Paradise is a state of mind. – Dolly Parton
It was the next morning and I opened my eyes to find myself alone. Lady was sitting on her bed looking through her phone as I rolled out of bed and made my way to the bathroom to shower. I changed into a pair of short and a white crop top and paired it with sandals. I pulled my hair up into a messy ball and walked over to Lady and gave her a hug.
"Feeling better today?" she asks.
"Still feeling blah, but I want to be part of the activities."
"You do know that they have hide and seek and card games on the itinerary today?"
I smile, "I love hide and seek."
"Yeah, you and Jimin or RM will hide on one of the off limit huts and make out."
"Hey! That's not a bad idea!"
She slaps me and I rub my arm. "I was just saying!" I mutter as we leave the hut and make our way to the dining room.
Conversations can be heard as we step into the room, but they suddenly stop as eyes lay themselves on me.
"Feeling better?" I hear Ray ask.
"Much. I think it's the heat to tell you the truth. I am not used to it."
"I can attest to that." Lutz says, "The humidity is so different from back home."
"It is. Ours is not as dry as it is down here. That and Pennsylvania does not get this hot either, only seldomly and the last time was back in 2019."
"Oh wow." He says as he sits at the table with me. "So it is true that you are not used to such weather. Some of the others were saying you had a disease."
I rolled my eyes, "Next thing they will be saying is that I'm pregnant, which I'm not. Got tested, came back negative, so that is one more thing off the list."
"Well, I hope you feel better soon. I should go join my sister. Take care Cole." He says as he gets to his feet and moves a few tables over where his sister and Lee are sitting, chatting.
Lady comes over and takes his seat. "The rumors are terrible." She exclaims.
"RM is going to set everyone straight after breakfast. This is bothering them."
"They don't have to do that." I say gently.
She pats my hand, "They care about you, so they will do this for you."
"And it will make the others hate us even more."
Lady snorts, "Fuck them."
Breakfast goes by quickly and no announcement is said. We are ushered outside where the game of hide and seek will happen.
Jimin comes over and whispers, "We were told to hold off by Suga. We want to get everyone on board before we have a talk with them." He tells me.
"That sounds like a solid idea." I say.
"We are behind you, just know that." He says and squeezes my hand before moving over towards Jungkook and Tae.
"I told you they care." She says and I roll my eyes.
"Hello everyone!" I hear Jin say after that, "Today we will be playing a game of hide and seek. In this bowl is a piece of paper with everyone's name on the pieces. We will pick a paper and whoever's name is on it, will be 'it' until someone is found. The last person to get found will win the game. The huts and our hut are off limits as well as some of the campers. Everywhere else is open to hide in. Remember, you must be the last one found to win the game. Happy hunting!" he says as Hobi pulls out a piece of paper.
"Today's 'it' is Ray. Good luck and let the game begin!" he says as Ray closes his eyes and starts counting.
Lady and I take off towards the beach; we would hide in a shack we found the other day. Once Ray was far enough away, we would sneak away and hide elsewhere. We will play cat and mouse with him to confuse him.
"Do you feel like we are cheating?" she asks.
"In a way, we are. But I want to win." I say as we hear Ray chase Sannie the other way down the beach.
Lady and I look to see if we see anyone and once the coast is clear, we stick to the trees and move away. We get to where a bunch of trees are at and we climb up into their branches, high above the ground. We are hidden here as the sun does not penetrate the leaves much and its cool.
"We have to be quiet." I tell her as she sits back and smirks.
We sit there for awhile, just enjoying the cool breeze and the silence. I close my eyes and drift off, only to wake when Lady shakes me.
"The game is over. We won." She giggles.
By now we can hear RM and Jin calling out our names. They sound worried. We climb down off the branches and make our way over to where they are. We come out from the trees and RM's face looks at me in relief.
"There you are!" he says as he hugs me. "You were gone and no one could find you. Where were you?" he asks.
"Just hiding in a bunch of trees." I say as I wanted to keep our hiding spot a secret.
"Next time, try to hide where you don't go missing for two hours, will you?" he asks and I just nod.
We head back to the dining room where everyone else is sitting, drinking their drinks and snacking. When we enter the room, everyone looks relieved.
"Were we gone that long?" I ask.
"Two hours Cole. We were worried you got hurt." Hobi says.
"She was with me and we're fine." Lady says, "Besides, I would never let her out of my sight. Not after her being sick and all."
"Thank you." Tae says as he hugs Lady.
She just hugs him back and smiles.
"We will be playing cards for the rest of the morning so that we can cool down and rest a bit. There will be no points handed out as this is a resting period for all of us." Suga says.
The rest of the morning, I play cards with a bunch of people including RM and Lady. They have been watching me like a hawk. I worried that the others would say more about them constantly being around me, but I was told that RM took it upon himself to watch over me so that the other members would not have to worry.
"She says she's not pregnant." I heard Ray whisper, "I bet she is. She looks like someone who would sleep around."
RM heard that and gritted his teeth. I shook my head, telling him that it wasn't worth the fight.
He got up from his chair and stalked away, Ray smirked at me, knowing that the leader had heard him. Lady glared over at the man and scowled, "Don't you have better things to talk about. I heard the French are the biggest sluts out there." She pointed out.
Ray sputtered as some of the others laughed at him. He got up from his seat and stalked away.
"You will pay for that." Pez growled.
I raised an eyebrow at him as the members noticed what was going on. Jimin looked angry and Suga looked like he was about to punch the guy.
"Oh really?" I said. "I'm being watched closely at the moment, so you can never touch me."
"Watch your back." He threatens before stalking from the room.
"Fucker." I hear Suga say and the camera crew quickly shuts off the cameras. "That does not go in the show, you hear me!" he points out to the crew, "Or I will make sure this show is never seen."
The crew members nod as they take their cameras and leave the room. Suga and Hobi come to my side and rub my shoulders.
"Are you alright?" Hobi asks.
"I'm fine. People like that don't scare me." I admit, "He hurts me in anyway, he'll be gone."
"You're damn right." Suga says.
They take some seats and come sit with Lady and I. I feel light-headed and Suga can tell that the drama has caused me some grief.
"I think it's time for you to go lie down." He says.
"I think so. Between the heat and that, it wore me out."
"Are you sure you're not pregnant?" Hobi asks.
"I am. The tests came back negative."
He nods, looking disappointed. I looked at him in confusion. Why would he be upset that I was not gonna have a baby? This was his band mates and brothers, for goodness sakes!
They help me to my feet and take me back to the hut to rest. Suga stays behind as he is adamant that I am not to be alone at any time any longer. He helps me into bed before lying next to me.
"Get some sleep Cole. I will be here when you wake up."
"Thank you Suga." I tell him.
"Yoongi. You and Lady can call me Yoongi."
I smile as I pat his hand and place my head on his shoulder and close my eyes. I feel safe ion his arms. I drift off, not knowing that Jimin and RM had entered the room to check on me.