Slowly, the tears came less and less before they finally stopped. Jisun wearily took a shuddering breath, feeling completely drained. And her head hurt. Whether it was from crying or stress she didn't know but she wouldn't be surprised if it was from both.
"Are you hungry?" Jongup asked as he pulled away and rubbed her back.
"No." she uttered and shook her head slightly. She took a deep breath and then sighed. "But I think I need to call in sick for work again."
"Okay." he replied as he stood.
Jisun looked up at him and the hand he offered while giving her a soft smile. She took his hand gratefully and let him help her to her feet. She shuffled across the porch to the back door with him behind her.
When she entered the kitchen, she came to an abrupt halt which caused Jongup to run in to her. She watched as Daehyun took a bag of chips out of a cupboard before grabbing the bottle of water on the counter. He spared her a quick glare before turning and leaving the kitchen.
As she in air to regain her composure, Jongup brushed past her and hurried out of the kitchen. She took in another deep breath before following him. Her phone was still up in the bedroom where Daehyun was diligently watching over Yongguk.
She entered the living room and went over to the stairs. As she went up a few steps, she heard voices and stopped.
"What did you say to her?"
"What does it matter?"
Jisun turned and angled herself so she could see up to the second floor. By the bedroom door stood Daehyun and Jongup. Daehyun went to roughly brush past the younger but Jongup grabbed him by the front of his shirt. In one fluid motion, he shoved Daehyun against the side of the doorway.
"Get off me!" Daeyhun angrily demanded as he attempted to push Jongup's arm away.
The black haired boy pressed Daehyun against the wood siding even more, making Daehyun wince and stop fighting. "Don't take your pain out on her." Jongup evenly said. Then he let the older guy go. "Hyung will be fine." he added, speaking softly.
When Daehyun didn't move or say anything, Jongup turned and entered the bedroom. Jisun pressed her lips together as she observed Daehyun slump slightly against the doorway. He closed his eyes and swallowed before letting out a sigh. Then he straightened and went in to the room as well.
Gratitude for Jongup filled her but at the same time, she felt a small ache for Daehyun. She knew she shouldn't, not after everything. Yet she could understand it at the same time.
Taking a deep breath, she continued upstairs. When she went into the bedroom, she saw Jongup leaning against the far wall away from the beds. He seemed relaxed as he smiled at her but she caught the flicker of movement in his eyes as he glanced at Daehyun. The older male was sitting on Himchan's bed again and didn't acknowledge her presence as he took a drink out of the water bottle.
Jisun picked her phone up from the top of the dresser and left the room. She walked down the hallway to the bathroom and closed the door behind her for privacy. She called work and told the same story of her stomach bothering her still but assured them that she would work tomorrow.
After she hung up, she made her way back to the bedroom. Both guys were still in their respective places as well as the man sleeping in the bed. He was still exactly as she had left him. She placed her phone on the dresser and went to leave.
"You should sit with him noona." Jongup suddenly said, making her stop.
She blinked at him in surprise as he directed his gaze towards Daehyun. "What do you think hyung?" he asked the older boy. "You think noona should sit with him?"
In confusion, Jisun turned towards Daehyun. He didn't look at either of them as he his lips. Then he quietly said, "Yes."
dropped open. This was the same man who just threatened to kill her and now he's saying he wants her to sit with Yongguk? Why the sudden change? She didn't think what Jongup had said was enough to change his attitude that quickly.
"Noona?"
She turned her attention back to Jongup and saw him smiling at her. "I... I just... I need... to talk to Himchan... first." she stammered.
"Okay." he brightly said. He continued leaning against the wall, showing no desire to move or leave.
Jisun bit her lip and left the room. She went down the stairs, pondering the change of events until she entered the living room. Then she dismissively shook her head and made her way to the dining room.
As she entered, Himchan, Youngjae, and Zelo were talking urgently but suddenly grew quiet when they noticed her. She got the feeling that whatever they were talking about was not only important, but something they didn't want her to hear.
"What is it?" Himchan asked her.
