Chaeyoung jumped a little when Jungkook came from behind her, unintentionally surprising her while she was practicing her healing ability by the pond. A pup had cut himself at its head and Chaeyoung had immediately brought it to the pond.

One of the things Jimin had told her was that animals wouldn't take too long to heal if there was a presence of clean pond water. She did succeed in healing the wound, but she wasn't able to grow back the fur. The poor pup still had the scar.

"I have done all the things Jimin had told me to do, but I still can't be a Healer who can completely heal my patient in one single attempt," she muttered sadly. "Do you think I am cursed?"

Jungkook gave her a look of disbelief, briefly making a face that was all too familiar to her, a face holding an exaggerating expression that would somehow always lift up her mood. Chaeyoung tried to suppress her smile but she couldn't. She giggled and feigned being offended, her hand reached out to one of his boots that he'd taken off and she threw at him when he closed his eyes, elbows propping against the green grass.

The heavy boot landed directly on his abdomen. Jungkook winced and his body curled, his face creased and Chaeyoung's smile faded upon seeing him writhing in pain. He was holding back a groan, veins popping out on his head and neck and panic grew within her. Quickly, she went on her knees and held his arm. "Jungkook. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I am –"

"It's..." he breathed, almost sounded like he was choking out the word. Shaking his head, he tried to get up. "It's all right. Do not... worry."

Her face fell as she watched him propped one elbow against the grass, another arm covering the part that seemed to be the root of his pain, the area where the boot had landed.

"How can I not worry when you are in such pain?" she asked, her eyes lingered on his abdomen, wondering about what had just happened. A little serious yet softer, Chaeyoung said, "Something must have happened to you."

Chaeyoung's eyes settled on him, watching him as he looked far away before he averted his gaze and their eyes locked again. She wouldn't force him to open up in haste. She knew that he would always tell her the truth.

"On the Defending Skills evaluation day where I sparred, I didn't only injure my shoulder," Jungkook finally said. His eyes lost their playfulness, replaced with fear and pain.

Jungkook looked down, then, and Chaeyoung followed his gaze. His hand slowly held the hem of his dirtied white shirt, lifted it up carefully, revealing the scar on his abdomen.

Chaeyoung gasped in shock, one hand covered her mouth. The scar looked greatly awful. It was short but broad. Without a single touch, she could already feel the roughness. The skin had darkened and looked like it had never been treated at all. It had happened for weeks, or perhaps, a month had passed yet the scar looked fresh.

"You have all these horrible scars..." she began after inspecting the scar for a while with her eyes, "and you didn't tell me?"

Jungkook pulled his hand away and let the shirt covered it again. "It doesn't hurt as much anymore."

"I know that I'm an awful Healer unlike my brother," Chaeyoung said with lowered head, her fingers fidgeted with each other. She couldn't imagine the pain he must have felt. "But I am your friend. Aren't I?"

He slowly brought himself up to sit again. "Forgive me. I didn't want you to worry."

"What's a friend for, then, if I can't worry for you?" she asked sadly. She saw sadness mirrored in his eyes. "I would –I would get my brother to heal you."

"That is impossible," he smiled bitterly. "I have told you. It's a rule that we are not allowed to get healing for any wounds at all."

"If you're not allowed to be there, then I will bring him to you," she insisted.

Jungkook shook his head lightly. "I don't think that's allowed either. Is he not an official Healer already? If an official Healer is caught trying to heal a Newcomer, I'm afraid he's going to be punished for it," he explained with a low voice.

"Why does such rule exist?" she burst. It was totally ridiculous to her that the well-being of the important people who would be first in line to protect the village was neglected.

"There will be lots of injuries even during trainings. We were told during the Introduction Week that Newcomers will be trained really hard and that no injuries will be treated by the Healers. We can only seek for manual treatment, using herbs that most of the times cost a little too high. So, pains are to be stomached. It's crazy, yes, but useful to make our bodies numb to pain, easier for us to fight in more intense battle. Toughen up no matter what," Jungkook explained lengthily with calmness.

Chaeyoung stared at him, imagination of him being stabbed by flaming sword flashed through her mind and her heart began to tug painfully. She imagined a few other people, Newcomers like him who had to sustain severe wounds that would cost their lives.

