'Class, I just wanted to inform you of our school's annual camp! It'll be taking place this Thursday, so please get your items ready before then! If not, you're suffer out there in the forest~ Oh, and I've already picked out your partners for the camp, the easiest way! Your partners will be your desk mates!' Damn. How was I supposed to avoid him now...?

DONGHAE'S POV

'Can I not go?' 

I couldn't get that question out of my head, along with Eunhyuk's disappointed and troubled face when Mr Kwon said that it was compulsary for all the students to go. Why was he so against it? Was it because I was his partner? Why is he avoiding me, anyway? Was it because of the kiss? Was he angry at me? Thousands of questions popped into my head, but no answers were given. Why was he acting like that? I missed his gummy smile. He hadn't smiled much these days, and he seemed to be isolating himself. Why? Damn it Eunhyuk, why do you have to make me so confused? I let out a cry in anger and frustration. Calm down, Donghae.. You'll get your answers soon.. He can't escape from you. Yes, just be patient, Lee Donghae. 

EUNHYUK'S POV

How was I supposed to avoid Hae now? If it was compulsary for everyone to attend, surely those girls will be there too.. And I'd have to share a tent with Hae, since he's my partner.. I'd obviously have to talk to him. They'd sure see me talking to Hae, what would I do then..? Maybe I should tell Hae and the others the truth. Maybe they could help me then.. No, I shouldn't do that. The last time I did that, I ended up being beaten up more, instead of less. I sighed as I undressed myself in the shower. I looked at my body's reflection. The bruises on my upper body were faint, but they were still there. The bruises on my lower body were even more evident. I'd been lucky that Sungmin and Hae didn't recognize the bruises on my body when they saw me half . Each bruise had it's own painful memory. I hated looking at myself. No, I don't want history to repeat itself. I won't tell anyone. I'll go through it alone.

~~~

'Damn it, Eunhyuk! Why won't you talk to me? What the is wrong with you?' Sungmin burst out in annoyance at me. I looked at him, terrified. I didn't know that the cute and adorable Sungmin could flare up and change to a totally different person. I didn't like this side of him, it was scary. It reminded me of my past. My terrible past.

'Minnie, relax..' Kyuhyun tried to calm him down while holding his wrists. 'If Eunhyuk doesn't want to talk about his problems, let him be. He's a grown man, he can make his own decisions. Relax Minnie, calm down.' He continued with his soothing voice while shooting a glare at me.

'Fine. You're.. you're right, Kyu. Thanks. And Eunhyuk, you know you can tell me anything, right? Well then.' Sungmin puffed up his cheeks as he calmed himself down.

Wow. He just flared at me and he's being nice to me again..? How could someone cool down that easily? I nodded to him slightly. 

'Yeah, I know. Thanks, Sungmin.' I watched as the two of them left. Tell him anything, eh? If only I could.. If only I was brave enough.. When they left, I felt myself on the verge of tears. Sungmin, he really did care for me. Even after ignoring him and all, he still opens up his heart for me. I was so touched, but there was no way I was going to tell him. Yet.. at least.

THURSDAY

It's finally camp day. Not that I've been looking forward to it. I'd tried so hard to avoid Hae during these past few days. Now, all my efforts would go to waste. I would have to talk to him eventually. As we unloaded our luggage and stepped inside the bus on the way to the campsite, Mr Kwon told us that it was necessary for us to sit with our partners so that it would minimize the noise level. I groaned. Maybe I should pretend to fall asleep later, so that I'll talk less with Hae.

'Hey, Hyukkie.' Hae smiled at me. I felt my heart ache. I wanted to talk to him so badly. 

'Hey.' I answered softly while settling down beside him. The atmosphere was tense and awkward. Since I wasn't sitting at the window seat, I couldn't occupy myself by looking out of the window. At first, the class was noisy, but after around 30 minutes or so, the noise faded. They started to either listen to their mp3s or sleep. In the beginning, Hae had asked me general questions, whether I was excited, how I was, those kind of questions. Nothing more. He didn't probe deeper, asking why I'd avoided him. I answered with nods and short replies. I felt him getting frustrated as he put on his mp3. I closed my eyes. At least now I wouldn't have to talk to him. I suddenly thought of my plan earlier. Yes, I should pretend to fall asleep, even though Hae had his earpiece on. I continued closing my eyes and let my head fall to the side, trying to make my sleeping realistic. Suddenly, I felt Hae's hand on my head, making my head fall on his shoulder. I was startled by his act, but continued to pretend to sleep. Why did he do that? 

'Pabo. If you sleep like that, your neck's going to hurt.' He muttered under his breath. I wanted to hug him for being so sweet, but I restrained myself. Did he care about me? Why was he so nice, even though I'd been so cold to him? I wanted to cry. Why were all the people here so nice..?

'Ah~ Hyukkie-ah, why do you keep avoiding me? Do you hate me or something? Hmm...' He sighed. I'm sorry... 

Soon, I felt him his head drop on my head. It seemed that he'd fallen asleep. I could smell his faint perfume and feel his hot breath on me. I wanted to push him away, but was scared to wake him up. But I had to push him away. What would the others say? What would the girls do if they found out? As I pulled away and held his head gently so that he wouldn't wake up, he groaned a soft 'Ung..f..Appa...I miss you.'. His face also seemed to looked so sad. I felt my heart soften and I continued to place his head on the window. I watched as he slept, his mouth opening slightly. That was when I realized that I wasn't the only one suffering. Hae was suffering too. The loss of his father.. me avoiding him.. Maybe Sungmin and the others were hurting too. I felt guilty, but I had to do what I had to do. I'm sorry, everyone, that's all that I can say.. please forgive me..

I felt a tear escape my eye, but I quickly wiped it away since I didn't want anyone to see me cry. Not long after, I felt sleep engulfing me as well.

