In the morning, Jisun stumbled out of bed, still feeling a bit groggy but her stomach was demanding food. She hadn't slept well after she had put Yongguk back to bed.
She came up to his doorway at that moment and peered in through the open door. He was still sleeping in his bed, making her wonder just how long he had been standing outside.
Pressing her lips together, she continued on to the kitchen and went over to the fridge. She pulled out some eggs and a package of ham. Then a few minutes later, she had a pan full of scrambled eggs and sliced ham on the stove.
She turned the heat off and moved the pan aside before grabbing the bread. She sliced a few pieces and put a couple in to the toaster.
"Hey."
She quickly turned and saw Yongguk standing in the kitchen with an odd look on his face.
"Morning." she told him with a small smile. "I just finished cooking breakfast."
"About last night..." he continued.
The smile faded from her face and she glanced away. "Just... no more sleep walking." she quietly said. Then she heard footsteps before a hand gentle grabbed her arm. She looked up to see Yongguk standing by her.
"Deal." he said with a tiny smile.
Her face heated up a little as her lips tugged back in to a smile. Then she heard the toaster pop and she went to grab the toast. Yongguk's hand on her arm though stopped her and she turned back to face him.
"I feel safe here too like you do." he informed her. "I feel like as long as I'm here, nothing bad will happen me."
Biting her lip, she thought about his words before slowly nodding. "How are you doing?" she asked.
He let go of her arm and grabbed the hem of his shirt with both hands. He pulled his shirt up so she could see that he didn't have any bandages on. The cuts still had a slight red tint to them but they were obviously healed.
She bent down a little to examine the worse one and she lightly traced her finger over it. "This one is going to leave quite a scar." she commented.
She glanced up to see Yongguk watching her intently. She pulled her hand back and straightened. "I made breakfast." she declared again. "Something besides waffles."
He pulled his shirt down as his eyes flickered to the toaster. Then he smirked at her. "That's what the toast is for right?"
She made a futile attempt to stop the smile from spreading on her face as she shrugged. "Maybe."
He chuckled and went over to the silverware drawer. He pulled out a spoon before going to the fridge and grabbed the strawberry jam. Jisun giggle and rolled her eyes. Then she grabbed a couple of plates to scoop the breakfast on to.
After moving everything to the table, she watched as Yongguk spread some strawberry jam on a piece of toast before taking a big bite. Then he let out a small moan.
Jisun laughed and shook her head. "When I get back from work today, we should go pick strawberries and make some jam."
He perked up as he eyed the jar that was getting more and more empty everyday. "That's a good idea."
She laughed again and Yongguk joined in, laughing as well.

Work passed by quickly and Jisun found herself only glancing at the clock a few times. Somehow Yongguk saying how he felt safe at her house made her feel better. Not completely free of worry, but no longer anxious. Then it was time for her to leave and she went out the back door.
Just as she made her way to her car, her cell phone started ringing. She dug it out of her purse and saw the name on the screen before answering it. "Hey."
"Hey. You off work?" her friend Yoonjung asked.
"Just now." Jisun replied as she unlocked her car. "What's up?"
"Let's meet for a late lunch." Yoonjung suggested.
Jisun opened the car door and thought about Yongguk waiting for her at home, eager to go berry picking. "I'll pass today."
Yoonjung let out a whine. "Staying up in that mountain cabin alone so much is not good for you."
"I'm not.." Jisun quickly cut herself off. Yongguk hadn't wanted her to call for help and when she took him to town, he was so panicked being around people. "I'm fine." she said instead, keeping the man staying with her a secret. "You know how much I like it there. And I already ate lunch during my break."
Another whine mixed with a groan. "Then coffee. Come on."
Jisun sighed. Any other time she would have said yes but it was different now. Except she also knew that if she declined, Yoonjung would simply drive up the mountain to visit her. "Alright. Usual place." she said, giving in.
"Yay! See you in five." Then the call disconnected.
Jisun rolled her eyes and climbed in to her car. She started the car and slowly pulled out on to the road. Instead of turning to go home, she went the other direction to the coffee shop.
When she reached her destination, she found a parking space further down the road. She locked her car and backtracked to the shop. Yoonjung was already there and sitting at the table by the window.
