The rest of the morning were spent with the two of you exploring the jungle, trying to gather as many fruit as you can to keep you both alive. It’s amazing how both of you communicate with mostly just body language, as your knowledge of each other’s language is too limited. You went through a lot of miscommunication, but in the end, you would somehow, amazingly, always understand each other.

The sun passed its highest point and both of you decided that it’s enough exploring for the day. You ended up with another bunch of banana in Chanyeol’s hands, and another 3 coconuts at your hands. You two thought that it’s enough at least for the day and maybe tomorrow morning. At least, you can rest for the day because you can definitely feel your body aching because of the exhaustion and the bad sleep position last night. You got out of the forest to the shore again. You wake a good look at the blue sky above you. Beside the blazing sun, the sky was filled with a lot of white puffy clouds that you only see patches of blue sky scattered a little bit here and there.

“Good,” you think. “I can feel my skin start to burn because of the sun. It starts to hurt. I wonder how my face looked right now. I must've been a dirty mess right now... This is not a way to present myself in front of an idol...” you sigh.

But what can you do? In this forest, if both of you would like to still keep your ego and your pride, to keep an image, to fake yourself, you wouldn't survive.

You put down your stock of fruits at the edge of the forest, by the side of your shelter. Chanyeol did the same and sat under the nearest tree. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he seemed happy and proud of his work since morning. Despite his injury, he can still help you so much on gathering food.

"토끼야 (tokki-ya), 무엇을하기 원하십니까 (what do you want to do now)?” he asked.

“Hm?”

“기타를 연주 할 수 있습니까 (can you play guitar)?”

“Eh? Did you say guitar?”

“네 (ne), play… guitar?” He asked again

“Well, I can, but juuussttt a little bit”, you put your thumb and index finger together, emphasizing on the words 'just a little bit'.

"야햐(yaha)! Play 조세요(juseyo)(please)! 한반만......" he stood up and took his guitar from its bag along with your notebook. He hand you his guitar and opened your notebook in front of you, on the page where he scratches his songs last night. You hesitate in taking it for a moment. Chanyeol sat beside you, holding your notebook open on the ground so it’s easier for you to read.

It's been a long time since you last played a guitar. Being in med school took too much of your time that you barely play guitar anymore. Your skills were pretty rusty, but this time, you can’t resist the urge to play guitar again. Especially after looking at how he played guitar last night, you felt the ant to play again too.

You cross your legs on the sand and look down to your notebook.

“The Star”

That's what written on top of the scratches.

“This must’ve been the one he wrote last night, when we were stargazing,” you think to yourself.

You can barely make out which chords were the final scratches he made, but with a little effort, you read and play along his chords.

That's when he started singing

****

You stumble upon a few chords as your fingers readjust itself on the guitar strings, and every time you stumble, he would stop singing and wait for you to get your fingers right before continuing. He would also guide you on the strumming patterns, giving examples every now and then.

The song was lovely, even though you didn’t understand what it meant, but the melody was cheerful and bright. Chanyeol would smile along the songs, singing and half rapping to the song.

You reach the end of the page and Chanyeol clapped for you.

“좋은 직업(good job)!"

"Hahaha. No, I'm not good at guitars anymore", you return his guitar to him, who's now sitting on your left, legs crossed, smile plastered to his face.

 He stared at the sky for a while, determining which song he would play next, and decided upon a happy upbeat song. He started strumming and you soon recognize a familiar melody.

"Seulpun hajima nonono, honja ga anya nonono...," you sang along with the hand gesture and a few shake of your shoulders according to the actual choreography.

“oohhh!!” Chanyeol exclaimed. You grinned, somewhere between embarrassed and excited.

“일어 서서! 댄스(dance)!” Chanyeol signaled you to stand up.

“You want me to dance?! No way! I at dancing!” you defend yourself, too embarrassed to dance in front of someone who is obviously better at dancing than you are. “How about you, Chanyeol giant, dance for me?” you return his gestures.

“나 (na)(me)?” he considered for a moment. “okay! I danceu, you danceu!” he challenged you, offering a handshake.

“okay!” you accepted his hands.

“okeeey!!” he jump from his seat and fix his clothes. “song?” he asked.

