“Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for take-off.”

Doojoon had made himself comfortable on the plane and laid his head on the headrest. His initial plan was to take a quick nap on the plane but he could not fall asleep – not in this situation.

He had been so confirmed that his feelings for Gayoon had faded and died. He had expected them to go on separate ways after some time. Not that he was cheating on her but just because they had become so different along the years.

However, that kiss had made all their problems seemed so minor. Suddenly, he felt like the two months were just an obstacle to them.

Although he had just boarded the plane, he was already waiting for the day he would reunite with her and Sohyun. He actually missed her. He missed her smiles, hugs and kisses. He had taken all of that for granted. He smiled to himself.

He was going to make everything right once he returned.

Before he knew it, the plane had taken off but the journey was rough. He thought he was the only one feeling the uneasiness but the other passengers began to whisper among themselves over it. The weather outside was terrible and the staff were wobbling to and fro.

“Dear all passengers,

We have encountered a high turbulence and there are some minor incidents which will delay the flight. Please stay calm, fasten your seatbelts and sorry for the inconvenience caused.”

The pilot had spoken in a calm manner but the staff behind Doojoon was whispered to her co-worker, “I heard the engine is faulty and the pilot cannot land or we might crash. No, no, no, we can’t die right now. We can’t die like this.”

“Die? What do you mean die?” Doojoon had rose up from his seat and stared at the air stewardess who was pale in shock. “I can’t die right now. My family is waiting for me to come back to them!” He had spoken so loudly to spark more commotion from the other passengers.

“Sir, please calm down…” One of the flight attendants assured him.

Before he could reply, the luggage fell from the compartment and hit some of the passengers. Doojoon had fallen on the ground before he lifted himself up to sit back into his seat. The passengers were screaming for their lives as the plane was steered dangerously. He gripped onto the handles as he prayed for his life, “Please don’t let me die now… Gayoon… Gayoon…”

Gayoon had taken a taxi with Sohyun to the airport. She hugged Sohyun tightly with her daughter not knowing what was going on. She prompted the driver, “Please drive faster, Sir. I really need to get there now.”

“Mummy, what’s wrong?” Sohyun asked.

“Nothing. Nothing. I’m just…”

Her phone rang and startled her. She had hoped it was Doojoon but it was impossible. However, the name on her phone had definitely surprised her. She picked up the call coolly and said, “Hello.”

“Gayoon! I’m so glad to hear from you. How have you been?”

“I’m… I’m great.” Gayoon was still confused over her enthusiasm and wondering if she was nuts. HyunA was messaging her husband few hours ago and what was she doing by calling her up after a few weeks of not contacting her?

“I’m sorry for not contacting you, Gayoon. I miss you so much. Maybe we should hang out tomorrow? We have so much to catch up on.” HyunA was talking in her cute tone again. That was something Gayoon had always been envy of.

“I’m busy. Sohyun needs someone to tutor her for her exams.” She replied simply and did not elaborate much.

HyunA sensed something was wrong and said, “Gayoon, are you alright? You don’t sound okay. Do you need me to go over? Aish, what am I talking about? Doojoon has arranged everything and… Oh… wait…”

Gayoon was confused her constant blabbering. It has been HyunA’s weird habit to blabber randomly without finishing her sentences but hearing Doojoon’s name sparked her curiosity. “Did you say Doojoon?” Gayoon frowned.

“No, I didn’t!” She denied too quickly.

“HyunA, you’re my good friend. I don’t want you to keep secrets from me. I know you and Doojoon have been contacting. I need to know what’s going on.” Gayoon was not angry but her tone seemed threatening.

HyunA hesitated for a while before stuttering, “Aish, Doojoon is going to kill me…”

“Kill you… Kill you? Why?”

