1 year 4 months before the invasion

The sun streamed through the trees warming Ji Hye's back. Spring was nearing its end; the cherry blossoms having already bloomed and fallen. The weather was finally warm enough for short sleeves and pants without having to worry about bundling up in the morning. It was the perfect day for frolicking in the flowers, but no university student had time for that.

Ji Hye sat across from Ye Joon at a small white plastic picnic table in the courtyard. It had become their main meeting area ever since the weather got bearable enough to sit outside. He sat hunched pouring over a thick book of art history studiously taking notes in a variety of colors. She couldn't look at his notes without getting a headache, all the colors and arrows barely making any sense. The sketchbook he had bought at the beginning of the school year sat open next to him; edges frayed with various papers skewed at odd angles barely holding on to the binding. Periodically, he would put down whatever colorful pen he had in his hand, pick up his pencil and add a detail or two to the sketch.

She wrote another line in her notes, each character small and perfectly in place, taking time to understand each word and how it fit into the topic. Many people didn't understand why she chose to take such perfect notes. Oftentimes getting mocked in high school for having to study for ten times longer than the rest of her classmates, only to have them turn around and gush about how beautiful her notes were and ask to borrow them so they could fill out the missing pieces in their own. In the beginning she relented, becoming one of the most popular people in her grade, but after a while she couldn't stand the hypocrisy any longer and ended up telling anyone off, quite loudly and obscenely, who had the gall to ask for them.

People quickly realized she wasn't as much of a pushover as they expected and they slowly stopped talking to her, instead choosing to whisper behind her back. But that was all okay with her. She had her two best friends that had stayed with her and had never made fun of her for the way she took notes or chastised her for telling those others off, only telling her good job after one of the public displays. They became the top three students in their year, soaring above all the other kids in their grade.

Ji Hye and her slow note taking had been awarded the scholarship while many of them were barely able to graduate high school, so jokes on them.

She stared at the article on her laptop and wrote another sentence down absorbing the information. She had been working on this research paper since the beginning of the semester and the deadline was closing in. She realized too late that the topic she had chosen had been too broad. The topics kept branching off into subtopics with even more subtopics for what felt like infinite. Staring at the jumbled mess of notes, now several different research papers, she had finally chosen a new topic from the branching mess. But much to her chagrin, it was already too late in the semester to avoid sleepless nights of research.

Reading another line, the characters started to blur together. How long had she been staring at this? Endless nights she had been studying this topic and didn't seem to be getting anywhere. She still had the other piles of homework and finals to study for too; the short essay for communications, the short essay and math sheets for chemical problem solving, the quiz on their reading passage for biophysical chemistry, and the lab report for her molecular genetic laboratory. All that with the finals that were coming up in a couple weeks.

Her breathing quickened as she thought about the looming deadlines and how far behind she was. Did she have enough time to get it all done? No, she didn't. She would fail. The teachers had made it clear how important the final grades were to their overall grade, and she would fail. Her GPA would drop. Her scholarship would be revoked, and she would be kicked out of the school.

The article became harder and harder to read as words blurred together in a black mess, her mind spiraling out of control. A tear, wet and heavy, fell, splashing onto her notebook making the ink run together.

She tried to take a breath but couldn't seem to get any air. Her breathing came in short, ragged gasps as she tried to get air. Vaguely, she heard a voice saying her name, but it didn't matter.

She was going to fail.

Fail.

Fail.

Fail.

Her mind repeated that word over and over again in time to her rapid gasps.

"Ji Hye," warm hands captured the sides of her face forcing her to look away from the laptop. She stared at him without really seeing. "Ji Hye," Ye Joon repeated, his voice, deep, calm and steady. It washed over her providing an anchor in the roiling sea of her mind.

Her chest rattled as she took a shaky breath in, air flooding her lungs and it was like the breath of life itself. After a few more, her breathing returned to its slow steady pace.

She blinked and felt fresh hot tears cascade down her already wet cheeks.

The world fell away as she looked into the deep brown eyes in front of her. Eyes that were shaped as if they were touched by sadness. Eyes that were beautiful as they glittered with hope. Eyes that always made her want to protect the man in front of her from the cruelty of the world.

"Don't cry," his thumbs brushed her cheek, wiping away the freshly fallen tears, "it'll be okay. Everything will be okay."

In the spring air, her cheeks would have been cold from the dampness, but in Ye Joon's hands she felt nothing but warm. She closed her eyes, taking another deep breath and found herself leaning into Ye Joon's touch.

They sat there, her focusing on her breathing and Ye Joon stroking her cheeks, whispering that everything would be okay, until she opened her eyes and whispered a grateful "thanks."

