Haewon’s POV

    “Don’t you think you are being a little too trusting?” Hakyeon snapped at Chohee. She had explained about a ritual that may be able to save them all, or may be a trap.

    One thing I had noticed, is that with each passing day Hakyeon had grown more and more on edge. I understood why. He felt that he was responsible for all of us. He would never forgive himself if one of us ended up injured, but the snapping was causing tension in the group.

    “No, I don’t think I’m being too trusting. Minji and I did the footwork. We looked up the ritual, and all of the documentation I’ve found supports what Minki has said.” Chohee snapped back. I had never seen her angry before, and I could tell that even Jaehwan was a little caught off guard. “It’s fine if you don’t want to help, but I’ve already spoken with the other girls, and it all seems to add up. This is what we are doing.”

Chohee turned and left angrily with Jaehwan close on her heels. The other slowly followed suit, not wanting to bear the brunt of Hakyeon lashing out again.

When we were alone I attempted to approach him. He was sitting with his head in his hands. I knew he regretted lashing out in anger. I gently placed my hand on his arm and gave him a simple peck on the top of his head. “I know that this is stressful, and that you are worried, but they only want to help.”

He lifted his head to meet my eyes. For a moment he looked like a lost child. His eyes were wet with unshed tears, and he was trembling. I pulled him to me, but the moment was gone and the anger had returned. He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me away. “I know they want to help, and since they have made their decision, I’ve made mine. I’ll have to help them. No one is dying, except those hunters.”

He stood up and went into the dance studio slamming the door behind him. I tried to follow, but found that it had been locked. I pressed my head against the door and felt the slight vibration from the loud music.

“I hope everything will be alright.”

Kyungsoon’s POV

    “I think this is the last of it.” I pulled Thyme from the fresh herbs in the produce section of the grocery.

Taekwoon held a blue basket filled with a few other herbs. He looked down at the odd collection, and the back to me.  “This doesn’t sound very good.”

I chuckled. He was right. The combination of herbs was not appetizing at all, but this had the best chances of saving everyone. I motioned for Taekwoon to lean forward. I stood on my toes so I could whisper in his ear.

It took me a moment to gather my courage, but I whispered “I love you.” Then planted a kiss on his cheek before walking away quickly.

I quickly made my way to the pasta aisle. Minji and Taekwoon decided that pasta with tomato sauce would best cover the taste of the odd combination of herbs. I stood red faced staring at the various boxes for several minutes before Taekwoon joined me.

    I was a little afraid of how he would respond. It had him quite a while to follow me. I continued to stare at the boxes as he walked up to me. He took a deep breath and exhaled me name making me turn to look at him.

    My stomach twisted in knots as I met his eyes. He let the basket fall to the ground with a clatter. Before I knew what was happening his hands were on my cheeks and he was kissing me more passionately that I’ve ever been kissed before.

    I’m not sure how long we continued, but a woman with a young boy cleared from the end of the aisle. We pulled back, but his hands remained on my cheeks. He kissed each eyelids, and then my nose. “I love you too.” He bent to take my lips again.

    “Really? This is a grocery.” The woman snapped.

    Takewoon’s ears had turned a brilliant shade of pink and he tried to hide his face in my shoulder. I chucked softly, but knew I also looked like a lobster. I raised a single hand in apology, and picked up the basket before randomly pulling several boxes into the cart.

    Our basket now had all the basic ingredients for pasta. We checked out and hurried home.

    I only hoped that the other group had put together a plan. We had tonight and tomorrow to finalize everything. If this succeeded it would save the people I had come to care about most.

Wonsik’s POV

    I sat around a table with Jaehwan, Hongbin and Sanghyuk. On the table was a large map of the area. I pulled out a marker, and drew a circle around the area where the ritual would be performed, and around the house.

    “Chohee said that Minki will lead them to our house Saturday around 11am. We will need the girls to be in place by the.” Jaehwan supplied.

“From what Minji saw, Hongbin” Sanghyuk nodded his head at the older boy, “and Taekwoon will be distracting them. So I guess that means that they will lead them away from the house, and the ritual site.”    

I drew an arrow from the house leading away from the ritual site and around the lake. I marked it with HB and TW to indicate who would be taking the route.

Hongbin nodded his approval. “Jaehwan, you were circling the air so I assume, you were watching everything.”  

“What about us hyung?” Sanghynk asked.  

I stared at the paper before me. After a short moment Hakyeon spoke from behind me. “The three of us will provide support where needed. We will be at the house when they attack.” He stepped up to the table. “If they have more people that the two of you can distract we will slow them down, or add to the distraction, possibly leading them around the lake in another direction.” With his finger he traced a route leading from the house toward town first, before curving around the lake to head deeper into the woods.

I nodded, “If someone takes that route, they will likely find themselves a higher priority target. That should be the route that the quicker two take. If anything.”    

“No, if it comes to that. This will be the route I take.” Hakyeon leaned forward and spoke with a tone more serious than any we have heard before. “Not one of you will take an unnecessary risk on Saturday. Anyone who puts themselves or anyone else in the way of harm, will answer to me.” He looked around and met each of our eyes.

We each returned his serious gaze with one of our own. Satisfied with our resolve. He smiled sadly. “Tomorrow, I want each to go out and have fun. Don’t think about Saturday, just enjoy the day with the girls.” His smile grew and he looked at Sanghyuk, “Hyukkie, I’ll call the school, you don’t need to attend tomorrow.”

The younger boy pumped his fist in the air excitedly, and rushed to the kitchen to share the news with Minji. I smiled, excited that I would get to spend the whole day with Miyoung. I would take Hakyeon’s advice, and not think about anything.

Everyone began to chatter excitedly about what they wanted to do. While I stayed silent, planning out my own day.

If there is anyone you would like to see more of, please comment, I'm happy to oblige. 

Once again, I want to state that I love N, and ask that you don't hate me.

I know I'm making him seem like a jerk, but stress/ responsibility does that to you.

I'm very excited to write date chapters, still unsure if it will be one VERY long chapter or multiples chapters.