Eventide ~ A Hwang Hyunjin Romance

Chapter I

"Wait, please! Why are you leaving me? Don't go!" He called out to the maiden as she scurried out of the water. He chased after her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" Now having exited the water, the girl was able to run much faster. "Wait! Slow down!" the boy huffed, "Please, Don't run! I don't intend to hurt you! I just want to know who you are!"

He wants to know who I am, the girl thought to herself. Though her feet did not slow their pace, she could not prevent her head from turning back to see the strange man chasing her. Unfortunately, as her sight was no longer set on her path, the girl's foot caught a stubborn tree root which stuck up from the ground. Tumbling down into the grass and leaves, the frightened girl caught her front with her hands planted firmly on the ground, head falling forward from the force of the impact. She was stunned for a moment, then tried to stand back up to continue fleeing. To her dismay, however, she stumbled back to the ground as she felt a sharp and searing pain in her ankle which shot down through the top of the foot that had been battered by the tree root. The injured girl decided to crawl toward the tree, soiling her dress with dirt and blood as she did so. Turning to sit in the grass with her back leaned against the large and sturdy trunk, the girl now faced the boy who was slowing his pace as he approached her.

The boy had finally caught up with her. Struggling to catch his breath as he put his hands on his knees, he looked down at the girl. He had witnessed the whole scene of her tripping over the tree root and crashing down to the ground, then trying to get up, only to fall again. He had also noticed the fairly large gash the root had left on the side of her ankle trailing all the way down to the front tip of her foot. He sat down in front of the injured girl, facing her. Concerned, and finally having regained his breath, he spoke to her, "Miss, are you alright? That was a pretty hard fall you took. Let me see your hands." He slowly lifted his hands, gesturing for her to do the same. She lifted her hands, hesitating for a moment, then placing them into his as he opened his hands further, signaling for her to do so.

The boy admired the girl's hands, though he was supposed to be checking for any cuts or bruises. He caressed the backs of her hands with his thumbs, feeling just how soft her skin was. He then flipped her hands over, cradling them one at a time in his left while the fingers of his right hand gently grazed over her palms, admiring her delicate fingers as he did so. Once he finished searching for any wounds, he reluctantly placed her hands back into her lap, immediately missing the feeling of her soft hands in his. "Well, your hands look fine, and it doesn't seem like you got any other significant injury beside that nasty cut on the ankle you twisted," he spoke sweetly as he moved to examine her leg.

She winced as he gently lifted her foot into his lap. He giggled at her large round eyes staring at him in curiosity. "Don't worry!" He chuckled, "I'm only going to rinse off the cut and bandage it up to stop the bleeding. It's not a permanent fix, but it'll have to do until I can take you back to my quarters and give you proper treatment."

The boy's words confused her, but she chose to remain silent and wait to see what he was going to do. The girl, not less frightened, watched as the boy took his flask from his belt and opened it. He took the now open flask in one hand and lifted her leg up by cradling the foot's heel with his other. He positioned her foot to be over the ground instead of his lap and began to slowly trickle the water from his flask onto her cut, washing away all of the blood and dirt. She winced as the water flowed over her opened skin and whimpered when he slightly blew on the wound in order to dry some of the wetness. She sighed in relief when he returned the flask to his belt and placed her foot back into his lap.

Although it was now clean, the cut continued to bleed furiously, dripping down the side of her ankle as it now had a clean and clear path. The boy's face fell slightly upon observing how much the cut was still bleeding. Should there really be this much blood? I thought that it was just a shallow cut... it must be deeper than it originally looked... he thought to himself, searching for a way to bandage her injury.