Running after Hyoli wasn't exactly difficult.

 

Although we were both running through an environment that neither of us were familiar with, her sense of direction seemed to .

 

Especially since she was so panicked at this moment in time.

 

She was a fast runner though, faster than I thought she ever could be.

 

Because of her speed, I would have began to worry incase she actually managed to vanish from my view.

 

I had no other option but to push myself to run faster and as soon as I was close enough to think I'd be able to catch her, I jumped forward, knocking Hyoli off her feet in the process and sent both of us crashing to the ground.

 

I felt the twig beneath me along with the crunching of dried up leaves that he landed on during the fall.

 

It would have irritated me very much since I was wearing a new jacket I had recently purchased but Hyoli being in my arms right now pushed the irritated emotions to the back of my mind as I focused all my attention on comforting her.

 

She was sobbing but also seemed to be struggling to free herself from my embrace.

 

I tightened my grip around her, holding her against my chest as she began to pound on me, her sobbing growing louder and louder for every minute that dragged on.

 

"It's okay, I'm here so you don't have to run away" I said in a voice that I thought might sooth her slightly but her pounding became harder.

 

"I'm not running from the forest. I'm running from you!" She cried as I closed my eyes and held onto her.

 

She was still resisting but I didn't care.

 

I won't lie, it hurt to think that she had been wanting to get away from me rather than the forest that she feared but I wanted to be selfish right now.

 

I wanted her to stay in my arms until I was confident that she forgave me.

 

"You lied" I heard her eventually mumble as her pounding against my chest became softer.

 

It was then that I realized the dampness of my t-shirt against my skin, probably from Hyoli's tears as her face remained buried against it.

 

"I didn't lie. I didn't know what Umma was actually planning until it was too late. If I'd known then I wouldn't have let her put you through that"

 

"You knew we were in a forest the whole time and you never let me know about it. You kept quiet... I trusted you" She said, pulling away from my t-shirt to look up at me.

 

Looking down at me slightly, I saw her tear stained face and sighed before pulling her closer to me, if that were even humanly possible.

 

"I know and that's why I'm sorry. I should have let you know but look at this. Here we are, lying down in the middle of a forest and you're more occupied being angry at me than freaking out over the fact that you still haven't found your way out of this place yet" I tried to laugh as I heard Hyoli sigh before pulling away from me once again.

 

She looked troubled as she sat up straight and looked back at me as I forced myself to sit up beside her.

 

"As much as I hate to admit it..." She began as her hand reached up and pulled a twig out of my hair that I hadn't noticed had become tangled within my locks.

 

"Your Umma's plan might have actually worked... kind of. I mean, I'm still slightly scared but I think that's more to do with the fact that I thought you and the others had turned against me back there. That and all the running I've done has taken a lot out of me" Hyoli slightly smiled, making me laugh.

 

"Jonghyun and I had no idea about what was going to happen and no doubt Umma dragged Taemin, Minho and Onew into it. She has a talent for getting others into trouble. Luckily for me, I take after my Appa" 

 

Hyoli laughed softly and shook her head before looking up above her.

 

"Look" She suddenly said, pointing up above her.

 

Tilting my head back, I came to see what Hyoli was trying to show me.

 

Right above us, we could see the light of the sun rays shining through the gaps from the tree tops.

 

"That's kind of cool" I heard Hyoli say as I looked back to her to see her eyes were already lingering on me.

 

"Yeah. How about we get back to the others now? They'll probably start panicking if we don't get back soon and trust me when I say Jonghyun and my Umma bring out the worst in each other when it coming to panicking" I said, standing back up onto my feet and brushing and dirt that might have clung to me, off of me before reaching my hand out for Hyoli to take.

 

"How will we know where to find them? I mean, we're in the middle of a forest and we ran for a long time. I don't know how to get back" Hyoli said, in a worried tone of voice as she took my hand and pulled herself up onto her feet to join me.

