a/n: first of all, i want to say sorry because it's been a while since the last time i updated bittersweet high school. happy new year, everyone! :)

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As they arrived at Seoraksan mountain 3 hours later, they started their journey. Seoraksan Mountain lies across multiple regions in Gangwon-do Province including Sokcho, Yangyang and Inje. It is the starting point of the beautiful autumn foliage in Korea. The nine of them decided to visit the Sinheungsa Temple area, the Cheonbuldong Valley area past Biseondae, and the Jujeongol area trail that begins at the Osaek Mineral Waters.

“Nine tickets, please,” Eunkwang took out his wallet from his back pocket as he stood in front of the Sogongwon ticket office. The mid-fourty lady handed him the tickets as he gave him the money and thanked the lady.

“Let’s go, guys,” he waved his hand, signaling the others to follow him. Juniel walked hand in hand with Sungjae, Jieun walked with Ilhoon, Hyunsik walked with Changsub, while the others walked beside the leader. On their way to the temple, there were so many romantic couples, including the maknae and his pretty girlfriend, Juniel. Both of them couldn’t stop showing their love for each other while her best friend shook her head when she looked at them. Deep inside, Jieun was envious. But she was happy because her best friends were happy, too.

“Don’t be envy, you have me,” Ilhoon pulled Jieun into an embrace and winked when he realized that she kept staring at the couple. She blinked at him and both of them cracked up. They both were close since they found their same hobby, making songs. Jieun usually made the song and Ilhoon was in charge in making the rap. Both of them made a great collaboration together.

After 15 minutes of walking, they finally arrived at Sinheungsa temple. The main hiking routes go past there before they divide, so most hikers visit the temple. There were a number of significant cultural properties there, including a stone pagoda and an awe inspiring 14.6m tall statue of the Buddha (the Tongil Daebulsang).

“Well, guys, I think this is not literally hiking. Since we’re just walking around the Seoraksan park and spend the night in a hostel,” Eunkwang said while walking backwards to the others. The others laughed and continued their walk after they took some photos at the temple.

Their next destination was Cheonbuldong valley, the most well-known valley of Seoraksan Mountain. As usual, they took selcas everywhere. Especially Juniel and Sungjae. The view was really nice and made Jieun wanted to stay there even longer. Unexpectedly, Minhyuk came to her and stood right next to her, looking up to the sky. They haven’t talk to each other since that morning when Jieun needed help to open a can of soda.

“Hey,” he greeted and she nodded. “I’m sorry.”

Finally. Jieun thought. She took a glance at him and replied, “Sorry for?”

“Everything,” he lowered down his head. “You know I lied.” Jieun nodded slowly and looked at him. She was sad, too, but on the other side, she still felt betrayed. “It’s because I love you,” he looked at her in the eyes and bit his lip. She was not amazed anymore because she knew that from Juniel. She didn’t say anything and looked back to the beautiful scenery. “You know the reason of this all. I wanted to move on. Please, forgive me,” Jieun replied with a sigh.

 “I know, I know. It’s just... so hard to forgive you. I-”

“I’m sorry, okay?! I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart!! I know I was wrong!! I know, Jieun!! I lied!! Don’t you know that I’m hurt, too?!” Minhyuk shouted and kicked the rocks. Everyone stopped talking and stared at him. Eunkwang bowed at them as an apologize. He stared at Jieun who was blanked and blinked in surprise. For the God’s sake, Minhyuk had never been that mad before. Especially with Jieun. He was not that typical type of man. Minhyuk was calm and manly.

“O-okay,” she startled and slowly walked backwards, avoiding the next attack. But gladly, he did not do that. He tried to cool himself down. He let out a heavy sigh and walked away by himself.

“Are you okay?” Ilhoon came to her. The others joined in and made a circle around her.

“I’m fine. W-what should I do now?”

“I know it’s hard, but,” Eunkwang patted her right shoulder, “you should forgive him.”

“Now I’m the one who should say sorry.. will he forgive me?” she looked at Eunkwang and frowned.

