“She’s lying ya know.”

Key sighed out the words while the two of them slammed their lockers closed for the day. Onew eyed him, searching up and down, investigating his friend’s expression.

“Oh really, back on that again, are we?” He played with his coy smile.

“And I’m still mad at you for shutting me down in class.”

Onew rolled his eyes.

“Key, I didn’t shut you down in class, the teacher did. And it was because you were talking. I can’t stop the authority of the teacher, now can I?”

Key pursed his lips, thinning out the upper and bottom while trying to find something smart to retort back, but nothing came to mind.

“Fine,” he answered, “I’ll let you win this battle.”

“Key, you won’t let me do anything. I won this battle the moment the teacher shut you up in class.” He chuckled.

***Two Weeks Later***

Just like the scratch on his back, his wounded arm healed faster than it should’ve. The doctors had some questions but of course, his aunt found a way to push them aside. Onew seemed somewhat suspicious, or maybe he didn’t, Key wasn’t sure. They boy seemed to go in and out of his thoughts lately. Focused on something.

Taemin, Minho, and their cousins finally rejoined the school after a week from their leave. Things were put back into some sort of normalcy but there was always that creepy factor lingering under Key’s neck every time he saw them. He no longer envisioned the gorgeous men that made his eyes sparkle out of pure enamor; now all he saw was their strong arms and the damage they were capable of. He saw the menacing danger lurking in their eyes. For that reason, he’d stayed close to Onew like a scared boy behind a shield, only, he kept his back straight and shoulders arched.

There were a few instances where it seemed to Key that either party tried to approach him, but somehow in some magical fashion, Onew was always there to barricade their path. If there was ever a time that he’d never appreciated Onew, he wished it all went away for these moments. These moments of pure protection and serenity. Of course, though, that left both Minho and Taemin with the occasional stare of disapproval like Onew did something wrong for wanting to keep his friend safe, but they never said anything. Why would they? Though, Minho’s cousin Donghae did appear as if he was always about to speak up like something was bothering him that no one would understand and that only he got. Key noticed and so did Onew. They brought it up a couple of times when they were alone. Donghae had a darkness in his eyes when he stared and during one confrontation Onew lost it and screamed at him to stop. It was in the hallway with no teachers and few students, so it brought little attention. Like an alarm, Minho reacted, pulling his cousin away and making sure their attentions were elsewhere.

Officially, after the second week, Key had the opportunity to take off his cast, but he waited a few days after to do so, just for extra comfort that everything was going to be ok. When he went home every night, his aunt checked his back but to his surprise, the wound had healed faster than anything he’d ever seen. It was odd, a little cool, but ultimately worrisome. It didn’t matter, though, his aunt told him nothing, just kept nurturing it like there was anything left of the wound to heal. She kept repeating the mantra, “I’ll let you know when it’s okay.” He was sure she meant his wound but even as it grew okay, she said nothing.

But she was another mystery for another time to figure out. For now, he said nothing to Onew, just like he’d promised and would say nothing as long as Onew was going along with his plan to go back into the woods. And today was the day. He needed him the most. Odd enough, throughout the entire school day, Onew was calm and indifferent, as if they weren’t about to attempt a journey that had nearly killed Key. While Key unconsciously, but rapidly, tapped his foot against the floor during class, Onew remained constant, looking up at the teacher ever so often and writing his notes.

When their last class was over, the two of them met at the lockers at usual.

“Are you hyped!” Key joyed, jumping randomly one foot at a time.

Onew closed his locker and stared down.

“Key, are you trying to let the whole school know what we’re about to do.”

“And what exactly are you about to do?”

Not again.

Key turned behind him and, of course, saw Luna standing there, hip cocked as usual and ready for news that was not her own. Onew shook his head.

“None of your business nut case.” Key retorted. “Why do I feel like you were lurking around the corner of some invisible wall just to hear something you weren’t supposed to.”

“If that’s how you envision me.” Her smile was coy, but…not for Key.

Her eyes looked over towards Onew who simply lifted his eyebrow in annoyance.

“Luna, we’re not going to tell you anything. Where’s your sister?” Was all he responded.

Her smile instantly vanished. She grimaced and rolled her eyes; everything that Key caught. He looked over to Onew and wondered if he noticed the way Luna always looked at him, but by way of his reaction; he doubted it.

“She was in class talking to the teacher about her assignment.” She replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “If you must know.”