~~~

'Alright class! Wake up, wake up! We're here already! Wake up~!' Mr Kwon shouted through his megaphone, making me stir from my sleep. Where was I? Oh right, camp. I let out a loud yawn and stretched. Suddenly, I heard someone saying, ouch! I looked beside me, only to find that I'd accidently hit Hae with my stretching. I widened my eyes. Did I hurt him?

'Are you okay?' I asked, worried.

'Yeah, I'm fine.' He replied while rubbing his nose and smiling at me. I smiled back.

~~~

'How in the world do you set up this tent?!' I said in frustration. I had been trying to set up the tent for nearly 10 minutes on my own, since Hae had went to the washroom. What took him so long anyway? No wait, it's better this way. I re-read the manual again for the thousandth time, but still failed to set up my tent. Soon, I saw a chuckling Hae walking towards me. 

'You don't know how to set up a simple tent?' He teased while laughing. I looked at him in annoyance.

'Well, if you're so smart, then why don't you do it?' I snapped, throwing the tent to him while taking a step back, folding my arms to watch him set up the tent. He looked at me in surprise. 

'Well, aren't you going to do it, Mr Smarty-Hae?' I asked sarcastically. He stared at me for a while before grinning.

'Sit back and watch how 'Mr Smarty-Hae' does it, Hyukkie.' He replied. Tsk, he actually took my sarcasm. I watched as he set up the tent, not looking at the manual at all. Does he really know how to do it? From the manual, it didn't say to do it like he did.

'Hae, maybe you should read the manual first..' I said, slightly worried. Did he even know what he was doing?

'Are you worried about 'Mr Smarty-Hae', Hyukkie? Don't worry, 'Mr Smarty-Hae' here knows what he's doing, so just watch.' He laughed, teasing me. I frowned, but watched him silently. He looked so handsome, charismatic and manly when setting up the tent. He had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, and his sweat was glistening under the hot sun. I felt like giving him a bear hug and opening myself up to him. I mentally slapped myself in my head. Why would I want to do that? The number one rule that I'd learnt in life, 'Never trust anyone.'. Yep, that was what I learnt in the past.

After all my day-dreaming of watching Hae work under the sun, the tent was finally completed. I was slightly taken aback, since Hae had done the whole thing himself.

'Well then Hyukkie, did 'Mr Smarty-Hae' do a good job?' He asked, grinning while folding his arms.

'Tsk. Yeah, I guess so.' I replied and walked away, annoyed by his teasing.

He ran behind me and eventually caught up with me. 'Finally talking to me, Hyukkie?' He asked. I stopped dead in my tracks. Damn. Being with Hae made me feel like all my troubles were washed away, along with those girls. Now I finally remembered about them. 

'Uh.. the atmosphere here is really nice, right?' I asked, trying to change the subject and continued walking. I didn't want to explain myself to him, and since we were alone, maybe there would be no harm in talking to him for a while.

'Ey~ Don't try and change the subject, Hyukkie.' He said. I didn't answer him. Instead, I put my hands in my pockets and started walking faster. He grinned and catched up with me. 

'Hyukkie,you can ignore me now, but you can't escape me later on.' He smiled. I ignored him and continued walking, looking up the sky and enjoying the breeze. What did he mean by 'you can't escape me later on'? I shrugged off that thought and listened as Hae started blabbering, even though I wasn't answering him.

