When her day was done, Sungmi was nothing short of exhausted. Between doing the rounds, helping with basic care routines, receiving a surprise practical test, and keeping her eyes open for either Kyungsoo or Sunghee, she was utterly run through.

It was her understanding that meals were served in the largest cabin near the border to the place, but she had no idea what sort of protocol there was to get your food there. Luckily, just before she entered, Baekhyun appeared before her, smiling mischievously.

“You look lost again,” he mused, tilting his head to the side. The group of boys he was walking with split themselves into half: the half who wanted to eat, and the half who wanted to meet the girl.

Sungmi pointed to the door of the building. “Do we just go in?” she asked quietly, feeling a little pressured by all the eyes on her at once.

“Well they aren’t going to bring the food out here,” Baekhyun replied, looking almost amused.

“Do you know her?” one of the other boys asked, sounding a little surprised.

Baekhyun let out a bark of laughter. “Of course I know her! Honestly, Jungkook, when have you ever known me to speak to strangers?”

Sungmi couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow, failing to miss how this boy had just practically proclaimed that the two of them were best buddies.

“You speak to strangers all the time,” another voice piped up, laughing a little.

It’s not that Sungmi was against standing around joking, it’s just that she didn’t really want to stand around with these people. They weren’t the ones she was here for, after all.

“I’m going to go eat,” she mumbled, moving past the now bickering group, seemingly unnoticed.

The cabin had long tables all along it, each seating around twenty people. Asides from letting her eyes drift to the food, Sungmi focused herself on finding two particular faces, and she focused hard. It wasn’t an easy task, given the hustle of the place and the numbers currently in here, but she slowly walked around, giving each face but a little of her attention before swiftly moving on when it didn’t meet her criteria.

She couldn’t see them. Why couldn’t she see them? They should be here; they had to be here.

Circling the room in a manner that bore a resemblance to an animal stalking its prey, Sungmi continued to look. Yes, it was possible that they weren’t eating at that exact moment, but the vast bulk of the trainees were in here right now, so surely that meant there was a high chance that the two of them would be in here too.

There was a desire within her to just call out for them, but with the ruckus going on in the room already, it was almost implausible that they would hear her anyway.

But then her eyes landed on a face; a wonderfully familiar face. A face she loved; a face she knew. Without another thought, or caring who was in her way, she pushed her way through the people, some showing a little resistance and some trying to start a conversation with her, but right now she didn’t have time for silly introductions. Because there he was.

He hadn’t noticed her yet, and was instead sitting with a fork dipped into something red and a vacant, almost bored, expression on his face. What she noticed most about his appearance though, was how tired he looked. Surely he hadn’t always looked so worn-down.

Almost throwing herself onto the seat beside him, Sungmi startled several of the people sitting nearby. Grabbing onto his arm excitedly, Sungmi waited for those familiar pretty eyes to turn to her. And when they did, their haggard gaze turned to one of horror, then surprise, then suspicion. The boy then clapped his hand to his cheek roughly as if to see if he was asleep or not.

“I missed you, Kyungsoo,” Sungmi breathed out, smiling at the boy happily as she lightly tugged on his sleeve.

Kyungsoo seemed to not know what was happening, or why Sungmi was here because he blinked at her for a moment before looking around himself, clearly confused about all of this. His gaze finally drifted back to her.

“Su-Sungmi?” he asked, eyes hopefully wide in a way that made Sungmi feel both warm and proud.

Giving an affirmative nod, Sungmi gently released his arm, relaxing a little bit. “I couldn’t see you for ages. I thought you weren’t here or something, but I-”

“Why are you here?” Kyungsoo asked, quietly but efficiently interrupting her.

Holding out her wrist for Kyungsoo to see the green tag around it. “I’m a trainee medic here,” she told him proudly.

His face conveyed anything by happiness at this statement. “What?”

Sungmi felt her own face falter at his reaction ever so slightly. “What’s wrong?”

Kyungsoo’s eyes became sad as he turned and lifted his legs over the edge of the bench, stepping out of it. He reached for her hand, gently lifting it and helping her out of the bench as well before leading her out of the cabin, hands locked together.

It was only when they reached a quiet area of the camp that he turned to face her again, this time with tears in his eyes. Upon seeing this, Sungmi instantly moved towards him, stretching her hand up to wipe under his eyes with the pad of her thumb.

“Why are you crying?” she murmured softly, eyes searching his own.

Kyungsoo visibly swallowed, lips setting into a line as he watched her for a moment. “You shouldn’t be here,” he finally replied, stepping closer to her.

Sungmi glanced down, suddenly feeling like she was being scolded by the boy. “I passed my medic exams. I’m just as entitled to be here as you are.”

She heard a sigh, causing her to look up at the boy. “That’s not what I meant,” Kyungsoo told her gently. “I was talking about being here. Why would you put yourself in danger on purpose?”

Confidently shaking her head, Sungmi smiled a little. “I’m not in danger. I won’t get any further than this training camp. All I can become as a female is a medic here. They wouldn’t ever send me to the front.”

“It’s hard here, too,” Kyunsoo argued, although he looked a little more sated.

“I can handle it,” she told him jubilantly. “I’m Han Sungmi, after all.”

Kyungsoo let out what can only be described as a displeased sigh, but he allowed the girl to wrap her arms around his torso, in turn also wrapping his own around hers until they were locked together in a way that was so familiar that it was practically second nature for the pair.

As her chin dug into his shoulder, she swayed her head back and forth to the side a little. She really had missed him.

“I missed you,” Kyungsoo breathed out quietly, almost inaudibly.

Sungmi smiled at the words, happy that it wasn’t just her.

“Where’s Sunghee?”

At this question, she felt Kyungsoo tense a little which in turn caused her to lean back to see his now guilt