Youngjae poured some liquor in a small glass for his leader and Yongguk waited calmly on his seat. His eyes trailed to look at s' faces in front of him.

 

None of them decided to utter a word when they got a call to gather in their usual room.

 

Yongguk gulped his drink in one shot and put down the glass on a table. "I've been thinking all day long for our new plan. And I think this time is the best."

 

Daehyun's face brightened up to know, "What is it, hyung?" Zelo stood at the corner of the room and only listened to s conversation carefully.

 

"We will be letting Zelo to stay closer with EXO and that girl." Yongguk spilled and the corner of his lips perked upward to become smirk. The members were surprised with the plan and Zelo was puzzled. "…Me?"

 

"Zelo is the last member to join us as a warrior. Besides, EXO didn’t know he exists. We're known as their enemy with five members. Not six." Yongguk explained.

 

"We will be using this chance for him to stay closer with them. Find out what's their plans, where they are going and most importantly, get the map and kill them." Five of s listened to the details over his new plan and agreed. Except Zelo, who remained with no word.

 

"That's the only chance we have for now." Himchan nodded his head. Zelo stood up from his seat, "That's not fair! I mean, do I really have to risk myself alone?"

 

Yongguk poured more liquor into his glass, "You're a warrior. It shouldn’t be a problem for you."

 

"But what if they found out the truth?"

 

"They won't know, unless you decide to ruin the plan and let them kill you." Yongguk glared at him, biting his lip. "You're the only person who can help us. Don’t ruin my plan. Do you know what happens when we failed to get the map?"

 

Zelo lowered his gaze. He didn’t want to mention it by himself. "We'll be dead in the prince's hand. I'm sure you don’t want that to happen."

 

There was no sound could be heard in the room. Everyone remained silence at the mention of death.

 

Zelo heaved a deep sigh when he jerked his head up to eye his leader, again. "It's up to you now. Everything is in your hand. You're not risking your life alone, Zelo. All of us are risking ourselves for the sake of the empire."

 

 

---

 

 

"I couldn’t believe that you risked your life to save Sehun!" Tao was impressed to remember how Hana took the quick action and he kept mentioning it all the time when they were walking home.

 

Hana chortled, feeling a bit embarrassed, "I was scared to death, too. But there's no way I'm letting him die when we came here together."

 

Sehun heard her words very well and yet, he had been feeling guilty over his acts on Hana all the time before he felt a soft pat from someone. Turned out it was Lay.

 

"You should thank her, Sehun. She did something brave even when she's just a girl." Sehun stood at the corner of their home and watched as Hana laughed over Tao's and Chen's joke to remember how they freaked out and managed to escape from the hideous monster.

 

"Have you looked at the pearls, Hana?" Kris asked when he was dying to know what mystery could be revealed for this time for gaining three pearls.

 

Sehun pushed himself off against the wall that he leaned to join the group and took a look when Hana tried to pick the pearls out from her bag. Three black pearls were now in her palms and their eyes were focused on it.

 

Suho's eyes were on Hana. He didn’t want anything happen on her again like how the pearls made her to faint out of sudden.

 

Baekhyun scooted closer to her, "Did you see anything this time?"

 

Hana heaved a deep sigh, "Not yet."

 

"Maybe you should focus more looking at the pearls." Chanyeol interrupted. Hana digested his idea into her mind and saw Kai helped to pull a chair for her to seat, "Just relax. Don’t force yourself too much. It will comes."

 

She glued her eyes down on the pearls. Now, she could feel a slight pain in her head and she endured it, biting her bottom lip. Please, let it show us something that will help us together.

 

The guys waited around her, eager to know what she was seeing when both of her eyes were closed.

 

Hana saw the images of EXO members were fighting with their swords against some kind of armors and how a few of them fell on the ground, dying.

 

Blood covered the white snow on the ground and she didn’t know if it belonged to the EXO warriors or others.

 

She clasped three of the pearls firmly in her hand of fear. She was starting to sweat a lot. Where is this? I…have never been to this place…

 

"What do you see?" Kai asked and Kris held his shoulder to tell him to wait until Hana had done.

 

The image started to change when she saw wolves were after her and she couldn’t get to memorize the faces and she was confident enough they could be someone who against her and the EXO warriors.

 

But then, she saw herself in a better place. Somewhere with beautiful surrounding, near a lake with blooming flowers. And there was a guy standing next to her and he was holding her hand, tightly.

 

Hana realized, something good was actually coming to her in the future but yet, she had no idea who was the one who stood next to her. She couldn’t get the clear image of the 'person'.