She swallowed as she glanced amongst them before directing her attention to Himchan. "I called in sick again but I have to go in tomorrow." she informed him.
Himchan slowly nodded thoughtfully. "Alright."
"I'll go with noona tomorrow." Zelo quickly volunteered.
Himchan regarded him for a moment before nodding again. "Okay." Then he turned back to Jisun. "Can you keep sitting with Yongguk today? Please."
"Uh... yeah." she agreed.
He smiled at her. "Thanks. I'll bring you something to eat in a bit."
"I'm not really hungry." she confessed.
Then his smile faded in to a frown. "And you hardly ate yesterday." He came around the table and approached her. "You won't help Yongguk by making yourself sick." he whispered to her, his face etched with worry. "At least eat a little."
She opened to protest but relented instead. "Okay."
"Thank you." he said with much emphasis. Then he stood there and smiled at her.
She pressed her lips together, getting the hint. She glanced at Youngjae and Zelo before turning and leaving. As she passed through the doorway, she turned her back to see Himchan rejoining the others as they picked up their conversation. With a silent sigh, she crossed the living room to the stairway and went upstairs.
She entered the bedroom and hesitated before grabbing Yongguk's book she had been reading off of the dresser. Then she went over to Yongguk's bed. She settled on the floor by his head, her back against the wall and her side against the bed. She heard his even breathing and stole a tiny peek over at Daehyun. He was slowly munching on his bag of chips with his gaze cast down towards his lap. Next she looked over at Jongup. He was no longer standing but sitting on the floor as well. His head leaned against the wall and his eyes were closed.
Swallowing, she opened the book and attempted to concentrate on the words dotting the pages.

Jisun stirred awake and let out a sleepy yawn. Then she rolled and nuzzled her face in to the pillow more as she stretched. At that point in time, she realized she was laying down and her eyes shot open. She was in Yongguk's bed.
With a gasp, she sat up and glanced around the room. Everyone was gone which included Yongguk. She practically jumped out of bed and hurried out of the room. She went down the stairs and followed the sound of voices to the kitchen.
All six boys were in the room and at her appearance, everyone grew quiet. Youngjae was sitting on the counter by the sink and slowly munching on a sandwich. Daehyun was sitting on the counter to the far right. He had a sandwich as well that he was taking big bites out of. Himchan, Zelo, and Jongup were standing around the island counter. As Jongup spooned some jam on to a slice of bread, Zelo stared at him intently with a little pout. Her gaze settled on Yongguk who was sitting on one of the stools. Out of everyone, he was the only one that didn't look at her when she entered.
"Hey." Himchan greeted with a smile. "You fell asleep before I even started breakfast." He indicated the sandwich stuff spread out on the island counter. "Help yourself to some lunch."
She bit her bottom lip and slowly nodded. She moved forward and sat on the stool next to Yongguk. She caught him out of the corner of her eye glancing at her for a brief second before he looked away. Then she moved her gaze around everyone again and noticed the tense silence in the room.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Himchan smiled at her again. "Nothing for you to worry about." Then Yongguk scoffed and Himchan quickly frowned at him.
"Just tell her." Yongguk firmly said.
"Tell me what?" she questioned, all thoughts of lunch leaving her mind.
Daehyun dropped down from the counter. "Hyung!"
"She has the right to know too." the eldest countered.
"She can't be trusted!" Daehyun fired right back.
"Don't say that about noona!" Zelo quickly piped in.
Himchan groaned in frustration. "Enough! You.."
Suddenly Yongguk yelled, interrupting Himchan and making everyone jump. Jisun blinked at him in confusion while everyone else stared at him in shock. Not just from his outburst but from the word he had said. A word that Jisun had never heard before.
"Hyung." Zelo uttered in disbelief. "You remember how to speak Matoki?"
Jisun's eyes widened and then she too was staring at Yongguk in shock. Yongguk glanced wordlessly at the youngest before turning to meet her gaze. "Youngjae can't make any more of the medicine for me."