“hmm.. okay, I’ll give you easy ones! EXO songs first! Hmm.. Growl! Ereureung! Go!”

“eomeun geurimja nae ane kkaeeona”, he started his choreography. Even with just one active arm, he still managed to pull off a powerful and exact dance, along with the right facial expressions.

“Neol boneun du nune bulkkochi twinda,

Geunyeo gyeoteseo modu da mulleona,

Ijen jogeumssik sanawojinda.

Na eureureong eureureong eureureong dae,

Na eureureong eureureong eureureong dae,

Na eureureong eureureong eureureong dae,

Neo mulleoseoji anheumyeon dachyeodo molla” both of you sang.

 “Aawwww!!” you complained when he stopped his moves right after the chorus ends. His dance is not to as good as some other idols that are more senior than him in the k-pop industry, but you can really see that he’s been practicing a lot, that he’s been trained, obviously.

“one more please!” you asked him to dance more, just because you like seeing him dance. He might not be the best dancer, but again, something about his clumsy dance, something about his face when he dance, something about his little gestures, just made your heart flutter.

“SISTAR!! SISTAR’s Give it to me!” you quickly suggested, wanting to see how he’s do with a girl’s choreo. He seemed shocked for a moment, but then he got excited and accepted your challenge.

“1.. 2.. 3.. 4..”

“give it to me, oh baby give it to me~” both of you sang, with his left hand on his waist and his right palm swinging over his abdomen. You can’t help but laugh when he came to the part where he does the choreography with excessive movements and expressions, along with the hair flips, especially the “Oh! Oh! Oh!” part. Both of you laughed out of control.

Then comes the time that you have to fulfill your part of the deal, you were hesitant, but he did his dance despite his injury, so you stand up and decided upon the one song that you love.

“Wow, fantastic baby! Dance!” and so you dance the famous wiper dance.

“야아 (yaa)!! 여자(yeoja) greup! 여자(yeoja)! Girl grupeu!" Chanyeol protests.

“What?! No! I can’t!!” you panicked. You don’t want to embarrass yourself more than this already with your sloppy and messy dance.

“아(ah)! 그, 음 (that, um), 소녀시대(SNSD), I got a boy!! 아니, 아니! (No, no!), Girls day! 기대(Expectation)!” he decided upon a song, which you knew that Girls Day were having that y concept for Expectation, with all those suspender and body waves.

“No way!” you protests back. But Chanyeol started singing, and he keeps urging you to dance. “I don’t know the dance!” you lied.

“몰라(molla)(don’t know)?? Hmm… okay, A-Pink NoNoNo!” you can’t dodge this time because you did the choreo earlier, but at least, you don’t have to do all those y waves.

“1.. 2.. 3..”

“seulpun hajima, nonono, honja ga anya, nonono, onje nanana baega…” and so you did the dance to the point where they form a line and did the little jump to get in formation. Chanyeol stood up and stood behind you, with his arms on his waist, he signals you to keep going with the moves.

And there you two are, singing and jumping around with A-Pink’s choreo, in the middle of the burning sand, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

Laughter fills the air. You squat down and cover your flushed face. You laughed out because of how he just randomly joins you, you laugh because you’re embarrassed, and you laugh because he laughs. You peek from between your fingers to find him laugh/squatting too, his ears red from too much laughing. The sight made you laugh even more until your laughs become just wheezes of your lungs trying to catch some breath.

 

 

***

 

 

Afternoon passed and you two had a little light chat. He introduced to you his fellow members, or as he called it, his brothers. There were 12 of them, split to two, EXO-K and EXO-M. He introduced the names of each member, their stage names and their real names. He wrote them down for you and thank goodness you can read hangul because he seemed to get a little bit confused when he starts romanizing their names.

He talked about the leader, Suho, and how much he took care of the rest of the members. He would use English here and there, simple English that still sounds funny to your ears. He also scribbles stuff to illustrate things to you when he notices that you start to get lost in translation. Even though you didn’t understand everything that he said, but just from the way he talked about these brothers of his, you can feel how much they’ve been suffering together and how much they find strength in each other.

