Chapter 3

Once the group was up, they were on the move again. Moving through the woods and stopping only to take a break. They hadn't gone a far way when Jimin stopped them.

"Do you hear that?" he asked.

Everyone stopped to listen. It was the faint sound of water flowing.

"We must be close to water, we can refill our water bottles," Jimin suggested. Everyone's eyes were on Jin and he nodded in agreement.

Everyone had spread out across, trying to figure out which direction the 'river' might be.

𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗶'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩

Everyone was spread out. Hani was marching in between tall bushes, she had no idea where she was going and the faint sound of the water had disappeared. She walked back to where they were but everyone was out of sight.

She sat down leaning on a tree and took off her backpack and pulled her jacket off, the humidity in the day wasn't making it any better for her. She stuffed it in her backpack when she saw Jimin approaching.

"Find anything?" she asked putting her bag on.

"Nah, there's nothing back there, did the others go that way?"

Hani nodded.

"C'mon let's follow them, they might have found something," he said as he walked ahead.

"How long have you been lost?" He asked.

"Since last night," Hani said catching up to him.

"Lucky."

"There's nothing lucky about it," Hani replied.

"Well, at least you haven't been stuck for five days."

Hani raised her brows in shock, but she didn't say anything because she knew that she was lucky.

"How'd you get lost?" She asked.

"Lost the map."

"Oh, we have a map yet we still got lost."

"Wait you do!" Jimin suddenly stopped turning to her.

"yeah."

"Can I see it?"

She nodded and gave him the map.

"Well this is something like ours, but just without these markings," he said examining it. "You know what they're for?"

"Yeah, they were the locations we were supposed to be seeing through this trip," Hani replied watching as his brows furrowed and his muscles tensed up in concentration. Then he relaxed.

"Hold this," he said handing the map to her again. He took out a compass and started examining again.

His hair was dropped over his forehead and he had a very concentrated look on his face, not enough to realise that she was staring at him.

'𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺...𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭,' she thought.

'𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘢𝘸𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦...𝘞𝘖𝘞.'

"I feel like we're here," he said pointing at the map, breaking into her thoughts. She looked at where he was pointing. They were nowhere close to any of their destinations. They were nearly on the far end.

"JIMIN!!" "HANI!!"

They both turned around to look, it was Kate and Soomin.

"We found the river, let's go," Kate called and they were going back again.

Jimin put away his compass and handed back the map, they both followed the two girls down to the river.

"Jin said we might stay here for a while until we find more food," Hoseok said. "Ava has those cupcakes and we're out, so we better get fishing bro," he winked at Jimin which made him smile.

'𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥.'

~~~~~~

They all stayed there until it was night. Jimin brought out the topic of the map and everyone was looking at it and figuring out where they were.

Hani got up and went towards the river and sat down in front of it. The sky was clear that night and the moon was shining bright.

'𝘋𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐'𝘮 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐'𝘮 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧?'

She leaned back on the tree and continued to stare at the sky.

It wasn't long when she heard someone approaching. She turned back to see Jimin, or the '𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺' as she called him in her head.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah. Why? What happened?"

"Nothing, you weren't there when we were discussing so I came looking for you."

Hani smiled. He came and sat down beside her, there was silence.

"We were meant to be back two days ago," he suddenly spoke. She looked at him. His features in the dark looked so beautiful with his eyes shining.

"Do you think they're searching for us right now?" he asked.

"I don't know? But I'm sure no one's looking for us yet, no one even knows were lost, they probably think we're all having fun."

"Even one day being lost is a lot when you're out here," he said looking at her. She didn't know what to say, so they stayed quiet.

"You have a boyfriend waiting for you back home?"

Hani was surprised by the question.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend," she said. "You?"

He shook his head.

"Never dated?"

'𝘞𝘩𝘺'𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?'

He realised the expression on her face.

"If it's getting personal you don't have to answer," he immediately reassured.

"oh no, I've just never thought of dating," she quickly replied.

"How come?"

'𝘢𝘩𝘩, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.'

Jimin got the hint and immediately changed the topic.

"Jin said if we head south from here we should be able to leave the forest the easy way instead of walking back."

"How long will it take?" She asked.

"Let's hope it doesn't take long," he said getting up. "You should go to sleep too." Hani nodded.

"Good Night!" he called before he disappeared.

Hani sat there for a while until she was tired and she walked back.

She found Jin and Minji talking and they stared at her as she approached.

"Well this is new," Hani called to Minji.

"Shut up!" Minji called back as Hani giggled her way back to the tent.

Minji always avoided talking to guys, and seeing her with Jin now gave her a good opportunity to tease her.

*****

~~~~~~

𝗦𝗼𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩

The next day, the boys had gone out hunting and the girls had the responsibility of the water and cooking the food the boys had brought back. Soomin went to fill up one of the water bottles.

'𝘞𝘩𝘺'𝘥 𝘑𝘪𝘸𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴,' she thought.

