About you now Part.4

Gently, Hyomin runs her fingers through Jiyeon’s hair, caressing it back and forth, she then smoothens it with her palm upward and downward, Jiyeon is carried away by the soft touch that she almost falls asleep but she shouldn’t. Hyomin lowers herself at the level where their eyes meet, Jiyeon looks through her long bangs where she catches Hyomin’s gaze on her, Jiyeon gulps as their faces are just inch away.

“Close your eyes”

“Huh?”

“You heard me”

“Okay”

Jiyeon complies with Hyomin’s instruction, she closes her eyes, feeling Hyomin’s hand on her chin, then all she hears is a sound of metal blades sliding against each other when a pair of scissors are handled.

Under a big tree, giving a cool showdow, Hyomin is putting all of her effort to give Jiyeon a best haircut that she didn’t even try at home and Jiyeon would be the first or maybe only and last? Anyway, Jiyeon has no choice, it has been a while since she had her last haircut, and such a long quarantine plus their isolation doesn’t allow her to get close to salon at all.

It was until this morning, while Jiyeon was helping her with washing dishes when Hyomin realized that Jiyeon had trouble with her messy bun that kept falling off on her face so Hyomin came up with an idea to give Jiyeon a haircut. Fighting against a trust issue, Jiyeon yielded at the end.

Brushing off the cut strain from Jiyeon’s shirt, Hyomin is finally done with cutting and t Jiyeon’s bangs.

“Done”

“How do I look?” Jiyeon asks expectantly because a look on Hyomin’s face doesn’t convince a positive outcome.

Hyomin bites her lips, a bit hesitant “Uh, not too ugly”

“Gosh”

Alerted by such a comment, Jiyeon is dying to know how she looks like, she gets up from a folding chair, heading to a van to check herself, spinning her feet in anxious, Jiyeon is slightly pulled back when Hyomin grabs her arm; Jiyeon stops and turns around to be greeted by a playful smile.

“I’m just kidding” Hyomin says with an amused tone, Jiyeon feels relieved yet skeptic.

“Don’t scare me” Jiyeon frowns

“Nothing to be scared” Hyomin assures , “You look gorgeous”, a heartfelt compliment lifts up Jiyeon’s nervousness all of sudden

“Are you sure?” Jiyeon finds it’s hard for her to hide her smile.

“Hmm”

“Can’t you sound more confident?” Jiyeon asks impatiently, Hyomin bursts into a laughter, slowly she reaches to brush away a little strain of hair from Jiyeon’s forehead, her eyes are shinning as she looks at a pretty face that suits well with her hair.

“It really suits you, even if my haircut turns out terrible, you will still look pretty”

An affectionate look in Hyomin’s eyes tells that she really means what she said, Jiyeon doesn’t want to blink eyes for she doesn’t want to lose that look

“Happy now?” Hyomin asks

“Yes” Jiyeon nods with a blush

“Aw, so nice, I think I’ve found my hidden talent, I should run a hair salon” Hyomin comes up with an idea

“Don’t” Jiyeon bluntly cuts, breaking Hyomin’s dreamy thought

“Why?” Hyomin forms a frown that screams a big question mask

“Just don’t” Jiyeon looks away

“Why shouldn’t I?” Hyomin repeats a question but it is ignored when Jiyeon turns away

“I’ll go check out my hair” Jiyeon avoids answering, she then starts to walk off

“Hey, answer me” Hyomin doesn’t let Jiyeon off the hook, she follows her up to the van.

“You shouldn’t, okay?” Jiyeon utters

“Tell me a reason why?” Hyomin asks impatiently, she slightly holds on Jiyeon’s hem of shirt

Jiyeon stops and turns around to face Hyomin. Biting her lip in contemplate, she heaves a sigh, there is no way Hyomin would let it go

“I don’t want you to do that for anyone else” Jiyeon mumbles loud enough for Hyomin to hear it but it isn’t just clear enough for Hyomin to understand why

“Do what? Cut the hair?” Hyomin tiles her head in confusion

"Yeah”

“Again, why?” Hyomin emphasizes on “why?”

“Alright ! I don’t want you to touch anyone else’s hair the way you just did for me. It’s so precious that I want to be the only one experiencing it, okay?” Jiyeon has to admit it to end Hyomin’s questioning look, it did though, when Hyomin turns mummed at the confession. It actually blows Hyomin up pretty much, because she didn’t expect Jiyeon to be that possessive and jealous, in a way which makes Hyomin’s heart pound to hear it, and Hyomin can’t hide her smile anymore.

But it doesn’t seem that Jiyeon is the only one being a jealous type between the two of them, when Hyomin herself is not much different, but she just chooses to show it a little different. It’s just obvious that every time Paul oppa calls to check on them and has a long conversation with Jiyeon, Hyomin would feels left out and uncomfortable about it, she doesn’t like a fact that Paul oppa doesn’t have a clue about their relationship at all, they never told them though.