He also told you about their given “superpowers” from the company. It took you a lot of time, explaining, illustrations and demonstration to understand each of their power, especially the one that this member, Luhan, had; telekinesis. He pointed at you and his wound when he was explaining about Lay’s ability. Took you a few second to realize that his powers were healing, like what you wanted to do in your life, heal people, the reason why you’re in medschool.

And with his explanation you finally understand what Kate was saying in the airplane about the thunderstorm.

“It's just Sehun, Suho, and Chen playing around..” Kate had said.

And now you understand. Sehun has the power of wind. Suho controls water; the rain. And Chen controls the thunder. Even Chanyeol himself said something about the three and him being dangerous. (Which you later found out that the 4 of them were called the source of natural disasters)

 You also noticed that he would get excited when talking about one peculiar member. Kate’s favorite, and perhaps his favorite too, Byun Baekhyun. He stated something about “beagle line” and how they’re the noisiest in the group.

About his real family, you noted that he had a sister who’s a news caster, his parents both runs a different business, his mom runs a restaurant and his dad runs a café.

“엄마 보고 싶어,” Chanyeol ended his story. “I miss my mom”

“Yeah, me too…” you sighed along with him. At times like this, all you can think of is your family, right?

-

You also talked a bit about your family and friends, about your elder sister, your parents, about Kate, about your university life. You hesitate about telling that you have a boyfriend, but in the end you said it anyway.

“아, 부럽다,” he muttered under his breath, then smiled at you. You understand what he said without him having to say it again: “I’m jealous”

 A part of you wished that he’s jealous of your boyfriend for having you, but you quickly shake the hopes away, reminding yourself that you have zero chance with this giant in front of you.

“He is just jealous that I can be in a relationship. Being an idol like him won’t allow him to have a relationship, or at least an open one,” you think to yourself.

Your chat turns to other topics. Your favorite foods, favorite drinks, favorite color, and so many other stuff. And talking about yourself and your family, he finally noted that you are younger than him.

“야(ya), bunny, (Y/N), 오빠 한번 불러주세요(please call me oppa once)?” he asked you a favor that you somewhat afraid of since he knew you’re younger.

“What?! No! That’s cheesy!” you tried protesting because you have never someone ‘oppa’ on your real life before and it is just embarrassing.

“한번주세요(hanbeonjuseyo)(once please).”

“No!” you insisted.

“(Y/N)-ah, 한 번만, 제발 (hanbeonman, jebal),” and he did what you didn’t expect to see: the so called ‘aegyo’.

Never in your life had you found your idols doing ‘aegyo’ cute. You mostly just want them to stop doing whatever they’re doing because it’s weird to see a grown man doing ‘aegyo’. But here you are, falling for Chanyeol’s puppy eyes and the way he said those words; falling for his ‘aegyo’.

And so you gave up.

“Oppa,” you muttered nonchalantly.

“야, 날 봐 (ya, nalbwa!) (ya, look at me)!” he protested.

“Oppa!” you half scoffed at him, trying your hardest to hide your embarrassment.

“‘찬열오빠’(Chanyeol oppa)!” he protested again, wanting you to call his name before ‘oppa’.

“Ugh. Chanyeol oppa!” you said to him and quickly hide your most probably flushed face.

Chanyeol on the other hand seemed happy and satisfied by your words or just simply found you too funny, because he was laughing and clapping like a happy seal. You looked at him and he was grinning ear to ear, giving you a thumb up before saying thank you as you looked away again, not believing that you’ve just called him ‘oppa’.

 

***

 

Soon enough, your notebook were full of scribbles. There were pictures of 12 guys in line with the writing “EXO, WE ARE ONE” on top and little details on each member’s stick figure, like this one member named D.O was drawn smaller than the others, but his eyes are bigger than everyone else. There’s also this member, Kai, that Chanyeol shaded a bit darker than everyone else. Chanyeol drew each and every member with their own feature, he even drew himself with extra-large ears and the writing ‘Yoda’ above. There are also pictures of a house with 4 people inside; Chanyeol and his family, pictures of you and your friends, you and your family. Pictures of foods and places that looked like it was drawn by two 5-year olds. Admit it, your drawings were not even good, and Chanyeol’s is not that much better than yours.

