"Oppa, where are we going tomorrow?" Jihyo asked Gary, who had been bringing her around for a few days now.
"Hmm..." was the only response Gary gave. She could feel the tension in his reply.

Then she remembered. Tomorrow was the day he had to return Daeyang.

"Oppa..." she said tenderly, touching his hands gently to comfort him. But at her touch, tears started to fall. 
"It has been almost a year, Jihyo-ah... For almost a year we were like each other's shadow. What am I going to do...?" He tightened his grip on Jihyo, using every bit of sanity to stop himself from hugging her. 
But she hugged him first. He looked so broken. So broken that it hurt her too. Why... why was she feeling this way? She couldn't even comprehend. All she knew is that she wanted to make him feel better. 
He sobbed into her shoulder. "I miss you so much... l'll miss him so much. Why is life only cruel to me? Why must I let go of everyone whom I love... why..."

Why did he say he miss me...? Or did I hear wrongly...

She patted his back, soothing him and didn't say anything. Sometimes silence is the best comfort.

The next day, Jihyo went with Gary to send Daeyang off to the training centre. She could tell that he was holding back his tears. Daeyang howled the saddest howl he had ever made. Gary bend down to Daeyang's height and rubbed his neck. 
"Train hard here and serve your new owner well..."
Daeyang barked, promising him.
"Grow up healthy and happy and help many people..." His voice cracked. He couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears started to fall. He buried his face into Daeyang's fur. This was the last time he could do this. 
He stood up after a while. It was time to leave. When he left, Daeyang kept barking, as if telling Gary don’t go.  He could hear Daeyang struggling with his leash, trying to run to him. 
"Sorry... sorry..." Gary whispered, tears falling uncontrollably, but he did not turn back... He don't dare to. Jihyo held his hand tightly all this while.

They walked out of the centre on silence.

“Can you do somewhere with me?” Gary whispered, between sobs.

Jihyo nodded. Of course. She couldn’t say no when he was so sad.

Gary drove to the place, without mentioning anything else. Jihyo stole glances at him, to make sure that she was alright, but she didn’t ask anything more.

Neither of them noticed that a car was following them. On any other day, Gary would have known. But today he was in such a poor condition that it was left unnoticed.

In the car, there were three men, all wearing masks.

“It’s her. That’s her Keeper,” the man beside the driver said.

The driver nodded.

“Are we attacking now?” he asked.

“No, we’ll wait. I think there are going somewhere secluded.”

“Ok. Do we need any back up? They said that her Keeper is a good fighter.”

The driver pondered for a while.

“No,” he finally said. “I don’t think he is in a good shape today. Besides, they’re unprepared and we are armed.”

The man, presumably his assistant, nodded in agreement.

“You’re very quiet today,” the driver noted, glancing at the man at the backseat.

The man stayed silent for a while. “I’m going through the procedures.”

The driver smirked. “Good. Good. After today, after centuries, we’ll finally get back what we deserve.”

Gary and Jihyo arrived at the foot of a mountain.

“Apart from the ocean, Daeyang loved this place the most,” he explained, swept with a wave of nostalgia.

Jihyo nodded. She could see why Daeyang and Gary liked this place. It was quiet and peaceful, and the trees provided a good shade. The smell of damp leaves and the gentle caressing of the wind against their skin was refreshing. It was a good place to trek.

Suddenly, another piece of memory flashed through her mind. Recently it had happened very frequently, but she couldn’t tell if it was her own memory, or what she remembered from watching running man episodes.

But this, this she knew for sure, it was her own memory.

A man was carrying her down a mountain. She was half-conscious at that time, feverish and uncomfortable and so afraid. ‘Oppa is always here for you’, the man said.

She blinked a few times. Who was the man? She tried hard to remember, but her head started to hurt, so she stopped.

Gary realised Jihyo was staring blankly into space.

“If you have somewhere else to go, then we can go,” he said sadly. He took the moment to remind himself that Jihyo was not as close to him as before. They were merely colleagues. Or ex-colleagues, for that matter.

“Ani, ani,” she shook her head. “I’m staying with you,” she insisted. Gary nodded in gratitude.

They trekked up in silence, with Gary in the lead, and Jihyo slightly behind him, just to make sure he is ok.

“Do you think it’s ridiculous for me to be so attached to a pet?” Gary suddenly stopped and asked, waiting for Jihyo to walk beside him.

Jihyo thought for a while. She hadn’t loved anything so much before, had she? Honestly, she couldn’t phantom how is it like, to be so attached to anyone. So, she didn’t respond.

Gary sighed.

“I left Korea because of the woman I loved,” he finally said.

Jihyo looked at him in shock, surprised that he was telling her the answer she had been wanting to know.

“I had to leave for her sake. I didn’t know how I got the courage to leave her,” his voice trembled. “I loved her so much, you know?” he asked, looking right into her eyes.

“But, I left anyway. It was so hard at first. I was a living zombie. I couldn’t eat or sleep properly; I was lifeless all the time; I felt like life was meaningless…

“But Daeyang brought me out if misery… he showed me the other joys in life… he taught me how to let go”

Something in what Gary said struck her. Why was it that it felt so… familiar…?