~~~

DONGHAE'S POV

'Well then Hyukkie, did 'Mr Smarty-Hae' do a good job?' I asked, grinning and folding my arms. He was snapped back to reality and I could tell that he was annoyed with all my teasing. Sorry Hyukkie, I can't help myself~

'Tsk. Yeah, I guess so.' He replied and walked away. I smiled to myself once more. I couldn't stop smiling. He made me so happy, but I still wanted to know why he had been avoiding me. I ran and caught up with him.

 'Finally talking to me, Hyukkie?' I asked, curious. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. He seemed to be thinking about something.

'Uh.. the atmosphere here is really nice, right?' He asked, changing the subject and continuing to walk. Why had he changed the subject? So it was true. He was avoiding me. Not like it wasn't obvious, anyway. I smirked to myself. You may not want to talk about it now, Hyukkie, but you can't avoid me forever. Sooner or later, I'm going to make you spill the beans.

~~~

Once we reached the place that we were instructed to assemble at, we realized that we were the last ones to arrive. We settled down quickly. 

'Well then, now that you're all here~ I'm going to tell you the activities for today...' Mr Kwon told us. 

'First up, it's lunch. Then high elements, rock climbing, dinner, shower time and sweet dreams!' 

High elements today, eh? I wondered if Hyukkie was afraid of heights. I looked over to him. His eyes widened at the words 'high elements'. I guess he was afraid of heights, after all.

'And for all those activities, you'll have to do it with your partner, as usual!' Mr Kwon continued cheerfully. Groans could be heard here and there while I smiled to myself. Assa! With our partners ey? Just as I thought, Hyukkie really can't escape from me today. 

~~~

'Are you scared, Hyukkie?' I asked worriedly. We were up next for the high elements.

'N..No. I'm not.' He replied, his voice shaky. I smirked. Hyukkie, you may say that you're not scared, but your facial expression tells me otherwise. I decided to let him be stubborn for once.

'Alright! Donghae, Eunhyuk, it's your turn now!' The instructor called our names. I rush there quickly, along with Hyukkie trailing me from behind. I smirked to myself. 

'Sure you're not scared, Hyukkie?' I asked again. He shook his head slightly. How stubborn. As we got up the high elements, I looked over to Hyukkie. His legs were trembling. How adorable. 

'You're not scared right? I'll be going first then..' I told Hyukkie. Suddenly, he grabbed my arm. 

'Go with...me.. I'm s..scared, Hae.' He pleaded, terrified. I smiled to myself. He was so cute! How could I refuse his proposal to go with him? I nodded to him and told him to grab my arm tight. I flinched at his grip. I didn't expect him to be so strong, but I endured. Anything for my Hyukkie. I wasn't really afraid of high elements, so it was a breeze for me. Futhermore, I was mentally celebrating since Hyukkie was holding me so tightly, begging for protection. I felt so.. needed. 

As we landed, Hyukkie was still gripping my arm tightly. 

'Ah.. Hyukkie? We're already on the ground.' I told him, chuckling. He looked at me and released his grip quickly, looking down. He was so adorable when embarassed. 

'Right.. Thanks.' He said, still looking down. 

