"Are you kidding me?" I asked, turning to Umma as she smiled up at the forest land we were about to enter.

 

"What? Why does Key sound annoyed?" Came Hyoli's voice who stood between Minho and Onew who held onto her arms to steady her.

 

It had been Umma's idea to blindfold the girl before we set off to this destination that belonged to my family that I had never known about.

 

To think my family owned all this land and it never occurred to my Umma or Appa to let me in on the secret.

 

"Don't get your in a bunch my dear, I would have told you but you never asked" Umma shrugged her shoulders as my foul mood worsened.

 

"I don't wear !" I snapped which only made Jonghyun and Taemin crack up from laughter.

 

I quickly shot a glare at my two friends before turning back to Umma.

 

"And it would have been nice to know about this"

 

"What for? It's not like you would use it. Your Appa and I only bought... this for a back up plan incase we met some financial difficulty in the future. If such an occasion came to be, we were going to sell this and live off the money we receive for it and if not then it would be passed down to you if something were to ever happen to the both of us" Umma explained, picking her words carefully so Hyoli would not know what stood before her at this exact moment.

 

Although I wasn't for blindfolding Hyoli to begin with, it was nice to know that she wasn't freaking out at the moment.

 

Obviously it was because she couldn't see the forest entrance infront of her, but I wasn't about to inform her of that little detail.

 

"So, shall we get going? It's a little ways walk until we get to the forest" Umma said out loud, making sure Hyoli would hear her.

 

It was an obvious lie since the forest opening was right infront of us but if Hyoli believed Umma's words then she would hopefully remain calm and by the time she came to realize she was already in the forest, she would see that she has nothing to be afraid off.

 

At least, that's what I was hoping Umma's plan would be.

 

My Umma was an unpredictable woman however so today's events could go anywhere.

 

So far, my Umma's plan involved the 7 of us camping out for the night, just to give Hyoli an idea of what it will be like during the camping trip coming up.

 

She wouldn't go into detail about how she planned to help Hyoli overcome her phobia but what else could I do besides trust her words.

 

I picked up my backpack from where it lay on the floor beside my feet.

 

I had packed basic necessities such as food, water, first aid kit and of course, Jonghyun's, Taemin's and my sleeping bag.

 

Jonghyun had offered to carry the bag that the tent was folded in while Taemin carried the flashlights and camping  equipment within his own bag.

 

Minho and Onew carried their own bags over their shoulders which held their sleeping bags while their hands held onto both Hyoli's arms to help me walk forward without falling over.

 

"Follow me" I heard Umma's voice chime as she began to walk forward, through the entrance of the forest with the 6 of us following behind her.

 

-

 

-

 

-

 

We had walked for around 15 minutes when we entered a clearing.

 

Minho and Onew had managed to keep Hyoli on her feet during our walk and although she had stumbled a few times, she had no idea that she was already in the forest.

 

Looking around the clearing, I looked up to see the light from above peeping through the branches of the trees that cast above us.

 

Umma took the bag that Taemin had been carrying secretly in silence and began to rummage through it quickly.

 

"What are you doing Umma?" I question suspiciously.

 

"Are we there yet?" I heard Hyoli ask the worry in her voice was obvious.

 

She was beginning to feel anxious and now that we had stopped walking, she was beginning to panic.

 

Umma ignored my question however and spoke up to answer Hyoli's question instead.

 

"Not yet dear, Taemin just tripped over is all. Right Taemin?" Umma asked looking to Taemin who looked confused for a second before he realized he would have to play along with Umma's lie.

 

"Yeah, I didn't see that...pebble?" Taemin spoke up.

 

I rolled my eyes at his pathetic excuse for supposedly tripping over but Hyoli seemed to believe his words.

 

"Are you okay?"

 

"He's fine. Just have to make sure he hasn't cut skin" Umma spoke once again as I noticed her pulling something out from the depths of Taemin's bag.

 

Was that rope I was seeing my Umma holding right now?

 

Why would she need rope right now?

 

Umma placed Taemin's bag on the floor, now holding the long piece of rope in both of her hands.