"Then, those Defenders in the Healing Sector..."

"The higher-rankings, elders and children of Defenders are allowed to be there to get healed. Only Newcomers are the exception."

"That is very unfair," she solemnly stated. "Everyone deserves to be healthy. Everyone deserves to get healing."

Jungkook offered a smile. "It's all right. I am certain that with a few more training sessions, I'll be numb to any pain. After all, once I'm free of being a Newcomer, I'll receive the healing I'd need."

Chaeyoung's gaze fell to her hands on her lap. The mockery she had heard from the people around her buzzed in her ears. Her father's words rang in her mind. The look of frustration on her Master's face floated in her head. She wanted to prove them wrong. Most of all, she wanted to prove to herself that she wasn't as hopeless as she appeared to be.

"I am far from being good," she began hesitantly, "but if you would allow me, may I try to heal your wound?"

"But I am not allowed –"

"To get healed in the Healing Sector," she cut him off. "We are not in my sector right now."

His gaze was long, like he was in disbelief. His mind seemed to be in a lot of thoughts for a few moments. He shifted on the grass, then, before saying, "Which?"

She had seen how at times he looked like he struggled to move his left arm freely and it certainly was due to his injured shoulder. "Both of your wounds."

Jungkook took off his shirt, putting the garment just beside him on the grass. It was only moments ago, but when she saw the scar on his front again, her eyes grew wide, her mouth fell open like it was the first time she saw it. She shifted her gaze toward the one on his shoulder. No better. Almost as severe as the mark drawn on his stomach.

Chaeyoung looked up, her eyes met his gaze. Jungkook gave her a light nod of his head. She swallowed thickly, lifted her palms for her to look at.

"I may not be able to heal you at once," Chaeyoung told him quietly, reminding him how she hadn't managed to reach her father's lowest level of expectation.

"Will it harm me?" he asked, a brow lifted.

She knitted her brows slightly. "No..."

"Then I don't see any problem there." Jungkook gave her his warm, reassuring smile and it raised her spirit.

Chaeyoung shifted forward until her knees met his folded leg on the grass. Her hands lifted, moving toward the scar slowly. Right hand carefully placed on top of the rough skin, left hand over her right. His skin felt warm against hers. Slowly, her eyelids flutter close and she let her mind join forces with her heart.

A song played in her head, echoed through her whole being and she was in her mind. She saw blue light, dimmed at first before it grew bright. Not bright enough, she thought and she inhaled deeply, muted her ears to the sounds of nature surrounding her and let them receive only the breathing sound of the man before her. The blue light brightened even more and she knew it could go on longer if not for her heartbeat that had thundered in her ears.

Chaeyoung's eyes shot opened, air sharply inhaled through her nose before she released it long and heavy. The blue light from her hands slowly dimmed before it died. The energy spent on this healing process was by far the largest. She had used up all her energies from within in all of her practices, but none of those ever made her feel as exhausted as how she was right at that moment. The sound of her heartbeat was the loudest on that day, almost deafening her ears.

Jungkook's big eyes were mirroring concern, staring straight into her eyes. She looked down at her hands on his body. Nervous surfaced within as she prayed silently in her heart. When she uncovered the scar she had tried to heal, her face fell.

Her eyes shut close. She shook her head before opening her eyes again and gazed sadly at his scar. She ran her thumb along the still visible line marking his skin. A sad chuckle briefly made through her. "Improvement is impossible, it seems."

"Impossible?" he questioned.

"Yes," she nodded with a sigh. "I know I told you that it wouldn't be possible, but I do wish for a miracle to happen, that you would be completely healed."

"If you don't think that making the pain completely disappear is a big improvement, you must have lost your mind," he told her.

"But... your skin is still marked," she disagreed. "My mother, my brother and you are saying I have greatly improved but I have not. Until I will be able to make both pain and scar disappear, I have not made any improvement."

She pulled her hands away from his body but he caught one of them. He held it gently, his warmth wrapped around the slim appendage. "You are so hard on yourself. Small improvement is still an improvement. You may have not made the mark vanish," he placed her hand back on his scar, his hand over hers and slowly, he pressed her hand against his flesh. "But the pain is gone. It's completely gone."

