I LOVE YOU SO
Chapter Ten
❛ Looking out for you. ❜

SHRINKING AWAY AT the change of lighting, the lights glared down at the remaining players, a thick smell of copper stained the air. The room around Aera began to swirl, all of the broken beds and figures of people started to morph together, creating a mixture of greens and pinks.

Shoving the bile down her throat with a forceful swallow, Aera's chest began to grow heavy, her leg being a tough burden to carry. About three or four supervisors charged up to the corner they were in, "turn around," they chorused.

Grunting, trying to lift her wounded leg up, a series of sweat smeared on the sides of Aera's temples. Spinning around in a poorly state, she weakly lifted her palms up, catching Sae-byeok's gaze on the way too. Panting, "okay I lied . . . Sae, I don't feel too good," with her eyes fluttering slightly, an uneasy laugh spilled out of her lips.

Flicking her head around, "what," unable to master a reply, Sae-byeok trembled, as she tried to focus her alarmed gaze on Aera's injured state.

Thud. Fading from consciousness, Aera's drowsy eyes glued shut, making her collapse on to the hard ground. A few dangerous bed frames sat uncomfortably under her back, though, she couldn't feel it of course, not when she was knocked out on the floor. But, of course, she had to deal with the the pain, from the impact, later.

"Aera," muttering in a hushed tone, Sae-byeok kept her palms up and flinched when she saw Aera flop down on to the floor, groggily. Her palms, that were streaked with old blood, ached to reach out and shake Aera awake.

Glancing towards her side, her distressed eyes met with Gi-hun's widened ones, his jaw hung open slightly, "it'll be okay," he mouthed, even though he didn't know if they were allowed to move at that point.

An armed supervisor, one with a square painted on his hefty mask, shuffled behind Gi-hun. "Player 456. Is there a man named Hwang In-ho here?" Speaking plainly, he kept his eyes forward, but noticing Gi-hun's hesitance, he strode forwards. From his peripherals, a fallen body caught his attention. Doing a double take, his eyebrows began to knit together apprehensively, hoping it wasn't who he thought it was.

"We don't use our names in this place," Gi-hun replied with a frown, his eyes landing on Aera. Didn't this girl say her surname was Hwang?

Realisation clicked inside of Sae-byeok's head, noticing that this supervisor was different from the others, she cautiously spoke, "she's just fainted," uttering at the lowest volume, "she's not dead," a hint of doubt lingered within her voice, but she blinked harshly, knowing Aera wouldn't die at just that. She watched as the tension released from the supervisor's shoulders.

Slinging the gun behind him, "go, I can check player 036's pockets, there's some players over there that need checking," telling the other supervisors that crowded around Aera's collapsed body, to clear off, they obeyed with a brief nod and charged into the direction he pointed to.

Checking once more, in case there were some supervisors still lingering around, he strode over towards Aera's side and lifted her up by the shoulders, needing assistance, he gestured towards the other players around him, by waving his hands over towards him.

Rushing towards Aera's side first, Sae-byeok let Aera's head lay against her thigh as she crouched down beside her. Letting her fingers comb through Aera's matte, dark and knotted hair, it was probably darkened from the blood that splattered everywhere during that restless night, she watched as the supervisor pretended to check through Aera's pockets.

Discreetly, the supervisor slipped a pocket knife into her pocket, as he did so, a silver locket with a heart shaped pendant flew out, dropping by Sae-byeok's ankle. Lowering her arms, her eyes softened as she picked it up from its warm chain, it sat loosely between Sae-byeok's fingers, the pendant catching the bright lights, making it glimmer slightly. Through her warm tears, it appeared to sparkle aesthetically, making her smile fondly as the nostalgic memories rolled into her mind.

"I can't believe we became friends on this very day, that's crazy," young Aera grinned all too wildly, her cheeks began to bloom a bright pink as she parked her bike against the trunk of the tall lemon tree.

"Right?" Gasping softly, a light giggle escaped from young Sae-byeok's lips as she gazed into Aera's bright eyes. Clutching the fish shaped cone tightly, being cautious not to spill the matcha flavoured ice cream on to the floor, she dug her hand into her pocket, trying to find her gift for the special and memorable occasion.

"What are you doing?" Letting go of the smooth handles of her bike, Aera crossed her arm as she furrowed her eyebrows at the sight of Sae-byeok fiddling with two necklaces. Noticing Sae-byeok struggling to hold the jewellery and the ice cream, Aera reached out and held the green ice cream for her by the cone, "here let me help you."

