By Zephyria 
Da-yeon moved busily between Ha-jin and Eden. After finishing the examination with a stethoscope, she meticulously stitched up the wound on Eden’s forehead. Then, she gave him a Special intravenous drip for the blood he had lost, and a vitamin drip for Ha-jin.
“Rest is the best thing right now, so don’t shake Jeong Tae-geon Hyung awake on purpose, and wait quietly until he opens his eyes. Do Ha-jin should rest too.”
“Perhaps… Jeong Tae-geon Hyung won’t wake up?”
“As I said before, I can’t guarantee that. But in my subjective opinion… I think he fainted from accumulated fatigue, so he can’t open his eyes right away. In his current state, it’s safe to say he’s in a deep sleep, so relax.”
Da-yeon, who didn’t readily give hopeful words to guardians, was somehow giving optimistic answers. It was because the patient was too fine for someone who had fallen from a high place.
When she found the short-sleeved shirt soaked in blood, she thought he was already dead, but when she examined him, it seemed that only his forehead was torn, and there were no other major injuries on the outside.
Of course, the possibility of a serious brain hemorrhage could not be ignored, but judging from the large bruise on his arm, he must have protected his neck before hitting the tree. The bump on his head was also smaller than expected.
At those words, Ha-jin’s dark complexion brightened instantly. He thanked her with dry lips for accepting the injured Eden and himself without reservation despite the sudden visit.
“Really… thank you for everything.”
“I’m more grateful. If it weren’t for you two back then, who knows what those crazy guys would have done to me…. My heart still races just thinking about it.”
Da-yeon shuddered and let out a deep sigh.
“Oh, and if Jeong Tae-geon Hyung wakes up and says his head hurts, give him this. He may have aftereffects such as vomiting or dizziness, but it’s normal, so don’t be too scared.”
“Yes, thank you.”
She handed Ha-jin a fever reducer and painkiller, and was about to leave through the door when she turned back.
“By the way, who punched you in the cheek?”
At her words, Ha-jin rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand. Then, a stinging sensation spread a warm feeling throughout his face. His cheek was swollen like a dumpling, not only from being hit by Hee-soo, but also from hitting himself in the cheek as if to sober up.
Da-yeon spoke to him in a deliberately bright voice, as he looked somewhat dazed.
“I’ll do my best to let you both stay here until you recover, so you don’t have to go back right away. So, just relax.”
Ha-jin didn’t know what to do with the kindness she showed as if it were natural, and bowed deeply once again. He bit his lip slightly, hesitated for a moment, and then began to speak.
“Actually, the place we were staying burned down, so I think we’ll have to stay here for a while.”
As soon as he finished speaking, she immediately asked with wide eyes.
“Yes? …A fire? How did that happen?”
“The guys who were chasing Sung Da-yeon back then set fire to the campsite.”
Da-yeon’s face turned pale at the sudden mention of the rapists. She opened her mouth in a bewildered expression and then asked.
“Do you think they knew and went there on purpose?”
“I’m not sure. Anyway, they recognized Jeong Tae-geon Hyung’s face and chased after him right away. So he ran up the mountain and got seriously injured.”
Ha-jin calmly explained the circumstances of the incident, watching Da-yeon’s reaction. There was a reason for bringing up a story that he didn’t necessarily have to tell. One was that he wanted Da-yeon to feel more indebted to Eden, who had saved him, and to treat him with care, and the other was that he wanted the three siblings, who had nowhere to return, to be able to settle here safely.
The reaction was as expected. Her face was much more serious than before, and she sighed in distress, touching her forehead. Da-yeon’s face was filled with shock as she realized that she was partly responsible for the accident.
“Then the group that was coming with the dog probably doesn’t have a place to stay either… Ah, of course not. I asked a pointless question.”
After pacing around the mattress for a while, she turned to Ha-jin and said as if making a resolution.
“But you’ll be safe while you’re here. I’ll protect you, so don’t worry about anything else and just focus on recovering.”
Then, she took out the stethoscope around her neck and smiled as if to reassure him. Ha-jin felt sorry for deliberately making Da-yeon feel indebted in order to guarantee everyone’s safety. Feeling a pang of conscience, he subtly avoided her kind and benevolent gaze.
After she left, Ha-jin approached Eden and stroked the large waterproof bandage on his forehead. His face, which had been soaked in blood, was now quite clean. If you only looked at him like this, he didn’t look like someone who had injured his head, but rather like someone enjoying a peaceful nap.