“I guess that means you’re waiting for her.”

“Yes, why?”

“Come on Key, let’s go.” He grabbed Key’s arm and lead them down the hallway.

Key turned around for a second and saw her staring at the distance, not at him…but at Onew.

***

“Did you make sure to tell your aunt you were spending a night over here?” Onew asked as they walked the rough terrain.

The two of them had stopped at Onew’s place, his parents, still vacant from long hours at work. There, they changed into regular clothes, Key having brought some to school from home earlier and Onew, taking some out of his closest.

“Of course. I mean it wasn’t hard. She wants us together as much as possible after the whole Taemin and Minho ordeal.” He replied.

Onew nodded his head, looking down at the soft brown dirt settled amongst the plants like foreign yet friendly faces. They walked quietly for a minute. Every once in a while, they adjusted the book bags on their back—Onew, still a little upset from Key caring his own backpack. They argued for a second about that before they left the house. Onew stated that Key wasn’t ready to constantly use his arm after it just having recovered, but after the argument steadily getting nowhere, he pulled away at the matter and let Key take the win.

While they walked, hearing nothing but the flapping of birds’ wings from the distant trees and the wind blowing the leaves just as they created that soothing rustling sound you hear on journeys, Key couldn’t help but stare at Onew. The boy looked focused. On what, he wasn’t sure. He wasn’t even fully sure why Onew agreed on this plan with him. He was sure that when he asked, Onew was going to turn it down which would’ve lead Key to finding a way to come out here. Although, after his first experience, he shuttered at the thought of coming in the woods alone.

For their bags they grabbed two kitchen knives each for assured measure, Onew had the pepper spray that his mom had given him a long time ago, and they each had a flashlight just in case the battery on their phones ran out. Key adjusted the strap on his shoulder, causing Onew to gain attention, but instead of starting another argument, he said nothing and just looked, then sent his attention back on the trail ahead of them.

“Key, you sure you know where you’re going?” He finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Of course, photographic memory for a photographer.” He joked.

To his surprise, Onew actually laughed back and he used this opportunity to ask the question that had been festering in his mind ever since they left the lockers at school.

“Onew…?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you…well…do you see the way Luna looks at you? I think she likes you more than she lets on.” His eyelashes shadowed his sight as he looked from the ground then back up at his friend.

Onew was silent as if Key had said nothing at all. Then, with an eerie three minutes of silence emanating between them, he answered.

“I realize.” Was all he said.

Key raised his eyebrows, expecting something more, but the man kept his mouth shut. Key raised his shoulders and arms up.

“And?” He questioned.

“I don’t feel the same way.” He answered plainly. “Where are we going Key?”
Just like that, the conversation was dropped. Though Key was stubborn, he knew what this meant, he wasn’t a complete idiot and he wasn’t going to pursue something that he knew would anger his friend just because he was curious. Done enough of that in their lifetime, but as he opened his mouth to answer, there was a rustling noise in the distance.

The two of them stopped in their tracks and turned around — their movements like a magnet.

“You hear something too?” Onew asked.

Key pulled in his lips. They thinned together, the skin stretching like rubber bands.

“I think, but I don’t know. Could just be the leaves.”

“Yeah, like that isn’t the line of every horror movie.” Onew chuckled.

He looked around, staring at the bark of the trees and their peeling skin. He squinted his eyes, moving the pupils from one section of the woods to another, but ultimately found nothing. He grimaced and turned Key around with him to start walking again.

“I don’t trust it. Keep on lookout, someone could have followed us.”

“And I thought I was paranoid.” Key chuckled, but when he looked up to Onew’s focused, stern face, his laughter faded into a small whisper. He understood the feeling, though, he too couldn’t shake that there was someone perhaps following them and this was a feeling he was not fond of ever since his first little experience in these woods. So he listened to Onew’s advice and kept a close lookout.

Unfortunately, so much that he almost fell, but like a second eye Onew caught him, an arm wrapped around Key’s waist and another on his opposite arm. For an instant, Key could smell Onew’s natural scent as it permeated off the nape of his neck that he was way too close to for comfort.

“Careful,” Onew whispered.

As an instant reaction, Key lifted himself off, using the help of Onew’s shoulder, but switched his eyes away out of embarrassment. When he looked down, he couldn’t see anything.

“I thought I tripped on a stick.” He whispered.

“You did.” Onew retorted, shaking his head.