 

"Kim Hana?" She snapped out of her thoughts and gasped for the air to breathe. She was surprised.

 

Twelve pairs of eyes were staring at her and wondered what happened to her when she was sweating a lot.

 

"What did you see? You're sweating too much," Xiumin held her shoulder to calm her down.

 

"I…I saw the image of us…Somewhere at a place covered with thick snow…"

 

"…It…could be the next place to get the pearls," Hana continued and there was no way she was going to tell them how she saw all the bloods covered the snow. She was scared.

 

"Looks like we will be going there during the winter," Kris made a conclusion.

 

"And? What else did you see?" D.O asked more. "There were wolves too. It must be them. I don’t know but I'm sure, they'll be here, because of me." Her hands were shaking of fear now and she felt someone grasped it to let go the fear.

 

She saw the look from Suho like he was telling her that he was there to protect her, along with the others. "Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine. We won't let them harm you. Not even once."

 

Her eyes were glistened with tears. What if…they're going to die because of me? What if the wolves are here to kill them?

 

Her gaze slid off from Suho to look at each of the guys in front of her. She decided not to tell them about what she saw in the last one. Maybe it was better to keep it as a secret to herself.

 

Which one of them that was meant to be with me in the end? Will I really be able to have a…happy ending?

 

---

 

The Secret Map beside Hana on the bed was placed safely in a big box before she locked it and kept it somewhere in her room. It was Suho's order to keep it safe from anyone.

 

She felt her legs were getting sore for running too much and she massaged it, gently before taking a seat on her bed.

 

Until someone knocked on the door and pushed it opened to reveal a figure was looking at her.

 

 

"Sehun…" The name escaped from her lips when he stood at the door frame, "Am I disturbing you?" He asked, politely. He looked completely different with his soft tone when he spoke to her.

 

Hana tried not to make it look strange to her so she flashed him a smile, "Not really. I'm doing nothing. Come in." She tied her long hair to ponytail and Sehun dragged his legs into the room and grabbed a chair near with her bed.

 

He was sitting in front of her, trying his best to look at her eyes.

 

Regret and guilty feelings mixed up in his heart and he didn’t know how to start his words.

 

"…About earlier, thanks a lot for risking your life to save me." Sehun spoke it, finally. Hana was a bit surprised at the sudden words that blurted out from his mouth but she felt something good in her heart. At least, he's being thankful. I'm glad he took the effort to see me.

 

"I know, I was a jerk for not being good to you. Yelled at you, accused you for things that you didn’t do and didn’t treat you nicely even when my brothers did."

 

"I was supposed to take care of you. I shouldn’t have too many bad thoughts on you, Hana. I regret for what happened in the past. If you weren't there to save me, I'd probably die. I'm sorry, Hana. I'm really sorry."

 

Hana's shoulders became relaxed after listening to him. She did hate it the way how Sehun kept treating her so badly compared to the other members but never for once, she thought that she should hate him.

 

She reached out her hand to hold his hand, tightly and Sehun jerked up his head to lock his eyes with hers. She was smiling at him, warmly.

 

"It's alright, Sehun. I understand that. You're probably scared since I'm just a stranger with no identity who happened to be in this place. I can tell that you're being concern about your members' safety. But deep in your heart, I know that you're kind enough."

 

"So, do you forgive me?" Sehun waited for her answer and Hana chortled to see his face, like he was really pleading.

 

"Of course. As long as we're fine." She nodded her head before Sehun jumped off from his seat to hug her tightly, "Thank you so much! I promise that I'll take care of you. I won't let anything or anyone harm you. Not for once, noona."

 

Hana pulled off and stared at Sehun while frowning, "Noona? How old are you exactly? I remember that I never know about your age and the others," she asked, curiously.

 

None of EXO warriors told her about their actual ages.

 

Sehun grinned, "Well, I'll be turning to 19 soon. But, I still want to call you as 'noona'. Is that fine?" He wiggled his eyebrow, playfully.

 

Hana smacked his shoulder, "Ah, why?! You're making me to feel old by calling that!" She pouted.

 

 

 

Later that night, Hana went outside of the house alone and took her seat on a bench while gazing up at the dark sky filled with the stars.

 

And she noticed a shadow appeared beside her who happened belonged to Lay. He sat beside her, in a deep breathe.

 

 

"It's cold. What are you doing here?" He asked and Hana's gaze slid off from the sky to look at his face, "Same goes to you. You shouldn’t be here if it's cold. I'm scared you'll catch cold right away."

