Part II

A storm was predicted for the next day but my friend was determined to get on the slopes. Her new friend, the hot ski instructor, was supposed to meet us on the kiddie slope for a quick basic lesson so she got us up early to have maximum “get gorgeous” time. I didn’t care about being gorgeous. I cared about not breaking my neck. Or my tail-bone. Which was a distinct possibility.
From the kiddie slope, I could see the blocked off slope where Shinee was skiing. They were being followed by a lot of cameras and they looked like they were having fun but I didn’t know how. Being followed by cameras on your vacation didn’t seem like a relaxing time to me.
It had already started to snow but it didn’t deter the die-hard skiers. I watched as they effortlessly maneuvered around mounds, trees, and each other. That doesn’t look so hard. I think I’ll catch on pretty quick.
“We” had our lesson but of course I was basically invisible. I did pick up on a few things between their giggles and moony eyes though and went off to practice by myself while they went God knows where. I didn’t want to know.
After about half-an-hour, the snow started falling pretty heavily and it was getting hard to see the lodge. A lot of the skiers had disappeared too so I figured it was time to go in and get more hot chocolate. Maybe I’d run into Key again and whoop his butt at some more checkers.
I had landed in the middle of a slope so I knew I had to make it to the bottom to get onto the chair lift. I made it to a standing position with a lot of effort and started to slowly drift down but with the snow piling up so quickly, it became hard to turn the skis. I started going faster than I was comfortable with so I tried to turn the skis to stop and it wasn’t working. I should have just fallen down but my butt was already getting sore and I was going pretty fast. I could hardly see through the large wet flakes that were covering my mask faster than I could clean them off. I started to take it off but the snow stung my face so I put it back on just in time to see myself passing the chair lift entrance. I had lost my ski poles at some point while trying to clean off the mask and I was going really fast now. The skis would not turn and I was getting scared. I decided to take the hit and fall down but just then, blind to what was going on around me, the ground disappeared. Then I met the ground again with a jarring landing. I was finally on the ground but I was rolling and then one of my legs hit something. It had to be a tree and I heard a snap. Please let that be the tree! Please oh please let that be the tree!
Nope! I finally came to a stop and that’s when the pain hit. It was a pain like no other I had ever felt before. It started in the middle of my shin, stopped at my knee to throb, stopped at my hip to throb, and shot straight up to my brain which began to scream. Everything became black. I started to feel sick to my stomach and I think I vomited just before I mercifully passed out.

When the pain hit again, it was because my leg was bouncing over the snow as I was being dragged somewhere. I couldn’t see who was doing the dragging but every now and then, he would bend over to get a better grip and I caught sight of a giant red pom-pom on the top of a toboggan and little bit of red hair sticking out from under it. I don’t know why it struck me funny at that moment. It wasn’t a particularly funny moment but something about that giant bouncing ball on his head made me laugh. Then my leg hit a tree root and the pain made me lose consciousness again.

The next time I woke up, the pain was a steady throb. I was laying in an unfamiliar but comfortable bed and I could see a fire across the room in a cute little stone fireplace. I could tell I was in a cabin but whose? If I was famous, I would be afraid this was a Misery situation but I’m not. I could hear someone in another room so I tried to call out but I couldn’t seem to yell very loud. It came out as a squeak. My mouth was very dry. I also felt hot like I had a fever and my stomach felt a little queasy.
A very handsome man entered the room with a mug but he didn’t look at me. He looked familiar but I couldn’t quite place him. I thought of that ball bouncing on the top of his head and I couldn’t help but laugh. That was a mistake. It made pain shoot from my leg to the rest of my body. It was best not to move. It also got the attention of the pretty man.
“Hey!” he said in a surprised tone and smiled.
Then he said some things that I couldn’t understand and I wondered if I was delirious from the fever. I realized it was another language and I remembered where I had seen him before. He was Key’s friend but I couldn’t recall his name. Omar? No silly. Oney? Otey? Oday? Oman? It definitely started with an O. I think it was two syllables. Obay? Man, this was embarrassing. I doubt he remembers my name either.
“Elizabeth right?” he asked. Crap!
“That’s right,” I squeaked. “Can I get some water please?”
“Oh, sure sure.” He got up hurriedly and returned with a glass of water.
I guzzled it. I was so thirsty! It turned out to be another mistake. I could feel the cold water travel all the way to my stomach and then try to travel back out again but I stopped it just in time. I must have looked like I was going to be sick because the pretty man reached for the glass and said, “Slowly. Drink slowly.” He took the glass and I laid back to look at him. Man he was pretty!
“You are been sleeping for a whole day. Do you have pain?” His English was so darn cute!
“It’s okay if I don’t move,” I said.
“Oh, don’t move.”
He got up to put wood on the fire to my distress. I was already burning up. I wasn’t sweating though so I guessed it was a fever. That wasn’t good.
“I’m sorry but I can’t remember your name,” I said.
He smiled so big. “Jinki.”
Jinki? Did I have the wrong person?
“Didn’t we meet before? When I was talking to Key?”
“Yes. That was me.” He continued to smile. It crinkled his eyes which made him even prettier.
“Okay. I thought he told me a different name. Sorry.”
“Yes. That’s right. Onew.”
Onew!
“I’m confused,” I said.
He came back to sit near me and put a cool hand on my forehead and then my neck. It felt so good. “Onew is my stage name. Lee Jinki is my real name. You can call me the one you like.”
“I like Jinki,” I said. I loved it. It seemed to fit him to a tee.
“Me too,” he said but he was frowning.
“Do you prefer Onew?”
“No no no. You are being very hot. I’m worried.”
“Oh.” He took his hand away and I felt it’s absence more than I should have. I could still feel a cool ghost of a hand where he had rested it.
“Are you being hungry? There is a little food in there.”
I should have been hungry but I wasn’t. Actually my stomach felt weak and if I ate I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep it down. “Thank you but no. I feel sick. Where are we?”
“We are being stuck. I saw you fall when I was being look for my clock that fell off. I couldn’t bring you back up the hill but I saw this house so we are being here when someone finds us.”
“Uh Huh!” His English was the cutest thing in the world besides him.
“The snow is um… getting bigger and bigger. It is being hard to open the door. I don’t know how long we are being here. I never found my clock.”
I hope no one EVER corrects his English!
“Thank you Jinki. I’m pretty sure you saved my life.”
He grinned that crinkly eyed grin and I melted. “We will see.”
What did that mean?

Notes