He pointed down towards the ground but with the sun setting and the shadows of the trees assisting the dark soil underneath their feet, it was hard to tell a lot of things on the ground. Key squinted his eyes a little more but still couldn’t see anything. He shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t see anything, don’t know what you’re looking at.”

As if his friend was lying to him, Onew simply chuckled and shrugged it off.

***

After a short while of dragging feet, rustling of the trees, and darkening sky, Onew sighed, looking ahead of them. He wasn’t entirely sure that his friend knew what he was talking about, or even contained this ‘photographic memory’ he amused in titling himself as having.

“Onew.” Key finally sighed after a long moment’s silence.

“Hm?” His friend murmured.

“If….” He stopped himself for a moment, considering his question and whether it was truly going to give anything away. Onew was smart, he could figure out everything, but Key couldn’t help the gnawing feeling of betrayal.

“If what Key?” He asked softly, steadily looking ahead.

“If…If I kept a secret from you, would you be upset?”

Onew said nothing. He breathed in and out then pursed his lips.

“Onew-“

“If you kept a secret from me Key, it would be for a good reason.” His voice sounded so plain, so blunt. Key was about to say something when he looked ahead.

“Stop!” He hollered.

His eyes observed the vast landscape, the scraping of bark rolling off the trees, the soft clearing. It looked like the area where he saw the flowers, but he wasn’t entirely sure —something he didn’t plan on telling Onew. Onew grasped the two straps of his backpack and looked at the clearing with an arched eyebrow.

“And what exactly am I looking at here?”

Key walked further in, stomping on the soft dirt like a kid having a tantrum, or so how it looked to Onew. When nothing happened, he ran up to one of the trees he remembered from last time, or so he thought, but again…nothing happened. Onew let out a loud huff, heaving his chest in and out.

“Key, what the hell did you bring me to a small clearing for? To look at the dirt?”

“No.” He snapped back.

“Oh, so to watch you stomp on said dirt.” His friend retorted.

“No!” He stomped some more. “It’s just…” he stomped some more.

“Nothing’s happening! Something should be happening.”

“Like?” Onew egged on. “You told me before when you thought of this weeks ago that something cool was going to happen while we were in the woods. That you were going to show me something quote-unquote, magical.”

This time Key huffed, swinging his feet in the dirt, letting some of it fly away into the wind. He turned around and looked at the peeling bark, its dark chips creating small cracking sides while falling to the ground.

“Forget it.” He sighed. “We came out here for nothing. I thought it would happen again, so I could show you how I found them to take pictures of.”

“The flowers?”

“Yeah, the flowers. I thought-“

“The white flowers?” Onew questioned, furrowing his eyebrows.

Key sighed.

“Yes Onew, the white flowers. Now let me finish-“

“Those white flowers?” He pointed.

Key rolled his eyes.

“Yes, Onew, those white flowers. Now let me-“

“Key look!” He shouted.

The boy followed the man’s pointing finger and realized the tree he was unconsciously leaning on started growing a vine that wrapped around its bark from the roots up. Some of it even wrapped around Key’s hand and through the growing buds grew the precious ivory flowers. Just like before their petals arched their way to the outside world and they were glowing more so than before, but he believed that had to do with the sky getting so dark—darker than it was when he came here the first time. He gently slid his hand from underneath the vine and placed it back on his side. In astonishment, Onew ventured over, gasping at the white flowers and their glory. The pictures Key had taken were gorgeous, almost unrealistic, but in person, there was something more. Something the pictures couldn’t do justice to. He stuck out his finger and touched one of the fine petals. They were soft, yet held a velvet touch but still light.

“I told you!” Key gleamed. “But last time, there was a trail.”

He too leaned over and touched the flower’s soft petals, but when he did it, a second vine started to grow around it and more flowers ushered out. The two of them stepped back in surprise, hands pulling away from the tree.

“Key~” Onew sang out in disturbance. “How the hell did you do that?”

Key pulled up his lips and shrugged his shoulders.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Yeah Key, just how the hell did you do that?”

The two of them turned around from the ushering voice and found Taemin and Kai standing there, at least thirty feet away.  Then, like a slow spotlight entrance, Minho and Donghae stepped out of the safety of the large trees and stood next to the other two. Onew cautiously grabbed Key’s arm as the two of them stepped back by a foot.

“What the hell is going on?” Key whispered.

His friend grasped his arm harder, just as the flowers began to disappear from the tree.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”