Kai’s POV

All of us were sitting in a circle. Everyone was worried. 

That weird Kyungsan guy too.

We had asked the villagers for help but they had flatly refused to go to the other end of the island.

“Yes Dr. Miryo. Yes. All right.” Dr. Komal was talking to the head on the phone.

Suho hadn’t said anything since then. Chanyeol kept pacing. I was sitting beside Luhan who was tracing circles on the ground.

She put down on the phone and everyone looked at her expectantly.

Sighing, she came and sat beside me.

“Dr. Miryo said she’s talking to the police and they’ll send a rescue team. We are to stand by. She said we aren’t supposed to go looking for them.”

“How does she expect us to do that?!” I asked, frustrated. I was worried sick. I had no clue about who.

“Well she’s doing all she can!” Dr. Komal said.

“She’s right.” Luhan said, looking up “We’ll just create more trouble. We have no expertise to go looking for them. We’ll get lost ourselves and not be able to get them back. We might even land them in more trouble. Its better to stay here.”

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing!” Chanyeol said.

“Well technically you aren’t sitting and if its that much of a problem then you could stand and do nothing. Or lie down.” Luhan said, his face emotionless.

“What is wrong with you?! How can you be so calm?! Who knows what they’re doing to them now!” Chanyeol said, fuming.

“I’m worried about them too but there is no point in us being all heroic and running to get them back as if we’re some knights in shining armor or something. Might I remind you that this isn’t some drama.” Luhan said, frowning.

“Guys shut up! Theres no point fighting.” I said, ending it there.

It was midnight.

“Dr. Miryo says the rescue troops will reach by dawn.” Dr. Komal said and got up “All of you go to bed. There’s nothing you can do right now. Get some rest.”

“But Dr. Komal-“ Suho tried to say.

“Listen all of you. I’m worried sick about them too. I’m going to instruct the nurses on the protocol to observe for tomorrow. We attended all major cases today so there shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll all go tomorrow okay? With the rescue troops.”

We all nodded.

I frowned and looked towards the forest. Stupid girl. Where did she go now?

Why am I even worried?!

Ugh.

Do I always have to take care of her? So tiring.

I hope she’s okay.

I really do hope she’s okay.

Panchali’s POV

Both Diksha and I crawled forward to examine the child.

She was clutching the side of her stomach and crying. I blinked and tried to take her hands away but she must’ve been very scared for she turned and bit my finger very hard.

I yelped in pain and withdrew my finger.

“What happened?!” Diksha asked.

“She bit my finger!” I said rubbing the spot to find it bleeding.

Ugh. Whatever.

The girl had calmed down now, knowing that we wouldn’t hurt her.

She took her hands away from her stomach to let us examine her.

We rolled up the dress she was wearing slightly to get a look at her stomach.

Diksha pressed a few points and looked expectantly at her. She didn’t react majorly.

“There’s nothing in her abdominal area.” Diksha unnie said to me.

I came forward and pressed the area on the side of her stomach once and she yelped in pain.

“Appendicitis.” I declared.

“That’s one possibility but we can’t be sure.”

“The pain is exactly above her appendix.”

“We need to get a CT but obviously that’s not possible here.”

“What do we do?”

“Surgery…?” Hesitation was clear on her face.

“You can do it?” I asked her.

“No. I haven’t been to med school in 8 years. And I started my MD early. I have no clue how to do this. Do you?”

“Well I accompanied a professor once but I’ve never performed it…”

“Can you now?”

I gulped and looked at the girl.

I might even have been able to but this was not a sterile environment. How could I prevent infection? What if something happened? This would be my first surgery… What if I messed up?

“I might be able to.” I said and nodded. As if on cue a man came forward and dropped a bag in front of us. It had all the surgical instruments we might need. It was one of the bags I had packed myself. They must’ve picked it up along with us.

I gulped.

“What if I mess up?”

Diksha put one hand on my shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly “You’ll be fine.”

I closed my eyes and nodded.

I could do this. Right…?

There were only two masks and head bands in the bag.

We made make shift gloves out of plastic bags and pulled out instruments.

