𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊
After everyone introduced themselves to me, we all sat down around the fire. Minji offered me food and drink a couple of times, but I always refused.
Everyone told me how they met each other and how this small friendgroup was created. They go to the same school and everyone became friends with each other at a weird 2 day camp.
They created and found this place. They also told funny stories like how they once tried to build a wooden house here, but they never succeeded. An unknown name was mentioned during the stories a lot.
Jungwon has a very good sense of humor and he's very polite. Jake's very protective over Hanni. He constantly holds her hand and can hardly take his eyes off her. Hyein was quiet at first, but she slowly managed to let herself go and now I can't stop laughing at her. Everytime she gets into a topic and gets excited, she suddenly raises her voice which is very funny. And then there's Minji, who's very attentive, she doesn't talk as much as the others, but when she speaks everyone laughs.
Except Hanni.
She often smiles and laughs with the others, but it something's bothering her. She often looks at Minji as if she had committed a murder. I don't understand why anymore, because Minji isn't annoying at all. She didn't do anything that bothered me so far and it isn't hard to annoy me.
You can see that Minji is affected by the way Hanni talks to her. She keeps glancing at her and sometimes she goes really quite.
Jake started telling the others something when I suddenly got thirsty. Looking at Hanni, I saw that all her focus was on her boyfriend, so I looked at the girl next to me and nudged her carefully.
"I think I should drink something," I said smiling to Minji.
"Great, come on," she said mirroring my smile, then stood up. "This way."
We went to the tent behind us, which had a wooden table full of drinks and alcohol.
"Do you want alcohol?"
"No, just water."
"Alright."
Minji opened the water and began to fill my cup.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked quietly.
"Of course."
"Why are you here if you know Hanni doesn't like you?"
Minji froze for a moment. She tried to hide the fact that the question was unexpected, but she failed.
"Oh, that sounded mean. I didn't ask out of spite, it's just that I can see you felt bad after how she treated you," I explained in a panic.
I tend to speak without thinking and accidentally hurt other people's feelings. There's nothing intentional about it, the last thing I want to do is to offend someone.
Minji huffed a little.
"Believe me, I wouldn't come if I could, but Danielle insists. She says she has a 'feeling' that soon there will be peace between us again," she said, laughing sadly. "She's been saying this for half a year and nothing has changed. But Dani is important to me, she's like my little sister, so I always come."
That name again. I don't know who this girl is, but her name was mentioned about six times in all the stories they've told me so far.
"Who's that?"
"Dani?"
"Yes."
"She is like the center of the group," Minji said. "She holds everyone together. The girl's like a living vitamin D. When the mood is bad, just hearing her voice is enough to cheer everyone up. She's always happy and- wait."
Minji put down my water from her hand, which I've been trying to take away from her for a while now. Turning back, she looked around with a serious look.
"Guys, where's Danielle?"
The laughter stopped and all faces turned towards us. Hanni's smile seemed to have been ripped off as soon as she saw me and Minji at the tent.
"She said she'd be here at seven," Hyein answered with a shrug.
"But it's nine o'clock," Jungwon said as he looked up from his watch.
"Hey, don't worry, you know very well that Dani is always late and it's proba-"
"He's never been this late before, what if she's in trouble?" Jungwon interrupted Jake as he stood up from his chair. "Let's split up and look around, okay?"
Sighing, Jake took his hand away from Hanni's chair and stood up.
"Okay," he said then turned to Hanni. "You stay here with Haerin if the Miracle Bug somehow shows up."
"Hell no. One of my closest friend disappeared in the forest, I'm not going to just wait here."
"Han-"
"No," Hanni said and quickly planted a quick kiss on Jake's cheek.
The Vietnamese girl came towards me, grabbed my hand and pulled me away from everyone.
***
We were wondering around the forest for a while now and I can feel my knees breaking. I wasn't good at any sports, except badminton.
The forest is beautiful at night that's for sure. Everything is dark by now and there are so many stars in the sky. In the city you can barely see them.
There was a moment when we stopped to rest a little. That's where I closed my eyes and just let the sound of the forest swallow me in. The fresh wind did crazy things to my nasty lungs. It felt cold and warm at the same time.
Trees are everywhere I look, at first it was really annoying and scary, but I got used to it slowly. Now they don't bother me at all.
Hanni didn't say a word to me and I'm getting more frustrated by every second. I don't know what got into her, but she never looked back once to see if I was following her at all. As if something has taken over her body, she just keeps going forward. I can feel her anger.
I was about to call her name when I saw next to me something really bright. It was probably just the light of the moon, but the way it shone through the trees was breathtaking. I slowed down my steps and just looked at the lights.
Looking back at Hanni's direction I didn't see her anymore. I heard a pretty melody.
Maybe I'm crazy but I don't think anyone can hear it beside me. Like it's only meant for me. Walking towards the sound, I felt my heart tighten.
The trees were disappearing around me as I quickened my steps. My heart was beating faster and faster as I walked forward.
I felt like a moth enchanted by the light of a lamp.
The sky became clearer and I could already see the moon behind the small amount of trees.
I almost ran blindly towards the feeling as everything in my body became stronger and stronger. But I stopped as soon as I saw something in front of me. At first it looked like a deer, but slowly the image became sharper and it wasn't really an animal in front of me.
I slowly started walking towards the figure, making sure not to make a lot of noise. It was a person. I can't tell if it's a girl or a boy because they are wearing a cardigan and the hood covers their whole head.
As I got closer, I noticed that there's an abyss in front of them, which has a beautiful view. I was already close to the person when I stopped again. I placed my hand against a tree and just watched. I'm not afraid of them, they're about my size and I think I can defend myself.
The wind barely blows, but you can still feel the cold air caressing your skin. The light of the moon is almost as strong as the sun and the stars around it are beautiful.
I wanted to step closer to take a better look at the person in front of me. I didn't want to scare them, but a stick broke under my shoes, which was loud enough for me to see that they heard it.
Slowly turning towards me, I saw a... girl? Her long hair could be seen sticking out of the hood, but her face was still covered in shadows.
"Uhm..." I said. Okay, this is very uncomfortable. "Hi?"
She just looked at me and didn't move.
"Who are you?" asked a gentle voice.
Feeling my face relax, I just blinked. The girl slowly raised her hand, took off her hood and showed her face.
In that moment I never would have guessed,
but my whole world changed forever.