The Retreat | Enha multi ship

[Chapter 35]

Rei really wasn't lying when she said she was good at tracking, because it took them only a few minutes to find the shed. Jay had taken them in the right direction, but they would have never been able to find it without Rei's help. Jay, Sunghoon and Heeseung all head towards the sheds door, while Sunoo, Jake and Rei hang back.

"If I had known you weren't invited, I would have brought you with me." Sunoo says, feeling bad that Rei had come to save them, even though she wasn't invited to the party.

"Oh it's alright...we're not really friends anyway." Rei mutters the last part under her breath, but the boys still manage to hear it.

Gently, Jake places his hand on her shoulder. "Lets change that." He smiles, glancing over to Sunoo expectantly.

The ravenette nods and grabs the girls hand. "The more the merrier I say."

This was all so strange to Rei. No one, and I mean not a single person, had ever wanted to be her friend apart from Jiwon. She didn't think she deserved this kindness after her years of spreading gossip, but she couldn't deny it felt amazing. 

"The wrong key?!"

In unison, Sunoo, Jake and Rei all turned towards the yelling. Sunghoon looked furious, Heeseung looked disappointed, and Jay was desperately ramming the key into the lock. They all walked over to see what was going on.

"This has to be it!" Jay snaps in frustration. His mind flashes back to the box of keys he sorted through, and he was sure this was the only one without a key chain. So why didn't it work? He was starting to believe he hadn't searched well enough.

Rei snatches the key from him, and brings it closer to her face to inspect it properly. "This is the wrong key."

"Would have never worked that one out." Sunghoon scoffs.

"Fuck! This is a disaster!" Jay lets out his anger by kicking the door, and throwing the key off into the woods.

The group didn't really know what to do now. They had come all the way for alcohol, and couldn't even get into the shed. Were they supposed to go back? It felt like such a waste of time.

"You kids are so dumb." Once again another person appears from the shadows, causing them all to flinch, and Sunoo even let out a little yelp of surprise. Coming into the moonlight, Jake's aunt waves a shiny silver key in their faces. "Dahyun keeps this key on her at all times."

Jay snaps his head towards Jake. "Wait- is that your aunt?"

"Uh...yeah." Jake responds awkwardly, rushing over to the woman. "How did you know we were coming here?"

"Well when I walked off into the woods earlier, I stumbled upon your little gay besties, and I heard them talking about your party." She points to Sunghoon and Sunoo. "I wasn't going to do anything with that information, until I saw Jay in the staff's cabin, taking something out of the key box. I just knew he was stealing the wrong key, so I came to help you guys out."

"I appreciate it." Jay chimes, happily taking the key off the woman. He was in a much better mood now.

Jake was kinda speechless that his aunt had done this, especially after how he treated her this morning. "Thank you." He states, and she ruffles his hair with a big smile.

All eyes were on Jay as he pushes the key into the lock. This was it, their last chance at making this disastrous journey worth while. Sucking in a deep breath, he turns the key, and like magic, the door unlocks.

____

Once the alcohol had been collected, the group made their way back to the retreat. Rei lead the way, because there was no chance they'd get back without her. She chatted with Sunoo the whole time about silly things, just getting to know each other a bit more. While Jake actually let his aunt talk to Heeseung, and she surprisingly didn't share any embarrassing stories about him. Jay and Sunghoon discussed their plans for tomorrow morning, because they were going to have to find someway of hiding their hangovers. Eventually, they made it back to the cabin, and everyone was excited to finally get this party started.

Unfortunately for them, two people were there to greet them, and it wasn't Wonyoung and Riki.

"Now this isn't the team work I wanted to see from you." Dahyun sounded very annoyed, standing there with her arms crossed, completely unimpressed.

They all had different reactions to seeing Dahyun. Sunoo tried to hide behind Sunghoon, Rei hid the alcohol under her hoodie, Heeseung took the alcohol off Jake, and Jake turned worriedly to his aunt, but the woman had seemingly run off. Guess she was only willing to help him so much. Oppositely, Jay didn't care about Dahyun at all, it was the boy beside her he had a problem with.

"You little rat!" Jay shouts, storming over to Hyeongjun. He harshly grabs the boy by his collar. "I got your damn snacks!" He feels himself pulled back by Sunghoon.

"Well you took so long I thought you were lying!" Hyeongjun whines.

"Enough! You can fight about it tomorrow." Dahyun states firmly, as if she had no patience left. "Drop all the stuff you took, and get to your cabins, I'll deal with you in the morning."

Sunoo drops his stuff immediately, while everyone else was a bit more reluctant to put theirs down. Sunghoon kisses Sunoo good night, and Jake waves at Heeseung, before they head off to their cabin. Rei leaves with them, while Jay stays behind to talk to Dahyun.

"Am I going to get sent home?" He questions, not wanting to wait until morning.

"I would have said no if the case wasn't so extreme, but I'll need to talk to your principle first." Dahyun replies coldly. "Now go."

This was not looking good for Jay. He was used to getting in trouble at school, but stealing was an actual crime. At this rate he was going to get sent home, benched, and maybe even a criminal record. But worst of all, he wouldn't be able to fix things with Jungwon. The boy already doubted how much he cares about him; if he doesn't speak to him tomorrow, then he may ruin things between them forever. 

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Still recovering from TXT's comeback. It was so good, go listen to that album if you haven't already.