Morning rolled around, and U-Kiss and Chen could be found hurriedly packing their belongings into various bags. 

 

“Soohyun, get the pots and pans,” Kiseop ordered. 

 

Soohyun gave him a look. “No. We are not bringing those. We need to bring food, bananas, water, clothes, money, and something to help us with directions. The necessities.” 

 

“Don’t you guys have phones? The GPS could help us.” Chen asked. 

 

They shook their heads. “Because of Yuri’s stepmother, she controls everything. And that means the radio waves and transmission and whatever. So cell phones don’t work in this kingdom,” Hoon explained. “It .” 

 

“So what exactly is the plan?” AJ asked. 

 

“We’re going to go through the forest first. I’m not sure how long it will take us. But the queen won’t be able to control us once we’re out of the kingdom,” said Soohyun. 

 

“Then we’re going to go to Seoul, wherever that is. Or we’ll try to look for it,” Eli said. 

 

Chen wasn’t particularly hopeful about their plan. If it was that simple to go back to Seoul, he probably would have left a long time ago already. *There’s no hurt in trying, I guess.*

 

“Dongho-ah,” Kiseop called out, causing the younger to look up, “Go get Yuri out of her room please. We need to-” 

 

“Anything to see noona!” Dongho left with a smile on his face before Kiseop could even finish his sentence. 

 

“-tell her about the plans.” 

 

Eli shook his head and chuckled a bit. “That love struck boy.” 

 

Chen didn’t know why, but he felt a slight twinge of jealousy run through him. He touched his stomach, thinking he caught the flu or something. He merely shook it off, thinking it was just his nerves on edge. 

 

AJ, who had gone to the kitchen before, came back with a frown on his face. “There are no more bananas in the house.” 

 

Soohyun frowned. “What? That’s not possible. Hoon and I snuck back into the market and bought some a couple days ago.” 

 

AJ shrugged. “I can’t find them.” 

 

There was a loud scream from upstairs that made everyone jump. Then Dongho came running downstairs, shouting frantically and trying to catch everyone‘s attention. “Y-Yuri!” 

 

Chen’s blood ran cold at the panic in Dongho’s voice. “W-what’s wrong?! Did something happen to her?!” Chen gripped Dongho’s shoulders, trying to get the answers out of him. 

 

“She’s-she’s gone! She’s not in her room!” 

 

Without a second passing, Chen sprinted up the stairs and burst through the door to her room. His heart beat in panic when he saw the empty room. 

 

She was nowhere to be found. 

 

 

 

 

Yuri drifted aimlessly through the forest with a bag full of bananas and nowhere to go. She didn’t dare look back at the cottage, fearing that she might give in to her guilt and return. 

 

“It’s all my fault. The boys’ troubles... especially Chen’s...” Her heart constricted a little bit at the mention of his name, so she shook her head. “No. This is good. This is the way it’s supposed to be.” 

 

A few rabbits hopped across the path, one of them stopping and sniffing the air. It looked her in the eye and happily hopped towards her. She smiled and bent down, petting its soft fur. “Hello, little buddy. Are you hungry?” 

 

The rabbit nodded. “Yes, please!”

 

Yuri blinked in surprise before her smile got wider. “Oh, so you’re one of the talking animals.” She opened her bag and rustled through it to look for nuts. She found a bag of them and scattered a few on the ground. 

 

“Mhmm! Yes I am, ma’am!” it said, grabbing an almond and nibbling on it. 

 

“And a polite one at that,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Born and raised the right way. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have an attitude!” It snapped its fingers in a z-formation while swerving its head in a circle. 

 

Yuri laughed out loud at this animal. “I thought you were a rabid bunny at first.” 

 

The rabbit gave her a horrified look and touched its chest with a feign insulted expression. “I am a RABBIT, not a BUNNY. And a RABID bunny? Oh, dear lord. They’re like distant cousins from us. The type of family that you don’t ever want people to know that you’re related to them in ANY way.” 

 

Yuri laughed again. “I’ll take a note of that. Is there anything you want?”

 

It chuckled sheepishly. “Could you-uh-continue petting me?” It looked up at her with doe-like eyes. 

 

“Aigoo, you’re so cute. Alright.” She continued the animal’s fur while watching it eat. As she continued petting it, she couldn’t help but let her mind wander off, and unfortunately, it wandered off to the boys and Chen.

 

The rabbit looked up and observed Yuri’s face. “Why do you look so sad?” 

 

Yuri blinked at the animal. “Huh? I don’t look sad, do I?” She grabbed her cheeks in surprise. 

 

The rabbit sat down on its and stared at Yuri expectedly. “Spill.” 

 

“Spill what?” She tilted her head to the side. 

 

It rolled its eyes. “Your story. Cough it up. Something’s bothering you, and you gotta let it out, giiiiirrrrrrrrrllllllllllllllllll.” 

