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Jin was whistling as he walked through the village.  He had a sudden desire to stop by and visit with Eunbyeol.  He hadn’t seen her in a week.  He’d had no new injuries inflicted upon him recently.  Jungkook had steered clear of him for quite a while.  Probably preoccupied with his wife.  

Jin shook his head.  How was it that a boy five years younger than him had snagged a wife before he had managed to do so?  It grated on him a little.  Jin was practically an old man now.  

Jungkook wasn’t such a catch, was he?  

Jin laughed at his fisherman’s joke.  But really!  The boy had a temper that lit at the slightest provocation.  

Jin pitied his wife.  Immensely.  Had she been physically injured by that temper yet?  He shuddered.  He sure hoped not.

Jin knocked on the door of the doctor’s house a few minutes later.  Having spent that time imagining all sorts of disasters befalling Jungkook’s wife due to the young man’s fiery temper.  Jin had expected to hear his sweet friend’s lilting tone washing over him with joy at his sudden presence.  However, there was no response to his rapping knuckles.  After waiting a full minute, Jin pushed on the door.  It creaked open.  But all was still inside.  

He stepped into the house as he called out, “Eunbyeol!”

He was greeted by silence at first.  But a moment later, he heard a groan.  He followed the unwelcome sound.  All the way to her kitchen.  Where he was horrified to discover her lying on the ground, her head in a pool of blood.

His heart stopped.  He dropped his fish, sprang across the kitchen, and fell to his knees next to his lifelong friend.

“Eunbyeol!” Panic laced his voice with a high-pitched edge. “Eunbyeol, what happened?  Can you hear me?”

Her eyes fluttered open as another groan escaped her lips.  “Jin?” she croaked.

“Yes, it’s me.  Can you see me?” He was glancing frantically back and forth between her face and the blood surrounding her.  

He bent down to examine her head.  “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” she moaned.

“It looks to me like you’ve lost a lot of blood.  I need to examine the back of your head.  Can you roll onto your side?” he asked.

With his help, she did his bidding.  He winced as he saw the wound on the back of her head.  He sucked a mighty gust of air in through his teeth, making a hissing sound as he studied the long bloody gash running along the crown of her head.  But as his fingers delicately probed it, he discovered that it wasn’t as deep as he had feared.  Still, it needed bandaging.

He smiled at her.  “It seems that I get to play doctor today.  And you get to be the patient.  Where can I find something to sterilize your scalp with?  And a long bandage?”

“Help me up, Jin, and I will show you.”

He assisted her in rising to her feet, but once she was standing, she weaved suddenly towards him.  He caught her and pulled her up against him.

“It seems I’m the one getting blood on you this time,” she muttered.

“It’s fine,” Jin responded, his voice heavy with concern.  

He did not like seeing his best friend in this much pain.  Honestly, when he’d seen the blood on the floor, he’d been terrified that she was moments from passing through death’s door.  He held her close and maneuvered her into the next room.  A few moments later, he helped her to lie down on her examining table where he disinfected her wound and wrapped her head with a long white strip of cloth.

“It’s not nearly as bad as I feared,” Jin commented as he tied the bandage to her head.

“Scalp wounds are notorious for the massive amount of blood they unleash.  I’m going to be fine, Jin.  Thanks to you.”  She smiled weakly up at him.

He furrowed his brow as he gazed down at her.  “You have no idea who did this to you?”

She started to shake her head but stopped to wince instead.  “No.  The last thing I remember I’d headed out to the kitchen to start making dinner.”

“You didn’t hear anyone enter your house?”

“Not that I can recall.”

He bit his lip as he continued to stare down at her.

“Jin,” her lips curved upward into a rueful smile, “I’m going to be fine.  Stop looking at me like I’m about to die.”

“I don’t like it.”

“What?”

“You living here alone in your workplace where your door is open at all hours.  No one here to protect you.”  He glanced around.

“It’s never been an issue before.”

“Well, it is now.”

“There’s not much I can do about it.  It’s not like I can move a man in with me.  Not unless I get married.”

His eyes met hers.  He considered her.  And his lack of prospects.  The girl in the village had thrown him over for the butcher.  They were getting married next month.  

Jin also recalled Eunbyeol’s remarks about his having to give up his friendship with her once he married another woman.  That still didn’t sit well with him.  He chewed on his lip as he peered down at her.

“Jin?”

“You need a husband,” he finally remarked.

She laughed mirthlessly.  “Oh!  Why didn’t I think of that sooner?  I’ll just go down to the market and pick one up in the morning.  That will solve all of my problems.  Thank you so much for such an easy solution to my woes!” she exclaimed playfully.

But she caught the serious note in his eyes.  “Jin, I’m going to be fine.  Really.  This was some fluke encounter.  Some desperate person broke in probably looking for some food or something he could trade.  I doubt he’ll be back.  I’ve lived in this village my whole life.  Nothing like this has ever happened before.”

He continued to frown down at her.  She glanced away from him as she sat up.  Her eyes fell on the fish littering the doorway between this room and her kitchen.

A wide grin spread across her face.  “Jin!  Did you bring me some of your delicious fish again, you delightful man?!”

He smiled at her joyful response.  “I did.”  He quirked his eyebrows in an odd wave that traveled from one side of his face to the other.  “If I cook them, do you feel like you could eat?”

Her stomach suddenly gave a loud rumble.  It startled them both into laughing.

“I guess so,” she chuckled.  

“Here.  Let me help you to the chair.  Then I’ll go cook us both some dinner,” he suggested.

“I’m not about to argue with you.  As always, Jin, you are an utter delight.”

As he helped her to get settled, he couldn’t think of one other person on the planet who would have described him as such.