Areum turned around, smiling at Iseul as he met her at the cliff. It was a breathtaking view that Eunha's father had introduced to each of them. They all agreed to just call it the cliff, which had become thier hang out spot for a multitude of things, whether they all be there together or just by themselves. Today, however, Iseul wanted to tell Areum something important. This prompted her to invite him to the cliff, showing him something important, herself.

Iseul smiled back at her, waving a tiny bit with his left hand as she noticed his right stayed in his jacket pocket. She didn't dwell on it as he began to speak. "Hey,"

"Hello," Areum answered, turning her attention to the view she had seen many times before. "I'm glad you agreed to come here. It's very beautiful. It'd be a real shame if you'd of said no,"

"Yeah..." Iseul's voice was quiet and Areum knew almost immediately something was wrong. His voice ever really got like that when something was troubling him. She turned to him, stepping closer to him while he started stepping back, putting as much space as possible between them. "Listen, Areum.... I have something very important to say. It's going to be something you'd go your whole life not knowing about if I don't tell you here and now," Iseul said, making Areum focus on his every word and every motion.

"What's going on? Are you okay?" She had to make sure. It was something she always did whether it was Iseul or anyone else. She wanted everyone to be okay before they go on with the rest of the day to at least make it bearable. To at least make it so you don't think of terrible things throughout the day. Iseul smiled at her, looking down quickly so eye contact wasn't long.

Iseul was always doing that now. Areum thought he was getting better with it but she still notices everytime he puts a margin of space between them, everytime he avoids looking in her eyes, everytime he puts a barrier up to hide from her. It was his defense mechanism against both himself and Areum. He didn't want to get too close, not after the accident. It was fine but he could at least look at her in the eyes he used to love so much.

"I'm fine. It's just..." Iseul tried to find the words but couldn't speak. Instead he closed his eyes and held his breath before grabbing a square shape out of his pocket and grabbing her hands with his free one. He tucked the object into her hands, making sure it was secure there before backing away again. It almost seemed like he was catching his breath just by being that close to her for a fraction of a second. "I'll explain when you see what it is," He said, giving her permission to look at it.

Areum was hesitant at first, staring at her hands that concealed the square shape before she bit her lip. "What is this?"

"I can't tell you unless you see for yourself," He said, giving her a signal with his hands to do it. Areum was sure he was just trying to buy himself some time but she shook her head at the thought and uncupped her hands to show a velvet little box. She blushed and quickly looked up at Iseul but he wasn't looking at her, favoring the ground like it was some sort of art piece.

"I..." Areum shut her mouth, instead opening the lid too. A ring presented itself and her eyes grew wide. "What is this?" She didn't know what she was feeling. Confusion? Happiness? Anger? A strange mixture of all, it seemed.

"It's a ring,"

"I know! What's it for?!" Areum asked, knowing the answer but wanting him to say it. Wanting his own voice saying the words and confirming her thoughts.

"A... It's... It was to propose to you. Before all hell broke loose. I just needed you to see it. Just to not keep it from you forever. I'm not proposing now but-"

"Why?" Areum asked. She knew exactly why. It was because Iseul was afraid. He was afraid he was going to hurt her, he was afraid he wasn't good enough, he was afraid she'd be unhappy and he was afraid she would be stuck in an abusive relationship. Areum didn't see that last one. All Areum saw was that Haneul and Iseul were two different people who did things very differently with thier own personalities. This thought only made Areum angry. She was still in love with the man in front of her and the thought that he wouldn't love her because he was afraid of himself was maddening. Haneul was so different in her eyes and yet Iseul thought he was a reflection of who he really was.

"I've told you why. Because -"

"No! You can't do that! I still love you. Why don't you love me?"

"You see, that's the thing. I love you too much. That's why I'm keeping you away. I want you to have a life that doesn't involve the crazy shit that's happening to me. I don't want that stress on you. I love you and that's why I keep my distance. I gave you that ring to tell you a truth. A secret that I've been keeping and it's been weighing me down. It's to represent how much I really loved you and how much I want you to dispose of it. That will then tell me that you're better now,"

"I'm not," Areum said, her eyes darkening before she took the ring out and put it in her pocket. "Iseul Kim, I would accept your proposal if only you'd accept mine," Areum said before smiling at him.

"Areum, I don't like when your eyes do that,"

"What?"

"Darken. It means something's happening. It means you're thinking of something bad or you're turning into her,"

"I'm fine. I'm keeping this ring. You can pretend you gave me a friendship ring or whatever but I want to wear it to do my own pretending. You know, I wanted to get married too. I wanted to love you forever and I wanted to have kids and I wanted to just be with you but no. No, you hate me,"

"I do not,"

"Right. I guess I'll see you later. Do you think that in another deminsion we could have had that? We could've gotten married? We could've had children? We could've... We could've lived happily ever after? Like in the stories?" Areum asked, desperate for any type of confirmation.

"Maybe. Maybe in another life,"

"Too long," Areum responded, giving her own smile before turning back to head home.

A/N: I wanted Iseul to propose at least once but Haneul kind of cockblocked him in that area so here's to him proposing without really asking her to marry him. If you didn't catch the drift, this is after everything went berserk between them.