Rain just kept pouring that one afternoon. Both Nana and Doojoon were waiting at the boarding gate of their plane only to find out that no planes can fly with the current weather condition.

Each decided that it would be such a waste to go home so they try their luck with taking the train. They remain strangers to each other despite being in the same places on the same day.

Nana drags her bag across the aisle of the train, looking up and browsing through the seat numbers to look for hers. She found her spot and saw that a man got the seat beside hers. She was seated at the window seat so she bows to him as if asking permission to pass and to apologize for the bother. The man stood and even helped her with her bag.

“Annyeonghaseyo?” She hesitantly greeted.

“Annyeonghaseyo? Are you on your way to Busan too?” He lifts his sunglasses to give her a better look of his face.

“Yes, I was supposed to take a plane but my flight got cancelled due to the rain.” She explains.

He takes out his boarding pass from his pocket, “I’m guessing we were supposed to be on the same flight.”

“What a coincidence! So why are you heading to Busan?” She was starting to get comfortable with him.

“Oh just heading out for fun, you?” Nana noticed he was already fixing his headphones. That’s her cue to keep quiet and make herself busy as well.

“Same..same..” She reaches for her book and starts reading so that the conversation comes to an end.

He didn’t even ask for my name, she thought.

 

It was a 4-hour train ride to Busan and Nana was starting to get a headache from reading her book. She closes the book and starts to doze off.

Underneath his sunglasses, Doojoon found himself watching her. He found it cute when she her head suddenly fell while reading the book. She looks tired, he thought to himself.

Nana was a beautiful lady. Tall, slender body, with a really nice complexion, but her face is the best part. She looks like one of those models that would walk down the runway.

Doojoon examined her sleeping face. One moment she looked calm and peaceful, the next, she had her brows furrowed. To Doojoon, it was a sweet sight.

If there’s one thing Doojoon is sure of despite his very unsure lifestyle, it’s that he is fond of taking pictures. He enjoys staying behind the camera and seeing things through his lens.

He quietly takes out his camera from his pocket, it was a small handy one, and he positions himself to take a photo of Nana.

*click* *click*

Satisfied with the photos, he smiles. Usually he doesn’t take his time to examine the stranger in front of him, but he did for this particular stranger. She must be working full hours; she looked very tired. She’s into comfort more than she is into fashion, he noted as he checks out her knitted cardigan. Cute, he thought.

 

They were near the station when Doojoon decides to wake Nana up as she was still sound asleep.

“Mhmm 5 more minutes,” she softly replies.

“We’ll probably be at the station by then..”

Nana’s eyes widely opened. She totally forgot she was on the train. She had expected her mom to reply but instead it was a man’s voice.

“Oh…Right. Thank you for waking me up.” She gives a small bow.

“No problem.”

That was the stranger’s last words to her.

 

Doojoon was walking around the train station area after grabbing something to eat when she spots Nana walking alone, looking lost.

“Hey are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m just waiting for the grandmother who borrowed my phone.”

Doojoon raised a brow. “She borrowed your phone?”

“Yeah, she said her son is on her way to pick her up but she didn’t have a phone so I lent her mine.”

“How long have you been waiting here?”

“About an hour…”

“Look, I’m guessing you’re a nice person and I hate to be the one to break it to you but I think a grandmother just stole your phone.”

“What? How can you say that? That’s impossible!”

“I’m just saying, not everyone in this world is as nice as you think. You’ve been waiting here for an hour and she ‘borrowed’ your phone. Sounds to me like she left. At least she only took your phone and not your wallet.”

Nana’s eyes was filled with horror, she quickly checks her bag.

“What’s wrong?” Doojoon asked.

“She..she stole my wallet as well….”

“What? How did that happen??”

“That’s how I met her! She grabbed my bag for support because she’s been waiting a long time for her son and her legs got tired. She might have taken it then.” Nana’s happy expression was slowly turning dim, soon she had tears in her eyes.

“Hey, hey now, don’t cry…” Doojoon tried to comfort her.

