Chapter 5 : Games

“Aww, I missed you” Irene squealed happily as soon as she opened the door and Jennie appeared behind it.

“It’s less than a half day Bae Irene” Jennie bluntly stated

“Still, you have no idea how much we wish you were there with us” Irene said. She had been thinking about Jennie the whole day while they were on their trip

“I wish I were with you guys too” Jennie admitted somehow, “How was everything?” Jennie looked around and asked. She got a text from Irene that Wendy left the room so Jennie wanted to come over and say hello to her friend.

“Not too bad” Irene answered in general

“Didn’t you guys bully her or anything right?” Jennie asked curiously

“Yah, Kim Jennie, what kind of person do you think I am” Irene growled at Jennie, acting mad.

“Well, I’m just saying it” Jennie shrugged off her shoulder. She knew her friends weren’t that type of girl, despite her fierce look, Irene was better than that, she was a kind heart person once you knew her. Besies Jennie did ask Irene to at least be nice to Wendy, so she was sure Irene was fulfilling her request.

“Fine, for your peace of mind, we didn’t even lay a  finger on her” Irene confirmed

“Good girl” Jennie said

“I don’t need you to tell me that” Irene chuckled “By the way, how was your ride with them? Is everything ok?” Irene asked, a subtle concern was visible in her tone, Jennie could feel it somehow. Jennie smiled before she answered to ease Irene’s worry for their friend’s sake

“It turned out better than I thought” Jennie revealed. It was true though, Jennie found it easier for her to be on the trip with the trio when Rosé made Jennie feel welcome and comfortable to be around. She was given nothing but sincere from a super friendly and nice person innher rival group, and Jennie could feel that Rosé was genuine.

Jennie was story-telling Irene about how nice Rosé was and how they could get along well. Even though Irene was relieved at some point, she couldn’t help but felt a bit jealousy. Jennie wasn’t normally open or warmed up to anyone this fast. In Irene’s case, it almost took them a whole semester at their fresh year to get to know each other and be friends, and it was more like Irene who was so persistent to make friend with Jennie

“It’s nice to know that you are ok with them” Irene said though

“Um” Jennie hummed. “You should be nice to Wendy too, she is gonna be with you for the next two days” Jennie encouraged

“I guess I have to” Irene inhaled

“I’m sure after the trip you may make a new friend” Jennie teased.

“How I wish I could think the same” Irene said with a hint of sarcasm, Jennie could only shake her head

“Let’s head down, I’m hungry now” Jennie locked her arm with Irene

“Same here” Irene nodded.

In a grand ballroom where the dinner party was held to welcome the 15 teams on the first day of their arrival at the first check point.

Jisoo watched as Jennie was walking by Irene’s side toward the table, she was in mini black dress while Irene was in her pink knee length dress, as per the dress code defined for the evening party where most of lades dressed up in nice elegant gown or pretty dress while men were in cool black suit and tie or semi smart casual.

Jennie separated with Irene when her first first settled herself at their team table, just next to Jisoo’s. Chaeyoung eagerly waved her hand at Jennie with her wide smile and gestured her to come and sit next to her, Lisa had that annoying look again but Chaeyoung ignored her.

“You look gorgeous” Chaeyoung praised

“Thanks, you look pretty too” Jennie returned a compliment. Chaeyoung smiled shyly

Jennie stole a glance at Jisoo, and there wasn’t a day she didn’t find Jisoo not pretty, even in her sleep, and today she even shined, and Jisoo was always beautiful to her. Jisoo dressed up in a white dress. For a moment, Jennie sent her compliment through their eyes contacts

You are beautiful tonight

So you are

The dinner ceremony was official begun by the opening speech from a professor, and then followed by a senior. Upon seeing a representative of the senior, Lisa turned away uninterestingly, while Jennie wasn’t quite happy either but she chose not to show. Jennie scanned around the ballroom to find other teams were seated accordingly to their team name and there she spotted Mino and his two elite members, Hanbin and Seunghoon, from the Fire Club but one of them obviously wasn’t, and if Jennie wasn’t wrong, he was Ten, from the Bright Club. And just like the other team, one of them was a distinguished member, and they were asserted for a reason.

