Hello readers! I hope you are safe during this difficult time.
I return with another chapter of Save Me, Save You. I'm sorry it has been a while since the last one. More trouble comes to Jae-ha and Yona as they begin to travel back towards home.
I don't known Yona of the Dawn or the characters.
Yona was looking around in the cave, making sure that everything was in Yoon's bag. She pulled out the contents and looked at them. The blanket and the medicine were safely inside.
"Yona dear, didn't you say that you needed medicine on your back?" Jae-ha remembered that Yona said she might need the cream on her back, after she took a bath. If she needed it now, he would have to undo her dress….
"Oh, yeah I did say that. But I don't think I need it anymore."
"You sure? You sounded like you needed it earlier."
On a serious note, he was concerned for her. If she was in pain, she needed relief from the senjuso. Any feelings of removing the sash around her waist and unfastening the buttons were desperately pushed out of his mind.
"I'm sure, I'm okay. I thought it might help me relax. But taking a bath actually was relaxing enough. Besides, I would hate to waste the cream in case it could be used later." Her smile was wide and genuine.
The bath was relaxing? In what world was that bath relaxing? She was shaking and crying in the water.
"Okay," Jae-ha cautiously replied. "Well, if you need it at any time, I would be happy to help apply it."
What was he saying? Dammit.
Yona looked around the cave once more. Nothing was left behind. Nothing, except, the memories of the past few days.
She shook her head. Why was she thinking of this now?
"I think I'm ready to go now, Jae-ha." She placed Yoon's bag around her neck. It was probably best to shove the memories deep into her mind and let them pass. Once they return home, it would be business as usual, back to their normal life.
Jae-ha followed Yona towards the cave slipped out and walked past the waterfall, up the ledge and made their way to the top of the cliff. Jae-ha stopped and looked down towards the lake below.
"Take one last look. Who knows, we might not ever see this place again," he said, trying to sound cheerful. Secretly, he too wished they didn't have to leave. The nature was gorgeous and secluded and the water sounds were relaxing and almost therapeutic. But the memories…
He shook his head. He needed to push those thoughts out. They would be returning to everyone within a day or two.
Yona nodded. It was difficult for her, for sure. She was quiet.
"B-but, everyone is waiting to see you. They are probably going crazy. Especially Hak, since we probably should have been back by now." Okay, not helping one bit here.
"Mhmm," she said softly. Jae-ha frowned. He bent down towards her.
"Yona dear, if you would like, if things get tough, I-I wouldn't mind sneaking off somewhere to get away from everyone. I mean, I would have to get passed Hak, though, but -"
"I'm sorry, Jae-ha. I must still be tired. I just want to go home." She wasn't looking at him, her bangs covering her eyes.
Maybe this was hitting her too hard. He should just shut his mouth and begin to head towards home. He hated seeing her this way.
"Okay, no problem." He said softly. "Come here," he held out his arms so he could carry her. She slowly came to him and he picked her up in his arms. He held her close to him, wishing he could take away her apparent sadness.
"Okay, it should take us about two days to get home. Unless you need to rest or we need to sleep or the weather is bad. Which is fine, because we can stop whenever. Is that oka-"
He began to look down at her when he stopped short. Yona was looking up at him, her big purple eyes were staring back at him so sincerely. There it is again, that innocent girl he was searching for the past few days. The innocent princess who lost her father and her kingdom and was trying her hardest to be strong against what life threw at her. The innocent young woman he fell for and was ashamed that he did, since another guy loved her, too.
They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like eternity. Their faces so close, he could kiss her right there…
Reality snapped back to Jae-ha. He cleared his throat.
"Okay, let's go." He leaped into the sky towards home, holding Yona tight against his chest.
They were traveling for an hour or so, jumping between the trees. Neither of them said anything. It was almost awkward.
He did not know what to say. Their departure was not what he had expected; he thought she would be happy to return home. To see Shin-Ah, Kija, Zeno, Yoon, Ik-Soo. Hak…
He had recurring thoughts that she could have psychological problems now. Not just from the traumatic experiences that Yona went through, but the moments they shared together too. She's too young…
For a second his vision became dizzy. He shook his head. He was tired, yes. But usually it doesn't affect him.
She didn't know what to say. She was so grateful that he found her, that he alone came all this way to Kai Empire to find her and bought this dress for her. And kept her warm with his body heat. And washed her back…
She tried to hide a blush. Does she regret what happened? No, not at all. But…
Maybe she was just overthinking too much. She met the Dragons quickly and adapted to a large group for some time now. She spoke the truth to him about getting to know them all better. She would have to work on getting to know them personally, to be a better friend.
But…maybe all this nervousness around him was nothing? She didn't feel threatened by him, by any means, and he was very protective of her. Just like Hak. But he was different…
She felt the need to apologize to him.
"Jae-ha," she looked up at him. Her eyes widened. Jae-ha looked pale and was visibly sweating.
