By rights, after reporting back to the HQ back home... the two of them should have just taken the next flight home. But hearing about Myeongju's transfer to Uruk; as well as Moyeon being in Albania, made him hesitate. Should they head home first or not? After many months of captivity and struggling to get home, he wanted nothing else but to see the faces of the people he loved and to tell them that he was alive. And he was sure that would also be what Daeyoung would have wanted.

But if they head back first, who knows how long they'd have to wait before they could be released to go find the girls. There would certainly be plenty of procedures that they needed to do, and many more formalities that needed to be settled before they would be allowed to go free. And since Moyeon had just left for Albania, she wouldn't be able to get back home so fast. Same with Myeongju. Even with her connections with Commander Yun, she shouldn't be able to leave Uruk so easily.

It would still be a while before they could contact the girls; if they followed protocols. And using military channels just to make a personal call would have been a bit ridiculous. And he didn't want to relay something like this through a phone call.

Yet if they waited for the girls to return, those girls would have been so angry at them if they were to be the last ones to find out about their survival.

During these few months. Sijin had a lot of thoughts running through his mind. What Moyeon and his father would have felt... thinking that he was dead? They must have felt very sad. In denial. Not wanting to keep on living. They might even wish that the news of his death was false and hoping that he was alive somewhere. Well, the part about he was alive was true but... it was not as if Moyeon and his dad would be aware of it. Same with Myeongju, Commander Yun, Sergeant Choi, Sergeant Im, Sergeant Gong...

All of them would have thought that they were dead. And after months of no news... to suddenly being told that they were alive? They may even assume the call to be a bad prank. Well, people back in HQ would have known they're alive now but they probably wouldn't release the news to everyone just yet.

Having the higher ups making the call to contact the girls on their behalf may be a bit impersonal. Calling the girls by themselves, using a phone number that wasn't recognised by them might be seen as a prank. Either way was not a probable choice, neither would it be to delay on it.

They might as well meet the girls personally now, before heading back. Simple, rather than making things out to be so overcomplicated.

Sijin made another call to HQ to inform the commander that they would return home a bit later, and thankfully, Commander Yun understood their reasoning and gave permission for them to find their loved ones first. But once he did that, he realised something. They would still be facing another problem. Since both of them didn't have their documentations with them, it'd be very tricky for them to go anywhere the normal way. Especially to Uruk and Albania.

Perhaps he was just lucky, or it was one of those days where things tend to happen his way at the right moment. He ended up receiving an unexpected favour.

A general, who happened to arrive at the embassy in Ukraine for an official military business; overheard their plight as he made the call to Commander Yun. The general turned out to be an acquaintance of Commander Yun and as luck would have it; knew his father as well. Brigadier General Shin wasted no time to offer his assistance to them. It was an unexpected luck, but he was thankful regardless.

Later that day, Sijin and Daeyoung was able to secure their transports to head towards their separate destinations. He'd be taking a chopper to Albania, and Daeyoung would travel to Uruk by land.

It's an arrangement that was agreed between them, since Uruk was nearer to Ukraine compared to Albania.

xxx

Sijin took out the phone that was given to him earlier before he left the base. Since he was practically walking around without any form of documentations on himself, the phone was the only thing that could get him out of any jam. He had some help from the embassy people to send the needed documentation to the phone.

The perks of technology. Have to say he was grateful for that alone.

He tapped on the phone screen to open the SNS Messaging App. This was not his phone, but he should be able to access his old account from here. It's been a while since he checked his inbox.

What greeted him later took him by surprise. The unread messages almost amounted to 1K! Moyeon wasn't lying about her being a chatterbox. Sijin started reading the first unread message that he received.

[I'm going to work.]

[The sky is really high in Seoul. How is it there?]

[Is it cold? Is it hot? Wherever you are, I miss you a lot.]

For some reason, he couldn't help feeling sad.

xxx

[I saw a chopper passing by this afternoon while I was on the roof.]

