Aftermath

02

"What's the plan?"

Soojung fought the urge to pinch her temples. Last night's explosion decimated not only the camps but also the army's morale. After pulling back the surviving soldiers, she didn't know what to do. She hated being a glorified secretary but this was worse.

She looked up and met the expecting looks of her juniors. In the chain of command, she was left with the highest position, and she'd be damned if she said it didn't scare her to have the lives of these soldiers resting on her hands.

The unprecedented attacks last night took almost two-thirds of their manpower, and the little population left were mostly injured. While she managed to have them evacuated from the premises to a safe distance, she knew they didn't have enough to retaliate. They didn't even have enough to hold down their ground at the border.

"I'm sorry but without reinforcements, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for now." The grim pronouncement echoed in the confines of the hastily-erected tent. Confused faces turned to her, searching for answers and coming up empty.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ---

Sehun found her when the last thread that held her together almost came undone. She didn't cry; she'd always been stubborn when it came to tears. Instead, he watched the thin wisps of cigarette smoke ascend the bleak, grey sky.

"I know it's you, Sehun," Soojung said without turning around. "You still walk like an impatient cat."

He stopped beside her, watching her lips surround the cigarette butt and take a long drag, the other end glowing in muted orange. She exhaled and the smoke raced out of those lips, still the way he remembered them. Pink and luscious and just as atrocious when it came to cursing.

"How'd you know where to find me?" she asked, dropping the cig and crushing it beneath the soles of her boots.

"I followed the scent of cheap cigarette smoke. Frugal as ever, Soojung."

"Yeah. This fucking battlefield doesn't pay me enough for a decent pack." Then with a shaky breath, she admitted the one emotion she'd been trying to hide. The one emotion only one person could understand. "I'm scared."

"You can always choose another career path, you know."

"And leave these soldiers to die? I can't do that to them. I can't do that to myself."

Because that's who you are, Sehun wanted to say. Because you are a wonderful person with a good heart, no matter how much you cursed the heavens.

Instead he murmured, almost incoherently, "I know." He clenched his fists at his side, resisting the urge to wrap them around her. It was over between them a long time ago. He had to remind himself that. "You do know I'm here, right?"

For the first time that morning, she looked at him. It took his breath away. In the morning light that broke the skyline, she looked beautiful in the way that a steel structure looked beautiful. So much strength in that smile, such fire in those eyes. Sehun realised, for the first time in years, Soojung never left him completely. She simply resided in one corner of his heart, a small flame waiting to once more blaze in her presence.

She nodded, a tight smile in her face.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ---

It was only when Sehun's footfalls were distant did Soojung allow her knees to buckle, the breath almost robbed from her lungs the instant she knew he wouldn't be there to see this weakness. Fuck. What would he say if he knew how much he affected her? That his presence was as much a cure as a poison to her?

It was this ambivalence that led her to make one of the most monumental decisions of her life. Would she have been happy if she never left him in the first place?

She could turn it over in her head a thousand times and find the answer still the same: no. He'd been struggling in his last years of pre-med and she felt more a burden than comfort, living in his small apartment. She wanted to ask him why, of all the places he could work in, he chose the battlefield. Sehun could've made a name for himself in the city, maybe as renowned as his father.

Soojung chuckled, realising why. Of course, she thought. Oh Sehun, you never failed to amaze me.

She stood there for the next hour. Her head hadn't been this clear in a while. As she formulated a plan, she cast a glance at the distant glow in the horizon, wishing nothing more than a chance to admit that she, after all these years, still felt the same for him.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ---

Sehun was doing his routine rounds in the tents when one of his companions briskly approached him. "We're being ordered to leave."

"What?"

"The Lieutenant asked all medical practitioners to evacuate all the patients to the nearest outpost. And yes, before you get any ideas, that includes us."

He was tempted to run to her, to find her and shake her because he had a vague idea of what she was planning. Stubborn as ever, he thought to himself. But when he looked around and saw how many injured soldiers they had to tend to, he decided to put off their conversation.

One by one, they arranged the patients' evacuation with the other able-bodied soldiers. All throughout the process, Sehun watched and waited for the tent flaps to open and see Soojung walking inside.

It was highly improbable, but he still hoped.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ---

Soojung was about to strap her helmet to her chin when the flap to her tent opened and Sehun rushed inside, stopping right in front of her.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" She mentally groaned. The last thing she wanted was a confrontation with him.

"You're not leaving with us." It wasn't a question. He looked at her, his eyes pleading. It didn't take words to know what he wanted to talk about. What he really wanted.

She looked away, turning her attention the weapons she laid out on her tabletop. "No, I'm not."

"Then I'm staying with you."

She met his eyes sharply, awed by the display of vulnerability there. Damn it, he was making this harder for her than it already was. "You have one job, Sehun, and that is not to babysit me."

"My job is to save lives, and that includes yours, no matter how convinced you are that it's a waste. It's not. God, I can't let you go again. Not when I know what lay ahead of you if you choose this."

"I promise not to die." Even to her ears, the promise sounded weak.

"We both know how good you are in keeping your promises," he replied sardonically. Then he huffed a laugh of disbelief.

"Yeah."

"You know what, fuck this."

And he kissed her. Slow, passionate, burning - as if he was trying to stoke the fire he knew resided inside both of them. His arm snaked around her waist, letting his fingers seek out the divots of her sides, the concave of her back. The other hand took the helmet off her head, and it fell with a thud to the dirt floor. Her fingers tangled with his hair - god, her favourite coffee.

When she whimpered against his lips, he came undone. His kiss grew hungry, feral, almost bestial, yet it remained gentle as she pulled him closer. They chased the years they lost, seeking their existence in the nooks and crannies of their mouths, their tongues dancing with no music in a timeless dimension.

They were panting when they broke the kiss, satisfied. Sehun pressed his forehead to her, noticing the gleam of sweat at the edges of her hairline. A smile stretched her lips and he chuckled. "Wow. It was great catching up with you, too."

She stared at him, then after a beat, said. "I'll come back alive, Oh Sehun. Come hell or high water, I will see your pretty face again."

He pressed his lips to hers again, this one a promise of more to come.

"You know, my masculine ego just took a huge hit with that pretty face comment but I'll let it slide. Now go kick some Northern ass."

She was grinning, face glowing with an embarrassed blush, when he pulled away and left the tent.