As it turns out, vacationing on a remote island is actually quite relaxing. A part of me is still angry that Jimin just spirited me away like he did, but if I'm honest with myself for two seconds, this is something I probably desperately needed. It isn't as if Rosie's Blooms is getting any customers lately anyway.

I yawn, stretching my muscles in a way that feels amazing. I don't know where Jimin got the bathing suit that I am currently wearing and honestly I don't care. What I do know is that the sun here feels amazing. I'm more than a little tempted to turn around and undo my bathing suit top so that I can try to tan without lines. Of course, I don't really tan much, but still.

I lift my head and look around cautiously. I don't know where Jimin has run off to, and honestly I'm too lazy and relaxed right now to care. It's enough for me that he isn't here right now. So, I give in to temptation and undo my bikini top before laying on my stomach, allowing my back to meet the sun's golden rays without interference.

I sigh in bliss, thoroughly enjoying the peace and quiet. The sound of the waves and the birds chirping are like music to my ears, and before long I feel my eyelids growing heavy.

I fail to even notice that I'd dozed off, thus I find myself immensely disoriented to awaken to a pair of strong hands working the knots out of the muscles in my back. I sigh in delight, whoever's giving me a massage is terrifyingly good at it.

Wait. There's no one on this island aside from Jimin and I. Which means...

"Jimin!" I screech, holding my breasts in every attempt to hide them as I stand so fast that my own head is spinning. "What do you think you're doing? We talked about this dammit! You don't touch me like that! Didn't we already agree that night was a mistake?"

He smirks as he takes in my flustered countenance.

"No, I don't believe I ever agreed to such a thing. In fact, I specifically remember making a point quite contrary to that," he tells me smugly. "I remember, very vividly I might add, saying that you are mine and that I refuse to let you go."

He stares at me, waiting for my reaction, but all I can do is lose myself in his eyes as he studies my own. For just a moment I am nearly certain that he is going to lean in and kiss me, so intently are we gazing at each other. But instead he breaks the moment, and changes the subject, with a thrust of his hand into my line of sight. There, on a string, are two decent sized fish.

I gape at him even as my belly rumbles. I hadn't even realized I was hungry.

"Wait, Granny always told me that Fae don't eat meat. Something about respect for nature and not killing in respect of the balance of life and death?"

"Well, normally we don't. I've honestly broken at least two other taboos already though so..." He shrugs his shoulders. "Besides, I need a little more than standard fare to maintain this form. Taking the form of a human male is taxing."

"You've broken other taboos? Like what?" I ask him, genuine curiosity filling me.

"Oh, you know, falling in love with a human. Twice. Revealing my existence to a human... Things like that."

Though the first part is said almost playfully, with even a wink thrown in, I can't help but notice something else buried beneath his mischevious demeanor.

Jimin is a mystery, wrapped up in an enigma, which is also labelled with a danger warning. No matter how much he pulls me in, no matter how drawn to him I feel, ultimately it is something that could never work out.

How many more months until spring?

And then, when he is safe with his kin, where will that leave me? Heartbroken and alone with the memories of a love that could never be? Oh hell no. I refuse to be that woman.

So why do I feel the rise of jealousy in my heart over the knowledge that there was someone else for Jimin before there was me?

"So, who was the other human?" I ask him nonchalantly. Or as nonchalantly as I can possibly pretend to be right now. Just told myself I wouldn't be this way, and yet I can't help but rise to the bait. "I mean, I'm assuming that I'm the second."

"That's not really something that you want to hear the answer to," he tells me quietly. 

It's almost like the atmosphere itself is being sucked away from us in this moment, the very mention of the other human enough to achieve this. But honestly, now I have to know. 

"You see," I tell him "that kind of answer makes me only want to know even more."

I know that I am pushing my luck by the way that Jimin's eyes harden. It's the first time I have seen him truly upset since I met him and I don't think I like the way that it makes me feel. The very air around Jimin seems to shift.

It terrifies me, the way that I can feel his power through the air. Most of the time he is so goofy and light hearted that it is easy to forget that I should take him seriously. Maybe I needed the reminder. Maybe it's just one more reason that I should never have allowed this to happen.

But I do know for sure that all of it, the question and the response, only serves to make me more determined to end this before I get in too deep.

Despite my best efforts to keep my emotions hidden Jimin must have been able to see the hurt in my eyes, the fear, and he reaches out to me. I flinch as I back away and his aura immediately dies, retreating back within himself as he is taken aback by my reaction.

"Damnit Evie! Don't you dare," he tells me sternly, arms wrapping around me even as I attempt to storm away in an attempt to save what is left of my dignity. "Not you. Everyone else in this world can be afraid of me, but not you, never you." 

He is almost begging and though I would like to say that my heart remains unaffected I cannot. There are a thousand and one reasons that I should keep my distance, and a hundred more reasons for me to be afraid. And yet none of that matters when he is so vulnerable before me. 

"Can we stop fighting now Evie? Can you stop fighting? Let us be what we will be," he pleads "even if the ending is not the one I wish for I'd still accept it if we just try. I know how afraid you must be, but I promise you this; I do love you. You may not believe me and it may be hard for you to understand why, and honestly, I can't tell you all the reasons why. But I will never do anything to hurt you. I will never voluntarily leave your side unless you command it. So please. Can you just give me a chance?"

I sigh. The realization that I cannot avoid this hits me like a ton of bricks and all I can do is nod mutely while my heart begins to fill with uncontrollable dread.