It’s lunch time in the kindergarten, and the teacher entrusts us to play with the kids as she prepares the food. I still don’t understand how she could usually handle all of this alone. Sehun is still visibly awkward with the children, and I sympathetically look at him. “You’re good?” I ask.

          “Yeah, I’m fine.” he quickly responds, and a kid steps on his leg not long after. He closes his eyes, and I hold my laughter.

          “Try to make a group and play with toys.” I suggest.

          Sehun nods, and looks around for some property. He decides on a pile of dismantled puzzle and tries to gather some kids, but fails. I attempt not to laugh, and thankfully food is ready so we collect the kids to sit on their little dining tables.

          The kids are fortunately eating very well by themselves, and when they’re done we’re in charge of cleaning up while the teacher takes the children to brush their teeth. The narrow space to the kitchen makes us bump into each other a lot, and I instantly look down to the floor when it happens. In a glance there’s not much height difference between Sehun and I, but when we’re being this close, it feels like he’s towering over me.

          We walk home in the evening, and at one point his hand brushes over mine. I’m reminded of what happened this morning. He didn’t want to hold hands that much? Is he allergic to skinship? I quietly shake my head. It’s not like I wanted to hold his hand, I was just… I mean, couldn’t he do that much?

          I just thought he gave off the feeling that he didn’t like me that much since the briefing, Or am I just being unnecessarily irrational?

          We’re invited to have dinner at the village chief’s house, and his wife prepares so many plates of side dishes, most of them we haven’t even heard of. They are cooked using this village’s specialty, and he looks pleased to see us fascinated.

          “I would love to let you live here but there’s no empty room. Your seniors last year rented a house but now the house is occupied. Eat a lot! Especially the boys, since you live at Yong’s house…” the chief shrugs. “So, I actually want to ask you all for a help. We’re having a harvest festival this weekend, just a small celebration for the people in this village… We would like you to be the organizers. Kids from Seoul are usually creative, we want something different for this event. What do you think?”

          We glance at each other, and Jinho raises his eyebrows. “Sure, Sir.”

          After dinner we move to the living room for fruits, and discuss with the chief on his cool wooden flooring of his house. It’s going to be held in the village hall three days from now, and we start pitching ideas. We decide on an outdoor concept with food stalls, small stage for entertainment and pretty decorations. We think it would match the surroundings well.

          “Then we should separate the responsibilities…” the chief looks at us one by one. “Miss Yumi, can you handle the food? Jinho, you look like you’re good at communicating… I’ll put you in event and invitations. We need more people in logistics, so Miss Nana and Sehun?”

          Me with him again? Jinho claps once, reminded of something. “Oh, weren’t you in logistics for the last campus festival, Nana?”

          I nod, and the chief looks satisfied. “I have a good eye for people. Alright, we’ll leave it to you guys.”

          The next day, Sehun and I get the turn to visit some villagers’ shops in the market, and we look for vendors for the festival in the same time. My main concern is the decorations, and the market doesn’t have it but a tenant knows a shop in the town. I contact the shop, and they have everything we need.

          “Is it near the train station?” Sehun asks, and I nod. “I still remember the way, I’ll pick the stuff up later.”

          “Oh, really? Nice.” I say. “I’ll take care of the tents, then help me putting up the flags and flowers later.”

          “Alright.” he easily agrees. Oh, he’s quite cooperative.

          For the next days we’re focused on the festival, and the day comes. The tents for food, stage, and other properties have been already set up since break of dawn so what’s left is the flags and flowers. Sehun is going to the town driving Uncle Yong’s red pickup, and the rest of us go on to prepare with some other residents.

          More than two hours pass, and I uneasily glance a few times at the street. No sight of the red pickup. Sehun isn’t lost, right? It took more or less an hour to go to the town, and he just needed to take what we ordered… He should be back quickly. The event is going to start in a couple of hours, and actually the venue is ready, but it looks too empty. I promised the chief some added value in visual, I can’t disappoint him…

          I try to call Sehun, and he doesn’t pick up. It’s not wise to call a driving person, anyway. Let’s just wait.

          A few moments later, a resident informs me that someone is looking for me, and I walk to the gate. There stands a tall, slim man wearing a half shell helmet, bearing a huge bag on his hands.

          “Are you Miss Shin Nana?” the skinny man asks.

          “Yes—why?”

          “I’m delivering this from the town, the man who visited said to give the stuff to you.”

          I furrow my brows. “A man? Is he wearing brown jacket and jeans?”

          “Yes.”

          “Where is he now?”

          “I don’t know. He left in a hurry.”

          “Wait—he didn’t say anything else?”

