(A day later)

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­—Ryeowook’s POV—

“WAKE UP!”

I jumped at the sound and nearly fell off my bed. Well, my hand flailed around for a moment and it kind of hit the headboard of the bed. Ouch…

“Omo Ryeowook hyung are you alright? I’m so sorry!” Minwoo bowed to me several times in apology. So that A day later)

was him shouting? Loud.

“It’s ok, really,” I assured him. Above me, I heard Youngmin groaning and probably stretching.

“Oh, Youngmin, you’re awake,” Minwoo said. “Well my job’s done. It’s 6.23am now and Jongwoon hyung woke those in my cabin up first. Wake everyone else up and gather in the field by 7am,” Minwoo told us and left our cabin. At least he didn’t wear shoes in.

“Hoya, Sungyeol, G.O., WAKE UP!” I shouted again, getting up from my bed and getting my toiletries to wash up. Hoya got up first, followed by G.O. and lastly Sungyeol. Youngmin got off his bed as well, walking over to his bag to grab his toiletries too.

Being a blood type O, I was rather impatient and brushed my teeth quickly. I would never be thorough with things like this. However, Youngmin was different. He brushed every corner of his mouth – literally – until he was satisfied. Then he washed his face and made sure his hair looked nice before he got out of the toilet.

“Youngmin, what’s your blood type?” I asked curiously. I can just guess which type he is.

“Blood type A. Why?” he asked me in confusion. I nodded knowingly.

“I knew it. You’re such a perfectionist,” I grinned cheekily.

“Ah, well, G.O.’s like that too. Look at him now,” Youngmin remarked, pointing at the toilet. I went to the door and looked in, noticing that G.O. has the exact same habits as Youngmin.

“Wow. And how about Hoya? Probably an AB, from the looks of it,” I said.

“How’d you know?” Youngmin asked.

“I watched this show about blood types,” I replied casually.

“Then what traits do type ABs usually have?” he questioned.

“He’s controlled by his head. If he feels angry, then he’ll show it. His heart doesn’t control him as much as his head,” I said.

“And Sungyeol?”

“Hmm… A blood type B. He doesn’t care too much about what others think and does what he wants to,” I commented and smiled as the three walked back in.

“What are your blood types?” Youngmin asked.

“B,” Sungyeol answered.

“AB,” Hoya said.

“A,” G.O. replied.

“Oh my gosh Ryeowook hyung was right!” Youngmin gasped.

“He was guessing at our blood types? I’m easy, and so is Sungyeol, but Hoya?” G.O. asked incredulously. I shrugged.

“Hey, you can’t say that. He does listen to his head more than his heart and it’s real obvious,” I said.

“Yah! But well it’s true… still,” Hoya frowned.

“Let’s change into something else. I’m sure you guys don’t want to go out and pajamas, right?” Sungyeol asked and took a fresh set of clothes out of his bag. We did so as well, changing into our sweatshirts and track pants.

“We have a good twenty more minutes. Now what?” Youngmin asked.

“Let’s go practice our campfire night performances,” Hoya suggested. Sungyeol’s eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly, running out of the cabin immediately. From the window, we could see that he went straight to the cabin beside ours, Cabin 17.

“I’ll get going there too,” Youngmin and Hoya said at the same time. As for G.O., he went to Cabin 14. And I headed over to Cabin 1 on the far end of the camp.

“Jongwoon hyung,” I knocked on the door of the cabin. The door opened to reveal Heechul hyung.

“Ah, yes Ryeowook? You were looking for Yesung?” Heechul hyung asked. I nodded and he went back in, dragging Jongwoon hyung out with him this time. “My job is done,” Heechul hyung snickered at my blushing face and went back in.

“What is it Wookie?” he asked me.

“Sungie hyung, can you practice my campfire night performance with me?” I asked, trying to inject as much aegyo into my voice as possible.

Jongwoon hyung smiled and ruffled my hair. “Sure.”

“Let’s go!” I exclaimed excitedly and pulled him out, heading to a part of the forest not too far away from the campsite. Jongwoon hyung just chuckled at my antics and followed along.

------------------------------------------

I sang the song again and Jongwoon hyung walked over to me.

