It was past midnight and yet Hayoung still couldn’t close her eyes. She looked at her left and right just to see both Jihyun and Naeun were already in their deep slumber. Maybe because they were tired so that was why they sleep early, but she was tired too. Her eyes however, acting the opposite of it; they won’t close no matter how much she tried.

Something was bugging her; those words said by Sehun this evening.

Hours passed and her eyes were still widely opened. Just when she thought she would be able to get a sleep, Naeun woke up and asked her what time was it at that time. She reached for her phone which was just beside her – it was 6.30 am. No wonder she could hear noise from the outside – some of students already woke up.  It seemed like she won’t get any sleep until tonight.

-

The first activity for today was the highlight for this camping trip – according to Naeun. She told Hayoung this was the prime reason why they wanted this trip so much. It was a walk in the jungle with your team, and you were only given a handmade map and compass. The students in the class wanted this as a night activity but being objected by their teachers because of their safety, even though there would be a guider with every group. 

Hayoung heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing the teachers objected it as a night activity. She couldn’t imagine how scary it would be walking in the jungle, in the night with only seven people, including her and the guider. It sure was fun but she just couldn’t shake the feeling off. She already shivered just by thinking about it.

The activity started right away after the breakfast. The guider first taught everyone how to use the compass before they walked into the jungle. Jaehoon took the lead in the group and be the first to walk into the jungle, followed by Naeun and Hayoung walking together, with Sehun at the back, alone. Jihyun and Sungjin walked together, followed by the guider at the very last in the line.

It took them more than fifteen minutes to arrive at the first check point, when it was supposed to take around ten minutes. The guider didn’t be a help at all – he really just followed them just in case they would be lost in the middle of nowhere. Another three check points to go and it probably would take almost an hour if they couldn’t read the map properly. The compass, too, didn’t help at all – well, because they were confused on how to use it. They focus solely on using only the map.

The second check point was not a problem to them as the route exactly as shown on the map. However, they stuck on their way to the third check point. The map showed as if there was only a route, but what was in front of them was different; there were three routes. Jaehoon took a look at the map again and again before turning to the back, giving the map to his friends who were forming a circle now.

“Shouldn’t we take the right one because if you look at the map closely, the line is slightly turning to the right,” Hayoung told them as she noticed the line on the map. It was a bit hard to notice that as the map was a handmade one. It could be a bit confusing.

“Are you sure? It could be because of the hand which drew this map couldn’t draw a straight line properly, though,” Sungjin voiced out his thought. This was a handmade map, after all.

“That makes sense,” Naeun seconded Sungjin, looking at the line drawn below it, not all were straight line. “So, how?”

“Let’s go with Hayoung’s idea. We can turn back if we lost,” Sehun spoke, agreed with Hayoung. The line on the map looked like it was drawn like that on purpose. Not because of shaky hand or anything – it was different from other line even though some of them were not as straight as a ruler.

Jaehoon yet again led the group, taking a right route as suggested by Sehun and Hayoung. The rest of them were back walking in the line again.

“Hayoung-ah, did you not sleep at all last night?” Naeun asked her. She had been noticing the eye bag under her eyes since this morning but hadn’t gotten any chance to ask her.

“How did you know?”

Naeun took her question as an answer to her question – which was a yes. She pointed her index finger under her eye, signing Hayoung that she could guess just by looking at her eye bags. The eye bags were so obvious and everyone could tell she didn’t get enough sleep last night.

“It is obvious right?” she admitted herself.

“Why?” ignoring the question that Hayoung herself already had the answer, she asked out of curiosity. “Is it because of,” instead of finishing her sentence, she drifted her eyes to the left, telling her what she meant for the rest of the unfinished sentence.

“No?” Hayoung tried to look as calm as possible.

“Well, whatever you said,” Naeun claimed in a ‘like-I-will-believe-you’ sort of way.

The two continued talking but at the same time, being careful as the route was a bit tough than before. It was so hard to walk so they needed to help each other. The guide started to walk at the in front and cleared the way so it was easier for them.

