Yena and Chaeyeon kept nagging Yujin to go to trip with them almost everytime. They texted Yujin every 5 minutes or called phone. Every time they talked, that topic always popped out of nowhere. Sometimes, Yuri and Sakura joined in that nagging during their lunch break.

 

After 5 days of nagging, Yujin was now in the school bus which was for trip. When she agreed to follow, all minus Chaewon and Minjoo were shouted like they won the gold medal in the olympic. Yujin was sitting alone in the bus while Chaeyeon and Sakura, Yena and Yuri and Minjoo and Chaewon sat together.Yujin put the eye mask and plugged the earphones, playing her fingers like she was playing the piano.

 

After 3 hours of riding, they arrived their destination. The school rented the penthouses to stay. The teachers assigned the penthouses which students stayed in which. Fortunately, they assigned 7 person per penthouse. After putting their belonging in their respective penthouse, they all came back to the teachers.

 

“After lunch, we will go hiking and at night, there will be campfire and we will play games by groups.” One of the teachers said. Students clapped their hands with excitement.

 

“Now take a rest and have lunch. After that, change into something that will be comfortable to you. Dismiss” the teacher said again.

 

After their lunch, students came back to the determined place.

 

“Ok. Don’t go anywhere without being known. If something happens, notice to teachers immediately. Don’t do stupid things to the others. The villagers told me that at night there are some drunk people so please take care of yourself. Take care of each other. Help each other. We want you all to have bonding time in this trip. And also network service is not that good in here, that’s why you all have to keep an eye on each other, ok?  So, is everyone here now? If yes, let’s start our hiking.”

 

Yujin tied her half hair with a scarf. Long Sleeve shirt coated with jacket and long pants. Hiking was difficult for most of the students because it was a rough route to walk and energy consuming. You could feel the strange things like bugs, damps and so on. Sometimes, they had to make a way and clean trees for walking.

 

“It was so tired” Sakura said with a tired tone.

 

“Fighting. In an hour, we will be back to our place.” Chaeyeon patted Sakura’s shoulder.

 

Chaewon gave water bottle to Minjoo who was sweating a lot.

 

“Thank you” Minjoo said while taking a water bottle.

 

“But it was fun. We can experience new things.” Yena said.

 

They all came back to their place when the sun was set with tiredness but they found their bond became stronge in this hiking. They helped each other. They protected each other.

 

“Thank you for listening to all our instruction. Now take a bath and prepare for dinner and camp fire.”

 

The students returned to their penthouses.

 

Sakura sat on the chair when they were back to their room.

 

“My whole body became sore.” She hit her shoulder lightly.

 

“Take a warm bath and you will be fresh after that.” Chaeyeon recommended.

 

“I got a cut in my hand” Yuri pouted her lips.

 

“Here is the medicine. Put it on” Yena gave alcohol pad to Yuri.

 

“Are you ok, Minjoo?” Chaewon asked.

 

“Yeah” Minjoo smiled.

 

Yujin took off her jacket and wiped her sweat. “If you all don’t use bathroom, I will take a bath first”

 

“Ok kid” Yena replied.

 

 After Yujin came out, they took a bath one by one. All the students start lighting their own campfire. They split the teams and played games like jumping rope, chicken leg fight, pass the message by drawing, guess the songs by dancing without speaking. At first, Yujin didn’t participate in any games. But other dragged her to play games so she joined in the games.

 

Minjoo found out another fact of Yujin in these games. Yujin was very competitive. She wanted to win every time. If she lost, she whined like a puppy. Minjoo phone was ringing in the middle of the game.

 

“I’m going to take the phone” Minjoo whispered to Sakura. Sakura nodded her head. Minjoo was disappearing from the sight. After putting out the campfire, they returned to their room.

 

“It is good to be here with us than staying at home alone, right?” Yuri asked Yujin.

 

Yujin slowly nodded her head. “Yeah”

 

Yena wrapped her arms to Yujin’s neck. “Say thank you to all of us and treat lunch to all”

 

Chaeyeon joined in and the three of them fall down to floor which was covered with blankets. Yuri and Sakura also joined in the war. Yujin was under them.

 

“Yahhhh….I can’t breath. Get up all of you.” Yujin shouted.

 

“No. Say you will treat lunch to us” Sakura said.

 

While the other were playing and teasing Yujin, Chaewon was looking for Minjoo.

 

“Guys, where is Minjoo?” Chaewon asked.

 

When they heard Chaewon’s word, all stopped playing.

 

“She said she was talking with her mom on phone” Sakura said. “But why does she take long?” Sakura said while thinking. “I think it’s been an hour and a half???”

 

The rest of the people started worrying to Minjoo.

 

“I think we should search her” Yujin broke the silence.

 

“Let’s tell teacher about Minjoo” Yuri said.

 

“No. Let’s search ourselves first. It’s not good to make teachers to get worried.” Chaeyeon said.

