𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫? - 𝐓𝐌𝐑 𝐀𝐔, 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨

020 - I'm gonna die, woohoo!

He hasn't spoken to me all day; the last words he said were, "Great job."  What did I do wrong?

I sit in my cabin, buried in a book. I would rather be hanging out with Braedyn or Minho, but one of them is with their boyfriend, and the other one is most likely ignoring me.

Fed up, I decide to go ask him about it. And luckily, I find him in the place I expect him to be: his treehouse.

"Hi—" he starts, but I interrupt him, immediately cutting to the chase.

"Why have you been ignoring me?" I question, my tone irritated. "What did I even do, Minho? You can't just kiss me and then ignore me the next day without saying a thing!"

"Ley, calm down—!"

"Oh, so we're back to Ley now?" I turn to glare at him. "No. I need answers, so hurry up."

"I can't tell you," he says dryly, averting his eyes.

I scoff, rolling my eyes. "Of course you can't."

"Listen, I'm being serious!" He protests, his voice rising.

I nod. "Sure. And why can't you tell me?"

"Because I got told it will kill you!" His hand slams against his mouth and I go silent, my eyes widening as I stare at him.

"What?"

He slowly removes his hand from his lips and takes a note out.

Grabbing the note, I read it.

DON'T THINK I DIDN'T SEE THAT. IF YOU TOUCH HER AGAIN, I'LL KILL HER. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED, MINHO CHOI.

My face pales. "Oh." You've been warned. Of course.

He nods, then he realises the fact he's risking my life. "Oh shit. I told you. I'm with you right now. I—"

"Minho, it's fine," I reassure him. "But can we talk about the kiss?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," he stammers, scratching the back of his neck. "What about it?"

"What did it mean?"

Minho looks up at me and our eyes lock. "What did you want it to mean?"

I shrug. "I'm not sure. I mean, are we just friends?"

"I don't know." Suddenly, he takes my chin and leans in. "But I wanted it to mean this."

His lips connect with mine softly. This kiss is short and sweet, but still nice.

"I don't want you to die," he tells me. "So we can just be friends. Is that okay with you?"

I nod. "Yeah, of course." I stand up, hungry and ready to have dinner.

"Wait," Minho says, causing me to turn around and look at him. He gives me a smile. "But we'll be something someday, right?"

Returning the smile, I nod. "Someday."

**

I return to my cabin, and I see a plate of my favourite food with a note that says the food is addressed to me.

Smiling, I take the plate and bring it to my bed. The plate has mashed potatoes, a burger, and fries. Braedyn probably gave me that food; he felt bad about leaving me.

I pick up the burger and take a bite. The flavours mix together perfectly—just the right balance of vegetables and sauce, creating a mouthful of perfection.

I set the burger down, and grab a fry. It's seasoned just right, with the perfect hint of salt—satisfying without feeling too unhealthy.

As I take a mouthful of the mashed potatoes, I silently thank Braedyn for this heavenly meal.

It's the perfect dinner.

**

Today is the ninth day here.

I walk into the main hall and join the table with my true friends—Minho, Braedyn, Sonya, Harriet, Thomas, and Newt. Teresa is still in the medical room, sadly.

"Hey," I greet them. I turn to Braedyn. "Was it you who gave me the dinner earlier? It was really good, thank you."

He looks at me with confusion. He cocks his head, eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"The dinner?" I look at him as if he's stupid. "Mashed potatoes, a burger, fries...?"

"Whit." He takes a deep breath. "That wasn't me."

"What?"

"That wasn't me," he repeats.

"I heard you," I tell him. "Who was it?"

He looks around for an answer, just to find nothing.

I turn to the others. "Did any of you?"

They all shake their heads, muttering a no.

Oh shit. No, no, no, no.

Suddenly, I feel ill. And I say that.

"You okay?" Minho asks.

"Yeah, just." I have to hold my hand against my mouth just so I don't throw up. Without speaking, I run outside, immediately throwing the food up.

I make sure it's all out before taking a breather.

"Let's be honest," a voice says from behind me. I spin around to look at them. "You deserved that."

"Astrid," I hiss. "Was that you?"

"Nope."

My heart drops again. "What?"

She snickers. "Who else would it have been? Gosh, Whitley, you're so gullible."

I roll my eyes. "I hate you," I snarl. "So much."

"I guess we can agree on something."

"You hate yourself?"

"I hate you, dumbass."

I scoff. "So do many."

Making sure she doesn't know, I silently exhale the breath I didn't even know I was holding. It's not Tyler. Stop being overdramatic, Whitley.

I'm fine. For now.