It was a school trip when it happened. Kai was chatting away to his friends as usual when he noticed her snapping images

from the top of a hill in the countryside . It was an art day out to take first account shots of the Earth's natural scene, its

beauty and astonishment. The world was a green, uncontrollable land where plants and animals lived like an untidy

bedroom. It was yet beautiful. Mother Nature never scolded her children for making a mess in the natural landscape.

Now, she must have been frowning upon metropolitans where ugly, grey buildings stabbed into her pretty air and gases

farted out at her with such a lack of remorse. It was exactly what Kai and his friends were discussing in their figurative

language.

 

She was stood far away: a tiny of a thing against a huge hill, but Kai took notice of her. She was swaying and he could

have sworn that the high-tech camera she was holding slipped from her grip and tumbled downwards. Swaying like the

wind, she was, he concluded. He didn't know what made him - it was unusual for him to do anything heroic - but he

found himself running as fast as he could up that unfortunately steep hill whilst his unseeing teacher yelled at him to stay

put. Whilst he noticed her lose her balance, he wondered for a moment what on Earth had happened to her and how on

Earth she managed to slip away from the rest of the class without the teacher screaming at her. Then he remembered why.

He couldn't even recall her name.

 

It seemed from the screams behind him that the rest of the class had caught on what he was trying to accomplish. A life,

was the answer, they all animously realised. Suddenly Kai wasn't the only one to witness her falling down the hill, head

knocking into rocks - smashing, almost, as she picked up speed, falling, whereas Kai's legs were only warming up.

 

"!"

 

A classic word to be used at such a classic time, Kai thought, urging his pathetic feet to go faster. He met her half way

down the hill, head cut open, arms slashed, leg seemingly broken. Her eyes were closed. Kai didn't know what to do.

He yelled out loud not really knowing why. He looked at her pale, ghoulish face and noticed her camera continuing to

spiral down the hill, a mess of plastic, glass and metal. It was ruining the grass. He looked back at her bleeding face.

He didn't know why the thought occured to him, however, he likened her to nature. Even as she was dying; bleeding,

in his arms, she was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

It turned out she didn't have a broken leg and had only suffered minimal flesh wounds, nothing too serious. A two week

period of resting and Jung Kyumi (Kai had, by then, heard her name enough to never forget it) was back at school,

bruised here and there but much healthier than Kai had ever seen her (since he couldn't even remember her before). He

found himself watching her every move, every last step with worry as though he had converted himself into her new

mother - but one who only watched from a distance. It was like he was Superman and she was Lois - she had no idea who

had saved her but he knew exactly who she was - although he only knew her name. Nothing more. It wasn't enough.

 

"Kai?" someone called out to him. He spun around on the deck and looked into the eyes of his furious girlfriend. It was

lunch time and she, as usual, must have been waiting in their usual spot. On that day in particular, he stayed in the main

canteen, one eye solely focused on her.

 

"Sorry... Forgot to say," he turned back to his untouched food, "I thought we'd have lunch here today."

 

She was not convinced. She sat down opposite him without a word, slamming her tray down and stared straight him in a

way that slightly weirded Kai out. Since he didn't want to look back at her, he ended up swivelling in his seat to look at

her and her group of friends. She was laughing slightly and someone hit her on the forehead, laughing at her. She laughed

back and pouted as though she was a baby who hadn't been fed milk.

 

"What's so interesting?" his girlfriend's voice called out in such a thick sarcastic tone it almost made him cough.

 

"Nothing, really. Just that girl, Jung Kyumi," he answered honestly. He had nothing to hide. He decided to pay more

attention to his girlfriend and sat straight, looking back at her furious expression.

 

"I've been watching you Kai and you haven't kept your eyes off of her all day," she said, fiddling with the chopsticks in her

sweet potato dish. Her eyes diverted to her food and Kai found himself in an awkward situation.

 

"Seohyun, I don't like her like that. She's just someone I saved," he looked back at Kyumi, "and someone who's somehow

worrying me."

 

"Worrying you? Why?" Seohyun ignored his comments that implied she was insecure about their relationship. It was

quite the opposite because she was curious what he was thinking about. He seemed distracted. She loved him very

much and knew exactly that he wasn't one to share his inner thoughts without confrontation.

 

"She's the girl---"

 

"Oh yeah. The one you saved, right?" she quickly answered. She looked over at Kyumi and nodded. "You've never spoken

to her before, have you?" she asked him. Kai gave her a look of a puppy.

