MISSION: Love

+ twenty-two +

I minded my own business and continued reading my book at the corner. Ahrin and Jihu were laughing about what they did earlier in the guys' tent. "Too bad Sunghoon did not join us," Jihu suddenly said. I stopped what I was doing for a second and remembered how he held me close in his arms to keep me warm.

My cheeks started to redden and I hid my face behind the book I was holding. "Yah, Hana. Jihu and I are going to get some snacks from Heeseung's tent. Wanna come?" Ahrin asked as she sat closer to our tent's entrance. I shook my head and faked a smile, "You guys go ahead. I don't want to spoil my appetite."

They both got out of the tent and my smile immediately faded when I heard Jihu say, "I told you she won't come with us. She's always like that. A killjoy."

I slammed the book close and sighed heavily, thinking of killing her. I got out of the tent and saw Sunghoon and Jake helping the teachers to light a fire. I approached them and watched silently, trying my best to stay away from Ahrin and Jihu.

"Hana, can you help me get lighter from anyone? We've been trying to light a fire for almost an hour. If we fail, we're going to freeze to death tonight," Jake said. I chuckled after hearing his remark before going to the teachers' tents. I asked them one by one if any of them had a lighter or even matches. Thank God, one of them brought a lighter.

I went back to Jake and handed it to him. We all smiled in relief when he managed to light a fire. I stood close to it to keep myself warm, rubbing both of my palms before blowing on it.

My eyes widened in surprise when Sunghoon placed his jacket on me out of the blue. He then sat next to me with a soft smile, eyes fixed on the fire. I held his jacket and held it tightly, smiling to myself. The head teacher went out of the tent before sitting near us. She silently read a paper she was holding before saying, "Hana, would you like to join us tonight for an activity? I'm not sure if you want to since you sprained your ankle."

"What is the activity?"

"Well, we're planning to do a night-walking activity."

I suddenly felt goosebumps rising on my skin. Doing that activity? At night? In the woods?

"You may not join the activity. But I'm scared that the other students would give excuses or even hurt themselves to exclude from the activity."

I gulped down my saliva and felt pity for the teacher. I let out a heavy exhale before saying, "I'll join. It's just a small sprain on the ankle. It's not like a car ran over it."

"Great! You can go eat first. Then, I'll gather all the students and break you into groups of three."

The head teacher left us and went back to her tent to prepare for the activity. Sunghoon noticed I was sweating out of fear and asked, "Are you okay? You know, you can just stay back and not join. You're still hurt."

"but I don't want the others to make excuses and not join. I'll feel very sorry for the teachers."

He nodded and took out a snack from his pocket. My eyes suddenly brightened when I saw that it was one of my favourite snacks. "Oh! You eat those too?" I asked excitedly.

"Yeah," he smiled and handed them to me. I quietly munched the snack and closed my eyes, savouring the salty taste against my tongue.

After our break session ended, all the students gathered and sat in lines. I sat behind Jihu as she was sitting behind Ahrin. A few teachers were counting us one by one to make sure none of us was missing.

"Okay, students. Our first activity for the night is night walking. You will be put into groups of three. Then, you will be blindfolded and the teachers here will lead you to your appointed spots. We wanted you to be one with nature and come back to our gathering spot if you hear us ringing a bell approximately at midnight."

I closed my eyes and tried to calm my nervous heart down.

"The place where we had gathered to camp is very well-known for fireflies and beautiful night scenery. So whoever joins this night-walking activity is very lucky because you will get to see rare flowers and plants."

The teacher really thought saying that would make me calm down. I sighed and listened to her attentively as she called out students' names.

"Hana, you will go with Jay and Sunghoon."

I opened my eyes as wide as I could. I could even hear Heeseung gasping behind me. Jihu scoffed and folded her arms, probably cursing me under her breath. I slowly stood up and went to the two guys who were already putting on their blindfolds.

I put a blindfold on and felt a male's hand wrapping around mine. "Come," I heard Jay's voice and we all walked carefully together, holding each other's hands. My heart pounded like there was no tomorrow. It got worse when all I could hear was the crickets and even the sound of an owl.

I wasn't scared of the dark. Really, I wasn't. It was just the woods, right?

I'm scared of someone or something following me. "Your spot is right here," I heard the teacher that guided us said, "You will hear a bell in ten minutes. That is a sign for you to take off your blindfold."

"Teacher, what happens if we take them off too early?"

He chuckled before saying, "Well, you should really listen to us. We don't want you to accidentally see something else here. We're in the dark woods after all."

"Teacher! Don't say that!" I whined and could even feel my pee coming out in fear. I stood with my legs close to each other tightly and held my chest nervously.

"You'll be okay," Sunghoon said as he held my hand. I slapped it away, "Don't touch me! How can I know if it's really you?!"

Suddenly, we heard the sound of a bell ringing. I slowly took off my blindfold and saw Jay and Sunghoon blinking their eyes to adjust to the lighting. I looked around and found myself alone in the dark woods with the guys.

"I guess we just have to wait?" Jay said and folded his arms. I nodded and jumped in surprise when I saw something passing behind him.

"Jay," I breathed out. "What?" He asked. I immediately ran to Sunghoon and asked, "Can I hold you? Please?"

He nodded and let me cling onto his arm as he looked around the area we were in. "Wait! Something just touched me!" I felt something cold brushing against my skin.

"You're just imagining things," Jay frowned. I gave him a death stare before convincing myself to explore the spot. All the rare flowers caught my attention and I tried to take a closer look at each one of them.

"Guys! Look at this!"

They both approached me and gasped in awe, seeing the rare orchid in front of me. Suddenly, fireflies started appearing and created beautiful lights for us to watch. Maybe the teachers were right. We were lucky to get to witness them.

Sunghoon sat on the ground and patted a spot next to him, motioning for me and Jay to sit down. We both obeyed and watched as the beautiful fireflies danced around. The full moon and stars in the sky caught my attention.

It was so beautiful that none of us thought of making any sounds. We all enjoyed the silence and the peaceful atmosphere.