It's a longer chapter than usual because I'm gone for a week so I can't update.. Mian... =/

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“Uhuh…” I nodded.

“Don’t tell him okay…?”

Eunhyuk’s big secret was that he already ordered a new telephone through internet shipping with Heechul’s laptop...
How was this a secret I NEEDED TO KNOW?! I already knew he used his computer…

Hmpf… I glared at him, annoyed that I promised to not beat him up if he’d tell me his secret. Eunhyuk showed a goofy smile, exposing his gums.
You buying me a new telephone; that would be the least I expected you to do Eunhyuk… Secret?! Hmpf…

“So… now that the show’s over, what are we supposed to do Nayoung?” Kangin asked.

“We’re going to paint the hut today!” I clapped my hands, “About a dozen of buckets with dark green paint are stored in the back of the hut, go check it out!”

To my surprise a wave of loud cheers arose around me.
Everyone ran in the direction of the hut and I was about to follow until Joonho suddenly started speaking. “Nayoung…?” I turned around to look at him.

“Hey, um… I was wondering if we could… do something together today. But if you’re busy it’s okay…” Joonho scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“Well, that’s me!” I smiled “…Always busy…but if you want to help, you could help us and we’ll finish it earlier.”
He didn’t instantly say yes but seemed to give that a second thought. Is he uneasy with the thought of helping out on a farm?

“Well if you WANT me to help… I’ll do it!” He smiled.

“Ok then…” I ran in the direction of the hut.

As I entered the hut with Joonho following me, some members looked up and glanced at us.
Did I see that correctly? Did they look annoyed?
Just as I was about to give everyone instructions, Joonho suddenly turned me around to look at him.

“Nayoung um listen, maybe it’s better if I’ll leave, now that I think about it. Mind if I come by tomorrow morning to pick you up? We should catch up you know…” He said the last things in a low voice that nobody could hear.

“Oh okay…” I let out, looking in his eyes as I was trying to see if there were other intentions.

“See you tomorrow!” Out of nowhere Joonho hugged me quickly, then made a salute sign to all the Super Junior members and walked away.

I turned around and to my shock, some of them looked even pissed. Has it something to do with Joonho? Why is everyone behaving so strangely… he isn’t such a bad guy right?
On the contrary, Leeteuk didn’t pay attention at all; instead he was swinging the bucket of dark green paint from side to side, clutching the liquid, which really wasn’t necessary.
Then he stopped and smiled at me for too long, it seemed forced for some reason.

“Let’s start… aja aja!” Leeteuk walked away.

“Why is he happy all of a sudden?” I heard Kangin whisper to Yesung.

“Er dunno… “ Yesung let out and also walked away.

After working a few hours I finished my part of the hut. I walked around to see how the others did.
On the other side, Leeteuk was talking enthusiastically.

“Oh… and why does E.T. have such big eyes…?”

There was a moment of silence…

“Because he saw his phone bill…AHAHAHAH” Leeteuk burst out in a high giggle.
I walked in their direction and noticed Eunhyuk sitting on the thatch, giggling quietly as Leeteuk was cracking jokes.

“Oh… and what is long, yellow and fruity?” He tried to hold back his laughter as he anticipated Eunhyuk’s answer.

“A banana?”

“No it’s an apple in disguise….ahiiiihihi” Leeteuk cracked up as Eunhyuk laughed softly. Something’s wrong with him. I knew Leeteuk could be hyper, but like this?

Then Kangin appeared behind me.

“Hyung…are you okay? I can hear your voice on the other side...” Kangin seemed to sense something’s wrong too.

Leeteuk stopped abruptly when he saw us “Oh sorry for being loud… are you guys finished already?”

“Yes, everyone on the other side is done.” Kangin said.

“Hey isn’t it fun to do a campfire again…?” Eunhyuk suggested. “Then you can tell your jokes there hyung…”

- At night –

I took snacks with me while Sungmin brought his guitar. Kangin and Yesung each carried two candle lanterns.
I was going to show them a place that’s very important to me. I wanted to tell them one of the most important stories about my family.
About two miles away in the woods, there’s an open space. Only a few trees are planted there and they are all different. For us that’s because they have different meanings. I don’t know how many centuries ago our family tradition started, but every single time a child reaches the age of twelve we plant a tree. All trees around the world have different symbolic meanings. We pick trees according to our personalities and how we are, or the meaning of our name. When it grows well and it becomes a strong tree, it means we have made the right choice in trees. We are careful though, not every tree is able to grow here of course.

“So each one of your family has his own tree…? Interesting…” Kangin asked as we walked for fifteen minutes already.

“Not all… only the ones in our bloodline and a lot of trees have died already.”

Eunhyuk suddenly started laughing quietly.

“Yah, don’t do that!” Kangin hit him.

“What’s your tree?” Leeteuk asked bluntly.

By my own surprise a small smile spread across my face. “You’ll see when we get there…”

It was getting harder to walk now. The trees were closing in and thus we could barely see the road. The candle lanterns gave just enough light to see the obstacles on the ground right in front of us.
After walking about twenty minutes we finally reached the open space. I was shocked; my tree had become tall, strong and healthy.
I stared at it in awe as the rest was just taking a glance or two at it, and then looked around out of boredom. Yesung was clicking his tongue impatiently.

“So… what tree is it and what does it mean?” Donghae finally asked.

“It’s an Elm; they stand for strength of will and intuition. They grow really fast by the way.”

