They venture further into the woods, landing their feet carefully on the ground with every step they take, in attempts to diminish the sound of the dead leaves crushing underneath their feet and the snapping of branches whenever they take a step too forceful. They continue walking, the sounds of their heavy breaths and pants filling the humid air, and suddenly, Minkyung lets out a small squeal.

Light seeps into the woods from within a distance, and slowly, a cottage house comes into view. A few sighs of relief escape their lips, and Nayoung finds it hard to hide the grin forming on her face as she watches the other girls crack their widest smile in the longest time now.

The moment of exhilaration, however, does not last long, when a stranger appears out of nowhere, staining the beautiful picture they’ve painted. His hair is unkempt and his clothes are torn as he flails his arms frantically towards their direction, dragging his left feet along with every step he takes with his right. All of them could only stare back at him, heartbeat ringing in their ears as they try to decipher what’s about to come. Nayoung has her mind racing, as she tries to grab at something through her seamless thoughts, but before she can even open to say anything, Jieqiong is already on her feet. She moves to take a step forward, but Nayoung grabs her by the wrist and shoots her a warning look.

“He needs help,” Jieqiong pleads, enunciating each word slowly, “We’re not going to leave him alone, not like that.” She peels Nayoung’s hands off, running towards the man before any of them had the chance to stop her.

“Hey!”

She waves her arms in his direction, and he snaps his head to focus his attention on her. He charges, pulling out a small knife from his pocket, towards Jieqiong, eliciting a shriek from her as she steps backwards. He swipes at her, but not before Nayoung has her in a headlock, pulling her back and successfully pushing her to the ground a meter away from the man.

Nayoung hisses when she feels the knife cut through her left arm, tearing through the layers of her clothes and introducing a deep gash as blood pours from it. Ignoring the pain, she gets to her feet within seconds, kicking the knife off the man’s grip before she tackles him to the ground, straddling him as she throws continuous punches at his face, only stopping when his face is no longer identifiable and her knuckles are stinging and smudged with the man’s blood. She manages to stand up with shaky breathes and wobbly legs – with the help of Kyungwon – but when she turns around, Siyeon has Jieqiong shoved up a tree trunk, and the latter has her eyes shut, tears streaming down her cheeks as she starts to sob quietly.

“What was that?” Siyeon demands through gritted teeth, grabbing Jieqiong by the collar of her white blouse. “Huh?”

Jieqiong whimpers in between sobs, her lower lip is quivering and her hands are shaking by her side.

“Just by trying to play hero, you could have – ” Siyeon pauses, letting her gaze flicker towards Nayoung’s left arm, which is now bleeding profusely, before returning to Jieqiong again, “ – you could have killed someone else instead.”

Siyeon ends her statement with a huff, striding towards Nayoung with a glare.

“And you don’t use your brain, do you?”

Nayoung lets Siyeon brush their shoulders together, before watching her walk towards the direction of the cottage house they had laid their eyes on earlier.

“Come here,” Yebin says, tearing a piece of cloth off the hem of her shirt as she ties a knot over Nayoung’s wound. “There, good as new.”

Nayoung gives her a thumbs-up, signaling with her good arm for the rest of the girls to head towards the cottage house. She looks over to see Eunwoo helping Jieqiong get on her feet, the latter wiping at her cheeks – stained with tears.

“Hey,” Nayoung calls out to Jieqiong, “It’s fine, I’m fine.”

Jieqiong breaks into a smile, one that Nayoung will never get tired of seeing, before Eunwoo drags her along to attach the two of them at the end of the line. Nayoung steps over the dead man and follows suit, but not before she takes a glance at the body.

Even at times like these, when the world is suffering from a possible destruction, when people start to lose their sanity and become something far worse that the creatures hunting them, Jieqiong is still able to see through all those, to continue to press on when everyone else is on the verge of giving up, to remain optimistic when everyone else has turned to their pessimistic side, to look for a string of hope when everyone else has fallen into despair, to look out for others when she can’t even look out for herself. Nayoung smiles and her heart warms, and she thinks that maybe, amidst all the disaster and catastrophe, there is something worth fighting for, there is someone who she will fight for.

//

The ten of them inspect their new resting area, and although there aren’t supplies like food or weapons, it is rid of zombies, and they deem it good enough a place to stay, at least for the time being. Nayoung suggests they stay her for a few days to get proper rest, before they can continue their search for the support group to get them out of town, and everyone else nod in agreement.

The night is drawing near, so Yebin, Minkyung and Kyungwon volunteer to search the nearby trees for berries before the skies turn dark, Sungyeon, Yewon and Kyla are off to empty their bowels, while Eunwoo and Jieqiong take their naps before they stay up for their shift tonight. Nayoung fiddles with the cloth on her arm as she sits on the couch, and Siyeon is on the floor, packing her bag as she shakes her water bottle to ensure that she’s not short of water.

“Are you mad at me?” Nayoung blurts out, and watches the way Siyeon’s jaw tighten and her eyes stared ahead.