The only thing Soomin could think of the conversation they had last night when Hani had gone to the lake. Jimin brought out the things Hani told her about the map and Jiwon went crazy about her. Jiwon told everyone how she always started fights and had a huge ego, which wasn't true.

'𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.'

Soomin felt extremely guilty for not trying hard enough to stopping Jiwon.

~~~~~~

Jin had decided this was a safe place to stay until they had hunted and stocked up with food so they were back at the fire that night and Hani was at the lake again.

"Jiwon and Minji, could you both please talk to Hani, she seems upset maybe?" Soomin asked.

"Why me?" Jiwon jumped in. "I don't want anything to do with that girl, she's a pain eve-"

"Enough Jiwon! Just go with Minji!" Soomin ordered and Jiwon did. Even though Soomin knew Jiwon wasn't the type to take orders, she wasn't planning to embarrass herself by staying there.

"Look guys, Jiwon and Hani are close friends and whatever Jiwon said last night shouldn't have happened, Hani isn't how Jiwon described her, they just had a little fight before, as every friendship has and it just came out, please don't treat her any differently, she's already got her thoughts and if we start acting up, it might affect her," Soomin ended and everyone was looking at her carefully.

"You heard the lady, we're out here stranded and we're a team so I don't want any fights around here, got it?" Jin spoke and everyone agreed.

***

Soon enough Jiwon and Minji were back with Hani and they all shared the fish Jin had caught.

"Everyone knows we're a team and I don't want to see any fights," Jin repeated.

"What's wrong?" Hoseok spoke. Everyone looked at him and then Ava.

"Remember that story, about that boy who went lost right here in this forest," Ava spoke.

"And? what about it?" Jin cut in.

"There are so many stories about him because he was never found, some people say he was eaten by bears a-"

"And some even say he was possessed by the demons in this forest," Emily interrupted.

Jimin rolled his eyes. "Demons...seriously."

"It's 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦," Ava stated.

Kate's eye landed on Hoseok who looked back at her with terrified eyes.

"Stop it you guys, you're scaring him," Kate said and everyone turned to look at Hoseok, who immediately acted like he wasn't.

Jimin chuckled and Hoseok immediately turned to look at him.

"I thought you said you weren't scared of these demons anymore," Jimin teased.

"I'm not!" Hoseok said. "And there's nothing wrong if I am!" he added and everyone started laughing.

"Right!" Jimin said.

𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗶'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩

Once everyone had a laugh they went to their tent. Hani lay down immediately.

"You okay?" Soomin asked.

"Yeah, just tired," she replied.

"Everyone is, but they're not compl-"

"Ok go to sleep everyone," Soomin interrupted. "I don't want to hear anyone after this, Good Night."

"Good Night," everyone echoed.

Even though Hani said she was tired, she wasn't. She just felt the urge to talk to Jimin again. She didn't know him very well or had even talked to him a lot but even the silence between them wasn't awkward. She got up and left the tent and sat where the fire once was.

"Didn't you say you were tired?"

Hani turned to see Soomin.

"Yeah, but I can't sleep."

Soomin sat next to her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Hani thought for a while but spoke.

"Jimin asked why I'm not dating?"

"and 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 bothering you?" Soomin looked at her with a 'seriously' look on her face.

"Look," Hani said turning to face her. "He's cute ok and he's so sweet."

Soomin rolled her eye but smiled. "And?"

"And I...guess I feel comfortable talking to him even though we've talked only like..twice I guess."

"That's good, but let's go to sleep now," Soomin said getting up.

Hani stayed put.

"Why aren't you girls asleep yet?"

Hani turned to see Jimin and Hoseok walking towards them while Hoseok was holding a water bottle that looked like it had just been filled up.

"I'd ask the same question," Soomin said.

"I needed water," Hoseok said.

"And you were scared to go alone so you dragged Jimin along," she joked.

Hoseok grunted while Soomin laughed.

"Ok, good night guys," Soomin said walking away.

Everyone echoed a "Good night" and after Soomin, Hoseok left behind her.

"You not going?" Jimin asked.

"Soon," Hani replied.

"Mind if I sit?"

Hani shook her head.

"So, what were you thinking about this time?" he asked, gulping water.

"Nothing, exactly," Hani replied, she knew she wasn't going to tell him that she was talking about how good looking he was. That was for her and her friends to know.

"What're you smiling about?" Jimin spoke. Hani hadn't realised she was smiling.

'𝘋𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵'

"It'd like a good smile too."

"Uhh, nothing really, just remembering memories with friends and family, you know, the fun times," Hani spoke. Jimin hummed in agreement.

"You have a nice smile," he spoke.

Hani turned to look at him.

"Ironic coming from you."

"Well, thank you."

They both laughed and talked into the night.

******

~~~~~~~~

The next morning, they were moving south, as Jin had said. After a long hike and only a few breaks, the group dropped down.

"Guys..." Minji called from a distance.

Jin looked up to see her standing a little far from where he stood. He walked to stand next to her and he saw what she was pointing at.

It was a fence. A tall fence that was very high. To the side, there was a sign that read: "Do not trespass! Private property!"