“Why do you care? I don’t even know you…” She sniffled.

“I’m Yoon Doojoon. Nice to meet you.” He brought out his hand to shake hers.

“Im Jinah. You can call me, Nana.” She shook his hand.

“I like Jinah better, I’ll call you that.” He smiles.

“What am I supposed to do now? I lost my phone and I don’t even have enough money to take a train home…”

“Tell you what. Since you’re here already, and I’m here alone. Would you like to explore Busan together? I don’t mind the company. You can always just transfer the money you owe me when we get back to Seoul.”

Nana was hesitant but she did want to stay. Even if what happened basically ruins a lot of her plans for the trip.

“Are you sure it’s okay with you?” She asks.

“There’s just one condition.” Of course there was a catch, she thought.

“Be the subject of my photos.”

Nana didn’t understand what he meant. “Eh?”

“I enjoy taking photos, you see. And for this trip, I’ve decided to make you my subject. I’ll pay for everything. All you have to do is be with me. I won’t ask you to pose. It will mostly be candid shots. So what do you say?”

Nana laughed. “Are you serious? That’s all I have to do?”

“100% serious.” Doojoon smiled.

“Deal.”

 

Both Nana and Doojoon were craving for seafood, so they decided to head to the fish market first. Where else can they find the freshest catch if not there?

“So, tell me about yourself?” Nana initiated a conversation.

“Well, I graduated from my university a few months back but I’m still very unsure of what to do with my life.”

“Oh cool, what’s your major?”

“Finance, you?”

“I majored in arts. I assumed you took up something related to photography.”

“It’s a hobby of some sort. When I need a break from all the numbers, I take photos of people. Wanna see some of the photos I took?” He brings out a bigger camera and shows her.

“Wow. These look really good. You should open an exhibit of some sort! I can help you with that.”

“Really? You think so? I’ll hit you up when we get back to Seoul.”

Before they could delve deeper into the topic, their food started to arrive.

“Wah~ It looks so good!!” Nana’s eyes grew big and she couldn’t help her self from taking the first piece of raw fish.

Doojoon chuckled and took out his camera instead. She seemed very absorbed with the flavor of raw fish. Nana who was lost in her own little world looked up only to see that she was now a subject in Doojoon’s world. She happily gave him a smile to capture on film.

 

“Ahhh, I’m so full.” Doojoon couldn’t help but rub his belly after a pretty good meal.

“It was a great meal. Where are we off to now?” Nana asked.

“There’s a botanical garden near by, do you want to check that out?”

“Sure, I love flowers!!!”

The two spent the entire afternoon just walking around Busan and exploring what it has to offer. So far they’ve seen a lot of scenic spots and have eaten a lot of street food. Soon it started to get dark and their feet are starting to feel tired.

“Let’s go look for a place to stay at,” Doojoon suggested.

They found a small spot where it seems like backpackers often go. It was cheap and they had clean rooms, however they were limited that night.

“I’m sorry Sir but we only have one room that’s for single occupants. We have rooms for two people though. Maybe you and your girlfriend would want to sleep in one bed…”

Doojoon cleared his throat as Nana looked away.

“We’re not a couple…But I guess we’ll make it work. We’ll get that room.”

Doojoon opened the door and put his bag down.

“I’m sorry you have to share the room with me, I can sleep on the floor if it bothers you.”

“No, don’t. You paid for this room, I can’t let you sleep on the floor…”

“I’m not letting a girl sleep on the floor while I sleep on the bed.” Doojoon laughed.

“Then, I’ll sleep on the bed too. It’s pretty big for the both of us…” Nana shyly answered.

“As long as you don’t snore, it’s fine by me.”

Nana noticed how chill Doojoon is as a person. He doesn’t make a fuzz about the little things. He’s like a come what may person and she likes that. She never gets that from mom because all she does is care for her and sometimes she feels like she can’t breathe with her mother around.

She lied on her side of the bed and looks over at Doojoon who had his eyes closed already.

