28 Red orange is for the fire    “Chanyeol, why are you following me?” Soojung asked, picking up twigs and fallen branches of trees for the bonfire later that night. Joonmyun didn’t exactly assign her to that, but wanting to get away from everyone, she volunteered herself.

He started gathering twigs as well. “Because you might get lost,” he spoke almost as if the answer was obvious.

She chuckled humorlessly. “I won’t go that far from camp, Chanyeol. I’ll be fine. Just go back and help them with something like putting the tents up, Sehun’s doing all the work… oh, . I said his name.” She turned to him and lifted up her hairline, letting him flick her forehead.

Chanyeol smiled. “We’ll put off the game until later. Just talk to me comfortably for now.”

Soojung seemed surprised but let go of her hair nonetheless. “Are you bribing me to talk?”

“If that’s how I’m making you feel then yes.”

She shrugged, hoisted up the bundle of twigs she was hugging with her left arm, and resumed walking. “What do you want to talk about, Chanyeol?” she asked, sounding halfhearted. She didn’t want to have the conversation as much as she wanted the company.

“Look, why don’t I help you?” he offered. “I’ll go carry the twigs, you go pick. Give me those.”

Before she could even argue, he already grabbed the bundle and carried it on his own. She just shrugged and gave in, carrying on with her work. They walked and gathered timber for around 10 minutes, leaving the comfort of the near-the-camp part of the woods without words before Chanyeol decided to bug her again.

“Why don’t you talk to him if you’re all upset?” he asked.

She picked up a twig, pulled out a few leaves on its bark before handling it to him. “Who?” was all she said, although she knew exactly who he was talking about.

He rolled his eyes at her stubbornness. “Who else? Sehun, of course.”

“And why do I have to start the talking?”

“Because no one will if you don’t.”

“Then let him fonder about his mistake for the rest of his life.”

“Just talk things over. Looking at it, it seems like he won’t say anything any time soon.”

“Why should I ask for forgiveness if he’s the one at fault? It’s better to leave him alone for now. I don’t care what he does. He can do whatever he wants now.”

“Will you allow that?” he blurted, keeping a close distance behind her.

“Why will I not?”

“Because you like him.”

She stopped but didn’t face Chanyeol who also froze on his track. After a couple of seconds, she gained her sanity back and walked ahead again. “Is it really that obvious?”

“Well, yeah.”

Silence engulfed them again as the sun set down slowly, leaving the skyline with a mixture of red and orange Tindal; the fluffy clouds were almost gone. The wind was strong and the leaves created a rustling sound, synchronizing with the crickets that were starting to come out. The smell of the moist ground was intoxicating better than the scent of freshly mowed grass.

“I think these are enough,” Chanyeol said, cutting in the thick block of silence.

She looked at his arms that were barely holding the woods together and nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s fine. Go back. I’ll be right behind you in a minute.”

He stared at her for awhile. “No. We’re going back together. Where are you going? What’s your plan?” he inquired like an interrogator, looking all suspicious.

She raised her eyebrow at him weirdly. “Nothing. I just want to get some fresh air.”

“Yeah, because fresh air isn’t so abundant in this place it is only available in the heart of the forest. Come on, Soojung. What are you saying?”

“I want to be alone, Chanyeol,” she said honestly.

He shut up for a second. “Okay, then I’ll just be right behind you making no noise at all, acting as if I don’t even exist. Don’t mind me. I won’t do anything to bother you, I promise.”

She exhaled loudly. “Chanyeol, alone. I want to be alone.”

He made a face but gave in anyway. “Okay, fine. Don’t have to be so worked up, Claudia. I’m leaving, sheez.”

She scrunched up. “Claudia?”

“Yeah. It’s a lovely name which means ‘lame’.”

Soojung scoffed. “Lame? Excuse me but you are the first person to ever call me lame. Well, then, should I call you Calvin?”

He smirked. “What, am I that hot? Like, you know, Calvin Klein?”

She smirked back. “It actually means ‘bald’, you dimwit. Keep dreaming.”

His eyes bulged. “Bald?! I am not bald!”

“Sure because I once saw a picture of you with your hair brushed up and your hairline’s completely receding. Seems like we’re getting old, huh? I heard you’re older than me. Hah! Makes sense then.”

His eyes narrowed. “You saw a picture of me or did you search pictures of me on the internet? Don’t try to deny it, Claudia, because you still hold the record of being my admirer, therefore, you are a suspect of stalking. Wow, and you even know my age. Impressive.”

She sneered. “You are so full of yourself. Firstly, I don’t have a crush on you. How many times do I have to repeat that? Sehun just made that up because he once heard me listening to your songs. Secondly, I saw hundred of pictures of you all over the goddamn place because guess what, you’re somehow, just a little tiny bit – I swear, just a little – famous. And lastly, I knew you were older because I heard Sehun call you hyung. Satisfied? Now can you go back, put those woods to camp, and leave me alone?”

