Ellie managed to get out of school a little earlier than expected and waited for Kris to come. It wasn’t that he was late; it was just that school was dismissed slightly earlier than expected before. It was nothing new, it happened sometimes. “You got released early?” Kris asked as Ellie got into the car.

            “Yeah, I felt that there was no need to call you,” Ellie said shrugging her shoulders.

            “Okay, but you do know that you can call me any time if you need help with anything and I mean anything, okay?”

            “Okay,” Ellie said nodding her head. Kris knew nothing about Luhan or the situation that he was being faced with. Ellie had kept that part hidden from Kris for no particular reason. She didn’t want Kris to know that she had been seeing Luhan, even if they weren’t dating, and that she had already gotten a key for his house. She was sure that he would flip just at the mere mention of a boy that he hadn’t seen before. Ellie thought that Kris was just protective while Kris would explain the feeling as slight jealousy.

            “So, remember that we were going to hang out today?” Kris asked.

            “I did,” Ellie said. “And slightly, I’m excited for it,” she admitted.

            “Good,” Kris said smiling. “I want you to meet some people today.”

            “People?” Ellie asked. “I thought you meant that it was just going to be us two today.” It wasn’t that Ellie was disappointed; she just thought that it was going to be her and Kris. He was the one that said that they hadn’t spent much time together alone lately. Was his definition of alone hanging out with other people?

            “We are going to be alone,” Kris said with a laugh. “Now let’s go home and change. I don’t want to be the last couple there.”

            Ellie looked at Kris with a weird expression that Kris did his best to ignore. He knew that if he looked over at Ellie he would just immediately spill everything. He had told Ellie that they needed to spend time together to get her to come with him. He didn’t want to be the only one in his group of friends that showed up alone, so that’s where Ellie came in. It wasn’t like he was using her, maybe he was using her slightly, but it was a couple’s scare hike, how else was he supposed to get out of it when his friends were so intent on going? And how else was he going to explain who screamed when he was afraid?

            Kris had advised Ellie on what to wear and what to bring without exactly telling her what they were going for. The weather was turning cooler so they both had dressed for cooler weather since fall was gently approaching.

“Now can you tell me where we’re going?” Ellie asked as they took off in Kris’s car again.

            “We’re going into the forest for a scare hike,” Kris said as he kept staring out the front windshield. He didn’t want to see Ellie’s face when he told her what they were going to do.

            “Are you kidding?” she asked in disbelief.

            “Nope, not kidding. One of my friends in college set it up and he wants us to try it out, of course it’s a couple thing so I had to get you to come along with me.”

            “You better repay me for doing this,” Ellie said crossing her arms and looking out the window.

            “I’d have it no other way,” Kris said slightly laughing at Ellie’s reaction. It didn’t even seem like she was scared about the whole thing. She had a cool attitude about it.

            Kris was more nervous than Ellie about the whole thing. Despite his rough and tough exterior, he was nervous on the inside about experiencing such a thing. Considering that he also liked Ellie, he wanted to keep a good impression on her, even though he was sure that she would never like him the same way because of the friendship and close bond that they shared.

            But even more than she’d like to admit, Ellie at once felt an attraction towards Kris. She wasn’t sure when it started and she wasn’t sure when it ended, but she knew that she once wondered what it would be like to date him. As quickly as the thought entered, she got rid of it. She convinced herself that he was a friend and nothing more. There was no way that they would ever be in a relationship with one another, that was just out of the question and entirely impossible.

            Finally, the two arrived at the clearing before the forest and stopped where the rest of the people were waiting. “You made it,” a man said going over to Kris.

            “Tao, if you made it, you know that I would come and try it,” Kris said with a smile. “And this is the lucky girl that I brought along, Ellie. Ellie, this is my friend Tao and Tao, Ellie.”

            “Nice to meet you,” Tao said extending his hand for Ellie to shake, which she did.

            “It’s nice to meet you, too,” Ellie awkwardly said.

           It was her first time ever seeing any of Kris’s friends. During their high school years together Ellie would see his friends, but that was a memory of long ago that she didn’t remember anymore. Now that he was in college, he made different friends, friends that Ellie didn’t know about. They were never at the house for any reason when they could be, but Ellie figured that Kris didn’t want to bring them to the house. Maybe he was afraid of them seeing that his parents were simply workers for rich people, but deep down Ellie knew that that wasn’t the reason. She just didn’t know why.

            “So, considering you two are the last people to come, why don’t you guys go over there and join the other couples?”

            “If you suggest,” Kris said. “And Ellie and I aren’t a couple.”

            “You guys would look cute together, though,” Tao reasoned. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you were already a couple in real life and simply hiding it.”

            “Good one,” Kris said forcing a laugh and patting Tao on the back. “Now just tell us the rules that we have to follow as we do this thing.”

            “Alright let me explain,” Tao said as he got in front of everyone before they set off into the forest.

