Chanyeol’s POV:

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

 

“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.

 

. 

 

***

I snapped back to my consciousness and pull my head away from her. I was searching for an excuse when I realized she still had her eyes closed.

“no… we’re here… please…” she muttered again in her sleep. Oh… She wasn’t talking to me.

I tried hard to contain my laughter but my body still shook because if how funny that was. At the same time however, I felt bad for her. I don’t need a translator to know that she was having a dream about that helicopter again.

“no… don’t go… please…” her eyebrows formed a frown, but she’s still sleeping.

“Ssshh… it’s okay... they’ll come back…” I hugged her again, her back. Once she stopped muttering, I leaned her to the tree. I tuck her hair behind her ears once again, but this time I am in my right mind.

“I’ll always be here for you. I won’t go anywhere,” I whispered before I kissed her forehead.

I let go of her and took my flashlight. I remembered her legs were bleeding earlier, so I want to make sure it’s alright.

Hmm… Some of the dirt and blood seemed to have been washed away by the sea earlier. Her wounds were mostly scratches and some small cuts from her skin were seen. The gashes were here and there, from her soles to her calf, but I didn’t see any above her knees. I guess she didn’t even look at where she’s stepping, to have these wounds on her. Well I didn’t call her bunny for nothing…  Anyway, other than those shallow scars, I don’t see any huge injuries so I guess she’ll be okay?

I should do what she did to my wounds too. Um… Wash and wipe it clean? I guess?

 

Aish! What should I do??

 

********

End of Chanyeol’s POV

********

 

 

 

You’re having a nightmare. Just a nightmare.

Plane crash. Failed rescue attempt. Dying in an uninhabited island.

Just a nightmare…

 

You open your eyes and reality struck you again. This is reality. This is not a nightmare. You can’t escape. You slowly took in everything that happened, including the fact that you have just missed you last chance of coming back to your family. You didn’t really remember what happened after failing to catch the helicopter because something pulled you back.

You took in your surroundings and tried your best to keep yourself logical. The sky is dark, darker than yesterday. Grey clouds still hung over the faint crescent moon. You didn’t know how many hours passed since the helicopter went away. You were asleep against a tree, with your sleeping bag covering your body. Your legs hurts from some cut wounds because of your run earlier. Chanyeol was a little bit to your left, writing something in your notebook with a flashlight on his left hand. It must’ve been him that pulled you back. But why?

Then you realized your clothes are wet from your bust down.

“Why? Didn’t I just change to dry clothes before I went on running? Did it rain again? No, if it’s rain, then the upper part would be wet first. Hmm… Did I go in to the sea?! Oh damn,” you think to yourself as you stretch your body, earning a few pops from your spine.

“오, 너 깨어있어 (Oh, you’re awake)!” Chanyeol looked up. “Drink…” he pointed his flashlight at an opened coconut beside you.

You took the coconuts under your lips and drank. After drinking enough to satisfy yourself, you put the coconut back down. Your eyes went to your legs and realized that they have been cleaned. Chanyeol had did everything for you; preventing you drowning, taking care of you while you’re out of your mind, and even preparing a drink for you.

“Thank you…” you said to him. “Thank you for everything… And sorry too… For causing you trouble all these times…”

Chanyeol looked back up and smiled at you, “아니(ani) (no), thank you…”

“What are you doing? Mwohanungoya?” you asked because he seemed really focused on writing.

“응? 비밀~~음.. secret!” he grinned.

You’re not in the mood to get curious, so you just lean back against the tree behind you and took another sip of coconut water. You watch Chanyeol as he keep on writing. Felt like you can just stare at him all night long. His face wasn’t clear to you as there is no other light beside the reflection of his flashlight, but it was enough to make an outline of his face.

Finally got bored of doing nothing, you stood up to walk to your shelter, planning to take out your phone and turn it on. However, as soon as you stood up, your head started pounding again. The pain felt like how it was before; sharp on the surface and tension on the inside. You fell back and lean to the tree for balance.