 

"Did you forget that I got the healing power? I'll get better right away." She laughed at his words and nodded at the fact he was right about it.

 

"Do you miss your home?" Lay finally asked another question and he saw she was trying her best to smile.

 

"Honestly, yes. I wish I can go back to the times where I don’t have to risk anyone or my own life for something that I had no idea what was going on," she mentioned at how she got tired of it and he was laughing.

 

"But, there must be a couple of reasons why you're here. You get to meet us. I get to know you and find out what's the secret behind all of these together," Lay's eyes were glued on her face and he realized how she looked beautiful under the moonlight.

 

 

Her dark brown colored eyes were shining and Lay was totally mesmerized over how pretty she was.

 

It wasn’t his first time seeing a girl sitting closer to him.

 

Besides, that was the first he had seen someone like her. His eyes trailed down all over her face to adore her natural beauty. A few strands of her hair fell on the side of her face.

 

She's beautiful. Everything about her is perfect to me. Lay didn’t realize he was smiling and being in his own world while having his own thoughts.

 

Hana nudged at his ribs, "What's so funny? I'm not making any jokes." She half-pouted and half-smiled.

 

Lay pinched her puffy cheeks to see how she was too cute, "Stop being cute. You know, that can be one of your attractions to make the guys fall for you."

 

"Aye, is that mean you've fallen for me now?" She said, jokingly although Lay's cheeks turned red as tomato and she wasn’t noticing it.

 

"Kim Hana!" They got interrupted when a voice called for her name and as she turned her head, she saw Baekhyun, Chen and Chanyeol were coming out from the front door and Baekhyun was hopping like a rabbit to her, like a kid.

 

"What are you doing?" Baekhyun questioned with his weird tone to make it sound like an aegyo to her.

 

 

Chanyeol pursed his lips, "Stop making that voice. My ears are going to bleed."

 

"I'm doing this for Hana," Baekhyun sat between Lay and Hana. He thought it was a chance to sit closer to Hana and Lay started to move his to the edge of the bench. He spoiled the moment! He even sits beside her!

 

"You shouldn’t be here, Snow White. It's cold." Chen hugged himself when the cold breeze brushed his skin.

 

"You called her Snow White?! What the hell…." Chanyeol commented.

 

"She deserved to! We're like the seven dwarfs who are her friends. Best friends, for more specific." Baekhyun explained and Hana's cheeks flustered to hear it. "Aww, guys."

 

Lay chortled, "Well, looks like we have to protect the Snow White from being poisoned."

 

Chanyeol rolled his eyes, "Whatever. I'm not a part of the dwarfs, alright?" He crossed his arms across his chest in protest.

 

Baekhyun whacked his arm, "Be nice to her. Or you'll end up eating the poisoned apple."

 

Hana laughed along with Chen and Lay to witness how the two fought over her being the 'Snow White' until something crossed in her mind and the smile vanished from her face.

 

"Oh, Sehun told me about your age," she finally spilled it and eyed them when they were paying their attentions on her. "I never thought I'm the youngest one." She continued.

 

Baekhyun slung his arm over her shoulders, "It's good if you know about that. Please don’t hesitate to call us 'oppa' from now on."

 

"That sounds much better to me!" Chen beamed.

 

"Not for me. Don't even dream to call me that," Chanyeol glared to warn her and Hana shrugged her shoulders and giggled, "I still want to call you with that. Channie oppa~" She and Chanyeol gaped at it, "Yah!"

 

Hana hurriedly ran to get into the house and saved herself when Chanyeol started to chase after her.

 

The other three enjoyed to see how Hana was starting to get comfortable with all the members and was able to joke around with them.

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Hana felt body was being shaken, gently. And a voice was whispering to call her name. She opened her eyes slightly, only to see someone was in her room, staring at her face.

 

 

Surprised to his presence, she was about to scream but he was quick to tell her to keep quiet.

 

"…What are you doing in here?" Hana asked as she pulled her blanket up to her chest. Her eyes were glued on Luhan in front her who was trying to make sure that he didn’t wake the others.

 

"I'm thinking to bring you somewhere nice before the guys wake up." He told her and Hana saw the sky was still dark. She eyed him, curiously, "Are you trying to kidnap me from them?"

 

He laughed for a moment and remained quiet, "I'm not. Don’t worry. You'll thank me later." He poked her nose, teasingly, "Go and change into something comfortable. I'll be waiting outside. Make sure not to wake the others."

