Three days later, during a club discussion the club leader announced that they will be going on a camping trip as part of a reward for working hard the past couple of weeks.
"We will also be bringing a few members from the Science Club to our field trip as part of a way to get to know more people. The members are right here" the club leader motioned for the members to come and introduce themselves. Aether watched as three of the members introduced themselves.
After the third person introduced himself a girl with light green hair and glasses walked awkwardly to the center of the room. She shifted her feet awkwardly as she struggled to say hi to everyone. "He-hello, my na-ame is Sucrose. Nice to m-meet you" she bowed slightly and ran off to her fellow club members.
The last person walked to the center of the room. People started whispering and when Aether looked up he was shocked to find Albedo introducing himself. Some of the girls took photos and videos as he spoke. He spotted Aether and waved at him. Aether waved back.
Xiao stood at the far corner if the room, when Albedo walked in he immediately had bad thoughts. He looked at Aether's direction and saw him waving and felt a little jealous. Aether sneaked a glance at Xiao but immediately turned back.
Xiao was a bit shocked by Aether's sudden reaction "Is he mad at me for what I did? I should find time to apologize to him " Xiao thought.
"Ahhhhh Everytime I look at him I could just remember that night, so embarrassing! Maybe I should give him some space to cool off first" Aether covered his cheeks to prevent anyone from realizing that he was blushing.
In conclusion the both of them misunderstood each other.
When the discussion was over, Albedo walked over to Aether "I did not know you were from this club. Was this timely encounter some how fated? " Albedo stepped a bit closer to Aether. "Maybe... " Aether felt a bit awkward that the distance between them grew shorter. Albedo senced something and backed up a bit.
"Speaking of camp, would you like to be my partner for the duration of the trip? "
"Uhh" Aether looked at Xiao again, he wanted to pair up with Xiao for the camping trip but decided to brush off that idea and agreed to be partners with Albedo.
Xiao heard their entire conversation and just felt angrier that Albedo was always "conviently" around Aether.
The day of the trip arriveed. Aether put his stuff at the back of the bus and got on. There were a few empty seats left, two of which were next to Albedo and Xiao. Albedo motioned for Aether to sit next to him.
Aether really did not know what to do, for five days Xiao had not talked to him and he missed having his company. "I must give Xiao some space first than we can talk" Aether thought to himself. He sat next to Albedo and glanced at a disappointed looking Xiao.
During the bus trip, Xiao blamed himself that Aether was not talking to him. Why did he do that that night? Why must he have to ruin their friendship? "Why couldn't I keep my feelings to myself... " he thought.
They arrived at the campsite a few minutes later, they placed their things in the dorm and reported to the center of the campsite to do attendance. After awhile the activities began.
The group began to play games, plant trees and take pictures of the scenery. Aether started taking photos of the animals when he did not realize that Albedo had taken out a sketch book and begin to sketch something. "Albedo, what are you sketching? "
"A beautiful scenery" he replied
Aether walked over and was amazed to see that Albedo was sketching him with the animals he had taken pictures of. "Isn't that a drawing of me? " Aether asked.
Albedo did not reply, he continued to sketch the unfinished drawing. Xiao was watching everything from afar. "Xiao" the club leader suddenly appeared behind him "put the rock down and don't try to kill anyone"
Xiao quietly put the rock down but continued to stare at Aether and Albedo. "I know you are jealous but please don't try to injure anyone from the science club"
"Hmph"
The group was hiking through the forest till the sun went down. They went back to the dorm to rest for the day. Aether was preparing to sleep when he realized the keychain on his phone was missing. He panicked and got up to search around the dorm but found nothing.
Aether stepped out of the dorm thinking that he might have dropped it at centre if the campsite. He put on his slippers and walked to the location.
Xiao got out of the toilet and saw that Aether was no longer in the dorm. He went out to check and was certain that Aether had gone missing.
Panic took over him and he immediately took his flash light and went searching for him.
"Found it" Aether took the keychain and was about to walk back when the road he walked from was now covered by trees. He walked some more and began to panic when the view had not change. "Am I lost? "
The group began searching for Aether, as minutes turned to hour Xiao grew even more despaired. Albedo was also helping to search with a worried frown on his face.
After awhile Xiao checked his phone and realized that it was already 1 am. He did not feel tried, despite his feet hurting he continued searching. As he walked he saw a figure sitting and leaning against a tree. He ran towards it and found Aether unconscious. He called out to the unconscious boy and he opened his eyes.
Xiao heaved a sigh of relief. "Idiot, where did you go? I was so worried"
"Xiao, when did you arrive? I was looking for this when I gotten lost" Aether held up the keychain and showed it to Xiao.
"You- you still kept it? "
"Of course, you helped me get it when we went to the cat cafe and few weeks ago. "
"Idiot" Xiao chuckled while patting Aether on the head "I would get a new one for you, don't bother searching for it"
Droplets of water suddenly fell from the sky, it was about to rain. "Can you get up? " Xiao asked while reaching out to Aether.
"A bit. I sprained my ankle while searching for the way back, but it's fine it does not hurt"
"Get on"
"Huh? "
"I will carry you"
"Huh?! No-no it's ok, I can still walk to the nearest shelter plus it's embarrassing for a guy to be carried by another guy"
Xiao did not listen to Aether's protest and picked him up and carried him on his back.
"Warm... " Aether found himself about to fall asleep when they arrived in front of the school bus. They got on and took a sit on the seats as they wait for the rain to pass.
There was a deathly silence in the bus as no one talked.
"Are you mad at me? " Xiao broke the silence with a question.
"Huh? No, why would I? " Aether suddenly had a flashback "Oh, that's why he asked"
"If you aren't mad, than why are you ignoring me? "
"I thought that you needed some time alone, so I tried to give you some space"
It was silent for awhile before Aether laughed a bit "I think we might have misunderstood each other."
"That means the kiss was a misunderstanding as well.... " "But why does it still hurts thinking that" Aether thought
Xiao did not say anything. Aether looked out of the window "Xiao, it stopped raining! We should find our way back now." Aether got up from his seat and saw that Xiao had not mover yet.
"Xiao? "
"Aether, I-"
"???"
" li- lik-" Xiao's face was completely red as he tried to say something
"Xiao.. You ok? " Aether walked over to him
Xiao senced Aether approaching him and he blurted out what he have been trying to say to Aether for the longest time " I like you! "
Aether froze in the spot. "Eh, did he just say 'I like you' ? EHHHHHH!? " His mind was racing and did not know what to say.
"What a great confession" the club leader entered the bus and looked at the both of them.
Both Xiao and Aether were a blushing mess when they arrived back at the camp site.
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DONE, OMFG I AM FINALLY DONE 😭😭 I decided not to split this into two parts because I want to quickly write the next episode 🤡🤡