“Of course he will,” it was Hyunsik’s turn to calm her down by rubbing her left arm. The others smiled at her and that made her feel much better. She promised to herself to say sorry to her beloved oppa. Although somehow Minhyuk didn’t see her as a sister anymore.

After they made sure that Jieun was perfectly fine, they decided to walk to the falls. Minhyuk was nowhere to be found. But Eunkwang was sure he was around them. Along their way, they talked much about many things. Usually about their childhoods. Peniel shared his funny moment when he was in Chicago, and everybody cracked up. They didn’t realized that Minhyuk was watching them from afar. Actually, he was watching Jieun. He was glad when he saw that she was having fun. When Jieun was happy, he was happy, too.

Half an hour had passed, and they were arrived at the fall. They stood on the big rocks and took some photos. As usual, they started to make funny faces when they took photos. Eunkwang and Changsub were the most hilarious one when it comes to funny faces. Jieun who brought her camera took many pictures of their friends and the unforgettable moments. After splashing each other’s body with water, they decided to move on again. The sun started to go down so they need to go back to their car before the sun sets. They were going to spend the night at a hostel on the foot of Seorak Mountain.

“Jieun, let’s go!” Juniel shouted as she waved her hand. Jieun was still having fun taking photos above the rock.

“I’m coming!” she answered and took the last picture of the fall. She jumped to the next rock excitedly. Unexpectedly, her feet slipped off from the rock.

“JIEUN!!” a pair of guy shouted and ran towards her. The guy who had smaller body catched her on his arms first. He was perfectly handsome with brown hair and bangs to the left. His eyes were shining as if a star fell right onto it. Jieun stared at him for a moment before standing up on the rock again. The guy with wide shoulders stared at them in amazed. He looked a bit disappointed but relieved as well. The others who were standing ten feets from them froze.

“You okay?” Minhyuk asked and looked over her body, in case she got hurt or something. He walked out from the water with wet shoes and wet jeans over his knees.

“I’m okay. Thank you, Minhyuk oppa,” she answered, didn’t meet her eyes with his.

“Glad to hear that. You need to be careful next time,” he patted her head and turned her around to face their friends who were still stunned of what just happened. It was not something big, actually. Jieun just fell a bit and Minhyuk helped her. It was natural. But the thing that was odd was when Peniel ran to help her as if his was burning. And the other thing is, he looked really, really disappointed when he saw Minhyuk catched her first. It was like... triangle love. Juniel and the others looked away when the three of them joined.

“What?” Jieun frowned when the other looked away.

“Nothing,” the others answered in the same time. They moved on to the cable car before they went to the hotel. Jieun and Minhyuk walked awkwardly. They took a glance at each other for thousands of times. As the pack arrived at the cable car, they patiently wait for their turn. They talked and ate some meals Changsub brought earlier. The cable car fit into 50 people. So the nine of them could went together.

When it was their turn to get in, the happy couple went inside the cable car first, as the others followed behind. Couples and families went inside with them, too. It was quite crowded, but they still could see the scenery because the cable car was made out of glasses. Jieun stood up behind the glass, when suddenly someone came to her and stood next to her. She looked up to see wide-shouldered guy who was looking at the mountains and then looked out. There were fascinating rock formations of the Gwongeumseong region as well as the Sogongwon area, Jeohangnyeong, and Ulsanbawi Rock to the north. To the northeast, downtown Sokcho and the East Sea comes into view. They were quiet for a while when suddenly Peniel started a conversation.

When they were having fun together, on the other hand, Minhyuk, Ilhoon and Eunkwang who stood face to face with a girl with long, golden hair, looked at each other because they wanted to start a conversation with that girl. They nudged at each other and finally Ilhoon gave up. He straightened her body and cleared his throat, but the girl was really focus with her pink-cased phone.

“Hello,” Ilhoon waved his hand in front of her. The girl looked up at him and pointed her chest. “Yes, you, hey there.”

She took off her glasses and frowned. “Ilhoon?” Eunkwang and Minhyuk looked at Ilhoon simultaneously.

“YOONA NUNA!” Ilhoon hugged her as she patted his back. “I miss you, nuna!”

“Yoona?” Minhyuk raised an eyebrow up when they let go off each other.

