“Hey! Hey! Careful, will ‘ya?!” Kai’s voice boomed powerfully into the morning air as Sehun was trying to hold his eyes open while carrying Kai and his stretcher together with a very sleepy Lay. “Why are you yawning?” Kai looked at his best friend with suspicious eyes. “What did you do last night?”

“I guarded you because you said you were scared of the dark,” Sehun almost threw the stretcher and Kai inside the van. “Are you sitting comfortably? Anything else you want?”

“I would need some –”

“Water,” Sehun read his mind and placed a bottle in his hands. “Now will you let me sleep, please? And don’t even think about calling my name once this van gets going, understood? Or I’ll break your other leg as well! Are we ready to go, Tao?”

“All set!” The driver gave his ok from his seat. “Everyone in?”

“Yep,” Sehun let out a heavy sigh while walking to his seat. “Crap!” He suddenly cursed under his breath as he noticed the thin body curled up on the two chairs.

“You can have my seat,” Kris coolly stood up from his place and walked to where Jaelle was soundly asleep. “I’ll seat on the floor and make sure Kai has everything he needs while you get some rest. What?”

“Nothing,” Sehun quickly regained his posture and walked to the passengers' seat. “Thanks, man. I really need to sleep.”

Having everyone in, the van drove down the road with most of its passengers sleeping. And while Sehun, Lay and Chanyeol were snoozing, Kris was lost in deep thoughts. It was all about the night before, about the clear image of Jaelle under the moonlight, about her sudden change of attitude towards him.

“You know, it would be easier if you’d just remember,” her soft tone caught him unprepared, forcing him to turn to her.

“Remember? Remember what?”

He didn’t heard her approaching. He didn’t feel her touch until she was just… there, an inch away from him. He always thought her eyes were pitch black, but right there, under the moonlight, they had a strange colour, more towards navy blue.

“That you were my first love,” she had whispered to him while moving her lips just a little as they were way too close to his.

Kris was a good guy. That type of guy that never got drunk in his entire life, that never thought about as the ultimate target in life – a man of value. But right then, her breath that smelled of ripened strawberries, her red lips slightly parted, her fingers on his shoulder and chest – she was trying to drive him crazy or what?! But then again, you reap what you sow… if only he hadn’t listened to that woman that wrapped her arms around his neck all of a sudden, asking him to trust her and follow her lead. If only he hadn’t trust that woman’s words:

“The girl that just walked out of the shop, the girl wearing a brand new bracelet – you love her, don’t you?” She whispered in his ear, while keeping her body dangerously close to him. “Don’t deny it, ‘cause I can see far behind your words, human. But if you want her to be yours, you will have to give me something.”

“What?”

It was too easy, too appealing to his weak heart while from the corner of his eyes he could see a furious-like-a-bull Chanyeol eyeing him.

“A kiss is all I want. You’ll get your lady while I get what I want. What do you think?”

Was it the devil that pushed him from behind that day? Or was it that the day had blinded him while he saw just the way Jaelle seemed to enjoy the company of that goofball?

“Fine.”

And now everything was this way: Jaelle sleeping with her toes touching his shoulder while he had to gulp and restrain himself from doing anything foolish.

“Stop looking like you swallowed a whole duck and can’t spit the feathers now,” Kai shifted on his stretcher, scratching the skin right above his bare knee. “That girl,” he pointed at the sleeping Jaelle, “you won’t ever have her.”

Kris looked at him unimpressed although the heart inside of him stopped beating for a second.

“Don’t give me the silent treatment,” the younger rolled his eyes at him. “It doesn’t scare me or impress me at all, Kris. I thought you wanted to know. Jaelle is out of reach for you.”

“Says who? You?” Kris unleashed the beast that was fully awake inside his head.

“Yes,” Kai looked at him with stern eyes.

“Well then, you will want to be careful,” Kris leaned closer, pressing his hand against the broken leg of Kai, “because you never know what can happen.”

“You little,” Kai hissed in pain, fingers clenching into tight balls prepared to hit the smirking face of Kris.

They were a heartbeat away from a disaster, from a deep, ugly cut in their group.

“Hey, everything alright back there?” Tao arranged the rearview mirror with one hand.

“Yes, everything’s just fine,” Kris returned to his initial position, releasing Kai from the pressure. “Everything’s just fine…”

☾ ♅ ☽

Chanyeol was watching Kris closely when the elder decided to raise his head and return the stare. There was something strange about him that made Chanyeol wonder if Jaelle had been successful in breaking the love spell. ‘Cause Kris looked beautifully haunted from the inside.

“Hey, do you think Kris will be alright?” He leaned closer to Lay who had his nose stuck in a strange book once again.

“What do you mean?” The seat partner didn’t even spare him a look, continuing to follow the Chinese characters written on the white pages.

“I mean, look at him,” Chanyeol tried to keep his bass voice as low as possible. “He looks as if he thinking about that woman once again.”

Lay raised his eyes and peeked at Kris. “Nope, he’s fine,” he gave the verdict and resumed his reading.

“How can you be so sure? It’s not like you can read his mind or something…”

“If you’d pay more attention to details, you would see for yourself that I’m not joking,” Lay sighed and placed his book away. “Look at Kris and tell me what you see.”

