Mina is not a spontaneous person, no, she barely does something on a whim. Among her friends, she’s the one who makes plans and all that stuff, most of which is to keep Sana and Momo in one piece after their outing trips. So, she couldn’t understand how she is here, just a few steps from going into an old, dark forest where she can easily die from literally anything.

Everything happened in the past 2 days feel like a really weird dream to her, and she was like floating around. It’s not until this very moment that she is aware of what she’s about to do. She’s going into the woods! No. She needs to go back. She can live with the curse for the rest of her life if needs be, with one or two hands. But Chaeyoung’s hand is tugging her to move forwards and her body complies. Traitor! She can’t believe her body is like this. Why can’t it turn around and bring her back to safe place? Nooo. It must follow Chaeyoung! Chaeyoung this, Chaeyoung that. She must have a talk with herself later.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Chaeyoung’s soft voice pulls her out of the racing thoughts. The girl must have noticed she’s lagging behind. Looking into those hazel orbs full of concern, Mina can feel the voices arguing in her head quietened and eventually muted, replaced by warm tingling feelings in her stomach.

“Mina?”

“Oh, sorry I spaced out. I never really travel into the woods. This… this is scary.”

“Don’t worry. I’m here. I have ventured into different woods since I was small. Never this one, of course, but I expect it’s not much different.”

“You did? How was it?”

“How about I tell you about it on the way?”

“Sure.”

And there they go; with Chaeyoung’s colorful stories of the woods, Mina doesn’t feel as anxious. It’s nice to see Chaeyoung become talkative again. Did Mina mention how much she missed the younger’s anecdotes? She really did. Chaeyoung is showing her different trees and herbs, with some cute stories along with it.

“Don’t touch this orange moss, it’ll make you hallucinate. One time, Tzuyu sat on it without knowing and it took us 2 hours to get her off the cliff. She’s convinced she’s the mighty eagle!”

“This one is really good for treating common cold, my record was brewing 30 bottles of this in one day. Crazy time. Imagine 15 kids with running noses in one room. Oh, and you drank this when you got sick too.”

Mina listen attentively. She knows, from the way the girl is talking, that Chaeyoung is trying her best to make Mina feel at ease. She doesn’t mind at all, what’s the downside of this? And it’s working, honestly, seeing Chaeyoung talks so freely like this making Mina oddly relaxed. It’s like fresh breeze after days of not talking to Chaeyoung (they did talk, but that wasn’t like a proper conversation they normally have).

They’re at the edge of the forest and the trees are not dense. There’s still abundance of light and patches of the blue sky. And sometimes, when the sun reaches Chaeyoung’s face, highlighting the curve of her chubby cheeks, her nose, her long eyelashes, Mina doesn’t bother to care where she is. The eyes are what keep Mina most captivated. Chaeyoung’s hazel eyes are like amber gemstones, twinkling under the sun light. No, Mina is sure there’s no gemstone can be as beautiful as Chaeyoung’s eyes, how they are always full of emotion, and caring toward Mina. There’s nothing can make her feel so grounded and lost at the same time.

Mina tries to suppress a sigh. A talk with herself? More like realizing how she’s head over heels for Chaeyoung here.

The younger has done a good job of keeping her from worrying about the surrounding, but she’s giving Mina a very different concern right now. It’s not a bad thing, having feelings for the younger girl. But it’ll be bad if Chaeyoung doesn’t like her back, which is totally the case here, Mina thinks. It’s not Chaeyoung’s fault for not liking Mina back, and it’s not Mina’s fault for liking the girl, either. Or is it?

She should distance herself, try to suppress her feelings for the girl. But what is she doing here? holding Chaeyoung’s hand, swallowing every word coming out of like a hungry bee latching to the nectar, and most of it, agreeing to venture into a dangerous forest. She’s a lost cause. But what can she do when Chaeyoung is looking at her with those gleaming eyes like someone puts the stars in there? Damn. She’s getting cheesy already?

Mina tries to avert her attention to the surrounding, to calm the racing heart and stop her mind thinking about how warm Chaeyoung’s hand in hers.

The shoes Tzuyu gave her are wonderful! They’re so soft, like stepping on cotton even with this rough ground of the forest. The tree leaves are turning red and yellow, which made the forest blooms with vibrant colours. Some are shredding already, creating a carpet of dry leaves under their feet, which crunches with their every step. It’s quieter than in the park, or the wood near her childhood home, as if the creatures are hiding from them. It’s normal, Chaeyoung says, that the animals here aren’t familiar with human like the ones in park. The silence is not unusual.

They are heading northeast, where the Cassiopeia normally situated. There’re some trails here, but it’s curvy and zigzag so they often get off the path. Thank heaven there’s not a lot of bushes, and the big trees stay a respected distance from each other, create enough space for two humans to go through.

They decide to take a break when they reach a small clearing. The sun is almost directly above their heads. They sit down on a trunk on the ground, which must fall recently as there’s no moss on it yet and the surrounding trees haven’t covered the space left up there. Chaeyoung takes a look of the surrounding before turning to Mina.

“Are you tired? Do your feet hurt?”

“A bit. I should have worked out more. My feet are fine, thanks for Tzuyu’s shoes.”

“Yeah, those are good ones. Please tell me if you’re tired. We can stop and rest whenever you want.”

“No worries, Chaeyoung, I can handle it.”