You two had your ‘lunch’ (if you can call another tier of bananas to cover your hungry stomach a ‘lunch’) in between your chats earlier. The sun is halfway down to the horizon; it’s probably about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. And now the two of you were quiet again, cloud-gazing beside each other. You’ve got enough fruits for the day so both of you decided enough exploring for today. As you lay, you said another silent prayer for help, still holding on to the smallest hope that someone would search for you two.

You and Chanyeol would occasionally hum a song, sometimes it’s you joining him, and sometimes he’s joining you. Though a lot of times you didn’t recognize what song he’s singing or he didn’t join you singing, but listening to him calms you down like he always did in the last two days.

It’s unbelievable that it has not been 48 hours after the crash while it seemed like you and Chanyeol had been here for days. How you built a shelter with him, how you built a fire, how you look for food, how you work so well with him, how his presence has always made you happy and hopeful.

 

***

 

Both of you must’ve fell asleep because the next thing you know were drops of water splashed against your face, before soon replaced by quite a heavy rain. You jolted up and look beside you for Chanyeol. He had already run to your little hut, taking out 2 raincoats from his backpack. You join him in the hut, ready to put on the raincoat you thought he’s going to give you.

What happened next made you laugh at yourself for being too self-centered.

He sheathed his guitar on the case and soon started putting the raincoat on his guitar. He doesn’t even cover himself from the rain, but instead he diligently covers his guitar, checking here and there for possible locations of leakage.

You snapped out of your daze and took out your small umbrella and stood out of the hut to let him have more space to work on his guitar. You examine your little shelter. It’s amazing how most of the leaves stand against the rain, making the inside somewhat dry. Well, it was your first ever DIY shelter, surely there were holes here and there. So you do what you can with the roof while Chanyeol were still inside. That giant looked so out of place inside that little shelter, you can’t help but chuckle to yourself at the view.

Chanyeol laid his guitar above his sleeping bag, to make sure no water can seep from below, and made sure no drops of water fell from the roof that you tired fixing before he start taking care of both of your half soaked backpacks, putting it above the sleeping bag and covering the top with another raincoat. He then retreated from the roof, joining you outside. You hand him your umbrella as you duck down to pull your own sleeping bag and spread it on the sand as a place for both of you to sit.

Chanyeol let out a long sigh, looking at the dark afternoon, glancing at his guitar every now and then. You can tell that he cares a lot about his guitar to let himself got soaked in rain while protecting his guitar.

“아빠는 나에게 그 기타를 가져왔다 (appaneun na-ege geu gitar-eul gajyeowassd)),” you got something about his dad and his guitar, so you just guessed that it’s either his dad’s guitar or his dad brought it for him. Either way, the guitar obviously is something very special to him.

“She’ll be fine,” you assured him, referring to his guitar.

But Chanyeol didn’t respond. He was staring at the pouring rain, somewhere deep within his own brain. Didn’t want to disturb him, you hug your own knees for warmth and lean on them. Probably because of all the exploring you did this morning but your body was aching and sore, plus, the cold from the rain is definitely not helping. You rub your hands and knees a few times, hiding the shivers from your muscles.

The sky at the horizon is still quite bright and the dark grey clouds were only about above the island, meaning that the rain came from behind you, from the forest. You just hope the rain won’t last for too long, because the cold is killing you. Soon, your mind starts exploring on its own.

 

 

Quite a long time passed and you almost dozed off to sleep before Chanyeol nudged your shoulders, giving you your umbrella to hold. You took it and before you have a chance to ask, he stood up and start running to the shore. He spins a few times with his right arm spread and let out a shout to the sky, like a little kid enjoying the rain.

“OII PARK CHANYEOL! GET BACK HERE!!” you shouted at him against the raging rain.

“It’s not good for your health!!” you continued.

“토끼야 (tokki-ya)!! 이리와 (iriwa)(come here)!!” he shouted back at you, gesturing you to join him.

“shirheo(no)!!” you defend your position.

 “뭐(mwo)(what)?! ‘shirheo’?! 야(ya)! 싫어(sirh-eo)! 싫(sirh)…어(eo)…” he teased your Korean and repeated the right pronunciation as he ran back to your place.

“aish! Whatever! I’m not going in the rain!”