They nodded slowly while observing the huge creature in the middle of the yard.

“Noona… why an Elm?” Sungmin asked as we sat down and Kangin was trying to set up a campfire.

“Well um…” I started as I was already feeling a light blush arise on my cheeks. “They used to tell me I was stubborn…”

Then an outburst of laughter was heard from… mostly Kangin.

“Yah! Don’t laugh like that!” Heechul smacked Kangin on the back. “She’s your dongsaeng!”

“I’m your dongsaeng too!” Kangin stepped forward to Heechul and he quickly took a few defensive steps back when he realized the size of the guy he just hit.

Leeteuk giggled quietly but his face dropped instantly when he noticed I was looking at him. A slight feeling of disappointment came over me. I thought things were okay between us but what is with that face? Is he acting cold or is he still down because of what I yelled at him two days ago? I didn’t mean it like I never wanted to see him again…
I tried to ignore my suspicions while Sungmin grabbed his guitar and started playing a sweet melody.

After a few minutes I looked around me to see Shindong happily eating from the snacks, Heechul relaxing his head back, Yesung moving his mouth to the familiar tune Sungmin was playing, Kangin focusing on the campfire and Donghae and Eunhyuk leaning close to each other. I realized I was happy.
All that happened years ago didn’t seem to matter anymore. Not because Joonho had come back and told me it was a misunderstanding… but because there was something else now. I had made friends, real friends, I was sure about that and it made me really happy. Even though there wasn’t much time left before they would leave, I was really grateful that I had met them.
Realizing this, I was gaining confidence. I wanted Leeteuk and me to be good and not awkward. So I gathered all my confidence and did the bravest thing I’ve probably ever done in my empty life.
I stood up from my place, went over to Leeteuk and walked behind him. I slowly sat down beside him on the other side.
He looked up in shock; I could tell he didn’t expect me to do this.

[Leeteuk’s POV]

Why is she looking at me all the time? I have no more reasons to try, I have all reasons to avoid you even though I don’t want to. First of all, you’re right that I’ll let you down in less than two weeks. Second, you don’t like me because you told me to stay out of your problems because of the first reason. And third, you like Joonho…although I’m not sure about that, but if it’s not, it will happen someday. That guy has a lot of charms.
Thinking about this, I didn’t realize what was happening around me until someone settled beside me. I looked up and was completely in shock when I realized it was Nayoung. She smiled and all the reasons to avoid her seemed to fly away instantly. Gosh, why do you have this impact on me Nayoung? I felt myself smiling back at her.

“You want some marshmallows?” She asked.

“Okay…” I nodded and smiled. I’m way too easy…

She got up and took the plastic back with marshmallows and sticks. She handed me one and then we both stuck our hands in the plastic bag at the same time. Feeling how our hands accidentally touched she pulled her hand back abruptly and giggled nervously.
Nayoung? What’s wrong with you; that doesn’t suit you at all…
After I held my stick above the fire I was spacing out again. I was thinking whether this was a dream or really happening.

“Oppa…?”

“Huh?”

“It’s burning.” I was dragged back to reality and realized the bottom side was coal-black.

“OH!” I pulled my hand back and she started laughing. Did she just call me oppa?! I secretly wondered if she used to call Joonho oppa, or if I was the first person she ever called oppa...

Upon hearing Nayoung’s laughter, Eunhyuk suddenly sneaked up behind us. When I turned around he smiled and showed his gums. “Yah! Go away…” I pushed him and he fell back on his .
Nayoung laughed even more now.

“Okay hyung!” Eunhyuk smiled and walked away.

What’s with him…?

“Okay it’s late! We should go back to the house now…” Kangin interrupted right before I could ask Eunhyuk anything.

What?! Why now…? I was just glad that everything was going in the right way and Kangin should know this right? Everyone knew that I liked Nayoung…
I looked around me. Donghae was almost falling asleep. I sighed as I realized Kangin was right. Slowly I stood up and walked over to Donghae.

“Donghae-ah, wake up…” I shook him.

“Hyung, let me do it, I’ll carry him.” Kangin lowered himself to pick him up. “Just hold this…” He gave me the lantern.

We walked back in silence, except for Yesung at the front. He was cracking my type of jokes from last morning. Eunhyuk was giggling quietly; it’s so easy to entertain that guy. The jokes aren’t even funny, I just played that I was happy last morning.

“What’s black and white and has wheels?” Yesung asked.

“Eh... I don’t know?” Eunhyuk looked dumbfounded.

“A zebra, and I lied about the wheels…” Yesung let out.

Eunhyuk cracked up, his voice shot up an octave.

Nayoung who walked closely behind them giggled softly.

After walking for about 10 minutes I suddenly realized the pocket in my pants was empty.
“Oh shoot!” I let out, loud enough for everyone to stop in their tracks and turn around.

“I don’t have my cellphone anymore! I must have left it at the campfire place…” I panicked a little.
Though I couldn’t remember taking it out of my pocket, I was absolutely positive that I had brought it with me.

“So…” Kangin let out. “Do you know the way back?”

I shook my head vigorously. “Really, I don’t understand how it got out of my pocket?!” I started looking back.

“It’s alright… Nayoung knows the way back, so you can go together. We’ll meet you guys at the house.”

There was a hint of teasing in his voice and it sounded as if he was emphasizing Nayoung’s name just a little.

But inside of me, I felt a twinge of excitement… Us… alone…?