"Jae-ha! Are you okay?"
He let out a loud sigh and looked down at her, slowly blinking. "Yo…na. Dear…" His eyes closed and Yona screamed as they started to descend.
They were falling fast. Heading down towards the trees, Jae-ha's eyes snapped open and he desperately tried to swerve around to avoid any tall branches to not hurt him or Yona. But it wasn't working well. He was really weak.
Yona screamed again and clung tight to his chest. He in return held her close as best as he could.
He didn't know how he did it, but he somehow managed to land with his feet on the ground. His legs felt wobbly. He set Yona down as best as he could and went to his knees. He was beginning to breathe heavily as his hands stopped him from meeting the ground.
"Jae-ha, what's wrong? Jae-ha!" Yona held the dress's skirt and she knelt next to him. He collapsed in her arms from exhaustion.
"Jae-ha!" She tried to shake him at his shoulders. Tears were falling down her face. His body weight was a lot for her to handle. She cradled his head close to her.
What should she do? She did not know where they were. Were they back in Kouka Kingdom? How far were they from home? Should she go find help? What would happen to Jae-ha then? She couldn't leave him by himself like this. She was alone and scared and was trying not to panic.
Through her tears, she looked down at him. His breathing was shallow, she could see his chest slowly rising and falling. The sweat was heavy on his face.
Yona began to look around her and noticed a tree not that far from where they were sitting. She can't hold him forever. His weight was already too much. Maybe it was worth a shot.
She tried to stand up as best as she could, gathering all of her strength, carefully taking Jae-ha under his arms. Her dress made it difficult, but she started walking backwards towards the tree. She scooted along slowly. She wasn't that strong, but she was surprised she was actually carrying his weight.
"Hang on...Jae-ha," she assured him through her grunts.
Finally she made the distance, and gently situated his back against the tree. He continued to breathe heavily. "I...don't know...what's wrong…" He took almost all of his strength to say a few words. This shocked him.
"No, no. Don't waste energy speaking." She said quietly. She took one of his hands in hers and squeezed it.
She continued to look around them. There was no road or a path in sight. No water, either. All she had was Yoon's bag. Maybe something in there would help right now.
She went over and picked it up. She took out the blanket and tore off a corner with her hands and teeth. Walking back to Jae-ha, she knelt down and began to lightly touch his face to wipe the sweat. "You were fine when we left…" He closed his eyes and nodded slightly. His breath was still slow and heavy.
He had a headache, and also was having cold sweats. Jae-ha had not felt this drained before. He rarely gets sick. He kept his eyes open long enough to notice that Yona was still crying.
She lifted her head and suddenly stood up and dropped the blanket piece next to Jae-ha. She had an idea.
"I'll be back in a bit!" She took her dress skirt and ran in the opposite direction. What was she doing? She did not know this area. She could get lost, and here he was in this condition. If he had the strength, he would have caught her arm before she even moved a few feet. His intentions were such, but he was too weak to raise his arm fully, and fast enough. His voice barely a whisper.
"Yona…"
It was all his fault. He should have been quicker to find her. They should have left for home a lot earlier and not make an effort to clean up. Now she left him. He hit the ground with his fist.
A few minutes later, much to his surprise Yona came running back to him. In her hands were large leaves. She again knelt before him again and took a stem in her hands and was waving it by his face. She was quick to think about cooling him down, and the best resource was a thick leaf. He could faintly feel a breeze from the leaf's movement.
After a few minutes, fatigue was evident in Yona's arm movements. She was visibly frustrated. She set the leaf down.
"Jae-ha, forgive me!"
He wondered why she said that, since she was clearly trying her best. He understood why, in the next seconds, when her hands reached up to the clasps of his clothes and began to undo them. Her hands were shaking and was biting her lip. Once the clasps were removed, she began to undress him, lowering the robe from his shoulders and down his torso, as well as untied the undershirt and removed it too.
"Is that better?" She reached again for the large leaf and began fanning him again. His chest was visibly wet with sweat.
Truth be told, not really. He felt like his blood was boiling and the cold sweats would not stop. He shivered. But he was surprised how quickly Yona acted under these circumstances. How she did not seem embarrassed to undress him.
She was aggressively moving the leaf back and forth, but it was very tiring. Her arms were very weak now and she was frustrated. Jae-ha did not seem to have much relief. She dropped the leaf and sat down on the blanket, which she had spread out next to him. Her hands met her face as she sobbed.
"I don't know what to do!" She yelled. She felt weak and hopeless.
If only she knew what each of the packed medicines were for. Would senjuso help? What about the collection of leaves? Should she even risk using any of the medicine – what if it did not work? Seeing Jae-ha suffering like this only broke her heart and Yona wished she knew what to do.
"Princess!"
Her head shot up. Did she just hear Hak's voice? Was she going insane?
"Princess! Jae-ha!" That sounded like Kija. Wait...what?