“Wookie, this part,” he sang a short part of the song, “just has to have slightly less tremor in it. Your voice is really good for that, but this song isn’t the right song to use it,” Jongwoon hyung corrected.

I sang that part again, but without the tremor, and Jongwoon hyung was awed. At least that’s what I think, from his facial expression. He clapped like the ‘audience’ would have and came to stand beside me, patting my back like an older brother.

“That was daebak! You’ll win the ‘Ballad Solo’ for sure, I know it,” Jongwoon hyung told me.

“Thanks Sungie hyung!” I said gratefully. I looked at Jongwoon hyung’s watch and gasped. “KYAAA WE’RE LATE!” I screamed and pulled Jongwoon hyung to the field. It was 7.06am and Teukie umma would NOT be happy.

When we arrived in the field a minute of running later, I saw Teukie umma standing there, his arms crossed on his chest. He was frowning and looked very pissed.

“Yesung, Ryeowook, where have you been?” he demanded. I gulped and Jongwoon hyung stood in front of me, blocking me from Teukie umma’s line of sight.

“I was busy helping Ryeowook with his performance and didn’t realise that we were late, Teukie. I’m sorry, it’s my fault,” Jongwoon hyung apologised, all the while making sure I didn’t move away.

“And what does Ryeowook have to say? Do you two know that because of you, we have to start breakfast late?” Teukie umma asked sternly. Jongwoon hyung nodded, but still didn’t give in.

“Fine, I’ll deal with this next time. Go back to your class and bring them for breakfast,” Teukie umma ended and walked towards the dining area with Class 1-1 following him. Siwon walked past us and he smiled in encouragement, pumping his fist before he went away.

“Yesung, I can’t believe you managed to anger Leeteuk hyung like that. I wonder why he was so pissed though,” Hankyung hyung pondered aloud.

“He was angry that we couldn’t follow the schedule on time unless we give them less time for breakfast. Also, he was worried that something happened to them,” Youngwoon hyung explained.

“I see. Well we can’t do much about that now can we? Let’s go,” Hankyung hyung told his class and went off. We followed behind them and headed to the dining area for breakfast together.

I sat down at my table with Cabin 17 and got a whole bunch of concerned looks directed at me.

“Ryeowook hyung, are you alright?” Myungsoo asked me.

“Yeah. I was just practicing when we lost track of time. Don’t worry about it,” I told them.

“But Yesung hyung looked so concerned about you,” Seulong commented.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you two were a couple,” Hyunseong agreed.

“Yah, don’t you think that Ryeowook hyung’s been through enough? Leeteuk hyung’s outburst wasn’t exactly a pretty sight,” Dongwoo mentioned, shutting the others up.

“But you’re sure you’re ok, hyung?” Youngmin asked. I smiled at him and nodded.

The facilitators asked us to do the cheer and after we did, we started eating.

“Does anybody want these noodles?” G.O. asked. For breakfast, we got fried noodles and two hash browns, along with a cup of hot chocolate.

“You don’t eat noodles?” Kwangmin gasped, as if it were a horrible crime.

“Not fried noodles, anyway. I only eat noodles in soup,” G.O. stated.

“I’m hungry so give it to me,” Sungyeol said, holding his plate out and G.O. put all the noodles onto Sungyeol's plate, doubling the original amount of food.

“Yeollie, do you want to get fat? I’ll take some,” Myungsoo said and transferred a little bit of the noodles over to his own plate. Sungyeol grinned and pecked Myungsoo on the cheek, earning some coos and cheers.

And here I am so near to my crush, yet so far.

We ate in silence, only talking after we polished the plates clean of food.

“How’s your campfire night performance preparation going?” Youngmin asked.

“Since we always practice our songs, you could say that we’re confident of winning,” Dongwoo smirked. “In case you don’t know, Howon and I are excellent dancers.”

“Well Youngmin hyung and I have awesome coordination and we intend to perform ‘Waterfloor’ before we start ‘Boyfriend’,” Kwangmin countered.

“As for us, we’re all but unprepared,” G.O. grinned.

“There’s nothing much to prepare for a ballad song except for our throats which are in perfect condition,” Seulong added.

“My solo’s coming out fine and besides, it was self-composed so there can’t be much problem. Whatever problems there were have already been fixed by Jongwoon hyung just now,” I told them.