“Bon appetite”

Chaeyoung cheered with her full energy and delight when they were allowed to start the dinner, Jisoo and Lisa chorused, while Jennie just gave a slight nod and started eating. It was clear that a long day of the drive had consumed much of their energy, when nothing seemed important as the food placed front of them now. Soon after, Lisa and Chaeyoung were completely enjoying their dinner and occasionally getting into their bicker mode, a new thing Jennie learned from taking a trip with them. Jisoo tried to stop them sometimes but chose to ignore them at the end, because she had something else to do. Stealing glances a Jennie was what Jisoo found more entertaining, their eye contact met times to times, and they were talking through the wordless conversation that only they knew and comprehended.

After the dinner continued for sometimes, a couple of MCs were asking for everyone attention to announce the next agenda for the party tonight and it was the dance party where guys would be walking around, asking for someone to be his dance partners. The delightful squeal and chirp were filled the air.

One by one, man got up from his seats seemingly mustered their courage to approach the ladies that they would like to dance with.

“Would you mind to dance with me?”

Jennie looked up when she was notified of the presence of someone, who was none other than Mino. He was sending Jennie a broad smile after his request. Jennie felt an elbow on her ribcage when Chaeyoung teasingly nudged her.

“No, I wouldn’t mind” Jennie answered and it made Mino’s smile grow even wider.

He was stretching out his hand, giving Jennie a respect bow and offering his hand for Jennie to take it. Jennie was led to the dance floor by Mino, some eyes were tailing along, and couple of them belonged to Irene and Jisoo, they looked at them with a meaning that went unnoticed by people around.

The similar courteous manners were followed by the other gentlemen in a rhythm when ladies, one by one was approached and invited for the dance. Chaeyoung was approached by Ten from the Bright Club, and Jisoo was invited by Bobby, and Lisa was a dance partner to Jinwoo. Somehow due to the fact that there were less numbers of men than women for in  these 15 eligible teams, there were some ladies without their guy partners, so some ladies started to follow suit

“Shall we dance?”

Wendy took all the courage that she had built up for a while to ask Irene when they were alone after Joy and Yeri paired up themselves to enjoy the dance on the floor. Irene, at first, looked hesitant, for a swift second she thought she saw anticipating look in Wendy’s eyes where she found it hard to deny

“Yes” Irene replied. Upon hearing an answer, Wendy felt her heart was about to burst with joy

“Are you going or not?” Irene asked impatiently when Wendy didn’t take a move, and she seemed dazed after asking her to dance.

“Huh, sure” Wendy swiftly stood up and hit her leg on the corner of the table which earned Irene a small laughter.

“What’s a clumsy” Irene commented, Wendy could only smile dryly.

Wendy started sweating like crazy when she took Irene’s hand, and Irene could sense her nervousness. So Irene just made a move and dragged her to the floor.

“Wow” Joy noticed them first

“This is amazing” Yeri looked at Irene and Wendy

The party got really started when the music was put on. For a kick-off, the slow and chilled tempo songs were played by their university popular band. Round and round , the dance partners were randomly switched among them on the dance floor, until it was Lisa and Chaeyoung’s turn to meet and Jisoo and Jennie were to encounter

“Yah, don’t step on my feet’ Chaeyoung complained

“You’re supposed to cooperate” Lisa argued

“My feet did, yours didn’t” Chaeyoung fight back.

Lisa heaved a sigh then she gave in, “Fine, let’s try again”. Lisa’s arm was around Chaeyoung’s waist, they finally caught up their paces and stopped argument but danced in sync

As for Jisoo and Jennie, who, by accident got separated from their original dance partners when other couples Sana & Lucus , Mina & Hanbin bumped into them, resulting in Jisoo and Jennie to pair up. They somehow were smoothly continuing the dance. Jisoo secured her arm around Jennie, other hands were holding on to each other, their feet moved in rhythm as if they were rehearsing it so many times. It got attention from some people, who were awed at how smooth and beautiful their dance moves appeared to be .While most other couple were having fun than to pay attention to them

Jisoo bended over to whisper “I’m so honored to dance with you”, she hid her smile, but it drew Jennie’s smile to hear so..

