Just a tiny wee bit rated in the middle of the chapter.

Enjoy! :3

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Joon stood back and surveyed his handiwork. The old army tent he had borrowed from his dad swayed a little in the breeze. But it was upright at least and sturdy. "It'll be a chilly tonight," he said, taking Hyomin's hand. "But I'll keep you warm." He wrapped an arm around her waist.

It occured to her that maybe he wasn't planning to separate sleeping bags.

Hyomin bit her lip. "Joon ..." She began. "I don't think I'm ready for ... I mean, I've never done it ..."

Joon studied her, a smile playing on his lips. "Done what?"

Heat flooded her cheeks. "Joon! You know what I mean!"

"Oh." he said, his eyes widening. "You mean ... that?"

"Yeah." She willed the colour of of her face. "Just in case you were expecting --"

He cut her off, grinning. "There's no hurry to do anything. I'm just happy to be spending a whole night in your company."

"Okay ... good." Her embarrassment subsided and she looked around them. Joon had driven them five miles or so around the mountain to the spot she'd talked about. It was stunning. The trees were less dense, and the view down into the valley was pure green. No houses, no people. Just the birds in the trees and the odd fox at night.

"I'll light a fire," Joon said, starting to pick up slim branches of wood for kindling. "It should keep us going till we go to sleep -- we can cook over it too."

"Great." She joined him searching aorund for more firewood and they spent twenty minutes in easy silence. When they'd gathered enough, Joon got to work lighting the fire, while Hyomin unpacked the food they'd bought. A couple of steaks, some baking potatoes and some tomatoes to roast. She was starving. She d in the bottom of the bag to find some cutlery, but there was nothing.

"Damn, we'll have to eat with our fingers." Hyomin said, pointlessly turning the canvas shopping bag upside down.

Joon looked up. "I have some in my shoulder bag," he said, squinting in the sudden sharp sunlight. "In the boot of the car. I'll get it out in a sec." But the crackle catching alight diverted him and he turned back to the fire to stoke it and add more kindling.

"I'll get it," Hyomin said, dashing round to the car, while Joon, not hearing, had his back to her, concentrating.

She opened the boot, immediately locating his shoulder bag. As she lifted it out, her eye caught something on the floor of the boot, what looked like rolled-up papers. Letters or something, tied together. Tucking Joon's bad under her arm, Hyomin reached back in to pick them up. Glancing over the top of the car at Joon's bent form, she tried pushing the ribbon up to release the paper while clamping the bag under her arm. But the weight of it was too much and it dropped with a thump on to the ground.

Sighing, Hyomin dropped the papers, still tied together, and was about to pick them up, when she felt his hand on her shoulder. Startled, Hyomin jerked, nearly hitting her head on the door.

"Careful," he said, almost curtly. "I said I'd get it. You go and look after the fire."

Hyomin turned to look up at him, taken aback by his tone. But his expression was friendly.

"Okay ..." She glanced subtly back down at the papers. He put his hand on the boot door, pushing on it slowly to shut it. "Mind your hands."

Hyomin backed away as he shut the boot firmly. And though he smiled at her then, Hyomin was aware of something prickly, something tense about him.

"Come on," he said briskly. "Let's get the dinner on." He picked up his shoulder bag and put one around her.

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As dusk fell, Joon and Hyomin lay back, full from barbecued meat and potatoes, waiting for the stars to come out. It was always her favourite thing, to lie there with her father while he pointed them out and she watched as they grew brighter in the sky.

Hyomin lay with her head on Joon's chest, listening to the thump of his heart, while he her hair with one hand. She felt as close to relaxed as she had ever been with him, the heat of the fire crackling in front of them, and the half-bottle of soju Joon had persuaded her to drink had made her sleepy.

"Your parents seem like good people," he said, quietly breaking into the silence. "Contented."

"They are." She remembered her conversation with her dad. "My dad's a laid-back kind of person, whereas Mum's quite highly-strung ... emotional, I guess. They complement each other."

Joon shifted and she lifted her head to support it with her elbow. "I'm sorry about your parents splitting up. It might have been hard on you."

He put his hands behind his head. "It was a long time ago. I'm over it now." He sniffed. "You're lucky, to have both of them though."

