The Tomb Of My Heart | SF9

五

After a few hours of travelling, we finally arrived to China.

"Okay, guys." Mrs. Kwon said. "We have to be quick if we want to make it to hotel on time for dinner. Yes, we arrived in China, but the place where we will be staying is two hours of driving away from here."

"Oh, lord." Someone behind me said. I turned around to see who it was, but I couldn't really tell, because that voice wasn't familiar to me. Pretty sure it was the tall guy, Seokwoo, though.

"Yes, Mr. Kim." Mrs. Kwon said, adressing that to Seokwoo. "You may as well pray to lord that we arrive on time. Otherwise we'll go to bed with our stomachs empty. Our hotel isn't exactly in the center of the town. In fact, the nearest shop is probably a few miles away."

"Well, isn't she a strict one?" I overheard Youngkyun whispering and Chanhee giggling as if they were middle-schoolers.

"Alright, then." Mr. Jung said, seeing that three identical cars were quickly approaching us. "Our ride is here."

The two teachers separated the twelve of us, including them, in the three vehicles. Mrs. Kwon read the list that said who will be in which car.

"Listen to me now. Car number one: Mr. Jung, Kim Youngkyun, Kim Inseong and Kim Youngbin. Car number two: Lee Jaeyoon, Lee Sanghyuk, Kim Seokwoo and Kang Chanhee. And the third car: Baek Jaein, Baek Juho, Yoo Taeyang and me. Now, everyone, get to your car and take a seat. We're about to leave."

Juho and I exchanged a look that I couldn't really translate to words. I was happy that I was in the same car as my cousin, and Mrs. Kwon, too. But I was afraid that the ride with Taeyang would be rather awkward and even somewhat scary.

After we entered the car, the driver introduced himslef and immediately started driving to our destination. While Mrs. Kwon was sitting in the front seat, the three of us were at the back, and things couldn't have gotten more awakward, since I was sitting in the middle, right between Taeyang and Juho.

Juho just couldn't stop talking with Mrs. Kwon. Although he had that cold-guy attitude, it would always drop when he was near the teachers, revealing his "teacher's pet" side. I knew about that side of his ever since we were children. That boy just liked attention. Plus, Mrs. Kwon was a really young and pretty woman, so I kind of understood his attraction towards her. Honestly, I thought to myself, If he doesn't stop bothering me with that stupid bet, I might need to use this fact against him."

An evil smirk appeared on my face because of that thought.

"Are you okay, Jaein? What are you thinking about?" Juho asked.

"Me? Nothing." I said, and I knew that I needed to change the topic somehow, so I turned to, perhaps, my last option.

"Umm, so, Taeyang... What are your goals for this trip? Finding something exciting? Having fun?"

He looked at me with the most dead-looking facial expression that one living human being could possibly have. He didn't seem like he expected the question, but it didn't trigger any emotions in him either. Even if it did, nothing that he did gave off such impression.

He kept quiet for two or three seconds, wondering whether or not he should reply, or what even his answer would be. For a split second, I though that he wasn't going to reply and I could feel my cheeks turning red from embarrassment.

But then, he finally answered. His voice was unexpectedly sweet.

"Hmm... I am kind of hoping that I'll get to experience both." He said, forming something that looked like a slight smile with his lips.

I nodded understandigly, but I didn't dare to ask him anything else. That was why I kept quiet for the rest of the car ride.

After what seemed like forever, the car finally stopped.

"We're here." The driver said, as we were exiting the car. "Have a good time... and don't get lost in the maze."

"...What is he talking about?" I whispered to Juho, but I didn't expect the upcoming answer to be given to me by Taeyang, who suddenly became rather talkative.

"He's talking about the tombs." He said, with a certain amount of excitement lingering in his voice. "Haven't you heard, Jaein? They are full of underground tunnels and mazes.

"Oh. Well, that's... interesting, I guess." I said.

"And extremly dangerous." Mrs. Kwon joined our conversation all of a sudden. "Come on. Let's take our luggage inside. I don't know about you, but I could get some rest. And some food, too."

The hotel building wasn't really anything special or huge, but I didn't mind. We did not come here for a vacation, anyway. After a few minutes of standing in the hall and waiting for our rooms to be assigned to us, Mrs. Kwon finally came back, holding a bunch of keys.

"Okay, first of all, you are all literal adults, so I think there is no need for me to tell you that you should behave and not make much noise while we're here. Secondly, let me give you all the keys to your rooms." She started handing them, and I noticed that everyone had at least one roommate. "Jaein? I hope you don't mind being alone in your room, since you're the only girl here and my room is on the other side of the hotel."

"It's okay, Mrs. Kwon." I smiled. "I'm used to it."

After approximately two more minutes, she finished giving us the instructions.

"Alright, that was all I had to say. You are free to go to dinner, or do whatever you want, I don't really care. Just make sure that you are here tomorrow at 10, because that's when we'll go and explore the surroundings. The tombs are about fifteen minutes of walking away from here, but I still won't tolerate any of you being late."

With that being said, she headed to her own room, and we headed to ours.

While I was walking down the corridor, searching for my room, I heard Youngbin's voice behind me.

"Oh, look." He giggled, putting a key into the lock of his room, that just happened to be next to mine. "We're neighbours."

I smiled back and then I noticed Sanghyuk and Jaeyoon getting closer, so I assumed it was their room as well.

"Wanna hang out with us later?" Sanghyuk asked when he got close enough.

"I'll think about it." I laughed. The three of them reminded me of kids on a school trip, and I couldn't help but feel the same way on the inside. "Anyways, did you see my cousin? I wonder who his roommate is, I didn't really pay attention when Mrs. Kwon was giving him the key."

"Oh, his room is just down the corridor, not so far away from ours." Jaeyoon said. "And I think I saw Inseong with him, so I guess he's Juho's roommate."

Great, I thought ironically. Just great.

"What?" Youngbin smirked, noticing my blushing cheeks. Sanghyuk raised one eyebrow, and Jaeyoon just smiled awkwardly.

"What? Nothing." I said, maybe a bit too nervously, turning my head towards the door of my room, hoping that the burning redness in my cheeks would somehow disappear.

"I - I gotta go unpack my things now. See you at dinner, guys." I said, unlocking my door.

"Let us know if you wanna hang -" Jaeyoon said, never really getting a chance to finish his sentence, because I had already entered my room and closed the door.

As soon as I entered the room, I just placed the suitcase near the wall and fell on the bed.

"Crap." I whispered to myself, touching my cheeks to check if they are still burning like minutes earlier, when Inseong's name got mentioned.

"Juho, you little..." I said, punching the wall that was beside me and immediately regretting it afterwards, because I scratched the skin on my knuckles. "What the hell have you gotten me into?!"