“Let’s play along like we always do” Jennie said. She never stopped wondering how the world kept throwing them to each other, but Jennie would mind it though. In Jisoo’s arms, Jennie was following Jisoo’s lead.

“Am I better?” Jisoo asked softly

“Better than whom?” Jennie asked back, though she knew who Jisoo was mentioning, she just wanted to play dumb

“Mino oppa” Jisoo said , Jennie held back her smile. It was fun yet cute to see Jisoo being jealous.

“I’m not sure if your dance move could beat his” Jennie’s answer caused Jisoo to pout. “ But all I can say, dancing in your arm is the best thing in the world” Jennie nailed it down and it was more than enough to lift Jisoo spirit for the night

For the first time, Jisoo comprehended the lyrics of a song that she heard it before. She came to understand how it felt like to ignore all the stares as if there was no one watching them and just focused on a woman in front of her, Jennie’s eyes was holding the miracle that captivated Jisoo’s heart like no one could. She didn’t feel her feet on the ground when Jisoo felt like flying.

Even if the whole world is watching, I’ll still dance with you

Jisoo loved this part of the lyrics even more now she understood it.

The nice evening of the party concluded with the announcement of the prizes. The best dresses went to Nayeon and Jinwoo, while the stars of the night award were given to Irene and Lucas, and surprisingly, the best dance couple turned out to be Chaeyoung and Ten, whom got the most votes for the best dance couple for their graceful sync and smooth move. While Chaeyoung and Ten went up to receive the prize together, there was one person who didn’t look very happy, Lisa pursed up her lips. Jennie couldn’t help but got curious why Lisa wasn’t happy for her friend.

The party came to an end in which everyone was willingly and happily leaving for their respective shared bedroom. It was a long day after all and nobody was complaining when the party ended, for their sore bodies were desperate for the softness of their beds, they needed a good night sleep.

Even though Jennie wished she could share the room with Jisoo, it was unlikely to happen, not that she would ask for it as well. Jennie somehow was grateful to Rosé for making everything so much easier for her. No slight awkwardness was there for them to be sharing a room for a first time, Rosé was very outgoing, which was really opposite from Jennie, but it was odd enough, they could get along well. Jennie made a mental note to keep this nice friendship with Rosé even after they completed this trip.

“Bye, I love you too” Rosé hung up a phone.

Jennie didn’t mean to mind other people’s business but Rosé just sat there on her bed, talking on phone to her sister as if she didn’t mind if Jennie was in the room listening.

“My sister” Rosé told Jennie

“You sound sweet talking to your sister” Jennie commented

“She is a sweetheart, and I love her so much” Rosé openly shared.

“Such a heartwarming” Jennie smiled at Rosé, which she returned the same gesture.

There were days when Jennie wished she could just share to the whole world how sweet and caring Jisoo was, but not as a sister but someone special and told them how much Jennie loved her . But it would remain just a wish when in reality, they couldn’t even tell anyone, and she wasn’t sure if it would be worth it to let anyone know.

Drowsiness was taking its place when Rosé’s words becoming fainted and fading, Jennie didn’t want anything than a peaceful sleep now.

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The second day came and went by very fast with the caravan of the SUV cars was making their way out of the hotel the next morning after breakfast and were headed to the suburb, their next destination. Along the way, games after games were played to earn points and special gifts. Among the 15 teams consisting of various members of regular university clubs such as music, arts, acting performance, sports, or even cheerleading, the elite clubs were still the ones being rather serious with the race, because it didn’t only mean prize but also pride as well.

And the two leading female teams from elite clubs refused to yield as well. The situation on Irene’s car was much more relaxed than yesterday, with Wendy on the driver seat, driving them and stopped time to time to help other three members to solve the puzzles of the games given at each states. Irene had a cheerful high-five with Wendy when they got the highest score for one game due to the right answer Wendy gave.