[Ah... I really wished you were in it. I missed you so much.]

[When will you be back? It's already a new season.]

Moyeon kept texting him, and he was never aware of it. Then again back then, he didn't really have much chance to check his phone. He did send a message to her before... saying that he and his team had arrived safely, but that was the only other time he was able to use his phone.

He remembered how Moyeon used to tell him to accept the fact that she was a chatterbox.

He's seeing the proof now. Moyeon texted him about the things she did at work... to the most random things she suddenly thought of to want to tell him. And he couldn't help noticing that day by day the messages she sent changed in tone from being casual to melancholic to frustrated... and then to anger...

[How can you do this to me?]

[Even if you'd sent me a letter from Mars, I would've gotten it by now.]

[I'm going out to drink with a gorgeous man. Come and get me.]

Sijin stared at the date the text was sent. That should be around the time he and Daeyoung had been captured.

He suddenly felt a weight descending onto him. All these time, how hard have it been for her? Struggling between keeping a cheery front while inside she must've been very worried about him. And he hadn't been able to ease her worries...

The helicopter pilot suddenly spoke through the communication line. They would be approaching Albanian airspace soon. Sijin skipped past a few more texts before something caught his attention. The texts that he was seeing so far appeared to be sent almost daily, or at least 4 to 5 times per week. But then there was a big gap suddenly... and Sijin suddenly felt a lump starting to form in his throat.

[I still can't believe it. But...]

[Somehow I ended up texting you again. Even when I know that I won't ever get a reply.]

[Just let me do this, at least? Not that I have anyone else to tell these things to.]

Sijin slowly let himself breathe again. This must have been after she received the bad news. He'd wanted to ask Sergeant Choi on the phone earlier, but then he didn't know how. And Sergeant Choi had told him right away about her departure to Albania.

[Colonel Park came to visit earlier. That's also another reason why I can't talk to other people now.]

[He said there would be an official statement to be released next week. I'm not sure I'd be able to handle that when it comes.]

He sighed. His girl had gone through a lot in these few months.

xxx

"She's not here?" he asked, barely able to mask his alarm as the blonde woman in front of him nodded her head.

"The doctor said that she had something she needed to do today, and said that she'd be back in the evening. If you don't mind waiting, I'll show you where her tent is,"

"I see..." Sijin started to say, but he didn't feel like he wanted to wait. Moyeon was so near to him now, he didn't want to waste a second to wait for her.

He turned to his phone again as he opened his inbox. The lady said Moyeon had something she wanted to do. Did she text his phone about it? Sijin hurriedly scrolled past the many texts until he reached the end.

[I'm this kind of doctor now.]

[Are you proud of me, looking down from up there?]

He frowned. No, this didn't help tell him anything—Sijin scrolled up to the earlier few texts.

[I heard there's a desert around here.]

[Will there be an oasis as well?]

Sijin blinked. Could this be it? Was Moyeon out looking for this? He skimmed a few more of Moyeon's earlier texts. She did sound as if she had another purpose to come to Albania besides volunteering her skills. He called the blonde lady back towards him.

Finding the desert or an oasis around here shouldn't be hard for him. But he didn't want to look for Moyeon blindly. Knowing her, Moyeon should have tried asking around about the place.

"Have Dr. Kang ever mention about going to a desert before? Did she mention where she was going?"

The lady, who was called Laura, shrugged at him. "She didn't say. But I did remember her being interested when my colleague mentioned about a desert near here. She was asking if there's also an oasis nearby and I... told her about this other place I know instead. Because she said she was looking for a particular place—she mentioned that she lost someone important last year and she wanted to go to a place where she could mourn for him."

Sijin could barely contain his emotions. "W-Where was this place? Can you... tell me?"

Laura nodded. "Sure," she said as she took out a map to show him the directions.

Extra supporting notes would be in my LJ comm Tokudora. Link's in profile.