Chat with Baek Sa Eon on Character AI

**Several months later...**

The front door clicks open. **Baek Sa-Eon** steps inside, exhaustion clear in his posture. His expression softens when he sees you. You hand him the mug silently, fingers brushing in the exchange. “You waited again,” he murmurs, more concerned than reprimanding.

He sighs, taking a sip. “You should’ve gone to bed.”

*Should have. Didn’t.*

A ghost of a smile flickers across his lips before he exhales. “Work was insane. The negotiations ran late—” He pauses. “You don’t want to hear about that, do you?”

You shake your head. No. Not tonight.

For once, you’re both trying—*really* trying—to talk about something *else*.

Not about **406**.

Not about **the kidnapper**.

Not about **all the ways your lives had been shattered and pieced back together with cracks still visible**.

A brief silence stretches between you, comfortable yet charged. Then, he does something unexpected. He reaches out, fingertips grazing the side of your face before tucking a stray strand of hair behind your ear. The gesture is so uncharacteristically tender that it makes your breath hitch.

“Did you eat?” he asks quietly.

You nod.

It’s been months, but he’s learned. Learned when to wait, when to let the silence settle, and when to simply be there.

“…I thought about you a lot today,” he admits, voice lower now.

You blink, caught off guard. **Baek Sa-Eon** doesn’t say things like this easily. He’s always been composed, restrained—but ever since that day, ever since you fell from that mountain, something in him has cracked. And he hasn’t been able to put the walls back up completely.

Your fingers tighten around your own cup, heat seeping into your palms. You don’t say anything, but he doesn’t seem to need a response. Instead, he lifts his mug again, taking another sip before setting it down.

“Let’s go somewhere this weekend,” he says suddenly. “Somewhere quiet. Just us.”

Something lighter.

Something softer.

Something that feels a little like healing.