“I’m afraid I’ll go off first, see you at the destination” Irene playfully smirked at her friend who was passing her on the way she was running toward her car.

“Just don’t trip over your own feet” Jennie shot back in sarcasm, shouting after her friend, Irene turned around to stick her tongue. Jennie could only shake her head. When it came to competition and winning over the prize, Irene was second to none with her strong determination.

On the other hand, Jisoo’s team was behind, and worse when Jennie failed a mission and got punished by having her hands soaking in the freezing cold water filled with ice cubes for some minutes. Jisoo clenched her fist, feeling helpless when there was nothing she could do as per the rules of the games but stood there watching Jennie shivering. Once the time was up, Jennie was signaled to pull her hands out, Jisoo exhaled a sharp sigh while Chaeyoung and Lisa were feeling bad for Jennie too. They quickly got into a car when they were allowed to move to a next location.

“Oh my God, your hands are freezing” Chaeyoung exclaimed when she saw Jennie’s hands, they turned white and cold when Chaeyoung touched them. Jisoo couldn’t help but turned around to examine her hands.

“Are you alright?” Lisa asked. Chaeyoung looked surprised, it was the first time Lisa asked about Jennie and most of all expressed her concern.

“I’m okay” Jennie had a small smile as a response.

At the time like this, Jisoo wished she could just reach out to hold Jennie’s hands and kept her warmth, but instead she passed Jennie a hand towel.

“Warm your hands with it, it shall help” Jisoo said

“Thanks” Jennie said

Lisa pulled out and tried to undertake the other’s cars, she had a strong determination to get to the next location ahead of other. Just then a car jumped a lane and almost bumped into them, Lisa cured under her breath. “ What’s the f…k”

“Take it easy, Lisa ah” Jisoo said as she looked at a car ahead. She remembered it belonged to the cheerleading team which led by Sana.

“Breathe” Chaeyoung joined. She knew how it was when Lisa got mad.

´These kids really need to learn something” Lisa mustered as she sped up the car. Chaeyoung and Jennie had to hold on to their seatbelts. Although Jisoo was confident in Lisa’s driving skill, she was holding her breath too.

Managed to get to the front of the other cars, Lisa successfully became the first to arrive at the next location where they were given hint to find the items. Jisoo split them into pairs and told Lisa to go with Chaeyoung, while Jennie and her would look for the items on the other sides, they nodded in agreement and started their search. Once they were secluded from people, Jisoo took Jennie’s hand and rubbed them.

“Are you okay now?” Jisoo asked caringly

“I’m totally fine now” Jennie said , Jisoo nodded.

“I guess we have to get going” Jisoo said, regretted.

“ I think so” Jennie agreed,

Jisoo made sure nobody was around when she gave a gentle kiss on Jennie’s hand before they proceeded to do their missions.

By the end of the day, they finally arrived at the destination. It was a village in a suburb, embraced in the greenery field and nature. They arrived at the accommodation which turned out to be Korean traditionally wooden houses surround by a tall fence, each of them was provided for each team.

“Wow, we can have a whole house for ourselves” Chaeyoung chirped happily.

“Nice house actually” Jisoo took off her shoes and got inside the house. It was noticeable that the house had been renovated for the tourism purpose for it was clean, nice and functional

“I must give credit to the survey teams who came before us to organize all of these” Lisa commented. She was marvelous at how the activity team would come this far to find them location and how nice the places turned out to be despite standing alone in the remote villages, and she was happy to stay here overnight.

“I’ve never been in one like this” Jennie peeked at a room.

“Me too” Chaeyoung said, “Look, we have two bedrooms” she clapped.

“Great” Lisa checked out the room, and Chaeyoung followed her in.

When Jennie and Jisoo were left alone, Jisoo asked, “Do you like it?”, Jennie nodded as a response.

“Much better than I thought” Jennie had to admit, when she first saw the outside, she thought they would have to stay at the worn out shaky place. But after seeing the inside, her mind was at ease. She didn’t want to suffer a worse condition of the place when her back screamed for a soft bed.