“I’m setting up a heart beat monitor. You give her anesthesia.” Diksha said taking out the mini monitor.

I grabbed a syringe and made her lie down for a second to give her a dose of local anesthesia.

“Heartbeat and vitals stable.” Diksha unnie said.

“10 scalpel.” I said and she handed it to me.

I took a last deep breath and told myself once again that I could do it before I lowered the scalpel to her waist and made one clean cut.

Here I go.

Kai’s POV

I was still sitting outside looking towards the jungle when I heard Suho behind me

“You never came back to the hut did you?”

I shook my head and he sat beside me.

“I didn’t either.”

I nodded.

“She’ll be fine bro.” he said putting one hand on my shoulder and I nodded again.

Then I heard the loud noises of a motorboat pulling up.

“They’re here!” I heard a nurse yell and turned to see the rescue troops quickly unloading their equipment off the boat.

Komal came running out of her hut towards them as a young 30-something guy came forward.

We rushed for him.

“Hello doctors. I’m the leader of this rescue mission. Could you please direct us in the general direction?”

The translator nodded and pointed towards the forest.

“You’ll have to cross the whole forest and go to the end. Just keep going straight. Once you find a river, just follow it downstream and you’ll find a village. They should be there.”

The leader nodded at him and called out to the other 10 boys behind him “Lets go boys!”

They all grabbed packs and came forward.

“We’re coming with you too.” I said and Suho nodded.

Chanyeol and Luhan came up behind us. Kyungsan ran up too. 

“Me too.” Komal said.

The man stopped her and said “Ma’am its best if you hold the fort down here. We’ll keep giving you updates but if there is an emergency we’d need someone to call for more help from the mainland.”

“But-“ she tried to protest but the leader stopped her and said “LETS GO PEOPLE! MOVE IT!”

We were all handed packs and jackets and all of us advanced into the jungle just as the first rays of the sun appeared on the horizon.

Panchali’s POV

I was sweating already. It was a simple enough procedure but my hands were shaking.

“Are you okay?” Diksha asked.

“Y-yes.” I said.

We were half an hour into the surgery.

I had already removed the appendix. It was a simple matter closing her up now. As long as I didn’t rupture anything else.

A hundred thoughts were running through my mind as I poked about checking if everything else was stable. Who knew if these tribals would kill us after this. Who knew if the surgery would even be successful. And what if it wasn’t. What if she died. What if… I killed her?

I felt a flash of red before me and her blood spurted out and stained my clothes and the mask.

“Artery!” Diksha yelled and instantly grabbed pads and started piling them as was the protocol.

I was dazed for a second.

Then I came to my senses and started piling it up too.

“Heartbeat dropping! Theres too much bleeding!” Diksha announced and I felt my eyes stinging.

I froze. I had no clue what to do.

My mind and hands started acting on their own. It was like I was strangely detached from my body for a few seconds.

Then I came to my senses and acted instantly.

This girl cold die. Because of a mistake I made.

Kai’s POV

I walked ahead. We had been walking for two hours already through the rough forest trail.

I officially had no clue where we were going. A constant fear was nagging at me

What if we were too late? Anything could have happened to them by now!

“LOOK” Chanyeol yelled.

"My Panchali??" Kyungsan said and everyone gave him him a dirty look.

Chanyeol pointed a little to our right and my eyes followed his finger.

Through the dense crop of trees a little far away I saw the sunlight being reflected off a surface. There was a sparkling surface.

“Water!” Suho yelled and we all ran towards that area.

Sure enough it was a lake.

I felt a certain kind of strange warmth inside me at the thought of being able to see her but then I drowned it out.

What the hell is going on with me?!

The leader had already started moving downstream.

I just hoped she was okay.

We’re coming idiot. You better be okay. Just wait a little longer.

Panchali’s POV

I had controlled the excessive bleeding somehow and was now sewing her up.

My hands were working furiously. I barely had any idea what I was doing now. I hadn’t had any sleep for the past 22 hours and my eyelids were drooping. My mouth was parched and my stomach was so tired of rumbling that it had eventually stopped altogether.

I put the last stitch and pulled my blood stained mask off.

