[CONTENTID1] CHAPTER TWENTY NINE - ESCAPE [/CONTENTID1] [CONTENTID2]    ARGH, so I cracked. I was supposed to wait until the 1st but I just couldn't. SO HERE YOU GO! <3333333 LOVE YOU GUYS!   another long chapter. But here it is, our gang's escape out of Alegria. Will it be a sweet one? A messy one? Let's find out!

 

"Yah, let go, you beggar!" Hyoyeon grunts as she kicks Daehyun's shin and runs away with her plate of food in her hands.    "Hyoyeonnie, come back! Please, I'm hungry!" He whines, chasing after her. "Hyoyeonnie!" The two continue to run around the dining hall. Daehyun and Youngjae came into the dining hall a little while after having slept in the infirmary again. After allowing Taekwoon to sleep for an hour, I ordered him to stay with Kyuhyun and keep him safe. Daehyun and Youngjae, however, came too late and missed lunch.   Now, they're both begging the others for some of their food. Hyoyeon is refusing to share, being the greedy little thing she is. Ever so kind, I split my breakfast with Youngjae.    "Hyoyeon, just give him some and he'll leave you alone," Jessica sighs.   "No! It's mine and I'm hungry!" Hyoyeon snaps and the older girl shakes her head, refocusing on her own meal. "Why don't you share, huh?"    "Because I have a boyfriend that eats like it's his first and last meal," she retorts, jabbing her thumb at Yoongi who grins cutely, his eyes creasing into the signature eye-smile. Hyoyeon scoffs but continues to run from Daehyun who is relentlessly chasing her down.    "Both of you just stop, jeez. Here, have the rest of my breakfast," Jongin says, pushing his tray to the other side of the table. Daehyun gasps and stops going after Hyoyeon, instead plopping himself down on a bench and digging into Jongin's leftovers. Jongin looks at me. "And they're supposed to be older than us?" I giggle and nod my head. He smiles at me, an obvious look of relief on his face.   He's relieved that I'm responding to him - and not with glares and cold shoulders. I glance at Sehun who is sitting alone far across the table and, as if sensing my gaze, he looks up and our eyes meet. His fingers continue to rapidly but meticulously assemble a sleek, black sniper rifle. I tear my eyes away from him to inspect the weapon. My guess is...cheytac intervention. I look back at him and he raises a shapely brow at me.    "YAH!! JUNG DAEHYUN!" Hyoyeon screams. My eyes snap to her and I see that she's got a clump of noodles on her entire left eye. I look at Daehyun and see that he's got his own eyes screwed shut, his left hand trembling while his right hand is holding a spoon. I look at Youngjae, who also has a spoon in his hand except his is still loaded with noodles. It seems the two males were having a little food fight. "YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE, DIDN'T YOU!?"   "Ani, ani!" Daehyun replies as he frantically shakes his head. "It was an accident, I was supposed to hit Youngjae!"    "LIAR!" She screams, grabbing a handful of noodles and launching it at him. He ducks just in time and the food hits Jongin's temple. She gasps and he grins, grabbing some of his own noodles and throwing it at her. She slaps it away before it hits her, instead making it land on Jessica.   I can't stop laughing, my hand over my mouth as I watch the mess in front of me. Jessica throws it at my face and I gasp as it connects with my nose. I grab a meatball and, deciding to be spontaneous, launch at it Jackson. It hits his ear and he laughs. The food fight goes on but Sehun doesn't join in, instead sitting with a judgemental look on his face as he shakes his head at us. Even Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, Sunhwa and Jieun take part, all of them throwing food back and forth along with the team.   "Ah, jinjja! You're all so childish," he mutters and Jackson rolls his eyes before throwing a piece of food at him. Sehun swats it away and it flops onto the back of Henry's head, who was previously sitting by himself, away from the rest of us. He slowly raises his head and turns around, a blank look on his face. Everyone falls silent as his eyes scan each of us. "Now you did it."    "H-Henry-ah--" Hyoyeon utters but immediately clamps shut when he looks at her. She quickly looks down at her hands.    "Join in, oppa!" Sunhwa beams. He glances at her and her smile falls off her face.   "I don't want to join in," he replies plainly. I pull a noodle out of my hair and place it on the table, then walk around to stand in front of Henry. I look down at him and he looks up. I search his eyes and find pain and a hint of betrayal behind them. He keeps his voice low so that the others can't hear. "How can you forgive them so easily?"    "What else can I do? If I keep hating them, that hate will only grow and then what kind of team would we have?" I question and he gulps, his jaw clenching. "I'm still angry. Of course I'm still angry but I realise now that...there is too much for us to worry about. We can't focus all of our attention on being against our own friends. That anger should be directed towards our enemies - Doojoon, Jonghyun, the people that are out to hurt us and those we love."   "I understand. But I still can't forgive them for what they did," he says and I sigh, closing my eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. He grabs my wrist and stands up. "They left him behind, Hyerim. They left him for dead."   "They're sorry--"   "It doesn't change the fact that he suffered till the end. You realise that, right? Or have you been fooling yourself into thinking that maybe he stayed unconscious through it all?" He demands, his voice rising slightly. I can tell he's getting angry.    "You don't know that he didn't," I reply and he scoffs, shaking his head.   "And you don't know that he did. Say he did. He was unconscious as those things ate him alive...we didn't even put him out of his ing misery. He'll be one of them for the rest of his existence. No matter which way you look at it, we lose our friend. I lose my best friend," he growls and I look down, tears stinging my eyes. "I loved him." I look back up and meet his gaze. Realisation dawns on me.   "You were in love with BamBam," I gasp, my eyes growing wide. Henry gulps and looks away, a tear sliding down his cheek. He quickly wipes it away and meets my eyes again. "H-Henry-ah...I'm sorry." Now, I understand. I understood before why he was so angry - after all, BamBam was his best friend - but now I see that there was more to it than that. There has always been more to it...but..."Did he know?"   "He did. But he didn't judge me...he didn't try to push me away. He was clear that he didn't think of me that way, of course, but still didn't treat me any different. I was in love with him, Hyerim. I still am." My heart leaps in my chest but not pleasantly. I feel like it's about to explode. I reach up to touch his face but he pushes my hand away. "But they took him away from him."   "They had to save us all, Henry," I insist but he shakes his head. "You have to know that. You have to know that they wanted to save him, he was their friend too, but they didn't think we'd all make it."   "Then they thought wrong!" He retorts. Everyone around us have stopped talking amongst themselves and are now listening in on our conversation. He looks around, his eyes cold. "I don't know what to do now. I trusted these people." He turns to face them. "I trusted you. But then I saw how easily you'd leave one of our own behind just to save yourself...and that trust was broken."   "Henr--"   "No, Hyerim. I know I look like the bad guy now. The one who can't move on, the one who's too hung up on an unrequited love...but it's so much more than that. I...I don't feel safe any more, Hyerim," he murmurs, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I can count on one hand the number of people I trust now. I can't live like that. No one should live like that."    My heart starts to race as fear builds inside me.   "Wh-what are you saying?" I stutter, tears b in my eyes. He blinks, letting his fall onto his cheeks. "H-Henry-ah, what are you saying?"    "I-I...I-I'm not going with you," he blurts out. It feels like my heart just exploded in my chest. All air leaves my lungs and I stare at him breathlessly. He bites his lip and looks down. "I'm sorry. I can't be around some people." Jackson steps forward. Henry looks up and puts his hand up. "Don't. Don't come near me."   "Henry," Jackson croaks. "Please. We've known each other since we were kids. You can't leave me, not now." I always forget that they were friends long before the war, long before Henry and BamBam met. Despite their history, Henry still found a way to love BamBam more. The younger male was truly special.    "Why not? You left BamBam," Henry spits back, making Jackson wince. He sighs and looks away. "I'm sorry...I...I understand that it just have been hard. But I can't forgive you, Jackson. You know that."   Jackson nods dejectedly. "I know. But maybe--"   "Oppa, don't leave us!" Hyoyeon exclaims, running into Henry's arms. He catches her and hugs her back, his hand resting on the back of her head. My vision goes blurry and it's when I realise that I'm crying. "Please. We need you. I need you." He pushes her back and cups her face. "Come with us, please." He kisses her forehead and she closes her eyes, in her breath.    "Henry-ah, wait," Jessica utters. He moves away from Hyoyeon and the other girl walks up to him. "You can come with us." I frown in confusion: did she not hear him before? He wants away from all of us. "Me and Yoongi will be leaving separately."   "WHAT!?" Daehyun exclaims, jumping to his feet. My jaw drops and I stare at the couple. "SINCE WHEN!?"    "I'm sorry we didn't say anything earlier..." Jessica mumbles, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "We didn't want to upset any of you and, frankly, we really didn't know if we were going to go through with it."   "What are you talking about?" I demand and she looks at me with worry. Yoongi joins her side and puts his arm around her shoulders.   "A while ago, we all said what we wanted to do when we escaped Beijing. I agreed to follow Sica wherever she goes," he recalls, squeezing her arm. "I spoke with Bora and Jungkook. They said they'd get us another plane to escape to America with."   "I thought we were all going to stick together!" Hyoyeon shouts, pinning our eonnie with an accusatory glare. "You promised me we'd always stick together. You said you'd be like my big sister. YOU PROMISED, EONNIE!"    "I KNOW!" Jessica shouts back, her hands shaking. "I know. I'm sorry. But...Krystal is out there and it's my duty as her sister to find her. Even if she's not the same person when I do. I still have to go." They both look to me for my input.   "We are truly sorry. You're all family to us. Please understand," Yoongi croaks, a tear escaping his right eye. "Please." I do understand. If it were me and I knew that Hyomi was still out there somewhere, alive, I would do whatever it takes to find her. I would climb mountains and swim oceans to find her. Because, after all, family means everything. Although the team is more than just a team, we're all friends - family, even - there's no place like home.   Home is where the heart is. Jessica's heart is with her little sister.   "I'll miss you guys," is all I can say as I walk over to the couple and throw my arms around them. They hug me back, enveloping me in a warm embrace. We stand like that for a good few minutes. When I pull away, Hyoyeon immediately rushes into Jessica's open arms. Yoongi steps away from them and turns to Henry.   "What do you say?" He asks. We all look at Henry, save for Hyoyeon who's busy crying into our eonnie's shoulder, and wait for his answer. I look to Jackson and see him gulping, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Henry saunters over to Yoongi and a smile graces his face as he nods.   "America it is." Yoongi grins and the two males hug briefly, patting each other on the back. I have a bittersweet feeling in my chest. On one hand, I'm devastated to be losing yet another friend. Henry is one of the few people that has known me since before I became the 'new' Hyerim. On the other hand, I won't really be losing him, not like I lost BamBam. And, at the very least, I know that he'll be with two more people that I would entrust with my life.    "I need a breather," Jackson mutters, leaving the hall in a haste. I'm torn between going after him and leaving him to himself. Deciding against the latter, I follow suit and wave at my friends. I look around but Jackson seems to have disappeared. I spot two people making their way over from the opposite direction. A smile graces my face and I rush towards them, throwin