This struck her as an odd thing to say for some reason, though obviously it was true.

"When did they meet? Your mum and dad?"

She shut her eyes to think. "I think Mum was in her early twenties. Dad was a bit older." She hesitated. "She was getting over some other guy ... she told us, that time at lunch? I can't imagine my mum in love ... you know, getting excited about going on dates ... acting all girly and giggly." She smiled into the woods. "I wish I'd seen it."

Joon's face was serious, almost hard. "Broken hearts..." he said darkly. "Now there's a lesson for us all."

Her dad's words came back to her. "You don't think it's worth the risk -- falling in love?"

He pulled a face. "I didn't say that ... Just ... maybe if we choose who we love more carefully we limit the possibility of getting hurt."

So Joon was a cynic. Hyomin guessed it was understandable, but he was wrong. She sat up, feeling a little woozy from the alcohol. "That's the point, isn't it? You can never know for sure that someone will be there forever .... You just have to trust that they will. If nobody trusted, then it would be terrible." She shut , realising she was telling this to herself as much as to Joon.

"People get hurt ..." his voice sounded distant now. She watched for a smile, a sign that he was being light-hearted, but his face was impassive.

"Oh." The penny dropped. "Somebody broke your heart? A girl?"

"I didn't say that. It's just good sense to be on your guard." He closed his jaws and in an instant his face changed as he regarded Hyomin softly. "Though there are exceptions. To every rule." He pulled her towards him.

Hyomin put her arms around her, but she felt confused. Joon seemed to be on a downer toonigh. Yet he was so imtense with her at the same time. Hyomin couldn't work him out. Just when she started to relax with him he'd do or say something to made her unsure again. It was like he was two different people.

She felt him kiss the top of her head, his hands moving down slipping under the waistband of her jeans, and Hyomin's uncomfortable thoughts were replaced by desire. She wasn't ready to sleep with Joon. Or anyone. Not for a long time. But she wanted his hands on her, Hyomin felt herslef moving so that his hands could storke the skin at the bottom of her spine. expertly circling a spot with his thumb, making her wriggle at his touch. Hyomin lifted her head to look at him, and his hands took her face and then suddenly there were kissing, more urgently than ever. Hyomin tipped her head back and let his lips find her neck, arching her back slightly, feeling her whole body react.

"I could make a big exception for you, Hyomin," Joon said breathlessly. He pushed up her blouse, and Hyomin realised she didn't want to stop this now. She was tingling, expectant, and he nuzzled her head with his, gripping her waist with his strong hands.

"Joon." She forced herself to pull away. "If we don't stop now, then I don't think --"

He put a finger to her lips, silencing her, then traced the outline of .

"It feels right, though, doesn't it?" he whispered. "You and me."

Hyomin nodded, it had felt more than right a few minutes before. It had felt perfect.

"We can wait," she said. "It doesn't have to be now, does it?"

He brushed a lock of her hair to the side of her face, his eyes, intense, studying her for a long time. Then finally he dropped his hand and his gaze.

"It doesn't have to be now, no. But I think we both want it to be." He spoke to the ground.

"But we'll want it again. There'll be other times." Hyomin said softly.

"Fine." His voice crackled, coldly. "There's no hurry."

Ignoring her hurt expression, he got to his feet, kicking at the dwindling fire.

"Let's got to sleep now. I'm tired."

Hyomin was anything but tired. She was a little stunned and confused. Definitely not tired.

"You go," She told him, staring at a weak flame. "I'll just sit here for a while. I'm not that sleepy."

He nodded, tousling her hair, then she watched as he moved towards the tent, zipping it up behind him.

Alone, with only the sound of an owl nearby for company. She felt melancholy descent. Loneliness. like beofre. And then tears coming. How could someone so lovely, so attentive, change in an instant to cold and distant?

Cruel.

Hyomin swallowed. She wanted to go home. It was all ruined.

Jaejoong? Where are you?

Slowly she got to her feet, stretching. It was very dark and she turned to look behind her, seeing Joon's car, lurking like a metal beast. Quietly, she walked towards it, loooking back at the tent for a second, but it was still, no light on. Joon must be asleep already. Hyomin trod around to the back of the car and carefully pressed at the boot's handle to open it. With a slight creak, it opened, and she eased it up as far as she dared, bending to get what she'd come for.

