Hyuna’s POV

Cameo : Gayoon as herself

          I’ve lost count to how long I’ve been here. What wouldn’t I give just to have a glimpse of the outside world again. Even if it just for a while. Just  enough to savor before ,umm, just saying- closing my eyes? I sighed for  the nth time again. If only I’d listened to omma and stayed. If only I’d listened to Hyomin. If only I hadn’t chewed Myungsoo out for stopping me from going. Now, I’ll not be able to ever see them again. Suddenly the door that held us captive shook before it sprang wide open. 

Great. What were those jerks want now?

Before I had a chance to say anything or protest, my hands were tied up and my mouth stuffed with thick  cloth. To make the matter worse, I was blindfolded too. My heart started racing and beads of sweat came down from my forehead.

       “Walk!” A  female voice ordered. I was pretty sure it belonged to that bipolar ahjumma.

I hesitated for a while but started walking. I tripped over something numerous times that made me walk even slower and more cautious but a hand kept pushing me forward. This girl seriously is getting on my nerves. Picking up my speed, I tried to walk even faster but even that, that brat still managed to pick on my patience and pushed me again.

     “Yah! Speed up,brat” She said, making my face redder with anger.

     “I’m blindfolded, you blind, pushy brat! If you want me to go any faster, remove this first!”

That made her silent for a while and I swore I heard someone chuckling not far behind.

     “Stop!”

I felt my hands untied and I shoved away the thing that covered my eyes. I opened my eyes to see a river. So we’ve been trapped in a jungle all along? I don’t remember visiting any jungle when I was in Italy. They must’ve brought us somewhere  else. They must be.

 

      “G.O asked me to bring you guys out. Enjoy while it still last”  The bipolar ahjumma said to me coldly while smiling sarcastically. Something  about her smile seemed off. But that thought was shoved away by the sound of the water lapping. I rushed to river bank and washed my sticky face with the running water. It was icy cold and yet I saw macchiato guy and Yun Jae-shi clearly enjoying themselves splishing and splashing in the water.

 Are they bears or what?

I shuddered at the thought of that icy water. As much as I would love to just throw myself into the water, I wouldn’t want to shiver to death. With that thought on, I sat on a rock and watched them.

     “Hey, do you see any of the scumbags?”

A man’s voice shocked me. I looked up to see macchiato guy putting his coat on my shoulder. As I tried to shove it off, he stopped me.

     “Just wear it. You look cold” He said, smirking as he secured the coat tighter to my body making me flinched at the sudden skinship.   

    “Umm…thanks. And I haven’t seen them. Why?”

   “That’s why. We haven’t seen them”

It took me quite a minute to it in. That dreadful sarcastic smile I saw a while ago glitched. No wonder she told me to enjoy while I can. While we  can before we died in this unknown paradise.       

     “They left us”  was all I manage to mutter out.

I heard macchiato guy and Yun Jae-shi cursed under their breath before muttering something to themselves that even I could not comprehend.

      “Hello? Are you okay?” Macchiato guy waved his hands in front of my face.

      “Uh? I’m fine”

      “Don’t worry, honey. We’ll get out of here. If there’s a stream, then there must be people at the end of it. Or so I’ve heard. If we’re lucky enough”  Yun Jae-shi’s soothing voice calmed me down.

      “Then, let’s go. If there’s even the slightest chance to get out of here ,then I’m willing to take it. Oh, and remind me to look after those bastards after we got out”

With a snobbish look, he started walking after making the announcement.

      “Urm, hey Mr Smarty Pants. If you suggest that we walk that way, maybe you won’t be able to ‘look after’ those bastards. The stream’s this way”

I made a remark before he got further away emphasising on the ‘look after’ part, trying really hard to contain my laughter while Yun Jae-shi already turned red from laughter.

      “I know. I just want to check on something. Shall we start walking now?”

           So we walked along the river bank for a few good hours before finally stopping to catch our breath and hydrate ourselves. Yun Jae-shi and I got down into the river to wash ourselves after taking a nap while Macchiato guy was still somewhere in the dreamland. How did he manage to even sleep in this situation? Then, I felt a nudge on my shoulders.

       “Hyuna-shi. Can you hear it?”

       “Minus this guy’s snoring, I think it sounded like children, am I right?”  I muttered out after taking a good listen.

       “Yes, that’s I thought I hear. I think there’s a village ahead. Let’s go, wake him up while I take a closer look, will you?”

A sigh escaped my mouth as I walked towards the sleeping log. Using my legs, I shook his thigh. That only made him flinched a little and turned the other way around.

Aish, this namja.

Frustrated, I bended down to his side and began to shake his shoulders more vigorously while telling him to wake up. All of a sudden, he grabbed hold of my waist.

        “Hara-yah. A little while longer please?” He cooed.

I struggled to get out from his tight grip but he hold onto me like I was a teddy bear. I facepalmed myself before coming up with a solution. Well, he left me no choice.

        “Yah! Wake up you fool!” I screamed with a pitch as high as I can into his ear, slapping his arm hard continuously.

That made him jump up from his sleep, rubbing his arm back and forth trying to soothe the pain.

        “Yah, crazy lady! Are you trying to kill me?”

I smacked his head. That’s for the harassment earlier.

        “If it weren’t for you saving my back then, I would just leave you here. Get up, we need to get going”

Ignoring him, I walked ahead following Yun Jae-shi’s trail. Finally I saw ‘life’ ahead. Children playing and giggling. Elders talking. Quite a nice village actually. My head felt lighter and lighter each time I took a step forward. Then,  I was out.

........................

     I was in the middle of nowhere. There was only darkness everywhere I looked. Then, I saw him. The guy who made my heart go ‘dugeun-dugeun’ just by seeing his face. The guy I am supposed to marry that day. The guy I loved so much, more than my life. I ran to his arms with tears flowing down my cheek.