 

"No, and I'd like to. I feel sorta... protective, actually, like... Don't laugh," he began, laughing himself. Seohyun smiled

happily and leaned forward.

 

"Like what?" she grinned. It made her happy to see him happier.

 

"Like a mother."

 

Seohyun covered and laughed loudly, hiding the food in from him. Kai laughed back and the two

shared a moment together, giggling at each other.

 

Unbeknowst to Kai, Kyumi took a notice of him that very moment, especially after hearing that he was the one who

saved her life.

 

 

 

 

It was the last lesson for the day and Kai was already ready to jump up and run home as fast as possible just so he could

have an uninterrupted nap (otherwise he'd have to thank his little sister Yeri). The teacher droned on and on until all of his

words turned into a horrible long, eerie tone that never ended. Kai felt as though his body was slowly melting away into

the desk itself.

 

That was, of course, until the bell rang. He was the first one up and out, sprinting down the hallways as the echo of the bell

bounced off the walls. He was always one of the first to leave the building.

 

He didn't know but so was Kyumi. And since she had skipped her last lesson, she was waiting for him. Seohyun had told

her where and when. She called out to him and watched with surprise as he pretended to ignore her and run off.

 

"Uh, Kai! Kai! Seohyun said you wanted to talk to me! Kai!" she tried calling out before another wave of dizziness came

over her.

 

Kai didn't know why he ran off and he didn't know what he would accomplish from running away considering his own

girlfriend set the two up just so he could get to know her as a friend. He heard her call his name over and over and turned

around just as she flopped to the ground, unconscious in seconds. It was that moment that Kai started to think - was it

him?

 

He ran over to her as other students gathered around. Her friends, Hyomin and some other girl he didn't know, dashed

right over and put their hands on her forehead.

 

"It's happening," Hyomin quietly said to the other girl. Kai had no idea what they were on about and stepped back to see

Seohyun in the crowd with a look of complete worry on her face. Kai somehow felt like he was the cause. He didn't even

know how to explain why either.

 

Seohyun headed to him and gripped his arm, taking him away whilst a teacher came to check on her.

 

"What happened? Weren't you talking to her?" she asked him, worried about his pale complexion.

 

"No, I... I kinda ran away, Seo, and I don't know why," he frowned. The two watched a teacher carry her body back into the

school building.

 

 

 

 

The day after, she came back to school and at their first break, she found Kai with Seohyun. Kai was in the middle of

explaining (and failing) why he didn't talk to her. She noticed Seohyun's grateful smile and somehow felt a wave of envy

come over her.

 

"Look, Seohyun said you wanted to talk to me. But it doesn't matter," she cut right to the chase, "I just wanted to thank

you for saving me, on the art trip."

 

"You're welcome... I just wanted to ask..." he gulped nervously, "Are you... okay?" he said with the biggest amount of

annoying vagueness Seohyun had seen in a while. She tapped him on her back, a little hard to make sure he woke up

to realise he needed to be straight forward.

 

"You can already tell I'm not okay so that's a stupid question really," she sat down opposite the pair. "Look," she

continued as the two were wringed into an uncomfortable silence, "I'm not well. Not many people know but it's gonna

be known eventually. Doctors don't know what it is. Something to do with lack of blood flow to the brain. Parents say

I should stay home 'til I get a good diagnosis. It's not gonna happen. Read stuff online. It's almost always fatal unless

I have blood transfusions every day. So, uh, yeah. Thanks for saving me one day. Like the James Bond movie, I'm

gonna die another day, anyway, so there was no point."

 

"Why don't you just stay home then? And no point? I saved your life!" Kai began arguing.

 

"Because I don't want my last days to be cooped up at home doing all. So, yeah, um, you know what? you for

even thinking about that because you have no idea how much I thought it would have been nice to die in the

countryside. It would have been so, so artistic to die there. But no, I wake up another ing stupid day, no idea when

I'm gonna die and have to thank you for saving my ty life."

 

"Then you're really welcome. Next time you're gonna collapse or whatever, I won't save you," Kai cut his eyes at her with

a new-found anger that felt as though it would consume him whole.

 

"Kai," Seohyun said gently. He shook his head.

 

"You wanna die quick, that's fine," Kai stood up and held Seohyun's hand to help her up, too, "But why not go and die where

the rest of us can't see?"