“Are you sleeping?” She asked.

“Well, now I’m not.” His tone was flat.

“Sorry, go back to sleep.”

“Jinah…”

“Hmm?” She started to close her eyes as well.

“Thanks for spending the day with me.” She smiles, knowing that he wouldn’t see it.

“Thanks for making me stay. I had a lot of fun.” She replied with a yawn at the end.

“Good night, Jinah.”

“Good night Doojoon.”

 

“Mom, I don’t want to go to Japan. No.”

“Im Jinah, I want you to get treated by the best doctors!”

“And I’m telling you that I’m tired. I don’t want treatment anymore. Just let me live my remaining time the way I want to.”

“Jinah, just listen to me please. There is hope. You’ve reached this age already. There is hope.”

“I’m ready, mom.”

Nana’s mom was slowly moving farther and farther away from her.

“Mom? No. No. I need to say goodbye. I can’t die this way.”

Soon her mom was out of sight.

“I said I can’t leave like that. Bring me back this instant!” She demanded.

“I can’t leave my mom. No. No. I haven’t even thanked her for all these years. I—“

She was crying now but was stopped when she heard a voice.

 

“Jinah, wake up!”

“Wh-what’s happening?”

“You were having a nightmare and you started crying…Are you alright?” Doojoon looked at her with a concerned face.

“It was just a dream? I’m alive?” She blinked, wiping the tears off her face.

“Yes, you’re alive silly. We’re in Busan, do you remember?” Doojoon was rubbing her back to comfort her.

“Doojoon, can you do me a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Can you hold me until I fall asleep? That’s usually what my mom does when I get nightmares…If you don’t want to—“ She stopped when she felt his arms wrap around her.

“Is this comfortable?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“No worries, just go back to sleep.”

 

Doojoon’s POV

I was sleeping when I heard muffled sounds coming from the other side of the bed.

I couldn’t see her face so I decided to turn the lamp on and there I saw her looking scared in her sleep. Her brows were tightly knitted together, her head was shaking from time to time and she was sweating heavily.

Suddenly, my heart started to ache for her. I wanted to take this girl out of misery. So, I hurriedly tried to wake her up.

She didn’t even have to finish her sentence when she asked me to hold her. Come here, silly girl, I’ll protect you.

End of POV

 

Nana’s POV

I woke up rather early the next morning. I slept well in Doojoon’s arms, great even. My nightmare just really bothers me a lot. I’ve been ready to die for more than 7 years now. I was diagnosed when I was 17, and ever since it’s been a trip to the hospital every time I had a tiring day. It’s like I haven’t been normal since then. The routine was getting kind of old and I just want a break from it all. I also get that dream a lot, but most of the time I get to happily say bye. What’s keeping me from leaving now?

End of POV

 

“Jinah?” Doojoon called when he couldn’t find her beside him as he woke up.

“I’m here.” She answered from the bathroom then returned to the bed.

“Hey, did you sleep well?” She asked him. He was still yawning and obviously still tired.

“Yeah, did you? No more nightmares?” He gave that same cute concerned expression.

“No more nightmares.” She assured him. “Get up, the weather’s nice today. Let’s go to the beach!” she continued.

“5 more minutes…” He groaned while putting the sheets over his head.

 

They rented snorkeling devices and head out at the water before anyone else can crowd the beach.

“Good thing I brought an under water camera! Can you dive deep into the water? That would look really cool on film!!”

“I’ll try..”

Truth is, Nana always enjoyed being in the water but something about the deep end scares her.

Doojoon dove in first, going a little bit deeper to set the angle of the camera. Nana swam and dove in as well, but she stopped midway. The darkness of the ocean scared her. The fear paralyzed her body and all she could do at that moment was stay still instead of rising up to the surface.

Doojoon started to get worried when she remained still for a while and immediately swam towards her. He sees that she was in shock and hurriedly swam to the surface.

“Jinah, what happened?”