She sighed and finally let the cat out of the bag, “Okay, I’ll tell you the truth but don’t tell Doojoon I said it! He had booked a room at your favourite hotel on her birthday this coming Saturday and planning to give you a surprise. He said it has been a while since you two have a proper date together. He even arranged Sohyun to stay at my place for a night.”

Gayoon had felt her heart turning warm from what HyunA had said. Doojoon had done all that… for her? He had seemed cold for the past two months and she had not expected him to plan and even remember her birthday. Since today was only Monday, she did not remember her own birthday as well.

“Gayoon, don’t be angry with me, okay? I have a hard time keeping this secret. You know I tell you everything.” HyunA was pleading in the cutest way possible. Gayoon had felt the guilt panging in her chest. How could she doubt her own friend of ten years?

“I’m not, HyunA. I won’t tell Doojoon.” Gayoon said. HyunA was happy again before Gayoon called her name, “HyunA. I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“I’m just… sorry. I have to go now.” Gayoon put down the phone before she could hear HyunA’s reply.

Sohyun had been sitting in her position for a long time without speaking. Gayoon had noticed Sohyun was frozen in her seat in the most uncomfortable way ever. “Sohyun, what’s wrong? Why are you so quiet?” She asked tenderly.

“Mummy… I’m scared…” Sohyun whispered and looked in front.

Gayoon looked at her direction and realized the route was getting to nowhere and isolated. This was not the route to the airport and she had forgotten to see the road when she was talking to HyunA. She alerted the driver and said, “Excuse me, I think you’re heading the wrong…”

Before she continued, she noticed the sinister eyes of the driver. Something was up. She gulped and said, “It’s okay, driver. We’re stopping here. I’m paying you.”

“Not so fast.”

The driver whipped out a knife and pointed at the two innocent females. He grabbed Gayoon’s hand and she screamed. He shouted at her, “Give me all your money right now. Don’t make a noise before I kill your precious daughter.”

“No, don’t touch her! I’ll give it to you…” Gayoon’s hands trembled as they reached out for her purse and handed it to her driver. She gulped and said, “Happy now?”

“What? That’s all you have?” The driver went into a rage and smirked, “But I guess you shall pay for the lack of cash you have…”

“What are you doing? Let go off me!” Gayoon had tried to get him off and he accidentally let go of the knife he had been holding. She bit his arm forcefully and opened the door. He screamed in pain and came out of the taxi to chase after them.

Gayoon’s legs were giving out due to nervousness as Sohyun was running and pulling her mother along, “Mummy, faster! He’s coming!”

The driver pulled Gayoon’s hair and she let go off her hand. Sohyun was about to come for Gayoon but Gayoon screamed, “Sohyun, run! Don’t worry about me! Go and find Daddy. Don’t worry about me! Go! Now!”

Sohyun was already heavily in tears as she watched her mother getting dragged by the nasty driver. She cried and cried but felt the need to run away in order to grant her mother’s wishes. She screamed her loudest when she saw the driver pulling out the knife from before, “MUMMMMMMMMY!!!!!!!!!”

“Is he alright? I think he is…”

“He must be traumatized…”

In the midst of all the voices, one of the voices had stood out for him.

“Doojoon… Doojoon… I miss you…”

With the voices hovering around him, he opened his eyes. He jolted all the way up which made him dizzier and shook his head, “Where am I?”

“Mr Yoon Doojoon, you’re in Jeju Hospital. You have been brought here after the plane landed. Do you remember what happened?” The doctor was checking his eyes and condition while talking to him.

Doojoon remembered everything. Of course, it was hard to forget. He remembered himself feeling uncomfortable and sick when the plane was turning. Thinking he would lose his life, he had fainted on the plane.

He sighed in relief when he found out from the doctor that the plane had landed successfully after the weather was getting better. He realized the voices he heard were from the nurses but the last one was vaguely familiar. However, he was feeling too unwell to recall.

“When can I go back? I need to head home in Seoul.” Doojoon pleaded with the doctor.