“We are currently headed west, no worry, we are all safe ……..yeah it’s fun to drive……….”

Hyomin steals a glance and inwardly sigh for she knows it would be a while until Jiyeon would hang up, because that’s the way it is when these two are on the phone.

Planning to kill her boredom while waiting, Hyomin picks up her camera and gets off the van leaving Jiyeon to talk on the phone alone, she then chooses to stroll around and film a new location where they stopped a day before, after they left the lake where they met the old couple and spent a few days with them. The secluded place is near the wood hidden from the main road, soon Hyomin starts to forget what makes her mood so down and engrosses herself with her activity and walks further into the wood to film.

It’s not until a moment later when Jiyeon hangs up her phone only to realize that she is all alone inside the van. Jiyeon places her phone on a table and walks off to the van door, her eyebrow burrows when she looks around but Hyomin is not there “Hyomin?” , she calls, yet no response.

Assuming that Hyomin may wander around and film the surrounding, Jiyeon grabs the keys and locks the van before quickens her pace to find for Hyomin and join, she makes a mental note to scold her partner for leaving without telling her.

“What a silly, why did she go without me?” Jiyeon rambles as her eyes roam around searching for a sight of a particular person.

Embraced with tall trees among nature, Jiyeon’s feet are leading her along a trail into the wood connecting to the river that they ran into yesterday while having a little survey and soon she arrives at the river bank and that’s when her worry starts to kick in, when there is no sight of Hyomin either.

Where could she be ? Jiyeon thinks, besides her voice in her head, Jiyeon hears her echoing sound every time she shouts out Hyomin’s name, and unresponsive silence only makes her overthinking worse.

“Don’t be kidding me, Park Hyomin” Jiyeon clenches her jaw in frustration, she starts shouting again “ Hyo…..”, Jiyeon’s cracks when her eyes fall upon an item laid unattended near the river bank, her heart sinks to the bottom, when all she sees is Hyomin’s camera, that’s when she starts screaming her name at the top of her lung, palms sweat, her vision gets a little blurry with anxiety when fears sinks into her heart.

Profoundly sweating, her head is spinning in every direction and her feet stiffen for she doesn’t know where to go, she starts fumbling around, just then the sound of barking dog is heard at some distance from where she is standing, it draws her attention and her instinct tells her to follow the sound while she keeps calling Hyomin’s name, until she gets closer to it and the barking becomes louder, she then hears a soft responsive voice “Ji….yeon”. It doesn’t take her long to figure out the voice, Jiyeon rushes to that direction that she hears the fainted voice until she gets there, the other side of the river bank secluded by the green bush.

“Oh goodness ” Jiyeon runs toward a woman who is all soaked up from head to toe, gasping for the air, she finds Hyomin sitting up right near the river bank, clearly just got out of the river.

“Gosh, are you alright?” Nothing can hide Jiyeon’s worry, she rushes to Hyomin in no time, and quickly holds her in the arm, Hyomin is obviously out of breath, she pants heavily, and all she can do is just nod to let to confirm that she is ok.

“What happened?” Jiyeon breathlessly asks, she leans in to give a shivering woman a tight hug, it takes a moment until Hyomin could form a word, but before she speaks up, a dog barks again and Jiyeon just notices there is dog with them, a dog is also soaked.

“Stop barking at her, you ungrateful doggy” Hyomin playfully yet tiredly chides a dog. Jiyeon turns to look at the dog then back to the woman in her embrace, Hyomin gave her a tired smile.

“What? Don’t tell me”

“He was drowning”

Jiyeon frowns hard, her head is processing what Hyomin just said and comes to a conclusion of what just happened; Triggered by a fact that Hyomin made her dread worried only to be found that she got herself in danger to save a dog makes Jiyeon loose it, she starts to tremble in anger.

“Why did you have to be so reckless, do you want to get yourself killed?” Jiyeon bursts out her frustration, she releases a hug all of sudden, and backs away. The warmth around Hyomin earlier is replaced by a cold demeanor from Jiyeon, Hyomin is shaken by Jiyeon’s outburst.

“He needed to be saved” Hyomin stammers, shocked by Jiyeon’s anger

“Huh? you can’t just jump into the pool or river assuming people or pets are drowning, Hyomin!” Jiyeon grunts, she turns to a dog, “Dogs can swim”

“But he was really drowning” Hyomin argues

“Even so, did you realize how dangerous this river could be, and what could have happened to you?” Jiyeon feels the chill down to her bone thinking of the worse possibilities that could happen to Hyomin for going down there in stillness of river.

