September Peony (12 Months Series - Part 2)

Chapter 04

Lee Joon Gi and Hong Jong Hyun are walking through the forest. The road is all gravel and sand. Jong Hyun is testing the solidity of the ground and marking every difficult part into a map in his phone.
"It looks good... I don't want to brag but I should be able to beat Matt on this track. He is a little bit too aggressive driver." Says Jong Hyun. "Did you dream about your perfect woman tonight?"
"No, still just an empty house."
"Why would you dream about an empty house? Does it symbolize something?"
"Like the emptiness of my soul?"
"Maybe," smirks Jong Hyun.
"I don't know. It's very weird. I feel much calmer since we arrived here. I should be freaking out from the fact I haven't seen her but I'm fine. It's odd."
Jong Hyun wants to say something but he can't because there is an uproar and two Belgian Sheppard dogs run out from the forest. They are running towards Jong Hyun and Joon Gi and they look like two mythical monsters. Joon Gi is about to run away when he hears Jong Hyun.
"Aww! Aren't you cute, mochies!" He knee-bends and waits for the two beasts. The dogs slow down, they stop barking and start wiggling their tails. They trot to Jong Hyun and stick their tongues out. Jong Hyun let them sniff his hands and then cuddles them. He rubs their backs and jabber at them like if they were babies. He stands up and turns to Joon Gi. "Aren't they beautiful?"
Joon Gi steps cautiously closer and meets the two dogs. They sniff him and lick his fingers. "They are big." Claims Joon Gi. He prefers smaller breeds.
"You coward!" Laughs Jong Hyun. He bends and strokes the dogs a bit more. "Where is your master, lovelies? Huh? Where is your master? No, I don't have treats with me, sorry, cuties. Where is your master? Who is a good doggie? Who is the cutest doggie?"
"Their owner is most likely some morose farmer with rotten teeth and a big shot gun on his shoulder. I wouldn't talk to them like that if I were you." Points Joon Gi out.
"We can easily find out, they have tags on the collars. I just scan the code and it will show me all info about the dog. Let's see. Mmmmm!"
"What?"
"I don't think this is your rotten farmer." Smiles Jong Hyun. "Miss Isis Arran. She's got nice name... Goddess of love and magic powers... Here's her phone number. Let's see." Jong Hyun puts the phone to his ear.
The forest is quiet except the wheezing of the dogs. Jong Hyun straightens up and one of the dogs starts to push his legs from behind. The other runs further and barks. Jong Hyun is slowly walking. Suddenly they notice a ringing coming from distance. Jong Hyun and Joon Gi look at each other and they walk faster following the sound and dogs deeper into the forest. The ringing is closer and closer. They arrive to a deep canyon. The dogs run to the bottom of the canyon and both man look down. For the first sight it looks like a pile of dead leaves but the dogs are licking it and Joon Gi can suddenly see there is a young woman. He can barely realize it and Jong Hyun is already climbing to the canyon. He kneels by the lying woman and Joon Gi follows him.
"She had to fall." Gasps Jong Hyun for air.
The woman is young, with short black hair and tanned skin which is unhealthily pale right now. Joon Gi quickly checks the rest of her and reveals a terrifying facts. There are two bleeding wounds, one on her shoulder and one on her thigh. The blood is soaking into her olive green jacket and black cargo trousers. Jong Hyun puts his hand under her head.
"Don't move with her!" Stops him Joon Gi. "If she's got damaged spine, you could make it worse."
Jong Hyun pulls the hand carefully out and gulps. It's covered in blood. She had to hurt her head. That's not good. "What shall we do?" Asks Jong Hyun and puts the hair of her face.
"First of all, we should stop the bleeding. The one on the shoulder seems only minor but I'm scared of the one on her leg and the one on head."
Jong Hyun takes off his leather jacket immediately and he takes off his hoodie. He folds it and place it very carefully under her head. Than he takes off the t-shirt as well and puts it firmly around her thigh. He wears the jacket again. "Call the ambulance now!" He commands.
Joon Gi is already on his feet with phone in his hand, pointing it every direction. "There is no signal down here. I have to go back to the road. Try to keep her in stabilised position and prevent her from moving. Don't let the dogs to move with her." Joon Gi is climbing up and he runs through the forest to the road. Finally his phone catches the signal. It was physically demanding activity and he is breathing heavily, the blood is roaring in his ears. He stumbles to the middle of the road and puts a phone to his ear. He turns around and suddenly it's like if the whole world stopped.
He didn't hear the horse galloping. All of a sudden, Joon Gi is standing in the middle of the road and the prancing horse is kicking with his hoofs just few centimetres from his face. The animal is neighing. Then Joon Gi feels a sharp pain. The horse kicks his shoulder, the phone is flying away and crushing on the ground. Joon Gi stumbles backwards and holds his paining arm, falling on the ground.
"What the hell are you doing!? Have you gone insane?! What mood took you to run into the middle of the road like that?! You could be dead!"
