After the inception presentation for studio project has been done, it's time for them to go for a site visit. Usually, it would take one week and those one week, mostly the urban planning student won't be attending the class and they got an exception letter from the Dean that they will have a fieldwork. Basically, during the site visit, they will collect a data such as surveys, prepare a checklist on what to do, what to see, what needs to be reported, what needs to be recorded and everything. Everyone and every group have their own task. Lia's group has chosen Insa-Dong as their site area.
Therefore, that morning, all of them were meeting up at their faculty café to have a small discussion regarding their task, before they go.
"So, In-ah, you and Dong Hoon would be in one team, me and Lia will be in one team." Said Dan
"So your team will be walking, observe and jot down everything that you got at Area B while we both will have the Area A. is that okay?" explained to each one of them. Both Dong Hoon and Lia nodded, but not In Ha
"Dan, can I be in the same team with you?" asked In Ha.
"Yah, if you both are on the same team with Dan, then I'll be alone. That's a lot of work." Said Dong Hoon.
"In Ha, it's just a site visit. Just help Dong Hoon. Plus, Lia is not that familiar with Dong Hoon. She couldn't understand his jokes if he makes one." Said Dan and it's true, whenever Dong Hoon makes a joke, no one would understand him. "He always made a dead joke~" said Dan makes Dong Hoon pissed off.
"Yah!" yelled Dong Hoon making both Dan and Lia laughed. In ha who was not satisfied with it, stomped her feet and went to the car feeling mad. She likes Dan, but he never looks at her. He is always next to Lia. "What is so special about her that Dan starts talking with her nowadays? Am I not good enough?" muttered In Ha alone.
A few hours later, four of them has arrived in Insa-dong and each team is carrying out their own task like what Dan has ordered them to do. "Its weekdays… that's why there's not many people… maybe we can see more activity during the weekends…" said Lia and Dan agreed. "Yeah, maybe for now we can evaluate the infrastructure and the facilities first… as for the commercial activity, we can evaluate this weekend…" said Dan and Lia noted it down on their checklist on their to-do list for this weekend. "The traffic is also good today… so there's no problem for the pedestrian…" said Lia while looking at the surrounding area around them and Dan nodded. "Yeah, might as well take note on that for the weekends later…" said Dan as he captured photos for their analysis later. While he was busy with capturing the photos, suddenly his camera landed on Lia looking so beautiful while she was too focused looking at the map.
"Click!" and he captured her photo again.
Lia noticed the familiar sound, looked up and saw Dan's camera was pointing at her.
"Hey, you took my photo again~" said Lia as he walked near him and take a look on the photo.
"Oh my god, I looked ugly… look at my hair. I look like a ghost." Said Lia being whiny at her ugly face she made in the photo and that made Dan laugh out loud.
"Hey, you're not. You're beautiful." Said Dan as he was looking at Lia.
When Dan said that she looked beautiful, Lia can't help but to blush. She can feel that her cheeks have turned pink now and her heart was beating like crazy.
"N-no." Lia stuttered feeling shy. Suddenly, her stomach was grumbling loud enough for Dan to hear.
*bad timing* thought Lia feeling embarrassed that her stomach was grumbling in front of her crush. But, Dan thought that she looked cute. "Should we go grab some lunch now?" suggest Dan. "I-I guess…" said Lia while holding her stomach. "Alright, come on~" said Dan as he led the way and Lia was following behind.
*Aishh this is so embarrassing!* thought Lia and she ran lightly to catch up with Dan.
While both of them were having their lunch together, both of them did not utter any word. One, it's because Lia was still feeling embarrassed and two, she did not know what to talk about with him. Dan, who noticed how timid Lia became after the stomach grumbling just now, he decided to break the silence.
"Do you know that every photo that I took has its own meaning?" asked Dan and Lia shook her head. Then, Dan took his camera and showed her a photo of a homeless man with a cat.
"Is that the ahjussi that we saw just now?" asked Lia as she put down her spoon to look at the photo in his camera.
"Yup." Answered Dan "Do you know why I took his photo?" asked Dan again, but Lia has no idea the meaning of his photo.
"You see, he's a homeless person. But don't you see the smiles on his face?" asked Dan and Lia nodded. "Even though he's homeless, he can still smile and the cat might be the one that accompanied him every day. He can still be happy even though he has no family nor shelter. It shows that he's grateful with what he has… so with that, it teaches us that we should be grateful with what we have." Explained Dan and Lia was grinning while listening to him. She was awestruck by him. The way he explained, the way he took the photo was very detailed.
"Then, what is the meaning of my photo that you took just now?" asked Lia
"Oh, that one?" asked Dan "that one is a look of someone who is too focused with her work and feeling hungry~" said Dan.
"Yah!" said Lia and hit his arms lightly while Dan was laughing. How silly his jokes is and that made her laugh too. While both of them were laughing together, they heard a cough from behind and it was Dong Hoon and In Ha.
"I guess we both shouldn't be here, right?" asked Dong Hoon as he raised his eyebrows playfully while looking at Dan. While In Ha, she was crossing her arms feeling annoyed seeing both of them were laughing together.
Actually, before they came into the restaurant, Dan has texted Dong Hoon asking them to have a lunch together. Therefore, both Dong Hoon and In Ha was a few minutes late because they're a bit too far from them.
"Oh, yah you're late. Come on… the food is getting cold…" said Dan. "That's okay, I had to go somewhere. You guys can enjoy the lunch." Said In Ha coldly and left them. "Is she okay?" asked Dan to Dong Hoon. "I don't know man, she's been moody all day." Answered Dong Hoon. "Whatever, I'm hungry~" said Dong Hoon and the three of them continued their lunch happily.