"Thank you," smiling sheepishly, she held out Aera's locket and unclasped it, "may I?" When Aera nodded enthusiastically, she extended her arms and wrapped the locket around Aera's neck so that it hung loosely, before securing the clasp shut, "I have a matching one too, we can try and take a photo so it can go inside the pendant!"

Curiously, Aera took the pendant within her hands, "oh my God- It's so beautiful!" Carefully opening the pendant, the letters: A & S-B was read out within Aera's mind, a bashful grin began to paint its way across her face, "thank you Sae, I'm treasuring this forever."

Just the memory was enough to wrench her heart, just the recollection of it all caused Sae-byeok to break away from her hard exterior, enough to make a genuine, wistful smile paint across her face. Grabbing her attention, snapping Sae-byeok away from her nostalgia, she felt a hand tap her arm lightly.

Thinking it was her old companion, "Aera?" She flicked her head around. But, when her eyes landed on the supervisor, her shoulders sunk slowly. "Oh."

"Look after her," the supervisor commanded with meaning, behind the filter that was built within the sturdy mask he was wearing, Sae-byeok could detect the sorrow that loitered within his voice.

When she inclined her head immediately, the supervisor, presumably Jun-ho, tore his eyes away, peering around his shoulder to look at Aera one last time, he then turned away and joined the rest of the supervisors.

The others rushed towards Aera, concern filling their pupils as their eyes fell on to the large gash that was engraved on to the side of her leg. From beside Gi-hun, a compassionate man with calm brown eyes, someone with the numbers 199 across his shirt, suggested a thought, "I heard that there's a doctor over in that group. Maybe he can help fix this madam's leg?"

"Good idea," Gi-hun agreed.

━━━

TAPPING HER FOOT nervously against the steps, it wobbled slightly as Sae-byeok kept her troubled eyes on Aera's serene figure, one that was settled on top of a clean mattress, her injured leg was wrapped in a thick layer of random sheets, protecting her skin from getting infected.

Biting on the inside of her lips gingerly, Sae-byeok reached over and brought the heavy layers of duvets, closer towards Aera's chin. Beforehand, she tried to use the clean side of her sleeve to wipe at the grime that clung onto Aera's face, she did it gently, trying not to disturb her sleep. From the last few days, Sae-byeok realised that Aera was always being awoken forcefully, deciding to put an end to that, Sae-byeok let Aera rest, and this time with an actual pillow.

Hugging her knees tightly, Sae-byeok placed her chin on top of her knees, trying to remind herself that Aera was alive and well. Though, it was hard to believe when Aera held a face that was way too peaceful. The only things reassuring her was: the small smile that tugged at the corners of Aera's pink lips, how her eyelashes fluttered unnoticeably- and the warmth within Aera's hands as she held it delicately.

Sae-byeok awaited patiently for Aera to wake up.

". . . Uh, well, at this point, we should know what to call each other," Gi-hun proposed an idea, catching everyone's attention.

Listening intently, she ran a thumb across the back of Aera's palm. Playing with the locket within her fingers, she'd strung it around her neck loosely whilst Aera was getting her stitches done. Feeling eyes on her, her shoulders tensed up when the others landed their attention on to her.

Never taking her hand away from Aera's palm, she pulled a face when Gi-hun looked expectantly at her. "Come on really?" Trying to frown, she tiredly replied.

He clicked his tongue, moving his arms about, "we're all teammates here now. We should really know about each other, build up a little trust okay?"

Stirring, Aera grimaced as she faded out of dreamland, one that was filled with low tides, soft sands within her feet, rosy skies and endless glasses of mojitos. Using her free hand, it flew towards her benumbed leg, the inner core of her brain felt like it was being hammered down by a bunch of mini ants, she then gripped the sides of her temples, sucking in a breath between her gritted teeth.

With her vision still fuzzy, her heart almost leaped out of its cage when she felt Sae-byeok's soft hands within hers, her cheeks burned a furious shade of red. Gripping the sheets tightly, a sea full of agony flowed through Aera's veins when she tried to prop herself up with her elbows, her leg carried an unbearable amount of pain.

"Kang Sae-byeok," the girl looked towards her feet, still unaware of Aera awakening.