“야 (ya)!! 이리와 (iriwa), 재미있다 (jaemiitda)(it’s fun)!!” he stood in front of you now.

“No! And you shouldn’t too! You’ll get sick, Giant!!” you looked up to him.

“재미 없어(jaemi-oebso)(you’re no fun),” he sprinkle your face with water from his palm, teasing you, but then left you alone, enjoying the rain himself.

“Tch!” you wiped off the water off your face and looked back at him, who by now is scrubbing his hair as if he’s taking a shower. Then you have this sudden impulse of not wanting to be defeated by him. You can’t let him have the upper hand of teasing you again.

You flipped your umbrella upside down so that it’s now collecting the rain drops and slowly approached him. He had his back against you now, scrubbing his face and his forearms. Making sure you had enough water on your umbrella to splash him good, you called out to him.

“PARKCHANYEOL!”

“엉?”

SPLASH.

Yup. He definitely is not ready for that. He jumped back and his eyes almost shot out of his head. You laughed at his reaction, you’ll never forget that face ever. His surprised face is too precious!

Chanyeol took his opportunity to splash you back but with not much of a result because there isn’t enough water on the umbrella. However, he isn’t out of ideas. He used his wet hair and purposely whipped his head in front of your face, making you took cover for yourself.

You’re half soaked as you run back to the edge of the forest, running away from Chanyeol who’s still in mind for getting you even more soaked. As you reached the edge of the forest, you found a spot under a huge leaf where the pouring water was gathered, making it like the water were flowing out of a faucet. You stood below it and undo your hair.

“Taking a shower like this isn’t bad at all!! Except for the cold, that is…”

“야! 뭐하는거야 (mwohaneungeoya)(what are you doing)!?” Chanyeol approached you.

You started rinsing your hair thoroughly, making sure you've wet every strand of your hair before you start scrubbing. Chanyeol seemed amazed by what you did because you're now as soaked as him and he could do nothing to get you even more drenched in water than you already are.

Cold as it is, the rain cool down your mind for a bit, rinsing out every sweat and dirt in your body from all the exploring and heat exposure.

Chanyeol backed up and let you have your time. He flips back your umbrella and sat down. Something caught your attention though, Chanyeol was shivering pretty badly.

"This is bad," you thought to yourself. "His immune system won’t stand much more attacks, his condition might drop anytime soon"

Chanyeol hung his head between his knees while his hands hugging them.

"아… 힘들어…” Chanyeol seemed like he was about to sleep and pass out at the same time.

"Oh no, you don't, Park Chanyeol!" you smack the back of his neck, surprising him. He shot you a questioning look.

"You're out cold. Sleeping will make it worse, you could fall in hypothermia," you tried explaining, but you guess it's not much of a help with your language barrier.

"No sleep! Don't sleep!" You simply gesture him so he could understand. He nodded in understanding and fights his sleepiness back.

 

***

 

The rain stayed for a little while before slowly fading out to light showers. By then, Chanyeol was hugging his knees, still shivering lightly, his eyelids half open and half closed. You have to admit his condition is far worse than yours. You took out his backpack and open it. Thankfully, his towel is only damp and there's still one fully dry T-shirt. You took it both out and hand it to him.

"Yah! Change your clothes before you're too cold," you ordered him.

He looked up and soon understands what he had to do. He gathers his strength to stand up and start lifting his wet T-shirt. You tried your best not to stare, but your mind must've slipped for a second because he was chuckling at you when your eyes finally left his non-existant abs. You quickly hand him his towel to let him dry himself and help him drying his back. He put on his dry T-shirt and wraps his towel around you.

"감사합니다, 토끼야 (thank you, bunny-ah)..." he patted your head. He's not shivering much anymore, but his lips were sort of purple-ish and his fingertips were really pale.

 "가! 자신을 돌볼," he pointed his chin at your backpack, wanting you to change too.

"Yeah, I'll change. Well, not here, of course. But you still need to get yourself some heat," you mutter. “Fire? The woods were too wet to light up fire. At least shield him from the wind. Hm... In the sleeping bag!”

You lifted his guitar carefully to prevent your wet hair from dripping water too much and took his sleeping bag out.

