The collective drone of crickets fills the air as our slowing feet crush and stir the foliage underneath. The clouds hang low, and the moon catches momentary glimpses at us, occasionally parting them around her as if she’s watching.

The repugnant charred smell that had taken root in my nose is now soothed by an earthy scent similar to that experienced just after a storm. I feel as if I can almost begin to taste tiny water droplets lingering in the air.

We’re close. 

The ambience of rushing water careering over the cliff ahead becomes louder with each step we take. 

Youngmi seems to feel it, too. Her grip has tightened by the minute. 

The plateau at night is horrible. Trees dot the cliff-tops surrounding Lover’s Falls like hairs on a head, and whilst traversing the area in normal circumstances is a difficult, but fun task, this feels almost impossible.

Our only navigator in the sky is being suffocated, and our lungs are on the verge, too. 

Being a petite young woman, Youngmi has probably never run so much in her life. The same goes for me, of course. Though I don’t know if it’s because of the adrenaline, the strength of her will, or both, but she runs silently, sticking beside me like a duckling does its mother. 

As we draw closer to the edge of the plateau, the number of trees begins to thin somewhat, allowing me to look back at Youngmi. 

She flashes a confused glance my way, as if to ask me, “What… are you looking at…?”, her expression causing the corners of her lips to stretch into a small grin. Her tears are dry, and her eyes are fixed dead ahead. 

She’s back. 

I turn back ahead, as I feel her thumb rub the outside of my palm. The roar of the falls crashing into the depths below is all I can hear.  

We’re finally back here together.

We stop in a small, familiar clearing just short of the edge, as the moon breathes a sigh of relief through the cloud blanket. The thicket I’d finished pruning weeks ago is completely gone, and the edge of the cliff face is fully visible under the soft moonlight.

Youngmi’s eyes dart around, confused as to why we’ve stopped. After a moment, they widen as her eyebrows reach towards her hairline. 

“This is…!” she exclaims, hands now firmly planted on her lower back, rapidly inhaling through her nose. She’s clearly recovering, but with each deep breath, her eyes stay closed for a fraction of a moment longer.

She remembers. 

“Yeah. We’re finally back...”

Copying her actions, I too hold my hands at my sides, my arms flaring out like a pair of wings. My legs feel like they’re about to break, and the tender muscle feels like it’s about to melt off my bones. 

“I can’t believe… we made it…” I sigh in relief, glancing over at Youngmi. 

Behind us stand numerous wooden pillars of natural cover, and in front of us, nothing but the roaring abyss. 

Everything, and nothing. Right here. 

We warily approach the edge, and Youngmi hangs cautiously from my arm as I lead the way. 

Even now, she’s worried about me, but we’ll be down there soon anyway. 

I gaze down towards the water at the bottom of the falls—at nothing, hoping to at least catch a glimpse. 

Is it deep? Will it hurt? 

My mind oscillates between worry and calm. The anxious thoughts course around inside me, but I can’t afford to show Youngmi. I need to be brave until the end.

“We’re finally here, huh…” I mutter to myself, stopping a few paces from the edge. Youngmi stops a pace behind me. 

“Wow… look out there, Hyeon-woo,” she says, pointing her slender index finger in the direction of the horizon.

It takes my eyes a few moments to fully adjust, but she’s noticed an incredible sight. The vague silhouettes of the rolling mountains against the night sky fill my vision, and scanning my eyes down, the moonlight glistens off a turbulent, beautiful body of water—the plunge basin of Lover’s Falls.

“It’s… majestic,” Youngmi continues, now standing next to me. “I never knew that the mountain had such a side to it. I bet you could see the whole peninsula during the day…” she says.

I chuckle softly at her remarks, relieved that she truly has, somewhat, seemed to return to herself. 

“Yeah, it really is beautiful,” I reply, turning my eyes to meet hers.

As we stand in awe of the place that I’d dreamt of coming back to with Youngmi for the past year, no sooner does the sound of hell incarnate find us. The sound of the soldiers is still far, but the cruel autumn breeze expedites their voices to my ears. It feels like they’re upon us already. 

The eerily warm, amber hues of the soldiers’ flashlights strobe through the gaps between the trees, drawing Youngmi’s attention. 

My worst fears realised, our rendezvous with Lover’s Falls is over. 

“Hey! There are more footprints this way!” a young voice shouts. 

“N-no! It can’t be!” Youngmi gasps—her response, identical to mine.

I was hoping that we’d just be able to escape here until daybreak and then find our way back down to the village if the soldiers left. Bellflower roots grow all over the mountain, so we’d be able to survive for a few days if we had to. 

I look down towards my feet, one hand scratching the top of my head, whilst the other anxiously brings my fingernails to my teeth. 

We have to find a way down, and fast.

I thought we’d have more time, but now it’s come to this… We’re going to have to jump. 

I notice that, like Youngmi, my Hanbok has also become this mountain’s canvas. Fresh, wet mud covers my feet and decorates my father’s boots with leaves. I’d completely forgotten that we’d leave tracks on this mountain—it was still damp from the recent monsoon rains. 

No wonder they’d found us so quickly. We’d practically given them a trail straight to us.

“Wh-what do we do, Hyeon-woo?!” Youngmi’s voice cracks, obviously shaken.

“…”

The scent of fresh water—the mist of which reaches not far just below the cliff’s edge- hits my nostrils. I crane my neck back over the edge towards the basin.

If we stay here, we die. If we are captured, we die. If either happens, I won’t be able to face Youngmi’s parents, or mine…

Our backs to our pursuers, I look over towards Youngmi, and only barely seeing her silhouette, reach for her face. The moon continues its tug of war with the clouds, disappearing once more behind them. It doesn’t seem to want to watch this scene either.

