#####

Luhan fanned himself impatiently with a piece of paper he’d picked up as he waited for Namjoo’s return. The heat was becoming too unbearable for him and he could feel himself become cranky. There was no shade to hide under and no wind blowing. Why, of all places, had Namjoo wanted to come here? He really couldn’t figure her out.

Annoyed, he glanced at his watch. Ten minutes had passed by and there was still no Namjoo. Was she secretly eating by herself? Was she trying to get on his nerves on purpose?

Giving up he started toward the food corner swearing he’d get her neck if he saw her eating.

#####

“Here, hurry,” the stout man sitting at the table quickly stood up and turned.

The tall man who’d taken Namjoo’s order caught her and turned her around before helping her over the man’s shoulder.

“What’s going on?” a woman called out from the neighboring stall.

“Nothing, heat ,” the tall man waved a hand up. Turning back to the stout man he urged, “Hurry!”

Upon making sure that the stout man was leaving the restaurant corner the tall man shouted, “Watch over the shop!”  

Twisting around he ran after the stout man. His long legs quickly brought him down a thin straight path right behind the market. The grass in the area was slowly dying and the garbage thrown in the back by the restaurants was all that existed there.

Namjoo’s arms dangled over the stout man’s back as he jogged and finally came to a stop. There was a hill of garbage bags tucked atop one another. It was the perfect place to perform hidden business.

Swarms of flies buzzed around the garbage and the thin man shooed them away repeatedly only to have them come flying back. The stout man just laid Namjoo down onto the dirty concrete smudged with grease leaking out of the garbage before reaching into her pockets.

“Money, look at all this!” the stout man exclaimed holding the money out for the thin man to see.

Their eyes widened and shot smiles at each other.

“We won the lottery!” the stout man shouted.

“Is there anything else useful? Check, check, check,” the tall man urged patting his shoulder.

The stout man turned Namjoo to check her backside pockets before puckering his lips out together.

“Did anyone follow us?” he questioned.

The tall man turned to look around, “No. Hurry, lets go.”

“No, not yet,” the stout man shook his head. “Oh man, I haven’t touched anyone in so long.”

“We didn’t drug her to do that!”

The stout man slapped his leg in persuasion, “Just a few minutes, man, you can go after me.”

The thin man snorted before nodding his head, “Hurry.”

The stout man turned away to run his hands up her legs before turning back to the tall man with bleary excitement on his face.

“So soft!” he exclaimed.

The tall man bit his lower lip and glanced around before crouching down beside his companion.

#####

Luhan eyed each place he passed by. The aroma of cooked food made him hungry, but he wasn’t about to eat until he caught Namjoo red handed. The oil in the deep pans sizzled when placed on the fire. Luhan deeply admired the chefs for bearing with the heat of the flames even under this weather.

Spoons clattered against plates, but there was still no Namjoo. He was starting to burn up. The sweat was trickling down his face in dozens before he sighted a cold slushy store in the corner. It seemed kind of isolated from all the other shops crammed right next to one another, but that wasn’t what caught his attention. The menu hanging over the white table did.

Walking up to it he stared at the menu for quite some time wondering why the owner of the shop wasn’t coming out from the back. When Luhan turned around he spotted a middle aged woman in a brown apron a few tables away staring. Confused, he turned back to look at the shop before deciding to go over to her.

“Excuse me,” Luhan began, “do you know where the owner of that shop went?”

The woman’s eyes seemed to trail away from his and Luhan confusedly turned to follow. She seemed to be staring out the doorway to the empty back. When he turned back to her she just shrugged, which left him in even deeper confusion. She should have said something at least.

He was bound to walk away, but stopped. There was something tugging at his insides. Pivoting around he glanced at the menu hanging over the white table. He really wanted something cold to drink. Where was the owner?

On impulse he walked toward the slit doorway between the tents. There was a yard of nothing, but dead green and yellow grass out there. A heavy fume of garbage drifted up to his nose as he walked further down the tiny cement trail. Holding a hand over his nose he thought to turn around, but stopped upon hearing quiet voices talking to one another.

Luhan turned back around to peer at the garbage bags stacked together and stared into the distance. Curious he moved forward slowly wondering who would want to stay in the back with so many flies. After five more steps he spotted a hill of garbage bags stacked on top of each other. Looking down the short alley he saw two men crouched down on the ground.

