Hyunseong and I walked for about an hour until the rain and the fog started to let up. When we had finally reached the end of the path, it was cut off by a giant forest. The forest was dark and inside seemed to be scary, even worse than normal dark forests after a storm.

Hyunseong took my hand in his, sensing that I was scared to go in.

"It'll be okay, Alice. Nothing in there will hurt you." he said, giving me a reassuring smile. "The town is just on the other side."

I nodded at him, still unconvinced.

"Can't you just disappear us and make us reappear on the other side?" I asked with big eyes, pleading him. I really didn't want to go into the scary forest and to make it worse, Minwoo was still missing. We couldn't find him in the fog and Hyunseong had said somehow he'd make his way into town, so we should meet him there. But Minwoo was notorious for getting lost...

"I can only move myself." Hyunseong laughed at me. "And don't worry about Minwoo. Once we get through this forest, we'll find him."

I gaped at him. It was almost as if he had read my mind. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

'That's silly, Alice! He can't read your mind...' I thought to myself. '...but this is Wonderland after all...'

"Come on." I sighed, tugging on his hand, beginning to walk toward the forest. In return, he squeezed my hand reassuringly and followed my lead.

Inside of the forest was much darker than I had expected. It was almost like being trapped in the fog again. I held Hyunseong's hand tighter; I didn't want to lose him the way that I had lost Minwoo.

"Ouch." Hyunseong chuckled in the darkness. "You have a strong grip!"

I blushed, looking away from him even though I know he couldn't see my rosy cheeks in this darkness. I loosened my grip, but still held on enough so that I wouldn’t lose him too.

"We could really use some light, couldn't we?" I thought out loud, wishing we had a flashlight.

"Hold on." Hyunseong said. "I'll be back in a second."

Hyunseong's hand disappeared from mine and I began to panic a little.

'Hyunseong... now don't you disappear on me too!'

I whirled around to see if he had reappeared behind me as a trick, but he wasn't there.

"Hyunseong?" I called into the forest but there was no reply. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I screamed.

"Alice. Alice!" he said, grabbing my shoulders and looking into my eyes. "Calm down, it's Hyunseong. I just went to go get a flashlight, but I'm back now."

"Oh Hyunseong!" I cried, hugging him. "You scared me. I thought I lost you just like Minwoo."

"It's okay, I'm here." he whispered, patting my head the way he did when I first met him. I took a deep breath and calmed myself. "And look! We have light!"

He flickered on the flashlight he had just gotten and smiled at me, proud of himself. We began walking again, the flashlight lighting out way through the darkness. Hyunseong held my hand and I felt protected with him around. Not as protected as I did with Minwoo, but I still felt safe. Almost all the fear of the forest had disappeared.

Suddenly, Hyunseong stopped walking. I turned around to see if he was okay.

"What's wrong?" I asked. He looked sad. I would say he almost looked like a sad puppy dog, if it weren’t for those cat ears on his head.

"You like Minwoo a lot, don't you?" He looked at the ground while asking me.

"Of course I like Minwoo. He brought me here." I replied. I didn't understand Hyunseong's sudden change in mood. He was so playful and protective a few seconds ago. Why was he so sad all of a sudden?

"No... not like... are you... attracted to Minwoo?" Hyunseong stared more intensely at his shoes and from the dim light of the flashlight I could see that he was blushing.

'Attracted to... Minwoo?'

I thought about it. Both Hyunseong and Minwoo had been so nice to me ever since I got here, and neither of them tried to make me grow up like everyone did at home. Minwoo was the one who brought me to this wonderful place and he so bluntly told me he loved me. I could still feel the warmth of his face close to mine when he made me drink the shrinking liquid. But then I thought about how Hyunseong had saved me from my panic... twice. He kept me safe and I felt so calm when I was near him.

"I... I like you both." I sighed, dropping his hand from mine.

"Oh..." he said. ”Has... has Minwoo kissed you yet?"

A bright blush covered my face as I thought about Minwoo kissing me.

"N-no. Of course not...!"

Hyunseong looked up at me with big eyes.

"He hasn't?" he asked excitedly. His face lifted and he was no longer frowning. His bright smile made me smile in return.

"No, I haven't kissed Minwoo yet."

"That means I still have a chance!" he shouted, punching the air with his fists in a victorious way. I giggled at the ridiculous sight. He stopped his victory dance, taking my hand in his again and looking deeply into my eyes. "Would it be alright if I kissed you then?"

My heart started to beat quickly in my chest and my breath caught in my throat. I didn’t know what to say. I liked both of them... as friends. Even if both of them kept trying to kiss me, I felt comfortable around the two of them... but no comfortable enough for this yet. I was about to shake my head and tell him now when there was a sudden scream.

"Nooooo!" someone shouted, tackling Hyunseong to the ground. I gasped as the flashlight flickered off. "How dare you take advantage of her like that!"

"Hyunseong?" I asked, panicked. "Are you alright?"

The flashlight flickered on again and I saw that the boy who had attacked Hyunseong was Minwoo. Hyunseong was now lying on the floor with Minwoo sitting on top of him as they stared at each other, both of them glaring intensely.

"What was that for, Minwoo?" I said, frowning at him. "You should apologize to Hyunseong immediately!"

Minwoo looked at me with big eyes.

"Are you serious?" He asked. "This coy cat was just about to take you away from me, Alice!"

Minwoo cried, jumping to hug me. He held me tightly and I pushed him off.

"What do you mean, 'take me away'? He was only trying to kiss me Minwoo!" I sighed, my head starting to hurt again. “And I was going to say no!”

'Nothing makes sense here, does it?'

"By kissing him, you automatically become his and the curse is lifted, Alice! I won't be able to love you anymore if you kiss him... or anyone for that matter." Minwoo pouted.

"Curse?" my head was spinning. I didn't understand a thing that was going on. Nothing made sense here to begin with, but this was starting to become a terribly confusing dream.

‘When am I going to wake up from this?’

"All of us here love you Alice." Hyunseong said, finally speaking up. "We don't know why... we just do!"

"Yeah! Every time a mortal falls into Wonderland, everyone inside is compelled to love them." Minwoo explained. "And I mean everyone."

"The first one to kiss the mortal is the one to break the curse." Hyunseong continued. "Everyone else suddenly isn't in love anymore, just the mortal and the one who kissed them."

"All of us want... no need you Alice. We aren't complete unless we can love and be loved in return." Minwoo sighed.

"And it has an effect on you too. The closer Minwoo and I get to you, the deeper you can feel yourself start liking us, right? You must feel unnaturally drawn to us, right? Or do you just trust everyone this naturally?" Hyunseong smirked a little.

"I guess..." I said. I suddenly missed home. Everything here seemed scary and weird, not nearly as welcoming as it was when I first arrived.

"That's why you need to be careful about who you're kissing. You need to make sure that the feelings of love come from in here and are not just the effects of the curse." Minwoo took his hand and placed it to my heart. "Then you can kiss them and set the rest of us free."

I nodded my head in agreement, promising Minwoo I'd be careful with who I kiss when a loud, low growl blared through the forest behind us. All three of us spun around, Hyunseong pointing the flashlight in the direction of the disturbance.

"W-what was that?" I asked, my voice shaking in fear. Minwoo shrugged his shoulders.

I felt a hot breath on my neck and I turned around slowly. There, standing behind me, was a big, purple...

"DINOSAUR?!"

BARNEY! xD jk
Well I decided not to introduce anyone this chapter :3 I think I should slow it down a little bit so it doesn't go by too fast.
What do you think about Wonderland's curse? Is it still confusing? >.< I tried my best to explain it but it was pretty difficult.

Anyways... I don't have much to say. Can any Alice in Wonderland fans guess what the big purple "dinosaur" is? Teehee :3

Comment and subscribe! I'll give you a virtual cookie!
Do it for these guys ;)