“So that’s what you were doing just now. Getting advice from one of the judges,” Sungyeol looked at me accusingly. “Nah I was just kidding,” he said after he saw my shocked expression.

“That’s not funny,” I pouted. Sungyeol apologised to me when he heard what I said.

“I wonder what the others are performing,” Hyunseong asked.

“We’ll just have to see tonight,” Hoya said and shrugged.

“It’s now 8am. Please return to your cabins after disposing of your plates and gather in the field by 8.30am. I do not want a repeat of this morning’s events,” Teukie umma announced. Class by class, we filed out of the dining area and back to the campsite.

“We’ll have an amazing race with Class 1-3 next so please prepare to be running around and get your brains ready to think out of the box! We have to win, got it?” Jongwoon hyung asked.

“NE!” the entire class shouted and Jongwoon hyung dispatched us to our cabins for a short rest.

“An amazing race in the forest?” Youngmin asked, jumping onto his bed.

“I wonder what happens if we get lost,” Hoya thought aloud.

“We probably won’t. The facilitators are experienced enough,” Sungyeol disagreed.

“Let’s hope so,” G.O. said a little pessimistically.

“We won’t and that’s that,” I assured them firmly.

We stopped talking and got our daypacks ready, filling our bottles up with water from the water cooler outside, before we went to the field at 8.27am. We waited for a few minutes and everyone was gathered in the field.

The other classes left for their activities first, leaving Class 1-3 and Class 1-4 behind.

“We’re having an amazing race, as you should know. Well here are your first clues and there are a total of five. The first to complete gets to bathe first today,” Hankyung hyung said and handed each class a slip of paper.

“In the event that you find the other class’ clue, please do not take it or you will be disqualified immediately and will not get a chance to perform tonight,” Jongwoon hyung added.

The classes huddled together, studying our first clue. It was a picture of a fish. Fish…

“What the heck?” Sunggyu asked.

“Think out of the box,” Jongwoon hyung repeated.

“Doesn’t a fish live in a river?” Jeongmin whispered.

“There’s a river here?” Taemin asked quietly in shock.

“Then let’s find it,” Hyunseong said and we went off, leaving Class 1-3 behind to solve their first clue.

-------------------------------------

We’ve been walking around for a good twenty minutes and all we’ve seen are trees, trees, and more trees! Once, we walked past the dining area but what’s the use of that?

“Yesung hyung, do we get hints?” Sungjong asked tiredly.

“Yes but only one. And also, you’ll get a punishment after this,” Jongwoon hyung grinned.

“Aish forget it,” Jongjin sighed.

After walking around for another ten minutes, we found an opening and rushed through it. The person at the front, Dongwoo, nearly fell in as he couldn’t stop in time. It’s a good thing that Hyunseung pulled him back before he did.

“Now that we’re here, where’s the damn clue?” Woohyun asked impatiently.

“The clue shows a fish. Maybe we have to find a fish,” I suggested.

“But then won’t the fish be like, swimming?!” Seungho asked.

“It may not be,” Sungyeol said and ran to our left, pointing to something on the ground. It was a dead fish with a piece of laminated clue under it. Oh my god eww…

“There!” Donghyun took the clue out and read it aloud.

“‘Find the thing gives you honey’,” Donghyun said.

“You expect us to find a beehive?” Kwangmin deadpanned, looking at Jongwoon hyung.

“Not exactly. Just a small hint; it’s fake,” Jongwoon hyung told us.

“Let’s go,” Hoya sighed and headed back into the forest.

We wandered around the place, looking up at trees to try spotting a fake beehive. The thing is that we didn’t see any beehives, real or fake! Aish…

When we finally found a beehive god-knows-how-long later, there was nothing there. No clue, no paper, no nothing! Holy god this is annoying.

“Yesung hyung, where’s the clue?” Myungsoo asked.

“I didn’t say that it was a fake beehive, did I?” he asked mischievously.

“Oh god seriously? A fake bee?” Minwoo asked incredulously.

“Bingo,” Jongwoon hyung replied.

“I swear I saw some type of insect on the way here,” G.O. said.

“Who the hell thought of these?” I asked, feeling kind of annoyed.