Noticing that you’ve just lost your balance, Chanyeol quickly react and a second later he’s beside you, holding your arms, asking if you’re okay. You tried to tell him you’re okay, but the pain is too much that you’re afraid if you open your lips, your words would only become shrieks of pain. So you just let him held you while you fight the pain back. He sat you back down and you comply, just hoping that the pain will go away soon like it did twice before. Chanyeol wraps his hands around you, whispering to you that it’s gonna be okay, that he’s there for you, and that he’ll not leave you.

 

---

 

The pain slowly fades away a few minutes later, much longer than the last attack. As the pain went away, your mind start to focus again, this time realizing that you’re leaning against Chanyeol’s torso, and that he’s hugging you while your hair, still mumbling something. You move your hands away from your pained head and before Chanyeol could react, you hugged him back.

“Thank you again, Giant…” you said as you rest your head on his shoulder.

Chanyeol seemed surprised, but the hands he has just loosened are now tightening again against you. “Strong, bunny, okay?” he said in English, perhaps he meant that he wanted you to be strong.

“Okay, I will. As long as you’re here though…” you replied to him, not sure if you want him to understand what you have just said or not.

The feelings you have for this man in your arms are stronger than ever. At this point, you have decided that weather this is love or just a crush, you wanted to always have him around. You have trusted him with all your heart and you wouldn’t mind to have him stuck with you here. Even if you managed to get rescued later, you made a promise to yourself that you would always stay by his side, perhaps just as his fan, but he definitely has secured a place in your heart.

“야, you okay?” Chanyeol let go of his hug and put his arms on either side of your shoulders, checking on your face.

“I’m fine now, thanks” you managed a smile, gently start pushing away his hands off your shoulders.

“Drink!” he handed you back the coconut and you took another few gulps.

You tried standing up again slowly with Chanyeol taking precautions if you were to have another headache attack. This time, no headache. You thank him again and went to your backpack, taking out your phone while Chanyeol got back to writing.

You sat back beside Chanyeol and start digging through your gallery. Beside the many idol photos, there was, of course, pictures of your family and friends. You took your time through each and every picture, making sure that if you’re not coming back, you at least have to remember their faces. Then, you come upon the picture of you and your boyfriend at your 1 year anniversary. You start thinking about what to do with him if you come back. Your heart now isn’t fully his anymore.

“Who? Boy…friend…?” Chanyeol asked, suddenly he’s beside you, peeking at your phone screen.

“Yeah…” you answered and quickly swipe your phone to show the next picture: you and your elder sister posing for the camera at your last family vacation.

“이것, this, 누나(noona)? Sister? 와우, 진짜 더 같은 (woah, jinjja deo gat-eun)(woah, really similar)!! Same!”

“Yeah, people always say that we really look alike,” you smiled.

Chanyeol then took his phone out too and turned it on. He showed you a picture of his sister, to which you find her so very pretty, and all too similar to him as well. It’s just like the female version of him.

“ya! You two also look alike! You, noona, same!”

“네(ne)(yes)! 맞죠(maljwo)(right)?!” he grinned and swipe his phone to show you more pictures.

He showed you each and every member of his family, then his EXO members. You find that the members are all good looking, but since you’re only familiar with Chanyeol’s face, it seemed to you like he stood out the most amongst the rest of the members. Both of you then started comparing the actual picture to the ones you drew out earlier. Most of what Chanyeol drew were pretty on point, but exaggerated. You started matching the members’ faces to the names you learned earlier today. They had so many members that you got really really confused. You are not even confident that you’ve memorized their names.

Chanyeol suggested a little game to help you, he would show you a picture, and you have to guess the name of the member on screen. He allowed you a little help; by looking at the sketches he drew.

You knew that you can’t rely on hair style and hair color to differentiate a K-Pop idol, so you tried your hardest to find another points of their faces. Nonetheless, you still failed so many times that Chanyeol find it really funny. At first, you even mistake another member for Chanyeol to which he laughed so hard and complained how he’s more handsome than that member.

