The day Minjeong went missing.

It was a hot and sunny day in the middle of Khurasan. The ROKA base camp was calming despite all the ruckus happening in the northern part of the country. They succeeded with their main mission anyway — Eliminating at least eighty percent of the militants in that part; they did ninety percent, which was over succeeded.

They were told by the Khurasan government and the UN that the Southern part job was done, green flag. The soldiers could at least take a breath, eat on time, talk, and have fun with each other, waiting for the last three days to go back to their families' arms finally. To their homes.

Minjeong, at least, at that moment thought she would be. Going back home, in Jimin's arms. She probably going to confess to Jimin, for real this time, more earnestly instead of a mere marriage out of nowhere, and if Jimin accepts her feelings, she probably going to sell her house, staying in one with Jimin. She would go to sleep every night in Jimin's bed, only to be greeted by her sunshine smile every morning. Maybe, they could talk all day. Just a casual normal couple thing, like the others would do.

Minjeong wanted to do that with Jimin. But, Minjeong wouldn't know soon for the doom that is coming for her.

"First Lieutenant Kim, here. Your packed meal," one of her fellow soldier came in with a smile, handed her their usual packet of military food. Minjeong just answered him with a nod and a small, thankful smile. "Thank you, Sergeant."

The man left the tent, leaving Minjeong alone with her packed military food. This is normal, nothing abnormal. Soldiers always eat this kind of meal during outstation peacekeeping. It's nothing out of the ordinary. Minjeong simply eats them per instruction. Reheating, stirring, shaking, eating. Done.

But, after about a few minutes of her first bite, her stomach starts to feel a really, really enormous pain. Couldn't hold it back up, Minjeong left her packed food, running towards the nearest restroom to find it being locked. The Lieutenant angrily knocked on the door while clutching her stomach, "Who's inside? Come on out! Hurry!"

"I'm sorry, but I may take long!" whoever inside that restroom answered. Yeah, sure. For whatever business they were doing inside, Minjeong didn't have any time to wait. So, her only choice was to go to the restroom, at the most corner of that tiny base camp.

She ran and ran, and she was glad the moment she saw the restroom door was wide open with no people inside. Sighing in relief, Minjeong thought it would be the end of her stomachache misery, but instead, a gun was pointed behind her back, and a whisper came striking her left ear.

"Who are—"

"The poison you just ate would slowly worsen your stomach pain, and soon, you will lose your footing, you'll be numb all over your body and—"

"Who the heck are—" Minjeong wants to argue, but then the pain starts to spread at a speed, wobbling her legs, numbing her lips. The words she wanted to say became a stutter. Her words messed up so badly, that her voice became a hitch.

All she could feel was that the gunpoint was pushed deeper into her skin, and Minjeong had no strength to do anything at this point.

*****

Minjeong was not dumb. She is a First Lieutenant for a reason. She wonders how this man got inside their base when it is all highly guarded, surrounded by one hundred percent military personnel, that one managed to sneak into their camp. Minjeong thought, maybe some are slacking off too damn much, or some were tricked to go somewhere else or something.

Well, the situation for her is not good. Definitely not good.

She is numb all over now. The pain was creeping into every cell of her body, like there was something, terribly painful, eating inside her body, pulling every vessel and function of her body to the worst.

Her eyes nevertheless, were still able to wide open, watching everything from where this unknown man had dragged her out of the camp discreetly, pulling her literally on the sands, before driving her away in a jeep to the unknown world. Her arms and hands were tied together at her back. Her legs were the same, pretty much useless at this point since she couldn't move even an inch. All she could hope for was for one of the ROKA to realize her disappearance and try to find her right away.

It is all hazy since then. Too cloudy to remember. Her hearing became a sizzle, like a ring for the deaf, noisy noise in the radio.

Only when her senses were back to their normal state, Minjeong was already in a locked-up space, metal railings everywhere, chains in her legs, and all her equipment inside her uniform was gone.

"Shit" is the only thing she could say at the moment.

Well, at least she tried whatever she could to escape with this empty-handed state. From pulling the chain with force, kicking, punching, and whatever she could think of. She did all of them. Before she finally loses hope, a bit.

She stared at an empty space in the walls where she could see a hint of light from the outside. She could count the days she was there from how it turned dark to bright again. She thought her fellow soldiers could realized her disappearance by now and would find her before they went back to Korea. But after counting the days, it's already five days now.

Jimin must be worried, is all she thought as the days increased.