------------------------
After a few days of them having a lot of tests and quizzes, the weekend is here and as they promised, they had to go to Insa-dong again. All four of them are together this time doing an appraisal at the commercial area. As they expected, there are lots of people and the traffic are heavy. Both Dan and Lia were walking side by side and due to many people, Lia keeps on bumping someone's shoulder and saying sorry many times. Dan who saw it, put his arms around her shoulder and brought her near him.
"Come here, there's a lot of people." Said Dan as he hold her shoulders not wanting her to keep bumping into strangers again.
"T-thanks Dan…" blushed Lia
"No problem…" grinned Dan.
A few hours later, finally they have finished with their site visit and decided to have a small discussion at a café nearby there. While they were having a discussion, Lia phone was ringing and it was a call from her mom. When she was about to pick up the phone call, In Ha had called her.
"Yah, no phones allowed during discussion." Said In Ha in a serious manner.
"I-im sorry, it's my mom." Said Lia while holding her phone.
Dan, who saw it, told Lia to pick up her phone call.
"It's okay, you can talk outside. We're almost done…" said Dan in a soft manner.
"Thanks." Said Lia and run lightly to picks up the phone call. As soon as Lia reached outside, she pick up the phone.
"Hello mom, what's wrong? I'm in the middle of the discussion-"said Lia but she got surprised when she heard her mom was crying on the phone. "Mom, what's wrong???" panicked Lia.
"Lia, hurry and get to the hospital… your dad got into an accident…" cried her mom.
"WHAT?!" shouted lied in surprised. She got so panicked hearing what her mom had said. "Okay mom, I'm in Insa-dong and I'll be there as soon as I can." Said Lia and ran inside. She couldn't hold her tears anymore and cried as soon as she got inside and starts packing her things.
"I'm really sorry guys, I had to go. It's my family." Said Lia. Dan, who saw her crying was feeling worried about her. "Lia, are you alright? What happened?" asked Dan. But Lia just kept on crying not knowing what to do. Dan started to get more worried to see she was crying non-stop and left both Dong Hoon and In ha in the restaurant. "You guys keep on… I'll go with Lia." Said Dan and left the restaurant.
Outside, he saw Lia was looking to the left and right in panic while holding her phone. She's still crying and Dan walked to her. "Lia, can you tell what happened, please… what's wrong? Maybe I can help you…" said Dan softly not wanting her to cry again.
"D-Dan… my dad got into an accident and he's in the hospital now…" cried Lia again.
"I-I don't know what to do. I'm scared…" said Lia as she cries. Dan who heard it, he straight away took her hands. "Let's go, I'll drive you to the hospital… don't worry, everything will be fine…" said Dan softly. With that, Dan drives both of them to the hospital. A few minutes later, they've arrived at the hospital and Dan dropped off Lia at the emergency.
"Lia, it's gonna be alright, okay?" said Dan softly, trying to assure her that everything will be okay and Lia nodded. "I'll park the car, and I'll catch up with you later, okay?" said Dan "Alright, thanks Dan." Said Lia as she gets off from the car and ran to the emergency to look for her family.
She saw her mom, her sister and her brother are sitting in the waiting area and she straight away ran towards them.
"Mom, is dad okay?" asked Lia while panting.
"He broke his leg… thankfully there are no other big injuries…" said Mrs.Han in a lower voice Lia can see that she just cried because her mom eyes are swollen and so do her sister and her brother.
"Noona, you're fast… did you take the taxi?" asked Jun ah. "No, my friend drives me here…" said Lia. Then, she remembered that Dan hasn't arrived here yet and while she was looking for him, she saw Dan was standing not too far from her family.
"Unnie, is that oppa, your friend?" asked her sister, Mina. "Yeah," answered Lia and gesture her hands calling Dan to be near them.
"Is your dad okay?" asked Dan softly as he walked towards Lia. And she nodded. "My mom said he broke his leg… thankfully there are no big injuries… he's in the surgery room now so we will just wait for him now…" answered Lia. "Okay, I'll stay here with you and your family…" said Dan as he brought Lia to take a sit on the chair.
"You don't need to… you can go home…" said Lia but Dan insists and stay with them till Mr.Han finished the surgery and got warded. While they were waiting just now, Dan is the one who helped them with the registration, fill out the forms, and everything, Lia was so thankful to have him by his side. If she's alone, she probably don't know what to do and she is still shaking from the panic just now.
As soon as Mr. Han got a room, Dan was waiting for Lia alone in front of the ward, and a few minutes later she came out with a smile. Dan was glad that she's able to smile again.
"Dan, thank you very much for today…" said Lia.
"My mom said she was very thankful that you're here today… and she gave you this…" said Lia as she gave him the money that her mom told her to give him but refused to take it.
"That's okay… I'm willing to help you and your family… I don't need it… say to your mom that next time, if I visit them, she can cook something for me." Said Dan and that made Lia chuckled. At the mentioned of visiting her parents, made it seem like he's introducing himself as her boyfriend nor husband to-be.
"No worries… all of you must be worried and that's the only thing that I can help..." said Dan. Suddenly, he touched her eyes that has been swollen from all the cries.
"I'm so glad to see you smile and laughing now…" said Dan and Lia wasn't startled by it. Instead, she took his arms and said,
"Thank you."
His presence really calmed her down.