Yunho

            Lost.  Yunho couldn’t believe he was lost in a blizzard with an idiot of a girl who just had to play outside in the snow.  He turned to look at the girl who was the cause of all this mess.  She was clutching one of his hands tightly with one hand and had the other one tucked inside the pocket of her thin jacket.  She had to be freezing cold by now.  Well, he wasn’t much better.  He had not planned to go outside, so he only had on a light jacket as well.  Yunho shook his head.  How had he even considered that Shandi told the truth when she said she was a registered nurse?  Clearly, she was much too young and immature for that.  She huddled closer to him as they walked and he sighed.  It was no use getting mad at her right now.  They needed to find shelter and wait this blizzard out. 

            Unfortunately, he had no idea what direction they were going.  He had thought at first that they were going back towards the lodge; but, the more they walked, the more apparent it became that they were going in circles (or at least away from the lodge).  Yunho stopped.  This wasn’t working.  But what else could they do?  He needed to find shelter.  He sighed; they would just have to keep going until they came across something that would work.  He peered into the darkness.  Even if it weren’t so dark, he wouldn’t have been able to see anything farther than a few feet away due to the wind and snow.  He sighed again and tugged on Shandi’s hand.  They started walking again.  Every so often a tree would pop up directly in front of them, forcing them to move off their intended path.  It was getting darker every minute and Yunho was already feeling the effects of the cold.  How were they going to find shelter in time? 

            Yunho’s foot hit a slippery patch of ice under the snow and he slipped.  He let go of Shandi’s hand as he fell.  He didn’t want to drag her down, too.  Then, he heard/felt the ice break under him.  For a moment, he expected to feel the icy cold of the water as the ice broke underneath him.  But, as he scrambled away from the patch of ice he realized something: the ice had broken away, but not under him.  He turned just in time to see Shandi’s hand slip under the water.  She had fallen in.

            Of course, Shandi screamed when she fell.  So, of course she swallowed a load of the freezing water.  Why couldn’t she have been smart and closed when she fell?  At least she managed to not breath in any water.  That would have been way worse.  Jeez, the water was cold.  She had only been under for a couple of seconds and she was already numb.  That wasn’t good.  She only had a few more seconds to get out before she froze to death.  She kicked and her foot hit the muddy bottom.  Apparently, the lake wasn’t that deep at this part.  That was good.  That meant she might have a chance.  She pushed and felt her hands collide with the smooth underside of the ice.  Oh no!  She slid her hands around.  She couldn’t find the hole!  What was she going to do?  How was she-?

            A hand grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the hole.  So, she hadn’t been too far away from it.  She could have found it, eventually.  She coughed up all the water she had swallowed and gasped for breath.  The water seemed warm compared to the chill of the wind.  Shandi almost wished she were back in the water.  Almost.

            As she coughed, Yunho patted her back.  She hacked until she felt like she had coughed up her lungs.  Well, at least she got all the water out.  She hoped.  She did not want to think about the number of bacteria that were probably growing in her lungs and stomach right now from the lake water.  Stupid ice.  Why did it have to break?  For the moment, though, her bacteria problem was going to have to wait.  Her chances of getting a fatal infection shrunk dramatically if she died from hypothermia. 

            She felt Yunho put his jacket around her (which, by the way, she would have enjoyed immensely any other time) and help her up.  Her legs were so cold they weren’t working quite right.  They started forward, but she couldn’t take more than a few steps.  She was starting to lose motor control.  That was a really bad sign.  Yunho steadied her and then knelt in front of her, letting her fall onto his back.  She felt a little giddy in spite of her trepidations and the cold.  She was getting a piggyback ride from Yunho!  She tried to thank him, but her words came out as more of a whimper than anything else.  Well, so much for making it out of this in decent shape.

            Shandi felt herself going to sleep and shook her head to wake herself up.  She couldn’t go to sleep.  She definitely wouldn’t make it if she fell asleep.  She noticed a dark shape looming before them and tried to get Yunho’s attention by tapping him on the arm, but she couldn’t make her arm move that much.  That was just great.  Not only was she wet, cold and sleepy, but now, she couldn’t move.  She was going to have to rely completely on Yunho.  Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. 

Apparently, Yunho had seen the dark shape.  It was a log cabin.  Shelter!  They were saved!  Yunho had a hard time getting the door open while carrying her, but he managed it.  He shut the door and set her on the floor near the fireplace.  There wasn’t much light, but he somehow managed to bolt the door and build a fire with the flint and steel that was on top of a pile of firewood.  There was also a blanket.  That wasn’t going to do them that much good, though.  They were both soaked to the skin and their clothes were stealing what little body heat they had left.  Shandi was barely able to keep her eyes open, but she still felt a lot of embarrassment at what she knew they were going to have to do to survive.  If she hadn’t been so cold, she would have been blushing.  That was one good thing about the cold.  Yunho looked at her.

            “We’re going to have to share body heat.  It’s the only way.”  He looked rather embarrassed, too.  “I’m sorry.”  If there were only a way for her to die right now, she would have gladly accepted her fate.  There were a lot of things she would love to do with Yunho, but this was not one of them.             

            “I’ll turn around until you’re under the blanket.”  He set the blanket on the floor next to her and turned his back to her.  This was just great.  She tried to take off her jackets; she really did.  It was just that her hands and arms weren’t cooperating. 

            “Umm…Yunho?”  That came out as a whisper.  Thankfully, he heard her and turned back around.

            “What?  If you don’t take those wet clothes off, you’ll die.”

            “I…I can’t.”

            “You have to.”

            “No.  I mean…I…can’t…” Her tongue wouldn’t form the words she needed.  So, she tried to take her jacket off again. 

            “Oh.  You literally can’t.”  He sighed.  Well, she wasn’t enjoying this, either.  Why did he have to be so put out?  She was the one who had to have help getting undressed.  He took off her jackets and spread them out on the woodpile to dry.  She closed her eyes as he undressed her.  This was the worst day ever.  She finally got to meet Yunho, and now he was seeing far more of her than she had ever wanted to show anyone but her husband.  She wished she could just pass out or die or something.  Maybe she would find out where the expression ‘to die of embarrassment’ came from.  Shandi opened her eyes as Yunho wrapped her in the blanket.  At least, that part was over. 

            “Close your eyes again.”

            She obeyed with a sigh.  She heard him taking his clothes off.  As embarrassed as she was, she was actually tempted to look.  Just a little. 

            If she had been able to jump in her condition, she would have.  Yunho had just climbed in the blanket with her.  He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back, trying to warm her up.  As cold as he had to have been, he felt warm to her.  She had a feeling this was going to be the longest night of her life.