She rubbed her eyes and looked around. Standing up, she took a few steps to their right. Coming through the trees came Hak and Kija, running towards them.
"Hak!" Yona screamed as she continued to cry. She started to run towards him. They met with a hard embrace.
"Princess! Thank goodness!" he breathlessly called out. He didn't want to let her go. He was far too long away from her that he thought the worst. He stroked her hair as she sobbed into his chest.
"Princess!" Kija caught up with them and he too joined in their emotional hug. He couldn't get the words out fast enough between his gasps for breath. "I'm so glad we found you!" Tears were falling down his face.
They stood there together for who knows how long. Suddenly Kija broke free from them.
"Jae-ha! Where is Jae-ha?" He was frantic and looked around. He spotted his Dragon brother against the tree, half-undressed and struggling to breathe. Kija was horrified and ran to him. "Jae-ha! What's wrong? Princess, what's wrong with him?"
Yona was approaching them and knelt down. "I don't know. He was fine when we left to go home and all of a sudden he was weak and sweating and his breathing became heavy. I don't know! I-I tried to cool him off, but it wasn't working. I didn't know what to do…."
She couldn't speak anymore. It was all too much for her seeing Jae-ha suffering.
Kija noticed the sweat on Jae-ha and took the back of his left hand against Jae-ha's forehead. It was very hot to touch.
"We have to get him back to the cart. I'm sure something that Yoon packed would help!"
Kija unbound his Dragon hand and very carefully lifted Jae-ha from the tree. His hand of course could do anything. Even carry a human like a feather.
"Hang on, Jae-ha! We'll get back safely." And he began to run in the direction where they came, towards the cart.
Yona managed to gather the blanket and the bag from the ground while trying to dry her tears.
"Princess, where did you get that dress?"
Hak had noticed by now that Yona was not in her usual clothes. This dress she was wearing was a hanbok and was white and sea green in color. He did well to hide it of course, but he thought she was absolutely gorgeous in this dress.
"Jae-ha bought it for me. My other one was dirty and ripped." She refrained from telling him how badly ripped her other dress really was, and she didn't want Hak to get mad at Jae-ha. She would have to try her best to keep a lot of secrets from the past days from Hak. She knew he would not handle it well…
So Droopy Eyes bought it, huh. What a shock it was to Hak. Somehow he had good taste. He would thank him later. He took Yona in his arms and held her close. "Come on, we have a cart to take us back."
He ran following Kija and Jae-ha.
Hak and Yona soon caught up with the rest of them. There was indeed a cart, a large cart pulled by two horses. In the cart was Zeno and at the front in the rider's seat was Shin-Ah.
"Little Miss! You're safe!" Zeno called out and was waving when Hak and Yona appeared in their view.
When Hak was near the cart, he let Yona down and she stand up. The back of the cart was open. "How did you get a cart with horses?"
"When one is desperate, he gets a cart." Kija proudly concluded. Somehow Yona knew that the other Dragons and Hak were not the nicest negotiators under these circumstances. It must have been scary for the person they asked, no, demanded to use the cart. She chuckled.
Shin-Ah jumped off the seat and selflessly hugged Yona. This was the first time he openly showed affection to her in this way. Yona was surprised by his actions, but she felt safe in his embrace. She returned his hug.
"Yona. You're safe. I'm happy." he softly stated, loud enough so she could hear him.
She parted from him, a smile on her face. She looked up at him and noticed a single tear that peeked past his mask. She did not expect Shin-Ah to be this worried about her. But that was expected of the Dragons. She took her finger and wiped away his tear.
Ao poked around his shoulder and squeaked loudly. Yona giggled again when Ao moved to her arm and up her shoulder, snuggling against her face. "Ao, I'm okay! Don't worry!"
Kija meanwhile was getting into the back of the cart and as careful as he could he set Jae-ha down.
"Who has the bag of Yoon's medicine?"
"Zeno has it!" He took the bag from behind his back and handed it to Kija. "There's a lot in there, I didn't think the genius kid would pack so much. I don't know what is all there."
"Yona, would you come up here, please?" Kija turned toward Yona on the ground. With Hak's help, she managed to get into the cart. Careful not to ruin her silk dress on the cart, she took the blanket out again and spread it out against the floor and side of the cart and she sat down.
Kija situated Jae-ha's head on Yona's lap.
"Here, it might be a bumpy ride. If you can manage, please help him stay comfortable."
Her face was beginning to get hot again, but she had no choice but to help him as much as possible. She nodded.
Hak closed the back of the cart and hoisted himself to the seat next to Shin-Ah. With a swift movement of the reins, they began to move forward, towards the long journey home.
So Yona was able to help Jae-ha, too. When I was writing this story, I did not expect to get this far, and the story just kept evolving. I figured I could use the meaning of the title to its full potential. So, they save each other, one way or another.
The ending is coming soon - only two chapters left in this story. I hope you have enjoyed it so far. Please like and fav!
