“Let’s get out of here first. Then I’ll figure out who they are,” Kinn said. “They wanted me dead.”
I’d overheard that, too. I was the one they wanted to abduct, not Kinn. I hadn’t even done anything wrong!
“Are you feeling better?” Kinn asked.
“Yeah.”
“It’s because you were in my arms—my healing touch worked wonders,” he said with a smirk. His face was so annoying that I hurled a twig into the fire, making sparks fly up. He turned away to avoid getting burned, smiling at me with a teasing expression that I’d never seen before.
I rarely saw Kinn act so casual. It felt strange to witness, but maybe it was just this crazy situation. I was used to seeing the elegant and polished young master who was serious about everything; this Kinn was the opposite. Everything about him was different, from his unkempt hair to his informal demeanor.
“You called for your parents in your sleep,” Kinn said. I glanced up at him before averting my eyes, focusing on the fire again. I probably had called out to my parents in my sleep—I’d had a dream that they came to visit me and hugged me tightly. I hadn’t felt that kind of warmth in my heart in so long. I felt safe and secure in my parents’ embrace, and I was so comfortable that I didn’t want to wake up.
“Mm,” I hummed.
“How long have you been on your own with your brother?” Kinn asked.
“Almost ten years now,” I said quietly.
“At least you got to spend time with your parents. That’s good. I don’t even remember what my mother looks like,” Kinn said with a chuckle.
“Why?” I didn’t know what compelled me to ask him.
“My parents got divorced when Kim was just a few months old. I was so little… She’s nowhere in my childhood memories,” Kinn said, looking into the fire pit.
“Why did they split up?” I was curious about Kinn’s past—the fever had to be getting to me.
“I don’t know. I’ve never asked him… Or maybe I did? I don’t remember,” Kinn said. “I’m happy living with my father, though, so I don’t think about it much.”
I glanced at Kinn as he spoke. Even though he seemed unaffected, his eyes went dim for a moment. He must have pondered this subject deeply, but he didn’t want to reveal his emotions.
“I see.”
“You’re a good brother, you know? Raising Porchay to high school age. Imagine Tankhun raising me. I would have gone crazy like him by now,” he said with a laugh. I cracked a smile, imagining it along with him.
Talking about Chay made me start worrying about him. After they knocked me out, did they get him, too?
“Do you think Chay’s gonna be all right?” I asked.
I didn’t know if it was the quiet of the forest, the rain pouring down, or my fever that compelled me to speak to Kinn like this. I was able to put aside my fear and fury toward him for a moment. Deep down, however, I was still afraid.
“I told him to sneak out the back,” Kinn told me.
“Is he safe?”
“I told him to use your phone to call Pete. You have his number saved, right?”
I nodded. I was so worried for Chay’s safety. What would I do if something happened to him?
“Don’t worry. I’m sure your brother is safe. Those guys aren’t very smart—I mean, look at how they’ve screwed this up,” Kinn said, analyzing the situation. I agreed with him; those bastards were a bunch of reckless amateurs. They hadn’t tied us up properly, and they were dumb enough to put us together in the back seat. Fucking morons.
“If he didn’t call Pete, I hope he at least called Tem or Jom,” I said. Kinn nodded in agreement. I didn’t know when I’d let myself study his face so closely. I couldn’t help but feel comforted that he was here—I didn’t have to be alone in this dark forest in the middle of the night.
I’d bottled up my anger for now. Once we got out of here, I could go back to hating him.
“You want to get some sleep?” Kinn asked. “The rain should stop before tomorrow. We can figure out how to get out of here then.”
I nodded slowly, starting to feel a bit dizzy. Had getting rained on made my fever worse? I shuffled back and leaned against a cold rock. Chills shot through my body, but I couldn’t do anything to brace against the cold except wrap my arms around myself.
Kinn moved closer to me and I shifted away from him a little. “What?” I asked.
He nudged me off the rock, creating space for him to slide in behind me.
“Do you want to freeze to death?” he said sternly as he pulled me back toward him. He held me tightly, my back pressing against his chest.
“The fuck?! Let me go!” I tried to wrestle out of his embrace, but he held me firmly.
“Stay still! I’m not gonna do anything!” he insisted.
I calmed down a bit, but still turned my head to tell him off. “Let me go, Kinn!”
“You’re burning up again… If you freeze and die here, I’m not gonna carry your corpse out of the woods,” Kinn said. “Get some sleep. I mean it.”
Kinn rested his head on the rock and held me securely in his arms. I couldn’t have pried him off if I tried. But…sleeping against him felt better than sleeping against that rock. My whole body warmed in his embrace, and I was overcome with a strange sense of safety. Kinn’s chest rising and falling in time with his breathing was a comforting feeling—it meant I wasn’t alone in this creepy forest.
Sick and exhausted, I had no choice but to let myself drift off to sleep.