Kim Jong In

Two screams. I had heard her scream several times already and I couldn’t calm down no matter how I tried. I was angry that Alice spoke to her the way she did. I was pissed that Ji Eun chose to run away instead of coming to me and I was furious she let Kris touch her like that, but more importantly I was scared something bad had happened yo her.

“Found it”, Chen came with two torches and handed me one.

“Can I come?” Kris asked.

“No”, I answered. “This is your fault since you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself. You better pray to god nothing happens to her or I w-”

“I think he got it”, Chen put his hand on my shoulder. I looked at Kris for a while more before making my way to the deep woods.

Go Ji Eun

As my tears continued to shed, I gently rubbed my ankle. I wanted to get up but, I couldn’t see anything and didn’t want to hurt myself again. To my dismay, the things Alice had said were literally popping in my head now and then making me thrice as sad as I already was.

I was still shocked over the fact that Alice disliked me so much. How could my best friend for three years, almost four now, of all people say things like that? Did she really think of me as an attention seeking or was it the alcohol talking? I thought things were fine between us. And if things weren’t fine, why didn’t she just tell me how she really felt? Was our friendship such a bad one? Was she ever genuine with me or had she been pretending to like me all this time? I n-

“Go Ji Eun?” I looked around when I heard my name. “Go Ji Eun!” My heart almost stopped when I recognised Kai’s voice nearing.

“I’m here!” I yelled.

“Here!” Another voice that was closer to me said. “Ji Eun ah!” It was Chen. I saw light coming from my right and carefully got up on one leg. “She is here.” A blinding light came on my face and I protectively hid behind my arms. “Are you hurt?” Chen walked to me.

“My ankle”, I answered without moving. Kai showed up behind Chen and our eyes crossed path. When I saw the look in his eyes, I whimpered and let out all my cries once again. “It hurts.” I limped to his side and wrapped my arms around him. Kai was still for a moment, but he held me tight.

“Let go”, he said. Confused, I let go of him and he lifted and carried me in his arms. “Let’s go.” 

I closed my eyes and leaned on his shoulder while my arms were comfortably around his neck. Kai carried me all the way out of the forest to the previously empty space we had occupied. I heard music playing in the background and a few voices, but refused to open my eyes until Kai lied me down in my uncomfortable tent. The mattress under me was cold. Kai sat on the other side of the tent and closed it.

Later

“How is your foot?”

“It hurts”, I answered. He untied my shoes gently and took it off. My socks were pulled off and I felt his fingers across my skin. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.

“It doesn’t look swollen”, he said. “I think it’s just tender.”

“I guess that’s good”, I my side to face him with closed eyes wanting to enjoy the silence. But he had to ask me another question-

“How are you feeling?”

“Why are you asking so many questions?” I asked.

“I think it’s the alcohol”, he explained. Kai lied down next to me and pulled me up by putting me on top of him. I put my head against his chest and felt very comfortable yet my heart was very aware of how close we were because it was going out of control. “Why don’t we forget about the past hour”, Kai said. “I want to talk about other things. Like how angry I was at myself during the bus drive.”

“Angry?” I asked. “Why?”

"Well I wanted you to spend time with me on this trip and not with your friends which you were with on the bus. I know how selfish it was of me to want you all for myself and I'm trying not to be selfish with you which I usually am. That’s why I was angry and now here we are with you on top of me, which makes things ten times worse cause I can't really calm down and think when you're that close to me. And now I am talking about my feelings so easily which is new to me and I can't seem to shut up cause I'm rambling and you're probably very confused by my behavior which is quite inexpl..."

"Kai", I opened my eyes and looked at him. "Stop!" He observed me. His eyes followed mine and his cheeks were flushed.

"Go Ji Eun", he said. "What are you doing to me?"

"Me?" I nervously asked. "I'm not doing anything.”

"Yes, you are." He said. "You are affecting me and I just... You... and... it's... I..."

