Listen to Paradise by Infinite : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxESD9KgDek

                                                                              WOOHYUN

Jealousy .

I hated this feeling, the slow fire that would burn at the behest of a small spark, the spark that would normally make one feel warm and then light up into an explosion of other feelings.

"Martial arts??"

I watched as Kairi beamed at Xiumi in awe, the latter obviously satisfied with the attention he was getting. It started with SungGyu announcing that there'll be a change in training, what with EXO-M coming along with their new tricks and all. The first to step up had been Xiumin and after a few kicks and turns, Kairi had jumped upon the opportunity to learn the same.

"She's a fast learner!"

I closed my eyes and slowly turned to glare at SungGyu. "I did not know that, of course."

SungGyu opened his mouth to say something, only to notice the look in my eyes. He blinked and looked away. "Never mind." 

I glared at his back and let out a frustrated sigh, crossing my arms and returning my gaze to the two new friends. I froze as I saw Xiu Min wrapping his arms around Kairi, trying to get her to hold this long stick correctly. I watched as Kairi cluelessly smiled and paid attention to his words while he--

He just smelled her hair.

                                                                                      L

"KIM MYUNGSOO!!!"

"What now?" I scowled at Woohyun, his furious expression surprising me a bit. 

"Angry young man is back!" I announced, pumping my fist in the air. Woohyun gave me a sarcastic smile and quickly caught hold of my arm. 

"You know martial arts right?"

"Right. So?"

I expected Woohyun to suddenly grow appreciative of my skills and ask me to teach him something. What followed made my jaw drop.

"You and that Shoe Min."

"It's Xiu Min--"

"I DON'T CARE." Woohyun suddenly threw a grin and turned to everyone. "Hey! How about a demo showdown?"

Everyone cheered and I saw Yoona narrowing her eyes at me. Of course, she would think it was my idea. 

"Stop it Woo--"

"YO XIU MIN!" Woohyun shouted. Xiu Min looked at Woohyun and suddenly I realized what the fuss was all about. I rolled my eyes when I saw Woohyun pulling the innocent man away from Kairi, the latter even more oblivious. Nicole was the only one who seemed to understand and I looked towards her with a pleading gaze.

"Let's have the two show us what a real battle looks like! Hand-to-hand combat starts now!" 

Woohyun threw the two of us into the centre and I looked up at the EXO-M member. Despite his well-built figure and scary eyes, he reminded me of a deer in front of a pair of headlights.

"Look brother," Xiu Min spoke in a hushed tone as we both warmed up. "Go easy on me, okay?"

"I should be saying that," I chuckled. "You're specially trained in martial arts for what.... eight years? Damn."

"No you don't get it!" I blinked at his face, his eyes looking like they were going to cry a river. "I like that noona." He meekly pointed towards Kairi.

I burst out laughing, then stopped myself. "Listen Xiu Min," I advised. "We'll keep it simple and end in a minute okay? I'll let you win too."

Xiu Min beamed until I signalled at the excited trickster behind me. "But did you know that she's already with him?"

Xiu Min widened his eyes. "But noona said she was single..."

"Woohyun's dating her in his head."

"How does that count??"

"It's in his head. It's as real as the two of us being killed by him if we don't start fighting. Let's get this over with."

                                                                             KAIRI

"You let him win, didn't you?"

I crossed my arms and waited for L to say something. He glanced at the people crowding around Xiu Min then sighed and pulled me away.

"Either you're really stupid," he said, "or girls just have the 'let's pretend to be oblivious' chromosome."

"What?" I asked, my volume a notch higher in irritation. I shook my head and huffed. "Look, that's not the point. The point is that, you set up a fight with Xiu Min... he's new! And for heavens sake--"

I grabbed L's face and swerved it towards my new friend's direction. "How can you hit a baozi like that??"

L pulled away and looked at me like I had lost my mind. "Bao what??"

"Baozi!" I pouted. "He's..." I waved at Xiu Min who caught my eye and blushed. I laughed at the obvious. "He's cute. Come on, how could you hit him?"

"And you expect me to take you with me to Paragon."

I turned around and frowned. Woohyun was staring at me like I had just announced the guillotine on him. I opened my mouth to let L explain, only to find out that the traitor had already run away to Yoona's side. 

"I thought you wanted Shoe Min to show you his skills," Woohyun said, lifting his chin up. I narrowed my eyes and gasped. 

"YOU set up the match! Woohyun somebody could have hurt himself!"

"Hopefully not Myungsoo," Woohyun shrugged. I tightened my jaw and felt my nostrils flaring in anger. This kid....

"You really are something, aren't you?"

Woohyun's tone had softened. I blinked and confusedly, leaned in. "What?"

He looked down at the ground, his arms crossed and walked over to close the distance between us. "I hope you haven't forgotten... what I told you about The Others."

I nodded. "Trust me, I know how important all this is to you... It's important to me too. I can't let my father--" I froze and closed my eyes. "I mean, The General...."

Woohyun's head shot up and he was now gazing at me with an intensity that crossed previously set boundaries. 

"The General... I can't let him get away with abandoning me. With what he did to all of you. With what he did to..." I hesitated. "Seungyeon."

Woohyun's eyes widened and suddenly, I was being grasped by him and taken away from the crowd. I could feel someone's watchful eyes burning my back and when i turned around, I found Hoya looking at me with concern. I waved my hand to assure him that I was fine, until I was out of his sight.

We were now close to the riverbed, where EXO had moored their long and narrow boat. The evening was setting in and I could feel the cool mist of dusk hanging in the air. But deep inside me, a different heat altogether was burning up. Woohyun's hands were still holding onto me and this time, unlike our first meeting back in the cave, I wasn't scared.

"Who told you." It wasn't a question. 

"Come on Woohyun," I snorted, then looked him in the eye. "I've been with you guys for almost half-a-year and you expect me to be oblivious about your past?"

Silence set in. Okay, I thought to myself. Woohyun angry, I could deal with. But Woohyun lost?

It hurt me to see him look so vulnerable. Had I spelt out the wrong charm? I could see his lips tremble, his eyes flinching at some inner conflict shedding all forms of sense in his mind. He breathed out and let go of me, leading me to stumble a little.

"I...." Woohyun's voice shook and suddenly I realized that I had opened up something.

"I wanted to tell you... about her. Myself." His eyes began blinking at the speed of light and I brought up the courage to take his hand.  Woohyun looked at my hold over his wrist then up at me. I didn't know what to do then, but I could feel lips curling up into a comforting smile. 

"You don't have to. There's a lot of things you don't know about me."

Woohyun gulped and nodded, letting my words soothe his paranoid thoughts. He stayed quiet for what seemed like an eternity and when I looked up at the purple sky, I knew that time had passed. My palms were beginning to sweat and I squirmed a bit, pulling away for a while when Woohyun stopped me. He shifted our hands so that they were entwined with each other and my eyes followed his feet as he stepped in closer. 

"We're going to fight with Jiyong and his team," he said, voice low. I nodded, murmuring, "I know." 

"There'll be a lot more bloodshed than we had expected," he continued, "a lot more victims." He paused. "I could... die."

I let the searing pain flow over me, letting it spread like poison over the adrenaline that was shouting out in protest. "Me too."

"No," he growled. "You won't.... After it all ends, and it will.... Nicole will bring you back here. Whoever's left, they'll be with you."

"I'm sorry Woohyun but I think you've forgotten." I looked up at him. "You were the one who brought me here. Without you, I'm going to be stuck in limbo."

Woohyun didn't look away and nor did I. Suddenly the tension of the past five months built up and before I could tell him what was in my mind, we were kissing.