~*Chapter Twelve*~

When you got back, you handed over your foraged fruits to Kyungsoo who beamed and thanked you both for your hard work. Chanyeol dismissed him and took you on a small tour of the house, introducing you to the pair you had run in to yesterday, Suho and Sehun. You didn’t, however, see Baekhyun at all on your travels. You scoffed to yourself, why did you even care? Maybe it was the small glimpse of the boy from the asylum that you saw in his eyes that had brought back some hope or maybe it was just because you couldn’t let go of the past, no matter who or what it was.

Chanyeol took you around the whole tree house, from the wash room to each of the Lost Boy’s bedrooms; he had insisted you know whose was whose in case you needed any help, the kitchen, living room, the dining room and then finally your room which Kyungsoo had properly prepared whilst you were out. The bed sheets had been changed and there was a pile of clothes stacked on a chair that was near a wooden desk in the farther corner of the room, right next to a window overlooking the jungle.  The desk had a book of plain drawing paper laid on top and handmade pencils placed neatly in a cup beside it.

“We thought you might get bored, so we got you a sketch book,” Chanyeol explained rubbing the back of his neck, “You don’t have to use it if you don’t want to.”

“No, that’s lovely, Chanyeol, thank you,” you smiled. For the second time in your two days on this island, you were actually genuinely happy. Even though Baekhyun wasn’t himself, he was right when he said that the Lost Boys were nice, well two of them definitely were anyway. You didn’t really know much about Kai, Sehun and Suho since they hadn’t really spoken much yet.

“Kyungsoo is serving dinner tonight, so you can come down and join us if you like,” he smiled his warm smile and you nodded,

“I’d love that.”

Chanyeol gave you the thumbs up and left you alone for a while to think things through. You sat down on your freshly changed bed and kicked off your boots, flexing your aching feet. You groaned to yourself when you thought about how ridiculous this all was.

One moment you were in an asylum being treated like a baby, the same thing day in and day out. The next thing you knew you were on a far away island you had never heard of, apparently not even on the same planet, and now you were sat here wondering where it all went wrong.

Sure you were OK with Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, but everything else was annoying and stressing you out. First there was that freaky encounter with Jin. You wanted to visit him again and ask him more advice, even though he was weird and knew things about you that you had never shared, he still held answers, ones you needed right now to the questions that were swimming around in your head. But he had told you not to find him again, that only made you want to find him even more.

Then there was Kris and his crew, the ones who were supposed to be void of compassion and love, yet had shown kindness towards you when they took you to their ship just yesterday. You wanted to know why they had been cursed with that terrible fate and part of you wanted to help them break it. You knew that deep down, they were nice guys since one of them had even saved you.

And then there was Baekhyun. Everything always came back to him. You just wanted the boy from the asylum back. The one who made you happy and excited, the one who had promised you so many things, the one who guided you on the path to recovery; only to be the one who you hated right now.

You shook your head and grabbed some of the clean clothes before heading to the washroom. You were still dumbfounded as to how there could possibly be a washroom in a tree house, but Chanyeol had just waggled his fingers in the air while whispering “magic.” You had learnt not to argue with anyone about anything while you were here, it was better to just accept the weird and the wonderful. You allowed the tepid water to fall on to your aching body. Your hangover was still insisting on making you feel groggy and deprived of energy and your legs and thighs were aching from the horrific amount of walking you had done, especially since you weren’t used to it at all. You found a fruity looking bottle of shampoo on the little shelf built in to the wall and shrugged before squeezing some in to your hand and massaging it in to your hair. It was great to finally have clean hair; the little things suddenly made you feel a whole lot better.

Once you were all done, you changed in to a plain, black top and grey sweats before heading back to your room. You wandered over to your little wooden desk and sat down in the chair, pulling yourself in. Picking up one of the pencils, you twirled it around in your finger as you flicked open the sketch book and stared out of the window. It had been a while since you had drawn, you used to draw as a child, but back then it was just a little hobby. Your mother had always told you that you were good, but you had always thought she was just saying that to make you feel better. You focussed on the scene outside, looking closely at how the trees intertwined with each other and you began to sketch them. You paid close attention to the small details, like the small birds that were resting on the branches and the odd shapes of the leaves. Pretty soon, it started to go dark and you could smell dinner being concocted downstairs. You didn’t really want to go downstairs with the Lost Boys and Baekhyun, but knowing that Chanyeol and Kyungsoo would be there gave you a little comfort.

You set your pencil down alongside your almost complete drawing that had now spanned over the whole page, and made your way downstairs. The deep, loud voice told you that Chanyeol was definitely in the dining room along with the others. You pushed the door open hesitantly and he looked up immediately, waving you inside with a huge grin on his face. He had saved a seat in between him and Suho and you sat down without arguing. Baekhyun was sitting at the head of the table and he had stopped laughing as soon as you had walked in. He pressed his lips in to a firm line, still feeling quite bad for what he did, but you ignored him and sat awkwardly with your hands in your lap as you waited for food.

