When Taeyeon came back to the clinic, she wasn't surprised to see the bed empty at all.

She had left the clinic to go home to pack her things, but she came back to the clinic because she thought that he still needed her. But apparently she was mistaken. She knew that a guy like him would leave without saying a word, why is she even expecting this time to be different?

"Right, let's focus on myself," she mumbled to herself. "Now that he left, I should leave too before they find me here."

She glanced over the room one last time before heading for the door.

She is going to miss this place. Working and learning from her uncle had been a great experience, it brought her a lot of joy saving people's lives as well. Too bad she couldn’t bring along the herbs she collected yesterday, her baggage has already reached its limits. 

As she opened the door, she was met with two tall men blocking the door.

Slamming the door in their face, she quickly ran to the cooking area and escaped through the tiny window when she heard them walking into the clinic. Luckily she is small enough to fit through the window.

"Why can't they just leave me alone?" she whined as she landed on the ground and didn't waste any more time to make a run for it. She ran as fast as her legs could bring her, reaching a street of vendors, she pushed her way through the crowd.

The sounds of the men chasing her ceased as she ran through the crowd at a reckless speed.

Yes! They must be gone. I can't hear them chasing after me anymore.

Suddenly, she felt a hand latching onto her arm and pulling her behind a stack of straws. She gasped when she saw Baekhyun, but he immediately clasped his hand onto to keep her quiet.

Gently placing his hand on the crown of her head, he pushed her down with him to keep them completely hidden.

She grew completely still and held her breath, feeling flustered by their close proximity. He still had his hand on her head and his elbow rested on her right shoulder. Sneaking a glance at him, Baekhyun seems focused on spying through the gaps between the straws, that he didn’t know that his hand is still pressed on her head.

He looked pretty manly doing that.

Omo Kim Taeyeon, what are you thinking?

"What?" Baekhyun mouthed at her and she shook her head at him in response. He raised an eyebrow at her before returning his attention to spying through the gap. Taeyeon blushed and found herself a gap to peek through the gap herself, waiting for the men to show up.

After a short while, they watched as the men ran past their hiding place without stopping to look down the narrow alley. Baekhyun finally let go of her when he made sure that the coast was clear.

"Hyun? What are you still doing here?" she asked him as he stood up to brush the dust of his clothes. "You didn't walk far, did you?"

He simply smirked and showed her the food in his hand. "Your food tasted horrible. So I went out and bought some."

She frowned at that insult. "I thought you left, for good."

Baekhyun shook his head in response and grabbed her hand to lead her out of their hiding place. Taeyeon looked down at their hands, feeling slightly flustered from how warm his hand is against her skin.

This man is making her feel all kinds of things and she wasn’t sure if she likes it.

"I think you should move before they find you again," he said, pulling her along with him as they slowly blended in with the crowd walking on the street. He then let go of her hand once they blended among the other common folks.

"I was about to," she said, showing him her bag. "But they were quick, I have already packed my things and I thought I still had time to go back to the clinic to say my last goodbyes."

Baekhyun nodded, slipping a mini bun into his mouth.

"I hope they didn't hurt anyone when they were asking around for information about me," she sighed and glanced at the food in his hands. "Are you going to share that or do I have to snatch it from you?"

Baekhyun switched the food to his other hand and let her take one. She grinned and grabbed it from his hand, immediately biting into it.

"This is good, you bought it from the kid that has a scar on his left cheek, right?"

"How did you know?"

He was genuinely surprised that she could tell who he bought it from just from one bite. She smiled proudly and took another bite from her bun. "I know all the good food around here. If I am currently not running away for my life, I would give you a food tour around the village."

Taeyeon's grin grew wider when she heard Baekhyun let out a small chuckle before quickly clearing his throat to hide the fact that he just laughed at her joke.

"I know a place that makes these really delicious soup noodles. Let's go there and eat," she suggested.

"No. Why should I eat with you?"

"Because it's our last meal together," she pouted and grabbed his hand, swinging his arm left and right, trying to persuade him to eat with her. "My treat."

He pulled back his arm, crossed his arms in front of his chest and said, "I am going back home now, a warm meal will be waiting for me when I go back. So I don't need you to treat me."

She scoffed and placed her hands on her hips. "Wow. I saved your life, fed you and helped you to find your bracelet and you are not even going to have one last meal with me?"

"Isn't that your job as a physician? Oh wait, you aren't a licensed physician," he said, almost mockingly as a devilish smirk spread across his lips. "You are just an apprentice."

"Fine then, pay me," Taeyeon reached out her hand to him.

Baekhyun shoved his hand into his pockets and was about to hand her a few silver coins when she laughed.

"I need more than that. Make it twice," she held out two fingers. Baekhyun frowned, he could tell by the mischievous glint in her eyes that she was enjoying this. "So, what do you say? Lunch?"

They sat down at the corner of the stall of the noodle place. Baekhyun didn't expect it to look so shabby, he thought she would bring him to a restaurant at least. Having eaten palace food his whole life, he wasn't sure if he should be eating anything from this place.