"Get in," you pointed inside. Again, he looked confused at first, but maybe because it seemed like you knew what to do, he followed your orders. He questioned about his still wet pants, but you just shook your head, "It's okay. The upper body is more important to preserve heat, just get in..."

He shrugged his shoulders and got in, you help zipping up the sleeping bag as much as you can. Soon, Chanyeol is huddled up in his sleeping bag, with only his neck above exposed to the air. Shielded from the cold wind, Chanyeol looked better already. He was already smiling and grinning towards you.

"야, 가! 빨리! (Ya, go! Quick!)" this time he orders you to quickly go and change.

"Yeah, yeah..." you took out your own backpack and took your towel and a damp T-shirt. Well, at least damp is still better than drenched.

Taking your water bottle with you, you started walking towards the stream, ignoring the pain in your head that has just started to show again.

 

***

 

The sun has almost set. The sky is in a beautiful shade of yellow and orange. You've finished changing and were filling your water bottle when you heard a drilling sound. At first, you thought it was your head making out the noises because of yesterday’s blow to your head. The sound kept on getting louder and louder, and you tried hitting your head a few times to shake off the noises. However, soon you realized that the noise didn’t come from inside your head. The noise got louder and something about the sound become more distinct. Something like the wind being chopped up.

It’s above you. It’s definitely coming from somewhere over your head.

You looked up and discovered your last hope of living.

Somewhere above the shades of the forest’s leaves:

A helicopter.

 

Yellow and huge, a SAR helicopter has just passed over your place and it’s heading downstream.

Adrenaline starts its work on your body. You quickly seal your water bottle and throw it to the banks along with your towel and wet clothes.

“WE’RE HERE!!!” you shouted at the top of your lungs

Your feet started running its fastest to catch the battering blades. You didn’t even realize you’re not wearing anything to cover your soles. Gravels, twigs, dirt, everything went under your feet. You stepped on every possible footing along the river banks.

“No! no no!! NO!! WE’RE OVER HERE!! PLEASEE!!” you tried waving your hand.

The helicopter kept on going to the shore. You’re covered by the forest. They probably can’t see you from up there.

 

It’s no use.

 

Your feet can never catch up. Your lungs struggled for air. Your voice lost between the sound of the drilling blades. Your figure invisible below the forest’s green glory.

“DON’T GO!! PLEASE!! WE’RE HERE!! I’M OVER HERE!!” you used every last bit of your breath as you reach the edge of the forest to the open shore.

 

Too late.

 

Your only chance of returning is by now more than half a mile ahead of you.

Your feet kept on running. Your arms kept swinging above you. Your throat kept on crying out. Your vision blurred by some water on your eyes.

A hand pulled you back. You struggled free.

You managed a few steps before a stronger force grip both or your arms from behind. This time you can’t break free. The force turns you around and wraps itself around you, keeping you from going any further.

 

All hope is lost.

 

You gave up and you let yourself fall to the warm embrace around you.

You didn’t realize; you’re more than waist deep in the sea.

 

“(Y/N)-ah… Hajima… Jebal… Pabo-ya… Hajima…”

 

 

***

 

 

Chanyeol’s POV:

(a/n: all that Chanyeol said in this part is in Korean)

 

“Isn’t that (Y/N)’s voice? Is she screaming? What’s that voice above me?”

I forced my eyelids open. The first thing that caught my eyes was the orange sunset. Then something else; a yellow helicopter has just passed over my place.

.

I need to grab their attention! Wait! I can’t get out! I’m wrapped in this sleeping bag!

I forced the zippers open and wiggle myself free. (Y/N) came running from the forest to the shore. I joined her running, waving my right arm and screamed as loud as I can, “YAAA!! OVER HEREEE!!”

, they didn’t notice us!

I reached the end of the shore before she did and I stopped myself. The helicopter is definitely out of reach. Nothing we do here can catch their attention anymore.

“They’ll come back! They will definitely come back. Keep positive like you always do, Chanyeol!” I thought to myself as I turn my head back to look at my companion.

She had her eyes focused on the helicopter and her eyes were watery. She was screaming. She was breathless. Is her left foot bleeding?!