“No.”

“Is this because of Jieqiong?”

“No.”

“So it’s because of me,” Nayoung says finally, letting her gaze flicker to the ground as she lets go of the string of cloth. “I’m sorry.”

For a moment, silence washes over the both of them and except for the creaking sounds coming from the crickets; there are no noises whatsoever.

“I blame you too much,” Siyeon says, breaking the silence, her voice shaking as she lets out a forced laugh.

“It’s understandable, though.”

Siyeon looks up, and for that moment that their eyes meet, Nayoung feels safe, safer than she’s ever been since the start of the zombie apocalypse. It hits her that Siyeon has always been there with her, has always been there for her, and she’s only ever taken the younger girl for granted.

“I can’t deny that I’m jealous, whenever I see you and Jieqiong together,” Siyeon says, her hands now no longer holding the bottle, but are instead clasped together, as if she’s afraid, “But I know that you like her, Nayoung, and I also know that whatever we had between us is history. It’s only selfish of me if I continue with this unrequited love.”

Nayoung looks at Siyeon, and suddenly, she doesn’t see a leader, doesn’t see a fighter who is invincible and strong. Instead, she sees a young girl, struggling with her emotions, and yet still manages to keep a smile on her face because she doesn’t want others to worry, and all that Nayoung wants to do now is to protect the other girl.

“You know,” Siyeon continues, “That day, that day where I happened to witness you and Jieqiong kissing behind the lockers, I was about to pluck up my courage and confess to you?”

Nayoung gasps, her hands cupping . She didn’t know.

Siyeon lets out a throaty chuckle, and she sounds so tired, and Nayoung tries hard not to imagine how different everything would have been if only she had known.

//

Siyeon stares at her phone impatiently. Nayoung had promised her that she would go home with her, especially since they coincidentally end at the same time today, yet all ten calls that Siyeon made were unable to go through. She looks up to see people streaming out of the school, and Nayoung is nowhere to be seen. Something must have cropped up, Siyeon thinks. Nayoung never goes back on her words. She decides to wait a little longer.

After watching a few minutes tick by on her watch, she eventually sends a text to Kyungwon, who shares many lectures with Nayoung, but Kyungwon says she hasn’t seen Nayoung after their last class ended. Siyeon frowns when she reads the message, because besides studying for upcoming tests, Nayoung rarely stays back in school. Plus, if she made a promise with Siyeon, she’d all the more be rushing out of class when the final bell rings. Could it be that she’s forgotten?

Siyeon watches as the number of students start to decrease, and the sky is now filled with heavy clouds. Great, now it’s going to rain. Siyeon curses under her breath when she realizes that she left her umbrella in the school locker, so, tucking her phone into the back pocket of her jeans, she dashes back into the school compound.

She makes her way towards the lockers, and observes that there is no one else in the school. Did Nayoung really go home without remembering the promise she made with Siyeon? Hoping that the other girl might be outside waiting for her by the time she grabs her umbrella and walks out of school again, Siyeon takes a left turn to the lockers, and she freezes.

The brown locks first catches her eye, the brown locks that belong to someone Siyeon could easily recognize without taking a double check on the face – Nayoung. Pressed up against the lockers is someone with black, silky hair, and in the dark hallway, it takes Siyeon a few seconds to identify who it is, but for that someone who also happens to be Siyeon’s close friend, it isn’t that hard for Siyeon to know that it’s Jieqiong.

She winces when she sees Nayoung move forward to press their bodies even closer, and collide their lips together. She turns around and sprints off, and she thinks that Nayoung might have called her name after, but all thoughts are washed away as she dashes to her bus stop, her body soaking in rainwater and her tears streaming down her cheeks. Her body feels uncomfortable and tears taste salty, but all those can’t compare to the painful throbbing of her heart.

//

“I-I’m sorry.”

Siyeon shakes her head, and flashes Nayoung a pained smile.

“It’s okay,” she says, “It’s been a few months already.”

They’re back to the awkward silence, but it doesn’t last long when both their ear perk up at the sound of hushed whispers. Yebin, Minkyung and Kyungwon must be done with their berry hunt. And suddenly, Siyeon has the urge to ask something, and although her brain is telling her not to, her heart is telling her to do so before she regrets.

“Out of curiosity,” she says, gaining Nayoung’s attention once again, “What would you have said, if I asked you out before any of that ever happened?”

Siyeon hears the sound of footsteps approaching, the voices of the berry hunting team getting louder and louder as they walk towards the house, and even though Nayoung’s voice is barely above a whisper, she manages to hear it loud and clear.

“I would have said yes.”

//~//

A/N: I honestly didn’t really like this chapter??? I felt like there’s just something missing, but I didn’t want to add unnecessary stuff to further ruin this chapter, so I simply went ahead with this. I really really really want to apologize for taking such a long time to update, but I’m just swamped with things right now so… Super thankful to those who are still willing to stick with me! I promise to develop this further, and comments are always appreciated (: