“Slow down!” Taemin calls, brushing away the thick branches and leaves blocking his view. But Minho barely hears him, and continues to speed through the forest. “Aish, this guy…” Taemin whines and continues to push through. But he soon finds Minho nowhere in sight. Well …

When Minho heard the younger male’s voice fade little by little, until it was completely gone, he finally turns around to check. Seeing no one behind him, his eyebrows scrunch in worry, “Taemin?!” He calls, voice echoing around.

Taemin jerks his head up at the sound of Minho’s voice, sounding oh so distant, “Min-“But before he could call the other’s name, his foot made contact with soft dirt, and it complete collapsed beneath him, taking his weight down with it. Taemin let out a loud scream as he slid down into the ditch, rocks and twigs tumbling down with him.

“Taemin?!” Minho called again, more worried as he heard the scream. He rushed back the way he came from, and skidded to a halt at the ditch in front of him. He looked down, eyes wide, hoping the boy was still alive, “Taemin!”

“Down here!!” Taemin called back, scrambling up and coughing from all the dust that resulted from the fall, “I’m okay!” He reassured, giving two thumbs up, even though he knew the other wouldn’t be able to see them.

Minho breathes a sigh of relief and peers deeper into the ditch. Suddenly, the thing they were looking for came into sight, and he let out a sound, pointing to the flowers perched against the side of the ditch. Its deep pink color gave it away, as the petals drooped perfectly in display, “There! Taemin, there it is!” Minho called, and dug out the Polaroid from the pouch he was carrying.

Taemin looked around in confusion before his eyes found the azalea, “I see it!” He pipes and rushes over to it, pouting at how high they were perched, “It’s-“

“Here!” Minho interrupted the other by tossing the Polaroid down into the ditch. Taemin exclaims and catches it just in time before it hit the ground, or his face, “Yah! Careful, this is expensive!” He warns, wiping away any dirt that might have been on it.

“Hurry and take a picture already!” Minho urges, looking around in frantic. The construction crew should be at the motel already…

“Alright, alright…” Taemin whispers and quickly opens the Polaroid, taking a snapshot of the azalea, “I got it!” He announces and waves the Polaroid at Minho, showing him the picture of the azalea he had skillfully shot.

“Throw it up here.” Minho said, holding his hands open in order to catch it. Taemin aimed carefully, since he was quite klutzy, before throwing it up high. Minho catches it and puts it back into his pouch before crouching down near the mouth of the ditch, “Come on, I’ll pull you up.”

Taemin swallows, seeing how steep it was. But there was no time to worry about such things, so Taemin starts climbing. Up, up, up… Until he was near Minho’s hand.

Unfortunately, the edge he had his foot perched on gave way, causing him to slip and descend back down. This time, Taemin didn’t go alone, for he had already taken a hold of Minho’s hand, resulting in the both of them tumbling into the ditch. Minho fell down from the rockier side, resulting in his head colliding with hard surfaces frequently.

The both of them soon landed on the dirt floor with a thud. Taemin groaned and his side to stagger up. Minho was rubbing his head while wincing, hazy images racing across his mind, places that he had no memory of at all, before it was all gone. He was snapped out of the phase by Taemin’s rough jerking, “Minhyuk! You alright?!”

Minho nodded quickly, just to stop Taemin from making things worse by his rough handling. “Now what? We’re both in here…” Taemin whines, looking back up at the opening of the ditch.

Minho taps his chin before his eyes lit up, “I’ll lift you up, and you bring the photograph to the motel. I’m sure they haven’t started the operation yet.”

“But what about you?!” Taemin asks, eyes glazed with concern. He felt guilty for dragging the other into this mess…

“There’s no time to be worrying about others! Don’t you want to save the motel?” Minho asks, gripping onto Taemin’s shoulders and staring him right in the eye. Taemin faltered and looked down at the ground, “I do…”

Minho’s expression softens and he gives a smile, ruffling the other’s hair, “Don’t worry. Just come for me after you get things settled.” Taemin looks up, eyes a bit more determined this time, “I will. I’ll definitely come back and get you!”

Minho chuckles and nods, trusting the other’s decision, “Now…Let’s get you up there. We have a motel to save.”

     Jinki checks his watch again, 11:58 am… He looks to the workers, nodding for them to start working.

“Wait!” Taemin’s mother protests, surprising his uncle as he didn’t realize the other was standing there, “Shouldn’t we wait a little longer?”

Jinki gives an arrogant scoff, “It’s not like it’ll make a difference. It doesn’t look like any of you have a plan of stopping it anyway. I still have a meeting to attend to in a little while, so I would like to wrap this up quickly.”

Taemin’s mother took a step forward, getting ready to beat the man to his senses if she had to, but the old man stopped him, shaking his head sadly.

