[Year 19 of Exile]

"C'mon Jen, drink."

The rim of a bottle touched my closed lips, forcefully pushed them apart, and cool liquid entered my mouth.

"Swallow."

I did, and the rim left. A thumb grazed the crooks of my mouth and wiped away the water droplets that had somehow escaped.

"What are we going to do, Luhan-hyung?"

The youngest's voice travelled to my ears, and though my eyes stared at nothing in particular, I was conscious of their conversation and I heightened my hearing.

With a light pinch on my chin, Luhan removed his fingers from my face and I felt the log that I was sitting on lean towards one side as he sat down.

"I-I guess," I could visualise him pinching the ridge of his nose as he contemplated his words. "We should lay low while searching for them."

"They ought to be alive." A deep voice whispered. "They wouldn't, y'know, give up without a fight."

The boys wouldn't.

"Let's get some rest." Kyungsoo capped his bottle of water, and set it down on the ground. The dried leaves crinkled softly. "It's tiring enough to lug the groceries here much less see that your cabin was set on fire."

Fire.

I crumpled onto the floor, dried leaves pooling around me.

Tears automatically streamed down my face, and soon enough I became nothing short of a tantrum-throwing toddler. Kicking my legs and flailing my arms wildly in the air, I bawled.

Through tear-obscured vision, my eyes caught sight of a charred cabin, almost burnt to ruins. No smoke wafted from it; it must have stopped burning for awhile now.

Which meant…

"The fire probably burnt out half a day before we got here.” Chanyeol stepped out from behind me, and he made his way towards the cabin — what was left of it. “Seeing how there isn’t any smoke and the wood probably wouldn’t be warm any longe–”

The tallest gingerly touched a burnt and black part of the steps leading to the porch and instantly withdrew his hand with a loud curse. Cradling his scalded hand, he ran back to us and Kyungsoo poured water on the reddening wound.

Even though my vision was still blurry, I could make out the blistering red patch on his palm. The burn is pretty severe.

I momentarily stopped crying, and wiped my tears with the back of my hands. Sniffling, I watched Kyungsoo steadily pour water on Chanyeol’s wound, with the boy biting on his lower lip hard; his eyes were shut tightly. I cannot imagine the amount of pain he must be feeling.

Having applied both antiseptic and burn creams, the small boy expertly bandaged his hyung’s palm and Chanyeol thumped on his back heartily for the job well done. Kyungsoo nodded as he returned the first aid materials back into their respective bags.

“Dammit, the wood is still hot. That's strange." Chanyeol growled, as Luhan gently picked his hand up and inspected the bandage with his brows furrowed. “It felt like putting your whole hand into a pot of boiling water. ing scalding, I swear.”

I turned to Sehun, half expecting him to remark sarcastically. He didn’t. Instead, he stood rooted to where he had stopped, bags dropped at his sides. No comment, no movement came from him.

His behaviour frightened me; Oh Sehun hardly keeps his mouth shut.

“Sehun…?” I reached out towards Kyungsoo whose hand was beside my head and though startled at first, the boy pulled me up. I could feel the reluctance in his fingers as I let mine slip through them as I walked towards my same-aged friend. “Sehun?”

I placed a hand on his shoulder and when I looked at his face, I