The Love Score || Zhuo Zhi

85: My Instinct Was Right

Hope slowly draining from my body by the ounce, I sagged to the gravelly floor, sighing exasperatedly. "I'm exhausted," I groaned, squatting on the floor and leaning against the prickly leaves of the maze's wall. "This maze is killing my brain."

The clouds had dissipated and exposed a blanket of blue sky above us, and they made no exception to letting the radiant, burning sun beat down mercilessly on me. I brushed the strands of hair out of my face and shielded my eyes from the sunlight. "Bai Yang, stand in front of me. I need your shade."

Bai Yang raised an unamused eyebrow at me and scoffed. "No, thanks." He crossed his arms over his chest and stood rooted to the same spot, looking back at the map Zhuo Zhi was studying in his hands.

"Meanie," I huffed. Without standing up, I waddled over to squat near Bai Yang where I could be covered by his shade, which was the largest due to his tall and broad build. I stared at my head's shadow peeking out of Bai Yang's one, which was comically sprouting a tiny pinwheel. The pinwheel was stagnant, frozen there without movement.

Bai Yang glared at me disapprovingly. "Why can't you help us figure a way out of this maze, instead of hiding from the sun and complaining?"

"Because," I talked slowly and dramatically as if I was speaking to a class of kindergarteners, "I tried to help you guys through the maze ten minutes earlier. But none of you listened to me and now we are lost, thanks to you three!"

Zhuo Zhi's eyes flickered over to me on the ground beneath the bill of his cap, an obvious frown on his face, but he said nothing to my explanation. Jia Le was gazing at me in utter disbelief. "Excuse me, Yue En, but I remember clearly that it was you who forced us to follow your sense of direction ten minutes ago, and it was you who got us all lost."

Bai Yang nodded. "I agree with Senior Jia Le."

Oops.

I waved them away casually with one hand and left the other hand dangling lazily on my knee, unaffected by their words. "Psh. Don't try to push the blame on me."

Zhuo Zhi lightly tapped the piece of paper that illustrated the map of the maze. "I think I know where we are. Let's move."

"Alright! Finally!" Jia Le pumped his fist in the air and began trailing after Zhuo Zhi. Bai Yang let out a heavy sigh and followed behind his seniors, leaving me to bake in the sun without his shade. Reluctantly, I stood up from my squatting position and walked in tow.

Playing the leader, Zhuo Zhi kept glancing from his paper to the path in front of him. I could hear him uttering calculations occasionally, tracing a finger along with the twists and turns on the map. I silently followed without another word because one, I was in no mood to communicate with Zhuo Zhi in any form unnecessarily; two, I felt guilty for wasting everyone's time earlier; and three, I was in no mood to communicate with Zhuo Zhi in any form unnecessarily.

"Hold on, Seniors," Bai Yang halted in his tracks as we approached a fork in the path. "We've passed by here before."

Zhuo Zhi furrowed his eyebrows and examined the map again. "Are you sure, Bai Yang?"

"Positive," Bai Yang nodded more determinedly now, pointing to an object planted at the fork. "There. That's the fire extinguisher we passed by when Yue En was leading us through."

"How do you know it's the same extinguisher?" Jia Le questioned suspiciously, his line of sight aligning with Bai Yang's as they both stared at the bright red extinguisher.

"Because it's dented at the side," Bai Yang said. "It has a scratch to prove it."

Zhuo Zhi looked up, looking crestfallen. "That means... we're back where we'd started?"