 

“Let’s go find her now” Yena said and all were going outside.

 

“Don’t go far. If you find Minjoo, call Ok!” Chaeyeon said and all nodded.

 

“I will go this way.” Yujin run to the right side. All parted their ways to search Minjoo, shouting her name except Yujin. Yujin was searching very carefully not to miss the tiny place. The weather was getting colder as winter entered. And she noticed that Minjoo, only wearing the sweater. Suddenly she remembered the teacher’s warning that the network was bad in this area. So she took out her phone and checked the connection. There was no signal. She searched Minjoo while checking the signal. After a while, the signal became good. Yujin checked the surrounding.

 

 

 

After 30 minutes, Yujin could breath when she saw the petite girl who was sitting beside the rock. Yujin walked slowly to her.

 

“Hey. What are you doing here?” Yujin asked softly.

 

Minjoo looked up when she heard the familiar voice.

 

“Yujin” said with a teary tone.

 

Yujin saw the blood,  coming out from Minjoo’s knee. Yujin took off her jacket and put it on to Minjoo who was shivering.

 

“What’s happening?” Yujin sat in front of Minjoo.

 

“I was talking with my mom but the connection was not good. So I walked to get a better signal and I noticed that I was far away from my place. I lost the path and heard some animals’ howling. I got scared and slipped over the rock.” Minjoo said as a tear rolled down on her cheek.

 

“Shhhh….It’s ok now. I’m here.Don’t cry” Yujin wiped the tear.

 

Minjoo looked at Yujin and they shared the stare. Minjoo felt warmth in the stare. Yujin took off the scarf which she tied her hair, to tie Minjoo’s knee to stop the blood coming out. Minjoo looked carefully at every action. Yujin was so soft and also Minjoo’s heart was soft and beat loudly.

 

“Can you walk” Yujin looked at Minjoo.

 

“I will try” Minjoo tried to stand up but couldn’t.

 

Yujin faced her back to Minjoo and patted her back. “Hop on”

 

Minjoo was surprised. “No. I’m heavy. I will try to walk by myself”

 

“You can’t walk in this condition and it will also take too much time. Hop on. I’m strong enough to carry you. You will not drop down” Yujin joked.

 

Minjoo smiled at Yujin’s word and she hopped on to Yujin’s back.

 

“You can wrap your arms around my neck”

 

Minjoo started wrapping her arms. Yujin’s back was comfortable and it was so warm. Their return was silent but this time was a comfortable silence. In the middle of the journey, Yujin remembered to make a phone call to the others. But she shrugged it off, she couldn’t make a call in this position anyway. Suddenly two middle aged men appeared in front of them. Yujin and Minjoo could smell alcohol from them.

 

“What are you doing here this late? Do you want to have fun with us” one of the men said with a smirk.

 

Minjoo tightened her grip on Yujin’s clothes and Yujin sensed it. Yujin didn’t talk and just passed them. The other men pulled Yujin. Yujin balanced herself not to fall and made sure Minjoo was fine. Yujin glanced at the men. The men was smirking and drinking their alcohol which were in their hands. Yujin took a deep breath.

 

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. But now please stand behind me. Ok?” Yujin whispered softly to Minjoo.

 

Yujin put down Minjoo slowly. Yujin sent the deadly glare to those men.

 

“This one is feisty.” The men was laughing.

 

“I like her” Second man put a hand on Yujin’s shoulder.

 

Yujin looked at his hand and pulled his hand hard.

 

“Arrrrrrr…… this one is also strong. Let’s not mess with this one.”

 

“Let’s start with the girl behind her” First man pulled Minjoo.

 

Yujin pushed hard first man also. It became a mess between two men and Yujin.

 

“Aish…she made it hard for us” first man gluped the alcohol and aimed to hit Yujin with alcohol bottle.

 

Minjoo covered her eyes, not dare to look at what was going to happen. She heard glasses shattering sounds. When she opened her eyes, she saw Yujin was covering her with her whole body and covered the bottle with her right hand.

 

“You ok?” Yujin checked Minjoo. Minjoo nodded her head.

 

Yujin became angry and started punching to first man. She might be a girl but her strenghth was not a joke. Second man pulled Yujin but she pushed him and punched first man again. Some villagers came into the scene and pulled the drunk men from the girls.

 

“Aigoo….these drunk men make a problem again” the villagers said in whisper.

 

“Kids, are you ok?” the villager asked Yujin and Minjoo.

 

“Yes” Yujin nodded her head.

 

Yujin put Minjoo on her back again and returned to their penthouse.

 

 

 

 

All were worried for Yujin and Minjoo.

 

“Why didn’t Yujin call us?” Sakura said while biting her lips.

 

“What if she also got lost?” Yena said in panic mood.

 

“Let’s go tell our teacher. It’s been 2 hours.” Yuri suggested.

