When I woke up the next morning, I noticed that I was alone. Panicking, I tried to stand up. I felt the pain from my ankle and collapsed against the tree.

“What are you doing?”

Startled, I looked up. Dongwoon was standing there, carrying some berries in his hands.

“I...I thought you were gone. So I panicked.”, I said.

He arched an eye brow at me. “I was looking for food.” He looked at the berries in his hands. “But I only found this.”

“I know which mushrooms are edible and which not.” I pointed at my ankle. “But it seems like I won't be able to go looking for them.”

He stared at me. Then he let out a sigh. “Why does fate keep punishing me?”

I was surprised when I saw him crouching in front of me. What the heck?

“Are you going to climb on my back or do I have to wait until I get wrinkles?”, he muttered.

I took a deep breath and climbed onto his back. He put his arms under the hollows of my knees and stood up. Then he carried me around while we were looking for edible mushrooms. After a while, we returned to our original place. Dongwoon was broiling the mushrooms while I watched him.

“How long, do you think, do we have to wander around this forest until we get out?”, I asked after a while.

“I wish I knew the answer. The people, who are searching for us, don't even know where to look for us, so I don't have much hope.”

”Wow, you're really optimistic.”, I muttered.

He shrugged. “I'm just being realistic.”

I sighed and leaned back against the tree.

Will I be stuck forever in this stupid forest? If our people couldn't find us, then how long would we be able to survive?

After walking around for the whole day, or rather being carried by Dongwoon for the whole day, we looked for another place to rest. After preparing the campfire and eating mushrooms and berries, we both leaned against trees to rest.

Today it was colder than the last days. When the wind blew, I couldn't help but shiver. To keep myself warm, I rubbed my arms. Suddenly something flew into my face. I pulled it away and took a look at it. Dongwoon's jacket.

“What -”

“Just take it. Seeing you shiver like this gives me goosebumps.”, he interrupted me.

“But aren't you freezing?”

“No.”

I stared at the jacket for a while. Then I sighed and put it on. It was really warm and...it kinda smelled like Dongwoon and his aftershave.

“Hey.”, I said.

“What?”

“I think we both know that we don't really like each other.”

He snorted. “That's an understatement.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. So, considering the current situation, I think it's wise to have a truce...until we're saved.”

“A truce...?”

“Yeah. Even if we hate each other, we still have to help each other to survive this mess...until we're saved, of course. So, no backstabbing, no selfish actions...you know what I mean.” I gave him a moment to consider. “So...do we have a truce?”

“Yeah, whatever. Truce...until this mess is over.”

“Okay.”

“May I go to sleep now?”

“Sure.”

He leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. When I heard his regular breathing, I knew that he was asleep. I tried to sleep too but so many things ran trough my mind.

Even though Dongwoon was such a jerk, he was still kind enough to help me when I couldn't walk. He could've abandoned me back there with the snake but he didn't. So what did this say about Dongwoon? I had no clue, to be honest. This guy was a friggin' mystery to me. But well, it didn't seem like we would get out of this forest soon, so I had enough time to figure him out. Yay.

Days passed and we did the same thing every day: eating, walking, eating, walking, eating, sleeping. But I noticed that Dongwoon kinda seem paler with every passing day. When I asked him, if he was okay, he said that he was a bit exhausted. It didn't really sound convincing but I didn't say anything.

The good thing was that my foot was healing. Now I was able to walk, even though I still had to hold Dongwoon's arm to walk properly.

One morning I woke up and found Dongwoon lying unconscious on the ground. I nudged him but he didn't stir. I noticed that he was sweating a lot, even though it was so cold today. I quickly put a hand on his forehead.

Ah, crap. This was a bad time to have fever. I let out a string of cusses. How the heck was I supposed to treat him in the middle of nowhere with no medical supplies? Double crap!