“So, there is a reason why the guider with us,” Naeun said in a low voice, just enough for Hayoung to hear it.

Hayoung let a small laugh upon hearing that. She thought the same as Naeun; she almost forgot the guider who was with them all along the way. He was so quiet at the back as if he wasn’t there. He didn’t even help them finding which route was the right one.

“Ouch,” Hayoung exclaimed when she fell on the ground; she was tripping on something.

Sehun, Jihyun and Sungjin stopped walking the moment she fell down, and Jaehoon and the guide turned to the back as soon they heard her crying. Naeun quickly squatted down beside her, looking if there was a cut. Everyone was circling around her and asking if she was fine.

“Oh Sehun, help her,” Naeun directed Sehun when she noticed he was just standing there, not doing anything.

“There’s a bruise here,” Jaehoon pointed at her knee. He started asking for water from the members to clean the cut. Luckily, Jihyun had her drinking water in her bag so she passed it to him. “Just bear with it a little, okay?” he told Hayoung. The bruise wasn’t that bad but, he knew it must sting a little.

“Let me do it,” taking the bottle from Jaehoon, Sehun squatted down beside Hayoung. He poured the water on the bruise but stopped halfway when Hayoung hissed a little. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

“Do it gently,” there was a hint of wariness in Naeun’s tone. She was really worried about her friend.

“It’s okay,” Hayoung told both Sehun and Naeun, easing Naeun’s wariness.

“Tell me if it hurts,” Sehun told her before putting antiseptic on the bruise, and a bandage afterwards. Hayoung just stayed in silence even though it stung her. There was nothing Sehun, or anyone could do even if she told them that it hurt her.

After everything was done, Hayoung tried to stand up, but failed. There was something wrong with foot. That was when she realized that she maybe sprained her foot. Just nice, in the middle of jungle and her foot was sprained, she mentally grunted. Leaving with no choice, Sehun supported her walking as she was limping, and Naeun followed them from the back.

Out of all the things happened, there was only a good thing happened because of her injury, the guider decided that he would lead them and use the shortcut so that they would arrive at the camp site faster.

Hayoung thanked god for that.

“Next time, please be careful,” Sehun started after a few minutes of silence between them. “Don’t just laugh. Look as you walk,” he complained.

That though, sounded so sincere to Hayoung. She lifted up her face, looking at him before slowly nodded at his word, with a faint smile plastered on her pretty face.

“Is it hurt much?”

Hayoung couldn’t take her eyes off from him. Sehun was unpredictable – one moment he was cold and snob, the next moment, he was all caring and nice. Just what kind of person he was? Maybe, just maybe, he really was a bipolar. She already declared this before, but this time, it was a really strong declaration. There was no other explanation to explain him.

“My foot hurt a little,” she answered his question. It wasn’t a little, but she guessed it was better that her foot was sprained rather than her ankle. Ankle sprained could be worse than this.

Sehun just shook his head before let out a small sigh, “just how the heck did you walk?”

It was meant to happen, that was why it happened – Hayoung really wanted to say this to Oh Sehun but she held it. It was so nice of him to support her walking, and she should be thankful for that, not complaining over a small matter like this.

“Just rest when we reach at the campsite,” he continued again after a minute.

“Okay,” she paused, “and thank you.”

It’d be a lie if she said she felt nothing when he was acting like this; his action touched her. The fact that Naeun told her she already broke up with him, and he himself claimed that there was nothing happened between him and Naeun made her feel it was fine to have this feeling for him. Even though she didn’t know what exactly happened between those two, what kind of relationship the two had before, but right now, she didn’t feel like a bad friend for Naeun anymore.

They reached at the campsite about fifteen minutes later and Sehun walked Hayoung to her tent with Naeun and Jihyun followed behind. Just when she was about to get inside the tent, she saw Sehun and Naeun walking together and Sehun whispered something to her before he made his way to his tent. She could see Naeun smiled hearing that. She was jealous of that.

“Take good care of her,” Sehun whispered to Naeun. It sounded like a warning to Naeun and that was what made her smiling.

[251115] cliche cliche cliche but who cares because everyone loves cliche lol XD