The Retreat | Enha multi ship

[Chapter 26]

"I wanna go fishing!" Jake blurts out, leaving Sunghoon, Sunoo and Heeseung all shocked, as they had just decided to go cycling instead. "And Sunoo wants to come with me, don't you?"

"Uh..." Sunoo mumbles, furrowing his brows as Jake starts mouthing 'just agree'. "Yeah?" He says, only going a long with it, because he sensed there was a reason Jake wanted to get him all on his own.

"Okay, we'll all go fishing th-"

"No!" Jake cuts Sunghoon off. He swiftly grabs the back of Sunoo's coat, and starts pulling him towards the fishing group. "You guys should go cycling! Don't let us stop you!"

Sunghoon chooses to ignore Jake, but as he's about to walk over to the fishing group, he feels a hand grab his shoulder. Glancing back, he see's Heeseung shaking his head at him. 

"Let them be." Heeseung chuckles, hooking his arm over Sunghoon's shoulder, he drags him over to the cycling group.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm letting Jake tell me what to do."

____

Due to what happened earlier with Jungwon, the boys were relieved to see that this fishing activity didn't involve boats of any kind. Fishing rods were dug into the ground on the bank beside the river, with camping chairs set up for the students to sit on. Sunoo and Jake simply found a pair of empty seats, not even sparing a glance to their fishing rods, as they both knew this wasn't what they were here to do. 

"Why are you being so weird? What's going on?" Sunoo asks in confusion, sitting down in the camping chair.

"Well my life is very weird Sunoo! I have a lot going on right now that I have to tell you about!" Jake replies dramatically. He slumps down beside Sunoo, swiveling his body to face his friend. 

"Then tell me."

A loud sigh escapes Jake. "Um how do I say this?" He mutters to himself, staring down at his hands, which were fidgeting in his lap. He takes in a deep breath, before lifting his head again.  "Lee Heeseung confessed to me."

In an instant, Sunoo's eyes shoot open, and his jaw drops. "What?! O M G! Like a love confession?!"

"Love?! Where are you getting that from?!" Jake waves his hands frantically. "He just told me he likes me, and wants to get to know me more...in a romantic way."

"A romantic way! Oh how cute!" Sunoo squeals, his whole body wriggling out of excitement. 

Jake grabs his arm, holding him still. "You're embarrassing me!" He snaps, his face turning a bright shade of pink.

"Sorry, I'm just so happy for you." Sunoo says, trying to contain himself. He shuffles to sit properly again, placing his elbow on the arm rest, and leaning against his palm. "So, how do you feel about him?"

"I guess...good? I mean, we've only talked a handful of times, but he's really sweet, and we get along great." Unintentionally, Jake says that all with the brightest smile on his face, which causes a string of happy giggles from Sunoo.

"Ugh your smile says everything!"

Jake instantly sucks in his lips, attempting to hide his smile. As his eyes veer away from Sunoo, he suddenly notices something strange happening with his fishing rod. "Wait! the rods moving!" He yells, jumping up from his seat.

"You caught something!" Sunoo also jumps up, running over to the rod. "What do we do?!" He questions in panic, as they both were just staring at it.

"Uh we grab it?!" Jake follows his own advice, pulling the rod from the ground, which immediately sends him stumbling towards the river. "Ahh it's so strong!"

Sunoo quickly latches onto Jake's waist, stopping him from going straight into the river. "Spin the thingy!" 

"What thingy?!"

"The thingy that reels the fish in!"

 "Oh okay..." As Jake takes one of his hands off the rods, he feels another sharp pull from the fish, which sends the rod flying into the river.

They both stand there for a moment in silence.

"The fish won this time."

____

Rei chuckles quietly as she looks through her camera, glad that she managed to catch that whole debacle with the fishing rod. These were the moments that made this trip memorable, not b roll of trees, or forced interviews from Jiwon. Though she sometimes wished she could be the one making memories like these, instead of always being the one to film them.

"Why are you filming over there?"

Internally she rolls her eyes and sighs, but on the outside, she turns attentively to Jiwon. "I saw a pretty bird." She lies, knowing that Jiwon wouldn't approve of what she actually filmed. 

Jiwon seemed pleased with that answer. "Film this." She demands, before cycling up to Heeseung and Sunghoon. "Can I get an interview?" She steers with one hand, holding her microphone in the other.

"I'll pass." Sunghoon replies.

"Same here." Heeseung adds.

"Ugh! I thought you were nice guys!" Jiwon groans, angrily shoving her mic into the basket on her bike. "No wonder Sunoo's having second thoughts." She mumbles under her breath. However, her close proximity meant that they all heard it.

"I get that you're mad gossip girl, but you don't have to start drama in my relationship." Sunghoon responds, slightly annoyed, but mostly unaffected. He brushes it off, not thinking there was any validity to Jiwon's claim.

"Oh, I'm not starting anything. It's you who's blissfully unaware of the issues in your relationship." Jiwon speaks in a cocky tone, snickering as she flicks her hair in his face. "I may not report on gossip anymore, but you know damn well that I know everything."

With that, Jiwon cycles away, followed quickly by Rei, who mutters an apology as she rides past.

As much as Sunghoon didn't want to believe there was anything wrong with his relationship; he knew Jiwon was right. The girl really did know everything, and she never lied about the school's gossip. If anything, she was a more reliable source than asking Sunoo himself. Accepting this fact, made Sunghoon feel awful. Sunoo was having second thoughts about their relationship. He couldn't help but ask himself what he had done wrong.

Heeseung had sympathy for Sunghoon. It surely wouldn't be nice to hear something like that. He could see his friend was overthinking Jiwon's comments, so he tapped him lightly, and offered up some advice. "Don't keep thinking about what she said, the only person you need to focus on now is Sunoo." 

That was exactly what Sunghoon needed to hear right now. In the scheme of things, Jiwon's comments meant nothing. It was the realization that his relationship was in jeopardy, that forces him to pull up his socks, and find out what's really going on. Getting mad won't fix it, neither will crying about it. There was no way in hell that he was going to lose the most precious person in his life.