"I won't do it again."

He's done eating, yet staring back at what remained of his 'memorial offerings' reminded him of the fact that for a year... people dear to him was led to believe that he was dead. It brought back the dark thoughts that often haunt him whenever he was alone.

He thought again of those moments. That time when he was chained up, constantly being coerced to reveal the details of his allies. Being doused with water, kicked and punched. Moments where he almost wished that he could just die, those times were the ones when he had felt so alone. He thought of the many covert missions he undertook, of the many near misses that he got; the many instances where he could have just as easily taken a fatal blow that would have ended his life. He thought of that one gunshot; how Argus could have killed him if he aimed a bit higher. He thought of the other times he was being shot; those moments always seemed to last for a very long time for him, as if time had moved slower.

Those were the many times he'd come close to death. Yet, despite that terror... he couldn't imagine another path that he could take. He could choose to retire once he gets back home, but he didn't want to do it in this kind of manner. He always thought that if he was to retire... he'd do it once he was of the right age—like how his father did it—regardless of the final rank he received. He wanted to be someone, his father could be proud of.

He'll overcome this obstacle. Somehow.

"—jin! Captain Yoo Sijin! Do you copy?"

He glanced back towards his concerned girlfriend and tried to give her a decent smile. As if that could have fooled her. She frowned.

"You spaced out again. And here I thought we could finally have our private time, after that video call earlier."

He let out a long sigh.

"I'm sorry."

xxx

She felt her heart break again, seeing him like this. Her Captain Yoo who was always so reliable and dependable; right now seemed so fragile and vulnerable. And she thought she just managed to get him to smile earlier.

"Excuse me. Sorry again..."

Moyeon turned around to see Sam peering into her tent again. "Sorry, Beauty. But the supply truck finally arrived and we're short of hand. Some of the doctors also had their hands full with the refugees..."

"I'll come over in a sec!" Moyeon cried out as the man left. Sijin grabbed her arm.

"You're leaving me alone over here? Don't go!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm just going to help out for a bit. Seeing that you're here with me... alive, I might as well cut my volunteer time here short. But that would also mean that I should try to help the people here a bit more. I've only been here a few days after all. It'll be a shame if I end up not doing anything else here just because my initial reason for coming here became void."

Sijin frowned at her. "And that would be?"

Moyeon stared at him incredulously. Why on earth this man asking her the obvious when he already knew the answer? But she answered him regardless. "You. I did thought you were dead before. And this." She took out a familiar pebble out of her pants pocket and placed it on the table.

"I didn't want to have to return this pebble to that beach by myself."

xxx

He stared at the pebble for a long time as Moyeon went to the other side of the tent, searching for something. He then recalled the place where he found Moyeon earlier and remembered that text message from her, mentioning something about an oasis. Did Moyeon plan to leave the pebble there?

Sijin glanced up as he sensed some movement, and saw Moyeon injecting something into the IV bag.

"What are you doing?" he asked as she sat beside him. She smiled.

"My extra prescription to get you to rest. This time, I'm going to make sure that you're finishing your IV and resting properly."

"You're really gonna leave me here... aren't you?"

"It's just for a few minutes!"

She laughed. As if her plan's gonna work! He started to try removing the needle attached to his left hand as Moyeon stopped him.

"If you're going out, I'm following too. I don't want to stay here by myself. Do you know how long I—"

"Yoo Sijin. Are you scared staying here alone?"

He blinked. "No, I—"

"That aside, did you like the wine? You drank a bit earlier, didn't you? I tried to find the same type of wine as the one we had in Uruk, but I can only guess..."

He stared at her silently. Come to think, Moyeon didn't let go of his hand either. "Why are you suddenly changing the to—"

Without warning, Moyeon leant towards him as she kissed him squarely on the mouth. He returned the kiss by instinct. But then he realised something was strangely wrong as he started feeling drowsy. He tried to pull away from her as Moyeon placed a hand behind his neck, slowly lowering him onto the bed.

Recognition started to creep into his dazed mind as he realised what Moyeon just did.

"Ah... you cheated," he managed to say before darkness took over.

Ignore me, I'm being kinky. Trying to sneak this piece in between that other piece I wrote earlier on this part.