ᴮˡᵒᵒᵈ ᵒⁿ ᵒᵘʳ ᴴᵃⁿᵈˢ . ᴬˡˡ ᵒᶠ ᵁˢ ᵃʳᵉ ᴰᵉᵃᵈ ¹

ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ᵐʸ ⁱᵈᵉᵃ? ᵗʰᵃᵗ'ˢ ᶠⁱⁿᵉ

Jae-ik was leaning against the wall, listening to Se-bin as she fiddled with one of the toys that the soldiers had given to her.

She placed it down, looking at her dad.

"Daddy, do you think Mom became infected?" Se-bin asked. "Like Aeja did?"

"We don't know if Aeja was bitten, sweetie," Jae-ik replied. "And Mom is in Busan, so she's far away from all of this."

"I miss Aeja," Se-bin looked down at her black slip-ons. "Do you think she's seeing Chin-mae again? And Grandpa?"

"I don't know," Jae-ik admitted, shaking his head. "But if she is, I hope they're having fun."

"Grandpa would want to go feed his rabbits," Se-bin smiled.

"You used to love feeding them," Jae-ik smiled. "Hey, once this is all over and we go back home, we can get a rabbit if you want."

"Really?" Se-bin's eyes lit up.

"Really," Jae-ik nodded.

Se-bin smiled happily and went back to fiddling with the toy again, though she still missed her sister.

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When Aeja woke up and found herself sleeping on Su-hyeok's chest with his arms wrapped around her waist protectively, she wasn't as flustered as she had been the day before.

Perhaps that was because the day before, Su-hyeok was still Aeja's crush. Today, Su-hyeok was Aeja's boyfriend.

Aeja slowly sat up, careful not to wake up Su-hyeok as she slowly moved his arms from her waist. Aeja then noticed only her and Cheong-san were awake.

"Feeling better?" Aeja asked, her voice a whisper.

"A little," Cheong-san nodded.

Aeja nodded, not really knowing why she asked such a question.

"When you talked to On-jo last night, on the roof, what did she say?" Cheong-san asked.

"Uhm..." Aeja hesitated. She knew On-jo wanted to tell Cheong-san about her feelings, so what could Aeja say without spoiling it?

As if luck was on her side, On-jo then woke up, moving her head off Cheong-san's shoulder. When they looked over at each other, they both smiled a little. Aeja bit her cheek and looked away, relieved that she didn't have to answer Cheong-san's question.

"I thought about it all night," Cheong-san said. "What do I do? How do I go on living?"

"Let's talk a little later," On-jo suggested. "Tomorrow or the day after. Or next week. After we get out of here, eat, and get ourselves clean. Let's talk then. Okay?"

Cheong-san was silent, but he seemed to be okay with the idea.

"We still have a lot to talk about," On-jo pointed out. "So let's do that."

Cheong-san nodded.

"Whatever happens, don't give up," On-jo continued. "Okay?"

"You too," Cheong-san replied.

On-jo nodded, "Okay."

"You too, Aeja," Cheong-san said. "I know you don't want anyone else gone, but you can't give up on yourself."

Aeja smiled a little, "I won't."

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