The words sounded almost as foreign to her as the Matoki word he had spoken. But then her mind slowly caught up. "But... you need more." she said and glanced at Youngjae who was solemnly looking at the floor. "The... the headaches..."
"Will keep coming and will get worse." Yongguk continued. "Until my brain can't take it anymore."
Panic filled her as her heartbeat sped up. "But... But I... thought..."
"I ran Youngjae's calculations myself." Zelo explained. "Hyung shouldn't have had a headache for at least a couple of weeks or more. Enough time for Youngjae-hyung to figure out how to make one of the ingredients for the formula."
"If I can figure it out" Youngjae quietly mumbled as his shoulders slumped even more.
"But apparently being here and around all of us is too much." Jongup stated. Then he turned to the sad boy on the counter. "And this isn't your fault hyung. You did more than we could have."
Jisun felt her eyes watering. This was worse than the headache he had in the morning, knowing that he was going to have more. And that they were going to get worse. That everything the boys had been working to avoid was going to happen.
Himchan reached over and grabbed her hand, breaking her out of her thoughts. She met his gaze as her jaw quivered. "The ingredient is a chemical from Mato. If we find our ship, then we make the medicine." he said.
"Your... your ship?" she questioned, her voice sounding hollow.
"We will find it." Himchan insisted and squeezed her hand. "So don't stress about it." Then he gave Yongguk a quick disapproving look. "You already haven't been eating as it is."
"This isn't something you should hide from her." Yongguk simply declared.
Himchan frowned again. Then he said something to Yongguk that Jisun didn't understand.
Yongguk stood up with a determined look in his eye. "I'm not going to tell you what I remember. If you're going to keep secrets, then so am I." Then he turned and stalked out of the kitchen. A moment later, the front door slammed shut.

Jisun sat on the stool, feeling slightly numb. Himchan released her hand go finally as he let out a frustrated sigh. She pulled hands back and placed them on her nauseous stomach. She remembered Zelo telling her that the headaches had gotten so bad that Yongguk was getting nosebleeds. That they were worried about the headaches causing brain damage. How much damage? Waking up that morning with him suddenly gone was painful enough, could she live if he...
"Jisun."
She looked up and saw Himchan worriedly looking at her. "Everything will be fine. You need to eat." he said.
Her gaze lowered to the food on the counter. Then she stood and hurried out of the kitchen, ignoring Himchan calling for her. She crossed the living room to the front door and went outside. As she closed the door behind her, she spotted Yongguk sitting on the edge of the porch. She walked towards him while forcing herself to stay composed.
"What do you remember?" she questioned.
He glanced up at her before looking away and shaking his head. "Nothing."
"Yongguk." she half whined, half pleaded.
That caught his attention and he quickly looked at her again. "Jisun." he uttered. Then he reached up and grabbed her hand. He gave a slight tug and she felt her legs gave out as she dropped on to the porch. "It's fine. Nothing's going to happen to me. They'll find the ship."
She in a shaky breath, willing herself to believe those words. He flashed her a small smile as he squeezed her hand. She swallowed thickly, only feeling slightly better. And it must have shown on her face cause his smile faded. Then he turned his head and stared off at the forest.
"It doesn't work like that." he confessed. "It's just a random thought most of the time. Like when I remembered Shishimato. To me it was just a word. I didn't know it was my name."
She felt her skin heat up a little as he rubbed his thumb over her hand. She wondered if he realized he was doing it but made no attempt to point it out or move.
"And then there are a few images but again, there's no context. I don't know what any of it means." he continued before letting out a heavy sigh.
She her lips. "Like what?" she quietly asked.
He turned his head and met her gaze once more. Then he scooted a little closer to her. "And sometimes it's not a complete picture. There's so much missing that I don't know if it's actually a memory or if it's something my head just made up."
Her eyes widened as her lips parted.
"Please Jisun." he begged her in a hushed whisper as he leaned closer. "Tell me what I'm suppose to remember."