I can’t make out Youngmi’s expression, but I hope the same is true for her also. I’d hate for her to see the fear behind my eyes, given what I’m about to say.

It’s a lethal idea, but it’s our only choice now.

“Hyeon-woo!” she calls out to me again. “What do we do?!”

I place my hand gently on her cheek. It feels flushed and dampened with sweat. Shifting some of her baby hairs stuck to her face back behind her ear, I utter the unthinkable.

“Youngmi…”

“...Hm?” 

“Let’s jump,” I say in a low voice.

“...”

“Let’s do it.” I continue, following up quickly to keep my voice from trembling any further. 

Youngmi’s fingers, painted with hues of brown and red, meet my hand on her cheek, and intertwine themselves with mine. 

“Youngmi?” I whisper, hoping her voice will calm the electricity coursing through my body.

“Won’t you say something?”

She brings my hand between both of hers, holding it at her chest. She leans her forehead towards mine, pressing both of them together softly. 

Of course, she’s not saying anything. She must know that heading here was a death sentence, but still… I had hope…

“At least this way… we get to choose how we go…” Youngmi mutters under her breath, almost in a whisper. She presses her forehead into mine firmly, as I reach for the back of her head with my free hand. 

The voices grow closer, to the point where their footsteps are clearly audible. 

“I think there’s a clearing or something ahead!” one of them shouts. Any closer, and it feels like I’ll be able to hear them breathe.

“I’m sorry… I don’t want it to be like this-” I apologise, wishing I had a better idea.

“Let’s jump,” she snaps back at me.

“Just promise me you won’t let me go.”

“…”

“Of… of course!” I scoff, shoving down tears. My throat burns in pain at the thought.

“I’ll never be separated from you again.”

Above, the moon’s battle with the clouds has been decided. The full moon's light reflects off of Youngmi’s face once more, allowing me one final glimpse of her. 

Her eyes trace and study the edges of my face, and I do the same. Her upper lip, drying in her own sweat, begins to quiver as we lock eyes. 

Hers soften. I feel mine do the same. 

We share one last kiss, our cold, salty lips pausing to savour each other. Though it only lasts a few seconds, the kiss is warm. Under my breath, I utter the phrase I’d only just recently mustered the courage to say.

“I love you.” Today is the second time.  

“I love you, too.”

We look out over the vast mountains that surround us, still embracing each other.

Just ask her. 

“Hey, Kim Youngmi…” I say, sliding my hands to rest on her waist.

“Hmm?”

“All this time… Did you notice?”

“Notice what?” she inquires, her brows furrowing in confusion.

She breaks eye contact for a moment and scans the ground around us. The realisation quickly washes over her face.

“You… you cleared the thicket!”

“Yeah…” I smile softly. 

“I wanted to come back here with you, but I just… I had something I always wanted to ask you here.” 

“Ask what?” she inquires, her head tilting slightly to the side. 

A new voice yells in the distance. “You think it’s those two kids?! Make sure to catch them back no matter what! If we let them escape, we’re dead!” The man sounds far older, his voice deeper than the first I’d heard.

My breathing hastens, and I take a sharp breath.

Her eyes widen slightly before settling into a smile. 

I love how they do that.

Youngmi lets out a tired chuckle as she puts her arms around my neck, our chests now touching. My heart is beating so hard that I worry she can feel it. 

It’s absurd that I’m nervous about something like this, considering our situation, but her response means the world to me right now. 

“Don’t be silly…” she begins, “...since the day we fell in love, I’ve lived with the mind that we were already like that. We’ve acted as such all this time, after all.”

I look down at her and see that she is genuinely smiling. As tears roll down her scarred cheeks… she’s smiling.

“Of course,” she continues, “Of course, I’ll be your wife. Now that we’ve said it, we’re married.”

“Nothing will take that away,” I respond.

She nods in agreement as I wipe the tears from her cheeks.

Youngmi reaches behind her head and lets down her coiled braid, handing me her mother’s hairpin. I place it alongside my mother’s inside the inner pocket I’d sewn to my hanbok. I’d used it to stash berries when I came up here, but now the two hairpins clink around in there, safe. 

I let out a quiet sigh of relief, the tension in my body escaping as I do so.

The amber lights pierce my peripheral vision; the glare and sheer sight of them so close force me to shuffle our bodies closer to the cliff’s edge.

We’re out of time. 

Looking down into the abyss, I can make out some rocks protruding from and surrounding the water below. My stomach churns, and I want to vomit. 

We’ll end up sprawled over them. I hope we miss them.

“Don’t worry,” Youngmi says, as if she's read my thoughts, “I’ll always be right here.” 

She squeezes my hand tightly one final time, her trembling thumb assuring me with each rub. The aching pain from the wound on my shoulder has all but subsided completely.

“Let’s go.” 

“Mmh.”

“1…” I count.

“...”

“2…” we say in unison, inching ourselves towards the very edge. 

We pull each other close, bracing our bodies. I hold her so tightly that it feels like her body will merge with mine with just a little more effort.

“...”

A voice roars from behind, sending chills from my heels all the way up to the back of my neck.

“There they are! Fire!”

“…3.”

As we call out together in unison, the ground suddenly disappears beneath my feet, and gunshots whizz and crack over our heads. 

Time seems to slow, as the feeling of weightlessness disorients me. 

The air violently rushes underneath us, seeking to force us apart as we tumble towards the water. We fight it, squeezing each other tighter. 

I cradle Youngmi’s face into the crook of my neck and take a deep breath. 

…

I feel Youngmi's nails dig into the back of my ribs through my clothes, anticipating it'll be the last sensation that I will ever feel.

...

[black]

…

A chilling wave of calm washes over me as the oxygen in my lungs explodes from my mouth. 

– End –