One could have told me we were lost somewhere in an American forest, I would have believed them.

Having all these movie vibes from the beginning of this adventure, I probably expected to arrive in the kind of environment we could see in the Avatar movie or wherever was completely different from what was in front of my eyes. We were still on Earth, though, so I probably wasn’t supposed to expect that.

After Baekhyun finished gathering some things he found in the piles that could end up useful in the forest, we made our way to the road, staying at an average distance from the dirt path so we could follow it, but hide from any unwanted visit. I watched my surroundings with curious eyes, trying to remember all the camping tips I learned from high school’s night out activity. I was also trying to hide the fear of being lost in the middle of nowhere with people going after us, but my hands kept shaking no matter how I repeated myself that I would be safe with Baekhyun knowing where he was going.

What kind of safety plan was it to explore the wild instead of staying where we knew we were safe? “Don’t you have a phone you can contact them with?” I asked, looking up at Baekhyun who was a few steps ahead from me. I noticed his back curled forward a bit and he mumbled something incoherent. I sighed and increased my pace until I reached him. “What was that?” I asked again, glancing at him to see the frown on his face.

“Contacted my mentor earlier…”

I hummed and nodded, keeping my eyes on him and waiting for him to continue but he stayed quiet. “Well… Did he say he was on his way? Where do we have to meet them?” I asked, though Baekhyun’s expression changed into a grimace and I knew that what he was going to say wasn’t going to please me in any way.

“He said they should be finding us during the morning tomorrow.”

“To-Tomorrow? Tomorrow as in we need to spend the night here?”

Baekhyun nodded and my face fell in shock. No matter how many camping tips I had, this was not a friendly night out with high school friends and teachers. I looked down, blinking rapidly to avoid whatever I knew could be coming and took my bottom lip between my teeth.

“Hey” Baekhyun called, probably expecting me to look up at him, but I didn’t have the strength to. “It’ll be all right. I know it’s a lot to take in, but we’ll be okay. I’ll let you sleep and guard our little camping place once night comes.” He explained, trying to sound comforting. As I looked down to the ground, I saw he kicked a rock with his shoe and it flew against the large trunk of a tree.

“Okay…” I mumbled, trying to convince myself that it couldn’t be so bad if we slept in unknown motels, that, in a way, weren’t necessarily safer than the forest… If it was only from the people who were after us. “Are there… a lot of wild animals in here?”

“Not in this part of the island.” Baekhyun answered, making me nod slowly. Well, that was a relief…

 I shoved my hands in the front pockets of my jeans and we continued our way, creating our own path in the grass and between the large plants and trees. Everything seemed familiar, I could recognize a few flowers that I would see blooming by the edges of woods I explored as a kid, or from the wild areas in the towns I lived in.

Trees rose from all around us, some branches piercing their trunks near our heads, but most of them were standing high in the sky, their bright green leaves competing one against the other for the sunlight, climbing always higher to have a bit more of the radiant sun, a bit more energy to live. Birds were actively going around on the summits and I looked up as we walked, trying to find some of them in between the layers of leaves.

After spotting a few darker and moving spots, ones that I couldn’t really identify as a certain species, I looked back down at the ground level, reporting my attention on the flowers again. Baekhyun’s pace was a bit fast, probably wanting to get away from the port’s location as quickly as possible, and I almost missed the odd rainbow colors in the corner of my eyes. I stopped in my track and Baekhyun soon did as well when he realized I wasn’t following him anymore. I turned in the direction of the strange flower and my heart skipped a beat.

The tiny stalk was a bright green color, a leaf just as green hanging under the large petals of the flower. Its center was a mix of pink, red and orange, which was rather uncommon for a flower, but what hit the most was the yellow, blue and dark green petals opened so beautifully around the center.

I was 20 years old, I knew flowers usually didn’t have green on their petals. It was making it so pretty, though, and alive, too. It wasn’t fake.

The flower… Elementary school… The man…

He was wearing a clean dark blue suit, probably made perfectly for him. On the left side of his jacket was pinned a small flower I had never seen before. The oddest yet most surprising flower ever.

He probably was just another American like any other, yet there was something different with him. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. I was captivated by the dark brown color of his eyes until they suddenly changed, the man’s irises becoming a bright golden shade.

Golden eyes.

The stranger’s eyes didn’t seem to want to get out of my mind, though, and it bugged me to no end. I kept seeing them in my head, how they had changed from their deep dark color to the sparkling yellow. Then I would see the man turning his head to look back at me, but I knew this part was only from my imagination. I slipped out of their range of view fast enough. He couldn’t have seen me…

Or could he?

“Eunji!” Baekhyun called at me and I opened my eyes once again, moving back when I saw his eyes sparkle with gold. Fear filled my guts and I took a few steps back, watching carefully as the other’s irises slowly came back to normal. “Eunji, what happened? Everything’s okay?” He asked, tempting to take a few steps closer. I didn’t move, instead turning my head to the large and beautiful flower a few meters away from us.

The exact same flower the man wore eight years ago. Why didn’t I remember this event beforehand? Why did it suddenly appear so vividly in front of my eyes?

“What’s this flower?” I asked him, pointing in the direction of the yellow, blue, and green petals. Baekhyun followed my finger and frowned, probably confused as to why I had gone so crazy about a simple flower.

“Viola Aniselia, or Anis’s Pansies. They’re called like this because they only grow here, and they’re very common on the island. We’ve never seen any on the rest of the planet. They’re beautiful, right?” Baekhyun spoke softly, almost too softly.

I gulped and nodded slowly. No matter where I looked, I would see the man’s eyes again and it was frustrating me. That man I had seen came from here, no doubt. He was wearing on his suit a flower that only grows on this island and his golden eyes… they could only mean one thing.

“I… I remember something.” I mumbled, looking back at Baekhyun, whose eyes stayed filled with worry the whole time. They widened in surprise, suddenly seeming way more interested than he was mere seconds ago. I started doubting as to know if it was a good idea to speak this out to him, but if I’d gone this far in his company, nothing was worth keeping for myself anymore.

“I saw someone wearing one, years ago.” I said, looking down and starting to walk again. Baekhyun followed behind me and I could clearly imagine the frown on his face.

“Are you… sure of that? Flowers like this, they don’t leave this island, Eunji. Maybe you simply remember something similar to-“

“The man had golden eyes.” I interrupted him and stopped walking to look at him. Baekhyun stopped in his track again, looking back at me with a frown. I could see how his mind kept running until something popped and his brows furrowed even more.

“This is weird…” He mumbled to himself, his head tilting on the side. He was still looking at me and his stare starting weighting on me. “Why would William be there… Are you sure of what you’re saying?”

A branch cracked not too far away from us, breaking the silence of the forest. I noticed how Baekhyun’s shoulder tensed slightly. His eyes scanned our surroundings before he took a hold of my forearm and started walking again. His grip wasn’t hard, just strong enough to force me to walk by his side. I followed behind, my head moving around as well. There wasn’t anyone in sight.

“What do you mean? William? He’s your chef, right?” I asked, my voice quieter than before. Baekhyun nodded but stayed quiet, increasing his pace for a while until he deemed we had gone far enough. Only then he sent a few glances my way.

“The tradition wants that every Superiors wear the navy suit when in function. It’s a bit like their uniform. The First Superior, on his navy suit, has an Anis’s Pansy pinned on the left of his suit, where the heart is, to represent Anis and our species.” He finally explained,