Hyunjoo looked around the small room where the two guards had carried Junmyeon in, and had laid him down on the battered old mat in the middle of the room.

“We’re going to join our chief.” One guard told her. “Help the physician to treat him. The rain is already here so we can’t delay searching for Lady Gayeon.”

The girl nodded eagerly. “Please find her. As soon as possible. I’ll stay with Lord Kim until you return.”

With a brief nod the two guards exited the room, into the rain that was rapidly getting heavier. “Please find her…” Hyunjoo mumbled, hearing the heavy drops fall ceaselessly on the hay thatched roof. “Before Byun Baekhyun does.”

Soon after, the elderly physician who had shown them in walked into the room, holding a small basin of water and a few towels. The old man could barely walk, his back was bent and his footsteps dragged along, making Hyunjoo doubt whether he could actually treat a patient in that condition.

“Help me girl…” he muttered, holding out the basin, which Hyunjoo took and placed on the floor next to the mat. With great effort, he sat on the floor next to Junmyeon, and placed two fingers on his patient’s neck in order to check the pulse. “Alive.” He muttered, and pried junmyeon’s two eyes open forcefully. “Nice timing. One hour late, you would have brought a dead body here.”

Chills ran down Hyunjoo’s spine. “He’s… he’s lost a lot of blood…hasn’t he doctor?”

“We should praise the swordsmanship of his enemy.” The elder nodded. “Whoever it was…he hadn’t been playing around. His intention definitely had been killing this young nobleman.”

Hyunjoo pursed her lips. The physician checked the pulse on Junmyeon’s wrist briefly, and turned to the girl. “Now you my child, must help me treat him.”

“Of course.”

“Make him sit.”

Hyunjoo stared at the physician, and quickly realized that he had no strength to handle a fully grown man on his own. “Of…of course.” She sat down on the other side of Junmyeon, and with great effort, hauled his torso up into a sitting position. As his shoulders leaned against her, his dead weight fell completely upon herself, with his head lolling backwards.

“His head! Girl you will break his neck before I treat his wounds!”

Muttering a low apology, Hyunjoo leaned Junmyeon’s head on her shoulder.

The situation was not ideal at all, but his hair softly brushing over her neck, made the girl bit her lip and hold her breath.

“Now untie all those knots tying his robes.”

Hyunjoo blinked, and as the physician started impatiently examining the wound on Junmyeon’s back over the torn robe, she hastily started untying the front knots of it.

“Heavens above…”muttered the physician when the outer robe was taken off and Junmyeon’s cotton white shirt came into view. “It’s definitely a miracle that he’s still alive.”

More than two thirds of the pristine white material was soaked in his blind, turned into a menacingly dark red and clung onto his torso. Hyunjoo didn’t realize that she was holding her breath, while the old man examined the two slashed on his front and back.

The sword cut on his back ran from his left shoulder to the right side of his waist and the cut on his front ran straight down from his right shoulder, down his chest, both piercing his flesh along with the sheer fabric.

Hyunjoo felt his shaky exhale on her neck, along with a barely audible groan. “He’s still awake doctor.” She informed the doctor.

“Strong man he is.” The physician remarked, and squinted his eyes at Junmyeon’s blood soaked shirt. “I will have to cut this. There’s no other way to take the fabric off him.”

And Hyunjoo held onto Junmyeon, as the physician carefully cut the fabric and took the garment off him, little by little.

A pained groan or his occasionally emitted from Junmyeon’s lips, and Hyunjoo started to his head.

“Hang in there my lord…” She whispered, running her fingers slowly through his damp hair. “Hang in there…you will be alright.”

Once the wounds were cleaned with lukewarm water, and ground herbs were applied thoroughly, the physician bandaged Junmyeon’s whole torso with cotton bandage. “That’s all I can do.”He stood up from the floor, and wiped his hands on his robes. “If he’s strong enough to hold for another couple of hours…” He made his way to the door as he talked. “He will wake up with enough strength to walk in the morning. If not, I cannot-”

“He will wake up.” Hyunjoo cut his off with her words. “He will. I know he will.”

The old man gave her a fatherly smile, and nodded with encouragement. “Make him lie down on his side, if you think he’s conscious enough for that. But if not, it is better to keep him that way. So the cuts won’t worsen.”

With that he left the room, closing the door behind him. Hyunjoo sighed, listening to the storm raging outside the room.

“Hope agassi is fine.” she mumbled, Junmyeon’s head. “Let’s hope she’s fine, and let’s hope that she won’t cross paths with Byun Baekhyun.”

* * *

Horrified, Gayeon sat frozen in the corner she hid, for a full minute after the intruder had collapsed at the entrance to the cave. The lightning that illuminated the cave every few seconds, showed her nothing but a heap lying on the stone floor clad in dark robes and his sword lying beside him, glistening under the lightning.

Another minute, and yet he didn’t make a single move. The Gayeon decided to crawl out of her corner, and walked towards him to get a closer look.

As she slowly walked towards the unconscious man, another bolt of lightning cracked through the sky with an ear-splitting thunder, giving her proof that he definitely was the last man she wanted to see then and there.

The pale face and haphazard short hair was definitely Byun Baekhyun’s.

Gayeon inched closer, making sure that he made no move. And when the next rumble of thundering almost shook the whole cave and still he didn’t even flinch in response, she knew that he was definitely unconscious.

Gayeon stepped closer and knelt beside him. Baekhyun lied on his front, face turned slightly her way, and except for the blood stains on his sword which the girl desperately hoped not to be her brother’s, there was no blood visible on him.

Gayeon slowly turned him over. And his body felt limply on his back, showing that rain was not the cause of his drenched robes.

There was a nasty looking stab wound on the right side of his abdomen, and a sword cut ripping open both the trousers and flesh on his left thigh.

Breath hitched in Gayeon’s throat.

All this time, she had been dreading about any harm Byun Baekhyun might have done to her brother, but now seeing the same person lying in front of her with mortal injuries obviously given by her brother, she didn’t know what to think, or what to do.

She didn’t know why she was shaking, or where the unstoppable tears were coming from.

And before she knew it, Gayeon was dragging his limp body in to the cave with great effort, dragging him to the dry floor where she had been hiding.

The very person who had burnt her house down, and had sworn to kill her one and only brother.

That person was now with her, his dead weight resting against her feet, the closed eyes and lips giving no sign of hatred that he held on them.

Almost like the Byun Baekhyun she had walked the city streets with, on their first day together.

Harmless, and almost innocent.

His entire body jerked with a sudden cough, and a trickle of blood emerged at a corner of his mouth and ran down his chin.

Horrified, Gayeon dropped to her knees again, and started untying his wet robes.

For all she knew regarding first aid for any kind of wound, the bleeding should be stopped first.

The robe was fumbled open to reveal his bare chest, and with all her might, the