Chapter 6.

My heart feels like the sharpest razor blade. I really hope this won't give me away. Cause I've been drowning here for days.

  “You will come with us on the trip!” Ten yelled and forced Jaehyun’s clothes into a suitcase. Jaehyun’s eyes widened and he immediately threw it back on the bed, Ten grabbed onto a t-shirt and the two battled each other.

Johnny grabbed onto the piece of clothes and the two froze. “Will you please stop acting like children?” He asked and Ten placed a kick on Jaehyun’s shin and he let go of the shirt.

  “Stop being immature!” Ten yelled and Johnny gave him a look.

  “And you’re not?” He asked and Ten shushed him and pushed him away. Johnny sighed while Jaehyun had dropped down, leaning against his bed and curling into a ball.

  “Jaehyun… You’re strong, you can do this.” Ten spoke softly and Jaehyun reached out for the other. Ten pulled him into his embrace.

On the floor there was a letter full of pictures, all of them the same one. That picture. Johnny grabbed it and threw it into the trash can, one of them fell down to the floor. “We’re going to have fun.” He said determinedly and Jaehyun looked up, Ten smiled. Johnny went over to the two and crouched down. “I’m bringing toilet paper, extra toothpaste and whipped cream with me. We’re gonna prank them until they leave themselves.”

Jaehyun couldn’t help but smile a little. “It won’t be easy for me.” He then said honestly and Ten and Johnny nodded.

  “We’re here for you, all of us, the whole team.”

  “Don’t worry, Jae, I promise you we’ll fight them all.”

  “But our coach won’t let us fight them.” Jaehyun said in a small voice and Johnny grimaced.

  “True. Let’s just low-key hate on them then.” He smiled and Jaehyun chuckled.

  “Why is your boyfriend so funny, Ten?” He asked and Ten and Johnny’s eyes widened. Johnny looked horrified.

  “Who- who said that- we aren’t…”

Ten continued. “We’re not- Jaehyun!”

Jaehyun beamed innocently. “Did I say something wrong?”

Ten didn’t even dare to look at Johnny before muttering something about getting them something to drink. Johnny hid his face in the blanket of Jaehyun’s bed. Jaehyun couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “I haven’t confessed yet.” Johnny muttered into the blanket.

  “Everyone already knows.” Jaehyun said knowingly. “You light up as soon as Ten steps into the room.”

  “But is he really gay?” Johnny asked and Jaehyun nodded exaggeratedly. Johnny laughed. “I shouldn’t worry?”

Jaehyun shook his head and then eyed Johnny. “Didn’t you two get cozy in the garden at the party or was I that drunk that I hallucinated?”

Johnny blushed. “I… we… didn’t really do much.”

Jaehyun gave him another knowing look. Johnny grimaced. “Ten saw you run away from Taeyong and decided to figure out what was happening.” He then said and Jaehyun felt sorrow grip onto his heart. Johnny still continued. “We went outside, thinking you had left and saw Yuta take the picture. Ten immediately ran upstairs and I tried to get Yuta but his ing team mates were there almost immediately. Doyoung took the phone and ran inside. When you and Ten left I threw the team out and demanded them to give me the phone. I hadn’t seen what picture they had taken, I just knew something was wrong.”

Jaehyun smiled a little and reached out to give Johnny’s arm a squeeze. “Thank you.” He said and Johnny nodded.

  “It could’ve been me and Ten.” He said and then blinked. “If we had actually kissed that is.”

Jaehyun gasped. “You didn’t kiss?”

Johnny shook his head. “I’m not good at this.”

The two shared a gaze and Johnny chuckled. “But now I have more courage.”

Jaehyun smiled. “Make sure you’re alone.” He said as a matter of fact and Johnny nodded in reply.

  “I promise.”

Then Ten entered with a smile upon his face as if Jaehyun had never said a thing. “Let’s start packing.” He said and Jaehyun sighed.

He had to go then.

Jaehyun was rocking from side to side as the bus was driving on roads that kept changing for hours. He could hear chatter even if he was listening to music. Ten was sitting by his side, Johnny and Hansol in the seats in the other side. The other team had taken the back of the bus and Jaehyun’s stomach ached when he thought back to when the teams were putting their luggage into the bus. Taeyong was staring at him all the time and even Johnny commented on it. Jaehyun had only glanced at Taeyong once and then avoided any form for eye-contact. He didn’t remember much of the night in the bus. Just the way Taeyong looked with his head resting on the head-rest, his neck exposed and his eyes closed. Taeyong had looked at him, saying something Jaehyun didn’t remember. Jaehyun had fought hard to remember the night and had recalled Taeyong gripping his wrist, eyes pleading.

