Fireflies... after that one night, Kim Bum had kept thinking about it and tried to ask her about it again. But SoEun would just smile without answering.

In the past few weeks they had gotten closer.

Even though they still didn’t know much about each other, they got along well.

During their journey KimBum kept noticing that SoEun coughed quite often and began to worry if she’d gotten sick.

They weren’t that far away from the harbor anymore. If the weather stayed like this, they’d reach it in maybe five or six days.

After another night in a small village, they traveled by feet through the lanscape. “I think we’ll reach the harbor in about a week.”, KimBum told her while looking at the sky, “It’s safe now to take the bus.” “Do you think they’ll find us?”

“No...” He tried to sound as confident as possible but failed. It wasn’t just her, he had to convince but also himself. Of course he had doubts and fears, but he wouldn’t show her.

That she said us instead of you didn’t bother him anymore. At first he hadn’t been happy about her traveling with him. It had been ‘you and me are traveling together’ but at some point they had started to say ‘we are traveling together’ and used the word us. KimBum wasn’t sure about how their situation would be like when they arrived in Japan. Would their ways part? Or would they stay together? He shortly glanced at her. I hope the latter...

Finally they could see houses in the far. It was a cold day and he didn’t want to let SoEun stay outside for too long, since she might be sick. “We’ll rest there for a bit.” “Okay.”, she said and nodded, before coughing again. But unlike the last days, it didn’t stop. SoEun kept on coughing and sank to the ground.

Shocked KimBum quickly kneeled down beside her. “Are you okay?”

“I-“, she began but couldn’t stop coughing. Now he was more than sure. This girl had caught a cold.

Carefully he touched her forehead. Luckily she didn’t have a fever. “Come, it’s not far anymore. I’ll get you some medicine.”

With KimBum’s help SoEun got back on her feet again. They got to the town as fast as they could and he could feel her getting weaker with every step.

Unfortunately there was no inn in this small town. Luckily an old woman offered them to stay at her house, as she saw the condition of the girl.

“How is she?”, KimBum asked, as he entered the house again with some medicine.

The old woman sat beside SoEun who was sleeping calmly.

“It’s still pretty bad but she finally managed to fall asleep.”, she explained and got up from her seat. “I’ll make something to eat for her, so she can take the medicine when she wakes up.”

“Thank you. You don’t know how gratefull I am.”, he said and bowed. The woman smiled before leaving the room.

KimBum sat down beside SoEun and watched her sleeping face. She looked calm. He slightly touched her forehead again to check her temperature.

It felt like she had gotten warmer but maybe it just felt like that because he had been outside for some time.

He then noticed her frowning and then slowly openeing her eyes.

“Are you alright?”, he immediately asked. She looked at him briefly and then lowered her glance. “I’m sorry...” “You don’t have to. I should’ve taken better care of you. We’ve been wandering outside in the cold for so long and I hadn’t thought about you and how you’d feel with it.”

SoEun slowly shook her head. “No... it’s not your fault. It’s...” Hesitantly she looked at him again. She looked sad and apologetic. “I have a chronic bronchitis...I had medicine with me but I ran out of it a few days ago. I thought it wouldn’t be so bad but....”

KimBum was shocked. She was sick and still wandered around with him? Especially in this cold weather!

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” “I was afraid that you’d send me back home again...”

“I-“ She was right. But how couldn’t he? He couldn’t take the responsibility for her condition getting worse. He closed his eyes for a moment to organize his thoughts before saying: “I’ll bring you back home.” “But-“ No buts! You are sick and have to be treated!” “We’ve almost reached the harbor already! And what about the men?” KimBum remained silent for a moment before shaking his head slightly. “That doesn’t matter.”

“Please!” SoEun grabbed his hand and as he looked at her, he could see her desperateness. “Don’t send me back! I-“ She began to cough again. Now the woman came inside with a bowl of rice porridge. “Have she taken the medicine, yet?”, she asked worried and quickly put the bowl on a table. “Not yet.”, KimBum answered and got the small package from the pharmacy.

Quickly he got the medicine and gave it to SoEun. The medicine needed some time to take it’s effect but she then got calmer and stopped coughing so much.

While SoEun slowly ate the porridge, there was silence between the two of them.

It was KimBum who finally broke it. “You don’t want to go back so badly?”

The girl stopped in her movements and laid the spoon down. “I... my parents had never allowed me to go outside. Even in spring or summer they’d only let me go outside for a short time. And of course they had never allowed me to travel anywhere out of fear that I might get sick. Due to my disease I’ve got a weak immune system and get sick easily. Since my father only trust our family doctor, he wouldn’t want to go anywhere too far away from him.” She smiled weakly but in a sad way, “They were just worried about me, but I always felt like a bird in a cage.”

Now he could understand her reaction better but... was it really okay for him to not take her back home?

He sighed and then looked at her. “Alright. I won’t send you back. But we’ll stay here until you are okay again – I think the old lady won’t have a problem with it. And we’ll get you your medicine.”

Her expression became bright again and she nodded eagerly before continuing to eat the porridge.