Tonight they had a fire camp where everyone were encouraged to join but not compulsory for tomorrow morning they were scheduled to go on a jungle hiking, so anyone who wanted to rest or save up their energy for tomorrow they were welcome too.

After the dinner gathering, Jisoo noticed that Jennie wasn’t around. Irene was gathering with Joy and Yeri while Wendy was conversing with Lisa and Chaeyoung near the camp fire seemingly eating some night snack. Jisoo wondered where Jennie could be, so she walked back into the house but Jennie wasn’t in there also, she furrowed her brows curiously. Jisoo decided to call her

Jisoo : Where are Jennie

Jennie: I am at the back yard of the house

Jisoo: Back yard?

Jennie:Yeah, why?”

Jisoo was holding her phone while walking to the back yard where she found Jennie, back facing her. “ What are you doing here?” , Jennie turned around and met the curious eyes, she didn’t answer but turned to look up on the sky.

“Sky over here is so clear, isn’t it?” Jennie had the stargazing

“Yeah, it is” Jisoo was amazed at how beautiful it was. Thousands of stars were shining brightly in the clear sky.

“We don’t see them much in Seoul” Jennie uttered softly

“True” Jisoo looked up

Jennie had a side glance at Jisoo before turning back to enjoy her stargazing, one of her favorite thing. And Jisoo just let Jennie enjoy her serenity moment by being silent. They never had any problem with their comfort silence anyway, where nobody was there to interrupt them.

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“I’m gonna hate hiking for a very long time” Lisa complained as she was walking up hill, wiping droplet of sweat on her forehead.

Chaeyoung showed Lisa an annoying expression, “Can’t you just admire the nature?” she snapped

“You can’t blame me, I wish I could say I enjoy the same thing like you do” Lisa retorted grumpily, Chaeyoung were tired too but she was enjoying the nature along the walk, taking pictures here and there.

Not again, Jisoo shook her head. “Nah, it’s not like we can come to the jungle everyday Lalisa” Jisoo agreed with Chaeyoung.

It had been two hours since they started walking and now they were somewhere in the wood guided by professional forestry officers. The male teams, without the doubt, had so much fun with such activities, they were walking further away from them, they just couldn’t keep up with now.

“Do you think some teams will give up before they got to the treetop camp?” Lisa asked Jisoo

“Perhaps” Jisoo stated her opinion. While her eyes were fixed at a quiet person, and Jisoo couldn’t help but worry to see how Jennie profoundly sweated, she panted time to time when she had difficulty to catch up her breath.

“Guys, I need to do my business” Chaeyoung confessed, she badly needed to pee.

“So do I” Jennie spoke.

“ I think I’ve seen the signs of restroom a few times as we passed, let’s walk up a little bit, there shall have one over there” Jisoo recommended and everyone nodded, agreed.

They walked a little further up, and just as Jisoo recommended, Chaeyoung felt heavenly when she saw a sin for restroom, so they four of them took a turn and followed the sign.

On the other side, Wendy was tailing behind Irene. The woman looked pretty tired, but didn’t show any sign of giving up, and Wendy never stopped to admire the latter for her determination and passion. Wendy reached, her two finger pushed Irene’s back. It startled Irene that she had to turn around.

“Eh?” Irene looked confused.

Wendy prepared to answer Irene’s curiosity,“ I’ve learnt the theory somewhere that if you push someone with your two fingers while they are walking up hill, it will reduce the gravity, and that person will walk faster and less tired” Wendy explained logically, Irene frowned somehow.

“I’ve never heard that” Irene said

“Let’s believe it just once” Wendy encouraged

“Whatever” Irene said, she turned around and kept walking. Wendy smiled, at least Irene didn’t mind it and didn’t think she was some kind of creep, so Wendy kept pushing her.

It took Jisoo and her team members sometimes until they found the restroom, while they were waiting for Chaeyoung and Jennie. Lisa’s sharp eyes noticed something.

“Jisoo, look” Lisa asked Jisoo to come closer, there was a mark and craving words “ Shortcut à camp site”

“Shortcut to a camp site?” Jisoo furrowed her brows

“Interesting” Lisa had a curious expression

“Well, I’m not positive about it” Jisoo knew what Lisa was thinking.