Taeyeon finished up her noodles pretty quickly and decided to order a second bowl. Baekhyun just stared at her, judging her food intake silently as he slowly enjoyed his food.

The noodles here were surprisingly delicious despite its environment.

"Is it appropriate for you to eat that much in the middle of running for your life?" he asked as he put down his spoon and grabbed a clean white cloth from his bag to wipe his mouth clean.

Taeyeon blinked at him and looked down at her empty bowl. "I need energy to run," she pursed her lips in thought. "Besides, I have you."

He frowned and said, "I am leaving after this meal. You are by yourself."

"Where do you live? Can't I... accompany you there?"

Baekhyun's frown grew deeper when he just realised something. "Wait, you are hiding from those men but you don't have anywhere to run to?"

Taeyeon smiled sheepishly at him and replied, "Yeah. I didn't think that they would find me here... That's why I am asking if I can tag along?"

He heaved a heavy sigh and replied, "You wouldn't want to. Where I am going, is dangerous."

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and asked, "Much more dangerous than here?"

"Yes. The people there are dangerous."

"Then why are you going back there even though you know it's dangerous?"

"Because I have nowhere else to go."

"Why don't you just come with me and we can run away together?" she asked. Baekhyun looked up at her, surprised by that suggestion. Taeyeon was surprised with herself as well.

What the heck was she thinking? They only met yesterday and she is already ready to move in with him?

That was embarrassing.

She was about to explain herself when he suddenly grabbed her hand from across the table. Taeyeon got flustered and tried to pull back her hand, but he tightened his grip and shushed her.

Baekhyun noticed three men spying on them. One of them was pretending to look at women accessories from a jewellery stall, while the other two were pretending to look at the lanterns nearby. Those three men looked so out of place because of their uniform and it hurts Baekhyun's eyes to see them so painfully obvious on their spying mission.

"Let's leave."

"What? I am not done yet."

He looked her directly in the eyes and whispered, "Don't look, but they found you. We have to leave now."

Taeyeon widened her eyes and started to panic, but she calmed down when she felt his hand circling around her hand and pulling her along with him. Quickly dropping off a few coins on the table to pay for their meal, they left the stall and acted as casual as possible.

"Where are we going?" she whispered to him.

"The forest."

"But there will be no witnesses there."

"Exactly, no one else will get hurt."

"Okay, I will just follow you."

She complied with him and let him lead the way. As they walked down the street and pushed their way through the crowd, Taeyeon glanced back at the men who were following them and saw that they aren’t even bothering to hide the fact that they are following them anymore.

"They are catching up,” she told him.

Baekhyun quickened his pace and pulled her to the front to make sure that she was walking beside him. Her heart started to race as she gazed over at him.

Grabbing girls' hands must be a norm for him. To see him this unbothered, she wondered if he was popular with the ladies back at home. She shook her head slightly to remove those thoughts from her mind.

Glancing over her shoulder one more time, she spotted the men slowly catching up with them from behind.

Seeing them reminded her of the main reason she ran away from home. If she was captured, she would be locked away at home and only let out of the house on the day of her arranged marriage.

And she doesn’t want to go back to that.

“Wait, those three men are different from the ones that were at the clinic.”

“Are you sure?”

"Yes. I am sure of it,” she said and glanced over her shoulder quickly to take one more look at one of the men. “These guys look a lot stronger and taller.”

They turned to the right and continued walking forward, away from the crowd. She glanced at him, wondering what his plan was for going into a secluded place. And before she realised it, they stopped when they reached a narrow street between the houses.

“Why did we stop? Let’s go before they catch up!” she pulled his hand, wanting him to continue running with her.

“No,” he pulled back his hand and grabbed her wrist instead to pull her into a small corner. “Those men are after me, not you.”

“Yeah, that’s why we have to leave, now!”

“No. We have to go our separate ways from here,” he told her, pressing on her head to make her squat down. “You will hide here until those men run past you.”

 He was about to turn away to leave when he felt her tugging on the hem of his sleeve.

“What? No, it isn’t safe.”

“Kim Taeyeon-ssi," he said, pulling away his sleeve out from her grasp before squatting down in front of her. "I can protect myself. Just leave this village now before it's too late,” he reassured, placing his hands on her shoulders.

Time was running out and Taeyeon knew that they both would get caught if she continued to stall. “Okay. I will. Stay safe.”

He gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze and stood back up. Like a breeze, he dashed out of there and ran down the narrow street. She carefully peered over the barrels, hoping to see him one last time, but he was already gone.

She hugged her knees close to her chest, making sure that her whole body was hidden before heaving a small sigh.

Taeyeon never believes in fate or destiny, but she is starting to hope that such things exist.

After meeting Baekhyun coincidentally in the forest again, she started to think if they were meant to meet. Her discovering him in the forest the first time may be a coincidence, but having him save her when they were in the forest a second time?

That sounded a lot like fate.

He and I collided like two predestined stars and in that brief moment, I felt my heart flutter for the first time.