Joon Gi sits on the ground, holding his arm and gasping for air. The very sharp and high panicking voice belongs to a woman. Joon Gi can see her black leather boots in stirrups, the black tight riding trousers, black vest and black turtle neck sweater. Then he looks up and their eyes meet.
Joon Gi is convinced he died at first. This just can't be true. It can't be... Her!
The woman on the horse has the face of his dream lady. Her face is pink from the ride, her lips are parted as she is breathing heavily, her eyes are like stormy sky.
She jumps off the horse and steps to Joon Gi. She reaches her arm to him. "Grab me!" She commands him. She is wearing black leather gloves. Joon Gi is like hypnotized. He grabs her hand and she pulls him up on his feet. She has a considerable strength. "Show me the arm." She says and pushes his hand away. She presses his whole arm with her fingers, doesn't care about Joon Gi's groaning. "It's not broken nor dislocated. You were lucky this time. You'll only have a big bruise there." Joon Gi can't believe it. The woman of his dreams is standing right next to him, hurting his arm, he can feel her breath on his face. "What possessed you to jump right in front of me?" She asks and dusts Joon Gi's jacket a little bit.
"I... I..."
"Do you speak English?"
"Yes!" Joon Gi has to collect his thoughts. The injured woman in the pit! "There is an injured woman in the forest! I wanted to call the ambulance but there was no signal in the ditch so I ran to the road..."
"Where is she?" Interrupts him the rider woman. "Take the lead, sir!"
Joon Gi runs back to the canyon in the forest and shows the rider the way. As she stands at the edge of the ditch, she gasps for air. "Isis!" She calls with shriek voice and she runs down to the lying girl. "Isis! Do you hear me?!" She doesn't pay attention to Jong Hyun. "Wake up, ladybug! Isis!" The rider quickly examines and tries the limbs and torso searching for fractures. "Come on! Wake up!" Then she slaps the girl's face hard with her palm.
"Hey!" Shouts Jong Hyun in shock from such a brutality.
However he has no chance to step in because the slap wakes Isis up. She coughs and moans.
"Isis! What hurts you?"
"Everything..." Mumbles Isis.
"Really? Does everything hurt? Your legs, too?"
"Yaeh... The wound burns like a fire..."
"Great. That's great."
"Her head is bleeding." Informs them Jong Hyun.
Rider quickly checks. "It's only a flesh wound, there are no fractures. It bleeds a lot but it's not serious." She turns back to Isis. The dogs are licking her face and whining. "Cerberos, Fenris, get lost!" Says the rider with authoritative voice. The dogs crawl away and sit nearby still whining. Rider turns back to Isis. "Can you get up?"
"Sure... I've been through worse." Mumbles Isis and she tries to sit up.
Jong Hyun and Joon Gi immediately step to her to help her.
"Careful, honey!" Warns her Jong Hyun and puts her arm around his neck to lift her up.
"Who are these people?" Asks Isis confused. She tries to get rid of Jong Hyun and walk by herself but as soon as she steps on the bleeding leg she screams with pain. Jong Hyun sighs and quickly takes her in his arms. Joon Gi is holding the folded hoodie on her head and they start slowly climbing up the canyon. The dogs are following them.
"Put me down!" Whines Isis.
"Don't be a fool. You can't walk." Scolds her the rider. "Shut up and don't exhaust yourself."
"You shut up! I survived two years in Afghanistan, even got shot. I can walk!"
Rider reaches the wound on Isis' shoulder and presses it with her fingers. Isis screams like a wounded animal. Jong Hyun frowns. "That wasn't necessary."
"You don't know her." Retorts rider dryly.
"But I would like to get to know her better, so don't kill her yet." Replies Jong Hyun and then he turns to Isis in his arms. He gives her his most adorable boyish smile. "Hello, beauty! How do you do?" He purrs with seductive voice.
Isis squints her eyes and constricts eyebrows. "Really? I'm beaten and battered, I'm bleeding on three spots, it's possible I have a slight concussion. Only a truly selfish and heartless man would abuse this situation and try to flirt with me."
Jong Hyun clutches his teeth. "I would expect you to be nice to me because I could literally drop you on the ground right now."
Isis rises her chin proudly. "It would be a victory for me. You would confirm my words about you being a heartless man." She says.
Jong Hyun's nostrils go wide with displeasure. "You hit your head so I take it that you are temporally out of your senses and can't judge your words properly."
"Is your ego so fragile that you need to call woman mentally unstable when she doesn't fall for your lousy charms?" Smirks Isis.
"I really regret sacrificing my favourite hoodie and t-shirt."
"Of course you do. That also confirms my first impression of you. You cherish pieces of garment more than a human life. What a pitiful existence." Retorts Isis.
"I cherish my life. Thanks to you, I'm freezing!"
"Boo hoo! If you weren't so skinny you would be more resistant to weather conditions. However such a greenhouse fragile rose like you can't survive a little bit of discomfort."
"What? You little impudent witch! If there wasn't of my kind heart you would die in the ditch!"
"Bravo! You want a medal for acting like a human being? You might have found me there but you keep whining like a baby about it so I would prefer to die there and have some peace."
