She found herself standing in the middle of a dark room. She looked around; everything seemed familiar, yet strange. She had a milk bottle in her right hand. She looked at it curiously. And then she looked at her left hand. It seemed wet and sticky. As she raised her left-hand closer to her eyes, she realised that the sticky liquid on her hand was blood. The bottle in her right hand slipped and crashed on the floor. She cried out in fear, but her voice seemed to be mum. She frantically started looking around the room, when she tripped over someone lying on the floor. She turned the person around to see the face. It was her father, covered in blood and dust. Her body started shuddering, and she tried crying out for help. Yet again no sound came out of , no matter how hard she tried. She looked around and spotted the crib at the corner of the room. She scampered to it to find it all empty. At the foot of the crib, she spotted her mother, lying unconscious.

Someone please help! We need help! My mom and dad are dying, my baby is missing. Please help!

This time she screamed with all her strength. Initially there was no sound, but then she managed to bring out a muffled sound, and gradually that developed to a shrill cry for help, and she continued until her whole body started convulsing vigourously.

There was someone calling her name, but it seemed the sound was coming from far away. She kept crying out loud for help, so that the person would reach her quickly.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Wow, that looks so very yummy,” squealed Ha Jin in excitement as the big pot of Army stew was served on their table.

Ji Hoo smiled at her warmly.

“Now eat it at your heart’s content.”

Ha Jin nodded her head and started pouring the hot mouthwatering content in her bowl. Then she signaled Ji Hoo to pass his bowl to her for serving. Ji Hoo was about to start eating when his phone started ringing. He frowned a little while taking out his phone from the pocket, as he did not expect calls at that time of the night, except from the hospital. To his wonder, the call was from Woo Bin. He excused himself from Ha Jin, requesting her to start eating, and walked out of the restaurant to pick up the call.

“Hello Woo Bin!”

“Ji Hoo, please go to Yi Jung’s place right away. There’s an emergency,” spoke Woo Bin with urgency.

“What happened?”

“It’s Ga Eul. She has PTSD. She is having an outburst now. She needs medical attention right now, Ji Hoo.”

“I’ll be right there. Is Jae Kyung with her?”

“No, Yi Jung is alone. And I won’t be able to go now. And she needs a doctor, she needs you.”

“I will take Ha Jin with me. I’ll go right away.”

Ji Hoo rushed in to the restaurant. Ha Jin was slurping a big serving of the soup and noodle, with her eyes closed in ultimate satisfaction with the food. Ji Hoo looked at her blissful face regretfully, as he did not have the heart to stop her from savouring the food she had been waiting for so long. But they were urgently needed somewhere else.

“Ha Jin, I am sorry to say that we will have to leave, right now.”

Ha Jin opened her eyes and looked at him curiously.

“You must be joking, right?”

“No Ha Jin. There’s an emergency. We will have to be there immediately,” replied Ji Hoo and placed a bunch of notes on the table for the food.

Ha Jin dropped her ladle and picked her jacket from the chair. The dark look on Ji Hoo’s face stopped her from enquiring any further and she followed him out to the parking lot. As Ji Hoo handed her the helmet, she touched his hand gently, making him stare at her.

“What is it Ji Hoo? Are you ok?”

“It’s Ga Eul. She is not well. We have to be there right now,” said Ji Hoo and started the engine.

Ha Jin’s mind completely blanked out hearing Ga Eul’s name. She just hopped on the motorbike and held him tightly, as numerous questions and ominous thoughts started flooding in her mind.

“This is not the way to Ga Eul’s house,” spoke Ha Jin as she noticed Ji Hoo taking a different route.

“She is with Yi Jung in his house.”

Ha Jin did not enquire any further. On the way, Ji Hoo briefly stopped at his grandfather’s clinic, which was fortunately close to Yi Jung’s house, to pick up the medical bag. As they reached, they found the front door open. Ji Hoo ran to the guest room, as he could hear voices coming from there. Ha Jin followed him and the sight that she had on entering the room froze her limbs.

Ga Eul was being held forcibly to the bed by Yi Jung, who was practically straddling her. And she was screaming out for help, struggling to get out of his hold. Her usual comely demeanour was replaced by a disheveled appearance and an unnerving hollow look in her eyes.

“What are you doing to her, Yi Jung?” screamed out Ha Jin and ran to pull him back.

Ji Hoo immediately grabbed her hand and pushed her to the nearby wall.

“She is having her post traumatic stress outburst. Yi Jung is trying to keep her in control and I will attend to her now. Please let us do our job,” muttered Ji Hoo and turned away to approach Ga Eul.

He took out a syringe and filled it with the sedative. Both Yi Jung and Ji Hoo struggled to steady one hand of Ga Eul to inject the sedative, without having the needle accidentally hurt her. Ha Jin registered the need of the current situation and rushed to help them in placating her friend’s agitated form.

It took few more minutes for the effect of the medicine to start, and gradually Ga Eul quietened and fell in a deep sleep. Ji Hoo checked her vitals and then turned towards Yi Jung. He looked completely exhausted, with an expression of shock still holding on his face.

“What happened? Why is she like this?” whimpered Ha Jin as she caressed her friend’s fatigued face.

Ji Hoo placed his hand on Yi Jung’s shoulder and made him sit on the couch beside the bed. He realised that his friend had been through a lot as well, and he needed to get a hold of his frayed nerves too. Yi Jung covered his face and shook his head lightly.

“I did not know how to calm her. She was so disorientated that I thought if I did not hold on to her, she would hurt herself,” mumbled Yi Jung.

“You did nothing wrong. Don’t blame yourself,” stated Ji Hoo with a calm voice, and waited for his friend to continue.

Yi Jung slowly narrated the whole incident to his friend, and how Woo Bin had informed him about her condition just before he saw it with his own eyes. Ji Hoo listened to him patiently, and then turned to Ha Jin.

“Can you tell us something more about this medical condition that Ga Eul has been suffering from?” asked Ji Hoo.

Ha Jin looked at him with a blank expression.

“I have never known anything like that to have happened to her,” she murmured after few moments.

Both Ji Hoo and Yi Jung looked at her with astonishment. But they did not remark anything.

“How long will she be sleeping for?” asked Yi Jung.

“At least 4-5 hours. Due to the exhaustion, she might be sleeping longer. I will drop Ha Jin to her home and come back,” said Ji Hoo.

“I will stay. I can’t leave her like this,” responded Ha Jin with a shaky voice.

Ji Hoo nodded his head and lay back on the couch. All his day’s exhaustion was finally creeping in and he yawned as his head touched the soft backrest. Suddenly he remembered that Ha Jin did not have her meal.

“Would you like something to eat, Ha Jin?”

She shook her head and lay on the bed beside Ga Eul. Nevertheless, Ji Hoo stood up and walked to the kitchen to bring back some cookies and water bottles. He then forced Ha Jin to eat a couple of cookies and settled himself with the rest. In the next 15 minutes, one by one, they fell asleep in their position.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Woo Bin was infuriated with the whole situation in his hand. His men had been tricked and led to a trap by Kim Seok’s men. After their last encounter at the shipyard, Woo Bin’s men had tried to track them, and after following the tips from their informers, they had devised a plan to ca