 

"You know what to do" She whispered softly to Taemin who nodded his head and walked towards where Minho had hold of Hyoli's right arm.

 

Quickly swapping places with his dongsaeng, Minho came to stand in between Jonghyun and I and before it even registered into my brain that something strange was going on, Umma shouted out at the top her voice "Now!"

 

And just like that all hell broke loose.

 

Taemin and Onew quickly pinned Hyoli to the trunk of a large tree that was behind her as Umma ran at her and began to wrap the rope around Hyoli and the tree trunk before tying both ends in a knot, securing Hyoli's position.

 

Jonghyun, having been the one to notice what they were doing to Hyoli attempted to make his way over to her, to help her no doubt but was restrained by Minho who also had one of his arms around me to stop me from doing anything.

 

Not that I was putting up a fight like Jonghyun.

 

I guess I was just so surprised that I had not seen this coming to begin with.

 

This had Umma's idea all over it.

 

I watched as Hyoli struggled behind the rope before Umma pulled off her blindfold.

 

Hyoli's eyes opened slowly as the struggle became silent just so we could see her reaction.

 

"You've been in a forest this whole time Hyoli. There is nothing to be afraid of" Umma said gently as Hyoli took in her surroundings.

 

Her eyes flashed over Umma's and the guy's faces until her eyes zeroed in on me.

 

I knew what as coming.

 

The fear in her eyes was a dead give away.

 

I watched as her eyes widened and inhaled a deep breath before an ear shattering scream erupted from the back of , followed by tears streaming down her faces and the sound of the rope pulling against her skin as she made a desperate attempt to escape this place that she feared so much.

 

"Let me go! Oh my god! I'm having a heart attack! Get me out of here!" She screamed as her red tinted eyes lingered on me for help.

 

"You heard her, let her go!" Jonghyun shouted as he continued to struggle against Minho's grip to get to her.

 

"Umma, I think you should untie her. This isn't the way to get her to overcome her fear. If anything, this is traumatizing her even more!" I shouted as Umma held up a hand to be as a sign to wait.

 

"Umma! If she's being serious about the heart attack, I'm letting you know in advance that I'm not doing time for you!" I shouted despite my Umma obliviousness to my words.

 

Her eyes stayed on Hyoli and something about my Umma's facial expression told me that she was hoping that this plan that she had formulated would work out.

 

The only problem was, I knew Hyoli too well to know that this wasn't going to work at all.

 

"Just let her out of the ropes at least!" Jonghyun snapped, looking to my Umma as well.

 

"She'll run away from her fear if we let her out" Umma replied as I looked back to Hyoli and called out to her this time.

 

"Promise you won't run if we let you loose" I instructed as Hyoli began to cough from the sharp breaths she had been unintentionally been taking in too often for her body to process.

 

She was definitely in panic mode.

 

"I promise" She cried as she leaned forward, her head hanging low so I couldn't even see her face anymore but only the tears falling to the ground beneath her feet.

 

"You heard her, she won't run. Taemin, untie to rope" I ordered as Taemin nodded his head frantically, seeming a bit freaked out himself over what was going on.

 

He quickly untied to rope and as the rope loosened up and slowly fell to the ground, Hyoli remained still in front of the tree trunk in silence.

 

The whole clearing that we stood in became quiet as all of our eyes watched Hyoli as her breathing, although still unsteady, began to calm slightly.

 

At that moment, I honestly thought that Umma's plan might have worked.

 

That is until Hyoli's head shot up a second later sending me a glare so strong that if looks could kill a person, I would have been pushing up daisy right at that moment.

 

Tears building up in her eyes, she took a step away from the tree trunk and in the next second, she had took off, fleeing from the scene as fast as she could.

 

"Damn it!" Jonghyun hissed as Minho still kept a hold of him and looked to me.

 

"What are you doing? Go after her" Minho snapped at me and just like that, I myself was running away from the scene to try and catch up to Hyoli in hopes to calm her and comfort her while she raced through one of the very things she feared most.