Chills ransacked Suho’s skin as Asia drove them pass the disaster that lay everywhere around them.

They only managed to make it a few miles before the ground became too damaged to drive on safely. Much of the earth was cracked open, content upturned, and fissures so big they could swallow bodies whole. Driving a car in a disaster zone wasn’t feasible. The tires were not going to make it over the fissures in the ground.

Quietly, Suho and Asia exchanged looks, letting each other know that they were going to have to pull over soon. Stopping was something that neither of them wanted to do, but it was impossible to continue, especially as they drove up to what they assumed was the broken edge of a building blocking the street.

“How are we supposed to get around that?” Asia mumbled, gripping at the wheel. Suho glanced at her briefly noticing her frustration while feeling the same, “we climb.”

Asia didn’t respond, simply getting out of the car, leaving the door open. She walked around the front, hands on her hips as she stared at the debris in front of her. Honestly, she wasn’t keen on climbing and potentially hurting herself. Or better yet, Suho hurting himself. She looked over to him, noticing he was doing the same as her, observing how high of a climb it would actually be to overcome. It was dangerous, they both knew. There was no knowing if the structure was stable. Of course, all there was to do was to try.

“Once we get over this, we'll probably have many more obstacles on the other side,” Asia griped. “I can't believe this has happened.”

“We can do it. We made it out of the hole in the store, we can make it here.”

She looked to Suho again, noticing the determination on his face. Suddenly she wondered if they would have ever even met each other to this extent, if not for them both almost losing their lives? It was funny how near death experiences could bring two people from opposite parts of the world together. His determination she would adopt as her own. If he was going to find a way to survive, so was she. If he was going to make it back to his family, so was she. Together, they were going to get to safety.

“Do you see that area?” Suho pointed towards the side of the fallen structure where the cement of the building caved like steps. “If that area is not weak, we can ascend. Once we get to the top, we can figure out the descent.”

“I'm right behind you.”

Suho took those words as agreement and consent, approaching the side of the building and climbing up, slowly feeling for any instability. It seemed his idea would work, for every step he took, Asia followed. Before he knew it, he was most of the way up, looking down and realizing just how far off the ground they were.

A nervous chuckle left his mouth as he checked on Asia who was extremely focused on the task before her, “afraid of heights?”

“What?” she immediately looked up to him, face contorted with confusion and eyes round and wide with worry.

Quickly he answered with “nothing” already knowing that he should have just kept his mouth shut. She seemed like the kind of girl that would fall into mild hysterics if caught off guard by something she probably didn't know she even feared.

“Suho, don't be playing games with me,” she gritted, figuring out that it was in her best interest to keep looking forward. “We are almost to the top, so let's not stop now.”

A quick smile flitted across his lips as he started to climb again, making quicker work of reaching the top. It was only a few more steps, with him pulling himself to the top, that he saw a severing blow.

Hordes of people were up ahead, some stumbling forward, while others were not moving at all. The street was nothing but jagged rips of cement. And the buildings that outlined it were collapsing structures. Asia pulled herself up next to Suho, the sound of a gasp stuck in . They both realized then, that whenever the earthquake struck, whoever was already on this street most likely didn’t make it. The rips of cement were big enough to swallow whole bodies, and the people on the street were making their way forward as if they were on an obstacle course. Not to mention the state of the buildings around them. Demolished, crumbling structures.

“How are we going to make our way through that?” Asia whispered.

Suho already knew that the sight of the crowd ahead of them was enough to make Asia nervous. She had a point, devastated people in devastated circumstances surrounding one another was not a good thing. The self-less would help others, but those type of people were always outnumbered by the self-centered.

It would be foolhardy for them to try to wait it out on top of an unstable structure, but the danger wouldn’t cease once their feet touched ground again either. Not for the first time that day, Suho wished he had went to a quiet island for vacation. But he had saved a life, Asia’s life, and that was something he wouldn’t trade for anything. He looked over to her, observing the worry lines he could clearly see through the dust that had settled like fine powder on her face. Suddenly, he found himself wishing they were both on a quiet island for vacation. She definitely deserved it.

“After we descend, we will stay together behind everyone else,” he answered, looking for the easiest trail down. “We still have to follow everyone or we will be lost.”

“I really wished we had a map for emergencies like this. Or at least, I wish I had my phone, wherever that is.”

Suho chuckled at her complaints, “It probably wouldn’t work right now.”

“Right,” Asia paused. “Cell Phone towers.”

The rest of the descent was quiet, between Suho’s trial and error foot placements and Asia’s constant worrying, they finally made it to the bottom. Reaching his hand up, he helped Asia down the last step onto the brutally cracked ground below their feet. They both could be grateful that there were no longer any tremors, and that finally the worst may be behind them. Of course, they still had so much uneven ground to cover before either of them were truly safe, but that they could do one step at a time, and together.

