Xiumin was sat at the table in his kitchen, eating cereal for breakfast. He could do it! It was just one more day spent with Sehun and a picnic wasn’t so bad. Luhan had been desperate to show Sehun the pine – their favourite place in the forest; so today the picnic would be there. Xiumin felt selfish. He didn’t want to show Sehun the pine; it belonged to him and Luhan! The thought of Sehun’s large hands on the branches made him so angry and ---

Stop.

He couldn’t let these kinds of thoughts overwhelm his mind - they would cause an outburst. He had to be calm, composed and positive if he was to get through the day. He breathed deeply, taking in lots of oxygen and slowing his racing heart rate.

He got up, placed his bowl by the sink and neatly tucked in his chair. Then, grabbing his coat, he walked to the front door before pausing. He closed his eyes and thought hard. Luhan. He opened the door and left the house.

~~~~~~~~~~

As he walked down the path leading to the pine he could hear two familiar sounds. The first was the flow of the stream, which had unfrozen as the snow was beginning to melt away. The second sound was Luhan’s laugh, one of Xiumin’s favourite sounds in the world. He smiled as he heard it and for a second, his heart was warmed again. He then turned the corner to see the person who was making him laugh – Sehun. His stomach turned over at the sight of them together but he put on a brave face and walked over to sit with them.

‘Baozi!’ Luhan exclaimed, patting the spot next to him. Xiumin sat down, completely overjoyed at Luhan’s reaction to his arrival. But as he looked up, he realised that Sehun’s eyes had been on him the whole time, his gaze so strong it was almost menacing. He was not welcome. It wasn’t Luhan, it was just Sehun. He began to tell one of his hilarious stories again and Xiumin could only sit there and listen intently as the story seemed to go on for hours. He did not attempt to talk; he simply remained calm and composed, focusing on listening to Luhan’s laugh.

Luhan then suggested that they climb the pine so that Sehun could see the incredible view from the top.

‘Is it difficult to climb?’ Sehun asked, glaring at the tree above him.

‘No it is quite easy, we often make it to the top in a minute or two,’ Luhan replied.

‘Oh, okay,’ Sehun said, ‘Watch me beat that.’

Luhan used his watch to time him as he began to ascend up the tree using his long limbs to scale a number of branches at a time. Xiumin hated to admit it, but he was impressed. However, he thought that Luhan’s agility and grace was far more impressive than any tree climbing that anyone could do. Sehun reached the top and yelled down to Luhan, stopping the time.

‘Wow,’ Luhan said, showing Xiumin his watch. 45 seconds. Of course his time was unbeatable. Luhan and Xiumin followed him up, climbing slowly together. Luhan brushed his hand against Xiumin’s a couple of times and kept poking him in the stomach to . Xiumin giggled and in that moment, he forgot everything that had been troubling him.

When they reached the top, they were both in fits of laughter. Luhan sat on the branch next to Sehun, and Xiumin sat on the branch opposite. Sehun’s brow had formed a frown and his eyes pierced through Xiumin. When Xiumin noticed, his laughter caught in his throat and he stopped. Originally, he had thought that Sehun just had a naturally moody expression but now he wasn’t so sure. He looked back at him, puzzled by the hatred that radiated off of his body. He didn’t need to communicate with him to know Sehun didn’t like him.

Sehun began to talk again – just to Luhan – reminiscing over the old memories they shared in school together. It was clear that he didn’t want Xiumin to be a part of the conversation and honestly Xiumin was sick of it. He was beginning to get angry again and he noticed the little annoyances more clearly. An example of one of these annoyances was the fact that Luhan had his hand on Sehun’s. He seemed to only show Xiumin attention when Sehun wasn’t there and when he was, Xiumin wasn’t even considered. Even nature seemed to prefer him; the Sun beamed down through a gap in the leaves of the pine, illuminating Sehun’s face.

‘You should come back to the city Luhan,’ Sehun told him, as the sunlight glinted off of his eyes, ‘I miss you and there isn’t much for you here.’

Xiumin froze.

Luhan didn’t reply at first and moved his hand off of Sehun, he then said, ‘I’m not sure,’ he frowned, ‘I like it here.’ His eyes flickered at Xiumin.

Sehun grabbed his hand again, ‘but you could live with me, in my flat – there is plenty of room – and you can start writing again. You haven’t even written anything since you moved, wasn’t that your plan, to write?’

‘That is true,’ Luhan paused and looked down into his lap, ‘I will consider it.’

Sehun looked over at Xiumin with a clear smirk on his face.

Something inside Xiumin snapped. Luhan now wanted to run away with this moody idiot who hated his guts?! That was it.

‘Seriously Luhan?’ Xiumin snorted.

Luhan looked up in surprise, ‘Wha-’

Xiumin interrupted him, ‘So, you are going to run back to the city, with this arrogant moron, who clearly hates me, just because he says so?’

Luhan looked horrified, ‘Don’t call him a moron!’

Sehun smiled, clearly enjoying his outburst. Xiumin knew that he should stop, he was only fuelling Sehun’s hate fire, but he couldn’t.

‘He goes on and on about his hilarious stories that are not even funny and when I try to speak he interrupts me! And you just sit there, letting it happen and ignoring me. When Sehun is around I am completely invisible to you – you are just like everyone else!’

‘Baozi, that is not true, I…’

‘Oh but it is!’ Xiumin raised his voice, ‘You just…’

‘SHUT UP.’ Luhan yelled, silencing him and the whole forest. Even Sehun looked startled. ‘You just interrupted me! Twice!’ He paused to point at Sehun, ‘he has done nothing wrong and has only been nice to you! It is great that I get to share my old memories with him and I love hearing his stories. He is not the moron in this situation, you are and you’re completely overreacting! So, if you don’t like him, just leave!’

Xiumin fought back the tears forming in his eyes and simply replied, ‘fine.’

Regret immediately showed on Luhan’s face and his own eyes were shiny, ‘Xiumin, no, wait,’ he reached for Xiumin’s arm but Xiumin quickly pulled away and began to make his way down the tree. He paused and looked up at Luhan who had a tear on his cheek, ‘You are welcome to each other,’ he said coldly, turning his gaze toward Sehun, who’s face bore a cruel grin. He looked back to Luhan, ‘I will be leaving now because you clearly don’t need me here when you have him.’ He moved down the tree swiftly from branch to branch.

Luhan called after him, ‘Xiumin!’ He began to sob, ‘Xiumin, please! Don’t go!’ It pained Xiumin to keep moving, every cell in his body was telling him to go back to Luhan and forgive him, but he couldn’t. Not whilst Sehun was there. He just let the tears fall as he carried on climbing down. When he reached the last branch he jumped to the floor and looked back up the tree. He could see Luhan sobbing into Sehun’s arms so he turned away and walked away. He didn’t look back once until he had walked all the way to his house.

~~~~~~~~~

Once he was home, Xiumin began to pack his bags. This was plan B. He couldn’t stay. He wouldn’t leave forever, but he had to get away for a little bit and he already knew a place he could go. He needed to clear his mind and wrap his head around that idea that he couldn’t have Luhan all to himself. Luhan clearly preferred Sehun to him anyway, so he needed to come to terms with that at least.  Once his bags were packed and by the door, he sat down to write Luhan a letter. He could run away easily but he felt as if he owed it Luhan to say goodbye. He knew that he was completely overreacting but he had his reasons why and there were important things that Luhan needed to hear, even if he didn’t want to hear them. He sealed the letter in an envelope and scribbled Luhan’s name across the front.

It was beginning to get dark outside so Xiumin went to bed early – he would drop the letter off really early tomorrow morning before he left the forest.