You keep on mistaking the one named Luhan for Sehun and the other way around. Somehow, the two lads looked so similar. Other than both of them, you are starting to get a grip of their names and faces. The easiest ones to differentiate were the ones called D.O or Kyungsoo when he showed that heart-shaped smile, then Lay or Yixing when his dimples are showing, and Xiumin’s chubby cheeks. The rest of the members were sometimes still confusing, but not as much as Luhan and Sehun.

“They’re not brothers?! Seriously?” you complained at the n-th time fail on differentiating Luhan and Sehun.

“아니요(aniyo)! No~! Luhan-hyung, Sehunnie, not same! Different! This… Luhan-hyung. This…. Sehunnie” he corrected you.

“Ugh, I think I’m gonna have another headache from learning your members,” you are by now frustrated at yourself.

“야, 이것, this!” he showed you another picture of the members, this time from Wolf promotion era.

“Uhhh… Okay, here we go… Easiest first, you,” you pointed at the one holding the camera.

“네(ne)(yes)~”

“Uh.. D.O?” you recognize the large amount of white in his eyes and Chanyeol nodded.

“Tao,” you guessed based on his eye bags and the hair color.

“네(yes)~ this!” he pointed at two faces, the one above him, and the one beside him.

“Uuhhh.. okay…” you pointed at the lad beside Chanyeol. “Sehun?” You carefully guessed. “And so this one is Luhan…… maybe?” you pointed at the lad above him.

“와우!!! 맞죠(maljwo)(right)! Yes! Yes!” he gave you a little clap.

Now that you’re more familiar with their faces, Chanyeol forbid you from peeking at your notebook, and you have to name both their stage name and real name. You accepted the challenge.

And you helplessly failed the first ten attempts. Chanyeol has to keep repeating you their real names.

Kim Junmyeon. Kim Minseok. Kim Jongin. Kim Jongdae.

“Why are there so many of them?! Why did they all look alike? Why are their names hard to remember??” you kept on thinking.

When your mistakes didn’t get any better, Chanyeol decided that it’s enough ‘name the member’ session for the day. He started showing you the pictures of their managers, their stylists, and even some of SM staffs. With each picture, he would tell you when and where it was taken, along with who took the pictures. You too showed him a few pictures that have funny stories behind them.

Minutes passed and perhaps hours too. Finally, with nothing else to talk about in the gallery, you went to your music player and started a little karaoke session. You pick a few songs that you knew both of you are familiar with. Soon enough, you two are screaming to Simple Plan, making a harmonious duet to Jason Mraz, dancing to Daft Punk, and even rapping to Eminem. Not to forget embarrassing yourself by trying to rap Korean songs, which Chanyeol find it really funny and amusing. He kept asking you to rap to another song, even when you don't know the lyrics, so you just pretend like you're rapping with much swag.

"Rap bunny!! Woooo!!" Chanyeol had a new nickname for you.

 

***

 

The night grew deeper and your little notebook was quite full by now. You have talked about almost everything. It felt like you have known each other for years instead of just less than 48 hours. Chanyeol is really kind and polite from his heart, you can tell he cares so much for his surroundings. He is also a very hard worker. Once he starts something, he won't stop until the end, no matter what. He gets curious a lot too, wanting to know this and that, to try a bit of everything, but he is patient enough to know when he should take his chance so that his work won't be left behind. He sees everything from positive side, he would always say he grew from his experiences, either good or bad, he would try to look at the lessons learned instead of any loss.

 You also learned how difficult it is to bear the title 'idol', how people watch over your every action, how people overact over a simple mistake, how hard they have to work, how they have to keep a smiling face everywhere, how harsh critics and haters can be, how precious the fans' love are to them, how they stay beside each other, keeping the group going together.

Little by little, you're drawn deeper to Chanyeol and everything about him pulled you in. There's this feeling of wanting to be there for him, wanting to protect him, to keep him away from all the dangers in the entertainment world, but at the same time wishing him to be free to do whatever he wants.