“You’ll be fine after two days of hospitalization. You need to stay here for further check-ups just to make sure you’re alright. If you need to contact your parents, there’s a public phone right outside your ward.” The doctor said for his benefit.

“Thank you.”

Doojoon had tried relentlessly in dialing to Gayoon’s phone repeatedly but there was nothing. There was no ringing of such. Maybe she was still angry with him, he thought. After all, she had a habit of ignoring his calls when she is upset with him.

He decided to get well fast so that he could meet her in Seoul as soon as possible.

After two long suffering days, Doojoon had finally reached his house. Their house is a landed property and what people called a bungalow. They were not rich but wealthy enough to afford a house larger than what they expected.

He was walking along the streets where he was glancing at his friendly neighbours. Gayoon had made an attempt to get friendly with their neighbours so they were very good friends with them. However, something was different this time.

He looked around to find his neighbours looking at him in a judgmental way and avoided him completely. Even when he said hello, they slammed the door in his face and prompted everyone else to do the same.

As he reached the house beside his own, he spotted Lee Joon, his long-time and closest neighbor, hesitating to talk to him. Before Lee Joon went into his house, Doojoon stopped him, “Lee Joon! I’m back from Jeju?”

“Oh, yeah, okay…” Lee Joon was strange. Normally he was a hyperactive friend who talked endlessly.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone like this today?” Doojoon questioned, “Lee Joon, don’t hide anything from me.”

Lee Joon gulped, “I can’t tell you.”

“What is it regarding?” Doojoon had one hand on his shoulder, “I won’t flare up or anything. Just tell me.”

“It’s about Ga-“

Before Lee Joon could finish his sentence, his wife, Min, had come out of the house and covered his mouth and hit his head with a roll of newspapers, “Yah, are you crazy, Lee Joon?! You know you’ll get in trouble! You must be mad, aish!”

Seeing Doojoon still at the door, Min gave a brief smile and said, “I’m sorry, Doojoon. We have to go.”

Min slammed the door in his face just like the rest of the neighbours.

Doojoon walked to his own house thinking of their expressions. After unlocking his door, he called out for Gayoon and Sohyun, “Hey, Sohyun? Baby? Are you guys here?”

Silence.

He went to the kitchen to find nothing. He moved to the toilet to find no one there as well. No one was speaking.

“Sohyun?” Doojoon went into her room and find her sitting on the chair at her table scribbling some things on the paper. He went closer to her when she did not turn around and look at him.

He took her shoulders and turned her around, “Sohyun?”

Sohyun stared at Doojoon blankly and hugged him instantly. She hugged tighter when Doojoon returned the embrace back. He lifted up the paper that she was scribbling earlier on to find out that she was not drawing what she normally does.

Sohyun’s pictures were always full of colours but this time, it was just black doodling of no meanings. Ignoring her paper, he asked Sohyun, “Where’s Mummy?”

She blinked again and pointed at the opposite room – their master bedroom.

Doojoon nodded and smiled, “Let’s have dinner together later alright? I’ll go find Mummy first.”

Sohyun nodded and returned to her doodling.

Doojoon felt strange when Sohyun was quiet all along. Sohyun is normally chatty and hyper when he is back from work. Today, she was silent.

He shrugged. Maybe she was busy with her drawing to care about him.

He opened the door to their bedroom and anticipated to find Gayoon inside, “Gayoon?”

Again, there was nothing.

He frowned.

As he was about to leave the room, he found that she was behind him at the foot of the door. He was startled by her appearance as she did not make any sound while making her way behind her, “Gayoon! Where have you been?”

“Doojoon…”

Gayoon was almost breaking down as she saw her husband free of danger after worrying for two days. The plane was alright and her husband was more than fine. Without a word, both of them embraced each other and enjoyed the quiet moments together.

“Doojoon… Doojoon… I miss you…”

The voice he had been hearing in the hospital…

Was no doubt Gayoon’s.