Bags packed and loaded into the cab, I took one last glance around at the surroundings before climbing in. Winter was quickly creeping in. The Hammersmith streets had a glow to them, freshly wet from the rain that had just subsided. All the trees in the neighbouring park had withered under the brisk weather, shrivelling up and falling to the ground, swept away long ago, leaving only the baren branches behind.

As I ducked my head, lowering into the cab, I wondered if I would still see this place the same when I came back. If London would still have its dreary, yet somehow vibrant, hue to it when I returned, or if my new life as a magical being would see the mundane world grow dim.

But I did my best to shove those thoughts out of my mind for another day.

Sliding to the furthest seat, Ben slid into the middle bench spot, with Erica being the last to climb in. Across from us on the fold-down seats sat Jayce and Lukas.

Reaching around to grab my seatbelt, I accidentally nudged Lukas's knee with mine, causing him to jump slightly at the jolt of shocks I sent through to him.

"Sorry!" I said.

He shook his head. "You zap me all the time and mean it. Don't sweat it this time, Ollie."

We shared a grin for a moment, but as Erica closed the cab door, a sound echoing through the vehicle, she said, "Oh how exciting is this?"

At once, the same worries from outside came rushing back, amplified as the cab began to move.

I turned my head out the window as Ben, Erica, and Jayce began to chat about all their plans, where we were staying, sight-seeing schedules, and theories on activating my power (Erica had put a spell on the backseat of course). As hard as I tried to distract myself by the city landscape, brick buildings, and various car and foot traffic, my mind kept slipping back to the same thoughts.

What if we can't find it?

What if it doesn't work?

What if I'm not actually a fairy?

What if I suck at being a fairy?

What if my wings never go away?

Do I even want this?

How much would they hate me if we went all that way and I decided I couldn't go through with it?

The tensing feeling in my stomach began to increase, and I began to fidget with my hands. When the questions began to loop again, I briefly turned my head back into the car only for my eyes to meet Lukas's awaiting gaze. His face, washed with concern, was directed at me. And I realised then that he hadn't spoken a word in the conversation the other three were having.

Has he been looking at me this whole time? I wondered. If so... why?

As our eyes met though, he slowly cocked his head to the side as he took in my obvious worry. Then a small, sympathetic smile that said he understood what I was feeling—but also that it was going to be okay—slipped onto his face.

My heart beat intensified slightly at the idea that I hadn't hidden my feelings well enough.

Suddenly, Lukas crossed his eyes and poked his tongue at me, pulling me from my worries instantly, bringing me some slight amusement. And then Ben turned around to look at me, squeezing my leg slightly before removing his hand and going back to the conversation.

I looked back to Lukas, who was smiling at me warmly again. It was as if he knew Ben was going to turn and that I wouldn't want him to feel my emotions. How did he notice this about me?

'Thank you' I mouthed to him.

He winked in response, then turned his own gaze out the window.

While I trusted Ben with all my feelings now, a small part of me missed the privacy of being able to hide them and put up walls. Lukas had given me a little bit of that shield back in that moment, and I was grateful. Because Ben didn't need to worry more about me.

· · ───── ∘☽༓☾∘ ───── · ·

When we arrived at the city airport and made our way through check-in and security, we arrived at our gate only to find our flight had been delayed.

"Why would a flight leaving London ever be on time?" Jayce groaned when we found out the news, slumping into one of the seats.

"Guess we better amuse ourselves for the next few hours," Erica sighed.

"Ollie," Lukas started, causing me to look at him. "Play a game of bloody knuckles with me."

I frowned at him. "Why would I do that?" I asked at the same time Ben said, "Get stuffed."

Laughing, Lukas pulled up a seat across from me and Ben. "Scared you will lose, Ollie?"

Rolling my eyes, I responded, "You mean you would. I'll just zap you."

"I think I could take you on." He held his fist out to me, and the idea of challenge was certainly lightening my mood.

But Ben reached out, pushing Lukas's hand aside before I could take him up on the offer. "You're not willingly hitting my girlfriend's hand."

Placing a gentle hand on Ben's shoulder, I said to him, "This game will be over in less than a minute. Trust me."

I put my fist out, inviting Lukas to play, meanwhile Ben's brows furrowed as his eyes flicked between us.

Needless to say, I won. After twenty turns of hitting each other's knuckles, Lukas flinched away, hand still contorting in pain from previous shocks. Thanks to my zaps causing too much pain when his knuckles collided with mine, the blow of his hits were barely a touch. So it was no surprise that he was the first to flinch.

For my victory, he got up and went to fetch me a drink.

"What was that about?" Ben whispered in my ear.

"He's just trying to cheer me up," I said back in a low voice, a sigh escaping me.

"Cheer you up?" Ben cocked his head to the side, taking the hand I had used in the game in his. He began to massage my knuckles as he looked at me, concerned.

"I'm just feeling a little nervous about this whole trip."

"Why?"

I shook my head. "Can we talk about it later?" I was wary of Erica and Jayce's conversation having ceased up.

