Chapter 34
Grace came to coughing up water. Her entire chest burned. Something warm and wet swiped across her face, and she blinked open her eyes to see Haechi inches from her.
She groaned as he licked her cheek. Instead of trying to push him away, she lifted her arms, so weak they felt like over-boiled noodles, and wrapped them around his neck.
“You saved me,” she croaked out. “The stories were right. Haechi is a protector.”
She knew she was babbling, still in shock from her fall into the river, but she didn’t care as hot tears tracked down her cheeks.
“Thank you. Thank you,” she murmured into his damp fur. He lay down next to her, letting her hold on until she finished crying.
When her lungs weren’t totally on fire anymore, she pushed up from the ground. Mud ran cold down her back, but she ignored it as she took in her surroundings. Streetlamps across the river offered a hazy glow to the terrain. They lit up a small biking and jogging path on the other shore.
She finally recognized where she was. The next town over had built this ten-mile path. She’d come here once with Halmeoni to exercise, except they’d abandoned their power walk within five minutes of arriving. She was way farther from home than she’d thought.
Her hand instinctively went to her pocket for her phone, but came up empty.
“Okay,” she said, pushing herself to her feet. “I guess the only thing to do is walk.”
Grace followed the river’s current in the opposite direction until her legs were so sore they became numb.
Still, she didn’t dare slow down or stop, knowing if she sat, the pain in her feet would become unbearable.
Haechi helped at first by pushing his fluffy head into her legs whenever she seemed to falter.
She reached down to pat his damp fur now.
“Hae will find us,” she said, not sure if it was for her sake or Haechi’s. “He always finds me.”
Haechi barked and took off, racing ahead to dart in and out of the water’s edge.
She almost called for him to come back, worried Habaek would return and use the water to attack the dog.
Then she heard the faint sound of her name.
Grace stopped walking, listening intently, not trusting that she wasn’t hallucinating.
Then she heard it, Hae’s voice shouting her name over the rush of the river.
He was standing on a low stone at the shore, his hands cupped around his mouth to call out her name.
Haechi let out a happy bark. Hae turned at the sound, first catching sight of the dog, then scanning for Grace. When his eyes zeroed in on her, she could practically convince herself she felt warmer already.
Grace sobbed in relief and started forward again, finding a sudden well of energy. Then she was running, almost sprinting, as Hae raced to meet her. She kept running and didn’t stop until she was caught up in his arms.
The warm strength of him was like a trigger. Flipping a switch in her body. Alerting it that now she could shut down survival mode.
So, finally, she let herself relax. That’s when the pain flooded in.
The sharp stabbing ache in her feet, the exhausted, frantic worry that filled her stomach.
She buried her face in Hae’s chest and wrapped her arms as tightly as she could around his waist. They shook from the effort, but she didn’t let go. She couldn’t.
Hae ran his hands over her back in soothing circles. “I’m here. You’re safe.”
“Habaek was here. He was in my head. He scares me.”
“No one will hurt you. You’re safe,” Hae said again, lifting her effortlessly into his arms.
She knew she should protest. She knew she should say she could walk, but it felt so good to be held. And to have the weight off her feet.
“Don’t drop me,” Grace murmured, face still burrowed into his chest.
Her head was spinning. Her whole body was shaking with exhaustion. Her brain was falling into a fog. She knew she was going to pass out. But right before she did, she thought she heard Hae say, “I won’t let you go.”