“I’m fine..I just froze for a second there. You can do this…” She talked to herself.

“Do you really want to do this? We can stop if you can’t swim too deep.”

“No, we’re already here.”

“Look at me. Just look at me, okay? I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

In that moment, she believed him. Doojoon looked at her eyes. He didn’t swim before her but rather he held his hand until they reached the deeper end. Her hand was shaking at first but she held on tightly. Slowly, she was losing herself in the water and the fear was gone.

I won’t let anything bad happen to you, his words echoed in her mind.

If only you can save me from my sickness too, she thought.

 

It was another tiring day out in Busan but the sky was starting to get darker by the minute. It was only 3pm but it seemed like it was nighttime already.

Doojoon and Nana were still at the beach when it started to pour heavily. They arrived at their hotel all drenched in the rain and cold from the ocean breeze.

“You can go dry up first…” Doojoon said as he shivered.

“Thanks, I’ll be quick.” She hurriedly made her way to the bathroom to take a hot shower to clean up and put on warm clothes as she herself was also freezing.

“Hey Doojoon—“

She noticed the figure on the bed was shivering and looked like it was in pain.

“Hey, you’re burning up!” She said as she felt her forehead. He wasn’t very responsive which made Nana worry even more.

“Doojoon, we have to go to the hospital.”

“No. No, hospital please.” He begged like a child.

“Okay but I have to get you out of your wet clothes.”

She helped him get dry and assisted in putting his dry shirt on while she looked away when he was put his sweatpants on. Luckily the hotel had a first aid kit and they had medicine for fever.

“I’ll go get some cold water and wipe you down.” She had to go old school to beat this fever of his.

“Jinah..” he managed to say even with a weak voice.

“What is it?”

“Don’t leave me, okay?”

“I won’t… I’ll be right here.”

He really looked like a baby in front of her. And like a baby she cradled him in her arms. Making sure he felt secured.

“You know you’re beautiful..” His hand weakly reaches out to her face.

“You must be really sick. You’re starting to say weird things now.”

“It’s not weird. You are beautiful.”

“Just go to sleep, Doojoon-ah.” She caressed his hair.

“You’re so nice and precious…All I want is to protect you.” His last words sounded more like a whisper, but she heard everything.

She nursed him well that night; she even set an alarm for when he had to take his second dose of medicine.

 

The next morning, she carefully got out of the hotel room to get breakfast from outside. She specially requested for seafood porridge at a restaurant nearby. She had used all the money that she could find in her bag to buy it.

As she got back to the hotel, she sees Doojoon at the front desk.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed, mister?”

“I was worried when I woke up and you weren’t there. I was just about to ask them if they saw you.” He scratched his head.

“Come on, you’re supposed to be resting. I bought us breakfast.”

She brought him back to the room and tucked him in bed.

“Here” She offers him a spoonful of the porridge after cooling it down. He opens his mouth and eats without complaining.

“Mhmm…This is good!” He nods.

She smiles and continues to feed him until the bowl was empty.

“We should stay in today. You shouldn’t tire yourself.”

“But it’s boring here.” He complains.

“Then let’s make it not boring! We can play a game or whatever.”

“What kind of game?” He was starting to sound more and more like a kid.

“I don’t know, you decide.”

“Let’s just ask each other questions, I think that’s fun.”

“Sure. Why not?”

 

“What do you want to do with your life?” Nana boldly asked him.

“I…don’t know. My parents are forcing me to join the company and several big companies are already hiring my friends. You know sometimes I want to apply and get in just to prove to them that I can, but I also get scared…What if I’m not good enough to get in after all?”

Nana placed her hand on top of his. “I think you should try. You’re young. You have so many years ahead of you.”

Doojoon was getting warm because of the encouragement. He’s never felt that way before. Not even his close friends could console him the way Nana does to him. It was refreshing and he didn’t want it to stop.

 

After a while, Nana’s boredom became very obvious so Doojoon decided to change it up a bit.

“Are you a ?” She was caught off-guard. She didn’t know how to answer so she went with a lie.