She was fed every morning, with a glass of plain water and a piece of bread. That's it, nothing more. But, Minjeong was not planning to die, and being the intelligent one she was, she knew that this food not going to harm her, or else, why did the militants not even hurt her a scratch? They must have something they wanted, and they believed that taking Minjeong captured would benefit them in their request.

More days and nights passed. At this rate, Minjeong is barely alive. With only a few amounts of food and water, her weight starts to decrease a lot, skinnier than normal. Totally a not healthy type of skinny, but still, not a scratch on her body, and no one meets her for any negotiation or request.

If this keep continues, Minjeong would die slowly out of malnutrition.

*****

Three weeks since Minjeong was kidnapped.

There's still no sign of ROKA or the UN. Minjeong is beyond weak at this point. There are times the militants would walk passed her lockup, swaying their guns, taunting her for god sake. For real this time, Minjeong totally lose hope. ROKA, the UN, the Khurasan government, or whatever or whoever it is who tried searching for her.

Minjeong's mind was all and only occupied with her wife.

She knew her wife well at this point. How the promises she made that day would greatly affect the actress. Minjeong is worried. No, she is really, really worried about Jimin. Is she eating well? Did she take the news well? What did the ROKA tell her? Is she sleeping well at night? Is there anyone to help her, holding her up for not losing her sanity? Is there anyone who would hug her every time she cried? Is there anyone who would hear her heartbreaks, or complaints, or whatever she would tell?

"Jimin..." was a breathy word that came out from Minjeong's weak voice.

Why is there literally no one who would meet her? Where is the leader of this people who is in charge of taking her in? Minjeong guessed it was their plan all along to make her all weak first before the negotiations. Where the fuck are they?

As her complaints were chanted like magic, finally, Oh god— finally! A person was there, unlocking her cage, as a man entered, casually taking his seat across Minjeong while another man guarding right beside him, holding Minjeong at gunpoint.

He started to speak in gibberish English, "I need you to tell the UN to back off, and the government to give up, or else, there would be many more soldiers who we would take captive like we did to you."

A weak threat, Minjeong thought inside her head. Who would back off that easy for a single soldier like her? And Minjeong wouldn't give up that easily without a fight. "Why? Did you really think that taking me in would work out? I'm just a nobody. Why would the UN and the government would back off to save me? Only me? Did you think it's worth it?"

"Hey, you!" he shouted as he stood up from his seat angrily. "You don't tell me what should I do. I know what I'm doing!" he pulled out his gun, pointing it at Minjeong's head. Instead of shaking out of fear, Minjeong smirked. "Really? You really know what you are doing right now?"

"Motherfucker, you shut up! You are just a hopeless soldier, and you would do what we told you if you wanted to live!" he got angrier at this point, but Minjeong continued to smirk at him confidently. "I don't think you know me that well, old man?"

At this time, the man got angrier than ever with the insulation. "What did you call—" his words stopped when Minjeong eventually got up from squatting, swinging her chained hands (it's worth three weeks for Minjeong to forcefully pull the chains off from the walls with all her might) so that the chains hit the man in his face.

Wild shots came out everywhere from those two men after that, but Minjeong gracefully succeeded in beating both of them up unconscious. Who the hell sent these weak people to negotiate with her? This is Kim Minjeong, the First Lieutenant of the Republic of Korea Army, definitely not the hopeless soldier he had mentioned earlier.

Minjeong sighed in relief, but the pain took her right away. Soon, she realized that she had been shot two times in her legs. "It's okay, Minjeong. You can do this," she said to herself, taking the two guns on the floor with her as she dragged her bloody way out of her cell. Her confusion remains as she looks around. "There's really only that two people here? I guess it is my lucky day, or they are really stupid militants."

Minjeong dragged herself out of the unknown small building, in the middle of the desert out of nowhere. Her bleeding seems to get worse as she looks around for help. This trail of blood would lead any other militants to her location, and it would not be good.

Desperate, Minjeong pulled out her uniform, leaving only her white shirt inside as she tore one of the sleeves apart, putting pressure on her gunshot wounds, groaning in pain as she tied her own bleeding shut. At all costs, they needed to be stopped. She needs to find help as soon as possible.

It was hours after that that the soldier found a group of merchants in the desert, on their camels. She was suspicious of them at first, pointing out guns, just in case it might be the militants. But, after a few questions, Minjeong finally gave in, asking their help to take her away from this desert. She couldn't really walk with this badly injured leg, and she needed someone to treat them.