"Sae-byeok? That's a pretty name," Gi-hun turned away, "though I'm not sure how well it fits," a humorous grin found its way across his face.

"I think," trying to push away the fact that she was undergoing a high amount of torture, from the pain within her leg, "I think it suits her very well," Aera's voice was raspy, still sore from yelling her lungs out all night.

"Oh! The doctor's work did wonders," a gleeful grin spread across player 199's face, "she's awake and well," placing a hand on his chest when Aera sleepily turned her head around to face him, "I'm Ali Abdul," bowing his head a little, "you must be Hwang Aera," he sweetly spoke.

"Happy to meet you Ali! I am Hwang Aera," even though her face felt slightly numb, she tried to send push the sides of her lips upwards and into a cheerful smile, Aera felt grateful for the fact that someone appreciated her presence.

"Just to double check, how many fingers am I holding up?" Waving a palm around, peeping from side to side to find a good view for Aera to see, Ali let out a light chuckle at the confusion.

"I think that's three? I don't know, I don't think that the flickering lights really did me any good."

"You're right, well, if you count my thumb," glancing towards his hand with a beaming smile, Ali then flickered his eyes over towards Aera with an enthusiastic thumbs up, "phew, you're good."

Popping his head around, Gi-hun piped in with a bright smile across his face, "Hwang Aera! I'm sorry we couldn't meet each other in a more cheerful situation, it's great to see you doing okay," letting out a calm chuckle, he reached out and gave her arm a light punch.

Only wincing slightly, Aera rubbed at that area with a sore palm as she masked everything with a grateful smile, "it's alright, it's lovely to meet you Gi-hun. Thank you for earlier though, things could've gotten really bad if it weren't for you-"

"Aera?"

Startled by the raspy voice that filled into the conversation, Aera's tired limbs jolted from it. Looking towards her left, trying to locate the voice, she flickered her eyes around until they landed on Sae-byeok's restless figure. The circles under Sae-byeok's eyes were fully engraved, insinuating the lack of sleep she had, it was arduous to when there wasn't a possibility of Aera waking up from her sleep. There were loose threads around the collar of Sae-byeok's t-shirt, as if she'd been tugging on it all night, the strands of her hair were ruffled from combing a stressed hand through them repeatedly.

"Sae-byeok," glancing towards their intertwined fingers with a wobbly smile, Aera's pupils glazed over with a thin layer of tears, "Did you not get any sleep?-"

Watching as concern filled Aera's teary pupils, ones that were pink from crying from the impact of Deok-su's brute like hands, Sae-byeok's expression visibly softened for a moment as the two shared a meaningful gaze. It was enough- better than to ask if Aera was well. With her shoulders falling slightly, becoming relaxed from the relief that sunk into her veins, Sae-byeok hesitated before reaching out and wrapping her arms, softly, around Aera's shoulders.

Feeling Sae-byeok's fingers threading through the back of her hair and one hand pressed against the middle of her back, Aera weakly brought her own arms up and pulled Sae-byeok into a tight embrace too. Under the smell of copper and dried blood, a unique scent that Aera was familiar with filled her senses, one that was mainly a mixture of cherries and a hint of matcha.

They haven't held each other like this since they were fifteen or so, when Aera had to be rushed into the A&E for falling off a blossom tree. The young girl tried to convince Sae-byeok that it was safe to climb it, that the view was wondrous from up there, but of course, the tree betrayed her and nearly dug up a grave for her.

"Only an idiot would sleep through a time like this," Sae-byeok's warm yet delicately gruff voice, flittered into Aera's ear, causing the tips of them to be bright red. With her cheek pressed against the top of Aera's head with a soft chuckle, she swayed slightly. Closing her eyes, a whiff of coconut shampoo could still be smelt from Aera's hair, causing a wave of nostalgia to flood through Sae-byeok's veins.

Shutting her eyes, Aera sunk the side of her cheek deeper into Sae-byeok's shoulder, her comfortable jacket made it easier to do so. "Guess I'm an idiot then," almost dozing off with her face buried in Sae-byeok's shoulder, a couple tears ought to have impermanently stained the surface of her jacket.

Aera almost chuckled in disbelief, she didn't believe that she was fully awake, not when Sae-byeok willingly held her within her warm arms, with her humming against her ear.

( 2651 words )

DEAR ALL,

Can they stay like this forever please.

WITH LOVE, SYLVIA