“I like her.”

“Finally!” Sooyoung, Hyoyeon and Taeyeon exclaimed simultaneously at the final realisation of their friends heart. The boys, who were standing by the side, wanted to open their mouth to continue the conversation, only a soft crack made the whole group turn their head towards the origin of the sound.

“Wha-?” “It’s time.” Chen reassured his cousin who had just seen the bottom of his heart and was worried about every aspect concerning a certain someone.

True as to what Chen mentioned, the giant elemental slab that had trapped Hyoyeon revealed a small crack towards the top. Seconds passed with the crack getting larger, running from the top to the middle of the whole slab. As if knowing what was going to happen within the next few seconds, Suho spoke immediately, “Get ready.”

Hearing Suho’s command, half of the group started to change into their respective Merãgean state. Only, the group was stopped by Kai, who had shook his head at them and change into his Merãgean state himself, “I’ll do it.”

Widening their eyes, the group gradually nodded at their determined friend. Kai smiled at his friends’ reaction, only to return his stare at giant slab in the middle of the room. By that moment, the slab had broken into pieces, and crumbled one by one piece, revealing a glimpse of Hyoyeon.

Beige-coloured light emerged from within the slab, blinding the rest of the group once again, like the previous times. When everyone finally regained their sight, all they saw were rumbles from the slab floating in the air, and their friend standing upside down on the ceiling as if gravity had not worked on her.

Hyoyeon’s beige eyes dazzled amongst the ceiling lights, as they turned into slits, eyeing every single one of them dangerously. Kai smirked, his teleportation bringing him directly next to the girl by the ceiling of the room.

The girl looked alarmed by the small distance she had from the boy, her hands and legs moving automatically to hit the boy who was practically beside her. But before she could even touch the boy, he had already grabbed onto both her arms with one hand and pulled her into his embrace with the other free hand.

Widening her eyes at the  boy’s action, her legs started to kick him wildly, wanting the boys to let go of her. However, instead of doing what the girl had wanted, like what the others looking on had thought so, the boy did something unexpected.

Everyone’s eyes instantly increased in size, with Chen and Baekhyun’s jaw wide open at the scene happening right before their eyes. Taeyeon and Sunny rubbed their eyes, not unbelieving their perfect sight, though it did tell them that it was not a dream.

Hyoyeon, who was still struggling moments ago was frozen, as she felt something warm but rough on her lips. Blinking, the beige that coloured her orbs slowly faded. With her conscious returning, a small flush of red started to appear on the girl’s cheeks, as she realised what was happening, before starting to hit the boy before her eyes.

Opening his eyes, Kai lessen the pressure he had put onto his lips, muttering words only the two of them could hear. His lips, like his arms around the girl, never left the girl. The girl turned redder, only to nod minimally.

“Yah! Come down now!” Chen was grinning madly like a monkey, his hand playfully pulling his fiancée who was right by his side into his embrace without looking. Continuously staring at his cousin and friend, his grin widened at his cousin who had managed to spare the group a glance before disappearing with the girl still in his embrace.

“Well, that was…” Chanyeol was speechless for once. D.O nodded in agreement as Taeyeon and Sunny hummed in response.

“He’s a Kim alright!” Chen burst into laughter as he stared into his fiancée’s eyes, “Would you like that too?” Sooyoung, who was in Chen’s embrace, stared at her fiancé weirdly before shaking her head wildly, afraid that he would kiss her there amongst their friends. The couple continued in their own world as the other singles escaped into theirs.

“Where did they go?” Sunny will always be worried for her cousin. Taeyeon gently patted her friend on her shoulder, “Don’t worry. Come on, it’s Kai. Besides, they’ll be back soon right?” and she looked at both Suho and Baekhyun who was to her right for verification to calm Sunny’s worrying heart down. The two boys nodded immediately, at Taeyeon’s warning glare.

“We should get back. Either that or should we start with Chanyeol now?” Suho asked, interrupting the couple as everyone landed their gaze onto him. Sooyoung stepped apart from her fiancé as she commented, “I think we should start now. There’s still Taeyeon and Chanyeol who have yet to reach their Prielom, and we only have four days. We should have a few days to train together, that’s what I think, besides, we’re not as exhausted today since Kai did the hard work.”

“Wait, what?” Chanyeol was dumbfounded at his friends’ conversation. To be truthful, though he had seen four Prielom already, he could still sense fear within him. He was afraid of what was waiting for him on the other side of the shore after reaching Prielom. It had always been hard for him to experience new things, which was why he had wanted to fit in with the crowd so badly when he had first joined the mundane school actually. He was always like that, letting his fear take over himself. Only this time, he was not alone.

As if sensing his fear, Suho suddenly sent a smile towards Chanyeol, “It’s okay, we’re here to help you right?” Chanyeol only looked at his friend, clearly surprised at Suho’s words.

“I-I…” He stuttered, only to feel a few warm pats on his shoulders by the others, who was now looking at him. Wanting to relief the boy’s tension and fear, Taeyeon started joking around with pouting like she was about to cry, “At least you’re not the last. Look at me…” That said, and Taeyeon started to fake a sob.

The group started chuckling at the girl’s actions and Chanyeol caught himself smiling as well, as a million thoughts ran through his mind. Suho was right, he had the group behind his back. What is he afraid of then? He no longer had to be alone to face his challenges, so he guessed that it was the fear of letting the fear control him.

Well, this time, Chanyeol thought as he straightened his back, he is going to win against that fear. “Let’s start then."

Author's Note: Hello everyone!! A new chapter for you all~~ Well, I kinda think that the story is moving a little too slowly, so you may find that the story is progressing a little faster~ ^-^ Do comment if there's any doubts you wanna clarify or anything you just want to say~

Like always, thank you all readers, subscribers and upvoters!! You all mean so much to me~~