“God, you really are lame. Fine, I’m going,” he said smugly before turning around and walking away.

When she could no longer see his back, she breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, after a long frustrating day, she was alone.
 
When Soojung went back, it was already dark and the sun had completely sunken. It was a good thing that after looking for Sehun and Jinri for hours, she kind of knows the way around the camp a little so she didn’t get lost – although the woods was still quite a labyrinth.

She found the others busy doing different tasks like Sehun assembling tents with Junhong and Jungkook as his assistants, Joonmyun and Chanyeol building up the bonfire, while Jongin, Jessica, and Jinri were cooking food – Jinri on the grills since the poor girl didn’t have anything to do with marinating and adding correct ingredients together.
  Watching them, somehow she felt left out, as if everyone was standing right on their very place and they belonged there while she, she was just someone everyone wouldn’t notice missing. They could go on without her and it made her want to leave. She held herself, telling she could endure more. It’s just tonight and the next and then it’s over. You can go back to being the depressed, madly-in-love-with-her-best-friend Brittani model you are after everything. It’s all good, Soojung. You’re strong and you’ll be just fine.

She walked to Joonmyun and Chanyeol (since she couldn’t go to the other two teams) and asked if there was anything she could do to help. Gladly, those two were the most hospitable (and most insightful) of the bunch and they welcomed her immediately, asking her to gather their things and put them all in one place. Seriously, it seemed like the most unorganized people on earth gathered in one trip.

After half an hour, the cooks announced they were all set and everyone gathered around to get their own spoons and chopsticks. Thanks to Junhong and Jungkook the atmosphere lightened a bit, throwing jokes and insult once in awhile which thankfully made everyone laugh. Being the maknaes, however, had its disadvantages too becuase Joonmyun bullied those two to wash the dishes.

When the dorks finished drying the pots up, everyone gathered around the bonfire with the seat being Jungkook – Junhong – Soojung – Jessica – Joonmyun – Sehun – Chanyeol – Jinri - Jongin. And although daytime was still warm, nighttime was clearly chilly so they were all wearing jackets and bonnets while the girls were clutching blankets close to their body.

The destruction of the night started when Junhong shouted a loud, “Let’s play truth or dare!”

“Yah, that’s so lame,” Chanyeol snickered, giving Soojung the look when he said the word lame. She just glared at him. “And cliché!”

“No, no. It’ll be fun!”

“Don’t you have any other games on mind, brother?” Jinri spat sarcastically, looking all annoyed. Just the mere presence of Junhong annoyed her now and it even doubles if the little devil speaks.

“It’ll be fun, noona, I promise! Come on, guys. The loser will have to dive into the lake, how’s that sound?” He winked.

Joonmyun perked up. “Now that sounds interesting.”

Jessica grumbled. “No way!”

“God, Joonmyun, you dragged us to this ing trip and you didn’t even prepare games or anything? Why are we leaving our lives in the hand of this spawn of hell over here?”

Joonmyun ignored Jinri and asked instead. “So how do we determine the loser?”

Junhond smirked. “Simple. If he or she can’t perform the dare, can’t answer the question, or if he or she lies.”

“How do we even know if he’s lying? This is pathetic.”

“Trust me, I know.”

Jinri rolled her eyes heavenwards. “Junhong, you absolutely do not have psychology class in school so quite being a stupid smart-aleck and shut up. This is a dumb game.” Plus, she definitely didn’t want a repeat performance of the freaking Triple Dog dare she had with Sora and her dust-brained friends.

“Noona, stop being a killjoy. So,” he turned to the others. “Who’s up for a fun night?”

Left with no other choice since the night was young and they didn’t want to waste it by yielding to sleep or wandering around a crappy cold forest, they gave in to the young boy’s suggestion. So sitting around the bonfire, the fun began. Or so they thought.

“Ugh, no. I am not cracking an egg on my head,” Jessica shrieked at Jinri’s dare. “I just went to the parlor yesterday and I am not ruining my newly –”

“Come on, dear. A dare’s a dare. This is a game,” Jinri cooed, completely enjoying this. She was somewhat starting to feel the ‘fun’ Junhong was mentioning earlier. It was indeed fun ruining the life of her loving best friend’s girlfriend. And speaking of the idiot, Joonmyun was already shooting daggers at her with his stare. He fully understood this was intentional. Jinri just gave him a lovely smile, mocking, to which Joonmyun mouthed a very hearty ‘ you’.

Jinri got up and grabbed the egg from the bag and handed it to Jessica