“I did say that Teukie wanted to torture you guys. Hurry or we’ll lag behind,” Jongwoon hyung told us. We nodded and started walking around again, attempting to spot any form of a fake insect.

We took forever to find the fake bee and took the clue that was ours. Class 1-3’s clue was there too, but we actually want to perform for campfire night.

“‘I eat nuts and live in a tree. What am I?’” the clue read.

“A squirrel! Duh,” Dongwoo exclaimed.

“Now we have to find a fake squirrel?” Woohyun asked.

Jongwoon hyung shrugged and we began our long walk around the forest again, trying to find a fake squirrel sitting atop any tree.

We were walking around when I spotted the cabins through a hole in the trees. It may have been by coincidence, but Cabin 1 had a picture of an ant on its side.

“Quick, what letter is s?” I asked.

“The nineteenth. Why?” Jongjin asked. I saw Jongwoon hyung nod from the corner of my eye and I led the way to Cabin 19, going to the side which the picture was drawn. On the ground was a piece of paper that was our fourth clue.

“It’s a tree. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY A TREE?” Sungjong screeched.

“Chill, Jongie,” Myungsoo calmed the younger boy down.

“A tree. Wait, there’s something up there,” Seungho pointed at the picture.

“A nest?” Youngmin asked.

“Looks like it. A tree with a nest. Come on,” Sunggyu said and went back into the forest.

Once again, we started walking around the forest aimlessly.

“It’s 10.37am now. You guys have another thirty-eight minutes before we end this activity,” Jongwoon hyung reminded us.

“Oh damn,” Jeongmin cursed and we sped up our pace.

Within twenty minutes, we found the last clue. It was perched on a tree branch so we got Sungyeol to get it for us, since he was the tallest amongst us.

“There,” he jumped down with ease and showed the paper to us.

“What’s this?” Minwoo asked. The paper had a single word written on it.

“‘Campfire’,” Hyunseong read. “Huh?”

“Aish you babos, let’s go back to the campsite!” Woohyun said and we tried our best to get back to the campsite quickly. We went in the wrong direction at first but figured it out a bit later.

Once we were gathered there, Jongwoon hyung smiled as there was nobody around.

Dongwoo went to the area where the campfire was to be held and reached inside the pile of wood, feeling around for a piece of paper. He grabbed two pieces, returning Class 1-3’s back into the pile of firewood and held the paper out to us.

‘Congratulations, you’ve completed the amazing race!’

“We won? After all that?” G.O. asked in disbelief.

“Yup. Frankly speaking, it wasn’t hard to figure the clues out. The problem was with finding the places, right?” Jongwoon hyung asked. That’s when all the complaints started coming.

“How were we supposed to know where the damn river was?”

“There are so many trees! Which one was supposed to have a nest?”

“When did bees give us honey? Don’t we get honey from beehives?”

“Since when were there pictures painted on the sides of the cabins?”

The whining went on and on but Jongwoon hyung shut us up.

“The thing is that you guys won and get to bathe first. Stop complaining,” Jongwoon hyung chided.

“True,” Sunggyu agreed.

“Fine, we’ll stop,” Seulong sighed.

“I wonder when Class 1-3’s going to be back,” Hyunseong sighed, looking bored.

Just when he said that, Class 1-3 came running into the field and took their clue from the campfire.

“We lost! How could we have lost?” a cute boy pouted.

“Yoseob, it’s alright. I’m sure Doojoon hyung will make you happy later,” Hyunseung grinned cheekily.

“Yah hyung, that’s not true! Only when we get back from camp…” Yoseob got softer and softer and completely trailed off at the end.

“How could you guys be faster than us?” L.Joe sounded really sad.

“Cause we just are, Byunghun. Mehrong!” Sungjong stuck his tongue out.

“Nobody calls him Byunghun but me, Sungjong,” Chunji argued.

“Stop fighting. Obviously, Class 1-4 wins and they get to bathe first. Get some water before you guys are dehydrated. Then we’ll move on to trekking which is done class by class. Be careful or you guys might get injured quite badly,” Hankyung hyung said.

We took our bottles out and gulped as much water as we could, being as thirsty as we were. Then we stood back in our rows and were briefed by the two facilitators.