To not make it too obvious with her clothing to wherever she would go after that, Minjeong had abandoned her uniform in the middle of the desert, burning it just enough not to be recognizable by the militants, before the merchant took her away, to a safer place, far away out of the desert.

*****

"I'm back Jimin, to you, to us."

"And I am sorry that I am late."

Jimin was breathless at this point, still keeping Minjeong close in her arms, crying frantically that a few staff and bodyguards were there to control the crowd, forming a small circle around them. Questions and camera flashes were everywhere, but at this point, all they could think was one another.

"Are y-you— Is this... r-real—"

"How are you?" Minjeong cuts her. "I hope I didn't hurt you that bad. Don't cry, please," Minjeong called so softly, a small hitching smile on her face as one hand stroked the back of Jimin's hair. Nevertheless, Jimin kept crying. Hands still clinging tight around Minjeong's neck. "Jimin, look at me. Please," Minjeong called once more, and only after that, did the actress slowly pull out, looking all teary, painful and in guilt. Deep inside her, Jimin is happy that she feels that she can finally breathe again. Minjeong is alive, but then her guilt overcomes everything.

Minjeong slowly put her hand out, cupping her wife on the cheek. Her thumb wiping Jimin's tears away, "I'm sorry," this time it was Minjeong's voice that started to become raggedy. "I'm sorry that I break my promises. I got hurt, and I didn't come back home to you." Her voice is terribly apologetic.

Jimin doesn't care how the camera would capture her, or how the reporters would write about her later. She just wants her wife. She wants Minjeong. "No, I'm the one who should say that," Jimin slowly shook her head. Finally, a full word came out of her mouth. "I shouldn't do that to you. I should understand you better, Minjeong. I'm the bad one, I'm so sorry—"

"Jimin, no," Minjeongs cuts her once more, smiling apologetically again. "Hush. It's not your fault. I know, you got your fears. It's fine, and we will be fine."

"I love you" came out too suddenly from Jimin's mouth. She did not care at this rate. Jimin doesn't want to lose Minjeong again without saying that first. Hell, she regretted so so much for not telling her wife that, and it was haunting her so bad these whole three months. "I love you, Minjeong," Jimin repeated once more, looking deep into Minjeong's eyes with her teary ones. Nevertheless, Minjeong keeps flashing her that warm, apologetic, loving smile of hers.

No words were needed after that, only actions when Minjeong pulled her wife's head close to her, kissing Jimin's quavering lips on her own, sweetly and gently just to tell her how much she loved Jimin as she did. Hell. Minjeong did her best to escape the militants for Jimin. It is all for Jimin, no one else. The actress's eyes went shut as tears continued to escape, flowing down her cheeks. Her hold on Minjeong's neck loosens a bit as reality slowly hits her.

Minjeong is here, back to her, in her arms, alive.

And Jimin loves her.

That is the only thing that mattered.

*****

The actress had totally emptied her whole schedule after that, keeping Minjeong by her arms by any means that this was just a mere, sick dream that haunted her. But, when Minjeong kept reassuring her that this was all real, and not a dream, Jimin could finally be able to flash a tiny smile on her face.

Oh god. Jimin wonders, how long she couldn't smile as genuine as that.

The couple wasted no time going back home, and Minjeong knew she had a whole long explanation to tell her wife. But, Jimin showed nothing but caring towards her since the moment they met, not pushing the soldier at all to tell her the story. Jimin could wait. For Minjeong, she could wait. Let it be days, months, or years. Jimin would always wait for her.

The actress had helped her wife into the apartment after telling her that she had sold the soldier's house for good. Minjeong was shocked just for a brief second but she had nothing to argue since she had planned that too the moment she thought she would arrive back home, to South Korea.

Minjeong watched as Jimin was painfully sweet, starting from helping her to sit on the couch, worrying so much that Minjeong might get hurt like the soldier was a fragile glass that would break anytime soon. But, in Minjeong's eyes, it's Jimin who would look like that.

"Jimin," Minjeong called her softly as she watched her wife rushing to the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water before filling it up with water. "Jimin, you need to slow down. I am not going anywhere, you know?"

Jimin didn't answer her at first. Instead, she rushed back to the couch with the glass in her hand, not letting Minjeong hold them, and she was the one who held them for her wife as the soldier slowly chugged the water down her throat. "I know, Minjeong. It's just..." the actress slowly pulling the glass away from her wife's lips when its already empty, placing it gently on her coffee table. "It's just that... all of this felt unreal to me."