"I already ordered for you." she said and indicated the second cup across from her.
"Thanks." Jisun replied and sat down.
"So, what have you been up to?" her friend asked.
Jisun shrugged. "The usual. Work. Strawberries came early so I made some jam."
Yoonjung made a disgusted face. "Eww. Call me when the blackberries are ready."
Giggling, Jisun shook her head. Yoonjung always hated strawberries. Whenever her parents let her stay up at the cabin with Jisun and her grandparents, she always pouted when the blackberries weren't in season yet. Jisun's grandmother started hiding a jar of blackberry jam through the winter just for Yoonjung to have when everyone else were eating strawberries.
"What about you?" Jisun asked as she took a small sip of her drink.
"Well apparently I'm single again." she commented.
Jisun frowned. "Oh wow. What happened?"
Yoonjung waved her hand dismissively. "It wasn't working out anyways." She sighed. "I'm gonna be a crazy cat lady."
"No you are not." Jisun protested.
"Hmm... true." agreed Yoonjung. Then she smirked. "That'll be you. Cooped up in that cabin."
"I happen to like that cabin and the quiet that comes with it. Bring on the cats."
They both erupted in to giggles and then continued catching up. Jisun didn't realize the time passing until she glanced at her phone. "Oh! I really need to go." she said and downed the last of her now cool drink.
"Alright." Yoonjung sighed and finished off her own drink.
They gathered up their things and started to leave when a small ad caught Jisun's eye. "You go ahead. I'm gonna get something to go."
Yoonjung raised an eyebrow before she caught sight of the ad too. Then she rolled her eyes and scoffed. Jisun stuck her tongue out and they both laughed.
While Yoonjung went out the door, Jisun went up to the counter. A couple of minutes later, she carried a small box with a strawberry cake in it out to her car.

As soon as she walked through the front door, Yongguk jumped off of the couch.
"Where were you? Did something happen?" he questioned.
She was a bit surprised at first before silently chuckling to herself. Apparently she wasn't the only one that tended to worry.
"My friend asked to meet me for coffee." she told him. "Then we got to talking and I lost track of the time."
His shoulders dropped as he exhaled. "Oh. Okay."
"I'm sorry." she offered and then held up the box. "I brought you this to make it up to you."
He eyed the box curiously. "What is it?"
"Dessert." she answered and walked past him to the kitchen.
Yongguk was right on her heels as he followed her. "But what is it?"
She set the box on the counter and it was instantly slid away from her. Before she could grab it back, Yongguk opened it. She watched as his eyes widened before a big grin formed on his face. Then he moved a hand closer.
Jisun quickly lashed out and smacked the top of his hand. He jerked his hand back and frowned at her.
"I said dessert." she reminded him and took the box away before promptly closing it.
"Just a taste." he whined while pouting and reached for the box.
She moved it further out of his reach. "Dessert. But I also said I'd take you strawberry picking. Those you can eat."
The pout disappeared and he brightly smiled. "Well then let's go already."
Jisun laughed and rolled her eyes. She gave him one last pointed glare before stepping away from the box and headed to the mud room. She slipped on her hiking shoes while Yongguk went to get his shoes by the front door. She made a mental note to invest in hiking boots for him if they were going to go in to the forest together often.
Yongguk insisted on carrying the backpack with the plastic bags as they went out the door. Then they crossed the lawn and stepped on to one of the trails leading off in to the forest. The same one that happened to past by the spot where she found Yongguk and they soon came up to it.
She stopped on the trail and turned to see him giving her a questioning look. "I found you just over there." she told him and pointed.
He blinked at her for a bit before turning his head and staring at the place she was pointing at. Then he swallowed and his lips.
"Did you want to go look?" she asked.
He turned to face her and shook his head. "No." he answered. Then he gave her a small smile. "I'm more interested in the strawberries."
She couldn't help but giggle at that. Then she continued on the trail with him beside her. As they walked, she pointed out a few other small trails that went to other parts of the forest and what they led to.
"Do you ever get lost?" Yongguk asked.
Jisun smiled and shook her head. "No. My grandpa made sure of that. He was always taking me out here with him and making sure I could always find my way home."
"What about bears or something?
