One afternoon, Chae rin went out to set up her art installation. The theme that she was gunning for was “Peace in Hell”. It was a concept she talked to Jiyong about a couple of times and although Jiyong thought it was a crazy concept, he believed she can make it fly. 

So, on she went and completed every part she would need for her piece, every little bit was handcrafted and sculpted. Since the installation will be done outdoors, she practiced to piece hers together in a grassland area behind an old abandoned warehouse 100 meters outside their village. She was half-way through her install when Jiyong arrived, bringing with him food and bottles of water. 

Seeing him get out of his car, Chae rin waved and called out to him, “Jiyong-oppa, over here.”

The place actually creeps him out and he has scolded Chae rin a couple of times already for choosing to work in this place, but stubborn as he was, Chae rin is even more bull headed than him when she sets her mind to it. He walked gingerly through the calf-high grass, careful about the possibility that he might step on some sleeping snake.

He sighed when he finally reached her, but the relief was short-lived because two meters behind Chae rin he saw a head of a black snake. He dropped the food he carried and in a controlled but firm voice spoke, “Chae-rin Lee, don’t move, don’t even dare turn your head, look only at me,”

Chae rin was about to open to banter but Jiyong cut her, “Don’t even dare say anything, stay still,”

Chae rin stood still, quite unsure what he was talking about. 

He inched his way closer, barely breathing and when he was about a hands-breadth away from Chae rin, he carefully took her hand and with a yank, pulled her to him. His plan was to pull her away from the snake, but his foot slipped so he fell and brought Chae rin down with him. 

Despite the bulk of his jacket, he was able to quickly roll her away from the direct path of the snake and shielded her waiting for the snake’s fangs to just bore through his skin. He was scared for himself but he was more frightened for what might happen if it bit Chae rin. He waited and waited, any second now, tightly clutching Chae rin’s hand.

“Yah! What are you doing? You’re hurting my hand. I still need it to paint!” she screamed. 

Jiyong screamed back at her, ‘”There’s a snake! I was only trying to protect you!”

Chae rin froze for a millisecond before she fell back and rolled in laughter. 

“What the heck?” Jiyong wondered, “Yah, what are you…?”

In between laughter, Chae rin tried to speak, “Oppa,” she began, “the snake…”

“What?” he prodded.

“The snake you saw….” she said, catching her breath from laughing “… is part of my installation.”

Jiyong felt his blood rush to his head and his ears growing hot. He fell silently beside her, his pride hurting, his heart racing. “Was it a cruel joke?” he thought to himself. 

Chae rin looked at his face, his hurt and chagrin evident with his stony silence. 

“Aw, oppa, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said, worried that she might have actually angered him.

He looked at her, saw the worry in her eyes and wondered why did he even try to save this imp? He stared hard at her and in somewhat perplexing turn of events pulled her close for a tight embrace. 

“I was scared for you…” and he couldn’t say anything anymore.

When I saw Jiyong hugging her, I danced until 7th heaven and screamed, epic! I knew it, Jiyong, I just knew it…