Her mind grew blank as his closeness. The way he looked at her made dry and she was glad she was already sitting down otherwise she was sure her knees would shake. "I..." Then she remembered the pain he suffered this morning and the chilling words Daehyun had told her. "I... don't... know."
He blinked at her in surprise for a moment before his eyes clouded over with hurt. He leaned back, putting distance between them and causing an ache in her chest.
"Daehyun said he'd kill me if I said anything to you." she blurted out.
He raised an eyebrow before lightly scoffing and shaking his head. Then he frowned as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Wait. You think he meant it?"
She her dry lips. "Well he did say something before about stabbing me in the heart." she mumbled.
In a split second, Yongguk got to his feet and stormed to the door. It took her another second to process what was happening before she scrambled to her feet and chased after him.
"Wait!" she pleaded and grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Don't! He'll just say something to me again."
"Like hell he will." muttered Yongguk venomously as he took a step closer to the front door.
She hurriedly tugged on his arm, causing him to stop again. "Please. Jongup already said something to him and I really don't want to cause more problems."
He turned to her and gave her a questioning look. "Jongup?"
"I eavesdropped on them." she explained. "He guessed that Daehyun said something to me and then told him to not take his pain out on me."
Yongguk furrowed his eyebrows for a few moments before slowly nodding his head. Then he did something that surprised her. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. She stiffened, not expecting it. At the same time though, it was a relief to be in his arms. Her heart hammered in her chest as she blushed.
"If he does anything to you, it'll be the last thing he ever does." Yongguk vowed, which made Jisun blush even harder.
"Ahem."
They both jumped and broke away before looking at the front door. Himchan stood there with his arms folded. "Well if she's not going to listen to me," Himchan said as he glanced between them, "Maybe she'll listen to you. She's hardly eaten." Then he let out a heavy sigh as his face softened. "And Daehyun and Jongup are getting ready to leave."

The three of them went inside and went to the kitchen. Daehyun and Jongup were stuffing packages in to two backpacks. They looked to Jisun almost like the field rations that the military used. Then she watched as they stuffed a few water bottles in to the packs.
"I've marked some areas that look the most promising based off of satellite imagery." Youngjae said as he pointed at a map.
Jisun moved closer to look at the map. In the center was the town and there were large 'x's marked through the woods surrounding the town. Then there were a few red circles in the most remote area to the east. That was where Youngjae was pointing.
"Are you guys going to be okay?" she worriedly asked.
Daehyun ignored her but Jongup smiled at her. "We'll be fine noona."
"Here. It's working properly." Zelo said and set a GPS locater on top of the map.
Jongup took both items and added them to his pack before closing it. "We'll be back in a few days to resupply."
"Good luck." Himchan offered.
Both boys swung their backpacks on to their backs. Then they each checked the belts around their waists that held their knives. Once they were satisfied, they directed their attention to the rest of the group and everyone shared a look.
"We'll find it." Daehyun proclaimed without any doubt in his voice.
"I know you will." Yongguk replied.
Daehyun quickly glanced at him and almost looked like he was startled, before looking away and standing tall. Then he turned and headed for the back door. Jongup brightly smiled and waved at everyone before following and closing the door behind him.
Jisun let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and silently hoped for the best.
"Don't worry noona." Youngjae said as he shyly smiled at her. "When Daehyun says he'll do something, he'll do it."
"If you hurt him again, I'll kill you."
Youngjae's words were innocent, meant to reassure her, so she forced a smile on her face. Then she let out a frightened squeak when her shoulders were grabbed. She was directed toward a stool and pushed down on to it.
As soon as she was sitting, Yongguk walked around the island counter. He grabbed a plate and put two slices of bread on it. Then he reached for the strawberry jam. Instantly, the three remaining boys yelled.
"I'm not eating it, it's for her." he loudly proclaimed over their protests as he scooped jam on to one of the slices.
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Uh... I.."
"If I'm making it, you're eating it." he interrupted without looking up at her.
A blush crept on her face but she clamped shut, stopping her own protest. Then she saw Himchan smirking as he turned to leave the kitchen, "Yep. That works."