“He’s crouched in between Kai’s stretcher and Jaelle’s chairs, but I don’t see what does it have to do with –”

“It has everything to do with the conclusion. So, what else do you see? What is he doing?” Lay rolled his eyes.

“He’s playing with his toes?” Chanyeol’s eyebrow shot up in disbelief to what he was doing. “I don’t understand, Lay. He’s playing with his toes as if Jaelle’s toes that keep on touching his shoulder don’t bother him at all. What?” He frowned at Lay’s smile. “Don’t tell me that – No! It couldn’t be, could it?” It finally dawned on him. “Kris is back, huh?”

“If you look into detail, you will see more than you expected,” Lay patted his shoulder before returning to his book. “Small things are sometimes overlooked as being insignificant when it’s the really the opposite. It took me five seconds to see that Kris is actually wishing he could touch her feet and hold her close to him. And another thing that I saw – he has a rival.”

And with that he resumed his reading, while Chanyeol remained silent, trying to see the truth where the eye played dirty tricks on the mind.

“Hey, how are you?” Jaelle’s messy hair appeared on top of the chairs she had slept on, while her sleepy expression measured Kai’s posture. “You’re in pain, aren’t you?”

“I’m… fine,” the boy exhaled through clenched teeth.

Jaelle chose to ignore him and turned to the front of the car, ignoring the fingers that grabbed her ankle. “Tao.”

“Right,” the driver pulled over.

“Do you mind?” Jaelle finally looked at Kris who seemed now mesmerized by the softness of her skin. “Thanks,” she fled from his side as soon as he retreated his hand from her ankle. “The sun is setting, should we set the camp here? Nothing will come tonight.”

“How do you know?” Sehun woke up as soon as the engine died. “The forest can hide an army of giants from what I know.”

“I just do,” the girl shrugged while checking Kai’s temperature. “Plus, Kai needs to rest properly before we go down the road again. Tao?”

“I don’t know what to say. Really now,” he looked down at his own fists. He seemed troubled by something more than just the camping for the night. “Do whatever you want,” he turned his back on them and walked away.

Looking at his back, Jaelle muttered something to her, something that seemed to make Kris more attentive. “What? If it’s not him, it’s you. So?” She spoke when she noticed his eyes laid on her.

“We’ll set camp here,” he decided, jumping out of the van after tying up his shoelaces. “Chanyeol and Sehun, you set the camp and prepared the fire. Lay, please check on Kai. As for you,” he then turned to Jaelle, “you’re coming with me.” And he just dragged her out of the car by her wrist.

She followed his lead until they were far enough where she could shrug off his grasp. And once released, she just remained there, still, her black eyes watching him as he started pacing around nervously, like a wild animal in a cage.

Kris knew that he must have looked like a mad man, that his behaviour was nowhere near to that of a gentleman, but heck with everything – he had issues and troubles with everything that was going inside of him and he deserved an explanation for her words that had reached the depths of his soul, ramming into the walls he had build around him until everything crumbled.

“Please,” it was all that escaped his lips when he finally turned to her. “I don’t think I can do this by myself. I’m… scared. I don’t want to know the outcome of this and I surely don’t want to lose my friends. So please tell me what you meant with those words last night.”

And he looked down. He wasn’t sure he was able to look Jaelle into the eyes and not burst into tears. For he was feeling the darkness inside of him winning over his heart, making him turn into a beast that did not care of the others, a beast that just wanted to have her by his side no matter what. But he wasn’t that type of man, to easily step on the hearts of his friends no matter how great was the love blooming inside of him. No, he was the type of man that would pull out the weed of the blooming love ignoring the massive bleeding on the inside. He was a man of friends, not one of love.

“I’m sorry – yes, I can’t do this anymore

I don’t even have the right to approach you,

 So don’t love me…

I have no time to give you my heart,

                                                                                       So don’t look at me…” she sang while looking into his eyes without even blinking. And even if it was right there, written on her face, even her eyes saying something different, he chose to take her words as the ultimate truth.

“I’m glad we got that straight,” Kris turned his back on her. “Now, I’d rather be alone if you don’t mind…”

☾ ♅ ☽

It started like an itch in the center of his palm. But it spread like a plagued wound, going up his forearm, wrapping all around his elbow and shoulder, its vines climbing up his neck and reaching for his swallowed brain, almost making him lose sanity. And so he started feeling the urge to hit something, to destroy something, to see something crumble at his feet, to feel the red blood trickling down his knuckles.

It had become an insatiable thirst for Tao.

That’s when he reached for the small pills container he had hidden in his jeans pocket right before leaving the van and the guys behind.

“Don’t,” Jaelle’s voice made him stop with the pill in between his fingers.

“What are you doing here?” He hid away the container, dropping the pill on the ground. He could feel his brain pulsate inside his skull and there it was again, the terrible wish to smash the girls’s skull to the ground and see her brains scattered on the hot asphalt. “You should really go back, Jaelle.”

But the girl ignored his warning and walked straight to him where she placed her cold hand on both sides of his face, staring into his eyes as if she was trying to read his soul through them.

“Jaelle…”

“It’s alright,” she didn’t let go of him, despite his hands trying to push her away. “It really is. We’re all so desperately in need of approval that it’s really admirable how you managed to pull so many ma