        “Myungsoo”

He just kept silent which made me felt guiltier. I hugged him tightly. His arms were around my waist snaking towards my shoulders and he slowly broke the hug. I was startled by his action even more when he touched my face with a grave expression that I couldn’t comprehend.

     “I’m sorry” He said, releasing my face as he took a step back from me, further away.

     “No! Myungsoo!”

I woke up to a brown ceiling, beads of sweat rolling down my forehead. My ragged breathing started to slow down, things are slowly settling in. It was just a dream. I tried to get up but my head was killing me and there a sharp pain in my stomach. I held my stomach, trying not to scream because of the sudden pain. Someone helped me sit down. I looked up to see a beautiful lady in a white coat staring at me, her gentle eyes full of concern.

      “Take it easy, you’re still weak”

      “What happened?”

The woman’s lips curved a smile.

      “I’m Gayoon. You passed out earlier. Do you have gastric?”

She asked, her slender hand checking my wrist, looking at her wristwatch once in a while. Then, she jotted down something on her document.

       “Yes, wait. Did you say your name was Gayoon? Are you Korean, by any chance?”

 She smiled again.

       “Yes, I am. I’m a volunteering doctor here”

       “Thank you for saving me earlier”

       “Don’t worry about it. It is my job anyway. Oh, before I forgot, here are some food and pills to take after that. Get some rest. Your husband have been worried sick about you. He keeps pestering me around not long before you’re conscious”         

       “Husband? Ah, right. My husband”

That namja is seriously asking to die.

Junhyung’s POV

     I was walking behind her, my arm’s still sore from her beating earlier. I was going to playfully hit her when she suddenly dropped to the ground, unconscious.

         “Hyung! The girl fainted”

          “What?”

Yun Jae hyung hurried towards us, checking her wrist.

           “Her pulse was still there. Carry her, I will go get some help”

So, I carried her behind my back following him. Seriously, she’s heavy. As I walked, I felt  a nudge on my pants so I turned around. It was a little girl, signalling me to follow her and I did. We arrived at a tent where a lady dressed in white was treating someone. Maybe she was the doctor. The little girl pulled her coat gently and whispered something I could not comprehend while pointing her tiny finger at me.

            “What?” Her eyes darted towards the girl on my back.

            “Put her there”

She spoke to me in English, pointing at what looked like a surgery table. I waited patiently as he treated that Hyuna girl.

Oh, so you remember her name now? Do you care about her?

 I don’t. It’s partly my fault she’s like this. If she didn’t spill that damned coffee on me that day, maybe she would’ve returned to her family safely. Maybe she would’ve been married to the man she loved now.

Oohh, worried about her too, I see. Man, you’re doomed.

Shut up.

             “Excuse me, sir. What’s your relationship with her?”

The lady doctor asked, ending the silent fight in my mind.

             “Erm, I’m her..husband”

             “Oh, I see. Your wife is fine sir. She just needs rest”

I exhaled, relieved.

              “I guess I’ll take my leave now”

              “Wait”

              “Yes?”

              “Can I ask something miss?”

              “It’s Gayoon. What is it?”

              “Is there any way to get out of here?”

Hyuna’s POV

       Thanks to Gayoon unnie, that jerk Macchiato guy , Yun Jae oppa and I are on a plane back to Korea. I am so excited to be able to see my family and him again. I jumped excitedly on my seat when two hands keeping me from doing that.

               “Yah, stop jumping crazy. You would make us crash”

                “I would want to see my family first before that, please” 

                “You two made a truce to get me right? Yun Jae oppa, I can’t believe you would do this to me”

I pouted, pretending to get mad at them but both of them just laughed heartily. Annoying bunch.

                 “Dear valued passengers, we will arrive in Korea in approximately 10 minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts”

………………….

        I was putting on my clothes when I heard a knock on the door. Macchiato guy managed to retrieve our luggage from Italy with the help of the authorities there. The door got knocked on again.

                   “Wait a minute!”

I rushed to open the door and stunned to see a man in suit in front of me.

                   “Like what you see, crazy?” A deep voice stuttered me.

Yuck. It was the jerk, macchiato guy after all.

                   “Psh, like you have anything worth seeing. Jerk”

He laughed silently at my remark but still loud enough for my ears to catch. This jerk liked being called a jerk. Nice. I went back in to pack my luggage.

                    “Are you done? We need to be in the lobby right about now”

We were in the elevator going downstairs towards the lobby. After a silent while of fidgeting and speculating by myself, I poked his back.

                     “Jerk, can I please not go to the press conference? Was a press conference even necessary at the first place?”

                     “You definitely have a wonderful way of asking for a favor”

                     “Well, I said please”

He roared into a laughter again. Am I a clown?

                    “You’re amusing. As for the press conference, my parents thought it was necessary, so yeah”                                                              

                     “But I don’t want to go…I don’t want to remember that anymore. It caused enough damage already”

 He turned around unexpectedly, leaving me startled.

                    “What about your parents? Don’t you want them to know what happened? It might be easier than to explain yourself why you went missing that day”

                    “I will handle that myself. They will understand”

                    “Suit yourself. But I’ll have to mention you because it was already reported that way. But don’t worry, you’ll remain anonymous”

He handed me his name card and turned back around, walking towards the banquet hall with his hands in his pockets.

                     “Yah, jerk! Send my regards to Yun Jae oppa”

He raised his hand without even looking back. Whatever. I got myself out from the hotel building and waited for the cab I called earlier. When it arrived, I wrinkled the card and threw it into a dustbin nearby before I went into the cab. Like what I said, I don’t want to remember the incident anymore. Or the people involved as well.

                     “Goodbye, jerk. Yong Junhyung”