JEONGIN opened his eyes to the warm rays of sunshine that seeped through the hotel room they were staying in.

Turning his head around to the side, he saw that there was no one beside him. Only a pile of air.

He got up slowly, then made his way out of the room.

He glanced around the hall as soon as he stepped his foot outside, and could see a figure standing in the kitchen with her back turned to him. He made his way towards the figure with a frown, upset that she didn't wake him up to help her in whatever she was doing.

"Good morning..." he muttered, leaning for a tight hug of hers.

"Good morning, Innie. How are you, baby?"

She wiped a stray tear away from her face, then hugged him back while kissing his soft, dark hair.

"I'm... I don't feel good. I still can't believe what happened yesterday."

She nodded, "me neither. But, we got this. Okay? You have me by your side, always."

He smiled weakly.

"I know, noona. Here, let me help."

He took in the pan and the spoon from her grip, then began stirring the pancake mix.

"Thanks..." she began, a feeling of pride filling her, "Anyways, so I was thinking..."

He looked up at her, still stirring the mix.

"You're not... We're not really safe here, Innie. We need to leave."

Tears welled up in his eyes, then nodded slowly.

"I know..." he began, then allowed more tears to leave his eyes, "where are we going to go?"

She rubbed his forearm in reassurance, a wave of despair filling her.

"Would you like to come to Egypt with me? My family is there right now, and they're going to do their best to protect us."

For a brief moment, he knew that he didn't really have a choice. He closed his eyes and nodded.

"Okay... When are we leaving?"

Mal thought for a moment, a train of thoughts and solutions racing through her mind.

"How about tomorrow?"

☂︎

"So what do you all think?" Mal asked in Korean to the group of elders before her. She rubbed Jeongin's back in reassurance and waited for the rest to reply.

"Okay... We want Jeongin to be safe, and we want you to be safe. I just need you to do one thing for me." Hyunjin's mother stated through her sobs. The two glanced at her, then at the parents of their deceased friends, only to find that they were all crying.

"Of course, Mrs Hwang. Anything."

"I need you to take care of Kkami for me. I can't stand to look at him knowing that my son is not here with us anymore."

The two nodded with no hesitation, then got up to take the black and white long-haired chihuahua from the woman. Mal rubbed its fur and let out a tear, feeling already overwhelmed by its smell.

Its cologne smelled like something she smelled on Hyunjin before, and it gave her a strong sense of nostalgia.

"I'm really sorry..." the girl whispered.

Felix's mother weeped silently as she finally gathered her courage to speak up.

"No, we're the ones who's sorry. We shouldn't have called them and ordered them to come here. We should've known better."

Everyone nodded at her words, while Mal and Jeongin could only shake their heads.

"I should've known better."

Mal set the dog on the floor in one swift move, then hurried to the woman to give her a tight hug.

"This will never be your fault, okay? Don't blame yourself. It's what God wants..."

They all faintly smiled at the words, knowing that she was right.

"Do you know why they refuse to give us their corpses so we can bury them? We tried asking but nobody wants to tell us why..." Jisung's mother questioned as she gave the girl a hug as well.

"I... I really don't know, Mrs Han, but if you find out why, please tell me as quickly as you can."

The women nodded in agreement.

Jeongin then turned to his parents with tearful eyes.

"Bye, mum and dad... I hope I'll see you soon."

He gathered them in a tight hug, then allowed his tears to stream. Mal rubbed his back to calm him down, then took turns to hug each parent, muttering words of condolences.

She then turned to Hannah, Chan's sister, and Rachel, Felix's sister.

"I'm really sorry, girls... I love you so much. Please talk to me if you need someone to talk to."

Hannah sobbed and gave the girl a tight hug, soon followed by Rachel.

"Okay..."

Soon enough, the pair left the house with two lines of tears over each side of their faces. As soon as they entered Mal's fancy Mercedes, Jeongin turned to Mal and stretched his arms out, hugging her tightly.

"I love you, noona..." he whispered as his body clung against hers desperately, tears streaming down his face.

"I love you too, Innie... I'm here for you, okay? Just stay strong for me."

He nodded through the hug, and let her go after a few, long moments.

"Now... Let's go to the airport."

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