“Ya! Bunny!” I called out to her as she was closing in to the sea. She didn’t seem to hear me? She kept on running! Her feet touched the saltwater, she was still running. I thought she would stop soon but I was wrong. Her legs kept her moving. She was knee deep between the strong waves.

Oh , I have to stop her.

“Ya!! BUNNY!! STOP!! YAA (Y/N)-AAHH!! GET BACK HERE!!!” I ran towards her.

This girl’s persistence has always surprised me. From the start of this survival up until now, she never eased to amuse me both in good and bad ways. This time, however, is the bad way. What if she drowns herself trying to catch that helicopter?

“(Y/N)-ahh! Stop it!!” I managed to take a grip at her wrists. She struggled to free herself and her tiny wrist slipped off my palm. For a split second I saw her face, she was crying. Yet, she kept on moving.

“(Y/N)-AH! PLEASE!! STOP IT!!” I took both of her arms from behind, making sure she won’t escape my grip this time. The water was already over her waist. If a strong wave came, she might’ve been swept away.

I turned her back and pulled her to myself, putting my arms around her, preventing her from doing any more harm to herself. I wanted to scold her so bad for putting herself in such danger, but seeing her like this… How can i?

 “(Y/N)-ah… Stop it… Please… You idiot… Stop it… (Hajima… Jebal… Pabo-ya… Hajima…)” I pulled her closer as she collapsed in my arms.

 

She was still crying, meaning she didn’t pass out. Well, good. Because I won’t know what to do if she passed out. The first and last time someone passed out in front of my eyes was Jongin when he forced himself too hard for our debut preparation, and the staff quickly took him away and took care of him. What did they do to him? I don’t know. Maybe they gave him shots. But there are no shots here for her if she passed out!

“You idiot… You could’ve killed you self, you know…” I can’t help but patted her head. She doesn’t seem to understand or even hear me. She was crying against my chest. Her breaths were staggered from running too much and sobbing made it worse for her.

Wait.

Damn.

She is CRYING against ME! A GIRL is CRYING in MY ARMS!! What should I do?!

I panicked. Well, yeah, I panicked. I’m sorry for myself.

I may be an idol and all, and some fans even do cried when they saw me… But I’ve never had a girl crying in my embrace before! Uh…… What to do???

 “Right. Do whatever you think is right, Chanyeol. There’s no camera here, no one to judge you but (Y/N) and right now she needs your help. Be a man and help her,” I think to myself.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, bunny… They’ll come back…” I told her what I’ve been telling myself. “Please stop crying…”

She was walking aimlessly, I have to her to the shore, step by step. I still had my arms around her, just in case she lost her balance or worse, lost her consciousness. She was hugging herself, crying so hard that her body shook with each double breathings between her sobs.

“Ssshh… it’s okay… it’s okay… Don’t cry… I’m here…” I kept on whispering to her.

I don’t know what else to do. She looked so fragile right now. Up until this evening, she may have broken down a few times, but none of them is as bad as this one. Seeing her cry hurts. It always hurts so much. I don’t know what part of me is hurt seeing her cry. My pride as a man that should’ve protects her? My heart? Could it be?

 

We reached our shelter and I sat her down, putting the sleeping bad around her. She asked me to get in so I can keep myself warm before, and now it’s her turn to keep herself warm.

She hugged her knees and hung her head. I sat beside her and pulled her in, making her head lean against my chest while I lean myself back to the tree behind me and put my arm around her. She didn’t refuse, but she doesn’t look like she’s aware of her surroundings either. She kept on crying, mumbling something about her home and her parents. I have to fight back my own tears. I may not understand everything that she said, but I understand enough to know she desperately misses her family.

I think what hurts the most is not knowing what to do.

To be honest, I don’t even know what to think.

Everything is jumbled up at the moment. So many things came to my mind as soon as I settle down with her beside me. ‘When your whole life flashed in front of you’? I didn’t believe it until just now.

Will they really come back? What if they never find us?

What about my family? How sad would they be if I really didn’t come back?

What about my members? Will I be replaced by another person?

What about my fans? If I didn’t come back, how many of them will cry? What if they danger themselves because of me?

What about (Y/N)? Will she keep on surviving with me here? Will she give up?

 

No.