Taeyong didn’t make any sense at all.

The sun’s rays fell upon Jaehyun’s face and he closed his eyes, seeing red and feeling the rays warm his skin. He peaked through half-shut eyes and saw yellow and green fields pass him. Then the scenery changed into tall trees with green crowns and Jaehyun’s face was in the shadow. He heard Ten laugh when the song he was listening to ended, and he glanced at the other while seeing Johnny intensely retelling a story.

They could do this, they could make this trip good. Jaehyun sighed. 7 days. Anything could happen in 7 days.

Jaehyun waited for the other group to exit the bus and Ten was on his way to leave when he noticed Jaehyun wait, while slowly packing away his headphones. Ten half stood and then he waited.

  “He has left.” He said. Jaehyun nodded in reply and Ten leaned over Johnny to look on the other side. Johnny’s eyes widened, which Jaehyun found amusing and he chuckled. Ten turned towards Jaehyun. “They’ve taken their suitcases, let’s go.”

Jaehyun grabbed onto the handle of his bag, he hoisted up in it and swung it over his shoulder. The heat of the sun was already affecting him as he felt his exposed skin heat up. The blue sky above them looked beautiful when the only thing beneath it was green. They had reached a place where there were 4 different huts. There was one called North, which had its name written on the front. The other huts were called West, East and South. They were currently standing between South and West. The huts were dark and worn out, and in the middle of the place there was a ring of stones, making a fireplace. You had to go down where a lot of rows were made by stone and then at the bottom were the fireplace. A small hill went up to it, and Jaehyun couldn’t help but smile as he pictured his team mates sit in the light of the flames, smiling and talking with the stars above them. Mark gasped and then yelped when their team mate Sehun hit him on the back.

  “This place looks nice!” Sehun said smiling brightly and Johnny nodded and pointed out a path where a small sign told them the path led to the river.
Their coaches stepped out in front of them and Jaehyun looked over to see the other team attentively listen to their coach. His eyes landed on Taeyong who wore a cap to shield his eyes from the sun. The other didn’t look amused, and Jaehyun recalled the night in the bus. Taeyong had asked him something… Something about friendship? Friendship between who? What friends? Jaehyun thought hard. Friendship was out of the question. He could never trust Taeyong.

Taeyong’s eyes shifted to him and Jaehyun blinked in surprise and saw Taeyong’s eyes widen too. The two of them shared a short gaze, Taeyong’s face looked hopeful and Jaehyun turned his head to look at his coach. His heart was beating hard against his ribcage and he felt like he was suffocating, but it had also been such a blissful feeling to receive Taeyong’s attention. If only his heart was as wise as his mind it wouldn’t react like this.

  “The huts are big and you can sleep up to 4 or 6 in each room. We’ve decided to take West as ours, facing the sunrise.” Their coach Soohyun beamed and Jaehyun lifted his hands to block the sun from blinding him. Ten was squinting at their teacher with a smile upon his face and the boys awaited their coach’s words. “I’ve decided to divide you into your rooms and I’m not stupid I know who you want to room with, shut up.”

Mark chuckled.

  “Sehun, Mark, Ten and Jaehyun will room together in room 1. Johnny, Hansol, Taeil, Jaemin in room 2. Jongin, Yugyeom, Taehyung in room 3.”

  “What? Sehun and I won’t be rooming together?” Jongin whined and Johnny hit his arm.

Soohyun just smiled. “Someone will have to be apart.” He said with an evil tone and Sehun feigned being physically hurt.

  “Ouch, coach!” He said and gripped his heart. Jaehyun caught Ten and Johnny share a gaze. Ten reached out and brushed the back of his hand to Johnny’s.

  “Now get your bags into the hut and let’s make it comfortable. We’ll make chore teams when you’ve finished unpacking. Let’s go!”

Jaehyun was reached by a smell of dust and wood when he entered the hut. It was a smell of a place where many different people had been, and then again that lingering scent of dust and age. He guessed it was older than him, and to his right there was a bulletin board full of pictures of who had been there and the reason the huts were built. Jaehyun and two others went over to look at it. It was built by Americans in the time of the Korean war. Ten gasped, “awesome.”

When you entered you were greeted by a living room, to Jaehyun’s left were couches and to his right a dinner table with enough chairs for all of them to sit. There was a doorway leading into a kitchen with blue cupboard doors and beside that a stairway and a door was in the left side. Soohyun went into that room and Jaehyun got a glimpse of a small room with two beds. Jongin and Sehun fought over who could get up the stairs first and Jaehyun smiled and followed.

