Queen of Roses

27) Secrets

Yoongi awoke with an awful headache. A cold numbness had overtaken his body early last night and it had only worsened through the morning. His throat burned with the beginnings of a cold and beads of sweat had started to form on his forehead despite his still damp, ice-cold clothing.

Sure, he may have positioned himself in front of Jisoo as soon as she'd fallen asleep, his back blocking out the wind, but he was not quite prepared for the excruciating consequences of such a decision. Now, as every inch of movement triggered a sharp pain to ripple throughout his body, he realized why he did not perform gallant gestures on a regular basis.

He probably wouldn't have done it for anyone else (except maybe Jennie). But this damn woman had been shaking against his chest since the beginning of the thunderstorm and he needed to put an end to it. Unfortunately, the only way to do that was to sacrifice his own comfort for hers.

But, after seeing the calmness overtake her sleeping features, maybe, just maybe, he didn't regret his decision as much as he thought he would.

Judging by the wetness of the trees and puddles in the soil, it had only stopped raining a few hours ago. Although, he had loathed the storm last night as it attacked his body, the aftermath of it had left the forest glimmering shades of healthy green and motivated the birds to begin chirping a morning tune above their heads.

And now, as this raven-haired woman rested her head on his chest, perhaps he was grateful for the calmness that followed every storm. Without even realizing it, his hand had found its way to her wavy hair, stroking through it gently.

"What are you two doing up there?" Taehyung's taunting voice snapped Yoongi out of his reverie, and he almost pushed Jisoo right off of him to avoid being caught in the midst of such a gentle act.

Jisoo began to stir with a grumpy pout as Yoongi peered down below the net, where Taehyung and Chaeyoung stood, appearing a little too amused for Yoongi's liking.

"Nice of you to finally look for us," Yoongi muttered sarcastically, after casually clearing his throat, "in your clean, dry clothes, and well-rested bodies, might I add."

"Ya, so much for teamwork," Jisoo said, her hands rubbing her eyes groggily.

"We're so sorry," Chaeyoung replied, her brows furrowed in concern as Taehyung began climbing the tree to rescue them, "we were hoping you two had found some shelter."

"And we also assumed that you two would be smart enough to avoid animal traps," Taehyung added sarcastically, now crouched on the tree branch the two of them were hanging from and beginning to use a dagger to cut through the net.

"Hey!" Jisoo exclaimed, offended, and now wide awake, "give us a break, it was dark and stormy, and we were trying to find the plant."

As soon as she finished that sentence, Taehyung had finished cutting through the thick material, and without any warning, the net sprung apart, flinging Jisoo and Yoongi's bodies straight down into a fresh puddle of mud.

"Kim Fucking Taehyung!" Yoongi screeched as Jisoo landed on top of him, smothering his back and legs in the brown liquid.

"Woops," Taehyung mumbled, and Yoongi swore he saw a hint of a smile on his lips.

Jisoo immediately got off him, placing her hand on his chest for support and then dusting her body off even though her clothes did not have even a speck of mud on it. Yoongi almost lost it when he thought he saw her suppress a laugh too.

"Taehyung," Chaeyoung chastised as she rushed over to Yoongi and offered to help him up.

"Sorry," he muttered, jumping down from the branch. His feet landed in another, smaller puddle, splashing Yoongi in the face with more of the murky liquid.