Revolt 13 | Y.Jw

| 19 |

By early morning, right before the sun stood up, I had been woken up by a loud crash of a bang. I immediately widened my eyes by a second one that had made my tree shake a bit. Only a few more seconds and a heavy rain had started pouring.

Quick flashes of bright light hit down in trees nearby and I rushed to untie myself. Eager to get down and get going.

"Jungwon," I called out, earning a small mumble, "Jungwon!" 

"What?" he muttered in return.

"Get down. We need to go," I insisted as he rubbed his eyes and another lighting struck down into a nearby tree, "now!"

"What's happening?" he complained quietly as I rushed to crawl down from my tree. Forgetting everything about my rope as I hauled the backpack down to me.

"It's a thunderstorm. Nearby trees are burning," I quickly spoke as I glanced back to where lightning just had hit.

As if finding immense amounts of energy Jungwon had immediately rushed down from his tree as well. Grabbing the backpack from me just in time for a lightning to strike down in the tree right beside the one he had slept in. 

Automatically we both started stumbling backwards before setting into a sprint. I hadn't given it a thought which direction I was running in. I simply had just turned around and started running. 

For a while I wasn't even sure if Jungwon was keeping up with me. The only thing that made me sure of it was whenever I could hear him calling out for me to weave in between trees.

My feet carried me as fast as they possibly could, supposedly running me straight into the direction of where the sun was rising. It was only when an open area in front of me appeared that I started gaining hope once more. A large field of grass and flowers.

I gritted my teeth quietly and sped up my running. I ran as fast as I could and eventually escaped the wrath of the forest, just in time to see the sun rising. Instead I immediately turned around and looked towards the woods I had emerged from.

Just behind me Jungwon came running out, his chest heaving up and down as he turned to look at the woods as well. The lightning chasing towards us and then abruptly stopping after having hit down into one of the trees at the edge. A few more lightning strikes hit down but they seemed to be hitting trees at random.

"It stopped..." he muttered, "it stopped raining..."

He was right. It hadn't rained down upon me for a few minutes. In fact, now that I look back, I'm sure I hadn't been standing in rain after I got out of the woods. My hair and clothes was still drenched, sure, but it hadn't been raining above me since I got out of the woods.

"We were too far away," I whispered in realization as the sky cleared up perfectly above the woods.

"What?" Jungwon immediately turned his head to me and brushed his hair out of his face.

"We were too far away. Too close to the edge or too far away from any tributes," I realized and abruptly turned around to look over the field, "someone is nearby. There must be some tributes nearby. Why would they just stop there? Why would the lightning stop there? We need to move. We need to get going."

"Calm down," Jungwon called out as I started pacing over the field, "Jiyeon! Calm down!"

"We need to move. I'm not risking anything," I called back over my shoulder.

"You need to calm down is what we need," Jungwon reminded sternly as he grabbed my arm and tugged me to turn back around and face him, "you need to calm down. If anything your panic will be the death of you. Hear me?"

"We need to move," I hissed quietly, "the only reason that thunderstrom stopped just when we got out here is because some tributes were close enough to us. It's obvious."

Quietly Jungwon fished out the arrow we had gotten a few days earlier and shoved it into my hand.

"Now calm down. We can defend ourselves," he reminded sternly, "I'll take care of it. Alright?"

"I don't want you to take care of it!" I exclaimed and he arched a brow at me.

"You need someone to protect you," he insisted.

"I can do so myself!" I retorted and he snorted in amusement, "I don't want you to go around protecting me from everything. I can do so myself."

"I do it because I care!" he sternly insisted.

"And I don't want you to do so because I care," I retorted and he let out a loud huff before turning around and running his hands over his face.

"It's just circumstances stressing us out," he sighed heavily and nodded to himself, "just circumstances."

I stared at him with both disbelief and bewilderment. Waiting for him to turn back around and see the way I looked at him.

"I don't what if it's because of the circumstances. I do not need you to prote-" I started and he abruptly turned back around to face me.

"I'm protecting you because I love you," he sternly insisted and I paused in my movements. My furrowed eyebrows smoothing out into my forehead once again, "for the first two days, each time that canon went off I almost threw myself into a panic attack, because I couldn't bear the thought of you being the death behind that canon. I am not risking anything if it means I can ensure you get out of here and back home."

"Have you just for one second thought that maybe that is the exact same reason I don't want you to sacrifice yourself like that?" I retorted in frustration, "have you for one second even considered the fact that I love you too?"

"Don't turn this around on me," he warned sternly and I let out a small snort.

"I'll turn it in any way that I want if it is to get my point across!" I exclaimed at him, "fact is: I love you and I do not want you to put yourself in danger just because of me!"

Abruptly Jungwon ha simply grabbed each side of my face and quite literally smashed his lips onto mine. Pressing them tightly against mine as he held my face securely in its place. For a second he pulled his lips away before giving another peck and eventually letting out a heavy sigh.

"Please let me just..." he trailed off.

"Don't you dare do anything stupid," I sternly interrupted and he nodded quietly, pulling his face away from mine and glancing over his shoulder as his hands slowly dropped down.

"Let's seek shelter," he whispered and extended his hand towards mine.

I pursed my lips quietly before reaching over and simply placing my hand in his, letting him tug me down across the field in front of us.