Suddenly, Gary tensed up. He sensed something strange in the surroundings.

“Oppa, what’s wrong?”

“Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and hurriedly went down.

Three masked men jumped out from behind the trees, chasing after them. They all had a bow slung over their backs, with a quiver full of arrows and darts. They wore a loose black shirt and pants, revealing a tattoo on their collar bone.

Jihyo blinked again. Did she see it before?

“Hurry!” Gary yelled, snapping her out of her daze.

“Who are they?!” Jihyo asked, in between breathes.

The leader of the three gestured for the other two to shoot.

Gary and Jihyo darted around, picking up the fallen arrows and darts whenever they could, to act as defence.

Eventually, the chasers closed up on the couple. They were now facing each other.

“We’ve finally found you,” the leader announced menacingly.

Jihyo shot Gary a look of confusion.

The metals! Gary thought.

He dashed towards the leader, planning to attack him with the arrow. But his assistant saw it coming and raised his bow, aiming at Gary.

Noticing his plan, Jihyo took out the darts in her pocket to throw at the assistant. Her aim was accurate and it hit him on his right arm, causing him to drop the bow.

Almost simultaneously, she felt an excruciating pain in her right arm.

Under no circumstances can a Healer physically hurt or harm anyone on purpose. They would hurt themselves in the process.

Her head throbbed as memories flooded her. She fell to the ground, both in pain and in shock. At the same time Gary got shot on his abdomen.

“Urghhhh” he groaned, kneeling down in pain, grabbing his stomach.

“Oppa!” Jihyo screamed, running towards him. The passenger seat man aimed his arrow, but the quiet guy stopped him.

“No, we need her to be safe.”

Reluctantly, he lowered his arrow.

They knocked Gary and Jihyo unconscious and brought them into their car, and drove to a dilapidated hut in the more rural area of Canada. They left them locked up in the hut as they went away to gather the others, and for a pre-celebration.

Jihyo woke up first, with a dull ache in her head, and her arm still hopelessly painful. Grabbing her right arm with her left, she moved towards Gary, whose lips were as pale as death.

“Oppa…” she whispered, shaking him gently. “Oppa?” Tears started to fall as she called him. She remembered everything. Everything about them.

He woke up, groaning in pain. “It hurts,” he murmured softly.

Jihyo adjusted herself so Gary was resting on her left arm and on her legs.

“I remember everything, oppa,” she said, caressing his cheeks gently. “Let me heal you, ok?”

Gary grabbed her hand. “No,” he said, wincing in pain. “It will take too much energy. You need to escape,” he said, his eyes fluttering close again.

“Oppa, no, no, oppa!” she said anxiously, shaking him to keep him awake. “I wouldn’t leave without you!”

It was too painful to speak anymore, so he didn’t argue.

Gently, she took out the arrow, but his wound started bleeding again. Blood was oozing out. She quickly pressed her palm over the wound and tried to heal him.

To her shock, she can’t.

She tried again, but to no avail.

She looked at her hands in despair.

Her right arm! Just now she shot the attacker in the right arm! And because of that, she couldn’t heal now.

A Healer cannot heal when she is injured, only with one exception, but this only works for family members. It’s when she sacrifices herself, by letting her blood flow onto the person. 

Her eyes widened with resolution.

“Oppa, oppa,” she shook him gently. “Marry me,” she whispered, more like pleaded.

“Mwo?” Gary mumbled in shock.

“Please, oppa. I don’t want to live in regret. I don’t want you to die with your wish unfulfilled,” she said, tears falling uncontrollably onto his face.

Gary nodded weakly. If that’s what his princess wants.

Jihyo nodded, a tinge of hope returning.

“I, Song Ji Hyo, take you, Kang Gary, to be my husband,” she said solemnly, tears still flowing.

“I… I promise to have and to hold…” she caressed his cheeks gently, letting her tears fall into him.

“From this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in…” she choked on her tears. Her heart was tearing apart.  

“In sickness or in health…”

With much effort, Gary raised his hands to caress her cheeks as well.

“Till death do us part,” she finally whispered, holding Gary’s hands against her own cheek.

“I, Kang Gary, take you, Song Ji Hyo, to be my wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness or in health,” Gary said breathlessly, pausing and wincing at each word. “Till death… do us part.”

“Jihyo-ah… it hurts so much,” Gary whimpered. “…Can you sing me to sleep?” he pleaded weakly, holding onto her hands.

Jihyo nodded, tearing up.

“Darling, darling it’s time for bed,

I can’t sleep when you’re awake.

Lull you and sing you to sleep,

Tomorrow will be a better day.

Sweetheart, sweetheart, I’ll love you always,

Grow up healthy, grow up happy

I’ll do everything to protect you

Seeing your smiles melt my fatigue away

Don’t be afraid, please be brave

Remember I’ll love you always….”

“I’ll love you always too, Jihyo –ah,” he said softly, smiling as he closed his eyes.

Jihyo bend over to kiss him.

Then, with trembling hands, she took one of the dart she picked up just now and slit herself at her wrist, letting blood flow onto the person she loved with all her life.

(Did you cry, too?)