The soldier chuckled, cupping the actress's cheek before brushing her thumb on them. "Hey, I told you like thirty times today. It is real. I am real, and I am back home."

Jimin finally smiled again, "I really need to get used to this, didn't I?" the actress asked before she pulled her wife slowly, into a hug. Minjeong's chin rested on Jimin's shoulder as she nodded her head. "You definitely need to. You are such a crybaby, now I know that you are," the soldier teased ending with a soft chuckle.

"Minjeong, hey..." Jimin slowly pulled away from the hug, looking all guilty again while Minjeong flashed her a look of confusion. "I know we agreed that it wasn't anyone's fault, but I really think I shouldn't treat you all shitty before you go. I regretted it for the whole three months, I thought I could die of guilt if I didn't tell you this."

With the actress's heartfelt confession, the soldiers smiled. "It's fine. We are new to this kind of thing. We both are. Maybe we should learn more about each other as times went on, yeah?" Minjeong nodded her head, assuring a smile on her face, once more caressing Jimin on her cheek. The actress nodded her head shyly in return, a soft "Yeah" escaped from her lips as she stared into Minjeong's eyes nothing but sweetness, love and care.

"I guess, we should talk now?" Minjeong asked, and the actress nodded her head. A humm escaped her lips before Minjeong started to tell her long stories about how and why she was held captive by the militants. How she escaped, got hurt, survived, and finally came back here.

"The ROKA and UN investigators found me hiding in one of the local houses who treated my wound. It took me four days to get back here to South Korea, and as soon as I arrived, I was rushed to the emergency, got some surgery, and as soon as I woke up, the first thing I request is to meet you—"

"Did you tell me you just escaped?" Jimin gasped, her brows slightly furrowed, ready to give a mouthful to her wife. But Minjeong shrugged it off with her tiny laughs that could bring delightful bliss to Jimin's heart. She missed those laughs so badly. "I left, with permission." She headbanged her wife gently, "Can I continue?"

Jimin escaped her tiny giggles before she slowly nodded her head. "Please do."

Hands were held together as Jimin kept playing with her wife's finger while the soldier continued. "One of the ROKA called your phone since I didn't retrieve mine yet, and your manager is the one who picked it up. He said you had your premiere today, and when I came, you were there on the stage. Well, who I am to intervene in between all of your shining days?"

"You could always, Minjeong," Jimin rested her head on her wife's shoulder, hands busy playing with Minjeong's fingers. "You could always intervene with them. I would do anything to stop whatever I had today if I knew that you were here, you know? You matter the most to me, Minjeong."

The soldiers smiled before she started to tease, pulling away her shoulder from Jimin's head. "I guess my disappearance makes my wife's sweeter, eh?"

"Give me back your shoulder!" the actress argued, pulling her wife closer again as she tugged Minjeong by the arm. Minjeong argues no more, letting Jimin let her all she wants. "Tell me about your days too."

Jimin just humms, questioning. "My days?"

"Yeah. I want to know yours too," Minjeong replied, her eyes darted on their fingers with a smile. "Nothing interesting other than you selling my house?"

"They told me that you might be gone, for good," Jimin confessed with a heavy sigh. Her fingers playing somehow stopped, instead, she held Minjeong's hand in her grip. "They gave me the white envelope."

Minjeong brows raised in an instant, pulling away from Jimin in an utter shock. "That white envelope!" she gasped anxiously. "You did not read the letters, don't you? You shouldn't—"

"I've read them." Jimin sighed before she repeated. "I've read them, three times this week."

Worried, Minjeong started to pull away from her wife immediately, trying to catch a glimpse of her wife's expression. Don't tell her, she destroyed Jimin's— "I'm fine."

"Huh?"

Jimin smiled once more, started to fidget on their fingers once again, calming Minjeong to reassure her. "You have nothing to worry about. I'm fine, you didn't destroy me, Minjeong. The proof living is... here is me, with you." The actress gently scooted back closer to the soldier, circling their arm once more before resting her head again on her shoulder. "It's okay, Minjeong. Don't think much about it. We are good, that is only what matters."

Only then, Minjeong starts to smile again after her heavy sigh of relief. "So, we are sleeping on the same bed for today?"

Jimin shakes her head softly. A small warm smile flashed on her face. Fingers, playing with Minjeong. "No," she said. "We are sleeping on the same bed, together, starting today, and forever."

Minjeong chuckles, leaning her head onto Jimin's. "I like the sound of that." A smile escaped her lips, letting Jimin play with her fingers all she wanted to.

"Together, and forever."