 The workers all got their pick-axes and raised them up, ready to bring it down on the cement wall of the building. Suddenly, they were interrupted as all the villagers rushed in front of them, standing in a line to block all the workers as they made a barrier.

Jinki sighed pitifully at this, shaking his head and crossing his arms at the villagers’ stubbornness. Taemin’s uncle stared at the line, face showing great gratitude and care.

“Like a said many times…This demolishment will benefit the entire village, including the people in it.” Jinki explains, feeling tired of having to explain this so many times, “If you have any more complaints, you can address directly to ECHO hotel, and we will provide for your care. If you would just cooperate, I assure you there will be the greatest benefit.”

The villagers all exchanged glances, their determination fading slightly. Taemin’s uncle sighed again, knowing they didn’t have a chance. It would better just to cooperate and get it over with. He walks over to the villagers and ushers them to move aside. They glance around hesitantly before retreating out of the way.

The workers get right back to work, fully digging the pick-axe into the cement wall, loud pounding and bits of cement flying as they cut away at the old building. Taemin’s mother frowned unhappily, and hid herself in the old man’s arms as bits of their home were being chipped away.

But before the workers could do any real damage, a faint voice was heard,

“Wait!!!”

The villagers, plus Taemin’s mother and uncle all stared in shock as Taemin came sprinting, holding a Polaroid in his arms. He arrived in the area, panting and sweating, but clutching onto a picture tightly.

“T-Taemin!” His mother calls, seeing as the claw-truck was still lowering its claw dangerously close to Taemin’s head. Taemin just whirled around and stared hard at it, making it halt just a few inches from his head. Jinki sighs, crossing his arms, clearly not amused by another interruption.

Taemin looks back to Jinki and rushes over to him, before taking the picture out from the Polaroid and shoving it in Jinki’s face, “Here! An azalea, the last one of the only hundreds left.”

Jinki takes the picture and scrunches his eyebrows in fake-concentration, “Wow…And what about it?” He asks next, looking to Taemin with a bored expression.

“According to legal rights, anyone who finds an azalea within their area is protected, along with everything in that area. This means, you can’t tear it down.” Taemin explained, staring full of confidence. His mother had a touched look on her face, as well as his uncle, both so proud at their child for being so strong.

Jinki scoffs, making Taemin frown slightly. He shows the picture back to Taemin and adds, “We’re not going to stop a whole demolishment for a single flower. What right do you have to tell us this? Now move along.”

Taemin’s heart sinks, realizing how his plan didn’t work out the way it did. His sudden sulkiness of posture made his mother more worried, and she would have stepped in if the old man hadn’t stopped her again.

Don’t falter in front of the enemy. Show him that you’re not afraid of him, and that what you say is exact and right.

The advice Minho had gave Taemin back in the ditch came back to him, and he straightened up again, staring Jinki right in the eye before speaking in a firm and clear voice,

“Even though it is only a plant, it is still a government symbol, and holds importance. The government has every right to make a plan for the protected zone, in order to preserve the precious resources. I’m sure you would know that GM Lee…”

Jinki’s expression turns to complete shock, as he hears the words come as if it was coming from…Choi Minho.

Taemin continues staring back with a serious expression, as the people all around stood speechless. They never saw such a…Manly side of him before.

 After recovering from the shock, Jinki clicks his tongue in annoyance and nods for his men and the workers to retreat, causing much rejoice and uproar from the villagers and employees.

“Don’t think this is the end. You’re pathetic speech only lengthened the time of the demolishment for a while. We’ll see what happens next…” Jinki adds quickly after he recovers from the shock. He puts on his sunglasses and leaves with the others, letting Taemin and villagers rejoice in peace.

Once Jinki and his men were all gone, Taemin finally relaxes, taking a deep breath as if he wasn’t properly breathing the whole time.

“How did you do it Taeminnie?!” His mother asks, rubbing her son’s arm in admiration. Taemin rubs the back of his neck meekly, “Well it was mostly Minhyuk’s-OH RIGHT! I FORGOT MINHYUK’S STILL IN THE DITCH!”

“Eh?!?!” The others all went, and Taemin’s uncle tousled Taemin’s hair, “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?!”

Soon, they all departed to retrieve Minho, who was still waiting anxiously in the ditch.

     “So how did it go?” Minho asked once they all helped him out of the ditch. “Really good, thanks to your advice!” Taemin chirped. Minho chuckled and ruffled the younger male’s hair, “I’m glad.”

This seems like a bad place to stop, but whatever. GUESS WHO’S BACK????

After 3 months oh my gosh. I’m so sorry this took so long

I hope this chapter was worth the wait, and I’ll get back to working on this story again, so thank you all so much for not giving up on this story just yet

I’m thinking of adding my own elements to the story, so look forward to that. I hope most of you are still going to keep supporting me and the story as I am now back. So, until next chapter, PEACE!