Jong Hyun is losing his temper but luckily they arrive to the road and horse. Rider steps into their argument. "Stop it Isis. You should save the energy."
"I'm doing fine." Replies Isis. "Put me on the ground."
"You can't walk with that leg." Says Joon Gi quickly before Jong Hyun can act as she said.
"I will ride, not walk. Put me on the ground now!" Commands Isis.
Jong Hyun is apparently raging, yet he puts her feet on the ground gently and with care. He keeps supporting her. Rider brings the horse closer, Isis grabs the saddle with good hand and puts her wounded foot into the stirrup. She climbs into the saddle then with clutched teeth and painful groan. Jong Hyun's t-shirt fastened around the thigh wound soaks with an extra amount of blood. Joon Gi gives Isis the hoodie to keep it on her head wound. "Are you sure, you can make it?" He asks worried. Isis is pale and her forehead is covered in sweat. She is swallowing quickly like if she was fighting the urge to puke. She can't talk but she nods and gives an arrogant cringe to Jong Hyun. He is still frowning but Joon Gi can tell he is more worried than angry.
Rider climbs on the horse back behind Isis and takes the rein. "Thank you for your help." Says she and looks seriously into Joon Gi's eyes. His heart skips few beats. "My sister and I are much obliged to you. I will repay you at the first occasion possible." She adds and incites the horse to walk and gallop. They are riding away before Joon Gi could tell them he doesn't expect any kind of reward. The dogs let Jong Hyun to rub them a little bit more and then run after the horse. Joon Gi can't help and watch them until the last second. Once Isis and her sister (!) are out of sight, he breathes out. He feels like if he was holding his breath the whole time. Suddenly the shock comes with full impact. The arm he got kicked by horse into starts paining and burning like hell and his head is going round from the encounter with his dream woman. How is this possible? Who is she? And why is his faith so twisted? Once he finally decided to stop searching for his dream woman, she nearly rides him over in the middle of the forest.
"Isis Arran..." Joon Gi turns to Jong Hyun. He is saving the phone number and smiling mysteriously. "Arran... I think I heard the name before, didn't I?" Jong Hyun looks at Joon Gi. "You keep reading those gossip news. Where did I heard the name Arran?"
"I beg your pardon? I don't read gossips!" Jong Hyun gives him judging face. "Okay," sighs Joon Gi. "Arran with one or two 'r'?"
"Two." Jong Hyun shows him his phone.
Joon Gi struggles with the pain spreading from his arm to the rest of the body and tries to remember something useful. Suddenly it lights up in his mind. "Arran!" He shouts and instinctively slaps Jong Hyun's shoulder. "Leader of VIXX became a duke of Arran when he married that woman... What is her name? Victoria? I think it was Victoria. Cha Hak Yeon got the aristocratic title by marrying her. It was a huge news because they got married quickly and he appeared on last MAMA with his wife and her 11 sisters. I bet Isis is one of them."
Jong Hyun quickly searches the web on his phone and finds the group photo of Cha Hak Yeon with his wife and 11 sisters-in-law. "Waah! Look at them!" He mumbles. "Isis Arran... And the other one is... Godiwa Arran. Duchess of Rosewood." Joon Gi takes the phone from Jong Hyun. "Hey!"
"My phone is in shambles over there." Explains Joon Gi and stares at the group photo. Godiwa is standing out. She is wearing black lacy dress and looks like a queen.
Jong Hyun picks up the pieces of Joon Gi's phone from the ground and puts them into his pocket. "What happened to your phone." Joon Gi is googling Godiwa and quickly describes the first encounter with her to Jong Hyun. "Is your arm okay, mate?!" Worries Jong Hyun.
"It's paining like hell fire." Mumbles Joon Gi but he has no interest in it. He finds some basic information about Godiwa and it's blowing his mind. Godiwa is a widow, she got married to a duke of Rosewood when she was freshly 18 and he was nearly 52 years old. Two years after that he died of an inborn heart disease. That was 12 years ago and lady Godiwa keeps mourning for him ever since, therefore she wears black most of the times, only wears white for special occasions like opening a hospital in Aberdeen for example. She has no children and lives in a large house in London. When Joon Gi sees the picture of that house his breath get stuck in lungs and cold sweat covers his forehead and back. He gulps nervously. It's the house he is seeing in his dreams!
"Joon Gi!"
He feels Jong Hyun's hand on his shoulder but can't move, speak, breathe or think. What kind of trick is this? He feels a panic attack coming and gasps for air.
"Joon Gi! You look really sick, mate! Talk to me!" Jong Hyun grabs his phone from Joon Gi and calls his manager. Joon Gi can't hear him. The blood is loudly roaring in his ears, his sight gets blurred and he can't breathe. It doesn't make any sense! Why is this happening? How could he dream about her? Does she know? She didn't acted like if she knew...
"Come on, Joon Gi, sit here by the tree. The manager is going to pick us up. You have to visit the doctor with that arm."
Joon Gi would like to tell him, that his state has nothing to do with his injured arm but his mouth and throat were as dry as a desert. His head was turning and he felt dizzy and sick. This can't be happening. It just can't...