 

---

 

The night was a little cold, the sky was cloudy, and the wind was blowing the leaves away from its trees. The moon and stars were just peeking in between the puffy gray gas so it was also very dark. Since you can't light a fire due to the rain earlier, both of you snuggled inside your own sleeping bags to keep yourselves warm.

However, you noticed that even in the sleeping bag, Chanyeol is still shivering and saying that it's cold. Your suspicion began to rise.

"Chanyeol-ah, are you okay?" you asked.

"Eh? 괜찮아(gwaenchanha), it's okay. Just cold"

Of course that didn't calm your curiosity. You reach out the back of your hand to his forehead. 

What you feared most about his health is happening.

He's warm. Not yet a high grade fever, but it's definitely building up. The infection from his injured arm has spread to his body and right now his body is fighting against it by building up a fever.

"You're gonna have a fever. Sleep now, get more rest," you told him and gesture him to take a rest now. Too dizzy to refuse the offer to sleep, Chanyeol stood up still inside his sleeping bag and began dragging himself to your shelter. Guess he's too lazy to get out of his sleeping bag. He is half hopping, half side walking to his destination, he grinned at you when he reach your shelter. Even when he's sick, he still manages to lighten the mood and made you smile. That's the power of Park Chanyeol for you.

"Let's hope your body is still strong enough to fight back that infection," you continue as he lean down to the sand and close his eyes.

You start thinking about tomorrow. How you have to take care of him as he had took care of you. What will he need when he had a fever? More water, that's a define must. Then he would also need more calories. You were backtracking in your head the paths you had visited today so that you will know where to go tomorrow.

"토끼야..." Chanyeol called softly from his sleeping bag.

"Hm?" You turn your head and point your flashlight just below his face so that you can see his face but he won't be blinded by the light.

“이리와 (iriwa)(come here)! Here!” he patted a little space beside him. “Cold…”

“Are you sure it’s because of the cold and not because you’re scared to sleep there alone in the dark, giant? Hm? Scared?” you smiled.

“Scared? No! Cold!” Chanyeol pouted. “Bunny~~ here…” he asked you again.

“Okay, fine!” you laughed and got out of your sleeping bag. You walk and sit beside his legs, just on the edge of your shelter, before putting your legs back inside your sleeping bag. You didn’t feel as cold, so you didn’t pull your sleeping bag all the way to your torso.

“잘자(jalja), 토끼야(tokki-ya)… Goodnight, bunny~” he said his goodnight in both languages as he patted your back.

“jalja, goodnight to you too giant,” you patted his knees.

Chanyeol shifted his body a few times before finding his comfortable position, and then soon he fell silent. Seeing that Chanyeol had already closed his eyes, you took your time and looked at how he seemed so peaceful during his sleep. All the lines in his faces disappeared, leaving his face looking like a little kid. It’s just like this morning, with all guards down, just him being a tired guy facing all the hardship in this world, and now needing a rest. His chest rise and fall in a slow rhythm, his lips slightly parted to let the needed air in and out of his lungs.

---

“야(ya)… Shiny…” Chanyeol suddenly muttered out and block his eye lids with his hand.

“Eh!?” you were surprised by his sudden movement. You thought he was asleep! Good thing you didn’t scream out of surprise. Well. It’s your own fault anyway. You didn’t realize you’re pointing your flashlight at his face this whole time.

“Sorry!” you muttered to him as you turn off your flashlight and let out a sigh. You turn your back against him again and took your notebook, planning to write as many things as possible about today. You turn your flashlight back on and this time points it to your notebook before started writing. About all the laughs you both had, about the failed rescue attempt, the way he comforted you, until the last moments just now when you found out he had a fever.