Chaeyoung couldn't bring her focus elsewhere, eyes fixated onto their pressed hands. She was afraid that she would hurt him, but she was also a little relieved. She shook her head once more, narrowing her eyes at him. "With all the intense trainings you had, you could be suppressing the pain."

Jungkook smiled softly. "Have I ever made myself successful telling a lie to you?" he asked, his voice was smooth and soothing. Jungkook turned away from facing her momentarily and almost like a murmur, he said, "You always figured it out."

A soft smile made a way to her face. She dropped her gaze to her hand on her lap. He removed his hand from her, then, and she looked at her hand that was still touching his scar. She let her fingers lingered, trailing faintly around the line.

"If you're not blind in your eyes and your touches," Jungkook said with a small grin, "you would absolutely notice the big changes."

He was right. Before she healed him, the scar had been a color darker than his skin, the skin was rough and he had flinched slightly when her hands were gently placed over it. Now, there was only the lightest shade of red, almost sharing a similar shade with his original skin. Shiny and pale and smoothness had slightly taken over the rough surface.

Her lips curved into a small, shy smile. She breathed in deeply and sighed. "I still wish I could rid this."

"The marks do not matter," he said, "after all, what's a warrior without a scar?"

*

The skins of Healers are naturally cold. Opposite of how the skins of Defenders felt like. Though, they are not as cold as the winter, snow and ice.

But, for some reason, when her hand met his skin as she began to heal, comforting warmth was all Jungkook could feel.

Chaeyoung was glowing with blue lights around her. Her hands covering the scar on his stomach produced brighter glow. The feeling he was getting was beyond words when the lights began to appear from her hands. The easiest way to describe it would be, at each second, his pain dissipated. He felt lighter in his head, almost as though he was being reborn.

People said that when Healers were healing, they were the most breathtaking creatures in the whole world. Words wouldn't do them justice. Though he had always seen her as beautiful, inside and out, he never let it get to his head of how true it would be about what people said. But the moment the soft blue lights glowed around her delicate features, she took his breath away.

When the lights around her body began to grow brighter, the look on his eyes changed from admiration to a look of deep concern. It scared him, for a moment. Not for the lights. It wasn't too bright that it would blind him. But it was her skin, her breathing, and the expression on her face.

Her pale skin paled even more, deathly pale. Her breathing was fast and uneven and she looked completely restless. When her eyes opened and the healing stopped, she looked beyond exhausted, like all the energy had drained out of her.

It was impressive to him. With the pain gone, he was certain that he would get back his initial strength. He would be able to launch attacks easily. It certainly would be easier to dodge attacks. Movements wouldn't have limits. It was all he needed.

Her face, though, showed evident dissatisfaction. It pained him to know that she was too hard on herself. The pressure on her totally took away every chance of her to be content with her own progress.

When he assured her that he was beyond satisfied with the result of her healing and it made her smile, a comforting feeling spread around within him. Her smile had always been so beautiful, sweet and pleasant.

He let her inspect the scar she tried to heal with hope that she would see the big difference she had made. Jungkook was confused, though, how she wasn't able to listen well to the sound of his heartbeat at each gentle stroke of her fingertips playing around his scar. If she'd just walked her fingers upward and stopped at his chest, perhaps she would feel the hard thumps of his heart responding to her.

Her gaze had slowly shifted to his left shoulder. The yet untouched scar. Her voice was almost whispery when she asked him, "may I?"

Jungkook responded with a smile, a shake of his head and a soft 'no'.

Her face fell almost immediately and he tried not to look at the pout she gave him.

"No?" she asked with disappointed voice.

"No," he confirmed. He failed, though, at his attempt of avoiding his gaze to drop from her eyes to her lips because as soon as he confirmed his disagreement and she had her eyes lowered, Jungkook's eyes shifted downward, away from her eyes and lingered there.

"Why?" she questioned and Jungkook's eyes jerked back to look at hers. "I thought you allowed me to heal both of your wounds? Let me help to heal your shoulder as well."

"The shoulder is for another day," he replied. "Fatigue has taken over you. You need some rest for your practice later with your Master."

"I want to be better," she frowned softly with her head hung low.

Jungkook wasn't thinking when he held her chin tenderly and lifted it up. Her sad eyes were back, he noticed. With an assuring smile as he stared straight into her eyes, Jungkook said, "You will."