He would have dismissed it as two guys at , but his eye twitched when he sat a pair of legs sticking out past the garbage. Giggling came from the two men before he stepped forward without hesitating.

“Who’s there?” the tall man quickly turned to stare at him. Then getting up to his feet ordered, “Go away!”  

This man was really thin and dark with a head of light brown. There were two piercings on his left ear, but he didn’t look as intimidating as he wished his appearance to be. He was just an inch or two taller than Luhan, but not a pro at warding of strangers. Instead, he looked kind of panicked upon his appearance.  

Luhan felt his head turn to look at the person lying on the ground; the garbage bags blocking her face from view. His eyes slowly swung down to her feet again and only a second later did he recognize those shoes on her feet.

“Hey, stop it!” the tall man kicked the one still on the ground. “Someone’s seen us!”

Forgetting the heat that had been earlier irritating him, he instead felt a flurry of anger burst through him. Charging forward he slammed a fist across the taller man’s face forcing him to the ground and yanked the smaller man up to his feet. Taking a step to the side Luhan tossed him into the garbage bags watching as they tumbled over him ridiculously. He took a step forward to Namjoo and quickly turned to stare down at the tall man.

He sat up and moved away from Luhan, but still flushed with anger sat over him. Yanking the collar of his shirt, Luhan pulled him up so they were at least face to face.

“If I see you one more time, I’ll break your neck next time,” Luhan growled then shoved him to the ground stepping on him as he got up.

Quickly kneeling down by Namjoo he shook her gently, but she didn’t reply. Alarmed, he put a finger under her nose to check of she was breathing and felt a surge of relief.

“Namjoo, wake up,” he called.

He shook her again, but she lay there as if in sleep.

“Namjoo!” he shouted slapping her cheeks softly. slightly parted, but there was still no movement.

Letting out a groan of worry he pulled her up into his arms before hurrying toward the road.

#####

She heard footsteps in her head, beeping, and anonymous sounds. Namjoo turned her head, but couldn’t find the will to wake up yet. There was something warm over her and an uncomfortable pillow underneath her head. Without opening her eyes she could feel that this was not her place.

Where had she been taken to? What was going on?

A deep dark place surrounded her with nothingness. Even when she peered around there was no light. opened to call out, but no sound came.

What was going on!?

Opening desperately again she couldn’t hear her own voice. A peak of fear began to incline through her and when she closed her eyes to scream she jolted awake. A shallow gasp escaped her when her eyes opened to stare up into the bright light overhead. She heard footsteps again, the beeping of monitors around her, and the sounds of carts being wheeled around.

A small groan escaped her when she began to sit up; a headache slowly taking over. It felt like her brain was spinning in circles. Squinting her eyes to help with the pain she turned to glance around. There were worn out hospital beds around her and nurses walking back and forth. The patients sleeping or waiting to be treated waited quietly.

Namjoo quickly shot her eyes to the ground when she realized she was staring and moved her hand only to feel something warm. Caught by surprise Namjoo shifted when she saw Luhan sleeping against the bed; his head buried within his arms.

She turned when she heard footsteps and saw a nurse looking at them with a sweet smile. Confused, Namjoo returned the smile before she walked away. Feeling slightly flustered she reached a hand up to scratch the back of her neck and looked around before flinging her hand against him.

Luhan muttered something before he sat up with still closed eyes. Leaning back to stretch he yawned before sitting up to look at her.

“You should’ve been more careful back there,” Luhan went on as they walked toward the doors. “They could’ve done something worse if I hadn’t found you.”

Namjoo sent him a glare from behind.

“Then what did they do other than take my money?”

“They tou…” he began swerving around to face her but turned back around. “Forget it. Thinking about it pisses me off.”

She frowned and eyed him from behind. What was he getting so worked up over?

“Ah…” Luhan sounded when they stepped outside.

It was dark now and all the streetlights around town had lit up the large city into a peaceful glow. No car seemingly passed by the hospital entrance though.

“I’m hungry,” he muttered rubbing his belly. “Lets get something to eat?”

“You could’ve gotten yourself something to eat while I was sleeping,” Namjoo commented.