Ben nodded, and leaned in to give me a quick kiss. He pulled back, resting his head on mine, a small smile creeping across his face as he said, "I love you."

A blush crept across my face and I bit my lip, very aware that Erica was grinning at us from behind Ben and Lukas had just rounded back to our seating area. "I love you too," I whispered back.

Suddenly an iced coffee was in between us, causing me to pull back from Ben.

Deadpanning at Lukas for interrupting our moment, I said, "Thank you, loser."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll beat you in another game, Ollie."

· · ───── ∘☽༓☾∘ ───── · ·

After landing in Dublin, we picked up our rental car and immediately took off to our first check-in: a small house at the edge of the city, rented through AirBnb.

Everyone except Ben and I scored a room of their own (not that I would have wanted my own anyway). After claiming our rooms and putting our bags down, the boys took off together to the nearest grocery store to fetch ingredients for dinner, leaving me and Erica alone.

It had never been just the two of us before, so as we sat on the couch, a small beverage in our hands, I began to feel the twists and turns in my stomach return.

"So..." I started in an attempt to fill the silence, "Is Erica your Korean name?"

Humour in her tone, she responded, "Kind of. My Korean name is Choi Ae-Ri. The 'ca' I added to anglicise my name and make it easier for the Westerners."

That made sense. "And Jayce?"

"His Korean name is Jae-Su. So not much different." A silent moment dragged between us before Erica said, "You know a little bit about Korean names?"

An awkward laugh came out of me. "A little. I like watching kdramas and listening to Kpop."

Her eyes blew wide and she leaned forward in her seat. "No way! What's your favourite drama?"

I couldn't stop the grin spreading across my face as I crossed my legs on the couch. "Hard to pick. She Was Pretty is definitely an all-time favourite."

"Ugh! So good. Favourite Kpop band?"

Rolling my eyes, I replied, "Obviously BTS."

"You're an army member?" she gasped.

"I purple them."

"Who's your bias?" she reached over, grabbing my hand eagerly.

We continued on like that, gushing about all sorts of topics and evidently drifting away from Korean culture. When the boys returned, Erica and I were sitting on the same couch, sharing pictures from our phones and videos we enjoyed.

"Well... they bonded quickly," Lukas said.

"Go away dumbo," she called over her shoulder, turning back to show me another song she liked.

"So you and Lukas dated?" I whispered as the boys began to unload the groceries.

She nodded, a sad smile spreading across her face as her eyes showed her mind going down memory lane.

"What happened?"

She glanced back at Lukas, my gaze following. The boys seemed distracted in their own conversation and not paying attention to us, so she turned back to me. "Lukas doesn't tell anyone the details or why but I was his first bond invitation in like forty years. It was last year and we had already been going out for a few years when finally a bond invitation came up between us."

"You two didn't have one the whole time dating?"

She shook her head. "He... At first I thought maybe we just weren't meant to be, you know? But when it did happen, I realised he was just so guarded about letting people close."

"What changed to make it occur?"

"We were about to break up..."

"Oh. So what happened then? Decided to not go through with it?"

She pursed her lips and looked down. "I got overly excited and jumped onto it, kissing him. Obviously it was a shock to him that I suddenly did that and he pushed me away."

"And then what happened?"

Her eyes met mine. "We lost any feelings we had for each other. It hurt for that bond invitation to sever, don't get me wrong. But it's impossible to feel the butterflies or feel flushed. I can't love him like that anymore. At best he's a brother to me. I'm more sad that I can't even mourn the lost relationship, because the pain of the bond invitation severing was excruciating when it happened. But then I was just numb to him. Two years of love just... gone like that. Because I didn't think."

A hand rested on Erica's shoulder and we turned to look at the source. Lukas was smiling at her sadly.

"It's not your fault. I've told you that. What happened is all on me," he said.

She rested her hand on his. "It takes two to tango, Lukas."

He shook his head, leaned down and kissed her hair, then walked back to the kitchen.

"So you really just... can't feel anything for each other?"

She sighed. "I love him as a friend. And I remember I loved him romantically. But no matter how much I try to beg my heart to will it, I cannot feel anything for him. It's a really odd sensation."

"Is that how it works if a cemented bond breaks? You don't mourn the loss?"

She shook her head. "No, Ollie. That break is very different... an invitation being declined saves you the heartache when seeing them around. Makes it easy to not be bitter when a relationship doesn't work out so that things can go back to normal. But a cemented bond, like what you and Ben have... Bonds work by wrapping themselves around your hearts, tying you together. So when one heart stops beating, the bond goes limp. But it doesn't cease to exist. It just dangles there... And if the death was unexpected, like they weren't terminally ill or old, then it will haunt the person who is alive potentially forever."

My breathing became a little shallow with that comment as I began to wonder again what I had signed up to.

But before I had a chance to start freaking out, Ben had sat down next to me, wrapping an arm around me. "You've got nothing to worry about, Olivia. You're stuck with me by your side forever," he whispered into my ear.