For the thousandth time he could see his face on the old television screen in front of him. He lost count on how many times he appeared, but each and every time he felt as if they're coming closer and closer. He couldn't shake that feeling of anxiety, but he tried to assure himself that it wouldn't be possible for them to track him here. He's in an old town in an abandoned district, where technology was the same as it was years back. This part of the town didn't go with the flow of technology, so it would be hard for them to track him. Or so he hoped.

For as long as the people here wouldn't blab their mouths, he would stay safe. He noticed that the people around here either didn't have connection to the outside world, or they didn't bother to find out about life outside of the town. The hoodie he's currently wearing was the same as the one he wore on the day he was labeled as a fugitive. He had no change of clothes, no money but he did have someone he could trust.

There was a knock on the door, a special one where both him and the knocker agreed on. He stood up to open the wooden door, and packed food with a bottled drink were shoved at him. He smiled gratefully, but the knocker only returned it with a scowl.

"Why am I doing this for you, anyway? I could've gotten rich if I just opened my mouth."

"Hyung, you do know that you're the only one I can trust here?"

Yoongi just rolled his eyes. "I owe you one time, and now I'm helping you, so we're even."

"We're even," Taehyung mumbled, licking his lips while looking at the packed food.

"Go and eat, you're drooling like a starved hyena," he pulled the handle of the door to close it, but left a small space, enough for his face to be seen. "You, Kim Taehyung... You... It's not true, right? Whatever happened... It wasn't you, right?"

Taehyung put aside the food on the ratty table, and shoved his hands inside the pockets of his hoodie. "The media made it look like I'm the culprit, but I hope that you would believe me that I'm not. I was..." He looked away, "... Framed. By someone I trusted."

Yoongi nodded reluctantly, knowing that he should believe his younger friend. But it proved to become harder day by day, when his face kept popping up on screen, asking citizens to hand him in. They were searching high and low for him, yet he's here, in front of him. "Right, I should trust you. I've known you for a long time and I know you're not that kind of person."

He left, closing the door behind him. Taehyung eyed the packed food and suddenly, he's not hungry anymore.

***

With the information she got, Haeun had no idea what to do with it. Where should she start when the guy behind all of this happened to be a runaway? She needed information on him, but she had no way to connect to the Internet. She didn't have a commander; the only help she could get was from Eunwoo, but when she side-eyed him, he didn't look too eager to cooperate. Grudgingly, she marched forward, forgetting his promise to buy the shoes for her while she passed the shoe store.

"Choi-" Eunwoo shouted, but she's already marching forward like a soldier, ignoring the pain in her legs. Was it because she's not used to wearing high heels or she's not used to the metal inside her legs? She didn't care to find out as she found herself in front of the massive apartment. And to think that they're five floors underground...

She remembered faintly how the pad inside the lift only appeared when Eunwoo waved a card in front of it; she realized she had no means of getting in. She couldn't even get inside the building, as the entrance only allowed the residents to enter by waving their cards. So she's left alone again, under the starless night. Seeking refuge under the small roof at the entrance, she closed her eyes, imagining how her life had been. Who she was, what she was doing, or who she was acquainted with, but her mind remained blank, empty and dark.

As dark as the starless sky.

"You could have at least waited for me or turned around when you couldn't enter," Eunwoo held out his hand, gripping a card. It was the same one that would grant her entry into the apartment. "I figured you would be staying here for a while, so I made a duplicate. Though you're free to walk away, anytime."

She didn't answer but simply snatched the card from him. She mumbled an inaudible thank you, before getting up and dusting her back. Without looking back at him, she simply waved the card at the machine beside the entrance and the door clicked open. He followed suit, careful to keep a distance. He knew she's feeling very vulnerable right now, and he wouldn't want to be the person to break her.

The lobby, as usual was deserted, with the exception of the androids. It seemed creepy to others but living here for years caused him to get used to it. It's not like he had much choice anyway, and as long as the androids didn't bother him, everything was okay. The two of them made a beeline for the lift. As the lift was descending and just as it reached the ground floor, Eunwoo's commander rang. The lift door opened, but Eunwoo kept glancing at the small clip on his collar.

"You're not taking the lift?" Haeun was holding out her hand, stopping the door from closing. All the while, the commander kept ringing.

"I'll come down later. I'm going to take this call. You know the apartment number, right?"

"LG512, got it," she replied, while retracting her hand. The door closed. At the last second, Eunwoo was staring so hard at the clip she felt it would suddenly burst in flames. She waved the card in front of the empty panel, where she pressed the button to bring her to the desired floor. She felt it was odd that Eunwoo wouldn't want to take the call when she's around, since he was fine with it this morning. But maybe this was a more personal call; so she dismissed that thought.

When he was sure she was out of earshot and he saw the numbers on the panel moving, he made his way to the right side of the lobby. There was a small door which lead to a patio; the residents would usually hang out here to get a smoke or two. Much to his relief, there was nobody around. The commander kept ringing, and finally he slid his forefinger on the clip. The screen appeared, and a familiar face popped up.

"Tsk, what took you so long to answer?"

"You could've just called normally, instead of giving a video call. Impractical, I would say. And it could give you away so easily, when your face can be seen clearly."

"Are you with her?" the other person asked, looking behind Eunwoo's shoulder, expecting Haeun to be there.

"Don't bother yourself with her. You should worry about yourself. Do you have any leads on Taehyung?"

The other person sighed, clearly not a good sign. "He sure knows how to hide himself. So far, I have no leads. Nobody's seen him, either. Did he suddenly materialize?"

"Stop with your lame jokes. You know we don't have much time? If we keep dragging this longer, then we can kiss the world we know goodbye."

"Cha Eunwoo, you've become so poetic. And hey, you could've told me she has woken up."

"Even if I do, she doesn't remember anything."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

The screen flickered, as if the indecisive moment Eunwoo had interfered with the line. "We're ending our conversation here. And you do know... Haeun can never find out about this."

"We can only keep it a secret for so long, Eunwoo. She's bound to know... Soon."

The conversation ended with Eunwoo ripping the clip off his collar in frustration. He gripped the clip tightly but ended up shoving it into his pocket. He looked at the time and told himself that he had still one thing to do before the night ended.

***

Haeun felt refreshed after the long shower; though it felt long, Eunwoo was still nowhere in sight. The apartment only had two rooms and she was sure that Eunwoo hadn't come in the house yet. She debated with herself; waiting in the living room would seem like she's waiting for her husband to come home, but cooping up in her room might seem impolite. While she's at war with herself, standing at an equal distance between the living room and the bedroom, the front door opened. Eunwoo was sweating, a paper bag in his hand. He was panting really hard and she wondered whether he just went on a marathon.

He took off his jacket, threw them carelessly on the hook beside the door. He took out a box from the paper bag, and presented the contents to Haeun. "I didn't forget," he said simply.

Nestled in shredded papers was one pair of brand-new sneakers, with a purple line across the black surface. Simply put, it was beautiful. Haeun was speechless and she didn't realize Eunwoo was closing the distance between them. He took both of Haeun's hands, laid them flat with her palms upwards and put the box in her hands. With that, he said nothing and proceeded to his bedroom.

"Wait!"

Eunwoo glanced at her, waiting for her next words.

"I... I may have forgotten my memories, but I can recall that they said if you buy shoes for someone, they will run away."

Eunwoo smiled, clearly amused. "Well, you're not wrong. But you forgot one fact: if you buy shoes for your significant other, they'll run away. Like I said, we're not dating."

He shrugged and she thought he was done talking, before he turned around once again. "Besides, you don't have anywhere else to run to."