 

Luhan left her room and kept the door shut. She turned her head to look at a table clock beside her bed to check the time. Her eyes were wide-opened. It's 6.15 in the morning?! He woke me up this early?!

 

They left the house after fifteen minutes changing into comfortable clothes. She followed behind him when he was leading the way and she was drowsy for waking up earlier than her usual time.

 

"Where are we going? You shouldn’t take me out at this hour! It's too early!" She bragged and yawned a few times. Luhan looked at her over his should and grinned, "You won't regret for seeing it later. Trust me. Hurry up!"

 

Hana groaned when she had to climb a small hill and she breathed for the air, "If I regret for coming here with you, you'll have to pay for it."

 

They climbed a few hills and Hana complained how it was too tiring for her. The morning dew was too cold for her and she kept both of her hands in pockets.

 

Luhan cracked a few branches to make it easier for her to walk behind him.

 

Hana's foot stepped on wet moss, accidentally and lost her balance. She was too panicked and tried to grab the nearest big branch to hold herself before someone grabbed her hand to pull her.

 

Hana breathed of relief when Luhan grew worried at how she was being careless while taking her steps.

 

"I told you to be careful. You're going to hurt yourself." "I'm sorry. It was too slippery." Hana admitted and went up to stand next to Luhan. He still didn’t let go off the grip around her wrist.

 

"We're almost there. Hold my hand so you'll get to reach there safely." She pouted over how he was being too worried. "I'm not a little kid. I can go up there by myself."

 

"It's my responsibility to take care of you, princess." He replied, but more jokingly to make her smile again. "I got too much nicknames in two days." They went to the top of a hill together and Luhan let her to be at the front and helped her taking her careful steps.

 

It took about less than ten minutes when they had finally reached the place.

 

Hana was mesmerized when she saw the view from the top of the hill and everything was covered in green. She in the fresh air in the morning and beamed while cheering with both of her hands.

 

Luhan came from behind and watched how she grew excited with it. He chortled, "She was the one who complained too much."

 

Hana saw him in her sight and went to pull his hand, "I never know that there's such a nice place as this! We should come here often!"

 

"As you wish, princess."

 

"Then, we'll come here everyday."

 

"Not a big problem for me, as long as, you won't complain too much when I have to wake you up early in the morning and sneaked out from the house," he joked when her smile vanished from the face. "Sorry about that, alright?"

 

Her back was facing with the beautiful view and it was the time that Luhan wanted to show her so much. He didn’t want to let her miss the chance and made her to turn around.

 

The sun has risen and the sky was in orange colored. She was totally fallen with the view when it was the first time to see the sun rose in the morning, on the top of the hill.

 

Luhan went to stand by her side and the scenery didn’t attract him too much.

 

He was attracted to the person who was standing next to him.

 

His cheeks blushed in pink to remember how he had totally fell for her. He had to admit, he loved seeing her secretly. Ever since she appeared in his life.

 

"…Beautiful…" Luhan spoke when his eyes were glued on her. Hana nodded to agree with him when her eyes were still enjoying the view, "Yeah, beautiful."

 

No, I mean, you. You're too beautiful.

 

Hana's gaze slid off from the scenery to look at him with a wide smile, "I'm not regretting it. Thanks for bringing me here. I should bring the others here too."

 

Luhan's face expression changed at the mention of the other members, "N-No! You don’t need to do that!"

 

"Why?"

 

He bit his lip, "…Because it's a secret place for me. No one should know about this place."

 

Hana furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "Then, I shouldn’t know about it, too."

 

He scratched his head when he lost of words now. "You're different." He said those words, bravely and hoped she wouldn’t question too much or else he'd spill the truth about his feelings for her.

 

Luhan immediately sat on the grass and she followed him, "That's weird."

 

"There's nothing weird. I prefer not to tell anyone about this secret place. You need to keep it by yourself," Luhan warn her and she laughed while pulling some grass beside her.

 

"Honestly, it's a place for me to spend my time alone, without anyone else. I figured this place last few years ago. Right after the death of my younger sister."

 

Hana froze from doing anything and jerked her head up to look at his face at the truth, "…Your sister?"

 

Luhan nodded heavily, "She was a cheerful girl. She cared everyone around her more than herself. I usually scolded her for being too dumb," he laughed to hold any tears from coming out. "You don’t have to tell me about her if it's going to upset you."

 

"No, I'm fine. After all, it has been five years. I'm alright with that." Luhan smiled to ensure her that he was alright about it.

 

"She suffered with her cancer for a long time and not for once, I've ever seen she cried in pain in front of me. She always told me how she wished to see the sun rise with beautiful scenery. But everything was too late."

