𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞

thirty-two

"Remind me again why you guys decided to go hiking?" Mingzhu asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't you have something better to do?"

Jeffrey shook his head, "Nope! Besides, you guys have been hanging out in the beach ever since we got here!"

Shuzhen nods her head in agreement, "Time for a change of scenery. That's why we're camping out!"

"Hold up!" Yanyu exclaimed, holding her hands out. "I agreed to a hike but I am not spending the night in the mountains!"

"Aww, come on, Yanyu, it's going to be fun," Zimo said, trying to cheer her up. "Kaihao's up for it!"

Kaihao grinned at her and said something that made Yanyu take back her words, "I'll be right beside you. I promise."

"So, is everyone set?" Mubo asked, "Oh, before I forget," He snapped his fingers and Yanlei appeared with a small container in his hand.

"I'll be taking that," Yanlei took Mingzhu's cellphone from her hands. He continued circling around the group and almost half of them gave their cellphones without any complains.

Mingzhu growled, "Why would you take it?!"

"We're going to the wilderness, Mingzhu," Yanlei replied. "We need to be one with nature so no technologies."

"And, we need to split up. To you know, cover more ground and find a good camping spot," Ruibin suggests.

Mingzhu is slowly realizing that something is definitely off with this camping trip. They're all acting strange. So before they could draw lots or whatever, she made her move.

"Fine! But I'm going with my brother," She walked up to Qin Fen and pulled him away from Mubo.

Fen chuckled, "As much as I'd love to be with you baby sister, I'm going with Yanlei and Mubo. You can survive on your own there, you're fierce."

Mingzhu's face fell down. She just got rejected by her own brother. She balled her fist and pointed at the mountains, "What if a bear decided to attack me, huh? Or a snake? Or worse, a tiger?!"

"Relax," Fen squeezed her cheeks. "That's why I'm leaving you with the third person I trust most in this world. Just for the record, you're the first and Han Mubo's the second."

Zimo appeared beside him and smiled, "Well, Mingzhu, guess you're coming with me."

.·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·.

"Do you think it'll work?" Lifen asks, walking hand in hand with Ruibin through the woods.

Ruibin nods, "Zimo's got this. He just needs to lose Mingzhu and Yanchen will take over."

"I swear if Yanchen doesn't get it right this time, I'm seriously slapping some sense into Mingzhu," Shuzhen added.

"Why are you here with us anyway?" Ruibin asked, thinking that Lifen and him could have some alone time but Shuzhen tagged along.

Shuzhen gave a peace sign, "I wasn't comfortable with anyone there."

Lifen tilted her head, "Aren't you and Jeffrey close?"

"We are. But I'd rather be a third wheel than listen to him talk about the stupid eggs,"

.·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·.

"Zimo!" Mingzhu called out, not seeing her friend's figure. "I swear, if you left me here -!"

Her words were cut off when she heard footsteps and rustling of the leaves. It was almost dark and the worst thing that could happen is if a bear suddenly attacked.

She picked up a stick from the ground and pointed at the direction of the footsteps, "Come out, you beast! I'm not afraid."

The footsteps were coming closer and Mingzhu was ready to throw the stick at whatever's coming her way.

"Wait! Wait!" A very familiar voice halted her. "I'm not a beast!"

Mingzhu blinked, putting down the stick, "What are you doing here?"

Yanchen looked around and scratched his head, "I got separated from Xingjie and Xiao Gui. Where's Zimo?"

Mingzhu dropped the stick she was holding, "I don't know. I'll go find him -"

"Wait, Mingzhu," Yanchen held her wrist again. "It's getting dark, maybe we should just set camp,"

The girl raised an eyebrow, "You set this up, didn't you? So you can talk to me alone. Great."

"I - look, let's just set up camp and search for them tomorrow. I have a tent here,"

Mingzhu knew Yanchen wouldn't let her go off that easily so she just agreed to avoid any more arguments.

"You better not do anything stupid, Zhou Yanchen." Mingzhu muttered while they both fix up the tent.

Yanchen smiled, because even in this situation, he hopes that Mingzhu still trusts him. "Believe me, I don't want to do that kind of thing to the most important person in my life."

.·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·.

this is a late reaction but xingjie said yanchen coughed blood before he fainted that day :(

I hope our sunshine doesn't forget to take care of his health because having a career is important but being healthy should be the top priority

we love you yanchen :')