"Are you sure this is the right way?" Chanyeol loped beside Suji; easily keeping up with her quick pace due to his long legged steps.

The trek uphill was indeed one of the hardest forms of exercise Suji had ever undertaken and he tried to help by scampering forwards every time he spied a low hanging branch or some form of obstacle and sweeping it aside or heaving it up so that she wouldn't have to break her pace. She had found his efforts endearing at first as he blustered and scurried every which way trying to gain back her favour after his mishap, but after two hours of jogging over a hill in search of civilisation as directed by the train conductor, she was irritable and quiet and his random outbreaks of chatter and questions and his running back and forth were getting on her nerves.

Chanyeol's face was slightly flushed with the aftereffects of climbing trees under the pretense of undertaking 'a new perspective' and running around; eyes bright and body buzzing with his unquenchable thirst for activity. His red hair poked out from beneath his black cap which had a row of spikes attached to its base.

Chanyeol had recently decided to make hats a new addition to his wardrobe; favouring those with strange additions and fixtures, but his large ears which stuck out in an almost perpendicular angle from his head prevented the tighter rims from passing. In the end, after several minutes of attempting to tuck them underneath, he had forced it on in frustration; his ears bending slightly and, in Suji's opinion, resembling a wilting flower.

Suji couldn't understand how he could still look so presentable even after accidentally dragging his trainers through a puddle of mud, tripping over his large feet into a small ditch and knocking his head on a tree as he attempted to jog backwards facing her. Even then, she had to admit, however grudgingly, that he could definitely model for a hiking magazine in his current state and still be able to significantly raise sales.

The same probably couldn't be said for her as she staggered along the path Chanyeol had made with her head bowed, her hair falling out of place and her clothes sticking to her skin with sweat.

"Yes." Suji muttered through her gritted teeth, sure that the redhead's enhanced senses would be able to hear her, "I'm sure. The reason we cut right through the hill and didn't maneuver around it was to keep our bearing accurate. Now, will you just be quiet and stop asking questions?"

"Oh." He lost his rhythm and caught up to her with an extra skip, "I was just asking because I couldn't see the station anymore."

"Of course you can't! It's covered by the trees." She snapped in annoyance.

"No, it's not there. We've been jogging for two hours and there's not a single human scent nearby."

"What?" Suji stopped her constant pace and bent over, hands on knees, breathing heavily and straining her neck upwards to meet the tall boy's eyes, "What do you mean 'it's not there'?"

Chanyeol slowed to a slow walk and turned back to her, "I should still be able to see the train station but it's now gone. That means that it's not directly behind us anymore. And after all this time, we should have arrived at the Province the Ajusshi mentioned but I couldn't smell any traces of civilisation."

"No." Suji breathes as the weight of his words sank in. She had always taken the redhead as a slow person; always last to laugh at jokes and to react to his surroundings with the exception of Yixing, so at times when he suddenly became smart and observant such as this, she found herself to be the slower one; requiring a minute or two to digest his words. "No, no, no. I didn't even turn at all! We ran in a straight line! How could we-"

"We're lost." He said matter-of-factly, wrinkling his nose as the breeze blew ice cold through their thin jackets.

Suji didn't respond, eyes raking over the exposed treetops behind them; a testament of how steep their path of travel had been. The sky was beginning to darken; the last red rays of the sun sinking behind the endless expanse of forest. The early nightfall was one of the many reasons she hated winter in addition to the biting Korean chill and the increased diet of hot soups and broths. Of course, they would have to settle down at some point, being unable to continue through the night. The moon was already halfway up the sky, a tiny sliver in the expanse of glittering stars.

They were much brighter here than in Seoul, appearing nearly twice as luminous, yet they weren't enough to compensate for the weakening light of the waning moon.

Her stomach rumbled loudly, churning in agony and Suji was reminded of her hunger. She was truly ravenous, having not eaten anything since their departure early that morning, and even then, Kyungsoo hadn't been able to cook up his usual lavish spread, meaning that Suji had had to make do with an apple. Chanyeol didn't eat anything, having wanted to save space for the extravagant dinner Kyungsoo had promised him upon their return.

What a fool.

"Are you hungry?"

She flashed him a 'what do you think?' look and flushed, clutching her stomach as it gave another loud complaint. She was glad that the moonlight bleached their surroundings of its colour; sure that her cheeks were bright red. She was exhausted, hungry, miserable and cold to boot; their clothing being in no way able to secure them through the night. The temperature averaged low single digits in the daytime midwinter and dropped far below zero during the night. Were she to wake up with all twenty fingers and toes intact and functional the next morning, Suji would be eternally grateful. At least the bite of the cold and extreme exhaustion numbed her limbs into stillness, the uncontrollable jitters which had racked her entire body earlier having faded away.

It also distracted from her hunger pangs.

Somewhat.

A sudden rush of nausea washed over Suji, pounding at her head and making her abdomen knot tightly as she stumbled to a tree and retched at its base with one hand resting against its rough bark. There was nothing in her stomach to relieve her, resulting in only a trickle of bile as she dry heaved over and over again. It was bitter and burned of acid on its way up, making her nose run and eyes water. She couldn't feel anything but the cold and the soreness at the back of . It felt as though it had been rubbed raw by sandpaper.

"Suji!" Chanyeol drew closer in concern until they were only a hand's width apart and she could feel the heat exuding from his body in enormous waves, drawing her in like a moth to an open fire. "Suji, what's wrong?"

She felt his bare hand on her back, rubbing gently in circles leaving a burning trail of heat with each , causing her insides to turn over again and she doubled over once more. There was no way to describe what she was feeling as the hacking and coughing continued until she was gasping for breath and blinking to hold back her tears. Suji couldn't even open to reply lest she begin hurling once more.

Chanyeol seemed to realise this and wrung his hands in agitation before finally dragging her hair back into a bundle with his fingers and dutifully holding it back on the nape of her neck.

"You can't keep going on Suji." She could hear the fear in his voice and could picture his eyes wide and lips trembling despite both eyes being squeezed shut. This was one thing he had no control over. Humans were fragile things in comparison to their kind. To be confronted with and responsible for a sick girl must be a frightening experience for Chanyeol. "You have to stop. Rest. I'll goon ahead and find food and get a doc-"

"No." Suji forced out between gasps for breath. He couldn't possibly leave her in this state. What if he got lost? What if a human found him? What is he never returned? What if… "Don't leave me. I can keep going. I have to-"

"You can't." His voice stopped her and she turned around to stare at Chanyeol through her tears. Those two words were spoken softly with a gentleness that sought only to sweep away all her illusions. It was a simple statement b with worry, concern and fear. "You can't go on."

She didn't say anything in reply; only allowing him to draw her to a nearby tree, sweeping a small pile of leaves at its base and lowering her onto it with her back to the trunk. Chanyeol's hands were startlingly warm to the point of scalding her skin and she felt a slight disappointment when he let go of her; craving his warmth and touch. It was probably the great difference between their temperatures with Suji being so numb with cold that she couldn't feel anything past her knees and elbows.

Her eyes fluttered shut and she slowly gave in to the great fatigue that threatened to overtake her. She felt as though she could drink in the warmth of the boy beside her; instinctively curling into him and sighing as she felt his arms tentatively wrap around her, enveloping her in his heat.

"I'm going to run rounds to find the Hanpyeong Province. There will be a doctor who will be able to take care of you and I'll find you some food to-"

"No." She struggled to fight the oncoming sleep, reaching out for Chanyeol and clutching the sleeve of