 

"Kai!" Seohyun hit his arm, hurt that he would say something so heartless to a dying girl.

 

"Shut up," he yelled at Seohyun before turning back to Kyumi. "You're completely selfish. I saved your life because it was

the right thing to do and you just think it'd be artistic to die!? You're an ugly person. Go and stay home, because if I see

you, here, tomorrow, I'll..."

 

"Stop this," Seohyun said, snatching her hand away from his. She looked at Kyumi with disappointment. "You know,

you're not the only one with a life-threatening illness in this school. I'm sorry to hear about---"

 

"I don't need anyone's ing pity!"

 

"LOOK!" Seohyun raised her voice, "You're somehow blaming Kai for being here a day longer and that's not fair. It's

wrong! And Kai," she turned to him with a hint of tears in her eyes, "I don't know how you could say something like that."

 

And she walked away, leaving Kai and Kyumi in a tense situation.

 

 

 

 

Seohyun, I'm sorry if I upset you.

I was really angry and I didn't mean it.

I'll make it up to you I promise~~^^

I love you♥

 

He looked at his text message over and over. She hadn't seen it. It was much later at night and he was beginning to

worry. They had fought before but she'd always reply back at some point. He thought back to what Kyumi had said

and did not regret a single word. It was one thing saving a life and another saving the life of a person who clearly did

not want to be saved. It was horrible to experience - all the effort he had gone through and being told it was a waste

of time. It hurt him. It hurt him a lot, seeing her bloodied, peaceful face in his lap.

 

He fell asleep and in his dream, instead of watching her fall, it was him who fell down the hill, where Seohyun tried

to catch him but failed, only for him to land in Kyumi's laps instead.

 

 

 

 

Seohyun was a no-show at school the next day. Kai felt weird without her there and spent the morning texting her,

asking where she was and whether she was okay or not. He daydreamed about her coughing in bed, with him

feeding her soup whilst her mom reassured him that she could do it herself.

 

He had art class and felt utter resentment seeing Kyumi in the class, looking much better, painting away at her

canvas with immense passion, ignoring the rest of the world. Kai tried to have a peak but she noticed and moved her

work away from his. Kai looked at his blank canvas and through all the pictures he had taken only to realise he was

looking to see how many pictures had Kyumi's face in them. Turned out there was only one: her, on the hill where

she collapsed.

 

At lunch, he decided to sit with his friends. He usually met them outside of school because for the rest of the time, he

used school hours to spend with Seohyun. Since she wasn't in, and he had checked his phone to no avail, he sat

beside them.

 

"Where's she gone then, huh?" Sehun sniggered. "Have you broken up or something?" he joked, knowing the two

would not break up any time soon. They were, as they said, in 'love'.

 

"Nah, she's, um, ill," he decided faking the answer would be best. His friends shrugged and began talking about flirting

with the school's prettiest girls when Kyumi eventually walked over with the same childish pout he had seen before.

 

"Kai," she called out to him, arousing shock from his friends. "Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked.

 

"Sure," Kai said, getting up with reluctancy. He would have rather poked holes in his eyeballs. As soon as they were 

away from their hearing range, he barked at her with a clear sense of arrogance, telling her to hurry up and tell her

what ever she wanted to say.

 

"I... I kinda wanted to apologise," she said, pout full and active. He rolled his eyes at her strange attitude and sighed,

waiting for her to continue. "I wanted to sincerely thank you for saving me. It's hard, okay? I don't mean to be a total

but... I've just had enough of all of this a-and..."

 

Her eyes began losing focus. He could see she was trying to look at him but her eyes began lolling backwards. He

panicked.

 

"A-and..." she tried again before her eyes closed and her body crumpled. Kai caught her in the moment and lifted her up

into his arms in the middle of the canteen. He couldn't even explain the strange emotion that overcame him, nor the

tears in his eyes as he ran off to the school's nurse.

 

"Kyumi?" he called out breathlessly as he continued with as much speed as he could manage. She did not respond and

he could hear footsteps chasing behind him.

 

He reached the office and the nurse asked him to gently put her on the bed. Behind him, Hyomin was tearing up

terribly and Kai found himself awkwardly hugging her outside the room whilst the nurse tended to her.

 

"It'll be alright," he said, wondering why he was even reassuring her knowing that Kyumi was slowly dying somehow. He

patted her back over and over, calming her down as she wept.