 

“They are coming back” Chaeyeon shouted while looking at the window.

 

They all ran to the two girls. They were afraid because the two girls looked exhausted and Yujin was piggybacking to Minjoo.

 

“What’s happening to you two?” Yena asked.

 

“Just lead us to the room” Yujin said.

 

They all made the way for Yujin and Yujin put Minjoo on the chair.

 

“What’s wrong with your knee? Did you get hurt?” Chaewon asked to Minjoo.

 

“She got hurt. Put a medicine for her” Yujin answered.

 

“Why don’t you call us? We were worried.” Chaeyeon said.

 

“I forgot and when I remembered, the signal was gone” Yujin said while drinking water.

 

“Thanks god that you two didn’t seriously happen anything” Chaewon said while putting medicine on Minjoo’s wound.

 

“You really made us worried” Yena punched Yujin’s right hand. Yujin a liitle bit flinched.

 

“Yaaa…did you also get hurt?” Yena checked Yujin’s body.

 

“Just a scratch. I’ll put medicine.” Yujin said to Yena.

 

“Where did you get that scratch?” Chaeyeon started searching to Yujin.

 

“Don’t tell me it was on your right hand?” Yena pulled Yujin’s sleeves and found blood was coming out.

 

“Yaaa…An Yujin. Why didn’t you tell us in the first place? And it was not only a scratch.” Yena and Chaeyeon dragged Yujin to the basin to clean the wound.

 

“Your hands are really important to you, especially your right hand. You need to be careful.” Yena and Chaeyeon scolded Yujin like parents.

 

“Let’s go to hospital and do x-ray and scan your hand” Chaeyeon suggested.

 

“Yeah. That’s a great idea” Yena agreed.

 

“Don’t make things get bigger” Yujin scoffed.

 

They returned back and put the medicine. The rest of the girls gasped when they saw Yujin’s fresh wound and also the scar. Minjoo covered when she saw Yujin’s right hand. Her puzzle became settled after seeing Yujin’s scar why she always wore the long sleeve all the time. Nobody dare to make a question about Yujin’s scar.

 

“Now go change your clothes.” Chaeyeon said after putting medicine.

 

“Yes Mommy” Yujin chuckled and went to her bag to change clothes.

 

“Is Yujin Ok?” Sakura asked with shocked face.

 

“Why her hand has…..” Yuri looked at Yujin who was changing her clothes.

 

Chaeyeon and Yena could only smile. Yujin returned to them.

 

“Let’s sleep. It’s already midnight. You all are tired from hiking” Yujin said.

 

“Yeah” all said in unison. They all made their place to sleep.

 

Minjoo woke up in the middle of the night. She looked at her phone and it was 3:30 am. She looked around and found Yujin was not there. She searched Yujin and didn’t find in the house. She went outside and searched and found Yujin, sitting on the bench. Minjoo walked slowly towards Yujin.

 

“Hey.” Minjoo whispered.

 

Yujin turned around and found Minjoo. “Why don’t you sleep?” Yujin asked.

 

“I woke up. How about you?” Minjoo sat beside Yujin.

 

“I can’t sleep” Yujin looked at the front.

 

“Does it hurt” Minjoo looked at Yujin’s right hand which is beside her.

 

Yujin looked at Minjoo who was looking at her hand. “It’s ok” Yujin shrugged her shoulder.

 

“You must be really hurt” Minjoo couldn’t take off her eyes from Yujin’s hand.

 

“What do you mean?” Yujin asked.

 

“The scar” Minjoo looked at Yujin.

 

“May be”

 

“Thank you for helping me in today incident. If you don’t come, I don’t know what will happen to me now”

 

“What are friends for”

 

“So now I’m your friend. Not a stranger” Minjoo teased.

 

Yujin put her hand to her chin and thought.”Hmmm….Not a stranger but also not a friend”

 

“Yahh… you said what are friends for and now you are not a friend. Are you kidding me An Yujin”

 

Minjoo slapped Yujin’s shoulder but lightly. Yujin smiled more like a laugh. Her dimples indent in her cheeks as she continues to laugh. Minjoo was staring carefully to Yujin’s laugh. It was rare to see Yujin’s dimple. But she could call herself that she was lucky eought to see Yujin’s dimple for a second time. Her crazy heartbeats and Yujin’s laugh became one as a melody for Minjoo. She noted herself that she will make sure to create more jokes for Yujin to smile. And she found many hidden things about Yujin today. But one thing she could not define today was her unknown feeling inside her chest whenever she was near Yujin, when she saw Yujin’s smile, when Yujin was kind to her, when Yujin talked to her.

 

“There are many stars in the sky” Yujin looked up and watched the sky.

 

But Minjoo could only look at Yujin’s side profile.     

 

........................................................................................................TBC.....................................................................................................................

 

Hope you like it :)