I look back, "Then why were we running?" They both look at me like they just saw a flying dolphin behind me. 

 

Jeno mumbles under his breath, "Why do all Taeil's have to talk so much?" I frown and narrow my eyes, "I heard that."

 

Jaemin coughs some times and then smiles wearily at me, "The Red King is said to be the scariest person in the whole world. There's a saying that has gone around Wonderland for many years and it is that any person that goes to The King Castle and is better than him at playing or doing something is going to he executed." I stare at them with wide eyes. Jeno meanwhile coughs once and starts to talk.

 

"It's true, but there's also this. The Red King is not a bad person, although what Jaemin told you is almost one hundred percent true, he is just very jealous." 

 

I frown again, "But have you been to the castle?"

 

Jaemin's eyes widen comically and I resist the urge to laugh when he screeches, "For god's sake, of course not! We don't want to end our lives!" 

 

I bite my lip, "But what if those rumors are false? What if he's actually a good person, he just misunderstands people's doings." 

 

Jeno shakes his head, "Still, we're not going to risk our lives just to prove if the rumors are true or not." 

 

I sigh and look forward, trying to find a path through all the trees, if one even exists.

 

"Jaemin! Look at the time! We've got to hurry!" Time? How do they know what time it is? I glance at each of their wrists and don't see any type of watch. They must be guessing it by the sun's position.

 

Jaemin, who was staring at the castle the whole time, jumps up and looks around with wide eyes. His eyes stop on me and he grabs my wrist, "Let's go Taeil. If we don't reach the tea party on time we may not be able to eat ekac!"

 

"Ekac! And what's that supposed to be?" I laugh and he shrugs in response, "It's a small sweet in form of a circle, although each one of us get a triangle. But I didn't choose the name, the Mad Hatter did." 

 

Jaemin was about to make a remark but Jeno interrupts him, "Talking about the Mad Hatter, he's going to kill us if we don't reach the place in time." 

 

They both nod at each other and I purse my lips when Jaemin starts to pull me by the wrist. 

 

Mad Hatter? That doesn't ring a bell.

 

As we run past a piece of wood full of signs a voice screams.

 

"BUT HATTER! I WAS THE FIRST ONE WHO CAME HERE!" 

 

"Oh shut your mouth Johnny." 

 

"I cannot shut my mouth, but I can close it."

 

"Then do that."

 

"Do what?"

 

As the conversation between the two people continues, Jaemin continues to pull me by my sweater, a giddy smile on his face as the voices continues to get louder.

 

"If you continue to talk I'm not going to give you a piece of ekac." 

 

"I can make myself a ekac!"

 

"Goodbye then."

 

"I WAS KIDDING!" 

 

And suddenly, Jeno pulls down a palm that was covering the middle of the way, the voices were clearer now and even from behind all the trees you could see all the color coming from the place the voices were in. I glance around with wide eyes, there's colorful signs everywhere, different types of fruits scattered on the floor and then there's a big, pink table in the middle, six boys are sitting on chairs and two of them were having an argument. 

 

"Johnny, just, calm down. At least for 5 minu- Oh! Tweedledee! Tweedledum! You've made it!" A boy stands up, a big smile on his face making him look almost like an angel with his white skin. Jaemin, finally, lets go of my hand and runs toward the boy, engulfing him in a hug. I shift awkwardly from foot to foot and glance at Jeno, who has a small smile on his face as he stares at Jaemin and the boy. 

 

I froze after noticing something, I glance at the boy. He didn't call them by their names. I was about to ask Jeno which were their real names but then felt a hand on my shoulder. I turn around quickly and move away, a warmth radiating in my shoulder even after the person's hand wasn't there. While I'm checking my shoulder to see what caused it to feel like that someone starts speaking. 

 

"You must be Taeil?" I furrow my eyebrows and look up, about to ask how that person knew my name before the words got caught up on my throat. 

 

Who I assume is the Mad Hatter, is staring down at me with fond eyes, a calming smile on his face in contrary to his disheveled appearance. He is wearing a big hat decorated with leaves and a red ribbon, his face is as white as a sheet of paper and his cheeks are pink. His hair is a dirty combination of brown and orange, that strangely makes his green eyes stand out. I blink myself out of whatever trance I was in and nod, although I didn't even remember what he said at this point.

 

 

He chuckles, "Tired from the long walk huh? Here, sit down. I'll get you a cup of tea." He pulls out a chair from a corner of the table and smiles at me, signaling to the chair before walking away to look for the tea. I walk with careful steps towards the chair and sit down. my lips out of habit,  I ignore the stares from the other people and look at the small plate placed on front of me. 