 

Hana felt the burden he had been keeping to himself. I never know that he's holding the pain alone.

 

Her hand went to reach his shoulder and patted on it, gently. "It's okay. I'm sure, she's happy now. You shouldn’t be sad. She won't be happy if you're feeling like this."

 

Luhan wiped tears at the corner of his eyes and tried his best to smile for her, "I shouldn’t ruin the mood."

 

"You're not. At least, you're letting out something that you've been keeping inside. You can always share your stories with me."

 

"I'm glad to hear that." Luhan replied and glanced at her again, "I heard that you got a nickname for yourself. Snow White, huh?"

 

Hana gave a casual shrug, "Maybe. They seemed to like it very much calling me with that last night."

 

"And I called you 'princess' earlier."

 

"Stop giving me too much nicknames. It's making me feel awkward." She laughed along with him.

 

"It's fun!" "Better don’t call me with that in front of the guys. Especially Chanyeol!" She warned him about it and remembered how Chanyeol complained how she got to be called as Snow White.

 

"That giant dude loves to find a way to argue with you. Don’t mind him. He'll give up when he's tired." Luhan advised her and she agreed while nodding her head.

 

His gaze shifted back to look at the front and the sun was getting higher.

 

"Maybe we should go home now. I'm scared if the guys will get worried if they find out we're not there," Luhan stood up and brushed off the dirt on his pants. He held out his hand to help her getting up.

 

Without hesitating, she held his hand and stood up, in a breath. "We'll come again next time. I'll bring you here again," Luhan promised.

 

The corner of her lips perked upwards to know about it. Luhan guided the way and she followed him as they walked together side by side.

 

Going down the hill wasn’t too hard compared to when Hana was struggling to get on top of the hill. She carefully held onto big branch of tree to prevent herself from losing any balance and Luhan was protecting her from behind.

 

They shared their stories and laughed over other things happened in the past in their lives.

 

Until Luhan heard something wasn’t right and shut his mouth before pulling Hana closer. She was surprised at his sudden action when he gripped her wrist, tightly.

 

"…What is-" "Keep quiet. Something isn't right." Luhan whispered to her and his other hand was already holding his sword. Getting ready to take it out if there was any harms were coming to them.

 

Hana saw small trees on the other side were moving when there was no wind. Heart thumped in her chest. The wolves aren't here for us, right?

 

Both of them heard loud roar and it freaked both of them when a black bear appeared out from behind shrubs. Hana gasped of fear and her hand was holding onto Luhan's arm, tightly.

 

Her knees were shaking and she was sweating too much. "…Oh ," Luhan cursed under his breathe and gulped. He knew they were totally in a big trouble now.

 

The roar was getting louder when the bear caught both of them in its sight and was about to run to get them before an arrow hit right at the bear and in a few tense seconds, the bear fell on the ground, groaned in pain.

 

Hana breathed hard to witness how the bear was a few meters away from them.

 

A man appeared from nowhere while holding his bow and kept his arrow behind him.

 

 

She saw the look from Luhan and she knew he was shocked too over what happened but luck was on their side when the bear was dying.

 

Zelo saw both of them and heaved a deep sigh, "Both of you will be dead if I wasn’t here," he said and Luhan kept his sword back, safely. Zelo pulled out the arrow from the bear and Hana saw bright blood stained on it.

 

"Who are you?" Luhan questioned. Hana nudged him, "Don’t you think that we should thank him for saving our life?" She whispered but Luhan didn’t take her words.

 

He chortled and noticed Hana came out from hiding behind Luhan. "I was expecting that you'd thank me. Don’t worry. I'm just here to hunt animals. Not humans." He joked although Luhan felt uneasy with his words.

 

"I'm sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I was too shocked when the bear was about to attack us. Thanks for saving our life," Luhan thanked him and he went meet with Zelo. Hana followed him and was still being careful.

 

"It's a small matter for me." Zelo smiled. "I think, we have to go now. We have a lot of things to do." Luhan said, kindly to excuse both of them. Zelo's eyes were glued on Hana when her hand was still holding his arm.

 

"Let's go, Hana," Luhan spoke and she nodded her head before they left the place hurriedly. He thought that it was the best not to spend their time to talk with a stranger.

 

Zelo eyed them as they started to leave and disappeared after passing the shrubs and trees.

 

"Looks like, this plan is a bit hard for me," he muttered under his breathe and stared down at the bear which was already dead because of his arrow with poison.

 

---

 

WARNING: There will be character death in this story.