[CONTENTID1]CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR - ALGERIA [/CONTENTID1]
[CONTENTID2]

We'd been on that damn aircraft for hours but it wasn't all bad: I got to spend some time with Jungkook. Emphasis on 'some' considering Bora constantly interrupted our conversation, redirecting his attention on her instead of on me. But instead of being petty and bickering with her, I simply went to sit by Henry who remained silent. He didn't speak a word to anyone, not even me. All he did was wear BamBam's shirt and his necklace around his neck. Henry was broken and I didn't know how to fix him. 

I glance over at Henry and bite my lip, scanning his desolate expression. I reach out to him and entwine our fingers, squeezing his hand in an attempt to comfort him. He looks up and offers me a small, sad smile and it only makes my heart pang in hurt. At first, I was angry at everyone else for not being more affected by BamBam's death until it dawned on me that people deal with pain in different ways. They just happen to be dealing with it by holding it in, by hiding it until no one else can watch them breakdown. I caught Jackson crying in the corner where Kyuhyun is just a few hours ago. I saw Jessica and Yoongi exchange crestfallen glances. They're all dealing with the hurt in one way or another. Henry seems to be the most affected, even more than me. 

I don't blame him. BamBam meant the most to him. They saved each other. BamBam saved him when he was thirteen and Henry was fifteen. Henry and his family were being evacuated from a building in Hong Kong that was targeted by Australian battle aircrafts when the building was bombed and started collapsing upon them. BamBam was a slave owned by the owners of the building but instead of going with his masters, he tried to help the Lau family escape. Henry's mother died but BamBam managed to get the father and Henry out alive. That moment changed everything for Henry: who he was, what he valued, the way he saw the world. Everything. Before, he'd been ignorant to the cruelty occurring in the world. But after BamBam saved him, he decided he'd had enough of being a pawn in his father's plan. He bought BamBam from his old owners as a token of appreciation but what was initially a means of repaying a debt turned into an earnest friendship. 

Losing BamBam, for Henry, is like when I lost my family.

"I don't know what to say to make you hurt less," I finally say, my eyes locked on his face. He darts them to me and doesn't smile but I know he appreciates my efforts. "You still have me." He smiles and a fat tear rolls down his cheek, disappearing under his chin.

"For how long, though?" He asks with a throat full of emotions. "We're living in hell, Hyerim. Everywhere we looked before was filled with pain and suffering but that's just been multiplied by god knows how much. Look at what happened to BamBam and Kyuhyun. It's just a matter of time before we lose yet another member." He wipes his tear away with the back of his unoccupied hand.

"Kyu-oppa isn't dead. Not yet," I say and he scoffs lightly, drawing his eyes away. I squeeze his fingers. "He's not going to die."

"If he doesn't, someone else will." I gulp, unsure what to say next. I refuse to accept his words because that would mean that I cannot do the one thing I most deeply wish to do: keep my team alive. I refuse to believe that any of them will die under my watch. As long as I'm alive, so will they be. "I don't know how to move on from this, Hyerim. I-I...there's a hole in my heart. I don't think it will ever heal." 

"Wounds heal, Henry," I whisper, trailing my fingertips over his jawline and forcing him to look at me again. Then, I see it. I see everything he's bottle up right there, in the pits of his eyes. He loved BamBam so much that now that the other male is gone, all that love is left without a muse. Or perhaps that love left with him. Now, I do not believe the words I just spoke. But I say them again. "Wounds heal." 

He smiles sardonically. "But they leave behind ugly scars." He wraps his fingers around my wrist and pulls my hand away from his face. "I'll sleep now. Goodnight, Hyerim." I lean over and kiss his cheek, softly. Pleadingly.

I'm afraid for him. I'm afraid for myself. "Henry-ah...don't...please don't--"

"I won't do anything stupid," he assures me, his eyes trained on me. "Someone has to look out for your crazy ." I feel a smile touch my face and playfully elbow him. He chuckles and the small sound sends shocks of happiness through me. "I'll see you when we land." 

"Goodnight, Henry," I murmur, standing up from the floor. I look around the aircraft and, for the first time, notice how full it is. I see my teammates and then the new people that have joined us. I look at Jungkook and see him laugh at something Jongin said. I look at Yoongi and see him peck Jessica's cheek, his action returned with a warm hug. Daehyun is tending to a tired Youngjae, who spent the last hours looking after Kyuhyun, and Hyoyeon is conversing with Jackson. The two girls, Sunhwa and...is it Gina? Eun Ah? Jieun? Whatever. They're talking to Kyungsoo, the boy obviously enjoying their attention. Chanyeol is sitting with Sehun who has an earphone in one ear, the other cord dangling freely. 

I walk over to them and they look up. Chanyeol scowls and I raise a single brow at him, as if to challenge him. He looks away with a bored expression and I take a seat beside Sehun. I sigh and lean back, staring up at the ceiling. 

"Why aren't you over there reuniting with Jay? Or Jungkook, whatever the hell his name is," Sehun asks. He glances at Jackson, who's asleep next to Kyuhyun. "Or with him." I bite my lip and slowly meet his eyes. "Trouble in paradise?"

"You could say that," I mumble, looking back up at the ceiling. I hear him hum in response and something pricks at my mind. I can't hold back my question. "Back in Beijing...when that car drove into the other van." 

"I've been waiting for you to bring it up," he sighs and I look at him out of the corner of my eyes. He looks back at me. "I told you once that I'd choose the winning side above all else. I stand by that."

"They were - are - our friends." 

"That's why you suffer so much, Hyerim. You care too much about other people," he tells me and I frown, sitting upright in my seat. "You get too attached."

"Of course I do, the team means everything to me. Are you saying you don't give a crap about any of us?" I demand, my voice rising just a mere octave. Sehun doesn't answer back immediately and my eyes are drawn to Chanyeol who is shifting awkwardly in his own seat. He realises that I'm staring at him and gets up, walking to the other side of the craft where Kyungsoo and the two girls are standing. I focus my attention back on Sehun. "Are we just...what are we to you, Sehun?" 

"I didn't say I didn't care." 

"Then what are you saying?"

"No matter how much someone means to me, nothing is more important than survival. As the leader, Hyerim, you need to be willing and able to sacrifice one person's life for the sake of many more," he explains and I can't help but gape at him. "Don't look at me like I'm a monster. I'm just being logical."

"I never pegged you for the 'logic' bull type," I spit. My skin is crawling just being near him right now. I'm both disgusted and fuming with anger. How dare he say something so insensitive - how dare he mean it! "No one's life is more important than someone else's." 

"So, you would've let the rest of us die just to try to save BamBam who, by the way, was doomed from the beginning because of his positioning in that van." I grind my teeth together and pin him with a glare.

"No. I would've sent everyone else away and stayed with him myself. I would've tried to get him out or died trying," I reply. The palms of my hands itch with the urge to hit someone - preferably the male I'm currently looking at.  "I wouldn't have abandoned him."

"Then you surely would've died. You have to stop thinking that you're invincible just because you've been through , Hyerim," he lectures, only fuelling my anger. "Your experiences might make you faster, smarter and even stronger but they don't make you invincible. You're just as liable to death as everyone else in this craft. You can't go around risking your life and the life of others just because you want to hold onto one relationship. People are counting on you to get them through this, myself included. You're not much use to us dead."

"Goodnight, Sehun," I sneer and stand up, storming away from him. I go to the corner of the craft where Kyuhyun lies with Jackson at his side. I