 

The nurse came out five minutes later.

 

"She'll be fine. She's woken up and is feeling queasy so just give her time," the nurse advised, shooing them away. Hyomin

began telling the nurse that it was best for her to go inside as Kai walked away.

 

He didn't know why he was hurting as much as he was, so he did the only thing he thought would be good for him. He

sneaked out of school and ran to Seohyun's house. It was a good twenty minute run but he made it and began frantically

banging on her front door until her mother answered.

 

"Oh Kai," she said with surprise, "Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

 

"Where's Seohyun?"

 

She looked at him for a moment, studying his saddened expression. With a gulp she shook her head and shrugged.

 

"She's unwell and I think you should leave. She'll probably be back at school tomorrow so calm down, okay?" she

suggested strongly. Kai shook his head but Seohyun's mom shut the door in his face.

 

He didn't know what to do. He was completely confused.

 

 

 

 

She was back at school the next day, looking as normal as ever. He ran over to her before the morning bell went

off but she walked away from him, clearly ignoring him.

 

"Seohyun! We've made up so please forgive me!" he called after her. She paused for a moment before walking away.

He was far too confused to make out why she was so mad at him and why she refused to talk to him. "What have I

done!?" he yelled.

 

She ignored him. She continued with her day avoiding and ignoring him. She hadn't even replied to his messages.

And he was spending more time with Kyumi. At lunch, he had spent the majority of it with Kyumi as she cried her

eyes out without saying a word. He didn't even know why he stayed but he did. At the end of the day, he saw her

walking home with Hyomin. He walked over, knowing Seohyun wouldn't talk to him.

 

"How you feeling?" he asked her brightly. Kyumi, Hyomin and the other girl (who walked over after him) gave him

a look.

 

"Uh, go," Kyumi said to Hyomin and the other. They nodded and left him to it.

 

"They didn't need to go, you know," Kai said. She gave him her infamous pout and shook her head.

 

"Yeah. But anyway, um, you hungry?" she asked. He nodded.

 

"I'm heading home to eat, dumb-," he swore with a cheeky grin. She hit him hard on the head and sighed.

 

"Come on, let's eat out right now," she grabbed his wrist and pulled him away with her. She had a tough pull,

he acknowledged with shock, deciding that she was definitely stronger than he first assumed. She dragged him

down a hill whilst he continued to protest, screaming words of a typical story; his mom, sister, dinner, naps

and his own sanctuary. He began spewing words of his rights, that he was being ambushed and kidnapped

as she giggled and guffawed in one weird mix, her laugh etching into his memory forever. He found himself

to be enjoying the commotion especially as judgmental strangers shook their disapproval at them, yelling

loud words of disagreement to her attitude. Her laugh was only growing in sound, penetrating everyone's ears

with her high-pitched, cute noise. She marched on like a soldier until they reached a small stall selling street

food. Just one look and the two quietened.

 

"How much do you have?" she asked him, eyes firmly placed upon the spicy rolls in front of her. He dug into

his pocket and pulled out more than enough. Her eyes sparkled as he bougth them both three sticks each.

 

"This is great stuff," he chowed down as much as he could in one mouthful, thanking God for the simplist and

finest of street food that satisfied his every need, from warmth to hunger. He watched her wolf down hers as

quick as she could and within two minutes each pair had three empty, wooden sticks that they threw into

the trash.

 

"God, that was amazing!" Kyumi clapped her hands enthusiastically, slamming her hands into his back soon

after.

 

"Do you mind?" he yelled in a pretentious agony. She pouted once more.

 

"Sorry," she said. The sun was already setting and the two, united, walked together deeper into the town,

seeing the sights.

 

"Anything from the doctor, then?" he asked her as they passed a fish market, looking at the juicy species that

were soon going to be butchered for someone's stomach. She let out a long sigh and smiled at him in a way

that he couldn't read.

 

"Well I've got something to hopefully stop the fainting but my heart's still not doing good," she looked at a clothes

stall and began whizzing through the dresses. He could hardly make them out under the dulling lights but as

soon as the thought crossed his mind, the street lights lit up. He looked at them briefly with awe before Kyumi

presented a dress to him.

 

"Nice," he commented, unsure what else to say to her. Then he realised she'd ask him to pay. He shook his head.

"Actually nah that's not that nice."