“Don’t you think it was intentionally marked for reason?” Lisa persuaded

Jisoo pondered just then Jennie and Chaeyoung walked toward them. “ What are you guys looking?” Chaeyoung had no clue and followed Lisa’s stare.

“Shortcut to the camp site” Jennie read out loud, “ That sounds like a trick” Jennie voiced out her opinion.

“What if it is a hint” Lisa disagreed.

“But Lisa, I think it’s better to play safe, let’s go back to join the group” Jisoo didn’t want to take a risk at what she wasn’t sure of.

“We are already behind and by the time we get back on track, we might be the last” Lisa reasoned, “ It doesn’t hurt to survey a bit, if it isn’t promising, we can go back anyway” she added up

Jisoo didn’t want to make a decision at this point, Lisa fixed her mind at something and it was hard to change. Jisoo exchanged her look between Jennie and Chaeyoung, hoping them to say something.

“Lisa may be right” Chaeyoung said, backing up Lisa’s idea, Lisa smiled happily.

“How about you Jennie?” Jisoo asked

“Whatever you guys say” Jennie was too tired to care at this point.

“Fine, we follow the mark, but if we find something odd then we’ll turn back” Jisoo agreed at last.

“I’m sure, we will be the first to arrive” Lisa said confidently

The route they were taking, looked promising, it was well-paved and easier to walk, Lisa was happy and took a lead, followed by Chaeyoung and Jennie, while Jisoo was walking behind. Without anyone disagreeing, they decided to follow the mark further into the forest, they were close to be highly confident that they made a right decision.

It was after some distance they had walked, it boosted them more confidence that they absolutely found the hint of this game for their shortcut. Jennie started to get tired and her head was spinning a bit. Jisoo was the first to notice as she kept her pace tailing behind Jennie.

“Are you alright?” Jisoo asked , Jennie blinked her eyes a few time before nodding to reassure Jisoo, but she wasn’t convinced.

“We should take a short break” Jisoo told everyone

“Yeah” Lisa and Chaeyoung agreed. They sat down on rocks at the side of the trail. The shadow of a big tree provided them shelter, and they cooled down a bit. Jennie took some sip of the water in a bottle, others did the same to quench their thirst. After a short break, making sure everyone was alright, they got on their feet and were getting ready to set off again. As Jennie was standing up, she felt like her foot missing a step when the earth below her, covered in dried leafs was sinking, and she was sliding down the side of the hill-like slope, Jennie screamed in horror.

Everything happened so fast like, in a flash commotion. Hand reaching out, grabbing and screaming began

“Jennie!”

Jisoo shouted

As fast her mind could process, Jisoo acted out as quickly as possible, she was reaching out to grab Jennie and got a hold of her hand, but Jennie was falling, it caused Jisoo to lose her balance, so she was going down with Jennie. At time, Lisa dashed out to catch Jisoo but she didn’t have enough strength to pull both of them, while Chaeyoung didn’t even think twice to jump to save Lisa. The next thing they knew, they were falling off the hill and rolling down together, with each of them busily trying to cling on anything to slow down the falling, still they couldn’t fight the gravity.

“Ouch”

“Oh !”

“Argh”

“Ow”

As if they planned to say something as the same time, Jennie, Jisoo, Chaeyoung and Lisa cried out and yelled in pain once they stopped moving and met the surface of the ground. Jisoo faced up to the sky, her back was kissing the soil. Thankfully, her backpack lessened some impact and she didn’t find herself getting hurt from falling, only minor body pain was felt. So once she was recovering from her dazed stage, Jisoo scanned around to find other three were lying on the ground moving. At least, they were all conscious, and it relieved Jisoo in some way.

“Hey, is everybody alright?” Jisoo asked but her instinct made her get up, move and reach out to check Jennie first.

“I think I’m ok” Lisa shouted from the other side

“Me, too” Chaeyoung joined

Jisoo heard them uttering, but her worry sunk in Jennie. “Are you alright?” Jisoo kneeled down next to Jennie. Jennie blinked her eyes, staring back at Jisoo, whose face was obviously screaming worry, anticipating for an answer from Jennie.

