“What happened after that? Did she survive? ” Mia was listening mesmerised. But when the lady stopped for a moment she could not hold back her excitement. “Tell me what happened next. ” She urged with eager eyes, wide with excitement. The lady smiled at her enthusiasm and patted her messy hair softly.
“Looks like you are quite enjoying yourself. ” She teased her.
“Did she forgive him? What happened to the wolf? Dont tell me she died. I want to know their full story. ” Mia looked like a child eagerly waiting for her candy. The lady smiled again.
“Well Mia I can tell you that she did survive. How else would there had been a story for you to hear right now darling. ” The lady stroked Mia’s hair and adjusted it lovingly. ” Let’s continue then… ”
When Nana opened her eyes, she found herself comfortably lying on a pile of hay. She looked around and found herself in a cave. There was a fire at the side of her feet that kept it lit. Jin was sitting there, feeding the fire. She looked at him, sitting bare body , his eyes reflecting the orange fire. No matter how much she wanted to hate him, she found herself, staring at him as it filled her with a heavenly satisfaction.
“Nana. You are awake. ” He looked up at her and said with a tone of relief. He came upto her and adjusted his cloak which Nana noticed, was covering her as a blanket. Her feets and hands were freezing. Like literally they were frozen. She didn’t notice till then that she could not move them. They were solid ice. As soon as she started to panick at the realisation, Jin bent down over her and hugged her tight.
” Shhhh! Ssshhhhh! Calm down. Calm down. Take a deep breath with me. Come on. Take a deep breath” He urged.
” But… But… My hands… My… My leg… What happened? ” Nana’s voice was very shaky.
“It will be Ok. It will be ok. Your entire body had frozen. But it’s thawing, thanks heaven. It will be ok. Don’t worry Nana. I will be ok. ” He reassured.
“But what happened? How did this happen? ” She was trembling as Jin hugged her tighter.
Just then the man who had tried saving her earlier entered the cave with loads of fire wood. He happened to be the benevolent person who had eventually become Jin’s friend and had offered him food and shelter for the night. As he unloaded, he glanced at the sight of them hugged.
” Well, this is a miracle that I am witnessing right now. I can hardly believe you survived after drinking from the forbidden fountain. I had even given you up for dead when we’re body froze in solid ice. But this one ” He pointes at Jin ” was adamant. I am not sure how he was so sure that you would survive. Anyway, since you did come back from the dead, you must be really hungry. Let me make something hot for us to eat. Alright? ” He smiled as he started preparing a meal for them with wild ingredients he had gathered from the woods.
The warmth that radiated from Jin’s arms helped calm Nanako down. She was breathing heavily against his chest. Gradually it rhymed with the normal heart beat. She could feel her hands and feet unfreezing after the storm settled inside her. As her mind pondered over the proceedings of the day, she looked up at Jin with questions filled in her eyes. Realising that she was staring at him, he finally loosened his grip around her a little and let her face him directly. He knew he was going to be bombarded with the question canons in her mind. But he was realy for it.
“Why are you here Jin? How? I mean how are you even here? How did you know I was here? What’s going on? ” She erupted.
Before Jin could answer, his new found friend interrupted.
“Ummm, I need to go find some more herbs. ” He excused himself out, sensing something was going to erupt.
” Nanako, I will answer all your questions, but you have to promise me something. ” He said.
“What is it? ” She sounded a bit annoyed.
“You need to ask all your questions and you will have to let me clear all my explanation. You can’t stop me in between, nor choose not to listen to my full answers. You can decide if it’s worth believing or not after I get to finish my clarification” He proposed.
” Fair enough. First tell me why and how are you here. Go ahead. ” She asked.
” Nanako, I will be very straight forward with you. I like you. I have in fact liked you for awhile. I thought, may be I was wrong, that you liked me too. But I don’t know what happened to you after that day. You started treating me so indifferently. I could even feel hate spewing from your words. But it’s wasn’t always so. I swear I felt your affection before. But why, what changed that to hate Nanako. I tried talking to you but you didn’t give me a chance. ” He paused for a moment, looked up at her and then continued. ” If you hated me because of that stupid bet, it’s justified. But trust me, my feelings for you were real. I am willing to do anything to earn your forgiveness. I am guilty of making that disgracing gamble, but I would, rather never could bring myself to do anything to hurt you. I didn’t even know when I had so fallen madly in love with you. Nanako, you have to believe me. ” He looked at her with teary eyes.
” Are you telling me you had nothing to do with that night? Don’t you remember anything? ” Nanako asked finally, unable to bring herself to not give him another chance to explain himself.
” Which night? What happened? ” He looked at her, as realisation slowly kicked in, but he had no recollection of the events, so he needed the reassurance from her. He gazed at her eyes for his answers.
“You really don’t remember? Didn’t you know about the drugs your friends have us? ” Nanako now saw the confusion clearly in his eyes.
” Drugs? Friends? Nanako, tell me what you know. I don’t know. I really don’t know what you are talking about. Tell me what happened ” He was shaking her shoulders as he demanded her reaction.