She shook her head once more. "Haven't had any around here for a long time. They were driven out back when miners came here in the old days."
Yongguk nodded thoughtfully. "So was your grandfather the one that also taught you about picking berries?"
"Yeah." she said. "He even planted some himself around the forest. Wanting to make sure I could always find a berry patch when I was hungry. Grandma wasn't happy when I'd come home with berry stains on my clothes though."
He laughed and Jisun joined in with a giggle. Then she lead him a little ways off the trail to the patch of strawberries. After showing him how to tell which ones were ripe and which ones weren't, they both set about filling a plastic bag each.
Jisun that more were going to go in to his mouth then in his bag. He fired back that he could still fill his bag faster than her. Then it became a race as they quickly moved through the berry patch, fighting over the ripe strawberries. When Yongguk left his sack on the ground to use both hands, she hurriedly grabbed a handful of his strawberries to add to her bag.
He yelled and she scrambled off the ground, running away from him. Then she let out a surprised yelp when she noticed that he took off after her. Before she had a chance to get away, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
"Give me back my strawberries thief!" he playfully yelled.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" she declared and laughed. Then a small scream as he tried to take her bag away. She held on to it but then a sudden tickling sensation on her side made her lose her grip and the bag tumbled to the ground, strawberries spilling out of it.
"Now look what you did." she accused as he let her go.
"You started it." he countered with a laugh as he knelt down. He started gathering up strawberries and putting them back in to the bag.
She knelt down and began to help as well. "You have no proof."
He laughed and shook his head. Then suddenly, he stopped laughing as his head jerked to the side.
Jisun froze where she was and blinked at him, surprised and confused. She watched as his eyes narrowed and she looked off to where he was staring at.
"What?" she questioned.
"Nothing." he said and turned away. "Must have been a deer or something."
"Oh." she uttered. Then she watched him gather up the rest of the spilled strawberries as fast as he could.
"Do we have enough?" he questioned.
She raised her eyebrows and examined the bag. "Yeah. This should be enough."
He tied the bag closed and gave her a small smile. "Let's go home then." He hurried over to the other bag, tied it closed as well, and then put both bags in to the backpack. Then he hoisted his bag on to his back and grabbed Jisun's hand.
She let him lead her back to the path and she took one last look back. She didn't see whatever it was that he saw. Then she turned back around and teased Yongguk about spilling his precious strawberries as they walked.

That night Jisun woke up once more. She listened but the house was quiet. Still, she slipped out of bed and silently made her way down the hall. When she got to Yongguk's room, she found the door open. She was only a little surprised to see that the bed was empty.
"Yongguk!" she called out and continued down the hallway. Then she let out a breath of relief when she saw him standing in the dark living room. "What are you doing?" she questioned and went over to him.
He continued standing there, not acknowledging her presence as he stared off in to space.
Sighing, she reached over and grabbed his hand. Only then did he rapidly blink and glanced down to see her holding his hand. Then he lifted his gaze to stare at her.
"You're sleep walking again." she told him with a soft smile. "I thought we made a deal?"
He swallowed and his lips. "I don't know where I am."
Her head jerked back a little at that. "What?"
"I'm lost. I don't know where I am." he said.
She raised her eyebrows and looked around. "You're in the living room."
He glanced around as well but nothing changed in his expression. He still looked confused and not just a little out of it. "I... I don't... know..."
She stared at him for a few moments. Then she squeezed his hand, making him look at her once more. "Come on." she instructed.
Holding his hand, she lead him to his room and over to his bed. She indicated for him to lay down and once he did, she draped the blanket over him. Then she turned to leave but a hand quickly grabbed her arm to stop her and she turned back around to look at him.
"Don't leave me." he begged with fear in his eyes. "Please."
A pain tore through her heart, seeing him like this. She quickly sat down on the edge of the bed. "I won't leave you Yongguk. Get some sleep." Then she reached up and ran her fingers through his black hair.
After a while, his eyes drooped shut and never opened as his breathing evened out. She still waited a few minutes to make sure he was very much asleep before slowly standing up. Then she quietly made her way back to her own bedroom. She collapsed on to the bed with a heavy sigh and closed her eyes, falling in to a restless sleep.