What you didn’t know is that Chanyeol was smiling behind you. He was happy to know that you’re looking at him, happy to see you worried about him, happy seeing your flustered face when he surprised you. However, he stayed quiet. He tried to sleep because his head felt so heavy. Still, something seemed missing. He can’t sleep. He wondered what he should do…

 

***

 

After finishing the last bit of notes, you remembered that Chanyeol had written something in this book too earlier. So you skim the pages of your book until you found an unfamiliar page. It was in the last few empty pages, and now it’s full of his handwritings.

In Korean. 2 full pages. Both sides of the paper.

You’re too tired to try reading it now, reading too many hangul makes your head spins. Moreover, this time is a handwritten hangul, far more harder to read. Besides, even if you can read, you don’t think you can understand anything out of it. Letting out a sigh, you put down your note book and your flashlight.

You look a glimpse of the sky once more. It was a bit brighter now that the moon is no longer hiding. You gaze at the sky for a little while. With Chanyeol being quiet, you too soon feel sleepy. You rested your head between your knees. You didn’t lay back right there because if you do, you would be head to head and chest to chest with Chanyeol. Even though you wanted to, you’re afraid. If he didn’t have the same feeling to you, if you would make things awkward, you just didn’t want to ruin the moments you have had this far. So you stayed like that for a while, afraid that moving would wake the sleeping giant beside you. You hummed a few songs before your awareness slowly fade out.

Realizing that you should lay down and sleep, you shifted your body to move to the other end of the shelter, so that you both would sleep like last night, with your backpacks separating you two. You reach out and pull your backpack from the corner of the shelter to the middle. Then, something pulled you to the ground and lay you down.

“안돼(andwe)(no)” Chanyeol breathed out as he pulled your hand and held it in his. Before you even realize what’s going on, he quickly overwhelms you with his long hands and wraps his arms around your neck. He pulled you closer and you found the back of your head were pressed against his chest.

“Ch.. Chanyeol!” you tried grabbing his arms to free yourself. However, he put another arms on you, wrapping your shoulders, tightening his embrace.

“토끼(tokki), stay…” Chanyeol sighed to your hair.

“but…!” you can feel blood rushing to your face, you’re probably the one having heavier headache right now.

“ssshhh… please… 제발(jebal)… 잠을 잘 수가 없어(I can’t sleep)”

“Chanyeol…” you still try to free yourself. By now your face must be deep red. Chanyeol is holding you so tightly, even when you two are separated by his sleeping bag, you can slightly feel his body against your head and your back.

“Cannot sleep, bunny, stay…” he asked once again, but this time loosening his grip on you. He didn’t want to strangle you anyway, Chanyeol just want you to stay beside him. He decided that if you still resist him after this, he would let you go. Being a gentleman, he didn’t want to force you in his arms.

To his luck, you decided not to fight him anymore.

“I’ll stay…” you said to him, grabbing his arms once again. This time, not trying to let yourself go, but to apply a comforting pressure on his arms, promising him that you’ll be here for him, just like how he was always there for you.

“Thank you,” he breathed against your hair and kissed the back of your head.

You froze. You didn’t know how to react. You knew you’re red as a tomato now. Chanyeol smiled to your hair upon realizing how your whole body tense up when he kissed your head. Moreover, you didn’t protest or even try to resist him. You only wished Chanyeol couldn’t feel how fast your heart is beating right now, cause it would be even more embarrassing.

Without letting go of his arms around you, Chanyeol shifted his body once again and soon found his comfortable position. Knowing that you would have to sleep like this tonight, you also shift your body and find the best position to sleep in his arms. You took a few breath and try to calm yourself down, trying to relax each and every muscle so that you can sleep. With him hugging you, even when it’s just his arms around you, you felt warm, safe, peaceful. Call it crazy, but you felt like his arms belong there; around you.

 

You didn’t remember how long you stayed awake, but it was definitely not that long because it felt too comfortable with him around you.

 

Maybe it was your dream, maybe you’re still awake, maybe you’re just about to drift to your dream, but you remember Chanyeol saying something you can’t understand before you fell to a deep sleep.

“나 너 좋아하는 것 같아 (na neo joah-a-neun geot ga-ta)…”

 

 

I think I like you.