He sat back on his plastic bench, "What happened?"

"I just got a little overwhelmed with school. That's all." She waved it away like what had just happened was nothing but a minor annoyance.

"No kidding. I mean look at your notes. I would get overwhelmed too. They're so black and sad," he said, grabbing the top sheet of her notes and picking up a blue pen from his pile.

"Don't you dare," she tried to snatch the paper back but he pulled it just out of reach.

He grinned wickedly at her and drew a bright blue smiley face in the top corner. Satisfied with his little picture, he nodded, handing the paper back, still grinning. She stared at him, appalled.

"Now, when you're feeling overwhelmed and need a quick break, you can look at this" he tapped the blue face smiling brightly back at her, "and remember to smile."

She stared at the little picture he drew; so terrible that she would have mistaken it for a toddler's scribble. The eye lines were lopsided, varying in length. The smile was more long than it was wide, the starting and ending points not in line with each other. And the whole thing sat as a skewed angle to the page. Although less than perfect, it had its own charm. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her own face which quickly became a laugh.

"Thanks," she laughed, packing her laptop and notes back into her bag. The paper with Ye Joon's sketch was last. She stared down at it, imperfect with its tear-stained ink and sloppy smiley face, and realized that the weight that had been crushing her only moments before had all but vanished. She slipped the page into her bag thinking that this paper might be more helpful to her than all the others she had accumulated that year.

Standing, she stretched, "I need a break. Want to come?"

"What," he looked suspiciously at her, "what are we doing?"

It was her turn to grin wickedly at him, "something that you're gonna hate."

He stared at her for a long moment, considering, then shrugged, "sure, why not."

"This sucks," Ye Joon said, drawing out the last syllable with his head thrown back.

"Well, if you focused more on your breathing instead of complaining then maybe it wouldn't be so hard," she said, barely out of breath compared to Ye Joon's deep panting next to her.

They ran along the Han River, the sunlight glinting off the still surface of the water. A faint breeze blew, not enough to hinder their running, but enough to whisk away any sweat. The perfect day, and the people, it would seem, knew it. The pathways were packed with walkers and joggers, it became more a drill of a dodge and weave rather than simply jogging. She was thankful that bikes had their own path next to the main path or else there would have been some major traffic collisions.

They were only five minutes into their jog when Ye Joon had had enough and began to complain. It was honestly longer than she had expected since the first time he had only made it two minutes. They had done this a few times since the weather had gotten warmer and slowly but surely, he was improving. He had scared her nearly half to death the first time they went out after collapsing to the grass and almost throwing up from pushing himself too hard without telling her. Afterwards, they focused on proper form and breathing while taking more breaks, but she knew he was just being dramatic now.

Ji Hye gently slapped the back of his head, "head up. Eyes forward and shoulders down."

He groaned but fixed his posture. Music continued to play in her ears to the rhythm of their pounding feet. Minutes passed without a word from Ye Joon, the only sound was his labored breathing.

Swerving around a walking couple pushing a stroller, they passed a park where several groups of people were sitting under trees doing various activities from reading, eating, and chatting. Ye Joon slowed down next to her, forcing her to slow as well. Looking at them, he pointed.

"I think I see an open tree there," he said, panting, "Nice and shady."

"Yep, and I bet a nice group of people will enjoy it," she said, getting behind Ye Joon and gently pushing him to get him to go start running again.

He resisted, "you know, we could be those people."

"I don't think so," she put her shoulder to his back and pushed harder, finally making him quicken his pace, "we still have a bit farther to go."

He threw his head back again and groaned, "why do we have to do this?"

"I told you. This will be good for your self-confidence. Think of this as a part of your therapy."

"Therapy sucks," he grumbled.

"Come on. You can do it. I know you can."

He let out another little grumble too low for Ji Hye to hear over her music but began to run again without needing to be coaxed by her.

After several more minutes she finally spotted their destination, a giant park. People were spread throughout the wide field of grass with picnic blankets all chatting and eating. Kids played at the small playground while others ran every which way dodging around the disorderly blankets. Kites flew overhead speckling the sky with varying patterns and colors. But the real reason Ji Hye was stopping there was because of the small shop in the center.

They ran up to it and Ji Hye finally gave Ye Joon the signal to stop. Stumbling to a stop, he had to use the small building to catch his balance. Bent double and breathing hard, she could just make out the droplets of sweat that had begun to soak into his long shirt.

"Come on," she clapped him on the back, "let's go get a snack."

He let out a faint moan of protest, but after a couple steps he was right behind her.