“No.”

“Then what’s your favorite position?” He followed up on his previous question.

“What..Why are you asking me this?”

“You can’t answer with another question. Just answer it.”

“Yoon Doojoon, I refuse to answer that.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s personal!”

“We stopped keeping track on what was personal when you saw me half while changing my clothes.”

She quickly turned pink.

“Fine. I don’t know, okay? I’m a .” She quietly admits.

“How old are you?”

“Turning 21 in a few days.”

“Not bad. I know people who lost their ity at an older age so I guess you’re safe.”

“Can we stop talking about my non-existent life and move on with the game?”

“Okay. Geez. Stop being so defensive.”

“Your turn. How many times have you had ?”

“So you wanna play that way? We’re moving on from your life to mine?”

“Answer the question.” She grins.

“I can’t give you a number. I’ve never kept track.”

“That many, huh?” Nana wondered why she felt a pang of jealousy when he started boasting about the women he slept with in the past.

“So what’s your favorite position?” She raises a brow, almost challenging him to say it.

Challenge Accepted. He replies with, “I like to enjoy the view, so I like it when the girl’s on top, riding me.”

“You mean like this?” Nana wanted to show him that she could do what those other girls can do, so she goes ahead and straddles him.

Doojoon was shocked to see her actually voluntarily seducing her. All this time, he’d be drawn to her without her trying. The way her hair fell down the sides of her face, or the way she lifts her hair from her sweaty neck, her innocence—it all silently drove him crazy. This was the first time she was actually showing interest in him, but he had to play it cool.

“Mhmm..yeah, sorta like that.”

“So these women you’ve slept with, were they all craving for you touch them?” She rolls her head with her eyes closed and he gulps as he watches her.

He was losing his mind. A very attractive girl was seducing him right in front of him. It took every bit of self-control to not pounce on her.

“Guess what Doojoon?”

“Hmm?” His voice was low as he was slowly getting aroused with all the in the room.

She moved closer to his ear and whispers “You can’t beat me at this game.” She then got off of him and laughed.

 

The next morning was their last day at Busan. They were taking a morning stroll by the beach. Doojoon was trying to capture what he could before they left.

Nana was looking perfect as she was that day at the train. She doesn’t wear clothes to standout, but she wears them so well. She somehow looks like an angel walking by the beach with the waves slowly touching her feet. However, Doojoon was still upset at how Nana played him the night before.

 “Come on, you know what they say ‘Don’t hate the player. Hate the game’” Nana pinched his cheeks while walking backwards.

He was about to give a harsh comeback when a motorcycle suddenly passes by, a bit too close to Nana. Luckily, he had pulled her close to his body before it could hit her.

“You know this is what I’m upset about. You can’t protect yourself, you make me worry all the time and you think this is all a game to me?” He raised his voice at her.

Nana had no idea that was how he felt all this time.

“Doojoon…”

“I have one last question, Jinah…Do you think it’s possible to fall in love in 72 hours?”

Yes.

“No.”

“You can’t say that.” She continued.

“Why not? It’s how I feel. My heart is about to burst because I can’t keep you safe in my arms and I don’t have the right to make love to you because you deserve your first to be with the guy you love.”

“You can’t possibly be in love with me.’

“Why not? Why is it so hard to believe?” He places his hands on both of her shoulders.

“Because I’m sick. I’m dying…and I think I feel the same way about you.”

Doojoon was stunned. He didn’t know which one to process first, the confession of the illness or the confession of love?

“What do you mean?” He holds her face that is now being stained with tears.

“I’m turning 21 in a few days. This was supposed to be my last trip before I stop all treatments. That’s why you can’t say you love me. Don’t say you love me, please.”

.

.

.

Things got back to normal when they got back to Seoul. It was Nana’s 21^st birthday and she was greeted by a knock at the door.

It was a guy holding up flowers to cover his face, “I love you. I know you told me not to, but I’m staying. I’ll be with you while I can.”