Going up the softly creaking stairs, he found a hallway full of doors. There were at least 4 different rooms. A small number revealed which room belonged to which team and Jaehyun entered room 1 with Mark right behind him. Mark ran over to catch one of the lower beds of the bed bunks and Jaehyun threw his bag up on the upper bed. Ten ran over and threw his up on his bed and Sehun caught Ten in his arms. “No it’s mine!” Ten yelled and the two battled each other while Mark and Jaehyun hurried over to look at their view. They could see the fireplace and the other huts. On the other side of the fireplace stood the hut East and Jaehyun noticed someone stand in the window of the hut. He pushed himself away when he noticed it was Taeyong.

Sehun gave in to Ten and let the smaller sleep in the upper bed bunk and Mark started unpacking his sleeping bag and bed sheet. Sehun was talking animatedly with Ten who was struggling with his bed sheet. Jaehyun looked up and noticed the roof was painted marine blue and was full of yellow stars. A small note was attached to the wall beside the door and there was a closet in the right side of the room. Jaehyun crawled down and read it. A yellow pen hung beside it. “Draw a star for each person in the room.” It said and Jaehyun turned around only to notice Mark leaning over his shoulder to read the note.

  “Oh my god, that’s so awesome!” He cheered in English and Ten lifted his head.

  “What’s awesome?” He asked in English as well and Sehun narrowed his eyes on Jaehyun as if daring him to speak English too.

Jaehyun raised it. “It says to draw a star for every person in the room.” He said and pointed up and Sehun looked up.

  “I didn’t notice.” He gasped and Johnny peaked his head in.

  “Hey friends I- wauw, your ceiling looks nice!”

Jaehyun nodded and took out the pen. “We should draw some in that corner.”

Johnny pouted. “I want to draw too.”

Ten smiled with a sly look on his face. “You need to sleep in here to draw one.”

Johnny cocked a brow, “is that an invite?”

Sehun stuck out his tongue. “Stop flirting, will you!”

Mark made a gagging sound. “Couples make me cringe.” Jaehyun laughed and Sehun nodded.

Ten and Johnny spun around to face the three who was taking a chair to one corner. “WE’RE NOT A COUPLE!”

Sehun blinked. “I think I felt a wind right there.”

  “A couple’s rage.” Mark said in awe.

Ten stormed towards Mark and the other howled in fright before getting caught in a headlock. Ten threw off Mark’s cap and ruffled the younger’s hair. Johnny laughed and hurried over, picking Mark up and taking him to the window. “Open it.” He said and Ten pushed up the window. Sehun and Jaehyun were laughing, and Mark pleaded for Johnny and Ten’s mercy when Johnny stuck his head out the window.

  “I’m sorry, man! I’m sorry!” He was laughing and screaming on the same time. Below them were the porch and Jaehyun decided to save Mark.

  “I’m going to tickle Ten to death if you don’t put Mark down.” He said and wrapped his arms around Ten’s small waist. Ten shrieked and his whole body stiffened.

  “Johnny, please, save me!” He said sticking out his bottom lip and Sehun was crying from laughing so hard. Johnny took Mark inside and put the younger down. Mark exhaled in relief and Jaehyun let Ten go. Ten ran over to Johnny and hid behind him.

Jaehyun signaled for Mark to come to him and Mark crawled towards him. “My savior!”

 

  “Alright boys!” Soohyun called. “Come down and let’s make the chore teams!”

  “We need to mix a team with the other basketball team because we need to get wood and chop it up, so we thought we could mix the teams.”

Jaehyun heard the others groan and he glanced out of the window. Someone was exiting the East hut.

  “The wood choppers need lots of muscle so I thought Jaehyun and Jongin could do that with the other team.”

Jaehyun’s eyes were still fixed on those exiting the house not noticing the others looking at him. Taeyong exited with Jackson, Jaehyun noticed an axe in Jackson’s hand and he frowned. Taeyong looked up at him. Jaehyun’s breath was caught and he shifted his gaze to look at his coach.

This couldn’t happen.

A/N:

Hi guys! So I'm heading into a nerve-wrecking time since I'm taking my driver's licence and I've got a test this Tuesday. *screams* 
I'm so far with this story story, but I still have no idea of how it will end and just take it as it comes. I hope you guys are enjoying it! I'll update soon again, because I'm at chapter 15. Yes. I just can't seem to stop writing.

Thank you for the comments, and I'm sorry to disappoint you with Jaehyun not remembering the night, haha! Do leave a comment again, and if you have any questions I will reply! <3

Love,
Emma. <3