Cured

Ch. 41

The jungle was deafeningly quiet as we walked, Sehun off ahead, Kai hanging back with me, making sure I didn't trip or get lost. I knew he kept glancing at me, but I couldn't look over at him. Not only was his confession earlier still running through my mind, so was his argument with Sehun.

Kai was quiet for a few seconds. "If you really cared about her, you wouldn't push her away like that. You're hurting her every time you snap at her or ignore her. She just wants to help. Don't pretend like what happened earlier was just in her mind. You want her to comfort you, you want to apologize to her and have her tell you that everything will be okay. When you two were sitting together at the front of the boat, I saw how relieved you were when you saw that she didn't hate you. And don't think I didn't see that kiss either." Sehun's face turned red, but I was lost. What kiss.

I looked ahead, seeing Sehun weaving between trees, and eventually built up enough courage to speak. "Kai?" I began, hesitant.

"Yeah?" He replied, as if there wasn't an awkward air between us.

"Earlier, when you and Sehun were arguing, you mentioned that..." I trailed off, trying to get the words to leave my mouth, but failed.

"That...what?" He asked, and glanced over at me. I'm assuming my face gave away what I was trying to ask about. "Oh." He said, looking away from me. "That." There was a silence before he spoke again, and the sigh that escaped his lips was almost too obvious. "Sehun may have kissed you while we were still on the boat."

I looked down at my feet, partially so that I could hide my expression, whatever it might be, and also to watch where I was stepping, as the undergrowth of the jungle had grown thicker. "When?" I asked.

There was another silence, then Kai replied. "You were asleep, so he thought it would be okay to come sit by us for a bit since he didn't have to worry about something bad happening. He didn't know I was still awake, so he didn't bother to keep his thoughts to himself, talking about how he had promised himself not to get any closer to you, but he couldn't help it. He kissed you on the forehead, which made me a little jealous, to be honest. I pretended to shift in my sleep and scared him off to the other side of the boat, but he kept glancing back at you."

I was silent, which Kai took as a sign to explain even further. "He was devastated when you saved him that night at the club. He is afraid that you might save him again, and he would rather be hurt himself than see you hurt in his place. That's why he's trying to push you away."

"I'd save him, or you, or anyone at the mansion in a heartbeat. You all are like family to me. Although I haven't known you guys that long, you've treated me like I was one of you from the moment we met. Even though we only met because Suho died, you all smiled at me, putting aside the fact that I was completely useless in bringing him back." I began, a small smile on my lips. "Even if I can still feel the pain that comes with dying, I'd still die for you, for all of you."

Kai smiled, and stepped closer in order to walk beside me. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer for a hug. "We'd do the same for you, too. You are family now." He said, and released me from the hug with a grin.

I smiled at his words, then slowly realized how quiet it was around us. It was too quiet, I couldn't even hear Sehun's footsteps anymore. "Kai." I began, listening carefully for any sign of his brother, but I heard nothing. "Where's Sehun?"

"Don't worry, he's still in front of us. I can hear him stomping around." Kai said, making his way ahead of me, but only slightly, wanting to stay close in case something were to happen. "Sehun, slow down. We need to stay together. We have no idea what's around here." Kai warned.