 

"That's why you're ever so lucky that I was the one that ran after you. If it had been Jonghyun then you both would probably be lost for good but I'm a whole other story. While I was running after you, I was making mental notes in my head of the land marks we passed. We can just follow those land marks to get back to the others" I explained simply as a big smile appeared on Hyoli's face this time.

 

"Lucky me" She said as I took hold of her hand and began to walk back through the forest with her beside me.

 

"But Key. Promise nothing like this will ever happen again? For you to help me over come these phobias, I want to know that I can trust you. I know your Umma's plan might have worked this time but I feel more comfortable knowing that you can help me conquer these phobias without resorting to these methods. You can help in way that I feel more comfortable with, without you having to lie to me" Hyoli said as I looked down to look at her as we carried on walking through the forest.

 

"I Promise"

 

And I meant it too.

 

After seeing Hyoli flee from the scene and feeling her trying to push me away from her when I managed to catch her, I knew that this was not something that should ever be repeated.

 

Hyoli had always placed her trust in me when she came to challenge her phobias.

 

She had never had a reason to doubt me before but after this, because I hadn't pulled my Umma to one side and asked her about her plan, Hyoli had suffered more than she probably would have had to if I had come up with a plan on my own.

 

 I felt Hyoli's hand squeeze my own slightly as I made her that promise and we continued to make our way through the forest to find our friends, following my directions.

 

 

-

 

-

 

-

 

 

It was easy to see that once we got back to the clearing, everybody was slightly apologetic.

 

Mostly my Umma though who apologized repeatedly to Hyoli for her actions.

 

Jonghyun had quickly took it upon himself to circle Hyoli to check for any scratches or injuries.

 

Hyoli reassured Umma that it was okay and that she could somewhat stand being in a forest right now thanks to my Umma.

 

I know Hyoli was still probably cautious around my Umma but it was nice to know that she was trying her best to make sure my Umma didn't feel too bad about what she had done.

 

"I never knew you could run that fast Hyoli. I always pegged you as the clumsy type; to fall over as soon as you picked up some speed" Onew grinned as I rolled my eyes.

 

"Like you're one to talk" I scoffed, folding my arms as Onew sent me a small glare for my comment.

 

"He's right though. You were really fast. Have you ever thought about trying out for track?" Minho questioned as Hyoli laughed and shook her head.

 

"No, Sports doesn't really interest me all that much. Sure, I'll take part during gym class but that's about it" 

 

Minho literally gawked at Hyoli's comment as Taemin laughed and nodded his head in agreement.

 

"You should take up dance then. It's clear that you've got the lung capacity for it. I could teach you"

 

"Don't you think she has enough to deal with? We still haven't conquered all of her fears yet" I spoke up as Hyoli nodded her head in agreement with me.

 

"I guess. How many have we got left to conquer? I've kind of lost count" Taemin questioned as they all looked at me with interest.

 

Even Hyoli.

 

Apparently I was the only one who was keeping score on the phobias Hyoli had overcome so far.

 

"We've just hit the half way mark"

 

"Which means we only have 5 more to go, right?" Jonghyun asked as I nodded my head as Hyoli beamed with pride.

 

"So Hyoli is moderately fine being in a forest now. Does this mean we can go home for the night?" Onew questioned, the hope in his voice was obviously.

 

I shrugged and looked to Umma who tutted and shook her head in reply, quickly popping Onew's bubble.

 

"Just because Hyoli has overcome her phobia, doesn't mean we can't camp out for the night here. We might as well do what we came here to do in the first place" 

 

"I agree. Although it's nice to think about going home and sleeping in my own bed for the night, I've never camped anywhere before and it'd be nice to know that my first time camping will be with you guys instead of on a school trip that we're forced to take part in" Hyoli said as Umma smiled proudly and placed an arm around Hyoli who nodded her head.

 

"My thoughts exactly. Come on boys, there's no time to waste. Let us pitch up our tent and spend a night out in the wild" Umma energetically cried as my friends and I groaned in reply.