"What?!!!" The phone almost slipped from her hand. "Hello? Hello?" She tried, her grip on the phone firmer this time. "Hoseok are you there?"

Who is this Hoseok? Another guy? Seokjin wondered after parking. They had just arrived.

"Ugh!" She exclaimed as she hurriedly got out of the truck to find a good spot where there's good reception.

He followed her out. "What's wrong?" But his question was left unanswered when she was able to connect her call again.

"What do you mean he said he's not going through with it?" Her voice raised a little. Not that it concerns other people because there's literally no one else here other than the two of them. "Why? Did something happen?" Her fingers running through her hair. "What do you mean you don't know? I left you in-charge."

The call got cut again. The evidence is obvious in the worried expression all over her face.

"Hey." Seokjin starts. "Is everything okay?"

"No." She answered. "One of my authors is not going through with his scheduled interview."

"Oh. I thought it was something serious."

"It is serious!" She turns to him in disbelief. "It's about my work!"

He didn't say anything and is about to turn around to head to the steps.

She panics. The other seemed dejected. She just remembered that he had failed to become a police officer and before she updated the crafthouse, it was not in a good shape. And he is currently having financial problems because of an injury he had suffered with a small hanok to call home. While she is an accomplished career woman living in her high rise apartment who is financially well off. She didn't have bad intentions when she said that to him, it's just that, she'd always been serious about work. Just when everything was going smoothly. She tried to reach for him. "Wait–" Taking a step towards him, her heel sinks in the gravel and in a split second she was going down.

His bad knee hit the ground as he dove for her, reaching her in time to save her head from hitting the concrete next to the steps. He cradled her against his chest. "I got you. You're okay."

"Thank you, I–" She rubbed her chest.

He can see the darkening of her light brown eyes. "Eri, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

Her face suddenly was pale. "My... heart... it's..." She gasped between each word as she struggled to breathe. "My bag..." She turns to the truck. "My pills are... in my bag."

Seokjin swore under his breath, then cupped her chin in his hand. "Look at me Eri, you're fine." He said. "Just breathe. Inhale. Exhale."

"No, I need my meds." She insisted as she struggled like a fish out of water to get off him.

"Calm down." He tried to keep her in place.

She removed his hand from her chin and pressed his palm to her chest.

Her skin was warm and soft beneath his fingers and reminded him of that night eleven years ago when he'd touch her there.

"See?"

He cast her a glance, worried she'd sense his thoughts. But all he saw in those pair of light brown eyes was fear. There’s no way she could fake the tremors causing her delicate frame to shake in his arms and the faint sheen of perspiration on her pale face on this cold night. He knew it was real. So all this time people thought she was just an overemotional drama queen, all those times she had these episodes as her sister mentioned in the past, hadn't been an act at all.

He slid his hand out from under hers to reach and s t r o k e her face. "I know you're scared but it'll be over soon. I won't let anything happen to you. You're going to be okay."

"No you don't understand. I can't breathe and my hands..."

That's the thing, he did understand. The first few weeks in the hospital after that incident in DMZ, he'd suffer from the same thing. It's called anxiety attack, but Eri thinks she's having the more serious heart attack, or myocardial infarction as she referred to it the night before. Since Eri has been diagnosed with a defective heart, everybody just assumes it's pure chest pain caused by that and no one recognized her symptoms for what they were. Seokjin is angry at himself for not recognizing the signs, and worse, making fun of her along with everyone else and even planned on some payback for something that happened a long time ago.

He didn't want to let her go, but the pain in his leg was getting harder to ignore. He grabbed the edge of the concrete next to the stairs, unable to hold back a groan of pain as he pulled himself up with Eri in his arms.

Eri also tried to get up herself, almost tumbling back down in the process as she still can't feel her hands. "Your leg... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I'm fine." He lied. "Are you?"

Her heart is still beating rapidly and she took a moment to steady herself, but she ends up answering Seokjin's inquiry with a nod.

"Do you still need to take your medicine?" He realized the best thing for her was to do something, not to entertain the thoughts that triggered her anxiety attack.

She didn't answer, and just went straight to the truck and retrieved the white mini bag from the passenger seat. She puts her hand on her chest, trying to check her heart beat again. Her back on Seokjin.

"Don't take it if you don't have to. Or you'll be dependent on it."

She twists to face him. Her cardiologist said the same thing. That she should only take the pills if it's absolutely necessary, meaning only if the chest pain is intense. And she'd been doing just that for the past few years. She had learned how to deal and live with her condition. It's just that, when she does experience pain, she feels more assured if she takes the medicine. Not to mention she is currently here in the middle of nowhere in a small town, hours away from her doctor and the high tech medical facilities in Seoul.

Seokjin noticed her dilemma and tried to make her do something again. "You have the key. Can you open the gates now?" He said as he rubbed his leg.

Eri immediately did as she was asked.

Seokjin and Eri sat opposite each other.

She tried to calm down from her scare earlier and him resting his weak leg.

The silence was broken by the sound of a stomach growling.

He raised his eyes to her. "Did you have anything this afternoon other than that pink drink?"

She gulped. Why does it sound like he was scolding her? "I got too busy."

He wondered if she's always like this even with her work in Seoul. No wonder she weighed light when he held her the night before. "And you didn't take any from earlier? I heard you ordered more than enough food for everyone."

"I gave away all the food to the guys. I never intended to keep any. It was for them to take home to their families waiting for them."

Is she always like this? Seokjin thought. She must've lived alone for a while now that her instinct is to give away the food to those people who have family waiting for them instead of taking it home herself alone. He cleared his throat. "I bought some from the grocery on my way back. I'll go get it."

"Are you sure?" She asked, standing up. "I can go take it myself. You just continue resting."

"Yes I am sure I'm fine. Don't treat me as some disabled because I'm not." His voice unintentionally rose. He bears the pain as he stands up. He really didn't like looking weak, especially in front of her. "I meant, you should be the one resting. Regulate your breathing. Just sit there."

"No, I can't just sit." Her head shakes frantically. "I need to do something."

"All you need to do is settle down. I can take care of dinner."

"Oh, I didn't mean dinner." She said. "I just volunteered to get the grocery since I'm also going outside to make a call. I can't cook very well."

He sighed. "Like I said, I'll take care of dinner. Surely whatever it was at work can wait until after dinner."

"You don't understand. The interview is tomorrow morning. I don't have much time to fix this." She buried her face in her hands. "And being here in this resentful town, I can't do anything."

He didn't speak a word. She had really come to hate this town. "The back of the hanok."

"What?" She looked up to him.

"The back of the hanok is where you can get the best reception. No need to get out of the gates."

She immediately got up.

"At least change to slippers." He added. "The ground at the back is uneven."

When Eri arrived at the back, she realized Seokjin wasn't kidding even a bit when he said the ground was uneven. One literally has to step on big stones surrounded by water to cross to the other side. So this is what he meant when he said there's hot water coming from the spring. And it's not just hot water there, there's a wooden tub full of spring water. She had assumed Seokjin meant a hot shower, she even suggested a custom built hot tub, but this is even better. He didn't need hot water after all. He had all this for free. The steam oozing from it made it look so inviting. If Seokjin had been specific about this tub's existence, she would've made use of it already. Though this doesn't come close to her freestanding bathtub at her place but it'll do. She can definitely take advantage of it.

Ah that's right, I have to make a call.

===

After cooking and taking Jame– her other luggage to the guest