 

Yuri chuckled weakly. She started to tell the rabbit about everything. Her past, who she was, how she met the boys, Chen. She finished her story with a sullen expression on her face. 

 

The rabbit looked at her blankly, as if it was trying to think of something to say. It calmly placed its paw on her hand and patted it. “It’ll be okay. I don’t get why you had to leave though. I mean, those boys seem to really care about you.” 

 

Yuri sighed. “I know, but it’s just,” she paused and looked down at her twiddling thumbs, “it’s just that I feel like I’m such a burden. With all that’s happen to me and everything, how am I supposed to let them help me? They could get HURT. I can’t let that happen, I just can’t.” She shook her head and closed her eyes, feeling tears started to form. 

 

“And let YOU get hurt?” It shook its head. “Boys like those are impulsive. They’re always going to want to save the damsel in distress. Hun, they would do anything for your safety.” 

 

“And that’s why I ran away! I know that they’d rather get hurt instead of me. But if they were with me, and I get captured, stepmother would kill me AND them. If she finds me by herself, they have a chance to run away, and,” she took in a deep breath, “I’m ready to face her.” 

 

“So you’re giving up?” the rabbit exclaimed. It looked at her incredulously. 

 

“No, I’m NOT giving up. I’ll try to run away as long as I can. I’ll hide. I’ll do whatever it takes. But sooner or later, she’ll find me. My death is inevitable. It’s written into my fate. All I can do now is just put it off longer.” 

 

The rabbit stared at her for the longest time before sighing. “Then why are you sitting here with a old rabbit like me? Go. Go run.” 

 

Yuri tilted her head at the rabbit before giving a soft smile. “Okay.” She got up onto her feet after giving it one last pet.

 

She was about to walk through the trees when she turned around and looked at the rabbit. “You know, I never got your name.” 

 

The rabbit looked up at her and smiled knowingly. “Don’t worry about it.” 

 

Yuri nodded slowly before hitching her bag up on her shoulder and continuing her journey. 

 

The rabbit’s smile slowly started to fade away. “I’m so sorry.” 

 

It was a few hours after Yuri departed from her furry friend. Yuri missed him even though that was the first time she had ever met him. But it was nice talking to another living being. She was starting to get very lonely. 

 

“Come on, Yuri. Don’t let those feelings creep up on you. There’s always consequences in any action, and unfortunately, leaving your friends leads to loneliness.” 

 

Yuri was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she walked into something hard. She stumbled backwards and was going to fall down to the ground when a pair of strong arms caught her from behind. She stiffened at the touch. She apprehensively turned her head to see her savior. 

 

Chen looked down at her with relieved eyes. “I found you.” 

 

Yuri was dazed at the fact that Chen was in front of her again but quickly shook her head. She tore herself away from his hold, which made Chen’s heart drop a little. “W-what are you doing here? How did you find me?” 

 

“Yuri, do you know how long we’ve been looking for you?! Why’d you leave?!” 

 

“I didn’t want to be found!” Yuri’s bottom lip quivered slightly. She blinked, trying to control her emotions from running astray. 

 

“Yuri.” Chen stepped forward, reaching out to hug her, but she stepped back, not letting him. 

 

“I’m sorry, Chen. I didn’t want to burden you guys. I just couldn’t live with myself if stepmother finds us all and gets you killed because of me. I just can’t-” 

 

“Shhh...” Chen shushed her and pulled her into his embrace. “It’s okay, Yuri. Hyuna won’t find us. And if she did, we wouldn’t go down without a fight. We won’t let anything happen to you or us.” 

 

The tears finally escaped from her eyes, and she whimpered, slightly shaking. “You don’t know what she’s capable of.” 

 

“Like I said, we won’t go down without a fight.” Chen laid his chin on the top of her head and closed his eyes. The two of them swayed side to side, and eventually Yuri calmed down. Chen lowered his nose into her hair and slowly inhaled her scent. His hold on her tightened. 

 

“Awwh, what a cute couple,” a voice rang out.

 

The two of them broke apart in surprise and looked at the person who disturbed their moment. Yuri’s breath hitched, and her blood seemed to have stopped moving in her body.

 

“S-s-stepmother.” 

 

Hyuna smirked. “Yuri, you just never seem to get it in your head, don’t you?” She clucked her tongue and wagged her finger. “It’s Queen Hyuna.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry for not updating in forever. DON'T BRICK ME *hides* 

 

School's been a pain, yadda yadda yadda~ LOL no time yadda yadda yadda, same ol', same ol' 

 

Also, I was working on this one-shot for this writing contest on AFF. If you wanna read it, here: That Box in the Corner. :D It's kinda angsty, I guess. I at angst ;O; Idk why I decided to write it angst, but *shrugs*

 

ANYWAYS, HOPE YOU LIKED THE CHAPPIE. I THINK IT KINDA , BUT WHATEVER. LOL I'll try to update more this time around. 

 

Bai~ ^-^