She b-lined directly for the small chest freezer and pulled out a Double Bianco; strawberry sherbert topped with vanilla ice cream drizzled with strawberry syrup, her favorite. Paying for the ice cream, she stood behind the counter waiting for Ye Joon to finish. He had apparently decided to buy the whole store, his arms loaded with sausage, tteokbokki, kimbap and a snack bag of some kind.

He reached the checkout counter and put his stuff down, head in his usual bowed position, hair falling over his eyes. As he handed his card over to the cashier, he noticed Ji Hye behind the counter waiting for him. She gave a small wave, and he smiled back. She guessed the cashier asked him a question because he looked away from her to the cashier, the small smile still on his face, and replied.

The cashier nodded and looked back at what he was doing. Ji Hye saw his eyes go wide with shock, face draining of color and mouth parted in a little "o." He blinked rapidly, head twitching back and forth like he couldn't figure out where to look, and she was reminded of a cornered animal looking desperately for a way out. Grabbing the bag and card from the cashier, he gave his low bow and hustled out of the store.

"I think my heart is going to explode," he said as he passed Ji Hye.

"That was awesome," she said, feeling enough excitement for the both of them.

Much to Ye Joon's relief, they found a bench under a large tree that overlooked the river. He collapsed onto it still breathing hard, from the run or the interaction he had just had, Ji Hye wasn't sure.

Before she took a seat next to him, she ruffled his hair.

Which was gross, if she were being honest, since it was damp with sweat. But she did it anyway as she said, "I'm so proud of you. That was really amazing."

He looked up at her, eyes still hidden behind his sweat-ridden hair. Color had started to return to his face, cheeks flushing a bright pink. He smiled at her, that same shy smile he always wore when she complimented him. She returned his smile with her own, wide and beaming. She wasn't a shy type of person, preferring to go all out in everything she did.

"You know," he said, breaking the silence, "My hair must be really gross right now."

"It's so gross," she laughed, taking a seat next to him and popping open her ice cream, "what's up with all the food?"

"The longer I'm here eating; the longer it takes before we have to head back."

He opened the container of tteokbokki and glanced at the ice cream she was licking, "you know I'm pretty sure that negates all the benefits of the run we just went on."

"Like yours is any better. Besides, it's delicious."

He held out his tteokbokki, "I'll give you a bite if you give me a bite."

Ji Hye glared at him, then studied the tteokbokki, deciding whether it was worth it. The small little rice cakes covered in their red spicy sauce stared back at her and she couldn't help relenting. Handing over her cone, she took the cup. Grabbing the chopsticks, she shoveled a few into her mouth.

"I said a bite," Ye Joon protested, but she simply stared at him, cheeks bulging. "Fine, then." He continued to lick the ice cream, the strawberry syrup quickly vanishing.

"Hey," she said through her mouthful of tteokbokki.

Ye Joon held out his hand, "give me my tteokbokki and I'll give your ice cream back."

Pouting, she shoved another rice cake into her mouth and held the cup out for Ye Joon. He took it and with a final lick handed her ice cream back to her, the cold shocking her skin after the warmth of the tteokbokki. She looked down at it, the strawberry syrup nearly gone.

"You barely left any syrup," she whined.

"And you barely left me any rice cakes," he said looking down at his own cup, "Now we're even. And why are you complaining? You started it. You took half the container in one bite."

She grumbled something unladylike, but he was right, so she made do with the ice cream that was left.

They sat there in the park, people watching as they enjoyed their food. Despite her taking half of his tteokbokki, he still offered her a bite of his sausage, kimbap and a few kernels of his snack, but this time under his watchful gaze. Occasionally, she would point out an individual or group of people, and he would make up a story about them; what they did, what their past was like, and why they were at the park, stuff like that. Each getting more ridiculous than the last until they were both laughing so hard the people nearby shot them scathing looks for interrupting their peace. Ji Hye didn't care. She was sure they were less annoying than the kids running around screaming and if the people were so annoyed by the sound of laughter, then she pitied them.

"Well," she said, standing, "you ready to head back?"

"Yeah."

Throwing their trash away, she stood next to the path stretching.

"What are you doing?"

"Stretching."

"Why?" he asked her, eyes narrowing to slits.

"Because we're running back."

"Absolutely not."

"I waited enough time for you to digest. We need to work off all the food we just ate." He just stared at her; his normally serene face now appalled.

She gently smacked him on the shoulder putting in her ear buds, "don't worry. You'll thank me in the future."

She turned and took off running towards the direction they had come. She heard his loud groan behind her, but a moment later he appeared next to her, matching her pace step for step. They ran towards the setting sun, the changing colors of the sky accompanying them on their way back.