I waited for him to say something that I could understand, instead he put his right arm around my waist and pulled me up, bringing me to eye level with him and he planted a peck on my lips that lasted a while. Another one came after the first one, and then came the third. At the fourth one he closed his eyes and kissed me roughly. It felt almost like he was suffering and in pain. 

Kai’s hands were on my waist and my hands were roaming his soft hair freely. Kai ended our kissing and his lips continued to my chin down to my neck. As he kissed my neck, a very good feeling ran inside me and I moaned. I managed to steal back Kai’s lips and let my tongue wander inside. 

Our tongues battled and I gained over the power and proudly made Kai moan. His hands went down to my hips and he put me in a sitting position on top of him. My foot hurt but I wasn’t really thinking about it. I lowered my goal and laid small kisses on his neck before ambitiously kissing and on one spot until I successfully made him moan over and over again. When I pulled away and looked at him, he smiled. I genuinely smiled back and pecked him. He pecked me back and carefully put me back in my lying position on top of him.

Next Morning

I woke up with a headache and an aching tummy. My ankle was still sore and Kai was lying right next to me which somehow eased the pain. The sun shined right through the tent making me feel dizzy and blinding me. In a try to turn away from the light, 

I bumped heads with Kai.

“Aw”, I rubbed my forehead.

“That was a refreshing way of waking me up”, Kai opened his eyes.

“I’m sorry”, I laughed.  He put his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

“It’s okay”, he said. I opened the tent and barely managed to go out. Only 7 people, Kris, Chen, Tao, Lay, D.O, Baek Hyun and Xiu Min, were sitting in front of a new fire. They were drinking something warm.

“Hi”, I waved. They all greeted back differently. “Is there any room for one more?”

“Sure”, Tao answered, “If you make breakfast.”

“Nice”, I said. I walked to them and sat in between Lay and D.O.  “Blackmailing in the morning, huh?”

“You know me”, Tao winked. He served me a cup of their drink and handed it to me.  It was delicious milked tea.

“She can’t cook”, Kai sat next to Xiu Min. “Unless you all want food poisoning I suggest someone else cooks.”

“Then why don’t you do it?” Chen smiled at Kai.

“I agree”, Kris said. “Why don’t you do the cooking Kai?”

“Yes Kai”, I chimed in. “You should do the cooking.”

“I think we should all have a say in t..”

“Sure”, Tao interrupted Kai. “Everyone in favor of Kai making breakfast, raise your hand.” Everyone except Kai put their hands up. Kai closed his eyes and inhaled.

“Sorry buddy”, Xiu Min patted his back. I chuckled and looked at the fire brawling in front of my eyes. The weather was so calm and cooling it was refreshing. It made me not do something I always seemed to be doing. It made me stop thinking.

Se Hun and Lime came out of their tent making me wander if Alice had slept alone. Lime shyly waved at me and Se Hun gave me a nod before they joined us.

Soon, Kai started to make breakfast as we all watched him. The others in Exo, Baek Hyun, Chan Yeol and Su Ho came out looking very hung-over. Eventually, Alice came out of her tent right as we started eating and she appeared with Lu Han by her side. She was wearing a hoodie but when we made eye contact, I saw her puffy eyes although she quickly looked away.

“Goodmorning”, I said and waved. Everyone awaited her answer and I hoped she had put everything behind her, but apparently she hadn’t. Alice rolled her eyes and totally ignored me as she sat down next to Lime. What happened didn’t really sink into my head until Tao clasped my hand.

“It’s gonna be okay”, he said. I nodded and continued eating. This was the most awkward moment I had ever been in. No one was talking. Everyone was eating and it stayed that way as we packed our stuff and the bus came to pick us up.

Inside the bus, everyone sat down quietly. Some listened to music, others slept and a few were quietly awake. I sat behind with Kai and listened to music from his cellphone. Before getting to know Kai, I always thought he would be the kind of guy who listened to classical music but then I found out he didn’t seem to be who he was so it wasn’t surprising that the genre of music on his iPhone was basically un-Kai-like. He listened to Hip Hop and R&B tracks.

“You have 2ne1 on your phone?” I asked.

