Something heavy slammed on Yul’s head. He tried to move around, and but something hard on his shoulder was preventing his movement. This didn’t feel like a hotel bed. Did he fall onto the floor in the middle of the night? But then he heard a soft voice of snort, and he realized he wasn’t alone. His eyes slowly flew open and he saw Jessica had fallen asleep on his shoulder, with his head had leaned over and rest on hers. Yul contemplated whether he was going to sit there, move his head or waking her up. He took a peek on the girl’s face and slightly nudged her. To no avail, she was unmoved and still sleeping so soundly like a sleeping beauty who had fallen into deep sleep. He half-chuckled, a bit amazed with the girl’s sleeping behavior.

But then, Yul suddenly realized where they were.

He was still sitting inside the box compartment of an unknown owner’s van truck. He remembered that they were getting locked up inside the vehicle for like – forever. He couldn’t remember how long they had been stuck inside. He didn’t even know whether it was dark or light outside. He felt as if he was swallowed into a deep chamber, like how Pinocchio and Geppetto were devoured into the whale’s belly in the classic story of Pinocchio, and helplessly waiting for someone else to rescue.

Most importantly, where the heck are they? Yul fervently prayed the driver didn’t bring them somewhere far from Melbourne. He exhaled a heavy sigh, remembering the terrifying gunshot night…Suzy’s rejection… and also, the ‘accidental’ photo-shoot with a stranger, who’s currently still in a deep slumber beside him.

Two days in a far-far away country from Korea and Yul had never thought he would end up like in this circumstances. This was completely out of his initial plan.

While his mind was still recalling around his streaking list ‘unfortunate’ events, suddenly he heard a loud sound of clicked from the outside, and not long after, the back door of the van-truck was opened, rather roughly, revealing a sight of a tall-caucasian man, who was probably in his mid 50s covered in a thick fur winter jacket. His eyes went wide.

‘What the hell are you doing in here, kids?’ He looked very surprised and rather, mad with the presence of the uninvited guests.

‘Sir, we’re sorry...we’re getting locked up last night while trying to hide from the commotion’ Replied Yul, trying to explain to him. He tried to stand on his feet, but Jessica’s head that slumped down on his shoulder unfortunately hindered him to do so. He could see the old man crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows, still looked unpleased.

‘Jessica...wake up!’ Yul nudged Jessica’s arm with slightly stronger force than before. He tried couple of times before the brunette awoke. She looked around with half-open eyes to assess the situation and instantly met Yul’s serious face that was hanging few centimeters from her.

Jessica was shocked and quickly leaned away from Yul as fast as she could, feeling embarrassed again. Now, she didn’t know how many times had this guy caught her in a kind of disoriented or embarrassing situation. But Jessica, is still the usual Jessica. She was still feeling sleepy despite of long-hour sleep had she taken.

She yawned, but then she noticed an infuriated glare from a certain middle-age white man, who was happened to be the driver of the van-track.

‘Kids, get out of here or I’ll report you two to the police!’ The van-truck driver yelled. He was so furious.

Taken aback by the man’s retort, Yul quickly helped Jessica standing up and got out of the van-truck. He felt a little relieved as he finally got escorted out of the enclosed compartment and briefly savored the warm morning lights. But, the moment Yul looked around the surrounding, he was perplexed with the sight of green fields and rolling hills in the far distance. In front of him was a farm protected with wire fence and there are lots of trees right by the side of the road. No skyscrapers, tall buildings, cars, or trams. Jessica was also surprised by the view around her and turned to Yul with mouth dropped open.

‘Excuse me, Sir.’ Jessica asked, turning her body slightly forward towards the van truck driver.

‘What do ya want?’ Replied the driver in a coarse tone. He was picking up empty crates from the truck and in about to leave them alone.

‘Whe…Where are we, Sir? We’ve got lost!’ Jessica’s voice slightly cracked as panic was consuming her. She instantly felt her drowsiness had faded away from this realization.

The driver eyed Yul and Jessica suspiciously, contemplating whether the two teenagers were either lying or playing around with him. He stared at their lost and worried expression for a little while, waiting impatiently for the answer. His expression slightly softened with blue eyes still narrowed in confusion.

‘What do you mean where are we? We’re in Jindabyne.’ His expression looked puzzled.

‘What? Jindabyne??’ Jessica’s eyes went wide. Yul hardened his expression and his jaw tightened. Where the hell was that?