Chen sat on the subway and waited to be the last one to go off of the train. He didn’t want to go home. It was a simple as that. He didn’t want to go. It was place that he dreaded the most, one that he didn’t want to be near since he was always lonely. Ever since his brother died, there was no one to protect him, there was no one to look after him. Chen knew that he could look after himself, but he didn’t have the courage, not like his brother.

            His brother was outspoken and knew all of the words to say to their parents. Chen was helpless. His brother died when he was eight. Sure Chen remembered some things from him, but mostly everything was a blur. There were good memories between the two and Chen was sure that that would be what his brother would want him to remember him by, not by the words that he said to his parents, but by the role model that he was.

            Taking as much time as possible, Chen slowly walked back to his house. It wasn’t that far away, at least not as far away from Ellie’s house. As he walked home, his mind slowly started to wander to Ellie. He wondered if she took good notes for him like she said she would and he wondered what she was doing at the moment. It wasn’t nice to suddenly drop by someone’s house and he didn’t even know if she was out with someone.

            Before his house, Chen stopped into a convenience store to get some food. He was positive that there wasn’t going to be any food in his house when he got home and he hoped that his mother wouldn’t be in the house either, but that would only happen if he were lucky and Chen wasn’t feeling lucky. He was sure that something was going to happen, whether it be good or bad, he just had that feeling.

            Browsing through all of the aisles, Chen bought some snacks and drinks that he would be able to take with him into his room and eat. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to come out of his room for a while, only to go to school and then he would be able to go right back in. That was life for Chen, it never changed.

            “Oh Chen, what brings you here?” Jiyeon asked. She was just visiting a nearby store for one of the boys that she was hanging out with after school when she noticed Chen’s presence.

            “Snacks,” Chen said holding up his basket that was full of junk food. “What are you doing?”

            “Same,” Jiyeon said with a smile as she held up her own basket. “Funny seeing you here. You weren’t in school today, is everything alright?”

            “I’m fine, just a cold,” Chen said as he started pretending like he was sick.

            “Okay,” Jiyeon said shrugging her shoulders. If Chen had met up with Ellie, then he was sure that she would see right through the fake sick act, but he couldn’t say where he was. He just couldn’t, what would people think of him then? They would want him to tell more of the story about what happened and Chen couldn’t do that. There was too much and people would surely take pity on him. He was afraid of that. He didn’t want people to take pity on him. “Well, I hope you get better.”

            “Thanks,” Chen said as he paid for his snacks. “I’ll get going. See you tomorrow.”

            Without waiting for Jiyeon to reply, Chen raced out of the store and walked a little bit faster to his house. Within five more minutes, Chen reached his humble home. It wasn’t as grand as Ellie’s house; it wasn’t anywhere near as big as it. If he were to compare it to a house, he would say that it would resemble any old house, nothing new or grand, just a regular house where people lived with rooms for people to stay in. That was the way Chen lived, as close to a normal life as was deemed possible for him.

            Slowly entering, Chen found his mother sitting on the floor and staring right at the door as if she was waiting for him to walk through at any moment. Immediately upon seeing her, Chen straightened up. “Mom, why are you home at this time?” he curiously asked. It was unusual for her to be home at that time. Normally she would be off drinking somewhere, her habit that was impossible to break.

            “I hear that you missed school today,” his mother said. The effects of drinking were clearly evident in her voice and Chen knew that it was a bad idea to return home, but there was no choice it was either now or it would end up being worse later.

            “I…I did,” Chen said. There was no point in lying, it would only come back to haunt him in the end.

            “Why?”

            “Don’t you know?” Chen asked. “It’s hyung’s anniversary of his death.”

            “I don’t need to know about that,” she scoffed as she stood up from her seat. “Why would I need to remember such an insignificant day?”

            “Because he’s your son, just like I’m your son,” Chen attempted to argue, but he knew that it was no use.

            “He’s no longer my son, he was never my son,” she said in anger.

            “Whatever you say,” Chen said. “I’m going to my room.”

            “No you’re not,” she said stopping Chen. “You missed school today, you know what you did.” Chen looked at his mother with fear written across his face.

“So,” Tao said standing in front of the group. “You all are in pairs and this is like a maze and a scavenger’s hunt. I created it myself so I hope you enjoy it. I also hired all of the people in order to get you scared out of your wits.” He laughed a little while Kris hesitantly chuckled. “Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it. And you can set off.”

            “Ready?” Ellie asked looking at Kris who’s face had gotten paler by a thousand times. “Kris?”

            “Yeah,” Kris said shaking his head and taking deep breaths hoping to get back into it. “I’m fine, I’m good, we’ll be fine.”

            “Um…are you sure?” Ellie hesitantly asked. She never saw Kris act that way, ever.

            “I’m fine, I’m positive.” Kris did his best to show a supportive smile. “Let’s just go. I mean, it’s not even dark outside. How scary could this thing be?”

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What is going to happen to Ellie and Kris in the forest? Will Kris be able to hold it together? What is going to happen to Chen? What was his mother talking about? What happened to Chen's older brother?

Here is Chapter 14. Hope you enjoyed :D