The protector

We thought we knew everything

*** Previously in Pyongyang ***

With the help of In-ah, Jeong Hyeok and his family are close to defecting, their departure is scheduled a few days after Jeong Hyeok's birthday. Since Jeong Hyeok always has episodes and crises any time he's stressed, nervous or anxious, and defecting with his old parents undoubtfully is a stressful situation, while waiting for the departure day to come, he tries to focus on his life in NK, and on his pseudo-relationship with In-ah, the only one who has control on him and manages to calm his open-eyed nightmares.

Long time before, the two have decided that they would have forgotten everything and never thought of each other once he would have trespassed the DMZ. However, Jeong Hyeok changes his mind and, on one night, tells In-ah that he would have never forgotten her, because she wasn't like an affair, a sort of sin or mistake, but that they'd healed each other and, because of it, he thinks they were fated.

His words scare In-ah. In her opinion, when Jeong Hyeok's emotional balance is unsettled and he's prey to negative feelings, he tends to cope by developing a sort of fake affection for her. Also, she's starting to dread that his affection could not be fake. In any case, she judges it would be a bad idea to nurture his feelings for her now that he's on point to defect, because this could make him unfocused while facing the long and dangerous journey to the South.

Hence, In-ah starts to take the distances from him, at the same time pushing him to talk more about Seoul and Se-ri. However, this stresses and hurts her, so that on one night, in order to relax a little, she drinks too much, and unwittingly elicits Jeong Hyeok's jealousy by chatting with a new colleague.

The man, already nervous and stressed because of the distance she's taking, once at home fights with her, continuing the fight even in bed. The argument ends when, with a trick, Jeong Hyeok manages to bring In-ah to lower her defences and admit that she cares for him.

Jeong Hyeok asks her to go back to their normal menage and not waste their last days, because he'll surely need her presence now that the defection is so close. The words he uses, the fact that his mood switches very rapidly and some other things he does, like asking her to spend the following day staying all the time in bed cuddling each other, or wanting to sleep holding her hand, increase In-ah's worries about his feelings for her. However, she decides to support him the way he asked, judging that the situation can't worsen too much in such few days, and unable to say no when Jeong Hyeok needs her.

Pyongyang, February 6, Sunday, 2028

Jeong Hyeok woke up with In-ah softly snoring on his arm. A quick check to his limbs had the man realizing that they still were in the same position they had fallen asleep in on the night before, their fingers intertwined on top of his chest. It was uncomfortable. And he was slightly sweating, too many layers of skin and fabric.

As it often happened when they were moderately drunk – when they were super drunk they were masters of efficiency – they'd forgotten to close the curtains. Luckily it was winter, and the light was dim. In summer, he was used to put a hand on her eyes so that the brightening sun wouldn't have disturbed her sleep.

A mean, sharp pain crossed the man's chest at the thought of summer. He wouldn't have been able to cover her eyes in summer anymore. There wouldn't have been another summer for them. The one they'd had would have forever been their last and only.

In-ah, the man silently sighed, his girl of a single summer.

If if if if if, if his heart wouldn't have been taken, if he wouldn't have loved Se-ri with all his being. In-ah would have deserved each and every summer of his life. Though, maybe, she wouldn't have agreed with it. The thought had the pianist's lips curling in a soft smile. No, she was too pirate to consider him as a possible forever.