'Well couldn't you tell that to my face?' I pouted. He hesitated for a while before looking up at me and smiling. That was all I could ever ask for.

~~~

Ah~ I'm tired! It's finally 'Sweet Dreams' time! Time to sleep! Oh wait.. I'll be sleeping in a tent with Hyukkie!! I smirked to myself. Since we were going to sleep together, it was the perfect opportunity for me to confront him. I stepped into the tent and waited for Hyukkie to come in. When he finally went in, the tent was filled with his scent of strawberries. I smiled. Strawberries. How cute.

'Oh, hey, Hae.' He said as he went in. 

'Hey.' I replied. I watched as he put on his socks and snuggled in his blanket, getting ready to sleep. 

'Aren't you going to sleep?' He asked as he noticed that I hadn't gotten ready for bed. I shook my head. 

'Hyukkie. Tell me why you've been avoiding me?' 

He seemed startled at my question and turned away from me, making me face his back.  

'I.. I don't feel like telling you now.. Can we talk tomorrow?' He said softly.

'Please?' I pleaded. He then turned to look at me again, this time sitting up. 

'I promise I'll tell you tomorrow, okay?' He said, brushing his hand against my face. 

'Now go to sleep. I'm tired.' He continued, lying down again. I sighed. I didn't want to wait too long. I wanted to know why, right now. Soon, Hyukkie was snoring softly beside me. It seemed like he was really tired. I sighed again. I felt uneasy. Relax, Donghae. He promised, right? But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't sleep. After what seemed like an eternity of me lying down there staring at Hyukkie sleeping, he suddenly stirred in his sleep. 

'Ug..fgh..' He groaned. He was sweating profusely. Was it that hot in here? Oops, my fault. I joked to myself. 

'Please..don't hurt me.. Please... I be..beg..you.. Hae..h..help..me..' He groaned. He seemed to be pleading in his dreams. Was he having a nightmare? And did he just call out my name? Help him? How? What was happening? What was he dreaming about? I didn't want to disturb him, so I hugged him softly, trying to give him comfort. He hugged me back, suprisingly. Suddenly, he awoke with a scream, sitting up, making me sit up too. 

'What's wrong, Hyukkie?' I asked, worried.

EUNHYUK'S POV

'I promise I'll tell you tomorrow, okay?' I told him. I didn't want him to worry. I wasn't sure if I was going to tell him the truth though, I'm probably going to make up some story. I laid back down and heard him sigh in defeat. Soon, I was overwhelmed with sleep. I was too tired from all the activities that took place today. As I slept, images of the girls beating me up with baseball bats appeared in my mind. My former bullies were there too, laughing at me. My mind was in a swirl. I groaned in pain. The pain was unbearable. I was bleeding, and no one was there to help me. I was helpless. Pathetic and helpless. Suddenly, I felt warmth. Along with the warmth, I saw Hae's face. He was smiling at me, ever so innocently with his big eyes. When I saw his face, the pain immediately went away. But that warmth didn't last long. Soon, the bullies were beating me up again. I let out a scream, sitting up. I found Hae's hands on me. It seemed that he had been hugging me. Maybe that was the warmth I was feeling just now? I was perspiring badly, and my mind was in a swirl. I didn't know what to do.

'What's wrong, Hyukkie?' Hae asked me, worried. I looked at him in the eye. Then I cried. I cried, burying my head in his chest. He hugged me tightly, soothing me. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to release all the emotions that I had cooped up inside of me. Burying my head in his chest, I cried and confessed. I didn't know why I did though. But in my dream, seeing Hae made me feel so relaxed and happy. Maybe that was a sign. Maybe that was why I confessed to him. I felt Hae's hug becoming tighter as I told him the truth. I was right. His embrace really made me feel relaxed and happy. 

DONGHAE'S POV

'Hae... I'm so sorry.. It's my fault.. I'm sorry I avoided you.. I didn't want to.. But I had to.. Those girls.. they threatened me.. I'm so scared.. I'm so scared, Hae.. I was already..already beaten up..in my p..previous school.. I don't... wa..want the same things to happen again...I'm so sorry Hae.. I'm so sorry...' He cried, apologizing over and over again. 

What? Girls? Threatened him? Beaten up in his previous school? I felt myself immediately getting angry. I wanted to punch whoever made my Hyukkie cry. What ruthless bastards. I'll make them pay. But I couldn't do anything at the moment. All I could do now was to give him comfort and love. That was what he needed. I hugged him tighter. There was nothing else I could do. It hurt my heart to see him crying like that. I'll make those bastards pay for sure..

===

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AS USUAL~ IF YOU READ BUT DIDN'T COMMENT/SUBSCRIBE...........

BUT IF YOU DID~

@Cyriellema; Hurt in the forest, ey? Hmmmm *thinks about it* I don't know :b HEHE, I don't mind who tops, as long as they're together ^^

@shelly; It's not lame?! really? haha, it's okay, ert thoughts are welcome :P

@KyuMin_Obsessed; I know right!!! *faints*

@funsize92; Woohoo! Long comment! hahaha~ Yes, i'll do my job of letting Hae get past Hyuk's barriers, dont worry ^-^ Glad you loved the gifs~ :D

@ShawolCassieElf; No more bullies? Hmmm I wonder...... I love you!! Hahaha~

@foreverinwords; You're welcome! Hope you enjoyed the chapter dear~

FOR ALL THE COMMENTS , HERE'S A GIF(T)! HAHA~