“Ha Jin - ah…”

Her heart skips a beat and then doubles up to catch with the rhythm. The voice pouring through is soothingly familiar. He continues before a reply forms on her lips.

“Just listen - don’t say anything.”

The urgency catches her breath, the secretiveness makes her scoot closer to the window away from the two men discussing something in low, concerned voices.

“Where are you?” She whispers, clutching the mobile closer to her mouth. From thousand things she wants to tell him, it is the most mundane that she picks up. “Everyone is looking for you!”

“They are in on it, Ha Jin - ah.”

“What?” Involuntarily her eyes dart towards the two men, still deep in discussion.

“It’s a trap. They are trying to use you. They shouldn’t know about this call.”

The nagging suspicion stirs itself in the pit of her stomach and she reflects back to each word spoken by senior Hwang - So does not trust the man. He was never on their side - not when Tae died, or when Myung Hee was killed. But coach Park - would he betray the son after his heart?

“Ha Jin - ah -” he sounds troubled and it breaks her train of thought.   

“Tell me where you are -” She tells instead.

She hears him sigh and waits with battered breath as the pause stretches.

“I’m going to text you an address, meet me there.”

**

That feeling stained with haze of pain brings back memories. There’s a hand on his cheek tapping him back to consciousness as he spins back and forth between then and now.

“Oppa!” He wonders for a second why Yeon Hwa is talking to him, or why she is supporting him upright. Then he recalls untying her bounds, fighting with his own body that wants to take him down. His vision is blurred and his breath comes short and laboured. When she speaks there is worry in Yeon Hwa’s voice. “Stay awake -” she orders, as she half drags and half pushes him down a dark hallway. “Hwang So - stay awake!”

He is too heavy for her to maneuver and Yeon Hwa grits her teeth. It’s her fault, she admits gradually, but penance will have to wait. She knows the way out, for she had walked here on her own and she knows whatever miracle this is it will not last long. They don’t have much time to make their escape.

It comes more like a muscle memory than that of mind. He remembers the searing pain of sharp glass dragging down his face - the undiluted hatred in his mother’s delirious,blood drenched face.

There are small hands trying to claw their way between him and the blood thirsty woman, pushing her away - pulling him back. The fear that grips his heart on most part is for her - not him.

“Ha Jin - ah,” he whispers. “Run!”

“It’s not him!” She screams, words that his mother ignore, panting in her fit of rage. Somehow, she squeezes her way out of his arms and stands shielding him from his nightmare. It is not bravery for her shoulders are shaking, it is love that takes her to her doom. “There was another man! Another man! No - no - NO!” She pushes her when she makes another attempt to cut him. “Look at me - I was there! I’ll tell you what happened - I’ll tell you how he died! It wasn’t - DON’T touch him!” Her words rise and fall and he finds it hard to breath.

Yeon Hwa is no longer pulling him with her, instead she pushes him inside, he hears the cringing of doors. Feels the cool wall behind his back.

“Nothing’s broken -” he hears her breath, coming out in gasps at her efforts to shove him in. “I’ll get you the antidote, stay here - keep your eyes open!” The door closes and darkness swallows him. So breathes through his mouth, forehead pressed against the closed door and knows it in his bones that he does not need the antidote Yeon Hwa promises. He has been under this drug before - he knows how it works - what he needs is time.

In his ear the memories howl and he recalls pushing her away. Peeling her off him, shielding her from the wrath of his mother - he remembers the moment her fingers slipped away from his. The very next minute he had been pulled back by the collar. He remembers the fire in his mother’s eyes.

“Do you think she is safe?” She growls, low and menacing. “You killed my son, and would I just let her go?”

He doesn’t recall the moment she injects him, but he knows when his vision darkens, when he collapses on his knees, he remembers the fear that crippled him. It was this same drug, it was this same weariness in his bones - same fire in his veins. “You can die together…” he remembers her dragging him - he remembers the car.

“Not Ha Jin…please,” he pleads, he prays. “Please not her!”

**

Her heart is somewhere in her throat and she doesn’t turn to watch the cab pulling way. Instead her eyes are trained on the car on the opposite end, her thoughts on the man she knows is inside. She would never recall the steps that lead her to him, for they had been as automatic as sleepwalking. The tap of her heels, the distant traffic, the snap of a car door is lost on her. Ha Jin wakes up when she is enfolded in his warmth.

“Don’t ever do that again…” she mumbles, head tucked into his collar, fists full of his jacket. “I was so worried - I thought you were hurt.”

Pressing her lips to his hairline, Ha Jin inhales him in and stills.

He smells of lemons and cinnamon - misplaced and wrong. He reaches for her lips and pause, observing her expression - his cheeks are pale when her hands rests on them.

Something flickers in the back of her mind and her eyes travel over his face, seeking - hoping. He takes her hand when it slips away and pulls her back back to him kissing her knuckles.

Though he doesn’t reply immediately, his hand runs through her hair - tips of his fingers dragging roughly against her scalp. She feels him breath her in, pull her closer and she takes comfort in his presence, the heat that seeps through layers of clothing and meets her skin. “I made you worry…” he mutters against her skin, tracing kisses up her throat.

No - Ha Jin tells herself. She is being paranoid, he was away. She has no idea under what circumstances. It is silly of her to think about a perfume. And her own thoughts are foggy with his lips trailing over her skin, emotions stirring within her - worry - relief - need…”

“So…” She sighs against his lips, her eyes fluttering close.

His fingers curl in her hair, tugging at them a little painfully. Her eyes snap open and a rueful smile tugs at the corner of his lips.

“What did you do silly?” His tone is slightly admonishing. “You made me lose the game!”

**

“She loves me!” He insists. “You are wrong. She loves me - not So! My mermaid loves me!”

Yoo Myung Sung takes a deep breath, her own ears ringing with the pounding of her pulse. It was a miracle that brought her here, just in time before things progressed beyond her control. She could still taste the chills that ran down her spine when she walked in on Wook with a barrel between his eyebrows.

Choosing her words carefully, she reached out a cautious hand and touched Jun’s shoulder, he shrugged her off, but not as forcefully as she had expected.

“But you saw them at the beach did you not Jun - ah? Your mermaid loves another now.”

“No!” He bites his lip, fists waving working himself into a tantrum.

“You know better than I do. You’ve been watching her for ages. You know I’m saying the truth!”

“No - no! She thinks it’s me! She is mistaken! She loves me!” He stumps his feet, shakes his head.

“Fine! Fine!” She raises her hands. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

The suggestion pauses him, and Myung Sung picks up the mobile Wook had picked up to dial earlier. “Why don’t you call her -” She offers him the mobile.

“Call mermaid?” He asks slowly.

“Wait,” she adds as an afterthought. “Let’s play a game. Call her like So.”

He huffs.

“Why would I so that?”

“Well if she loves you, you win. If she loves So - I win. What do you think?”

She waits, not daring to breath, watching the thought processing in his head.

“What do I get if I win?”

“I’ll never ask you to act like So again.”

“If you win?”

“Well…” she drags the word, using that last minute to plan a little more. “If she loves So - you’ll have to be So to win her heart right?”

He pouts, but nods slowly.

“She loves me!” He declares.

“Let’s see…”