Park Chanyeol, get a hold of yourself. You should not be thinking like this.

I shook my head, trying to cast away all the bad thoughts off my mind. I am the happy virus. I didn’t own that title from nothing. I have to keep positive.

You can do this Park Chanyeol. They WILL come back again and find us. They DEFINITELY WILL. You will meet your family again. You will soon be in the practice room with the members again. You’re an idol with fans all over the world. Surely they would help SAR team to find you right?

Right.

I kept myself together and opened my eyes, coming back to the reality with (Y/N) beside me. She was still sobbing, hyperventilating a little, but I guess exhaustion washed over her. She was asleep against me. Without realizing, I was her hair all along. Her hair was still wet, she has just washed it in the rain in a very extraordinary manner. I did say that she always amuses me, didn’t I?

I sighed. Now, what should I do? I have no idea what to do. I hate not knowing what to do. Tch.

From the start of this journey, it has always been her that led us on. She always knows what to do. She treated my wound, she found the river, she built the shelter, she looked for fruits and she even cooked them. She may not be the brightest and happiest girl I’ve ever met, but she made me feel bright and happy just being with her. I tried my best to keep her smiling; joking around, playing pranks on her, anything to keep her happy and energized. Because when she is happy and energized, she is the little bunny that I find really cute.

Really cute? Is that all she is to you Park Chanyeol? No more than a little bunny? I have to admit, I struggle with myself a lot when it comes to girls. Especially ever since I debuted. I’ve lost contact with my first love, and I’ve been too aware about relationships because of my status as an idol. I can’t talk freely to a girl, and sometimes it’s hard to distinguish if a girl is coming to be because of myself or because of my fame and money.

At first I thought this bunny and her friend are sasaengs that followed me even when I went filming in a deserted place. But then I realized, while her friend is definitely a fan, she on the other hand didn’t even took any interest in looking at me. She just smile to me out of politeness and quickly snaps her friend out of her daze when I smiled at them. Well, there’s no what that they’re sasaengs.

Then after the accident happen, I was stuck with her. At first it was awkward and difficult with the language barrier. But thank goodness she is still a k-pop fan and damn! I was amazed at her Korean vocabulary. She may not spell the words right, but I sort of understand. I guess that applies to me as well because my English is nothing compared to Kris hyung, but I do understand quite a lot.

Then as the atmosphere between us became less awkward thanks to her falling on her , I found out that we have a lot of music in common. This is another good thing. I’ve always said that I want a girl that has the same music taste as mine, and here she is. Is she my ideal girl then? Same taste of music and she cooks.

I smiled to myself, “well, maybe she is…”

Something about her as always made me smile, made me happy, made me want to protect her, keep her away from everyone else. Maybe kept her from being found so that we can be together? She gave the lyrics of ‘Growl’ a whole new meaning to me.  I mean, come on. I’ve always thought the lyrics were cheesy and weird. But with her beside me, maybe I was wrong.

Then I remembered something: she had a boyfriend back home. Oh come on!!! Why is it when I finally found a girl, she has to have a boyfriend?! Damn it!!

I have to admit, I was jealous of her whole relationship. Both the fact that she can have such an open relationship with everyone around her supporting her, and that another guy owns her heart.

 

“Why are you doing this to me, (Y/N)-ah?” I said softly, not wanting to wake her up. Still her hair, I take a good look at her. She’s not that skinny. A little bit chubby, but not fat either. She doesn’t have that pointy jawline, and her nose wasn’t that sharp. But I don’t care what everyone else thinks, she’s pretty for me.

 

What happened next came without thinking, but for me, it just felt right to do so.

I tucked her hair behind her ears and placed my palm against her cheeks. I stretch my other hand to reach hers and slipped my fingers between her tiny ones. Oh, how I wanted to that since this morning when she gripped my hand tight.

I shifted my body so that our foreheads can touch. I took one deep breath. Inhale.

I leaned in closer.

Our noses touched. I closed my eyes. Exhale.

Closer.

 I can feel her warm breath against my lips. Inhale.

“Let me do this, (Y/N)-ah…”

My heart was beating fast. A little bit more…

 

***

 

“no…” the word escape her lips.

 

 

.