“Min...hyuk?” she smiled a bit. “Wait, you guys know each other?” Ilhoon looked Minhyuk, then to Yoona, and back to Minhyuk again.

“We bumped into each other a few days ago,” Minhyuk explained.

“He accidentally kicked a can and it hit my leg,” she continued.

“She got hurt and I helped her. That’s all,” he shrugged.

Eunkwang pulled Ilhoon and whispered, “Is this the girl you said you wanted to introduce to Minhyuk?” Ilhoon nodded and looked at the two who stood in confusion.

“So, are you alone here?” the youngest asked.

“Yeah, I’m waiting for my friend. She’ll be here in an hour.” “You can join us!” Eunkwang cheered. “By the way, my name is Eunkwang,” he held out a hand as she shook it with a smile.

“Nice to meet you, oppa.”

“Oppa? We’re in the same age, you know,” he pouted while the rest cracked up.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Is it okay if I join?”

“Sure! I’ll introduce you to the others,” Eunkwang smiled and guided her to Changsub and Hyunsik first.

“The others?” she whispered to Minhyuk when they were walking behind the leader.

“Yeah, there are 6 others. 2 girls and the rest it our gang’s member,” he explained. “This is Changsub,” he said as Changsub waved with a smile. “This is Hyunsik,” Hyunsik showed off his eye-smile and waved as well. Yoona shook their hands and introduced herself. As soon as they were done, the cable car’s door opened. That’s mean they were arrived at Gwongeumseong. The five of them hopped off and waited for the others. When they met up together, Juniel, Sungjae, Peniel and Jieun looked at each other, questioning who was the girl standing with the others.

“Hi, I’m Yoona,” she waved her hand and smile. “Ilhoon’s friend.” Jieun and the three nodded and smiled back.

“I’m Jieun.”

“I’m Peniel.”

“Sungjae.”

“And I’m Juniel,” she ended with a smile while the others waved at Yoona. All of them walked around and took some photos of the mountains. It was quite cold there, and Jieun kept rubbing her arms because she only used a thin blouse and a black cardigan. The wind brushed her puffy cheeks and blew her hair. While the others were taking pictures, Jieun decided to wait behind and searched for a place that prevent the wind. She laid her head on the wall and shut her eyes since the wind blew her eyes too.

“Cold, huh?” a man’s voice heard next to her. With her eyes closed, she knew who was it and she new he was smiling. Jieun nodded without opening her eyes and rubbed her arms again. She heard something next to her as she opened her right eye a bit to see what Peniel was doing and he was taking off his jacket.

“What are you doing?” she frowned and stared at him. He wrapped Jieun with his jacket and grinned. His leather jacket really fit on her outfit, even though it was quite big for a girl like Jieun. She didn’t complained because to be honest, it made her feel much better. It was warm and comfortable.

“Jieun! Peniel! Let’s go!” Juniel shouted from afar. She was so excited about that vacation. She had never hike before, so it was her first time hiking with her best friends, and her best boyfriend, of course. She and the others jogged out to the mountains together. The green trees had changed its color into yellow and orange. That just made it look more beautiful, with the fantastic scenery around it. They climbed together to the top. Some was even walking hand by hand, but not Peniel and Jieun. The two of them walked by themself, with no one on their side. Peniel walked behind her, just in case she got slipped like before. A moment later, she pulled out her camera and took some photos of her best friends from behind.

Wait, someone’s missing. She looked up from her digital camera and looked around, searching for someone. She looked back and found Peniel standing behind her, staring at her, and smiling widely. Jieun shook her head and continued her journey. Deep inside, she was melting because of his overcuteness. While she was crazy because of his overcuteness, Minhyuk was overthinking about Yoona.

I wanted to move on and Ilhoon said Yoona is the right one. Yeah, she’s cute, and very kind, too. What should I do now? He thought while he was staring at the ground, walking with no direction. I have to move on. Yoona. She’s the one. I’ll start today.

“Yoona!” he shouted and jogged towards her who was walking in front of him. “Can I have your phone number?”

!! What have I done?! It’s too fast!! Oh no I wanna run away.