          The man shakes his head. My mouth parts a bit. What? He hands me the receipt and bag, then leaves with his motorbike. I’m blankly looking at the road, and pull out my phone. I try to dial Sehun’s number, but it’s not active now. I look around, flustered. Where is he? What is he doing?

          I see Jinho on the stage doing sound check, and sends signal to him to come closer. “Sehun disappeared.”

          He looks as confused as me. I explain what just happened, and he takes out his phone. “I tried. It’s inactive.” I say irritably.

          “Well... We should keep going. Let’s contact him later when we’re a bit free… Is it for the decorations?” he points to the bag on my hand.

          “Yeah. I’ll get some people to help me.” I walk past the food tents to start working starting from the stage, and Yumi excitedly hops towards me seeing the colorful flags. “Oh, are you going to hang these? Where’s Sehun?”

          His name starts to sound annoying to me, and I try to speak normally. “I don’t know.”

          “What?”

          I tell her what happened, and her reaction is expected. “What are we going to do?”

          “Just continue. If the chief asks for him, let’s try to cover it up.” I say. “I’ll go finish this up.”

          I collect some young men around to help me, but they don’t know to do the proper knots. I impatiently go up the ladder myself, and ask them to just guard and hand me the stuff from below.

          I start to arrange the flags, but there’s a storm inside my mind. Where in the world is Sehun? Why did he ask someone else to deliver this?

          No way, is he… What if he ran away to play and drink? Is he meeting his friends from nearby villages in the town?

          I pull the nylon string too hard from the tree, and it snaps on my right hand, between my thumb and index finger. I flinch, and vacantly watch as red blood emerges from short scratches on the skin.

          “Miss! Are you okay?” someone shouts from the bottom of the ladder, and for a second I feel dizzy. I walk down, and cover my injured hand. “Excuse me for a second.”

          I run to the toilet, and let water run down the wound. I grit my teeth as stinging pain makes my hand numb, and I turn off the tap. I have a list of problems and a bloody hand shouldn’t extend that. I press a few sheets of tissue over my hand and walk outside, and spots Yumi on the food tent. I try to avoid being seen by the other aunties there, and approaches Yumi stealthily. “Yumi—do you know where the first aid kit is?”

          Her face turns panicked for a second, and scans me quickly. “Why—what happened to your hand?!”

          “Just—the first aid kit, please.” I mutter. Yumi takes me to a room in the hall, and pulls out a box. She tends to my wound, and my hand gets cold and trembles in the process. I close my eyes and rub my face with my fine hand. How troublesome.

          “No word from Sehun?” Yumi asks slowly.

          My blood boils again, and I shake my head. She sighs, and puts bandage around my hand. This is going to hinder my movements. Okay. Let’s clear my head. I have a lot of other residents outside to help me. I don’t need Sehun.

          But… How can he do this to us? Is he serious? What is going to be the reason?

          We go outside, and I give instructions to the young men from before to finish the decorations. I need to be extra strict, but finally it’s all hanged perfectly just a few moments before guests start arriving.

          I thought I could rest a bit, but the food tents need more help to serve and there are some sound problems so I could barely sit throughout the event.

          The festival ends, and we start to tidy up after the guests left. The chief comes to us with a big smile on his face. “Good job today, kids! The people are very happy! Why are there only three of you, by the way?”

          “One’s going somewhere for a bit.” I instantly answer, and my throat feels dry. The chief leaves, and Yumi and Jinho looks at me worriedly.

          “Nana, you should come home first. You worked the hardest.” Yumi says, and Jinho nods. “Do you want me to take you home?”

          “Can I? No, Jinho, you don’t have to. Then, I’ll leave first.”

          I walk away from the village hall, and go under the darkening sky alone. I touch my neck, clear my throat repeatedly, but it still doesn’t feel right. I heave a deep breath, and realize this is what I usually feel before a flu. I stomp the ground as I walk, my eyes gradually feel heavier.

          One more turn until Grandma’s house… The roads seem to be completely empty, but as I walk more, I realize there’s someone nearby, walking to the opposite direction.

          There he is. Oh Sehun. He’s currently on the intersection to Grandma’s house, on his outfit from this morning. His face is lit by the yellow streetlights, and his face is unreadable for me. He has dark, drooped eyes, and he’s looking at me hesitantly. He walks to my direction, and I almost take a step back.

          “Nana—”

          I raise a hand to my shoulder level to stop him, and look down. I feel like I would explode if I talk to him. I realize I’m holding up my bandaged hand—I might look like I’m showing it off. I let it down quickly, and try to see Sehun’s face but I can’t. “I’m sorry. I’m really tired. Can we talk tomorrow?”

          I walk past him, and he doesn’t say anything. I hear fast footsteps from behind, it might be Yumi and Jinho. I walk as speedy as possible towards the dark road, and my breath gets quicker. I don’t really want to see him today.