When Taemin first laid eyes on Hwayoung, she was running after her sister on skinny legs. Both girls were slender with dark features and pale as the snow that fell first onto the ground. In the snow, they were ethereal beings of ice and fire. Hwayoung had turned, and she was smiling at something her sister had said. Her coal black eyes were twinkling with mischief, and was red enough to make Taemin stop in his tracks.

              Hwayoung was not beautiful- she was haunting. Her dark hair blew loose behind her like a storm, and Taemin was caught in her devastation. Their love caught quick like the fires that ravaged the mountainside during the dry season, and Hwayoung had blown his world apart and back together again. When Hwayoung left Taemin it was like the sun had burnt out, and he was left in the dark.

              He was stuck on the girl with the dark eyes who could bring him to his knees with a single glance. Even watching her kiss another with the same intensity in her eyes that she had once reserved for him, Taemin could not free himself.

              Which is why he threw his life away for hers that night he watched the arrow sink into her chest. She had been running from the trees with her hair blowing wild behind her the way it had the first time he saw her, and her face had a feral expression in the dim light from the moon behind the clouds.

How she haunted him so.

              The arrow had struck her deep, and the soft thud as it buried itself in Hwayoung’s made Taemin’s heart stop. From his post on the gate he had flung himself down and pulled her body through the gap in the fence that Hwayoung herself must have dug. Her fingers were ripped open and covered in dirt and blood.  The hole had been partially covered in snow, and it was with several desperate tugs did Taemin finally manage to pull Hwayoung’s limp body through.

              Her blood left horrible crimson markings in the snow behind her, and Taemin prayed the storm would gather strength. Her eyes were fluttering closed, and he managed to catch her before she crumpled into a pathetic heap. Her blood was flowing freely now around the arrow, and Taemin slug her into his arms and moved as quickly as he was able to his own hut.

              He could not stop her blood from falling into the snow, and he knew her blood was his death. Taemin could only hope that the snow covered it before he paid for loving Hwayoung with his life.

              Hwayoung blinked in the light and immediately groaned at the pain in her chest. Hands pressed her shoulders into the bed she lay in, preventing her from sitting upright.

              “Stay still,” Taemin said from next to her. His eyes were soft. “You were shot.”

              “What happened?” Hwayoung felt the room spin, and she closed her eyes. “I remember being in the woods.”

              “The sentries saw you,” Taemin gave her a pitying look. “I told you to be careful.”

              “I’m dead,” Hwayoung felt like crying but did not find the energy. “When they find me, the villagers will kill me.”

              Taemin grabbed her hand, and his face was suddenly steeled. His firm grip startled Hwayoung. “They will not find you. I can protect you.”

              Hwayoung smiled sadly. “Taemin, it was only a matter of time until the village found out.”

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