“I like them”, he answered with a serious face. “Their lyrics speak to with me on many levels. Naega Jaeil Jalaga.” I laughed.

“That ego of yours can be so cute sometimes”, I said.

“That’s part my charm”, he admitted. I linked my arm to his and laid my head on his shoulder for support.

“Are you okay about Alice?” He whispered. I shook my head.

“Let’s not ruin this moment”, I said. He kissed my hand and held me closer to him.

A few hours later, the bus dropped us off in front of the Kim’s house. Two of Exo’s managers were waiting for them with two vans. The boys started saying goodbye in their own ways. Some hugged and others waved. I patiently awaited Kris’s hug. I didn’t want him anywhere near me at first, but when I saw the dirty look Alice shot me I changed my mind.

“I’ll see you later”, he said. I smiled and hugged the others. They soon left and only the usual crew was present.  It was very awkward.

“I’m going home”, Tao hugged me. He waved at Kai before leaving. Alice was already walking away with her bag.

“I’ll see you tomorrow”, Lu Han quickly left. Se Hun hugged me and Lime simply nodded. I sighed as I watched them leave.

“She’s going to get over it”, Kai reassured me. “Let’s go.” Kai held out his hand. I watched my friends for a few more seconds before turning around and grabbing Kai’s hand.

We entered the house that smelled refreshingly of lemon, inclining Mrs. Kim had either cleaned or was peeling a bunch load of lemons.

“We’re home”, I said. Mrs. Kim’s head peeked out from the kitchen doorway.

“Welcome back”, she smiled. “How was the gathering? Did you guys have fun?” I forced a smile not knowing what to answer. Yes, the trip might have been fun for a few hours but those hours felt like five minutes compared to the hours after the fight that felt like a whole day.

“It w-“

“We had fun”, Kai answered before me. “Ji Eun had too much fun.”

“That’s good”, Mrs. Kim looked at me. “Why don’t you guys go unpack and clean yourselves up?”

“Sure”, I said.

A few hours later, I was in my room dressed in comfortable clothing thinking of how miserable the next day was going to be. That’s until I got a call from an unknown number.

“Yello”, I answered. No one spoke, but instead I heard a lot of background noise. “Halo?”

“Halo”, a man answered. “Is this Go Ji Eun I’m speaking to?”

“Yes”, I answered. “This is she.” No answer. “Who am I speaking to?”

“My name is Kang Patrick”, he said. “I’m a reporter for K.I News.” I frowned in total confusion. Reporter? Why was a reporter calling me? And from K.I News nonetheless?

“Yes”, I answered.

“I mysteriously received an email a few days ago”, he explained, “from an anonymous person.”

“Okay”, I said. What did I have to do with that?

“On the email”, Patrick continued, “were several videos and pictures of two people that inclined they were dating.”

“What does that have to with me?” I asked.

“Well the young guy on the video and pictures is part of a very popular boy group”, he said. “And the girl… Well, the girl is you.”

“Me?” I asked in distress. A name popped in my head. “Chen?”

“Yes”, Patrick enthusiastically said. “How long have you and Chen been dating? When did you guys meet? Did people around you know and cover for you? Are you guys still tog-”

My head went blank and my eyes widened. In that moment of shock, I dropped my phone on the floor. It made a very clear cracking noise and I picked it up.  My iPhone screen was buzzed but I didn’t really care. Instead, I turned it off, grabbed my keys and hurried out of the room. I quickly descended the stairs where I found Kai sitting in the living room reading.

“Ji Eun?” He called. I looked at him and he frowned. “Are you okay? You seem freaked out.”

“I’m not okay”, I answered as I quickly put on my sneakers.

“Where are you going?” He asked. “Do yo-“

“Not now Jong In!” I said before leaving the house and hurrying to Chen’s. The door opened as soon as I knocked. Chen and Lay stood before me with big smiles plastered on their faces.

“Ji Eun!” Chen called. “What brings you here? Miss me already?”

“We have a problem”, I said. Their smiles faded, “a very serious problem.”