Woohyun doesn't realize that he was shaking from fear until Sunggyu holds him closer to his chest. And it's not like as if the act made him calmer—in fact, it made him even more nervous. The white light pointed to their direction disappears in an instant, and there is suddenly the sound of footsteps and rustling leaves. The general was walking over to where they were. They needed to hide. 

He looks behind him for any chances of escape, but there was nothing. They was trapped. The only thing left for his eyes to set on was Sunggyu's own eyes, staring at him blankly as if he wasn't nervous at all. Woohyun is just amazed beyond this point at how Sunggyu seems unperturbed by the fact that there was a great possibility of them getting killed. 

But then it hits him that Sunggyu was the General's son, and that he looked this calm because he wasn't going to get killed. He was never going to get killed by his own father. It was only Woohyun in danger now. 

"Get up." The general commands, his voice ringing in Woohyun's ears. It seemed as if he had stopped walking, but the light from his flashlight was back, shining on the exterior of where they were hiding. "I will count up to three. If you do not reveal yourself by then, I am forced to deal with you improperly." 

They connect eyes again and somehow the flicker in Sunggyu's eyes tells Woohyun's what he was about to do. The younger boy shakes his head, the hand on his mouth getting tighter. 

"Keep quiet." Sunggyu whispers deeply, his eyes never leaving Woohyun's face. 

"One." 

The hand leaves Woohyun's mouth, letting him breathe for what seemed like hours. Sunggyu shifts in his spot, the soft rustling of the leaves sound as loud as bombs in this situation. 

"Two…" 

Sunggyu gets ready to stand up, and Woohyun's eyes tell him so badly not to do it. "Sunggyu—" 

"Three." 

Sunggyu reveals himself, standing upright and strong with no trace of fear anywhere. Woohyun was still hiding, his back flat on the ground, still shaking. His hand was holding Sunggyu's ankle for comfort and to just simply let the older male know that he was still right there.

"Well, this is a surprise." The General cranes his head to the side with an amused smile. 

Sunggyu throws the bottle of beer over to his father, in which the old man catches it without difficulty. Woohyun didn't even know Sunggyu had it in his hands. 

The General observes the glass bottle in his grip, turning it around to clarify if this was the stolen bottle of beer. "What is this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sunggyu asks with annoyance in his tone. "I stole it." 

"What's obvious here is that you are lying." The General laughs ridiculously, his eyes scanning his son's expression. "Tell me who did this and I will let you go."

Sunggyu stops for a moment when Myungsoo's face flashes across his memory, and how desperate his brother looked just to save his friends. Then there was Woohyun, who pitifully always led himself into situations like these. And the look on his face when Sunggyu was about to reveal himself made Sunggyu's heart soften. 

No, it was impossible. He couldn't possibly let the people he cared for get punished. Sunggyu was strong enough to take it all, right? He was their leader anyway. And the leader should always stand up for his people. 

Sunggyu looks at his father in the eye with great confidence as he opens his mouth to speak. But before he could utter another word, he feels Woohyun's grip on his ankle disappear. Sunggyu's heart stops when he hears something shuffling from behind him, and he thinks, "No, don't do it." But it was already too late as he slowly turns his head to the side to see Woohyun—still a shaking mess—standing right by his side. 

-

Both Woohyun and Sunggyu were thrown in a dark, empty room they called the isolation cell where men in the camp are placed to reflect on their wrongdoings while high-ranking officials go on a meeting to investigate and decide on a penalty. But it was already late at night and Woohyun doubts that they'll hold a case meeting around this time. He guesses that they would push through it tomorrow, but it could last longer than he'd hope for. 

Apparently, Sunggyu was mad at him for showing himself. "You really are stupid, huh?" The older male tells him a while back when they were both being dragged by the General's soldiers. 

So now, neither of them was speaking a word to each other. Sunggyu was too mad to even look at him. And, well, Woohyun was just a sensitive teenager who needed comfort. The obvious thing he could get comfort out of was Sunggyu, who was silently sitting by the corner, his back facing his trainee. 

"I'm sorry, ok?" Woohyun sighs breathily as he sits himself right next to Sunggyu. Their shoulders were touching, but neither move away. "Sunggyu?" 

Sunggyu scoffs. He actually scoffs at what Woohyun says, eyeing the younger boy on his side with a bitter face. "You better be sorry. Do you actually realize what you've just gotten yourself into?" 

Slowly, Woohyun nods. "Whatever they might do to us will be horrible. I already knew that. I just didn't want you to take all of it all by yourself." 

Woohyun's statement makes Sunggyu go silent. He stares off into the boy's dark eyes which were filled with so much emotion that Sunggyu has found himself hooked. For some odd reason, he couldn't keep his eyes off the younger boy. The longer he stares, the longer Woohyun starts to look more even more amazing under the darkness. And despite the blackness around them, Woohyun's smile was enough to lighten up the whole room. 

"You're smiling." Sunggyu says in disbelief. "Are you actually liking this?" 

Woohyun glances downwards at their connected hands. Sunggyu hadn't realized what he had just done, gasping out of surprise when he sees and feels it for the first time. And when he tries to pull away, Woohyun locks their fingers together, tugging at their palms strongly. 

"D-Don't let go." 

Sunggyu darts his eyes from Woohyun's expression to their hands resting on the latter's knee. He felt like an idiot for initiating something like this. He has never held hands with somebody, not even with his mother, let alone a boy he met in just a month. But why was he enjoying it too much? His pride was telling him to let go, but his whole being was refusing the idea. 

"Look," Woohyun swallows a nervous breath down his throat and looks at Sunggyu squarely with determination. "I'm not trying to sound like a wuss but I really am scared right now. I just…If you could just, you know, uh—"

"Just spit it out." 

"If you could hold my hand for just a little while, I'd appreciate it a lot." 

Their little while turns out to be the whole night, where Sunggyu had fallen asleep in Woohyun's shoulders, and up until dawn where they were still asleep—hands never leaving each other's presence. And it wasn't until the steel door to the room slides open quite loudly that both Sunggyu and Woohyun jolts awake, their hands disconnecting without them realizing. 

In comes a drill officer Woohyun's never seen before. He had the same job as Sunggyu, but instead he trains soldiers and not trainees. The drill officer was dressed in his unique uniform, deeming him of a different rank from the both of them yet still a lower rank of that of the General. 

"My name is Park Chanyeol. I am here to attain Kim Sunggyu and Nam Woohyun as requested by the General. You are to obey and follow me as I lead the both of you to the court assembly. Do you understand?" 

The court assembly was on the 3rd floor of the main building. It was a spacious room with a long table in the middle filled with men of all high ranks inside the compound. The General sat up the front, hands on the