Hyomin slid the ribbon off and into her hands tumbled documents, a passport, a driving license and a few nespaper clippings.

She opened the passport. Joon's face -- different, younger she suppose, stared up at her. And his driving license. Hyomin squinted in the dark. Him again, unsmiling, this time his hair was blonde. She looked closely at the photo. It was difficult to tell, and his hair was longer, but his scar wasn't there in this one. Must have been taken before his accident.

The newspaper clippings were cut from some local Japanese paper. Reports on Joon going missing. A feature on his mother's concern. Her pleas for witnesses. An interview with his dad. A photocopy of a hire car agreement from a year before.

The rest where what she assumed were keepsakes. A swimming certificate, a surfing badge.

Suddenly she felt like she was just prying. Hyomin assembled the papers together quickly when one clipping fluttered to the ground. She snatched it up and was just about to roll it in with the others when the headline on it caught her eye.

GIRL CLAIMS SHE SAW MISSING BOY ATTACKED.

A photo of an attractive, busy girl sat above a claim she had seen Lee Joon being attacked the night he went missing, but had run out of fright.

Hyomin stopped reading. Too much information to take in. Joon certainly had some baggage. A story to tell.

She felt the leaves rustling behind her and all at once she flustered. Grabbing everything, Hyomin hastily tied the ribbon. There was no further noise and she relaxed slightly, though her heart had resumed beating quicker than normal.

She threw the bundle back into the boot and gently closed the door on it, her hands resting on the cold metal as she waited for her breathing to regulate. Hyomin lay her head against the car then. Feeling almost numb with the events of the past half-hour or so. She felt her eyelids drooping as tiredness took hold of her, and she felt conciousness fading away.

The hand suddenly on her back frightened the life out of her. Hyomin shrieked and whirled round to face him.

"What are you doing, jagi?" said Joon.

She turned, hoping that her trembling wasn't visible.

"I ... my face was hot," she said weakly. "From the fire."

Had he seen her looking? How had she not heard him come up behind her?

Joon nodded, looking at her without expression for a few seconds. But then, to her relief, he smiled.

"You are tired," he said gently. "You were asleep standing up."

"Was I?" She swallowed. That would explain why she hadn't heard him. "How long have you been here?"

"I heard a noise. And when I looked out of the tent you were nowhere to be seen. When I came out I saw your feet and the top of your head. You were slumped against the car, out of it." He rubbed her arms. "You need to get into the warm. Come on."

He took her hand and led her back to the tent. Hyomin wasn't sure she wanted to lie down next to him but she had no choice.

Inside the tent, Joon gently helped her take off her hoodie, socks and trainers. "You may as well leave your jeans and shirt on," he said, bashing at a cushion and placing it at one end of her sleeping bag, which he then ped.

"I''m reall sorry ... about earlier," he whispered when she was safely wrapped up. "I guess I got a little carried away. You're just so lovely ... and y. I was frustrated ... An idiot. Do you forgive me?"

Hyomin managed a smile at that. "It's cool," she said, and closed her eyes.

"Joon," she said after a few minutes, opening her eyes.

"What?" He cocked his head, his expression soft.

"Did something happen to you ... back in Japan?"

He frowned. "No ... What made you ask that?"

"Nothing ..." She shook her head dismissively. "I just wondered ... I mean, it seems as though there's something you're not telling me?"

And there it is again, the narrowing of his eyes for a second, before he remembered to smile. "Go to sleep, Hyomin," he said, softly. "You're exhausted."

It was true. Hyomin could barely keep her eyes open. She shrugged sleepily. "Night, then." She murmured, feeling herself drifting off.

"Sweet dreams. See you in the morning." She felt him pulling her sleeping bag up to cover her properly.

Within a minute Hyomin was waking up again, her mind whirring, but she kept her eyes shut and nestled her head into the pillow. Joon held her hand across his sleeping bag as he lay down too, and it helped, because the last thing she remember in the darkness as she peeked out through a slit in her eyelids was his expression.

Smiling and serene, watching her as she slept.

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it's getting too long x.x bleh.

I'm so sorry JaeMin shippers. I promise to add them in the next chapter, okay? :3

So ... did anyone caught the clue yet? :B