𝙎𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧 (Gwi-Nam x Cheong-san)

Eight

That morning, I woke up, and stretched. I looked around, taking in the morning view. The sun was just starting to come up, so the world was bathed in cool blue light. Half-turning, I saw that Gwi-Nam had fallen asleep sometimes during the night. I guess he was too tired to stay awake. But I'm glad he fell asleep here where we're safe from the dangers below.

I admire him from afar. He's handsome. Even with his eye permanently closed. I noticed that his brow is scrunched.I go over to him and reach out. My hand makes contact with his forehead, and my thumb strokes softly to smooth out the wrinkles. He's awake now, and I know that.

"What are you doing?" He asks, his eyes still closed.

"You seemed upset. I was just smoothing out the worry." I answered, leaning against him.

"Why do you keep touching me?" He doesn't move away, so I lean my head on his shoulder.

"I'm clingy when I first wake up. I just wanted to be closer to him. " I didn't think that was true, but the wanting to be close to him was real, so oh well?

He groaned. "I'll stab you." I laughed at that, and stood up to help him up.

"What's wrong with you?" He asks, looking at me.

"Nothing." I said, my voice in a sing-song tone.

He ignored me after that. He set about looking around. "We can-" He's cut off. A loud voice comes from the speakers around town.

"Due to all the violence occurring in Hyosan, we will urge any citizens who are still alive to make their way out of Hyosan. We will be bombing the city in exactly one week. Godspeed."

I looked at him, my face uncertain. He's looking back at me with a shadow of worry crossing his face. "We need to keep moving. If we're not far enough away from Hyosan when the bomb hits, or, much worse.. if we are in Hyosan..we will be incinerated along with the rest of the city."

"Let's go then." We jumped down from the building onto a dumpster, then from the dumpster, Gwi-Nam jumped to the ground. I hesitated. I was afraid. He noticed.

"Cheong-san, come on. This isn't the day to waste time." I went to jump and halfway, I slipped. He caught me in his arms, breathing hard.

We stare at each other, me finally eye level with him as he holds me. I can feel his heart racing under my fingers."I'm sorry." I whispered.

"It's fine. Let's keep moving." He says, his voice quiet. He sets me down and we walk in total silence. Part of me wants to squeal because I was close enough to lean in and kiss him, if I had the guts.

The other, naughtier part of me wishes I would have kissed him.

I watch the many neighbourhoods of Hyosan as the two of us go past them. It's silent. I don't like that. I know it's dangerous but I start humming "When I Go To Busan."

I can see him turn and look at me out of the corner of my eyes, but I continue to hum as we walk. It feels like we are moving too slow. It feels like we're not covering enough ground.

We are nearly to the middle of Hyosan when he says we can stop soon. My feet hurt. I'm not used to walking such distances, and I'm not wearing the right shoes for it.

"Gwi-Nam." I said, a tinge of fatigue in my voice. "I think I might faint." And then I fall. Well, I don't really fall. He catches me.

"Hey. Hey! Cheong-san!" He sounds worried. I open my eyes to look up at him. His stern faces greets me. "Tell me when you're getting tired, idiot! What if we were in the middle of zombies and you were so tired you dropped, huh, nuisance?!"

I smile weakly. "Sorry, Gwi-Nam. I just don't want to slow you down." I tell him as he hefts me onto his back.

"Don't you underestimate me, Lee Cheong-san." He's warm. We ended up hiding inside of a home. The door was unlocked, as if expecting a child home. I felt sad as we walked into the kitchen. There was still a note that said "I will be home from work late. Be good at school Ae-ri! I'll make you your favorite for dinner. -Mom" hanging on the refrigerator.

It made me cry. Ae-ri never made it home. The mother was probably dead too. Gwi-Nam presses his lips together.

"Come on. We- we can't dwell on death. We have to focus on living." Gwi-Nam tells me firmly, his hand on my shoulder. I place my hand over his.

"I know, Gwi-Nam," I look at him, smiling weakly. "I know."