“We don’t have to be very fast. It’s not like we know the exact location. But I guess it’s deep into the woods. How do you think?”

“Until now I’m good. I don’t know how long we have to go but it wouldn’t be easy, right?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Chaeyoung chuckles “It’ll be scarier at night, when everything around you is dark, and when we’re in deeper part. There’s a chance you won’t see the sun for a while.”

“Now you say it, it does sound scary.”

“Are you scared?”

“Not really. Because I have you.”

It might be a trick of light, but Mina sees pink starts appear on Chaeyoung’s face and ears. The girl clears awkwardly and starts pulling out food from her pouch, or at least that’s what Mina thinks. It’s like the plastic food from a kitchen toy set, so tiny and is the miniature version of different dishes. The younger put two tiny rice ball on the napkin and pour one drop of water on it. Lo and behold, the tiny rice balls start stretch out and turn into full rice balls in a few blinks. It’s enough for meal.

“Woah! How can you do that?”

“Jihyo is very good at this. She cooks different kind of dishes and puts a spell to shrink them. It’s easier to carry and they can last up to a few weeks for cooked food and a week for fresh ingredients.”

“And you just need to put water on it?”

“Yep! It’ll be back to normal size. That’s why we should avoid getting those wet.”

“Oh okay. I’ll remember that then!”

It’s indeed scarier at night, when everything around them is so dark they can barely see their hands. The harmless trees they see in daylight turns into weird shapes like different monsters about to charge at them. They settle under a giant pine tree. Mina takes up the task of setting up tent and a fire while Chaeyoung goes around casting protective spells. The spells will hide them from passerby and animals, if they don’t specifically look for the duo. And if there’s anyone deliberately approaching them, the spell will alarm them beforehand, Chaeyoung tells her.

They sit beside each other in front of the fireplace. It’s there first day and both are tired from walking the whole day. Chaeyoung has come back to her silent self, now examining the stars through Dahyun’s telescope.

“We need to go East a little more. It’s a shame we can only see the stars by night and go in daylight. Do you want to see them?”

Mina nods before receiving the telescope from Chaeyoung. Under the dense canopies, it’s hard to see a lone star, let alone a whole constellation, so Mina can’t help letting out a surprise gasp when she sees a sky full of stars through the magical telescope. She’s never seen so many stars before, not even in her hometown.

“Woah, that’s so many stars! Which one is the Cassiopeia?”

“Here, let me show you.”

The younger shuffles closer. She puts one hand on the telescope and the other hand on Mina back to guide the latter to the right direction. It’s too close and Mina wonders if the younger can hear the hitch she just lets out. Chaeyoung doesn’t show any acknowledgement and focuses on showing Mina the constellation.

“It’s this way, North East. Lift this a little higher. There you will see five bright stars that forms a W shape. Do you see them?”

There’re lots of bright stars in the sky and any of them can form a W shape. So no, Mina can’t locate them. Besides, her attention is more on Chaeyoung’s hand on her back and the warm breath near her ear. Just a few inches closer and her lips will touch Mina’s cheek. Nooo. Why she’s thinking like that again? Get your mind out of the gutter!

“You okay?”

“Yeah?”

When Mina turns her head to Chaeyoung’s direction, she doesn’t expect the girl’s face would be so near. Now their nose is just an inch away from touching. Two pairs of eyes looking at each other, innocently and intensely, as if time has stopped at that moment.

It’s Chaeyoung who breaks the stare first, clearing before moving a little away.

“Sorry. You look red and you breath become short; I was just wonder if you are okay.”

Chaeyoung says, as if her own ears and cheeks aren’t on fire. Still, she’s worried about Mina. Jeongyeon says they have contained the curse but there might be some side-effect. Nayeon words pop in her mind as well, but Chaeyoung doesn’t think it’s the case. Anyway, her priority is to keep Mina safe and sound, even if it’ll risk her own life.

“I’m okay. It’s just I can’t find the constellation.”

“We’ll see it tomorrow. It’s the first day and we walked the whole day. You must be tired. Now you should rest.”

“Are you coming?”

“There’s something I need to do first. You go ahead.”

“Okay.”

To be honest, Mina is not okay. She’s dizzy, hot from blood rushing to her face, and her heart is beating like crazy. She taps on where her heart is, wills it to calm down and stay still. She hopes it won’t be like this every time she interacts with Chaeyoung, or else she’ll have a heart condition soon.

Behind, Chaeyoung is looking at the retreating girl quizzically. She prays Nayeon’s words won’t be true. Mina has suffered enough. Besides, Chaeyoung doesn’t know what to do if that actually happens. She’d rather die than to harm the girl.

***

Mina doesn’t know what to expect when she steps inside the tent. From the outside, it is the most basic form of tent – the wedge tent – with triangle opening. It’s small, looking like two of them need to squeeze a bit to lie inside. Mina blushes, thinking about how they’re gonna sleep tonight. Much to her disappointment and surprise, when she ducks under the tent flap, the inside is much bigger than she imagined. It’s as big as Mina’s living room, with two sets of mattresses with pillows and blanket folded neatly on top. There’s a small wooden table in the right side with two seat cushions. It’s magic, Mina is sure. There’s no other reason why the inside is this big while on the outside, it just takes up two square meters.

Mina didn’t notice how tired she is until she lies down on the soft mattress. She’s not used to walking all day like this, since she has an office job. Chaeyoung has been attentive, walked slowly to matc