The Retreat | Enha multi ship

[Chapter 4]

After two long hours of driving, the students had arrived at their destination. Smack bang in the middle of the woods, with no sense of direction, there was no way they'd be able to leave on their own, without getting majorly lost. It was cold, eerily quiet, and they were already being attacked by bugs. The students stood in a clump, scanning their surroundings, unable to spot anything other than trees. Not even a tent, which they all dreaded staying in anyway. They'd much prefer that, to no tent at all. 

"Do you think there's bears out here?" Sunoo asks, slightly unnerved by the thought, he keeps his body glued to Sunghoon. 

"There must be, they live in the woods right?" Jake responds.

"Well you're not gonna see them down the local supermarket." Sunghoon adds sarcastically, receiving an eye roll from Jake. He soon puts his focus back on the ravenette beside him, who is practically shivering from the chill in the air. He wraps his arms around him, in a back hug, resting his head on top of Sunoo's. "I told you to put on more layers."

Sunoo hums in agreement. "I should have listened to you."

"It's a good thing you have me to keep you warm then."

The two boys cuddled close, which was a pretty adorable sight, but as they got lost in their own little world, Jake found himself in an awkward position. Don't get him wrong, Jake loved his friends. It's just that over these past two weeks, he sorta became a third wheel. He wanted to give the couple their space, but that meant he was left all alone. He didn't really have anyone else; for his whole life it had been just the three of them. It was definitely a change that didn't come easy. 

Yet again, he felt out of place, and decided to leave the couple for the time being. He wandered through the crowd, hoping to find a teacher to talk to, or even Minjun, since that was better than being alone. He wasn't paying much attention to where he was going, and just like that, he was on the ground. Glancing back, he saw the large branch that swept him off his feet, and internally cursed the inanimate object. No one seemed to care about his fall [Which saved him embarrassment], but left him with the reminder that he was ultimately irrelevant.

Just as he was about to get up, a hand suddenly appeared in front of him. His eyes went wide, then immediately shot up, causing him to gulp at who was offering to help him.

"You should watch where you're going." Heeseung says, with a gentle smile.

Jake almost forgets how to speak, letting out some incoherent mumbles as he takes Heeseung's hand. The red head chuckles while pulling him up. 

"Are you alright? Should I get the teacher?"

"No no, I'm fine really!" Jake assures, taking the opportunity to dust himself off. He can't believe that out of all the people who could have seen him fall, it had to be Lee Heeseung.

"You sure-" 

"Heeseung!"

A girl with short brown hair runs up to Heeseung, snatching his attention, just long enough for Jake to awkwardly speed walk away. It's not like he thought Heeseung would care much, not about a nobody like him, so there was no point in hanging about aimlessly. 

As Heeseung locked eyes with Gaeul, he quickly turned back to excuse himself from the prior conversation. To his surprise, and slight disappointment, Jake was already gone.

"Hey look at me! I really need your help!" Gaeul exclaims frantically, placing her hands on Heeseung's cheeks and forcibly turning his head to look at her. "This is serious!"

The girl looked extremely panicked, which was very unusual for her. They'd been friends for a long time, and for the most part, she was a really calm person. So much so, that she was the person you'd go to in an emergency, because she never lost her cool. He knew this was no exaggeration, especially if it's something that freaked her out this much.

"What's going on?"

"Ugh well-" Gaeul takes in a deep breath, and nervously utters. "How do you know if you're in love with someone?" 

It took a second for the question to register, immediately causing the boys eyebrows to shoot to the top of his forehead. "Wait who are you in love with?!" 

"That doesn't matter right now, and I don't even know if I'm actually in love with them..." She trails off, scrunching her face and letting out a frustrated groan. "So how do you know?" 

Heeseung shrugs. "Beats me, lets ask an expert." Glancing at the students around him, he spots two boys among the crowd. "Jay-" His call is muffled by Gaeul's hand slapping over his mouth.

"No not them!" She whisper yells. The red head tries to speak but his words continue to be muffled by Gaeul's hand. She understands what he's trying to say though, and lowers her palm. "No I'm not in love with Jungwon, nor Jay if you're gonna ask that next."

"I didn't think so, but this makes no sense, why can't we ask them?"

"Ugh you're no help." 

Gaeul swiftly turns around, and storms away from Heeseung, leaving him to ponder what the hell just happened.

"I swear someone just called me." Jay mumbles to himself. He looks around slightly paranoid, but no one calls him again, so he assumes it's just the wind.

"Ooh Sunoo's over there, I'm gonna go speak to him." Jungwon says, about to walk away when his arm is loosely grabbed by Jay. He turns to him with furrowed brows. "What?"

"He's with Sunghoon, leave him be." Jay replies, lips curving into a smug smile. "Plus you get to stay with me, which is always a good thing."

Jungwon snatches back his arm. "Not always, I don't want to always be with you."

Jay's smile drops at the boys harsh tone. He finds himself responding with similar agitation. "Don't act like I'm so clingy, I didn't get to see you this weekend."

"Yeah I was busy."

"Busy shopping with Wonyoung."

Jungwon scoffs. "Why are you trying to start an argument?"

"You're the one being difficult again." Jay sighs. 

"Well if I'm so difficult, then I'll go, so you don't have to deal with me anymore." Jungwon snaps passive aggressively, this time waiting for Jay's response, or more appropriately, his apology. However, the response never comes, so he simply rolls his eyes, and walks over to Sunoo. 

It was apology after apology for Jay, he just couldn't seem to get anything right. He didn't want to fight with Jungwon, especially not over such petty things. He'd usually give in to make everything easier, but they'd been fighting like this all morning, and truthfully, he was exhausted. This trip had only just started, and it was already testing their 'relationship' more than he expected. 

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Also, let me know your Enhypen biases, I'm curious.