-------------------------------------------

“We’ll be trekking across the river and back through two different paths. The paths are rather bumpy and many trees have fallen, so you guys have to climb over logs. Also, some logs and plants have thorns on them. Please avoid those plants cause some are poisonous. Lastly, please be careful and help one another, got it?”

“Ne,” we replied in unison.

“Let’s go,” Hankyung hyung said and led his class away.

“They could take some time but we’ll start off at 12.30pm. Till then, you guys can stay in the field and do whatever you want,” Jongwoon hyung told us.

“Can we do a mini performance?” Minwoo requested.

“Sure! Practice your performances in front of your class and build up confidence,” Jongwoon hyung agreed almost right away.

First up was Boyfriend who, as promised, performed ‘Waterfloor’ and ‘Boyfriend’. When I saw how coordinated the twins were in the dance for ‘Waterfloor’, my mouth just started hanging agape. Kwangmin didn’t even look like he had a fractured thumb and a torn ligament. Well, there was the part where the twins had to grasp each other’s hands and Kwangmin had some difficulty raising his right hand up. Until they began ‘Boyfriend’, I didn’t close my mouth.

While they performed ‘Boyfriend’, I got to hear how good Jeongmin’s voice was. From what they said, Hyunseong was the main vocalist in the group. I think otherwise. Jeongmin’s voice is better. Also, Kwangmin and Minwoo’s rap was just wow. It was a short five lines, but it really brought out their expertise as rappers. Again, Kwangmin showed some difficulty dancing due to his injured hand, but he tried his best to dance normally. He still couldn’t snap his fingers though.

It was only when they finished their performance that Kwangmin held onto Youngmin for support and limped back to sit down, rubbing his thigh in pain. Youngmin helped his brother to massage his leg but Kwangmin still seemed like he was in pain. I wonder how he even managed to perform those two dances in his state.

Next, Infinite performed ‘Before the Dawn’. Their coordination at the scorpion dance part was just amazing. I can’t believe anyone can be so synchronised. And furthermore, they were seven people, not just two. Hoya and Dongwoo's rap at the end, as well as Sungjong and Sungyeol’s contradictive voices, were completely suited for the song. Sunggyu and Woohyun’s voices were just amazing, especially Sunggyu.

Then Jongjin went up and did Jongwoon hyung’s infamous octopus dance that made all of us burst into laughter. Jongjin looked embarrassed, but Jongwoon hyung assured him that he would win for the ‘Comedy’ section for sure.

I got up and started singing ‘One Fine Spring Day’, keeping in mind all the things that Jongwoon hyung had told me this morning and following his advice. At the end of my song, the class clapped for me and commented on how stable my voice was.

Hyunseung danced the entire of his song and sang whatever parts he could, but he just couldn’t do the rap. Anyway, he tried his best to perform a song that was meant for a tet when he was alone and we were all inspired by his hard work.

Taemin just danced his song, saying that his voice wasn’t good for singing alone. However, he added in some popping and freestyle dancing which made his performance nicer to watch.

G.O. and Seungho danced ‘Mona Lisa’ and sang most of the parts, attempting the rap as well. They were the main vocalists of their group so it was rather a good performance by them. They managed to do the rap too, which was what made them seem like real professionals.

Lastly, Seulong sang his ballad song, ‘You Wouldn’t Answer My Calls’, perfectly. Sure, I know it’s a ballad song, but he changed his voice really quickly and effortlessly. He’s earned my respect as a singer alright, but I’ll work hard too.

Suddenly, Jongwoon hyung decided that he should perform something as well. He began singing a ballad song. I had heard Youngwoon hyung mentioned something about it before and the song title was ‘It Has to Be You’. It was composed by Jongwoon hyung, apparently with some help from Donghae hyung and Sungmin hyung. It sounded perfect, complimenting Jongwoon hyung’s husky voice really well. I was stunned and just watched as Jongwoon hyung sang the song pitch-perfect, even adding in the emotions and expressions.

Once Jongwoon hyung was done, he went to Kwangmin and asked if he was alright.

“I’m fine, but my thigh hurts a little. It’s nothing, really,” Kwangmin assured Jongwoon hyung. He didn’t seem convinced and well, none of us were.