Luhan turned to her as if he was going to say something, but gave up. She followed him to the road where they got a cab. Later they arrived at 7-eleven where they bought noodle cups and sat outside the store to eat. The parking lot was deserted as well as the store. Not a person was lurking in sight leaving them to be in silence.

As Namjoo slowly ate from her cup she watched Luhan hungrily slurp the noodles into his mouth; swallowing, chewing, and swallowing again. After a minute she held out her noodle cup to him.

“Have it,” Namjoo told. “Sorry for starving you.”

“You’re going to starve yourself?”

“I don’t have an appetite,” Namjoo added.

“Forget it,” he gently pushed her hand away. “Just eat your fill.”

Namjoo glanced at him before turning to stare at the almost empty street.

They met for the first time late at night when she’d gone out to buy some snacks. She’d been dead hungry that night after a whole day of aiding the Thai cops in search of the hostage taker. On the way to 7-eleven she bumped into Luhan after dropping her money on the ground. He later gave her a bag of some snacks; they traded names and a conversation before he left. Then they met back in Seoul.

She’d been a little shy that night. Her first impression of Luhan was that he was deliciously handsome. It’d been as if he’d swept her off her feet that night. And she thought about him all night trying to recall the sound of his soft voice and the way his lips moved when he talked. Namjoo felt young that night she met him.

Thinking about it made her feel a little amused about how time passed by so quickly. Now she had a little girl and was alone again. Well, not practically alone. She was here with Luhan, but nothing was the same. And she sort of didn’t want it to be the same again.

After draining the noodle cup of its contents she got up to take a little walk.

“Where are you going?” Luhan questioned following her.

“Taking a walk.”

“You’re not going back?”

“I’m not tired; what am I supposed to do when I go back?” Namjoo asked.

She heard his footsteps before he grabbed her arm pushing her away from the side of the road, “Move over.”

Namjoo took a little step to the side to leave a little gap between them. They were quiet for a long time. A kind of calm peace filled Namjoo’s mind as she inhaled the clean air allowing the glow of the streetlights to shine on them as they passed. A car roared by at fast speed, but that was all that appeared on the road that night.

The silence made her think of the nights alone when she’d lay awake in bed then turn to watch Mi Yun sleep. The shadows of the trees casted from the moonlight would sway into the room, but Namjoo wasn’t afraid. Listening to Mi Yun snore made her heart contempt from the loneliness.

She often slept alone when Luhan got busier with work. Over time she’d just gradually gotten used to it. Suddenly she wondered how Mi Yun was doing. Was she still drawing? Was she still talking eagerly about her daddy? Asking when he’d come to her? Namjoo wanted to hear her little girl snore again.

“Why did you go there today?” Luhan questioned. “To the Sunday Market.”

“I saw a little shop with children’s clothes before,” Namjoo answered, “I just wanted to see if it was still there.”

“You wanted to get something for Mi Yun?”

“Perhaps,” Namjoo replied. “Mom and dad already buy lots of clothes for her. She’s one size bigger than when you last saw her.”

Namjoo caught herself laughing and smiling when she turned to look at him before quickly turning away. Just what was she doing?

Quietly shaking herself from inside she made a reminder not to get too carried away. Of course Mi Yun was her pride; her everything, but she couldn’t be like this to him. As her eyes sat on the ground Luhan turned away with an almost happy smile.

They continued walking for some time before he pulled her to the side to sit down.

“My legs are tired,” he told. “The sun’s going to come up in a few hours.”

He tilted his eyes up to stare at the stars.

“I see the milky way,” he said.

Namjoo stared at the crisscrossed stars lined up against the heavy dark blanket. “What milky way? That’s the shape of a .”

“Your ?” he asked.

Namjoo turned to him with a frown then turned away to try not to show a laugh. A smile cracked up on her lips as he chuckled beside her.

When she woke up hours later on her tummy she saw Luhan sleeping with his arm bent outward in an uncomfortable position. She quietly watched him for a second before raising herself up to place his arm down beside him and lie back down to watch him.

He slept comfortably as always. It was always on his back or his side to face her.

“I have to sleep facing you, so that when I wake up I can see you first,” he’d told her once.

The words trailed back into her memory while she stared at him before shifting her head so that she was no longer face him and closed her eyes. The sun was already up, but they’d stayed up all night. A few more hours of sleeping in wouldn’t hurt, she figured.