STEP

CHAPTER 2

Opening his eyes and lifting his sore neck from Yixing's shoulder, Luhan takes a few glances at the usual beautiful natural scenery and meets his gaze with Yixing's listless eyes.
"It's about time you woke up, ancestor." Zhang Yixing says.

Looking at Yixing, Luhan seems to be examining the tiny lines embedded on his face.
"What happened to me just now...?" He asks.
"Next time, before suddenly falling asleep, could you at least show some signs of sleeping beforehand, such as yawning?" Yixing looks at him and smiles.
"How long have I been asleep?" Luhan takes out his mobile phone and checks the date.
"Just a few minutes," Yixing massages his shoulders, stands up and walks toward the snacks and then turns his head around to look at him again, "Tell me honestly, did you come here to sleep because we laid on your bed just now?"

Luhan stares at Yixing, hesitant.
"You're gloomy and sullen today." Yixing looks at him, "Be frank if you have anything to say."

Looking at Yixing, Luhan says, "At the end of last year... Gayo Daejun... Did I, I mean, was it..." Yixing lowers his eyelids along with his arm, "Why are you still so mindful of that incident?"

Luhan stands still and doesn't move. Those few calm words which came out from Yixing's mouth just now seemed to have pricked something in his mind.
"That happened so long ago, no one's bothered by it anymore... We already took the trophy and apologised. Weren't the fans sad for you too?" Yixing says long-windedly, "Speaking of which, you were really weird during that day. First, you went into a daze on stage, but after returning backstage you couldn't even remember a single thing that had taken place. Tao said it was proximal amnesia and still insisted on bringing you to the doctor. What's good is that you returned to normal at least... Stop taking sleeping pills in the future."

Luhan wasn't even listening to Yixing at all. He slowly turns his body around and walks towards the big slab of stone, the tiny nails lying silently between the soil and wild grasses. The hammer stays on the ground, right next to the red arrow.

He picks up the hammer, flings it in the direction of the bushes with full force and pulls Yixing with him back in the direction where they came from.

"Eh? You're going back?" Zhang Yixing was more-than-happy to pick his bag up from the ground.
Tugging at Yixing's hand, Luhan felt that leaving this place was as if he were escaping from a nightmare. He rubs his eyes with his free hand and Clown seemed to have appeared in front of his eyes, smiling as he says, "Don't forget the way back here."

"I won't come back anymore!" He turns back suddenly, yelling at the mountains.
Yixing merely stares at him, silent.

"Yixing, if I ever wish to return to this place in the future, you must stop me from doing so at all cost." Luhan matches his gaze with Yixing's eyes, "You have to promise me."
Yixing stares at him, stunned, "Why?"
"You have to promise me." Luhan continues looking at him, repeating his words.

"Fine," Zhang Yixing looks at the serious Luhan, "Only if you let me know."
Luhan's gaze suddenly weakens, his legs turn to jelly and he falls to a sitting position onto the ground.

There are many things which we shouldn't dig too deep into. Curiosity would push people forward but it would hasten their deaths as well. Trapped in the circumstances of not being able to explain himself, Luhan silently decides to strangle his own curiosity to death.
But, he definitely cannot allow his own curiosity to strangle him to death.

The following week is peaceful. The first thing Luhan does each morning is to check the date, and then see if the other members in the house have the same memories as him of the night before, beginning with Kris. After realizing that there's nothing wrong with each examination amongst the members, he slowly starts believing that his life has returned to normal.