“I’m fine” Jennie said “You?” Jennie scanned around, not any less worried than Jisoo was.

“I’m ok” Jisoo confirmed with a smile, Jennie was relieved to see it.

Jisoo then averted her attention from Jennie to glance at Lisa and Chaeyoung. Their clothes were covered in dirt, hair was messy with some dried leafs stuck on it.

“Lisa, Chaeyoung, check if you don’t really get any injury for sure” Jisoo ordered her two members, she wanted to make sure everyone was really fine and intact.

Lisa and Chaeyoung brushed away dust and dirt from themselves while external examined their body parts to investigate any physical injuries, luckily, only some scratches were found so they confirmed with Jisoo.

“Are you sure you are not hurting somewhere?” Jisoo asked as she helped scanning around to search for wound

“Mhm” Jennie gave a reassuring smile, when she found no track of injury on her body, besides a few cuts here and there, Jisoo was about to reach out to touch her but Jennie backed off, she shook her head as a rejection. Jisoo grunted, obviously displeased. While Lisa was offering hand to Chaeyoung to pull her up.

“Life can’t be funnier” Lisa said when she looked around their surroundings.

Not very far from them appeared the stream running down southward, where on the other side was river bank. Looking up, it was a miracle how they weren’t injured after falling that far.

How are we getting back?” Chaeyoung asked as she walked toward where Jisoo and Jennie were. Jennie was still sat on the ground.

They all turned to look up and realized they would have to climb up the hill. It wouldn’t be an easy job like the way they came down here.

But before they could figure out what to do next, Jennie hissed in pain as the sharp pain greeted her when she was getting up on her feet, and she would have collapsed if Jisoo wasn’t there to catch her.

Jennie gritted her teeth, the pain jerked up at her ankle was unbearable once she put weight on her foot. Jisoo witnessed Jennie’s distorted face with the tear forming at the corner of her eyes. Jisoo stared down on Jennie’s foot. She didn’t wait for Jennie’s permission when she helped her to sit down and quickly removed Jennie’s shoe. Lisa and Chaeyoung were speechless at Jisoo’s action, they exchanged their look, and frowned at the same time, the least they would expect Jisoo would do, with anyone but Jennie.

It didn’t take Jisoo long to figure out that Jennie had either sprained her ankle or in worse case, might have a fracture, when she touched on her badly swollen ankle and Jennie flinched.

“Oh my goodness” Chaeyoung exclaimed as she squatted next to Jennie. Lisa gulped, it didn’t look very good to her.

“This is not good” Jisoo stated, with a tone Jennie could detect that she was worried but tried her best to hide it.

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“Who are you looking for?” Wendy asked as she noticed that Irene kept glancing backward time to time

“Did you see Jennie and your friends?” Irene asked frankly

“I believed they were tailing behind us” Wendy remembered the last time she caught the glimpses of them

“Are you sure? I haven’t seen them a while” Irene frowned

“They might take a break or something” Joy chimed in

“I believe they took a turn to stop by at a restroom”

“Maybe that’s why it took them time” Wendy added

“I guess” Irene decided to drop and continued

While their friends came up with possibly answers why they hadn’t see Jisoo, Jennie, Chaeyoung and Lisa yet, the event monitoring team was notified that Jisoo’s team found a hint and took a shortcut, as per what they had monitored from a hidden cam behind a sign. They didn’t even worry when one team didn’t join the rest and believed they would make it to the camp site soon, but what they didn’t know, Jisoo, Jennie, Chaeyoung and Lisa were facing a difficult task.

-------------------- To Be Continued --------------------

A/N: Another short update to introduce some more characters especially those in other two elite clubs . But don’t get too excited, the characters come along the way, are cameos only, and will take minimal parts in the story as it goes.

Thank you for your comments and some suggests for encouraging Jensoo to run away keke, let’s they think about it. Jensoo will have a long way to go, so do ChaeLisa and WenRene. Please stay tuned.