“I don’t believe you.  Just rest for the day and do your best tonight, ok? I’m not going to let you participate in trekking or bonding games. If you insist on doing those activities, then you won’t perform tonight, got it?” Jongwoon hyung asked strictly.

“But…” Kwangmin wanted to protest.

“No buts. You heard Yesung hyung and you know he’s right. It’s either you join the games or the performance. Which is more worth it, Kwangie?” Youngmin asked.

“Obviously dancing with you guys but honestly, can we win when I can’t even dance ‘Boyfriend’ properly? I can’t even snap my fingers for the starting, for goodness sake! We won’t be able to win like that!” Kwangmin yelled.

“No. You can win the ‘Perseverance Award’ since we can easily see how hard you’re trying, even with your injured hand. Sure, you can’t win ‘Best Performance Award’, but you’d have known that you tried and you’ll win something anyway! Stop fighting about this,” Jongwoon hyung told Kwangmin, sounding a little angry.

“Just rest, Kwangmin. You can watch us when we do the bonding games,” Youngmin tried again.

“Fine, hyung. You win. I’ll rest. Call me when it’s time for lunch,” Kwangmin said dejectedly and went into his cabin, slamming the door as hard as he could. Youngmin looked worried but he couldn’t do much about it.

“I’d bet you all my assets that Kwangmin's crying his eyes out right now,” Donghyun said.

“I know, but it’s for his own good. I don’t want to see him worsening his injury any more than it already is,” Youngmin sighed.

“I’m sure he knows that. Stop fretting about it. We have to set off soon,” Jongwoon hyung patted Youngmin's back and looked at his watch. “We have another five minutes but let’s just go and give Kwangmin some time to cool down and sort out his thoughts.”

-------------------------------------------

Now we’re halfway through the trekking route and Jongwoon hyung was leading. I was right behind him and he pulled me up onto a log, jumping down and telling me to help Minwoo who was behind me. Basically, we just kept helping those behind us and made sure we all got across a log safely.

We kept going and going, but at some point in time, I managed to get a few thorns in my skin without even realising it.

“Thorns on your right,” Jongwoon hyung warned. I passed on the message on and it got passed all the way to the back.

After about forty-five minutes of trekking, we made it out and back to the campsite. The entire time that we were trekking, Youngmin looked rather guilty about what he did to Kwangmin.

“Are all of you alright? No injuries?” Jongwoon hyung asked.

Everyone said no and I was about to do so as well, but then I looked at my palm which felt a little painful and noticed that it had a number of thorns on it. When I started focusing on the pain, I just couldn’t un-focus on it and I felt the pain getting more and more intense.

“Jongwoon hyung,” I called out weakly. He walked over to me worriedly.

“What is it, Wookie? You look pale,” he commented. I held out my palm for him to see and his eyes widened. He immediately pulled all the thorns out, despite me constantly moving my hand around.

“Hankyung, help bring my class to lunch later. Ryeowook’s injured,” Jongwoon hyung said and carried me to the sick bay that was behind the dining area. There was nobody who worked there, just some first aid stuff and poison antidotes. Wait a minute… POISON ANTIDOTES?

“From the looks of it, Wookie, you were poked by some poisonous thorns. I’ll have to the poison out for you. Just hold still…” hyung told me and I did as he told. He brought my palm to his mouth and started on the wounds. It felt a little ticklish but I was just cheering inside my head. Jongwoon hyung was technically kissing my palm!

He out some blood and spit it into the bin nearby, repeating the process several times until he was sure all the poison was out of my system.

“Just in case I wasn’t thorough enough, here’s the antidote for thorn poison. Eat the pill and you should be fine,” Jongwoon hyung said, popping one into his own mouth as well. He drank some water and passed the bottle to me, waiting for me to eat the medicine as well. Of course I did and, again, I was really happy that I could share a bottle with Jongwoon hyung! Yeah!

“Let’s go for lunch,” Jongwoon hyung held his hand out and I took it. He pulled me up and we headed over to the dining area. I’m just glad for this physical contact and I hope that it would never break. Really, Jongwoon hyung…

When are you going to realise that I love you?

Ok, so I forgot what I wrote for the A/N the other time -.-

Never mind! I've put this back up anyways ^^

As I mentioned, the next chappie will have a nice surprise for you guys and it's coming up right after this :)