“My phone number?” she fronwed and looked at him. “Y-yeah. You know, we’re in the same age, maybe we can hang out together somewhere, if you want to,” he shrugged and looked away.

“Sure!!” she cheered and they ended with exchanging their phone numbers. Minhyuk was really happy for it. At least he got hope to move on.

As the sun set, they decided to back. Yoona met her friends when they were going to go back with the cable car. The rest went back to the car park and moved on to the hostel. Eunkwang reserved the room for them a day before they went to Seoraksan. They were going to spent the night in Seoraksan Mount Youth Hostel. That was the cheapest hostel there. There was no internet and no breakfast. They could cook the food themselves because the hostel had provided them a small stove, a rice cooker and a refrigerator. There were also TV, air-conditioner (but they were not using it since it was quite cold), and an electric fan.

“Ugh, I’m so tired!” Sungjae shouted while the rest took out their stuffs from the car’s luggage. Jieun walked towards him, handed his bag and patted his head without saying anything. Eunkwang who was checking in their room came back to them with their room’s key as the others followed him to the room. He reserved for one room only but the really big one. It fit to ten people at once, and it’s quite cheap than two or three small rooms. It has one small bedroom with two bed, an empty room and two sofas in the living room. The boys decided to sleep in the empty room, while the girls, of course, in the other room.

After Eunkwang unlocked the door, Ilhoon and Sungjae ran in and jumped to the bed. The others shook their head as they went in to their rooms and start unpacking their things. Juniel and Jieun who shared the room together laughed when they went in to their room because Ilhoon and Sungjae were laying down on the bed and pretended like they were sleeping.

“JUNG ILHOON!! YOOK SUNGKAE!! ” Eunkwang shouted from the door while the two still don’t do anything. At last, Eunkwang pulled them from the bed and kicked them out. They protested along their way to their room. Their room doesn’t have any bed, so the boys slept with blankets only. They even used their bags for pillows.

After washing up, they cooked instant noodles together. Peniel who really loves noodles, brought so many of it for them. They eat while watching tv and telling stories. People usually tell scary stories when they went camping, so the pack did that too, even when it was not the real ‘camping’ with tents and bonfires.

“Having fun today?” Peniel sat next to Jieun who was watching her favorite drama with her chocolate milk. Jieun nodded slightly without looking at hi because she was stunned by Lee Jong Suk who was playing role in the drama as Park Soo Ha. “What is this drama about?”

“He can read people’s minds,” she answered.

“I can read yours,” he smirked and looked at her.

“Liar.”

“I’m serious!” he nudged her as she took a glance at him.

“What am I thinking right now?”

“You’re wondering do I really read people’s minds or not.”

“Wrong,” she looked back to the TV screen where she could clearly see her idol kissed the girl. Jieun covered her face with the pillow while Peniel stared at her blankly. “Is it done?” she asked Peniel without looking at the screen. He nodded and laughed loudly. “Don’t laugh!!”

“Jieun, you’re extremely funny!! You haven’t see anyone kissing before?” he asked and Jieun shook her head innocently. Peniel stopped laughing and patted her head, speechless. She was confused but she didn’t care and watched the drama again.

As the time went, it was late at night. The drama was over long ago, but the two were still awake. They could even hear the other’s snoring, especially Sungjae’s.

“He’s so funny,” Peniel said, talking about Sungjae. He shook his head and chuckled. Jieun joined in and yawned. She pulled her soft blue blanket to her shoulder and sat still. Jieun and Peniel were still sitting next to each other, really close. When he asked if she was sleepy or not, she said no. So Peniel decided to accompany her until she felt sleepy.

When it was silence, Peniel could see Jieun nodding from the end of his eye. He frowned, wondering why would she nodded when they were not talking about anything. He looked at her and found out Jieun sleeping next to him. Her head fell downward and she held it up again, but it kept on falling downward. Peniel giggled and slowly cupped her left hand on the right side of her face. He pulled her head carefully to his wide shoulder and made sure it was a comfortable position for her. He smiled at her sleeping face which was pure and baby-faced.

Without them knowing, someone was staring at them since a while ago. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.

Move on, Minhyuk. Move on. He thought.