Okay, okay. I had to calm down, so I took deep breaths and considered what to do now. Then I took a sharp stone and tried to cut off a piece of my dress. It didn't really work, so I threw away the stone and used my hands to rip it off. When I finally managed to do it, I rushed to the stream and soaked it into the cold water. Then I returned to Dongwoon and put the cold cloth on his forehead. After repeating the procedure several times, I walked deeper into the forest to look for certain herbs. It took me a while until I finally found the herbs. I cleaned them in the stream and went back to Dongwoon. There, I sat down next to him.

“Hey, you need to wake up.”, I said and nudged him gently.

He stirred but he didn't open his eyes. I put my hand under his head and pushed him up a bit. Then I put the herbs against his lips.

“I know that they won't be tasty but you really need to eat these herbs. They'll help you get healthy again.”

After several attempts, I could finally convince him to eat the herbs. The whole night I stayed awake to nurse him. Shortly before sunrise, I fell asleep. When I woke up, he was still lying on the ground. I sat up and put a hand on his forehead.

Oh my gosh, I really did it! His fever was gone. Now he only need to rest and then he would be back to his original state. When I took my hand away, I noticed that his eyes were open. He was looking at me.

“Oh...did I wake you up?”, I asked quietly.

“No, you didn't.” He paused. “Why do I feel so weak?”

“You had high fever. I gave you some herbs and now it's gone. Just rest for today, tomorrow you should feel better again.”, I said and yawned.

“Did you even sleep?”

“A bit, I guess. I must have fallen asleep sometime around sunrise.”

“You can go back to sleep, I'm okay.”

“Nah, I'll look for some mushrooms first. You better go back to sleep and get healthy.”, I said and stood up.

Then I dragged myself deeper into the forest to look for our breakfast.

When I returned, Dongwoon was sitting on the ground, leaned against a tree.

“Did you sleep when I went looking for food?”, I asked.

“A bit.”

I sighed. “You won't get healthy if you don't rest.”

“I'll be okay.”

I just shook my head and walked towards the campfire to broil the mushrooms. While preparing the food, I felt Dongwoon's eyes on me.

“What happened to your dress?”, he asked after a while.

“I needed a cloth to cool your forehead, so I ripped off a piece of my dress.”

He considered. “Thank you.”, he said after a while.

“For what?”

“For nursing me.”

“You're welcome.”

We didn't say anything else after that. We finished eating and then Dongwoon went back to sleep. Today we didn't continued walking because he needed to rest.

I was glad to see that he was feeling well again the next day. We ate mushrooms and berries and then we continued walking along the stream.

“You know, I'm really sick and tired of these stupid mushrooms and berries.”, I said.

“Yeah but there is nothing else to eat.”

“I know, I know but -” I glanced at the stream. “Wait. Maybe there is something else beside mushrooms and berries.”

“What do you mean?”

I stopped and pointed at the stream. “How about 'Fish à la Thu Ha'?”

“Fish? You really think there are fishes in the stream?”

“Maybe not big fishes but a small fish is still better than nothing.”

“But how do you want to catch them?”

“Well...I didn't think that far yet.”

He sighed. “Come on, let's continue walking.”

“Let me try it first and if I don't catch any fishes, then we'll move on.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, whatever.”, he said and sat down. “Do what you want. I'll sit here and enjoy the show.”

“You're not gonna help me?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, I don't need your help anyway.”, I said and took off my shoes.

So...how was I going to catch the fishes? I had no net, no fishing rod...okay, trying to catch fishes without any tools was stupid but I didn't want to lose against Dongwoon. I just stomped into the stream and stared at the water, looking for fishes. There were some but they were really fast. When I saw a fish, I focused on it. Then I reached out with my hands and tried to catch it. In doing so, I lost my balance and nearly fell into the water. Fortunately I was able to stabilize myself on some stones. When I glanced at Dongwoon, I saw that he was laughing at me. Ah, great. I had made a fool out of myself and I wasn't able to catch a fish. Glorious.

Sighing, I went out of the water and sat down on the ground. When my feet were dry again, I put on my shoes.

“So, after this entertaining show, may we get moving again?”, Dongwoon asked.

“Yeah, whatever.”, I muttered.

He chuckled. I stood up and we both continued walking.