 

"Do you think he's the one?" The person sitting in front of me whispers rather loudly to Jeno, who sat down moments ago. 

 

Jeno shrugs and raises his eyebrows in my direction, "Probably, he gives a vibe."

 

Jaemin interrupts their conversation by adding in, "I'm sure he's hearing you guys." The boy in front of me though chooses to ignore him and leans down, his chin touches the table and he looks up at me with a teasing smile.

 

"Well, hello then. I'm Johnny, or the March Hare, whatever you want. Although I do prefer being called Johnny." I nod.

 

"Nice to meet you Johnny." His smile widens and he sits up, tilting his head to the right he looks at me up and down. I shift uncomfortably in my seat.

 

"Now, Johnny. Don't scare him away." My eyes fall on the boy from earlier, who was now smiling widely at me. As he talked my eyes fell from his eyes to his chest, where an odd necklace was swinging lightly from side to side. The necklace was a small gold clock, that looks like it has been made decades ago. I quickly look up in case he catches me staring. 

 

"Hello, My name's Jaehyun." In a matter of seconds he grabs my hand and shakes it. After my hand falls on my lap I smile and nod in acknowledgement. He seems excited for some reason.

 

"Hey! Don't you dare steal him from me, little rabbit." Jaehyun turns around and glares at Johnny, "He wasn't yours for a start." I look at the other people in the table, they were all staring at the two boys, and I felt half happy because their eyes weren't on me anymore but on the other half I was scared of what was going to happen.

 

Just as Johnny opened his mouth someone coughs and gains all the attention. The Mad Hatter stands beside me, and although what was happening he had a small smile in his face, I decide that he was a person I wanted to get to know if I had a chance.

 

"Calm down you two. I don't need more fur going around in the air." There's a teasing tone in his voice and now, instead of the beautiful smile, there's a smirk formed on his lips. 

 

Johnny groans loudly and slams his hand down on the table, making most of the people jump, including me.

 

"Don't even mention what happened." A hot pink is forming in his cheeks and I glance at Jaehyun to see him in the same state. 

 

The Mad Hatter laughs and my jaw drops, how can a laugh sound like that? I close my mouth and gulp, I glance quickly to my left just to see how he looks when he laughs. The corners of his eyes are wrinkled and there's now a big toothed smile on his face, that reaches his pink cheeks. I look away after noticing I was staring at him and look down at my lap.

 

"Oh! Yuta what's today's ekac flavor?" I can identify that voice as Jaemin's although it sounded much lighter now.

 

"Taeil," My neck bones crack at the speed I looked up, but I ignore the pain and look at the Mad Hatter with wide eyes, his mouth is closed now but there's still a hint of a smile in his face. 

 

"Ekac is another name someone," He looks at Johnny pointedly before looking at me again, "invented for the dessert Cake." 

 

I blink some times and suddenly feel so stupid, how didn't I notice, ekac is cake backwards.

 

"For your information, everyone uses the word ekac and I'm a genius." Johnny remarks with a scowl on his face.

 

"Ekac is cake said backwards. Yes, Johnny, you're indeed a genius." I cover my mouth with my sleeves but fail to hide the sound of a snort. I look around and my cheeks get warm, the stares of all the boys burning on my head. Suddenly, there are a chorus of gasps and a loud noise echoes as a chair falls on the floor. 

 

"EKAC!" Johnny screams, throwing his hands up in in the air as Jeno walks past him while laughing, a big, round cake on his hands. Everyone fallows Johnny and scream the same thing. I look around with wide eyes as people stand up and run up to Jeno, who scrambles past them and places the cake in the middle of the table. He looks up and smiles widely at me, I smile back and turn around when I feel a hand on my shoulder. 

 

"Here's your tea." The Mad Hatter points at a gold cup placed in front of me. I smile at him and nod, "Thanks."

 

"Also, you can call me Yuta if you want. Although most people call me Mad Hatter." I look at his green eyes curiously, a small smile tugging at the corners of my lips.

 

"You don't seem mad to me." He blinks twice and shrugs.

 

"Let's say I don't act mad with you then." He says with a teasing smile, I tilt my head to the right as I get closer. His eyes are sparkling now and, for a moment, I think I saw him staring at my lips. He looks at my eyes again and our eyes connect. I my lips.

 

"You don't have the smile of a mad person." His smile broadens and his front teeth are now on display.

 

"I'll take that as a compliment and I'm not going to kick you out if you let me give you a tour around here." 

 

I raise an eyebrow and lean back on the chair, stealing a glance at the other boys to see them devoring the cake, I look back at Yuta and smirk. "That's a deal."