He looked fine on the outside, but he hadn’t opened his eyes yet, so he couldn’t just relax. Ha-jin prayed earnestly that it wasn’t too late and gave him a short kiss on the cheek. He knelt on the floor, leaving the intact mattress, and carefully stroked Eden’s bruised arm.
❖ ❖ ❖
Ha-jin’s brow furrowed slightly at the blinding lights. The moment he struggled to lift his eyelids, a stream of tears quickly flowed down his cheek. After staring at the white lights illuminating the ceiling for a while, he suddenly got up.
Enduring the dizziness, he turned to the side and saw Eden lying quietly on the mattress. The IV needle that had been stuck in his hand was gone, so it seemed that quite a bit of time had passed. Besides, he was sure he had been sitting next to him, but he didn’t know when he had been moved onto the mattress.
“Jeong Tae-geon Hyung…?”
Ha-jin called out to Eden quietly in a cracked voice. There was no response except for even breathing. Was he in a deep sleep, or had something really gone wrong? He wanted to shake him roughly to wake him up, but Da-yeon’s words to keep him absolutely stable lingered in his mind.
Ha-jin was about to get up and approach Eden when he felt the rough texture of paper inside his left palm, which was resting on the mattress. He turned his gaze and saw a yellow memo pad.
To Ha-jin Hyung. This is Hee-sung! Pie and I have arrived, so don’t worry and get some rest. See you tomorrow morning!
A sigh of relief escaped from Ha-jin’s mouth as he scanned the messy spacing. After confirming that Pie and the three siblings had arrived here safely, he put the crumpled paper back on his pillow.
Overcoming the slight dizziness, he looked around and noticed a white table clock on a round, light yellow table.
“10 PM….”
Ha-jin’s face turned pale as he realized that more time had passed than he had thought. The lights on the ceiling were still shining brightly, as if the botanical garden had electricity. He made a visor with his hand for Eden, in case the light was too bright, and then found the switch on the wall and turned off the lights.
Ha-jin gazed at his lover, who was still not awake, relying on the moonlight outside the window. His heart ached as he recalled that he had almost lost Eden not long after losing Jun-seok. He intertwined his fingers with Eden’s neat hand, which he had admired, and let out a short sigh.
“…I’m sorry.”
An apology popped out without him realizing it. Guilt for being trapped in his own room after Jun-seok’s death and not looking around him flowed out between his dry lips. Most of all, he was most sorry for trivializing his lover’s safety and only repeating that he wanted to die.
Was it because he had too much faith in Eden’s strength? He may have been arrogant because he thought that only Eden would not die, and that he would always be safe with Eden. He didn’t even know that he had been able to mourn his brother’s death to his heart’s content thanks to Eden’s efforts and patience….
Ha-jin bit his lip, stroking Eden’s intertwined hand with his thumb.
He realized anew that he wanted Eden to live, and that through that wish, he also wanted to survive, paradoxically. His heart felt empty as if a corner of it had been blown away because the pain of losing Jun-seok had not yet healed, but at least from the moment Eden was injured, he was able to stop thinking about taking his own life.
Every day, everything felt trivial except for death. He couldn’t guarantee when this nightmare would end, or if it would really end, but the fact that Eden was still by his side was reason enough not to die.
Besides, as if by a trick of fate, Mi-so even appeared in his dream today.
‘Do Ha-jin, I’m going to survive for your sake. So you have to survive too.’
This was also why he had shed tears after waking up. He had lost his only family, but Ha-jin still had people to protect.
In an instant, a strange sense of liberation enveloped his entire body. Ha-jin leaned towards his lover to hold back the tears that were about to burst out. He closed his eyes as he lay face down, and slowly took a deep breath, trying to calm his surging heart.
At that moment, unbelievably, he felt a soft touch patting his back.
“…….”
Ha-jin couldn’t take back the breath he had exhaled and blinked slowly. The calm touch that had been patting his back for a while began to gently stroke the protruding shoulder blades. But he still couldn’t lift his head. Because if he faced Eden’s face, he felt like he would burst into tears.
A hot tear fell from Ha-jin’s eyes as he trembled and calmed his breath.
“Ha-jin-ah.”
A rough voice landed above his head. He tried desperately to hold back his tears, but it was no longer possible. Eventually, Ha-jin, who had raised his prone body, hugged Eden, who was calling him affectionately, and burst into tears.