“She’ll live.” I said to Diksha unnie.

She smiled, patted my back and said “Good job. I’m proud of you.” I gave her a weak smile.

The man from earlier came forward. He was smiling and I could see tears in his eyes.

He sat in front of us silently and bowed at my feet.

I scampered away and my eyes widened.

He raised his head and said something, smiling. I didn’t understand but I guessed it was a thank you.

I smiled a little at him and then nodded. I guessed that the girl I had saved was his daughter. No wonder he kidnapped us. Though I wonder why he didn’t just ask. Then it dawned on me that he had no clue we would help them too. After all we were helping their rival tribe. Why would we help them too?

He must have been very desperate. I almost forgave him.

A woman came up and picked the little girl up. That would be the mother then.  

Another lady came forward and packed all of our stuff up and then handed it to the man.

I took off the blood stained plastic bags and looked at the man who was now barking orders at two other men.

I wondered what was happening when he looked at me apologetically and gently put one hand on my back.

I flinched but when I noticed he wasn’t going to hurt me I let him.

He led us silently to the edge of the cluster of villages and took us forward.

We walked for half an hour before he suddenly started to shake our hands. I frowned and looked at Diksha unnie. What the heck was happening?

 We were trying to say something when he pointed ahead into a cluster of forests.

We looked at him questioningly as he dropped our bag and shook his head. Then he smiled and pointed the same way again. Both of us looked in that direction for a few seconds before I looked back at him and said “What?”

I gasped in shock to find that he was no longer there.

Diksha unnie turned back and her eyes widened too.

Where the heck did he go?

“He must’ve gone back. After all he must’ve guessed people would come looking for us. He couldn’t risk it now could he?” she sighed.

“That’s the direction we have to go in then?” I asked walking towards the direction he’d directed us, dragging our bag along.

“I’ll take that.” Diksha unnie said trying to take the bag but I flatly refused.

We walked for another half hour and only when my foot without the shoe started bleeding did I realize we had no clue where we were going.

By this point my head had started spinning. The adrenaline of the surgery had consumed too much of my energy and this was really bad.

I was dragging my feet. I could barely walk.

“Panchali! There! I think I heard Kai!”

I nodded and trudged, my steps faltering.

Water…

“Panchali!” I heard a voice before everything turned black.

Kai’s POV

“How long is this river?!” Chanyeol complained.

“Its ending soon.” Said one of the rescue team members and pointed ahead.

"My Panchali! Oh my poor poor Panchali! I'm coming for you!" Kyungsan said almost in tears. I knew it wasn't because he was worried but merely because it was hard for the rich bastard to walk for so long.

There is a metal bottle in my bag. I want to hit him with that, punch him in the gut and throw him into the river with a suicide note that says

'Hello. I am killing myself because I am weird, clingy and an absolute and complete idiot and a burden on this earth. My life is annoying and Panchali is NOT mine.

Yours Sincerely,

BloodyIdiotKyungsan'

But I knew that he would still be giving that annoying smile in his sleep. Just the thought of doing something to him was enough to make me smile but then he went on again "I'll marry you as soon as I find you Panchali!"

I was about to yell "SHADDUP!" when Luhan said “Hey guys keep quiet. I think I heard something.” and all of us shut up.

“That direction!” he said and pointed to our left.

I made a dash for it and called out “PANCHALI! DIKSHA!” but there was no answer and no noise.

I waited for a minute and then yelled again “PANCHALI?! DIKSHA?!”

This time I heard a faint call from afar “KAI?!”

The whole team came running after me as I run in the direction of that voice.

I stopped, heaving and a smile graced my face as I saw Diksha waving from afar.

Behind her I saw Panchali, dragging her feet.

She looked shrunken and tired. Her shoulders were sagging and she didn’t have that usual aura of happiness about her.

I knew something was wrong and I ran towards her.

“Panchali!” I yelled and embraced her just as she started to fall to the ground.

She fell in my arms and I cradled her in my lap.

“You’ll be okay now. We’ll take care of you.” I said as if reassuring her.

“I’m glad.” I whispered, smiling a little “You’re safe.”

Phew that was hard work! Hope you liked it!