Hyomin bites her lips hard, she is hurt for being scolded.

“I….” Hyomin is too upset to speak up or reason

“Did it ever cross your mind how I would be feeling if something bad happened to you or how devastated I would become if you get hurt or drown there?” Just thinking about it, the fear creeps up into Jiyeon’s heart, it’s too traumatic for her to imagine it, “ Do you think I would be able to handle it?” her jaw gets stiff as she confesses her own fear

Hyomin turns dread silent, nothing she could say, apart from being upset, now she feels guilty

“You can’t do this to me” Jiyeon shakes her head in disapproval before turning around to leave, all she needs now to cool herself down

Hyomin’s eyes follows Jiyeon’s back as she is walking away, she manages to get herself up, and follows Jiyeon back to the van, Jiyeon is silently walking ahead, leaving a minimal distance, making sure that she hears Hyomin’s footstep behind her, she is dying to turn around and check on Hyomin but she is so worked up that her emotion still gets the best of her even after they arrive at the van.

Taking a moment to allow themselves in their own thought, Hyomin replays Jiyeon’s words while she is in shower to wash up, and she can understand Jiyeon more now.

It’s not until a moment later after Hyomin is done with cooking, when she thinks it’s time for them to patch thing up, she looks around and Jiyeon is sitting at a wooden log outside their van with her back is facing her, seemingly thinking about something. Hyomin is casually approaching Jiyeon, she stops and stands behind her and Jiyeon seems to sense Hyomin’s presence but none says any at all until Jiyeon feels Hyomin’s hands wrapping around her from behind, and her chin resting on a crook of her neck. They stay in that position without any word spoken for a moment, only a soft caress from Jiyeon’s touch on Hyomin’s wrapped arms. Hyomin wanted to apologize for making the latter worried and Jiyeon planned to apologize for getting mad, but then nothing is uttered into words for it doesn’t make sense to apologize for caring and being thoughtful about each other, so they decide to let the word slip away and let the action does. Jiyeon bends over to give a kiss on Hyomin’s hand, then Hyomin tightens her embrace around Jiyeon’s shoulder, subtle intimacy does all work to get them reconciled and make up.

“Where are we going next?”

“I don’t know”

“You?”

“Me, neither”

“That’s interesting”

“How?”

“Because that’s journey all about, knowing nothing yet thrilled to go for it”

“Right”

------------------------------------------------------

The long drive seemed to have worn Jiyeon out a lot and it doesn’t go unnoticed by Hyomin who keeps feeding Jiyeon snack. More than the empathy, concern resides in her eyes, so Hyomin is considering to stop by at a town.

“Jiyeon ah, how about we stop for a night or two at this town?” Hyomin suggests as she looks out of the car window. It appears to Hyomin that people in this town seem to move on with their lives as if they have no impact like the rest of the world, as if worry doesn’t exist here. People walk holding hands, there are fruit shops and flower shops open at the corner of the street. Some kids are outdoor skating, and roller-blading on the walkway, everything looks normal to her.

“If that’s what you want” Jiyeon replies

“I want to pick up some grocery and get some stuff too” Hyomin reasons

“Ah, that’s right, I need something too” Jiyeon agrees. “Shall we find somewhere to park our home or get a place to stay?” she asks, noticing a hotel sign.

“I’d rather have a hotel if we could get one” Hyomin answers.

“Well, that’s a good idea, let’s find out” Jiyeon nods

Surprised by how easy they could find and get a hotel room, Hyomin decided to reserve for a couple nights in case they wanted to roam around the town for she has noticed some cute little places along the way, Jiyeon is far from disagreeing, she is too exhausted and want to lie down in soft bed.

“Shower first before you lie down in bed”, Hyomin reminds

“Can I take a little nap first?” Jiyeon whines

“No”

“I’m really tired”

“That’s why you need to take a shower first”

“Ugh, seriously?

“Yes, I’m serious” Hyomin shoots a glare and Jiyeon knows she would not be in her right mind if she argues.

“You’re so harsh” Jiyeon pouts

“Well, there is tone of bacteria and virus that we didn’t know we might catch them along the way until here, so go wash first” Hyomin reasons, “It’s better safe” she adds

Jiyeon gives Hyomin pleading eyes, but it doesn’t seem to work “Fine”

“See, that’s not hard to do” Hyomin grimaces, satisfied when Jiyeon obediently walks into the shower.

Jiyeon feels like heaven to be under hot shower again, she takes her usual long shower, but this time may be a bit longer for it has been a week since she has a proper shower without having to be worried about water running, unlike the way they have to be careful when using water in the van.

Feeling so relaxed after a long shower, Jiyeon hums a song as she gets out of the shower, but then she stops, when she notices quietness of the room. Jiyeon doesn’t know when