Caratland [Seventeen FF]

-38-

Jeonghan, Mingyu and Chan were already waiting in front of the portal. As we appeared, the colour changed again in a multicolored pastel tone.
"So Wonwoo's not coming?", Seokmin asked.
"Nope. He still doesn't feel well, Mingyu shrugged his shoulders.
"Since when do you enter the other world again?", Jeonghan turned to me.
"I know right?", Chan also commented and walked over to me.
"Where's Jihoon?", Mingyu asked.
"Yeah, it's so rare to see them separated", Seungkwan commented.
"Why are y'all so surprised? It's not like I'm attached to him or something like that", I murmured the last sentence. In some ways they were right. The only times I wasn't next to Jihoon were when I brought the coins to the storage.
"Can we stop talking, please? I came for a certain reason", Jeonghan asked, making everyone chuckle, but shutting their mouths eventually.
"Okay, then go behind me y'all", Mingyu announced and kind of pushed us behind him. The portal changed into a strong magenta, fascinating me. I never knew that magenta could shine that brightly. One by one we made our way into the portal, Chan being on my right.

The way was short. I almost forgot that bright light in midden of the change. It seemed like a usual summer day, with the sun shining brightly and clouds completely gone. We were in the middle of a forest. The trees were really high, blocking the view behind it. But as if this spot wasn't strangely enough, there was a building seated in the centre of it. It was a pet pension.
"Let's meet those puppies!", Seokmin exclaimed and ran forward. We slowly followed him into the house.

The pension was pretty big with three floor. There was a sign telling us the difference between these floors: floor one was for dogs, floor two for cats and floor three for exotic animals.
"Mingyu was once part of a scouts group. We think that's why his world is like that", Chan explained to me. I nodded. Seokmin already held a corgi in his hand walking over to us.
"That's donut. Even if he's not real, he's so adorable", he was filled with awe, while showing of the pouting dog. I must admit that dog was really cute. Mingyu made his way to the small puppies.
"The good thing is that these puppies will never grow up so they'll always stay that cute", Mingyu grinned, petting three of them. Hansol made his way for the german Sheppard, which immediately jumped up to him. Seungkwan and Jeonghan didn't seem impressed.
"Let's go up", Seungkwan suggested, as Jeonghan nodded in agreement.
"Let's follow them", Chan said, so we followed the others upstairs.

Upstairs were the cats. Jeonghan immediately turned to a Japanese bobtail.
"Her name is Mei", Jeonghan smiled. "She's kind of the obese grandma, but I like her the most. Feels like she's the most honest with herself. Like "I'm showing the real me" kind of type. Also she's so cute! Look at her eyes!", Jeonghan explained to me, while struggling a little to hold her.
"My favourite cat is that one. Her name is Karrel", Seungkwan said and pointed to a british shorthair. "Cause she's sassy", he added and approached her, but the cat immediately hissed and scratched the back of his hand as it ran away. "That brat", he also hissed under his breath.
"That one in the back is Wonwoo's fav. Her name is shadow and she's a Bombay. That cat is so antisocial, perfectly fitting with Wonwoo's dark personality", Jeonghan pointed at the cat in the corner. While Chan told me a story about Karrel, another fluffy, brown caramel patterned cat approached me. She laid down next to my foot and turned around, asking for a belly rub.
"I didn't know cats like that", I said, while scrubbing it's belly.
"His name is Woozi. We wanted to call it Jihoon first, because it's so small, but Jihoon refused of course. He still reacts to Jihoon though", Chan explained to me. Woozi immediately grabbed my attention. That cat was definitely my new favourite one.

"Hey, Chan", I called him after some time. He looked to me and came over, letting go of an orange cat. "Sorry that I left you alone that day. I wasn't sure what to do, but I thought calming down the cause of the fire would get things a little less heated", I said, not looking at Chan.
"It's fine. I wasn't expecting something else. After all you two seem really close", he responded, also crouching down to watch Woozi play with a toy. "But what did you do to make Jihoon open up to you?", he asked.
"I don't know. I just came and after the first day he seemed kind of... relieved", I shrugged my shoulders. "Why are you asking?", I asked him back.
"Just because", he murmured. I eyed him up, suspicious, but didn't question any further.

After playing for a long time with the cats and dogs we decided to go back. We had to go through the forest. Jeonghan, Chan, Seokmin and Mingyu were on the front, whereas Hansol, Seungkwan and I stayed at the back.
"Ah, right. Actually I wanted to ask you something", I turned the attention to me, both looking at me curiously. "I once overheard you, don't take it personally, but you two were talking about something, which is dangerous for me", I told them. They switched looks, trying to remember the day.
"Ah, yeah! It was about the tunnels. Seungcheol's brother supposed you were already seeing the tunnels, because you were showing some symptoms or something like that, but he wasn't sure so don't worry", Seungkwan said, getting nods from Hansol.
"Well, actually I-", again I didn't get to tell them, because Chan made his way to us.
"What are y'all talking about?", he asked. We switched looks.
"About Lucy", Hansol lied.
"Her fury is so fluffy, right?", Chan participated in the non existing conversation, filling up the small tension that build up. It seemed like we found the portal back as Jeonghan and Seokmin weren't there anymore, leaving a bright magenta behind them.
"Hurry up y'all! I still want to get some sleep", Mingyu called for us.

I guess I won't get a chance to tell them about the tunnels...