 

She shrugged, "fair enough..." and put it back. The two continued forward aimlessly. Kai began wondering why he

had decided to go on with her. He decided the answer was he cared about her wellbeing even if she was a fiesty

girl. As they walked, she began telling him her life story.

 

She was born with a rare heart condition that they managed to stabilise as she slowly grew up. She had a normal

growth which was everything but what the doctors predicted and they called her a miracle. They thought she was

going to have severe brain damage as her heart didn't have enough power to ensure her brain was always

replenished with oxygen. Turned out they were simply wrong. Her wellbeing, both mental and physical, remained

in a great condition until she hit puberty. Her fainting spells began then, rarer before they became almost daily.

It was only much more recently that she began fainting at unusual, uncontrollable times - otherwise, she collapsed

before bed. She was hardly at school for a while  until she became sick of being home, monitored by her

terrified parents day in day out. (Kai realised that was why he couldn't really remember her). She had had enough

and defied her parents to come to school. The doctors began running tests on her very often and couldn't come

up with a diagnosis, a cause or a solution to her fainting spells. They said it was only a matter of time before she'd

have a or a heart attack as it seemed her body was going that way. They even said that a fall at the wrong place

at the wrong time could also kill her. She had had enough and whilst she recovered from the fall, became depressed

and agitated because she was sick of being around 24/7 care, her parents and doctors.

 

"---And you were right, Kai. I was being selfish. I don't think I've thought about my parents enough or my friends or

even strangers like you. These doctors are doing everything they can to make sure I can get better and I just wanted

to die. So, I want to thank you for being the perfect stranger. Without you, I really wouldn't be here," she wiped away

a tear. "It's just horrible."

 

"I can see it is and all I can wish is that the doctors cure you so you can live a long, happy life," Kai found himself

blushing in embarrassment at his overly kind words. She blushed under the street lights too and the two shared a

beautifully awkward moment, looking at each other with weirdly smug faces.

 

"You're a lovely person, Kai," she said, reaching over to kiss him on the cheek. He got a warm and tingly feeling from

it and felt slightly sad to see her walk off into the night that had somehow flown in and taken over the sunset sky.

 

 

 

 

And so, whilst Kai and Kyumi began forming a relationship that became deeper and deeper at each passing moment,

Kai began losing his relationship with ex-girlfriend Seohyun. He announced their break-up to his friends just a week

after she stopped talking to him, telling them there was nothing he could do, that he had already made-up and made

friends with the girl he had rudely taunted before. It wasn't long before their friendship became a romance, and a

romance turned into a relationship. Kyumi learned to adore Kai and his kind soul; Kai learned how to tame her

crazed spirit and comfort her when she began feeling downhearted. Just before the summer break, Kai realised

something was wrong...

 

 

 

 

"You know," Kyumi said weakly as Kai tried to feed her soup (something that reminded him of his ex-girlfriend), "I've

come to realise something really weird." She took in a mouthful and slowly swallowed the warm soup, grateful for her

boyfriend's help.

 

"What?" he questioned absent-mindedly, carefully minding the soup more than her words. She had had a terrible fall;

she was shopping with Hyomin when, as they climbed down a set of stairs, she lost consciousness and fell down far too

many, but lived to tell the tale, although her arm was broken and her ankle was slightly sprained, plus a huge amount

of cuts and bruises, plus carpet burn from the rug that lay in the middle of the staircase. It had been a catastrophe.

 

"You know who brought us together?" she said with her pout, one that Kai came to realise he loved.

 

He thought for a brief moment and realised with a sickening, sinking feeling. "It was Seohyun."

 

"I remember... she said that you wanted to talk to me. You know, it's really weird if you think about it. Really weird."

 

Kai thought back for a moment. As he did, his heart felt as though it was aching, strangely enough, thinking of what

had happened after he met Kyumi - or rather, after he saved Kyumi. Seohyun had been more supportive than ever

before withdrawing and cutting herself off from him without any real explanation why. He decided to shrug it off,

ignoring a weird feeling in his heart.

 

"Yeah it is, but I did what I could. Oh well. It brought us together," he smiled, feeding her another spoon. She took it

gratefully and nodded.

 

"Still weird. I haven't spoken to her since. How is she?" Kyumi smiled at him. Kai looked back at her blankly.

 

"I don't talk to her anymore, haven't since," he coolly replied.

 

Kyumi thoughtfully persuaded Kai to give h