“So, Suho, why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

The question caught Suho off guard, though he supposed now would be a better time than any to get to know the basic things about his travel companion, beyond the weirdly intimate details of what she sounds like screaming in terror and what she feels like shaking in fear.

“The question is broad,” he smiled back at her.

She paused to take in what he meant by what he said, “Ok, where do you work?”

“Um, how do I say this?” Asia watched him struggle with an explanation, noting that he had expressive eyebrows. “Literary Company? I work at a company,” he shrugged.

“You work at a company that deals with literature? Like a publishing company?”

“No, no,” he waved his hands animatedly. “Not publishing. Like making the book.”

“You do know that doing those gestures with your hands aren’t helping, right?” she laughed. “It just looks like you’re smashing things together and expecting a word to form.”

Suho felt the smallest urge to hunch his shoulders in shame. He couldn’t form the words to tell her that he worked for his father’s business that binds and designs books. It was so simple yet his brain was failing him.

“I don’t have the words,” he mumbled, hanging his head.

She eyed his frame for a second, trying to figure out if he felt like she was laughing at him. Running her hands over her hair seemed to catch his attention for a moment, allowing her a look at his face. He was rather handsome she found herself thinking twice that day already.

“Say it in Korean,” her tone was reassuring. “Tell me all about your job the way you know how.”

His face became concerned, “You won’t understand.”

“It’s fine, I just want to hear what you do. I know you’ll be talking about books, and literature, and business stuff. So I got the basics.”

The smile that lit up his face in that moment was extremely bright. He immediately started speaking in his mother tongue, looking at Asia repetitively to gauge her reaction. She actually nodded her head along to the pauses in his speech where it seemed like she should be encouraging him to go on. And on he went, until he found himself rambling to a stop.

“Sorry,” he grinned sheepishly, rubbing his hands against the back of his neck.

“No you’re not,” she laughed. “Besides, I enjoyed watching you enjoy yourself. I assume it’s difficult to always be speaking a language that you don’t use everyday.”

“You’re not learning a language?” he asked.

“Please,” she smiled. “I’m still trying to learn english right.”

Gently he grabbed her hand, leading her around jagged concrete so she wouldn’t fall, “I already know where you work, so tell me something else. Do you have brother or sister?”

“An older sister. She’s married with a two year old,” Asia smiled fondly, thinking of her little nephew. “What about you? Any siblings?”

Suho shook his head in the negative. His mom never even seemed like she wanted more children than what she got with his father. Being an only child caused her attention to always only be on him. He wondered if he had siblings, would he his life have turned out differently?

“Do you like being an only child?” She had always wondered what that was like. Even though her older sister was four years her senior, she still was raised with her in the house, so it never seemed like she was truly alone.

“It’s lonely at times, but I have many friends.”

Where are they? Asia wanted to ask that to him badly, but something told her it was best not to be sarcastically insensitive at a moment like this. Besides, if he had others to depend on, then she probably wouldn’t have him to depend on.

“I know,” Suho laughed. “My friends could not come when I got free time. They were busy, so I came alone.”

That explained that, then.

“I wasn’t going to ask,” Asia responded with a slight smile. “Besides, you made a new friend in me, that’s for sure.”

“And you in me,” Suho replied.

~

The greater part of three hours passed before they reached an area that didn’t look like it was torn apart by the earthquakes. It was like suddenly they could breathe easier after having to look at the destruction surrounding them at all angles. The moans and groans of the people were worse. Though they stayed back, away from most of the crowd, the sounds of people barely being able to keep moving forward were penetrating. Some would just stop walking and drop in place. If they had family or friends with them, those people would stop as well and try to prod the person into moving again. Those prods would quickly turn into begging, and for some the begging turned into anger.

Quietly, Asia was thankful Suho was a steadfast figure next to her. He looked drained, and he kept his lips like he was getting dehydrated, but he never once threw a fit or even complained. His firmness made Asia own complaints die in . She didn’t want to be the one to uselessly say out loud something they already knew. They were tired. They were thirsty. Their legs and feet were hurting. And if Suho’s body was anything like her’s, then he was developing a dull ache in his head right about now.

If Suho had any major complaints at the moment, they would all center around the fact that he was terribly hungry. His first and last meal was early that morning, and through all the excitement, he didn’t have time to dwell on the empty void. But now? After everything settled down and especially with them walking uphill, he couldn’t help but feel the strain.

“Oh my, look!” Asia’s whisper shouted. “That’s Red Cross flags, which means we may finally be able to get some help!”

“Red