disfunctionality | HwanHee ✅

Seventeenth Toll

I lied down on the grass as I waited for my friends to finish classes for the day. I felt an arm drape over me then hot breath on my neck. "Keonhee, stop." He didn't respond. I looked over and saw that he was sleeping. "He's really pretty like this..." I slowly rolled over and saw that we were only inches apart from each other. "Hwan!" I sat up and saw 3 of them heading towards me. "Where's Youngjo?" "He left early cause family problems." "Seems like you two were getting comfortable." I rolled my eyes at Dongju's statement and noticed Geonhak was unusually quiet. He looked mad, even.

I found myself talking and joking around with them as I gently stroked Keonhee's hair. "I think sleeping beauty is waking." I looked down and saw that he really was. "Are they here...?" I nodded then scooted over so he could join the circle. "So, Keonhee..." "Hm?" "Are you like Tarzan?" "I consider that an insult." "Sorry..." The air has now become awkward and tense. "I'm going to be direct. Keonhee, what's the relationship between you and Hwan?" Everyone except Seoho seemed surprised by the question. "Traveling buddies." "That's not what we saw." I had never seen Seoho like that and it worried me to the core.

"Traveling 'buddies' don't cuddle. At all. Explain yourself." "I...We were cuddling? I swear I wasn't near him at all..." "Don't lie to me." I could see the anger in his eyes and I knew I had to stop this. "Seo, he's telling the truth. He didn't cuddle me intentionally. He just rolled in his sleep." He looked at me and I could no longer see the anger. "Oh, why didn't you just say so? I'm sorry Keonhee." He laughed awkwardly then looked down at the ground.

"Hey!" We turned to see Youngjo jogging over to us and Keonhee suddenly made a dash for it. I got up and chased after him while shouting apologies back at my friends. He slowed to a stop by a tree and I became thankful as I had ran out of fuel. I waited to ask so I could catch my breath. "Why did you come after me...?" "Wouldn't you be concerned if your good friend suddenly ran?" I slowly walked over to him then hugged him from behind. He didn't move, so I assumed this position was okay.

"Why did you run?" "He smelled like them." "Like who?" He seemed hesitant to tell me. Was it something big? "Your friend...he's..." "Go on..." He turned around then placed his hands on my shoulders. "He's of their flesh and blood." "Who?" "Youngjo. He's...an offspring of the head councilman." I stared at him in confusion. How could I believe something like that? How could he even know what a council member smelled like? Unless...

"I think it's time you told me everything." "Not here...We're not too far from the portal. There's eyes and ears around us." He dragged me farther away then stopped in front of the library. "Let's talk in here." "But-" He dragged me inside despite my protests. We sat down and I was nervous as to what was going to be said. "We, okapis, didnt always live out deep in the woods. We were forced to." "Why...?" He held my hand and caused me to blush. "Now's not the time!" "Are you really willing to leave your bubble of ignorance?" "Yes." He still looked worried, so I gave the back of his hand a pat.

"A fellow okapi found out the higher ups real plan with Dier. Yeah, it sounds like a typical movie or tv drama thing, but, it really did happen. She eventually went to them and nicely asked that they reconsider. They killed her on the spot." I rapidly blinked. I knew it was only the beginning, but they just up and killed her just because she knew? "She told a few others about what she was going to do. So when they heard that she apparently 'met an unfortunate end' by something else, they immediately knew what had happened. Thus a fight broke out. Lost quite a few during the fight and during our retreat. Well, I wasn't born yet, but that's what I was told by who cared for me."

I completely understood and a part of me wished I didn't. I became worried that I wouldn't be able to stomach the rest.