H.O.W.L (EXO FanFic) ✓ //UNDER EDITING//

Chapter Twenty

Jaehee's Pov

I was brought into the forest yet again. After Luhan stopped the poison from taking effect for a while, Suho told him to bring me to their hide-out located somewhere in the forest so they could explain everything. 

I was pretty reluctant to go at first but I needed answers so there was no choice but to follow.

Luhan stopped running and slowly laid my feet down onto the ground, I was piggybacked by him earlier as ran into the forest with his supernatural strength.

They said they were bringing me to their hide-out but I saw no houses or cabin anywhere, all I saw were huge trees surrounding us. I turned around and looked at Luhan, "Why are we here?"

He smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. "You'll know soon."

What on earth is going on?

He started walking deeper into the forest and I followed after him but was quiet throughout the walk, he didn't bother to say anything either. "Um.." I figured that I should probably start a conversation but I wasn't even sure what to talk about.

All of the sudden he started apologizing. "I'm sorry."

"Huh?" I raised a brow and wondered why he'd apologize out of the blue.

"I'm sorry for kissing you, I didn't have a choice."

Excuse me? He didn't have a choice? So if he did have a choice, he wouldn't want to kiss me? Why does my heart ache so badly?

I thought I was already....towards Chanyeol...so why would hearing him say this to me shattered my heart?

Was I just his plaything that he could mess around with every time he was bored?

I curled my hands into a fist, my knuckles were turning white, I grit my teeth in frustration. An exaggerated laugh escaped my lips. "Haha.. what nonsense are you saying right now? Look, I don't care if you were forced to kiss me or not. At the end of the day, we're just each other's plaything right?"

"Wait, I never said that-"

It hurts. It really hurts to know that I wasn't as special to him as I thought I was.

I didn't want to hear his reply so I simply walked past him and wished that I could just get out of his sight, I was scared to look back at him and I wasn't able to even if I wanted because tears were already trickling down my cheeks.

I'm such an idiot. Why did I think that I was special to him? That maybe he felt something for me. But worse of all, why am I so mad about it?

"Jaehee.." he called.

My mind was telling me to keep moving, don't stop just keep walking, but my legs wouldn't listen.

I wiped my tears quickly and turned around. "What?" there was a hint of irritation in my voice.

To my surprised, he closed the distance between us and pulled me into a tight embrace. I was so shocked, I didn't know what to say.

The only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat. 

"Luhan?"

He kept hugging me without saying anything, I wanted to hug him back too but I was frozen like a statue.

"Jaehee, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you, what I said earlier I think you misunderstood." His arms around me became tighter.

I misunderstood?

He slowly pulled away and pinched both of my cheeks. "I didn't say I was forced to kiss you. I was just worried that you didn't want me to kiss you, that probably you felt bothered by it."

Ah, I get it now. When he said he had no choice but to kiss me, he was worried that I didn't like it but he had to do it because it was the only way to slow the poison. How could I have been so stupid?

I was selfish, I only thought about my own feelings, I didn't bother to understood his.

But I'm happy.

Overwhelmed by these feelings of mine, I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and pulled him closer for a tight hug.

I felt him wrapped his arms around my waists and hugged me back. It put a big smile on my face.

"What's with this lovey dovey situation?" I was startled by someone's voice, I quickly pulled away from Luhan and looked at the direction where the voice came from.

Suho and the rest of the members were watching us. "Suho hyung!" I said in surprised.

He smiled as he looked at me. "You made it, Jaehee."

"How are you feeling?" Another voice appeared. I looked behind Suho and saw a smiling Kai, Sehun was walking next to him.

"Kai and Sehun," he flashed them a big smile, "Yeah I'm feeling a bit better now."

"It's good to see you're doing alright even though the poison isn't completely gone yet." Said Xiumin who was sitting on one of the broken branches.

Chen suddenly appeared out of no where. "Hey, Luhan hyung! Why are you holding Jaehee?" He quickly separated us from each other while shooting a glare at Luhan though Luhan simply rolled his eyes at him.

I laughed at Chen's childish behavior.

I was really happy to see everyone even though part of me was really nervous because soon I was going to find out the thing  that I had been trying not to think about.

But for now, let me just enjoy this moment with them. Wait, one person is missing.

"I promised I'd save you, didn't I?" My eyes immediately landed on Chanyeol who had his hands in his pockets and was smiling at me. Yeah, I remembered he made a promise to save me when I was still paralyzed by the poison.

He really kept his promise.

"Chanyeol." My feelings confused me yet again.

Was I really in love with Chanyeol? Was it just admiration? And what about Luhan? How do I feel about him?

As much as I wanted to find the answers to my questions, I was also afraid to know because I didn't want to choose between the two of them. Both of them were important to me.

"We shouldn't delay, the sky's getting darker. I think it's time we tell Jaehee everything." Suho's face turned serious.

The members agreed and nodded their heads to what Suho just said, but in my case I was terrified to know the truth.

What should I do?