“So, Semmi,” Suho nudged you lightly, sparking up conversation, “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, thank you,” you gave Suho a smile, deciding that you now liked Suho since he was making an effort to not make you feel uncomfortable at the table.  

He smiled back, “That’s good to hear.”

“Dinner is served!” Kyungsoo announced, smiling brightly as he carried in two plates of food. He placed one in front of you first, “I hope you like it.”

“Thanks,” you grinned, picking up your cutlery, examining your plate. You didn’t recognise the food, but it looked and smelt great so you didn’t hesitate in tucking right in since you were absolutely starving. You had one mouthful and instantly fell in love; whatever it was, it was cooked to perfection and tasted like heaven in your mouth. Soon, everyone around you was eating too and Kyungsoo took his seat opposite you.

“Kyungsoo, this is amazing,” you praised him in between mouthfuls, using your fork to point at your half empty plate.

His cheeks blushed a slight red and he waved you off, “Ah, thank you Semmi, you’re too kind. But it’s really not that amazing.”

“Stop acting modest, Kyungsoo,” Kai spoke up with a light laugh, “You know you’re the best chef here.”

Kyungsoo put a hand to his chest, nodding his head, “Alright, alright, I admit that it’s true; it is amazing. I am amazing.”

The table burst in to laughter, Chanyeol next to you banging his fist on the clothed wood as he threw his head back. You giggled quietly behind your hand, trying not to spit the food you had in your mouth all over the table. Glancing over at Baekhyun, you noticed that his face was stretched in to his beautiful smile once again, his eyes forming two, sparkling crescent moons. Right there, right there was when he was the boy from the asylum. The one who laughed and made you feel better, the one who held your hand and led you to a better place based on beautiful promises and trust, the one who gave you hope when you needed it the most. Your smile deflated when you realised, he wasn’t that boy anymore.

***

“And while we were distracting Hook, Baekhyun snuck on board his ship and clogged his toilet with handfuls of moss from the jungle! Kris and his crew couldn’t use the toilet for three days; they had to dig a hole in the jungle and do their business there, it was the most hilarious prank ever,” Kai tried not to laugh as he re-told you the story but eventually, everyone was in fits of laughter once again. Although all of the stories that were being told included Baekhyun at some point, they were still funny and you couldn’t help but be amused at their mischievous antics here in Neverland. You also felt slightly sorry for Kris and his crew, it seemed that Baekhyun and the Lost Boys really did give him hell. It was no wonder he wanted to kill him.

You had definitely warmed to the Lost Boys over dinner. They had all come out of their shells, re-telling you stories of their adventures around the island, making sure not to miss out any details. It was like a contest of who could impress you with the funniest anecdote of their escapades.

You felt welcomed for once, felt like you were wanted and you were surrounded by fun, energetic boys who were trying their very best to make you feel comfortable; something that you weren’t very used to. Before all of this, your usual days were filled with isolation and loneliness. The only days you would interact, were Wednesdays when you were forced in to sessions with your psychiatrist, even then all she did was patronise you and make you feel worse.

You realised that the remedy you were seeking was not in an asylum with medication and therapists, but with people who reminded you of your family and provided you with friendship and the feeling of being a part of that friendship. All you really needed was to be loved again, to be surrounded by people who made you laugh and smile and forget about the things that burdened your life. In a way, Baekhyun was right. Neverland was making you forget, but it wasn’t erasing your memories, it was making you realise that you just needed to accept what had happened and live a life your family would be proud of.

***

Baekhyun sat at the head of the table, he didn’t know why, but his gaze always kept subconsciously wandering back to you and your smile. He couldn’t help but feel bad for everything he had put you through; he didn’t know what he had said back on Earth but he knew that it must have had a huge impact on you because every time you would glance over at him, your smile would fade slightly. He knew that you hated him right now and he couldn’t explain why, but he felt a pang in his chest every time he saw your face drop or the small bulge in your neck appear when you gulped back your sadness.

He also couldn’t explain the flash of anger that washed over him when Chanyeol placed his arm around your shoulders as he laughed, telling you another story of their past. The way you didn’t even flinch or look uncomfortable under his touch somehow made Baekhyun clench his fists under the table even tighter. He tried to shake it off, but the feeling still lingered, no matter what he tried to do to distract himself. He didn’t know you, not really, so he didn’t know why this feeling was still loitering, eating away at him. It frustrated him that the Almighty Baekhyun was feeling confused and jealous of someone else. That just didn’t happen.

“Baek,” Sehun nudged Baekhyun under the table, forcing him to rip his eyes away from Chanyeol and Suho who were really getting in to telling you another hilarious story.

Baekhyun snapped his head around to face the younger boy, “What?” he barked coldly.

“You look like you’re about to flip the table, are you OK?”

Baekhyun unclenched his fist and ran his hand through his hair, letting out a long sigh. “I’m fine, I’m just tired,” he lied.

Sehun nodded, patting Baekhyun on the shoulder, “Maybe you should get an early night.”

“No, I’m fine.”

In all truth, Baekhyun wasn’t fine because for once, he wasn’t in control of everything.

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